The Missionary Review of the World — November 1926
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Please mention THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF 'l'lIE WORLD in writing to advertisers. THE MISSIONARY Review of the World DELAVAN L. PIERSON. &inor CONTENTS FOR NOVEMBER. 1926 Paqe FRONTISPIEOE … Smm RESTILTS OF EVANGELICAL ~l!SSIONS IN SOTITH A:MERICA EDITORIALS ……………… . 83i A CHRISTIAN VIEW OF DISASTER A 'VORLD STUDENT CONFERENCE AT INOREASING CONFUSION IN CHINA AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PRINOETON THE INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY ON AFRIOA COUKCIL PROGRAM DOES .30UTH AMERICA NEED MISSIONARIESl ………. 'THOMAS E. B.RBER S·l!} A study of actua,l eona'itioM in South American co1wtriesu;ith reference to the i "dians and other neglected people, THE WESTERN F.RONT OF WORLD MISSIONS …….. CHARLES fuTCH SEARS 853 A masterly presentation of the need for rnalcing America Christian in orde,' that it may become a better basis for world evangelism.
A NOTABLE CONVERSION FROM ISLAM . . . . . . . . . . A MISSIONARY IN PERSIA 858 The remarlcable story of a desoendant of Mohammed who has confessed C'm~st openly and is endu"ing perseO'l.,tion for the Gospel's salce.
MISSIONARIES CONFER IN PERSIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . W. N. WYSHAM 86-1 The story of the recent conference of workers among Moslems under the leader· ship of Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer.
A NEW ENTER.PRISE IN MESOPOTAMIA ……………… JAMES CANTlNE 8uG An account of the united mi.~8ionary work in Iraq conducted by the Ameriean Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Church in the United States and the Re· formed Church in AmcriJca.
POR. AFRICA-BERVICE OR SLAVERYf ………. A MISSIONARY IN RHODESIA 87(1 Fitst·hand pictute of the C>"uelties of enforced labO?' in Africa.
A HOUSE BY A WEST AFRICAN ROAlD . . . . . . . . . . . . MRS. WALTER B. WILLEMS Ri1 .A stirring story of service in behalf of black humanity iIn West Africa.
LOW CASTE CHRISTIANS IN DORNAKAL ……………………….. . 878 BEST METHODS …………………………. EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK 879 WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLETIN …… EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN 885 W01vlAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN …. EDITED BY ELLA D." MACLAURIN 888 NEWS ]<'ROM MANY LANDS ……………………………………… . 891 THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY 910 TI!lRM.S: $2.50 a year. ($2.00 in clubs of five.) Foreign postage, 5() cents. Single copies, 25 cents. Published monthly. Copyrighted, 1926, by MISSIONARY REVIEW PUSLlSWNG COMPANY, INC. AU rights reserved.
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Robert E. Speer, President Delavan J:… Pierson, Sec:retaq Publication office. 3d " Reily Stl.• Hard.bu••• Pa. 25_ • COpy $2.50 • J"ar Ehtered ao •..,ond·cla•• matter at the POlt Office. Harrisbul'J'. Fa.. under Act of March s••8". PERSONALS Make)burMoneydoDouble ~ to Yourself~ CHARLES K. EDMUNDS, PH.D., president toHumandr~ from 1907 to 1925 of what was then known DURING many years, Bible'1n;ru~BcinCl$> as Canton Christian College, now Lingnan gcv shaatv~esmfafc~tiuonnlinn~ .idn'v;e;s~~hiln~dg10WIc~IndI"~'D~IS.'u4:"r~hUafVe University, has resigned as Provost of Johns Hopkins University, his Alma Mater, to be- theIr money In Bible come American Director of Lingnan Uni- Annuity Bonds-the in- . . versity, which has recently undertaken to come to go to them and their families during their raise a fund of $2",500,000'. lifetime, and the principal to be devoted later to the great uplifting work of the New York Bible Society. REV. JOHN M. MOORE, pastor for the past ten years of the Marcy Ave. Baptist You Can Invest $100 Up Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., has resigned to become one of the general secretaries of the Business men and churches recommend Bible Federal Council of ,churches. He will de- Annuity Bonds as the soundest of investments. vote his time to developing inter-church They never fluctuate. You have no anxiety. May cooperation in local communities and state- ~~d,sd~~~h~~r, t~~c.lives-husband and wife, mother # ~ wide areas. . The New York Bible Society has distributed ,~ JOHN LIVINGSTONE MOTT, son of Dr. and mllhons Qf copIes of the Scriptures free-in , Mrs. John R, Mott, has recently returned to m~ny languages and in raised type for the , India to continue as a social worker of the Y. M. C. A. at Nagpur, Central Provinces. bhnd. They have brought comfort and in.. / NEW He has married Miss Celeste Goddard, of sp~ration to coun.tless immigrants, seamen,., YORE New York City. prisoners, the SIck, the bljnd and aliens. / BIBLE * REV. R. E. DIFFENDORFER, D.D., secretary All sections of the ~ SOCIETY ·ountryJ all races of ~ of the Board of Foreigu Missions of the Dept. 34 Methodist Episcopal Church, accompanied by Mrs. Diffend6rfer, is making an extended humanity. receive;" 5 East 481. Street tour of Europe and the Far East, expecting to return to America next summer. untold benefits. ,-' New York City Mall Coupon / ' Gentlemen: With- tor FREE ~~ out obligation, please P&mphlets send me descriptive NEW YORK BIBLE ' .batn~lets. about your SOCIETY , , B, le nnmty Bonds.
MISS LuCY ,GAR.DNER, secretary of the 5 E.48lhSI.N Y.e. " Name ………………… . English organization known as "Copee," is visiting the United States on a speaking ,'Address …………..••.•••••• tour at the invitation of the World Alliance REFORMED CHURCH CENTENARY for International Friendship through the The one hundredth anniversary of the Churches. Board of Home Missions of the ·Reformed Church in the United States was held in * Philadelphia, on October 15th. The pro· gram included addresses by the members MR. A. W. ARMOUR of New York has • Gf the Board and superintenclents of depart· been elected treasnrer of the Presbyterian ments, greetings from church bodies ana ad- Board of Foreign Missions to succeed Mr. dresses by Mrs. John Ferguson, New York Dwight H. Day. Mr. Armour has been :1"- . . City, president of the ,council of Women fOl· Bistant to Mr. Raymond B. Fosdick a1ld hus Home Missions and 'Dr. John M. Moore, of made special financial studies of the various New York. organizations supported by Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. He was born in Montreal, HUNGARY-A CORRECTION Canada, where he was for some years the assistant treasurer of the Dominion Rridge Company.
J. KINGSLEY BIRGE, formerly of the Inter- Rev. J. P. Piroch, of Chicago, calls our national College of Smyrna, Turkey, is now attention to an error in the Angust REVIEW ,candidate Secretary of the American Boar<l (pages 638·639) in the statement quoted of Commissioners for Foreign Missio1ls. from a Free Church of Scotland paper. He says: * "I was in Hungary nearly a year and the OBITUARY situation in Central Europe is well known to me. 'Protestantism in Hungary' should REV. JAMES NICOLL OGILVIE, D.D., presi- read: 'Protestantism in Czechoslovakia.' dent of the World Alliance of Reformed In Hungary there never were any Hussites. Churches Holding the Presbyterian System, Prague, the mother of Czechoslovaks, is in who was at one time a missionary in India, Bohemia, not in Hungary. I have been in died recently in Edinburgh, Scotland. Czechoslovakia during the religious move· ment since the end of the World War. The JOHN H. BRADFORD, since 1916 missionary new religious followers are known in our of the Presbyterian Board in West Africa, country by the name 'Ceskoslovenska and recently manager of the Halsey Memo· Cirkev' (Czechoslovak Church). They hav,) rial Press, at Elat, died early in October. more than one million followers which sep· Mr. Bradford was born in Belleville, K;all· arated from the Roman Catholic. Church, sas and was educated in Monmouth, Illinois after the war, and now are a branch of the and in Chicago. world Protestant Church."
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A GROUP OF GRADUATES OF THE CHARLOTTE KEMPER SEMINARY, LAVRAS, BRAZIL. All but four are members of the E,vangeJical Church.
SOME RESULTS OF EVANGELICAL MISSIONS IN SOUTH AMERICA
NOVEMBER, 1926
XLIX ELEVEN rrHE A CHRISTIAN VIEW OF DISASTER problem of the loss of life among the Jews, caused by the fall of the Tower of Siloam in Bible times, is perennial. When- ever a disaster overtakes a nation, a community or an individual, many are ready to offer explanations, to say just how far God is responsible or what lessons He is seeking to teach erring humanity. '1'he famines in India, the floods in China, earthquakes in Japan, hurricanes in Florida, fires in San Francisco, epidemics in Africa, volcanic eruptions in Europe and other widespread destructive forces due to physical causes present peculiar problems. It is easier to explain the cause and cure of suffering due to wars, massacres, banditry, railway and automobile accidents and other losses where the human equation enters.
In the injury to human life and property, due to seemingly uncontrolled physical forces, many are quick to put the responsibility wholly on God as the controlling Power, asserting that He is visiting erring men and women with punishment for sin. Others hold the view that impersonal forces of nature alone are responsible-that a certain cause produces a certain effect and that God has nothing directly to do with it-except as the Author of natural laws. Many seek to avoid the dilemma by crediting God with responsibility only through His "permission."
Those who charge that these disasters have a punitive purpose face the difficulty of explaining why churches, Christians and little ehildren suffer with those living in open and wilful disobedience to God. On the other hand Christians cannot accept the contention that God is in no way responsible, for we believe in the superintending providence of God as the almighty and all-wise loving Heavenly Father.
Confessedly any attempted explanation involves problems and unsolved riddles which human knowledge and experience are too limited to understand. Ve know that men are sinners and deserve 837
chastisement. We know that the forces of nature are powerful and are governed by the law of cause and effect, but how directly or for what purpose God works through certain natural phenomena, who can say dogmatically?
There are, however, certain great truths that should not be over- looked in these disasters. Everv crisis or calamity is a time of test- ing, such as comes to a steel gi~der when it is subjected to a heavy strain. If there is a bad flaw or weakness, the girder will break. If it is up to specifications, it will stand approved. So these calamities, national and personal, offer an opportunity for a Christian to show strength of character and the power of God in.,.human life.
1. They test and reveal our faith in God, His wisdom and power and love. He is not an unfeeling judge or powerless to control the forces that He has created. Christians believe that God is a loving Father and almighty Ruler who does all things well.
2. They r.eveal our confidence that we are safe in His keeping. Disasters,. however closely they may touch us, are among the "all things" that work together for good to those who love God. While men in rebellion against God may suffer permanent injury, the children of God, who are in His will, cannot really be harmed by injuries to their bodies and property.
3. They reveal and clarify our true estimate of values. Weare apt to lose sight of the fact that temporal things aTe only temporal. "V-hen physical possessions aTe thTeatened, then we Tealize that it is the spiritual things that are eternal and of greatest worth. Even physical life itself is not of greatest importance, else martyrs all were misguided fanatics. The loss of earthly things should help to emphasize faith in immortality.
4. They reveal and develop sympathy and brotherly love. Were there no calamities or sorrows there would be nothing to call fOTth the fineT qualities of human natuTe such as benevolence, compassion and self-sacrifice for the sake of others.
5. They test and reveal the metal of which we aTe made. The greatest humans are not those who have had the most comfortable time in life. In trouble, we seek comfort and help from those who have passed through troubles. It would be a curse if Christians were always immune from suffering and loss, 6. They reveal our aptness as learners in God's School. Every so-called calamity may be a blessed messenger of God, however much disguised. The San Francisco earthquake and fire taught men how to build a better city. Every epidemic, flood or famine sets men to work to discover remedies and preventive measures .and to apply them; railway and motor accidents lead to laws and new safety devices; wars lead.to peace movements and international tribunals for the settlement of disputes.
7. The facing of sudden death and disaster causes men and
1926J EDITORIAL COMMENTS 8';9
women to pause and consider the transitoriness of human life, the wages of sin, and the need to seek first the spiritual and eternal things of God's Kingdom. Such experiences lead us to take account of stock, to examine the road on which we are traveling and the goal toward which we are headed.
It is true that physical disaster and death are nnpleasant to all who have a normal love of life; but in the present order of things decay and death are a blessing, for out of decay comes new life and through death of the old generation a new generation is given larger opportunity. Great benefits have come to God's children and God's work through the physical hardships endured by missionaries in Africa, the sufferings due to the turmoil in China, the persecutions in India, the difficulties caused by financial stress in Europe and through the many other trials to which men are subject. No trial has overtaken us but such as is common to all mankind and with each trial God gives power to overcome and makes a way of escape so that victory and not defeat may be ours.
INCREASING CONFUSION IN CHINA CONDITIONS in China will probably be worse before they are better, although newspaper reports make them seem about as bad as they can be. With no real central government, with the eountry divided under rival loaders, Chang Tso-lin in the north, Sun Chuan-fang in the east, Wu Pei-fu in the west and the Cantonese troops in the south. Bandits roam the country, attacking towns, looting shops, kidnapping missionaries and other foreigners in some instances. It is also reported that extensive Russian bolshevistic propaganda continues through paid agents from Moscow. The Christian general, Marshal Feng Yu-hsiang, having failed to unite China, is reported to be stUdying in Europe or biding his time on the northwest frontier of China.
Without any strong, high-principled, patriotic leader who can bring harmony among the various sections of China, and without any unifying ideal and purpose, the present condition of the country is deplorable in the extreme. Each day brings fresh news of towns looted, battles fought, domestic strife more bitter, and foreign relations more strained. On October 5th, Mr. Thomas F. Millard, Shanghai correspondent of the New Yark Times} cabled as follows: Although reports from many parts of China reveal a somewhat precarious situation for the foreigners, with frequent violence, abductions and damage to property, nevertheless the mission boards at Shanghai are not inclined to be seriously alarmed for the safety of isolated stations. Such incidents, so far reported, are the acts of bandits and not officials or soldiers.
Today a leading missioner said: "The presence of foreign naval forces tends to aggravate instead of pacifying conditions. The gunboats' clashes with the Chinese sometimes imperil the missionaries outside the scope of tht!ir direct operations."
The leading British newspaper in Shanghai urges stronger action in the interest of the Chinese masses, who are said to be suffering much more than the foreigners under the mismle of the militarists. The majority of the missionaries are averse to forcible intervention. They realize, however, that the state of China calls for some action to check the collapse of authority.
Conditions in Peking are getting worse weekly. The straw Cabinet has practically vanished, every member seeking safety either. in the legation quarter or the foreign concession at Tientsin. Peking seems to be lapsing into anarchy. Groups of unruly soldiers are completely out of hand. The Government cannot pay salaries and it is unlikely that any government which the foreign powers can recognize will be formed for years. Most of the foreigners in Peking, who a few months ago rejoiced in the expulsion of the Kuominchun (Marshal Feng's army) would welcome them back now.
Some of the missionaries in outlying districts are suffering and the work is greatly hindered by the military operations, by anti-foreign sentiment and by banditry. In southern Hunan, Cantonese troops have occupied some mission schools and hospitals. In eastern Hunan, the Evangelical Church Mission (Cleveland, Ohio) reports a very s;erious situation. Rev. B. H. Niebel says: About two months ago an army of Chinese Soviets from Canton in the southeastern part of China entered Hunan, taking possession of Chaling, the southeastern station of our Mission, also Yuhsien Hospital, and the Liling Hospital, the Albright High School, a church and other mission properties. The disturbance has been severe and a great trial to our missionaries.
From a letter just received from C. Newton Dubs of the Evang-elical Mission in Hunan (dated August 24), we quote the following: The Cantonese army is pressing northward by the thousands and seemed to come" as grasshoppers for multitude." Many young boys and lithe young men are among the number. The soldiers devoured and preempted everything, like a plague of "grasshoppers."
Our churches all along the way, Chuan Wan, Huangtolin, Hsinshih, and at Yuhsien are of necessity "keeping open house" and serve as lodging places for the Communistic Army. Much damage is done to our property. The pastor in charge of these churches is compelled by the army officers and soldiers to be their menial servant, at their "beck and call" day and night, and the demands are of every possible kind, even to furnishing prostitutes or directing them to them. The lot of the preacher is a hard one, his owIl' household property is used indiscriminately and often ruined. The soldiers never stop to clean up when they leave and are not particular what they take along. In Yuhsien and in Liling, the soldiers vacate the auditorium for Sunday services, standing around in the adjoining rooms on the side, talking in loud voices, etc. They hold on to the buildings for use of passing troops.
Our schools and schoolrooms, and some foreign dwellings, are also occupied, though the commanders say they will vacate when these schools are to be opened for the incoming pupils. The people in general do not come to our hospitals very much now; the people wounded by the soldiers, i. e., Chinese not in the army, come for treatment. In some cases the soldiers pay their bills. Soldiers are a hard class to control and full of insolence in the wards. They refuse to leave (some of them) when cured and do not pay.
Religious work is impossible. The army is composed mostly of unbelievers and infidels, who are not slow to scoff. All services are interrmpted.
1926J EDITORIAL COMMENTS 8'4.1
Many are ready to debate about Christianity, but listen to a sermon, they will not.
There are some Christians in the army, yet the principles of communism are not in harmony with the Spirit of Christ. Work of the Bureau of Agita- tors, whose aim it is to explain and make the doctrines of Communism palpable to all classes, follow closely the methods of work of the missionary. Their street preaching is very effective, their posters as attractive as those of the best kind issued by any organization in China. The venom of these agitators is dangerous. Many of them have been trained in mission schools. Here is a free translation of three placards, one of which I know was put upon the front doors of our Yuhsien church: "Christ's Church and his doet"ine is a poison paralyzing our youth; Christ's CM.trch and doctrine is an agency 1tsUrping our U1If1{/Uage to make us Chinese stupid and foolish; The Church of Christ from England and America are both robbing us of aLL our preci01~.s inherita.n.ce and wealth!'
"Churches and property belong to the Chinese," is a slogan of the whole army, and it finds fertile soil. All the property the army uses is deteriorating. If we repair, the army gets the use of the repairs; if we do not, the deterioration is still worse. Either plan consumes quite a sum. The more buildings we erect the more they will have to use later on. We are in truth the" guests of China," a courteous phrase used hitherto in referring to us missionaries, but we are to be dispossessed in due time.
Pray for missionaries in China. They labor under serious difficulties and are in great danger.
The capture and ill-treatment of missionaries is comparatively rare, but is occasionally reported. On October 3, bandits attacked a large party of missionaries while they were going to Shenchow-fu, Hunan Province, and robbed and carried off three Americans-Miss Minerva S. Weil and Karl H. Beck, of the Reformed Church in U. S. Mission, and Miss Lydia Koebbe of the Evangelical Mission. Seven other missionaries who escaped are now reported safe at Taoyuan Tayo.
Supplementary messages carry an appeal of the Methodist Episcopal Mission in Nanchang for volunteers to assist in caring for the wounded Chinese. The Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church in the United States received a message recently, in which the robbery and capture of some missionaries was announced, but it gave no details. Miss Minerva S. Weil, one of the missionaries carried away, was in charge of the Bible Woman's Training School in Shenchow-fu. The Rev. George E. E'pp, Executive Secretary of the Evangelical Missionary Board of Cleveland, reports that Miss Lydia Koebbe is connected witli the Foreign Mission Department of the Evangelical Church and is in charge of a girl's boarding school at Tung Jen, Province of Kweichow, the next province west of Hunan.
In the recent raid on Ohow-kiakow, an important city in Honan Province, there was great suffering by the Chinese between September 17 and September 23. The only missionaries actually resident upon the mission premises at the time were Mr. Davies and Miss
Poppins, and later Mr. Davies was kidnapped. The correspondent of the North China Daily News says: Bandits cleared the city of women and children and members of the better-class homes. The number they took with them was so great that it was impossible to feed and control them. As a result hundreds dropped by the wayside dead, and the sick are lying in the roads leading to the city.
Mr. Davies was seized by Wang Chien-kuei of the Sixth Brigade. The pastor, who is of the China Inland Mission, was severely handled and tortured with hot irons.
The serious anti-foreign movement is spreading in southern and western China. The exodus of British citizens from Szechuan Province continues and American missions have been warned they had better concentrate at Chungking. One cable states: Five hundred missionaries were reported isolated and unable to escape from Chengtu, in Szechwan Province, according to a Shanghai dispatch to The Daily Express. Chengtu is the headquarters' for numerous American and English missionaries' societies of all denominations. '
Meantime the brigand captors of the English missionary, the Rev. C. Freeman Davies, are moving south, sacking and burning towns as they go. The fate of' three British missionaries at Changte, Ro., one of the looted towns, is not known. Two C. 1. M. women missionaries are reported to have been seized at Yungchang, in Yunnan Province.
Rabid anti-British propaganda continues. A Chinese secret society, says this dispatch, is reported to have placed a price of $50 on every foreigner's head. Natives are demanding confiscation of British property and the expulsion of the British from Szechwan province.
The evacuation of Chungking, Szechwan, by British residents has caused jubiliation among the Chinese, who believe Britain has been beaten. Chinese newspapers are triumphant. They declare, "We could eat the British and swallow their hides whole. "
The political and military situation still is in chaos. The recent replacement of a Wu Pei-fu man in command of Peking by an appointee of Chang Tso-lin indicates that the combine may be dissolved and shows Wu Pei-fu's power is gone. His nominees in the Peking Cabinet on resigning probably will be replaced by Chang Tso-lin's men. Chinese and many foreigners would welcome any change that would be likely to give new direction to China's political evolution.
How any constructive, evangelistic and educational work can be conducted under these disturbed conditions it is difficult to understand, and yet most of the mission schools and colleges are open, hospitals are in operation and the church work is being carried on as usual-except when chapels are occupied by armies. The missionaries are generally recognized as the truly unselfish friends of China. While warring factions are devastating the country and the Chinese are killing each other, these foreigners are patiently carrying on their work for China and are urging their governments to be patient and to take away all causes of friction in international relations. Some of the missionaries are proposing to form a new society to be known as "The Friends of China."
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AFRICA " EVERYWHERE there is a new attitude towards Africa which is turning it from the continent of tragedies to the land of responsibilities and opportunities. On the Government side there are remarkable changes in concepts and policies, chief of which are the Mandate principles and the creation of the Colonial Office Educational Advisory Committee. The commercial element realizes it cannot take everything out and give nothing in return. Missionaries are working with the Africans more and more, while on the African side there is the new race consciousness. The world attitude, too, is changing, and it is the need of the future that all these forces should be welded together. We must drive from our thoughts all concepts of nationality and race and become one for the redemption and full development of Africa."
Thus spoke Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones at the Africa Missionary Conference, held under the auspices of the International Missionary Council, in Le Zoute, Belgium, from September 12th to 20th. The chairman 'was Dr. Donald .E'raser, a Scotch missionary, formerly in Livingstonia. The organizer was Mr. J. H. Oldham of London.
There were present government administrators, like Sir Frederick Lugard, late Governor General of Nigeria; M. Louis' Franck, late Secretary of State for the Colonies for Belgium; General de Meulemeestl;lr, ex-Governor of the Belgian Congo; Sir Edward Garraway, late Resident in Basutoland; the Hon. E. B. Denham, Colonial ~ecretary to Kenya Colony; Major Hanns Vischer, Secretary of the African Educational Committee of the British Colonial Office. They reported that the stage of development is now fully opened and governments see that central to the success of government is the development in health of body, and equipment of mind and in morale of the African himself.
There were also scholars, like Prof. Julius Richter of Berlin; Prof. Westermann, the great philologist of African languages and Director of the new International Institute of African Languages and Tribal Cultures; and the Rev. Edwin W. Smith, whose "Ila-Speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia" is already an anthropological classic; and Dr. T. Jesse Jones, famous for his leadership of the Phelps-Stokes Fund Commission of Enquiry on "Education in Africa. "
Negro leaders came from America, as well as Africa, men and women, educators and preachers, whose speeches and personal talks kept the members face to face with living realities. Missionaries and secretaries of Mission Boards came from different areas of Africa, representing numerous communions and many nations.
Specialist workers in the Moslem world included Bishop Gwynne of Egypt and the Sudan; Dr. S. M. Zwemer; and Miss Constance
Padwick, Secretary of the Christian Literature Council for Moslem Lands.
During the conference, with increasing clearness, there came into view the great movements and demands affecting all workers in Africa. All the European powers have discovered that the time has passed away when they need only occupy themselves with securing conditions of peace and order and facilities of transport and some revenue. The human wealth of Africa is seen to be the primary concern of government. As Sir Frederick Lugard putl it, the increasing acceptance of the principle underlying the League of Nations mandate conception will bring as great a change as was the abolition of slavery. One effect of thisjs that everywhere governments are entering the field of education, hitherto the almost exclusive field of missions, which are today responsible for over 90% of the education of Africans. Missions must reshape their policy to meet that new situation. The cooperation of missions with government in this sphere is most clearly exemplified in the formation by the British Colonial Office of its Permanent Advisory Committee on African Education: One of the questions under discussion was: Shall the native be African or belong to Western civilization ~ Shall he take a European Ohristianity or an African 7 The answer given was: Neither and both-he takes the Gospel through Western and through African hands from Christ. As to the races, we stand for differentiation of method and order of life, but identity of ideal and of communion with the Eternal God through Christ.
The resolutions adopted at Le Zoute, arising directly from the discussions in the sectional groups by men and women responsible in the field and in the home boards for putting them in practice, present in outline a coherent, practical policy of action which can in time profoundly influence for good the destinies of that continent and its peoples. These resolutions cover the great areas of influence in the life of the Africa of today and tomorrow-cvangelism, education, health and native welfare, land labor, woman, language and literature."
The resolution on education views native education in Africa as a cooperative undertaking, in which Government, missions, natives and the commercial community are concerned. After defining the sphere of government authority, and recommending a scheme of visiting teachers, and a revenue policy adequate to the elementary education of all native children, it proposes a curriculum related to the total life of the community, with character development based on religion covering all, and especially health, the building of a sound home life, and an informed use of recreation. It concludes with a • The Report of the Conference will be ready in a few weeks and can be obtained! by ordering from the International Missionary Conference, 2, Eaton GlLte, London, S. W. 1 at 3s. 6d.• or trom 25 Madison Avenue, New York, U. S. A.. at $1.
1926J EDITORIAL COMMRNTS
strong plea for a specifically religious education of the highest efficiency, including religious knowledge, its translation into ethical practice, and its relation to worship. In order that all this should be pursued in practice with the maximum speed and efficiency, a commission is proposed to survey the whole field of religious education in Africa.
A special committee, which has been considering the subject of American Negroes and Africa, reported that Negro preachers and teachers who meet the same tests as are applied to other missionaries should be encouraged to engage in missionary work in Africa, but due regard should be paid to the many delicate situations that might he created in certain areas as to their relation to white men and other Negro workers.
The members of the Conference saw clearly that throughout the whole range of the missions and the churches a new drawing upon the adequate power of Almighty God can alone carry through the tasks to which He has called them in Africa.
A WORLD STUDENT CONFERENCE AT PRINCETON T HE recent conference, called "~World Students and the Chris- tian Church,"* was, from several standpoints, of special in- terest to those related to the foreign missionary cause.
It was a student gathering, held under the auspices of the Continuation Committee of the Evanston Interdenominational Student Conference. Mr. Ralph F. Barton, a graduate student of the University of Missouri, the Executive Secretary of this committee, has taken the leadership in the promotion of this and other conferences. The invitations and general arrang.ements were in the hands of Mr. George Paik, a Korean, who is at present a graduate stude~t at Yale.
The attendance was limited to approximately forty 'American students, an equal number of foreign students, and about. twenty representatives of Mission Boards and other organizations of the Church. Representatives of the Boards, of the Y. M. C. A., and the Y. W. C. A., and of the Church addressed the conference, and took part in the discussions, but the actual control of the conference was in the hands of the students.
In a real sense it was a foreign student conference. Thirty-eight foreign students represented China, India, Japan, Korea and the Philippines. The Central Board of the Chinese Student Christian Association and the Executive Board of the Japanese Student Christian Association met immediately after the conference, and almost all of their officers were present during its sessions. One day was given to a discussion of the cultural background of the six national groups represented; another day to a consideration of the • Held at Princeton. New Jersey. September 10-16. 1926.
foreign students in America.t Students from Korea, Ohina and Japan presided at different sessions. At these sessions the vital part which foreign students can take in the work of the Church ill America and in their homelands, and the opportunities of service by American Christians for the nearly ten thousand students in this country were emphasized.
It was also a study conference. Its membership was limited ~o that there might be opportunity for free and full discussion. This is perhaps the first time that foreign and American students have been brought so closely and so informally into touch with the re- sponsible representatives of the work of the Ohurch, both at home and abroad, and have been given opportunity to question these rep- resentatives concerning all phases of the diversified program of the Ohurch. Some interesting opinions were expressed as to the type of missionaries that thould be sent to the homelands of these students and a list of qualifications, made up from the suggestions of the for- eign students included the following: Willingness" to play second fiddle"; teachableness; sympathy with and understanding of national culture and history of foreign countries; fairness in describing conditions abroad; good humor; absence of race prejudice; culture and well-rounded education; willingness to work with rather than for the natives; good health; outstanding character and personality; not narrow denominationalists; an understanding of social, economic and political problems; a possession of true Christian experience, not merely an "efficiency man" j loyalty to Christ and a belief in Him as Saviour.
Mter the foreign students had expressed themselves thus frankly about missionaries, they asked for an equally frank criticism of themselves by the American students and others present. The following points were made: Foreign students should be more true to their own culture; should know the historical and cultural background of their own countries; when they speak they should make clear that they are speaking as individuals and not as authorized spokesmen of their countries; they should try to share with American students their religion and life; they are often too aloof and too proud or too sensitive; Christian foreign students should try to influence other foreign students who are not Ohristians; some of their criticisms of missions and missionaries are not well founded and do harm to the missionary cause; some Ohristian foreign students do not have the courage to bear witness to Christ and to the work of His Church when these are under fire.
The foreign students expressed, by a rising vote, their appreciation of what the missionaries are doing for their countries, and the Mission Board representatives and American students, also, in a rising vote, expressed appreciation and gratitude for all that foreign students had brought to the life of A.merica and of the Church. Some misconceptions were cleared away and the conference was an t The background of information 1m' this discussion was su.pplied by the survey. caned "The Foreign Student in A merica," published last year by a Commission on Survey of Foreign Students, an expansion of the Friendly Relations Committee who have been pioneers in thi.s field.
IIJ26J EDITORIAL COMMENTS
illustration of the reciprocal benefits that come from following the scriptural injunction to "speak the truth in love."
The final impression of the conference was the essential unity among Ohristian students despite an obvious diversity. There was a steadily deepening consciousness of this unity of feeling and conviction in regard to the central truths and values to be found in Ohrist and in the service of humanity in His Name. The evening sessions were devoted to Bible study and to a consideration of some of the central messages of Ohristianity. Part of one evening session was given over to personal statements by individual students of what Ohrist meant to them, and another evening to what message Ohrist had for this generation in the solution of present-day world problems. The conception of the uniqueness and beauty and power of Ohrist to meet every need is always clarified and magnified by such testimony, and especially by the witness of those who have come out of strange and un-Ohristian environments into an appreciation of Christ and His gifts. The last session, when a communion service was held, was an expression of this oneness and fellowship. The six elders who took part in the sacrament were representatives of the six nations having delegates at the conference. In this Occidental setting a new meaning was given to the words of the Sage of the Orient, "All within the four seas are brothers." These words were verified and glorified through the word of another, so distinct during those days at Princeton, "One is your Master even Christ, and all ye are brethren.
W. R. WHEELER.
THE INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY COUNCIL PROGRAM T HE meeting of the Committee of the International Missionary Council in Sweden in July had added significance in view of a thorough-going inquiry undertaken by the Committee as to whether there is a real program for the International Missionary Council. Does the Council command the resources, personal and group, that will enable it to maintain a level and a'standard that commend them to respect ~ The Council was the logical and, perhaps, the inevitable successor to the Continuation Committee of the Edinburgh Oonference of 1910. When the Oontinuation Oommittee ceased to function soon after the outbreak of the war, it was so essential that the growing missionary enterprise of the Ohristian churches of Europe and America should have some international coordinating body that, in 1921, the International Missionary Council came into being on a thoroughly representative basis. There have been two meetings of the Oouncil, and three of its Committee.
At the recent meeting of the Oommittee of the Council opportunity was given for a thorough inquiry as to its program. The reports of the executive officers revealed very important contacts
which they were maintaining, of real advantage to the Boards at the home base and to the indigenous Churches growing up in mis- sion fields. Among these contacts was the British Advisory Committee on Education in Africa, which is working in collaboration with important interests in the United States and Belgium.
Another important contact of the Council, through its executive officers, was that formed with the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures, with obvious advantage to missions in placing at their command the most expert counsel in the world, and of large advantage to Africa in mobilizing those who understand it.
Furthermore, the Council, through its officers, is making a study of the organization and administration of union institutions in different countries, with a view to making this information available in a field of very important mission administration in union movements. The place of women in the Church on the mission field, a question which is arousing much interest in Asia, as in America; and also that other question of much importance-student migrations-are receiv- ing careful study on the part of the officers of the Council. Dr. Mott, the chairman of the committee, brought to the gathering the results of a recent journey to mission fields in the Pacific Basin, during which journey he had visited Japan, Korea, China, the Philippines, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, Australia and New Zealand.
These services which the Council, through its officers, is render- ing to the missionary cause, made it clear that it had a real program.
Among the important elements in that program in the im- mediate future, the Committee emphasized the following: Spiritual Vitality, The Presentation of the Christian Message in Relation to non-Christian Faiths, Enlisting the New Generation, Enlisting the Service of Laymen, Christian Education, Devolution Problems of Indigenous Churches and Christian Literature.
Another important decision was with reference to the next meet- ing of the Council. Because of the growing strength of the churches in ARia and Africa and the nature of the problems to be faced it was felt desirable to meet somewhere in Asia, where representatives of the rising Churches in the Orient and those of the sending Churches in the West might come face to face and take up their common problems. Jerusalem was selected as the logical place, where three con- tinents converge, the common home of all the Christian groups of the world, and on the continent where the problems of the younger Churches are most acute. The membership of this next Council meeting was fixed at not to exceed 200, including the members of the Council, an equal number of representatives from the indigenous· Churches and a limited group of specialists. The main themes of the Council meeting are to be those mentioned above; the time of the meeting is to be the Easter season of 1928. w. I. c.
A GROUP OF COUNTRY PEOPLE; TAKEN NEAR COVENAS. COLOMBlc4
Does South America Need Missionaries?
BY REV. THOMAS E. BARBER, MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA SOME people, not familiar with the facts, tllink of South Amer- ica as already Christian, so that there is little or no need for Evangelical missionary work in these republics. It is very true that not all South Americans are ignorant and pagan. On the contrary many in the beautiful and attractive, modern cities, and in rural regions, are equal in culture, breadth of knowledge, and progressive ideas, to those in similar occupations in any land. They take important part in international counsels and are gaining world recognition as leaders of modern thought and progress. But this is also true of modern India, Japan, China and other countries that are generally recognized as proper mission territory.
Does South America then need missionaries 1 We must remember that most of the great Indian population is still as pagan as when the Spaniards first landed there. They are neglected and ignorant. They need missionaries. They are able to learn and the lives of many are transformed as truly by the Gospel as is the case among other peoples. Parents long to have their children have an opportunity to learn. These poor, unlettered Indians sometimes stand before a missionary with sad faces and show their children, earnestly asking that a teacher be sent to them. During past centuries little has been done either by the Roman Catholic Church 849 2
or the State for them, and nothing adequate is being done for them now.
Many leading citizens of South America who are Roman Catholics, and even priests in good standing in this same church, recognize this need for evangelical missionaries.
One day an ex-president of Colombia said to me: "A great part of our people are only half civilrzed and they are afraid of the Protestants and persecute them because they do not know them and their teachings. They are ignorant and superstitious and know no better. The missionaries need to come more in contact with the people, especially in the smaller towns, and when the people know them and their teachings about Christ and the Bible, then they will lose their fanaticism and respect the Protestants."
A prominent business man made the following statement: " We lleed you Protestants and your work. You teach the Bible and our priests do not. Our priests are so ignorant that they do not know the BibJe."
A prominent lawyer on being approached by the missionary about some business matters said: "I shall gladly render to you any service I can without charge because you missionaries are doing something to help our country. You strive to educate and uplift whereas our priests tyrannize and keep the people in ignorance."
A young Colombian recently graduated from an institution in the United States said: "Mr. Barber, when you tell me of the persecutions you missionaries sufier, and the conditions among these mountains it makes me think of the missionaries I used to hear tell of their work in India and China and the conditions there when I was a student in the United States."
We might add thousands of testimonies of the parents from all walks of life who send their children to Evangelical schools. The poor in the multitude of towns say: "Come to us; send us ministers and teachers to help us."
Such requests are too numerous to be counted, and come to us frequently. Our :first missionaries went to the cities of Bogota and Barranquilla, because of urgent appeals made to the Mission Board by pr:ominent citizens.
The majority of Catholic priests in these South American republics are not only opposed to Protestantism, but they bitterly oppose the open Bible. Every year there are numerous examples of persecutions toward both the nationals and the missionaries. I have been arrested twice this year for selling the Bible, the charge being that the Bible is an immoral book. In one case the mayor of the town refused to take the responsibility to decide against the priest who had brought the charges, and appealed to the governor of the state who at once replled declaring the Bible to be a good book. There was no attempt on the part of officials to inflict punish-
DOES SOU'fU AMERICA NEED MISSIONARIES!
ment in these instances but jails and prisons have often opened their doors to receive Evangelicals whom the priests accused only of selling the sacred Scriptures to the people. Bibles have often been confiscated and burned, even as late as 1925.
One priest, who has been for several years friendly toward me and who is a graduate of the Catholic Seminary of Medellin, perhaps the best in Colombia, told me that they had taught him only a little of their philosophy, a little of their theology, and batred toward all other beliefs. Today they are teaching the same. He said that when he -was graduated he was a poor, innocent young man who knew nothing. He had tried for over forty years to preach the Gospel but during all that time he had never read the Gospel. The first time INDIAN GIRLS AND WOMEN IN CENTRAL AMERICA (GUATEMALA) The shawls and dresses are all of bright colors and the Christian women look happy.
he ever read the Bible was when he purchased a copy from one of our colporteurs. It seemed so good that he purchased four more and gave them to other priests.
An ex-priest, Roldan, left the Roman Catholic Chureh in the year 1922, and united with the E:vangelical Church at Dabeiba in the year 1923. Later he gave up a position with a comfortable income in order to establish a school in a mountain region where there were no means whereby the children might receive an education. Last January the bishop of that diocese sent one of his most prominent priests with a letter signed by the bishop and more than thirty priests beseeching Roldan to return to the "mother church." On arriving at the house the messenger said: "Father Roldan, the bishop has sent me to take you back to the Church."
Roldan replied: "That is impossible, but come in and we will
talk about it. " When the man entered the house Roldan said to him: •'What does the Second Commandment say?" The priest pulled from his pocket a New Testament which he had borrowed in Dabeiba and began turning its leaves. Roldan said: "What are you looking forT" "Looking for the Ten Commandments," was the reply. "Man, " said Roldan, ' ,You are just as ignorant as I was before I 10ft the Church of Rome!" The following day Roldan met two other priests of Dabeiba and all showed the same lack of knowledge.
The spirit of intolerance toward Evangelicals was shown last February when I was visiting a number of preaching places of the Medellin station in company with the national minister of the Medellin church. As we were nearing the town of Segovia and while descending into a narrow valley two men and seven or eight young women of the poorer class began shouting, "Here come the Protestants! The devils are here." At the same moment we noticed a priest coming at full gallop towards us and shouting: "Down with the Protestants! Down with the heretics, .the followers of Luther. Hurrah for'the Pope and the holy Virgin!"
We waited for this priest to arrive and then greeted him cordially, allowing him and his followers to take the lead. On arriving at the town the priest called out to the people on both sides of the street: "Here are the wolves I Look at the wolves! Beware of the wolves I" At the public square he shouted: "May they give you nothing to eat, for yourselves or your horses." The people, already knowing us, became indignant over his behavior, and our meetings were larger than ever. What would have been the result if the town had been fanatical like so many of the townspeople1 Among the more enlightened priests many respect the Evangelicals and are very friendly. Righteous lives and enlightenment are winning the admiration and love of those who were formerly enemies; so that now they are not only friendly, but have become helpers.
Missionaries are urgently needed in South America. We must take into consideration the vast untouched areas, as pagan today as when the first white man set foot on these western continents. There are vast regions over which the Roman Catholic Church has had complete sway for more than four centuries, that today report appalling statistics of illiteracy, illegitimacy and poverty. Ought not Christians in the more fortunate lands count it all joy to have the blessed privilege of lending a helping hand to them and to rise up and take the message of Christ's Truth and Freedom to them?
South America needs Evangelical missionaries, because South America needs to know and to obey the Word of God.
Western Front of World
BY REV. CHARLES HATCH SEARS, D.D., NEW YORK General Seeretary of the New York City Baptist Mission Society " T IFE is a festival only to the wise," says Emerson. "Seen L from the nook and chimneyside of prudence it wears a ragged and dangerous front. Our culture, therefore, must !lot omit the arming of the man. The commonwealth and his own well-being require that he should not go dancing in the weeds of peace. . . . 'l'oward all this external evil the man within the breast ,1 ssumes a warlike attitude."
·World missions today "wears a ragged and dangerous front." '1'0 face it requires what Emerson calls, "a military attitude of the soul" to which he gives the name of heroism.
'Ve do not face closed doors, or armies, or open persecution, save only in a few restricted areas, but we face a new intellectual con-· fiict waged against all religions. We face a cynical disregard of Christianity because it has taken itself so lightly. We face, in the East, the renaissance of old world religions and the denial of the superiority of Christianity.
In Europe, we face a new alliance between a religion of ceremony and sacrament and political expediency and coercion, particularly in Italy.
In the great world-wide, interdenominational missionary conference which was held in ·Washington last January, the minor note, perhaps it might even be called the motif, was an exceedingly serious note-as though the modern foreign mission movement in its first one hundred and ten years had passed through the period of confident youth and had emerged into the disillusionment of age. There was no note of uncertain religious faith; no uncertainty about the Great Commission. It is one of the discoveries of modern missions. There was no doubt of the vindication of the great venture of foreign missions, a vindication in ten thousand thousand lives transformed through the century. In the words of Dr. John B. McLaurin, of India, spoken at this conference: "The transformation of the individual in Jesus Christ is not only the basis, but also is the vindication of all that we are doing tl).rough Him, and that He is doing through us throughout the world today."
Why then this minor strain7 I found the answer in the terrific reaction of the West upon the East during the past ten years. What we are in the West thunders so loud that they cannot hear what our missionaries say.
Listen to the words of Christian leaders of many lands, spoken at Washington. Hear their indictment of the West. "In the old 853
days a heavy curtain hung between the East and the West," said Bishop Brent. "Now times have changed; the veil is torn down. The Orient knows only too well how the people in the churches of the West are living, and how many of them are betraying the Gospel that is being proclaimed to the yellow and brown and black races."
A native Christian leader of India, Professor John Jesudason Cornelius said, "Never has there been a time in human history so critical and so challenging. At no time was western civilization so much discredited in the Orient, as today. The West and the East have become closely intertwined through commercial and territorial expansion. Such expansion has really made the practice of Christ's principles almost impossible. Once the East had great confidence in the West, but, alas! now she is mentally armed against the West."
"The Oriental mind of today," said Dr. Kirk, of Baltimore, after an extended trip in the Orient, "is dominated by a spirit of intense criticism of all things Western."
We see a peculiar expression of this in the reaction of the Chinese ,students. The words of Bishop Herbert Welch, of Tokyo, spoken of course before the recent unfortunate events in China, are significant: "On the other hand one finds in the Far East an opposition to Christianity which, while not altogether new, has some recent and disagreeable developments. Take, for instance, the movement among the Chinese students of higher schools, not merely anti-religious in general but anti-Christian in particular, an opposition belligerent and determined, led by members of the faculties of universities, and based upon the belief that Christianity means militarism and capitalism, which systems they do not desire to have fastened upon their own land."
What they understand by industrialism is revealed by an advertisement which Miss Margaret Burton reported that she had seen in a Chinese newspaper: "The profits of the – – – factory again surpassed $1,000,000. For the past two years it has been running night and day with scarcely any intermission. The number of hands employed is 2,500 and the following is the wage table per day: Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 to 25 cents Women ………………………………. 10 to 15 cents Boys (about 15 years) ………………….. 10 to 15 cents Girls (about '1& years) …………………. 5 to 10 cents Small boys (about 10) …………………. 5 to 10 cents Small girls (about. 10) ……………….. 3% to 5 cents "The working hours are from 5: 30 A. M. to 5: 30 P. M., and from 5: 30 P. M. to 5: 30 A. M. No meals are supplied by the factory." The advertisement continues: "It will be seen that the company is in an exceptionally favorable position, with an abundant and absurdly cheap labor supply to draw on, and no vexatious factory laws to observe."
Can we wonder that India prefers old-time hand work rather than new-time factory production' Here we see the "law of supply
THE WESTERN FRONT OF WORLD MISSIONS
and demand" in vicious operation with human labor dealt with as a commodity.
Dr. Goodsell, of Turkey, after referring to an interesting interview with a high-minded Turkish editor, said: "Turkey looks to America and says: 'Your charity is fine; your passion for freedom is glorious; your strength is unmeasured; but I do not see that religion plays much part in your life. Look at your public scandals; look at the way you treat the negroes; look at your industrial injustices.' " . . . From this and from her own experience, Turkey has drawn the conclusion: "We can expect no help from religion, from any religion, in the rebuilding of our national life."
In speaking of the effect of America's treatment of her internal problems, Bishop Welch, of Tokyo, said, "I am bound to say that this immigration question, touching not simply the admission of aliens but the treatment of aliens after they are admitted, has a very direct connection with the progress of Christianity in the Orient."
Recently I heard Professor Paul Monro, of Teachers College, who has spent much time for several years in Europe and in Asia, say that until a few years ago the East admitted that Christianity had one great superiority over other religions, the position and character of Western women as compared with Eastern women, but Professor Monro said, all this has now changed and the change has been brought about within five or six years by the introduction of American movies in cities and villages throughout the Near East and the East. There is no censorship and the worst type of films from America are used. These films have entirely changed the attitude of the East to Western women. They have lost their respect for American women and Christianity has been robbed of one of its acknowledged points of advantage over Eastern religions.
Now the East is making a fresh attempt to evaluate Christianity as a religion, and to dissociate it from Western civilization. In this lies the hope of Christianity in so far as the East is concerned. Christians of the East are making a determined effort to disentangle Christianity not only from 'Western civilvzation, but from Western theological interpretations, and to establish in their own lands a Christian Church true to their own interpretations, and under their own leadership.
At the Washington Conference reiterated reference was made to the need of planting an indigenous Church in every land. Dr. Tucker, of Tokyo, said, "It must be a church led and maintained by their own people. I do not think that Japan is ever going to be influenced by a Christianity that is under foreign leadership." Chinese Baptists in South China have already taken steps to- establish indigenous Chinese Baptist churches under their own leadership and progressively with their own resources.
What about this attack from the East1 Why this recoil of for-
eign missions ~ Having entered the foreign mission enterprise with high idealism, we are not a little shocked by such a reaction from the East. We must admit the glaring discrepancies between the Gospel which the missionaries preach and the civilization which the Oriental student sees, for example, in New York City. And what a discrepancy there is between this Gospel and the civilization which the moving picture films carry back to the cities and villages. of the East!
These American cities are not altogether American-made; they are not true exponents of American ideals. Our historic policy of an open door to oppressed peoples and our wholesale immigration have helped to create a situation which has had much to do with this indictment of the West by the East. Moreover, there are scores of industries in our cities that are under the almost sole control of individuals or racial groups which in no sense represent American culture and certainly not American Protestant standards.
But in submitting this defense we are compelled to admit that there are large racial groups in America which have not been won to Protestant standards or ideals or even ever seriously approached. This fact alone accounts in part for the terrific impact of the West upon the East and the serious setback to the world cause of Christianity.
Can we defend the Christian Church against the charge of grqss neglect? If it is really true that Christianity has in it the potency of a world religion; a religion that we try to impress upon the Chinese, Indians, and Japanese; has not t4at religion the power to transform individuals and win the assent of large groups of other races here in America, which is regarded as the home of Protestant Chris tiani ty?
"Ve have failed to Christianize, in America, great sections of our population and thereby have failed to preserve our historic Protestant foundations. As a result these New Americans have introduced a new culture and new standards and have succeeded in displacing, at least in considerable areas of the country, older American standards. We are, therefore~ compelled to confess failure at this point.
Can we doubt that had the Protestant churches of America set themselves to the task of winning these foreign groups as they came in successive racial waves during each of the three decades before the World War, that they might have been won? If we had won during the last generation in America, we would not today be facing such a lamentable situation in China, India, and Japan.
We may riot through our missionary societies meet the issue raised in scores of college classrooms, by the attack of college professors and students upon Christianity and the Christian Church. Why may not teachers in high schools and colleges, familiar with the intellectual problems of youth and familiar with educational methods
THE WESTERN FRON'l' 0]<' WORLD MISSIONS
and conclusions, join with Christian ministers in giving a sympathetic interpretation of Christian experience and the power of religion in the lives of men ~ Because unscrupulous Americans have regarded motion pictures as a commercial industry, instead of a tremendously powerful ally of education, the children of the East are being demoralized and Western womanhood is being defamed.
Our losses have also been great in the field of industry and international politics. The Church has no right to mark out the way for industry, but it has a right to say" This way thou shalt not go." "A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesseth, " and again, "Ye are of more value than many sparrows." The little ten-year-old girls working twelve hours a day or night for three and one half cents in China are of more value than dividends.
There are areas of the conflict that are the peculiar field of missionary agencies. Any world conflict must be decided by the character of its forces. There has been disastrous loss of effective Protestant forces through the constant shifting of population in the great cities. Weare losing on this Western Front of the world conflict because of our failure to recruit our forces in the newer resident areas, particularly the suburban areas, and to set for them a specific challenging world missionary task. If we set ourselves seriously, both workers and donors, to recruiting our forces in the suburbs of our greater city, to holding forces already won, we could double our efficiency in ten years, and increase our impact on world missions one hundred per cent.
Again, it is peculiarly a missionary task to establish indig~nous churches in polyglot American communities. Na one can doubt that the Protestant Church might have had great influence upon the Irish immigration of the '70s and '80s when the Irish were New Americans before they had become our natural city rulers. But we lost this battle, in so far as the Protestant Church is concerned, and lost it here on the Western Front.
Christianity lost in Asia Minor, the field of its early victories, and in North Africa, where it raised up such leaders as Augustine. because it was more interested in disputations within the ranks of the Church than in decisive victories outside. While fighting secondary issues they lost the great battle. Shall this be true of Ameri- {'an Christianity1 Can we doubt that decisive issues are being determined here; that America is not a secondary front in this worJ<:l Christian conflict? The ability of Christianity to qualify as a world relig~on is being determined by results here in America. Here, during the first half of the twentieth century, will be found the decisive battleground of our religion. Christianity cannot become a world conqueror until it conquers at home.
A Notable Conversion from
BY A MISSIONARY IN PERSIA CONVERSIONS from Islam deserve special attention. Dr. Zwemer's book, '''l'he Law of Apostasy in Islam," gives a good idea of the conditions facing anyone who dares to deny Islam and profess any other faith. But we have sufficient results to prove the value of Christian propaganda even in Islam. Most of our converts are Nicodemuses and come to see Jesus under cover of dark, for to profess in the light is the equivalent of signing a death warrant for themselves, giving away their property to zealots as well as exposing their family to the possibility of being taken as slaves. These gentle ideas and practices are fully taught and explained in the theological book, "Agied Us Shia," or "Beliefs of the Shia 'so "
Recently we have been greatly cheered by the appearance of a Paul, a man who seems to have been struck with a heavenly vision, to which he is not disobedient. Mir J awad needs some introduction to be properly understood. He is a Sayyid (descendant of the Prophet Mohammed), belonging to one of the best families in Tabriz. He was educated according to the best Moslem traditions so that he has been a Professor in a Moslem School of Theology for several years and has few equals in mastery of Arabic and the Islamic code of Jaws. He is wealthy, owning parts of three villages and having also other sources of income. Knowing these things you can appreciate him better. Last autumn, lie chanced to be passing our church as thl! Sunday service was beginning and came in to hear what it was that the Christians had to talk about. Rabi Stephan, our local evangelist, preached a sermon on the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Mir Jawad in his classes had often debated Christianity vs. Islam but had always gotten his material from Islamic quotations and was therefore surprised to hear the type of material used. He came to several other meetings and then asked for private conferences. About a month after our first meeting, he cast a spell over us by getting up in a meeting where several Moslems were present, confessing Jesus Christ as his Saviour and calling upon the other men there to be fair with their consciences and face a decision, join him and consecrate themselves to making Christ known in Islam. He followed this by leading in prayer at our regular prayer meeting service three days later.
Now by Islamic law, under a provision known as "Nani Az Munkir" or "Preventing one denying Islam," it is possible in extreme cases to call a man up before a court and have him take an oath. When news of these two things came to official ears, Mir Jawad was called before the Court of (so-caUed) Justice and ordered 858 to take an oath on the Koran that he was a Moslem. He replied by taking off his Sayyid's hat, producing a copy of the Koran and a book of Moslem ethics and turning them over to the court, as he said, "I no longer wish to be known as a Sayyid or a Moslem for I have become a follower of Jesus Christ." He left the place, bought a new hat and came right to church for it was Sunday morning.
Then things moved fast. Some men came to me advising against having any communication with the man, for they thought a riot was going to follow if the fellow persevered in his madness. The next day Mir Jawad sent for Rabi Stephen and myself and asked for baptism. We replied that we did not have the authority to give him OHRISTIAN COLPORTEUR DISTRIBUTING LITERATURE IN PERSIA the right at once, but he said that it made no difference for true baptism was from within and by the Spirit and that regardless of the external right,he was going to preach Christ as best he could. We warned him of the danger and he replied, "I know Islam and its spirit better than you can ever know it, and I have fully counted the cost. If not today, then tomorrow they will kill me, but I have this request to make of you-that you will find my body and bury it in a Christian cemetery." This he repeated thrice, for there is a tradition to the effect that even a proselyte from Islam may be raised a Moslem in the next life, if he is buried with Moslems in a Moslem cemetery. Mir Jawad wanted in this way to show his absolute severing of all hopes in Islam. After a prayer, he went out.
The next day was the first day of mourning for the death of Fatima, Mohammed's daughter. This mourning lasts three days and consists in huge gangs going through the streets, beating them-
selves with chains, other gangs singing weird tunes and beating their breasts while others go to other excesses of fanaticism. Shortly before noon, a man came in to tell me that he had just been down in the Rasta Bazaar, one of the most crowded places in the city, where all the gangs pass, and he had seen Mir J awad get up before the gangs and call out, "You cannot find salvation this way. Salvation comes only through Jesus Ohrist." Now it behooves me to interpose another item-for Mir Jawad has four mosques in his control and these many years he has incited men to go out ana. mourn just the custom that he now decried. A mob had collected and carried him out of the ba:zaar. Hearing this, Rabi Stephen and I set off to find him. As we got down into the bazaar and met the gangs shouting with hoarse voices and reeking with sweat, raising their arms in unison and then bringing their open palms down with heavy thuds against their bare chests, a mass of ignorant fanatics ruling supreme, I confess that I would have been scared stiff to stand up and witness for Jesus Christ-and I had nothing to lose of either goods or reputation. But this one-month-old Christian with everything 10 lose had a.courage which beggared mine.
We traced him for a way, till we found he had been taken to tho police station. They accused him of fomenting a riot and said: "Everyone says you are insane." His reply was a gem of wit and satire: "It's a strange day when I am called crazy by those who spend three days beating themselves for a woman who died thirteen hundred years ago." He was sent home under guard and confined in his own cellar for two days. Now began his trials at home, for they threatened him by confiscating all his wealth as per the rights of the law of apostasy, They would serve his food separately, washing all the dishes three times so as not to let the contamination spread-in truth it pays to be a blasphemer here for you get your dishes well washed at any rate. But these seemed to be the least 'of his worries and the first time he was free, he came to the church to see us; en route he began to speaking with some men and read them out of the New Testament.
Two police caught him, beat him with their fists-and Meer Javad enjoyed the hospitality of the jail for a day and night.
The man's absolute fearlessness has been astounding and never before in Tabriz has there been such a general surprise. He has not feared to go right up to the highest Mujtaheed or ecclesiastic in Azerbaijan, and by him was invited to sit down and talk. Mir J awad replied: "1 have not come for a social meeting, but to tell you that we Moslem leaders have fooled the people long enough and· it's time that we now teach them the truth about God. You say that you are a Moslem and that there is no higher authority than you in Azerbai-
1926J A NOTABLE CONYERSIOK FROM ISLAM
jan. Then fulfil your duty and teach the people the Koran, for I know that if they are given a chance to know what is in the Koran, they too, like me, will see that it points to Jesus Christ."
Some men in the room began to revile Mir J awad and call him names such as "Blasphemer, Heretic, Liar, etc.," and speaking to them all he said, "Let your consciences judge as to where the truth lies-in Islam with its intolerance and oppression and abundant musings or in such words as 'Blessed is the man who-sitteth not in the seat of the scornful,' and the words of Jesus, '1 say unto you, he that calleth his brother a fool is in danger of hell fire.''' The attendants at the door pushed him out.
I shall not soon forget a phrase he used in a prayer last week: "Thou hast taught us to pray, 'Give us this day our daily bread' and that satisfies us but though Thy Spirit be given us immeasurably we shall still be in need of more."
1 might multiply incidents, for to me they are fascinating. The example of courage, sincerity and consecration has worked a transformation in our feeble faith and it gives a new determination and assurance in our message of Truth. Perhaps to you it sounds like a common occurrence, for in the telling all such things lose interest, but in recording it, I feel as Luke must have felt in writing down the Acts of the Apostles, witnessing the making of the history of the power and wisdom of God.
I write all this because I am asking for your prayers. I am not losing sight of the fact that there is an equally great demand for prayer and work at home. I think the difference between your work and mine may be summed up in this way-that your responsibility is to work among individuals who are trying to destroy a good system while our job is to work to overcome a system which is destroying good people. However unequal may seem the start-one Sayyid and a few missionaries with a small handful of converts, yet never was a struggle staged which had a more certain result. Islam is breaking up. If the small group of Christians will stick sincerely to the armaments mentioned in Ephesians, the sixth chapter, it will not be long before Persia will be confessing Jesus as Lord. Pray earnestly and intelligently-that is why 1 write thus at length.
SUPPLEMENTARY LETTER OF JANUARY 4, 1926 I want you to share in our last meeting of the Week of Prayer in the Tabriz Churc]1. The topic for Saturday night was, "The duty of the Evangelical Church in Tabriz Towards Islam." The meeting was led by three men who two months ago had never made the least profession of anything but Islam. After a hymn and a prayer, I introduced the first speaker, M– M– A–, a student of theology in one of the schools in the city where they create mollahs. I had known the fellow only five days but during the meetings pre-
vious he had twice asked permission to speak, so I gave him liberty without knowing what he was going to say. Had not Mir Jawad, our fiery and untiriug witness to the truth of "life more abundant," invaded the school where this fellow was studying and there preached a sermon, we would never have known this student. But seeing the fearlessness of Mir J awad, he came around the next morning to see us and has been on the bench ever since.
M– M– A–'s talk was exactly to the point. "I haven't come here to look at the walls, or see good carpets or to see people for I can find far more elsewhere. I have come because I am searching for Salvation. If I found it in Islam I would not have needed to come here. Perhaps I shall yet find it in Islam. If so, then I shall expose the emptiness of the claims of Christianity. But if on the other hand, I find that there is proof in the lives of Christians that the teaching of Christ is true and He can vivify a dead soul, then I shall try to find in Him that same power. But it is the duty of this Church to so live that I may find living witness of that truth. For I am not a:lone. There are many who are earnest seekers after God and unless the Christians make their lives tally with their claims in Jesus, many will never take the trouble to give the New Testament a chance. .I cannot believe that God would leave His creation without guidance and power for a pure life. If Islam cannot give that to me, then perhaps Christianity can. But you must prove it before I will be willing to accept your claims."
If one of us missionaries had written his speech for him, we could not have made a more direct appeal.
Next came M- A- K-, a son of a wealthy Guron who is a 111ursheed in the city for his section. This fellow has been clamoring for baptism for a month and it has been all that Rabi Stephan and I can do to hold him back from creating a riot in our meetings by his unequivocal statements concerning the falsity of Islam and the need for Christ. He too is a student of the Sayyid, for though we knew him long before the Sayyid ever came to us, he had never evinced much courage or more than passing interest. Now he is a regular Jeremiah-nowhere near as deep and thoughtful or as dignified as the Sayyid, but nevertheless very sincere and well educated. He spoke on the condition of Christianity at the rise of Islam-its superstitions, its immorality, its ritualism and its departure from almost every essential doctrine. No wonder that Islam had then rejected it. But Islam does witness to some of its truths and by attesting to the name of "Jesus," Islam unwittingly approves of His mission, for though the Moslems do not know it, "Esa" or "Jesus," means "God is our Salvation." Whereas the Koran cbanges the names of Alexander the Great and other characters, it accepts the name "Esa," thereby recording its acceptance of His mission as a Saviour. from God. Wherefore it is high time for Christians to wake
A NOTABLE CONVERSION FROM ISLAM
up, cleanse their practices and beliefs so as to be in accordance with Jesus. When that is done, there are many in Islam who will accept Him. M- A- K- closed with reading Matthew 7, where it says, "And in that day many will say, 'Lord, Lord'-and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. He that doeth the will of my Father in Heaven-shall enter into the Kingdom."
The third speaker was Mir Jawad. When I mentioned his name and he arose in his place, there was silence such as our church rarely finds. He is tall, thin and about 35 years old, with a very dignified air, but withal he speaks in a very gentle voice and there is no blow or gush about him at all. Rabi Stephan had asked him to speak on "What I have found in Christianity that satisfies me, which was lacking in Islam." He answered, "I am willing to do that but it will only breed hatred. That placard on the wall says God Is Love and if I go about angering people, then I am no child of God."
So. he had free rein to speak as he willed. Though he has only read three. gospels and about four chapters in John (for he reads them very thoroughly and studies them slowly), he quotes very fully and a statement of the verses he employed really outline his talk. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness . . . God is a Spirit and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. . . . The Word was God (that is, Jesus Christ) . . . . Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." He closed with a simple statement, "It's my obligation to let people know the truth about the Messiah, as I have witnessed in the bazaars, in my home and in the Hijras of the principal ecclesiastics in Tabriz."
With a prayer the meeting closed. Never has my heart beat so long or so loud at a continual sitting as during the hour and a half that we were there. For three Persians to get up in a Christian church and witness as boldly before an audience of 140 people, many of whom were Moslems, is an unprecedented thing. Weare writing the Twenty-Ninth Chapter of the" Acts of the Apostles."
Just a word or two as to the reactions. Mr. Gifford says that he never had sensed such an impressive witness as the Sayyid gave. Miss Beaber wrote me, "Is it a dream1" and Mrs. Jessup said forcefully: "That man evinces a spirituality and a comprehension of the heart of Christ as very few people in America do-and of which even we missionaries often fall short."
"Ve have had to go into bigger quarters for our Friday meetings.
P. S.-8ince these letters were written, so much excitement has been stirred up in Persia over these conversions from Islam that the Persian Government has made it a matter of protest to the State Department at W·ashington. Mir Jawad has also been spirited away by his family to a village where his preaching soon had the people in commotion. Pray for these Moslems who have seen and have followed the True Light and who are persecuted for righteousness' sake; also for the missionaries in Persia and for the Persian Government and misguided religious Ieaders.-EDITOR.
Confer in
Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer's Visit to the Persian Missions O NE of the notable events in the history of missions in Persia was the All-Persia Inter-Mission Conference, held in Tehe- ran, August 1-8, 1926. From May until August Dr. and Mrs. S. M. Zwemer traveled back and forth across the country, covering more than 4,500 miles by automobile, and holding station conferences at ten centers. The culmination was a conference in Teheran, where nearly llfty British and American missionaries and Christian Persian leaders gathered to sum up the findings of other conferences and to plan for the future.
In the beautiful, newly-finished building of the American Col- Jege at Teheran, the delegates met and enjoyed intimate fellowship with the Bishop of Persia and Persian converts from Islam. British, Americans, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, and Persians ate and talked and laughed together, in spite of the heat, and there they flccomplished a remarkable amount of work in eight days.
Beginning with an inspiring address by Dr. Zwemer on leadership, a series of papers followed on such subjects as The Occupation of Persia, Cooperation, Christian Literature, Missions and the Persian Government, Islam in Persia Today, the Presentation of the Christian Message to Persian Moslems, and the Training of Missionary and Native 'Workers. Some of the most valuable papers were contributed by Persian Christians. Dr. Sa~ed Khan, a Kurd eonverted many years ago and a prominent physician of Teheran, summed up in two able papers the results of forty years of study of two of the heretical sects of Persian Islam-the Bahais and the Ahl-e Haqq. The last-named sect is so strikingly similar to Christianity in many respects that one wonders whether it was not Christian in origin and later, under the oppressive power of Islam, was forced to hide its light. The sect has perhaps a million adherents who, hitherto practically untouched by Christian missions, offer a special challenge to Christians to give them the full truth.
In considering the occupation of the field, the conference found that there are reasons for rejoicing, but that whole areas are still untouched so far as a continuous proclamation of the Gospel is concerned. The Urumia section, so terribly devastated in the war, is now slowly being rehabilitated, and missions there, once almost entirely confined to Oriental Christians, are now devoted largely to Moslems, both in city and in itineration work. For fifteen years no missionary in Urumia has learned a strictly Christian language. In Dr. Zwemer's public meetings there he spoke to a larger number of Moslems than in any other city. Baffling problems of occupation 864
1l!26 J MISSIONAlUES CONFER IN PERSIA
face the missions in trying to care for more than a thousand miles of the Persian Gulf littoral, which has long been neglected. Among the rapidly increasing population in the oil-fields of southwest Persia, no missionary is now at work. There is also a rich and populous province along the Caspian, to which only an occasional missionary tour has been made. The million or more of nomads present a special problem for settled missionary work. Among them are the Bakhtiaris, recently made famous in America in the motion picture "Grass."
Church of England and American Presbyterian missionaries, :who form the great majority of workers in Persia, stood for cooperat.ion along every line. One of the high points of the conference was a passionate appeal for the unity of the Church of Christ in Persia, THE ALL-PERSIA INTER-MISSION CONFERENCE OF 1926 greatly desired by the Persians. themselves. Upon the missionaries lies the responsibility to do nothing to prevent the consummation of this unity. The conference motto was" All One in Christ Jesus."
The neglect of the missions to provide Christian literature in the vernacular"'has been a serious loss. All the available literature consists of about seventy books and pamphlets, among which there are but three tiny books on moral problems. There is a growing Christian Church in Persia, and yet only three Christian books and four pamphlets on the spiritual life are in existence. An intermission committee is already hard at work to meet this need as fast us manuscripts and money can be provided.
Christian converts from Islam in Persia have as yet no status in Persian law, and when ecclesiastical pressure is exerted, persecution still occurs, but the Persian people are naturally courteous and tolerant, and as a result the Christian Church has made progress 3
hardly to be equalled in any other Moslem land. The conference urged the forward-looking people of Persia to work towards full religious liberty and proper rights for Ohristians.
Bahaism, which has a few converts in America, still has many adherents in Persia, but it is on the wane and no longer appeals so much either to Moslems or to Persian Jews.
Two remarkable papers were read by young Persian Christians on how best to present the Gospel to non-Ohristians. They pointed out clearly the relative places of the missionary and the native worker in this task, showing that the missionary, because of special study, often knows Islam better, but that the native knows the Moslem. They urged missionaries and PersIan Ohristians to go forward together, "hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder until the Ohurch of Ohrist stands alone."
The delegates to the conference, and the Missions which they represent, pledged themselves to a program of cooperation and aggressive evangelism so that the conference is certain to mark a new GPoch in' the building up of the Ohristian Ohurch in Persia. If the motto of the conference was Unity, its keynote was Hope, and it was with new hope and enthusiasm that those attending the conference went back to their widely-scattered stations.
W. N. WYSHAM.
ANew Enterprise in Mesopotamia BY REV. JAMES GANTINE, D.D., BAGHDAD, IRAQ .n..ANTIQUITY and Mesopotamia are two words that seem well suited to each other. Nineveh, Babylon, Ur, the Garden of Eden take our thoughts at once to this Land Between the Rivers. Old civilizations, the beginnings of the oldest arts, sciences and religions have their roots in this soil. But newness seems somewhat out of place in this so-called" Oradle of the Human Race. " And yet there are new enterprises here, and among the newest is one in mission policy. The United Mission in Mesopotamia differs, I think, from other missions in that while it is a well-rounded-out body, functioning on the field as do other missions, yet it is composed of workers from different denominations, supported by the separate Boards, and controlled by a committee chosen from the members of cooperating Boards.
Experiments in most enterprises owe their inception to the urge of necessity. It was so in this case. Mesopotamia, with all its Biblical interest, would naturally be in the thoughts of those having at heart the growth of God's Kingdom. The first American to visit this country with the missionary cause in view was the Rev. Horatio Southgate. The narrative of his journey was printed in 1840, and its preface states, "The Mission whose history is detailed in
1926J A NEW ENTERPRISE IN MESOPOTAMIA
the following papers was performed under the direction of the For- eign Committee of the Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U. S. A." This interest apparently lay dormant for nearly a hundred years, for not until within the last year or two has this Board again sent out missionaries to work at Mosul among the Assyrian refugees of the old Nestorian Church. Representatives of the English Brethren came to Mesopotamia before 1850 and la- bored faithfully for some years. Those who follow their teachings are still found among the native Christians. Later, missionaries of the Church of England, following the Shi 'ah pilgrim route from Persia, settled at Baghdad. At …. ';-' ,…… Mosul, mission work was car- ried on for years by the American Board, and again by the Presbyterian Church, U. S.
A. But the field was far re- moved from the main work of these American societies, and finally Upper Mesopotamia was given over to the Church Mis- sionary Society of England.
At the beginning of the late war this society had flourish- ing stations, largely medical, at Baghdad and Mosul.
The results of the war necessitated readjustments in the mission field in various parts of the world. All of Mesopotamia was fiercely fought over by the contending o Turkish and English armies, I and the end of the struggle found the expensive medical equipment lost or destroyed, and most of the missionaries scattered in other Arabic-speaking fields. Under these circumstances, and faced with a shortage of men and money, the British society reluctantly decided upon a complete withdrawal.
This was the condition that appealed so imperatively to those neighboring missionaries who knew the land and its people, the American Presbyterians in Persia and the American Reformed workers in Arabia. It was not new territory that might possibly be left a little longer, but a field that the Christian Church had held for dec- ades. There were small Protestant congregations in the two large cities. Here and there converts from Islam were just beginning to see the outlines of the Saviour Christ, taking form through the mists and haze of their old faith. Could these be deserted 7 Could this
land-the land of Exile, of the promise given to the children of Ishmael, the starting point of that great missionary, Abraham–could Christians see it, just beginning under a new, liberal and ambitious Government to face the future bravely, left discouraged, without an aggressive witness to Christ f "Ve who knew it best heard the words, "Give ye them to eat," and, from Persia on the east and from Arabia on the south, a missionary or two was set apart for this need. After a time the home Boards responded to the invitation to come over and help.
The three Boards now cooperating in Mesopotamia are the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., the Reformed Church in America, and the Reformed Church in the U. S. If the representatives of these three Boards can be welded together on the field into one whole, more can be added. The call of the two hundred thousand people of Baghdad and the two million followers of Islam in Mesopotamia should be heard by others than the dozen workers now there. The experience of the last two or three years has shown that men and women from different denominations can live and work together in Mesopotamia as well as in inland China. But the difference between the China Inland Mission and the United Mission in Mesopotamia may be described as the difference between an undenominational and an interdenominational mission. The latter utilizes members of the Boards of the cooperating churches, respon- Rible to them for the home administration; the funds come from the treasuries of these Boards according to an accepted ratio. This obviates an independent organization at the home base, with its expensive duplication of effort. Moreover, the work in the field is the work of each church, and has all the sanction and appeal that the past history of missions has proved to be so effective.
It is distinctly helpful to Moslem enquirers, who may have heard of, or who stumble at the many divisions in Christendom, to be told that we represent that union of believers in Christ which is the ideal to which we all look forward. It also will be helpful to us, when the happy time comes when we can see the organization of a church of Moslem converts on our field, that we shall feel no urge from home to engraft home experiences and preferences upon the stock of an indigenous church. It may be no small help to the spiritual life of the missionary that he can feel his fellow-workers in faith and prayer at home, those who know about his field, are so many and so widespread, and also that he can claim a part in that heritage of devotion, sacrifice and attainment found in the missionary history ot each of our cooperating churches. Again, we in Mesopotamia feel that we can look at the adjacent missions from which we had our beginning as parent fields, their experience of many decades at our disposal; what advantages they possess as to location and climate cordially thrown open to us for sanataria; and, what has meant so much to us, their working force to be drawn upon in time of need.
A NEW ENTERPRISE IN MESOPO'f'AMIA
This new mission ,vork in Mesopotamia is in line with, and gath- ers strength and opportunity from other new enterprises in this old land. It is in line with the new era of definite work for the Moslem world. While not denying nor neglecting opportunities thrust upon it by proximity to the various Oriental churches, and to the host of needy refugees, the aftermath of the late war, its constitution says, "The primary aim or objective of the United Mission shall be the evang'elization of Mohammedans in the ulloccupied area of Mesopo- tamia officially designated 'Iraq.''' The :[os1e111s of this area will more and more claim the love of our llew recruits, and work with and for them will more and more fill their lives. Its very position will force this to the front. 1'0 the east in Persia, mission work for Moslems is gathering definiteness and momentum. To the west, Syria and Palestine are emphasizing efforts for the non-Christian popUlation. And at the south is the aggressive work of the Arabian Mission. And northward the Republic of Turkey with its new align- ment is offering missionary opportunity only among its Moslem peoples. Mesopotamia is the very center of this wonderful birth of Christian activity, and time will show how it influences, and is influenced by it all.
Again, this new mission is advantaged by being located in the new Kingdom of Iraq, a country with its face resolutely set towards better things-a country that is enjoying a great educational awakening, having the asset of being in its formative years under the tutelage of such an experienced and sympathetic government as Great Britain; with growing commercial opportunities, and a body of young men now being' educated in England and America, who happily may guide its destinieFl into ways of peace and prosperity j and, best of all, and passing strange for a Moslem government, a constitution which guarantees liberty for missioIlRry effort and freedom for all religions. To be part and parcel of this new and wonderful land, so full of hope and promise, far outweighs all the difficulties found in a hostile climate.
But, most important of all changes for the better that the missionary sees in this field is the attitude of the Moslem to the new faith, his new vision of Jesus Christ and His claims. This is new only in the sense that it appeared only recently above the surface j but the living germ, the spreading roots are the result of many decades of faithful labor by those who have gone before. Hundreds in the mission sc11001s have seen the goodness of Ohrist reflected in the life and words of their teachers j thousands in the mission hospitals have been taught that His mercy has inspired the healing touch; countless copies of His message have been sown freely through the length and breadth of the land j the fruits of the Spirit have been seen in so many lives, far transcending anything that Islam can show. All these agencies have brought Christ to the point
where He, being lifted up as never before, is drawing men unto Himself.
A few months ago an old grey-haired Moslem called upon me in Baghdad. He explained that now he could come without fear, whereas some years before he had been imprisoned for a month by the Turks for visiting a missionary. He told me that many men of his acquaintance were looking with new understanding upon their prophet Jesus, and were beginning to compare Jesus with Mohammed. They had to agree, he said, that Mohammed was a man with like passions as themselves, doing as they themselves might have done in his day, killing his enemies and despoiling their property, living a voluptuous life with his various wives. But when it came to the prophet Jesus, they admitted that no mere man could live as He lived, without breath of sin or scandal, loving His enemies, desiring no man's goods, pure in every respect. It must be true, they said, that He was more than man, God must have been in Him as never in any other prophet.
So op all sides there are indications that Islam. unsettled in the present, dissatisfied with the past, is listening to the call of Jesus, "Follow me." To show to these open minds and anxious hearts a picture of Jesus more complete, more satisfying than that given in the Koran, is now the aim of the evangelist.
To the old missionary, this is the newest and best in all his experience-that now he may have his own sphere of effort, not dependent upon other agencies. In the olden days, government prohibition, dense ignorance, unbridled fanaticism, stood as lions in the path of the evangelist, and he was perchance content to work along the lines of least resistance, in the hospitals, the schools, and in the circulation of the Scriptures. Now he is coming into his own, and the name "preacher" is no longer kept in the background. Formerly the missionaries in Baghdad were content on a Sunday, if they could gather a few Christians for service in an inner room in their own dwelling houses. Now we have hired large public buildings and have filled them with orderly listeners to gospel addresses. Our hope is that we shall be successful in gathering twenty thousand dollars with which to erect a church and religious center that, by its very presence, will proclaim that the kingdoms of this world are becoming the kingdoms of our Christ. And so, in this old, old country, and city of the Caliphs, there are faint yet sure foreshadowings of the coming day when He that sitteth upon the throne will make all things new.
Africa-Service or Slavery?*
BY A MISSIONARY IN RHODESIA "ToMORROW I'll work in the garden again. It needs hoe- ing if we are to have any crop this year. My sickness has put us far behind." So said Msindo to his weary wife one midday as they were sitting on a mat with their three small children, eating their breakfast of mealie-meal porridge and herbs.
"Thank God you're well again," exclaimed his wife joyfully. "I thought you were going to leave us."
The barking of the dog announced the arrival of a stranger and put further conversation at an end. He was no other than a police come to call to service all who had not served in the last roll-call.
Six months away from home, leaving wife and children and gardens with little or no prospects of food, and scant payment, except with ki~ks and blows for service rendered, is not a cheerful prospect for any man, black or white.
Msindo had to go in spite of his protest that he was a sick man barely able to walk and that his wife was worn out with waiting on him and the children and hoeing the gardens. This fell on deaf ears.
"Either you or your wife go," was the only response. So Msindo went. Fortunately his strength came back so that he was able to keep up with the rest of the men on the long, hard march to the plantation at S— and in the heavy work of husking and carrying heavy sacks of corn.
Then one evening after the day's work was finished Msindo was sent out on an errand. Coming back along the narrow path in the corn-field he stooped and picked up a broken corn-cob which some picker had dropped. No crime in picking it up and munching the few remaining dry kernels! No such thought ever entered Msindo '8 mind.
" Aha! Been stealing, have you 7 You're the only one here now who has neither welts on back nor swollen ears. I'll go and report you now, " said an overseer, as Msindo entered the compound.
Msindo knew only too well what the morrow had in store for him. So with no other thought than to escape the blood-drawing cuttings of the raw-hide whip he ran away under cover of the dark- 11ess of night. On the way he became ill and some friendly people took care of him for two long and weary months while the fever raged in his worn and weary body.
In the meantime word was sent out immediately to the chief of • In 1924 Professor E. A. ROBS, from the University of Wisconsin, made an extended tour through Eastern countries studying the methods of employing labor. The following narrative fiUs In Bome details necessarily lacking in such an investigat1on. They are facts gleaned from natives who have returned fr()m their terms of service under the compulsory labor Bystem:- THE AUTHOR.
871
the district that Msindo's wife should be caught and sent to finish the term of her husband who had run away.
Hlekwasi offered no resistance for she knew it would be worse than useless. Maibase, their nearest neighbor, had not offered resistance, had told only the plain truth to the chief's son when she said: "My husband is not at home. He has gone out to buy food as our corn-bin is empty."
"You're telling lies," the chief's son replied. "You heard I was coming and you hid your husband. You'll pay for this." With that threat he roughly pushed the suckling twins out of her helpless arms, tied a stiff hide rope around her neck and beat her. Then he ordered her, in spite of the setting sun and the crying children, to accompany him to the chief's kraal, where further sentence would be WOMEN WATER CARRIERS IN RHODESIA meted out to her. She tied one twin to a visitor's back (a young girl of ten or twelve years), and the second, to her own back. .'With a silent prayer to God she led the older child, a girl of five, into the hut, and silently followed her persecutor on the long three and a half hours' march, across a river, up hill and down, through dense forests, ready to drop from exhaustion and fear, with prowling leopards on all sides, carrying the sick child on her back.
The few remaining hours of that never-to-be-forgotten night she spent shut up in a closed hut with several other women and children.
Feverishly she awaited the summons to the chief and when it came she had managed somehow to reach the required distance before dropping to her knees.
She expected to be sent out to do service on the plantations in place of her husband, but something touched the old chief's heart,
1926J FOR AFRICA-SERVICE OR
and he had sent her home with the command that she bring him a fowl as her fine.
All this passed through Hlekwasi's mind as she half-listened to their tale about her husband's crime and flight. Silently she tied their four-montllS' old child in his goat-skin on her back, giving a few incoherent orders to the ten-year-old daughter about the care of the gardens, the home, and the younger child. With a hasty glance at the children, and a silent prayer to the Almighty, she followed the police down the narrow path leading to the Administrator's quarters two days' journey away.
As the sun was setting the first day they neared a hut by the river where they stopped for the night. A 'friendly greeting came to her ears as Watch from her own neighborhood came and spoke to her. Confidently they chatted a while. He crept nearer and nearer, and when he thought all was safe he whispered, "There's a path bere to the left. Take it and follow jt all night. By morning you'll be safe. Go to C – – – and stay there."
"But 'the lions-the leopards," she whispered, trembling at the very thought of them.
"But something worse awaits you on the plantation," continued Vatch, "and six months of it. This is only one night and perhaps you may not encounter any of them."
"But the children are alone at home," she objected, "and I thought that perhaps when I tell the Magistrate he might let me go home to my children."
"Never!" exclaimed her friend. "They have no mercy, no thought for suffering children and mothers. "
Hlekwasi went into the hut provided for her night's lodginghut not to sleep. Listening, she waited for the last chatter of the police. When all seemed safe she picked up the sleeping babe, tied him securely to her back and stealthily crept out of the hut. Slowly she crept along, brushing away from hands and feet dry twigs and leaves lest the snapping and crushing of these might disturb the sleeping police. Under great difficulty she found the narrow, overgrown path and with a great sigh of relief Hlekwasi started out.
Before Watch came out of a heavy slumber the next morning it was noised about that the captive woman had made her escape during the night and that Watch had been her accomplice. Before Watch was fully awake he felt rough hands grabbing him by the arms while a storm of curses crossed the lips of his persecutors. Quick as a flash his arms were tied to a near-by tree, and the blows fell thick and fast. Then he was sent away to serve in the place of the man whose wife he had befriended.
Service or Slavery-Which Is It?
A House by a West African
13Y MRS. WALTER B. WILLIAMS,* NANAH KROO, LIBERIA, WEST AFRICA T HE Methodist Episcopal mission at Nanah Kroo, Liberia, is, "A house by the side of the road Where the race of men go by."
The little corrugated iron house stands on the top of a hill, with dense jungle to one side of it and the great Atlantic stretching to the east, south and west, but just at the foot of the knoll runs the road leading from the towns far in the southeast to the many towns in the midst of which we live. It is such a narrow road, a mere footpath of hard trodden earth, running through green cassava farms, through stretches of open country where the brown grass on either side grows higher than a man's head, through swamps, through jungle, until it is lost in the sandy bed of a river; but it is the road, the only road, and over it pass men and women and children in whom the missionary and his wife are intensely interested.
Let me tell you of some who pause to sit awhile in the house by the side of the road and take counsel.
A party of seven men and women and one of the cutest babies you will find anywhere in the world, come up the road, waving their hands and calling "do-wi" (good-morning). Their leader, a quiet, dignified man, tells us that his name is Kabo and that these friends from the town of Ka, bearing a gift of seven fowls, have cOme to bid the white man welcome and to beg him to preach in their town. A native man, passing through, has been teaching them "Godpalaver" but they want to know more, and they beg the missionary to visit them and to give them a preacher. But we have neither a man to send nor money to support one ! We sing and read God's Word and pray with these brothers and sisters who are hungering after righteousness.
Kabo confesses that he has three women and adds that he is willing to give up two of them, retaining the mother of the aforesaid "cutest" baby, if we will advise him the best way to go about it. We counsel him to tell the two women frankly that he is going to follow God and can have only one wife which will be the woman who has borne him a child; but that they can stay in the houses he has built for them and look around until they see a man they would care to have for a husband; and if the liking is mutual, he will let them go. Two weeks later we learn from another traveler on the road that one of Kabo's women has taken another husband and left, and that the .. Rev. Walter B. Wi111ams js superintendent of the Kroo MISSion, Liberia.. Of his work Rev. William F. Oldham, corresponding secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal" Church, writes us: "Mr. WaIter B. Williams who writes you from Nanah Kroo, Liberia. is a stirring and success.. ful preacher of the Gospel, and an ardent friend of the Kroos, to whom he and his wife are giving themselves unst1ntedl,.."
874 second woman is expected to do the same shortly. Kabo has given his whole heart to God; and when this woman-palaver is settled there will be a great day in the church when Kabo, his wife and baby are baptized and received as probationers.
On Christmas Day he plans to give a "big chop" to the king and chiefs of his town and pray them to let him remove his house close to the mission, in a Christian town that is being planned, for no man may leave his town to live in another, still less in a Christian settlement, without his king's consent. It is Kabo's purpose to study at the mission school and fit himself to be a preacher. How much we need men of his type! All men speak well of Kabo. They say he is a man of much physical strength and that he is extremely industrious, an element of the greatest value here, and "his mouth," they add, "never changes." Truthfulness is a kingly virtue anywhere.
Very early in the morning a party of quite another caliber passes along the road, and the missionary hails them with sadness at his heart. An old, old man, treasurer in our native Wissipo church, accompanied by his aged wife, two daughters, and other relatives, is passing into exile. A quiet, inoffensive old man, forced to begin life all over again with nothing on which to begin, no house to cover his head, and no second shirt to his back. The reason ¥ In his town a man has lain ill many weeks, and the devil doctor has charged this old man, and two women, with having "witched" him. Learning that he and two of our church girls had been accused of witchcraft and condemned to drink sasswood by the heathen town people, the missionary had crossed the river the day before to reason with the people and plead for these three lives.
Drinking sasswood is the test all over Mrica to discover witchcraft and thievery. If the victim vomits after drinking the poison, he is declared innocent, but if the poison passes from his body any other way he is judged to be guilty, and if he does not die is driven away into an exile of from seven to twelve years. There is much trickery employed in administering sasswood, and if a death is desired the victim always dies. In the present case the old man's death had been positively determined upon by the town people.
On the ground of their connection with the church, the missionary won his point and spent the thankfullest Thanksgiving Day in his experience, rejoicing over the averted tragedy. But though his life is spared, the old man must leave the town, and so he and his family pass sadly along the road. The missionary goes down to greet them -for the soldiers will not permit them to come up to the housebrings some rice and fish for them to eat along the way, accompanies the party to the seashore, kneels with them in prayer, and rising, bids the old man God-speed. And even as our old church treasurer, ripe for heaven and longing for God to send for him to come home, passes into exile, the sick man in the town behind breathes his last
THE MISSIONARY HI';VIEII' OF THr; WORLD [Noremh('r
and enters upon a stil110nger journey to that undiscovered country, all mystery and darkness to the heathen mind.
Hardly have they passed when youth, strong, vigorous, ambi- tious, presses along the road and up to the mission. Two small boys, dad only in their black skins and a pair of bracelets, present them- selves, and state that they have come to school. Bright little fellows they seem to be. There are no other boys from their town enrolled. Shall they have their chance 7 The missionary has no funds to sup- port them. Already a considerable portion of his own income is being spent in rice and fish to feed half a dozen other small.students, equally ambitious to learn "book-palaver." Memory brings up the picture of some of our neighbors, kings with snow-white hair who have said to us, "0, if we were only young again and could have the chance that our boys have!" Men from neighboring towns plead for the white man to come in and civilize them and teach them God- palaver. Big chiefs shout for joy when a boy is accepted from their town, and say, "Now our town will have a man who can read and write." The missionary turns to the" white mammy" and says, "We will take them and trust for help to be given." "Mammy" slips a shirt over each woony head, and two more boys are added to the mission family.
IJate the same night the frantic barking of the watchdog brings "mammy" to the door to see three strangers standing on the threshold. They have come after the boys who, it develops, have run away. Their heathen people need them to carry water and help fish. That boys should have an education is foolishness to them. That boys have a soul and a life to save does not enter into the question at all. The brightest boy of the two is, moreover, a slave, purchased in Monrovia. Domestic slavery is no uncommon thing in this republic, though it is against the law. The missionary pleads hard for the lads, but without avail. The men seize the boys and begin to beat them, whereupon the missionary interferes and separates them. . . . One of the boys, quick to take in the situation, jumps into the bush and hides. Unable to find him, the party finally retrace their steps along the road, the other boy hanging back with all his might from his angry mother's determined hands. But it is probably only a question of time before we shall have him again. Hunger for book learning is not easily satisfied. Later, the lost boy makes his appearance at the mission once more and is still with us.
A man from Kinicadi, far down the coast, comes next. Three years ago, when the missionary first went into his town to preach, the big men beat the war drum; and three times the white man was besought to depart lest harm should come to him from the aroused people. "No," said the missionary, "I have come to preach, and I am going to preach." So the seed was planted. Three months later the missionary came again. He noticed the women were wear-
192(j] A Hl){TS}J BY A W~~S'I' AJ<'R](,AX ROAD
ing a little more cloth to cover their bodies, and that now they carried small boxes to sit on during service instead of sitting all the dirty ground. Another three months, and he brought a native preacher and built him a house there, a gift from a Minnesota Sunday-school. A Sunday-school of 250 was organized, and the work went on with leaps and bounds. The man from Kinicadi, coming along the road, stopped to tell us that now his town has twenty young men studying at the Seminary at Cape Palmas, a higher institution of learning belonging to our church, and four more at a still higher school, and that four of their women are at school, too. This is the outcome of about $135 given by the First Church of Duluth. This man, Dixon, stayed with us for a season and has now gone home to bring back the girl who is to be his wife, to leave her for "mammy" to teach, while he, too, studies at our mission, preparing to be a preacher.
But oftenest along the road pass the forms of our two assistant preachers, Sanso and Kronyer. /1 Sanso," meaning "glad," aptly describes the man who is always and everywhere bubbling over with "joy in the Lord." He goes to and fro, visiting the people, preaching the Word, watchful over the interests of the mission, loyal to the missionary-a fine type of the kind of pastor our Methodist mission schools turn out. And Kronyer, close on to sixty years of age, without any advantages in his youth, was converted late in HIe, but is faithful to his God through many trials and tests and consumed with the desire to learn to read the Bible. "1 am an old man," he says, "too old to learn to write, but, oh, my heart is hungry to learn to read God's Word. I want to savvy it right so that I shall have some· thing to preach." So almost every day he comes along the road and up to the mission, with Bible and First Reader under his arm. He is making good progress, too.
It is great to be here, with the antidote for Africa's bane, to "Live in a house by the side of the road And be a friend to man"!
PRAYER FOR FREEDO.M FRO:M RACE PREJUDICl<j By MORNAY WILUAMS O GOD, who hast made man in thine own likeness and who dost love all whom thou hast made, suffer us not, because of difference in race, color or condition, to separate ourselves from others and thereby from thee; but teach us the unity of thy family and the universality of thy love. As thy Son, our Saviour, was born of a Hebrew mother and ministered first to his brethren of the House of Israel, but rejoiced in the faith of a Syro-Phoenician woman and of a Roman soldier, and suffered his cross to be carried by a man of Africa; teach us, also, while loving and serving our own, to enter into the communion of the whole human family; and forbid that, from pride of birth and hardness of heart, we should despise any for whom Christ died, or injure any in whom he lives. Amen!
Caste Christians in DornakaI*
"EA.CH village in my pastorate has a Christian congregation with about one hundred Christians. 'fhe Christian houses are quite apart from . . the rich Hin.du ryots, who look on our Christians, employed by these rIch Hmdus, as meUlal servants and outcasts. To touch a Christian is consider~d pollution, and if by chance a Hindu touches a Christian by accident, he will not go home unless he has a bath in a river! Our Christians depend upon these Hindus for their maintenance, doing every kind of work for them except that inside the house, which a Christian is not allowed to enter. Our people are called 'Untouchables.' If a Brahmin, the highest caste among Hindus, happened to be there, the Christian would have to be at a respectable distance, say, eight yards. Among such people, the Gospel was propagated, and it is only these poeple that embraced Christianity. If cattle are dead among the Hindus' houses, it is the business of our people to remove the dead cattle, for which they are paid, The Hindus sometimes beat our people, and even force them to work on Sundays for them. If a Christian refuse to work on Sunday, the Hindu will not employ him on Monday, and hence starvation faces these poor men. Though our people suffer bodily, yet there is a mission agent in ell-ch village to look after them spiritually. There are 1,000 Chris- tians (of whom about 300 are communicants); some of our Christian young men and women are ready for confirmation, and about 300 are catechumens.
Thus the total number of adherents in my pastorate is about 1,300.
"There is a parish council for each village presided over by the mission agent of that village. There are 'elders'-or 'headmen' of the village who help the teacher or mission agent to carry on the mission work in the village.
"I have ten teachers in my pastorate partly supported by the S. P. G.
and partly by the contributions raised by the Christians of the village among whom the teacher works and lives. The teacher of the village, though a lay- man, acts as a pastor, judge and adviser to his congJ"egation. He conducts Matins and Evensong every day in his chapel for the people; as a judge he settles up their quarrels, and punishes the culprits by levying a fine on them; as an adviser he advises the individual members of his congregation, and is responsible for the welfare of his congregation spiritually. He collects the monthly· parish contribution and Sunday offertories, and pays me all the sl1ms he receives from his parish when he comes to me at the end of the month for his monthly salary. Part of these contributions go to pay his fixed salary per month. A teacher generally gets Rs. 10 per month (13s. 4d.) just suf- ficient for his and for his family's (wife and six children) maintenance.
" A teacheJ" is a schoolmaster for the children of his Christian congrega- tion. I have ten village schools, recognized by the Government, in my pas- torate. The Government gives a school grant of Rs. 36 per annum, and more if the Inspector of Schools is satisfied with the work of the teacher. Part of this goes toward the salary of the teacher. I have 172 schoolboys and 53 schoolgirls in all the 10 schools of my pastorate.
" According to the rule of the Bishop, I have to spend forty-five nights in pastoral work per quarter … I go on walking from one village to another, spending one or two nights in every village, when I take their services- Matins and Evensong-and give sermons and exhortations, and thus return home after fifteen or sixteen days. Some Hindus mock us, laugh at us; some hear with earnestness; some persecute us, throwing dust and cow-dung at our faces. but we return home with cheerfulness.
"Please remember us in your prayers," M. D. D.
~m The M….on FieZc!. (SOCiety tor the Propagation or the Gospel.) 878
BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, 721 MUHLENBERG BLDG., PHILADELPHIA
ANIMATING A COMMUNITY NEWS CHARACTERS AN]) COSTUMES STAND NEWSDEALER-a boy or girl, man or woman dressed for business. If all the papers and magazines could speak out for themselves and CuSTOMERr—a boy or girl or man or tell who reads them we would have woman, in street attire. some interesting circulation revelations. Leaders who would like to ASSISTANTS TO NEWSDEALER-ten boys know what periodicals are being read or girls with costumes or hats labeled with in their communities may employ an name of magazines represented. Caps may be made from headings or pages.
SPECIAL REPREsENTATIVE–a boy or girl, man 01' woman, in business dress.
" Animated News Stand" to help Setting them announce a play by that title, weeks in advance of the date on which A news stand effect may be produeed, it is to be presented. with stacks of periodicals as indicated, ar- ranged on a long, narrow table, and with Make a survey of newspapers and sample periodicals hung on a wire by clips. magazines subscribed for in your church, interesting everyone in the Newsdealer stands back of counter inplay to be presented and explaining specting papers. The ten assistants ma~· that it is necessary to know what be seated out of sight on the fioor behind periodicals are in circulation in order their wares and may rise when their magato present the play. zines are mentioned; or they may all ap- pear at the beginning of the play, each standing behind his wares as a customer enters.
Make a complete list of the papers CUSTOMER; You have an unusually and magazines which come to the attractive display of papers here for various families. such a small town. I'm glad to be able to buy from you. (Looks up In a survey of this type Mrs. J. C. and down counter appraising~y.) Lewis found the following periodicals in circulation in a United Presbyte- NEWSDEADER: I'm glad to have you rian congregation in a small town; look over my stock, I'm sure. But there's nothing here I can sell you. 1,716 Daily Newspapers. Everything is reserved for my pri- 120 Weekly Newspapers. vate customers. 144 Farm Periodicals. 62 Women's Magazines. CUSTOMER; None for sale? How 21 Vocational and Miscellaneous Maga- strange l I should think you have zines. more papers here than all of the resi- 100 .Juveniles. dents of your town would purchase 200 Christian Union Heralds and Youth's in many months. Are some of your Evangelist. customers from other towns? 21 Women's Missionary Magazine. 112 The United Presbyterian.
On this factual basis she prepared a NEWSDEALER; My customers are play which presented, in a very strik- only the members of the United Presing way, the reading situation. byterian Church of this town. You With the permission of the author see here their supply of newspapers we have adapted her suggestions. and periodicals for a month. Of They may be further adapted to meet course in addition to the papers and the situation in various cities or com- magazines for which they subscribe munities. regularly they purchase occasionally 879
'rHE MlSStONARY REVIEW OF THE
from other stands and many families CUSTOMER: Indeed, the women of exchange with each other, but you see your church must be well read. What on my stand a month's supply of the have you here? papers and periodicals for which they subscribe in advance. FARM JOURNALS: Farm journals. Nearly all the members of this little CUSTOMER: What stacks of news· church live on farms or were reared papers! on farms. They enjoy farm papers. I have the National Stockman and NEWSBOY: They're mine. See what Parmer, The Farm Joutnal and The stacks of them I deliver every morn- Gottntry Gentleman. My subscriping and evening. I handle six dailies, tions amount to $3.25 a month.
three from Pittsburgh, two from CUSTOMER: I'm very much inter- Washington and one from New York. ested in your news stand. It's most Almost every family in the church unusual. (Looks at stack of misceltakes a daily. Some of them take laneous magazines,) What comes two or three. I deliver the Clayville next? Weekly, too. About half of them take that. I collect $420 a year for news- MISCELLANEOUS MAGAZINES: I'm in papers alone. Right here I have $35 charge of a rather miscellaneous colinvested in one month's supply. lection. There are a few dnplicates here. I carry some vocational maga- CUSTOMER: I never thought before zines, one for a dentist, another for how many daily papers are read in a school teachers. All together not more little town' and how much they cost. than $2.00 a month is spent in my department. They're only two or three cents apiece you know and one never thinks of CUSTOMER: It's most interesting to how fast two and three cents count see the varied assortment you have. up. (Looking at a stack of maga- (Turning to stack of children's Sun· zines). What a stack of magazines day-school papers.) Ah, here is sompyou have here. What are they? thing different. What's this ~ FAMILY MAGAZINES: I'm in charge SUNDAy-SCHOOL PAPER: I repre- of family magazines-the ones the sent the little weekly Sunday-school paper for the children. They get whole family read, you know. I have tbese every Sunday. The children fifteen periodicals here. Different love. them and sometimes the whole families take different magazines but family read them. I find that the Pathfinder and The American are favorites, with the Lit- NEWSDEALER: J:Iy customers pay erary Digest and the Youth's Companion as close seconds. About half less than a dollar a month for juveof my magazines are weeklies and the nile literature in their homes. We rest are monthlies. My month'8 sup- try to do our best by giving each child plies for the people of this church a free copy of Olive Plants every Sun- day_ I wish I could get the parents amount to $15.00. CUSTOMER: You may well take to subscribe for more children's mag- azines. What children read has so pride in your stock. What come,; much to do with making them what next on vour stand f they are and what they are going to NEWSDEALER: I run an animated be. 'I.'here aren't many good maga- zines for children. news stand, you know. My periodicals speak for themselves. Nods to CUSTOMER: Have you seen this VlToman's Magazines. one? (Takes copy of "Everyland" from bag or brief case.) It'8 a sample WOMAN'S MAGAZINES: I come next. copy I picked up at a convention. I'm in charge of all the women '8 mag- It's the best thing I've seen for boys azines. Here's the Ladies' Home and girls. Journal and Good Housekeeping, The Woman's Home Companion, The NEWSDEALER: Let me get that ad· Farmer's Wife and McCall's. Sixty dollars a year are invested in me. dress. I must have that for my news My month's supplies are worth $5.00. stand. I'll get some sample copies
1926j BEST METHODS
and tell the people about it. (Writes It has been renorted as very unique address in notebook.) and complete but I am told it is sadly CUSTOMER: What's the big stack lacking in one particular.
here~ NEWSDEALER: My news stand lack- CHURCH PAPER: I'm the weekly ing! It's the best news stand in the church paper, The United Presbyte- country. In what particular is it 1·ian. The papers in my stack are sec- lacking~ ond to none. I cannot boast, like the SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE: General newsboy, that every family takes a missionary information. (Opens bag COP)', but I can say that nearly half or pa,ckage and takes O?tt copy of of the families in the church sub- " Everyland.") Now here is a maga- scribe now for The United Presby- zine you should arrange to send into terian and read it. That means that every home where there is a boy or a they know what their church is doing girl.
and ought to do. Every week I fur- CUSTOMER: The very magazine I nish good reading for the entire fam- was showing you. (Special represent- ily and bring inspiration as well as ative tUI'ns pages and calls attention information into the homes to which to features.) I'd like to subscribe to I go. Some day perhaps the daily that for my children.
papers will be smaller and less ex- NEWSDEALER: I'll take your order pensive and we can learn to live with- if you want me to. I'm going to add out spending so much money to read that magazine to my stock. Anything of crime and scandal. Then we shall more~ have more time for reading of worth- S P E CI AL REPRESENTATIVE: Yes, while accomplishments. there '8 THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF CUSTOMER: I'm sure your paper THE WORLD. Your news stand can't must be most valuable. I've heard be complete without that. One trouble for a long time your church gives with so many churches is that they more per capita for missions than know only the work of their denomi- any other Protestant church in Amer- nation. (Turns pages .o{ ,REVIEW, ica. I suppose one explanation of ralling attention to different fea- your large gifts is that you are on tures.) the job with a good weekly chnrch NEWSDEALER: Perhaps'l have neg- paper. What's this magazine? lected that side of my customers'
WOMEN'S MISSIONARY lL1GAZINE: reading. I have been supplying them Evidently you're not a United Pres- with what they ask for and they have byterian or you'd recognize me at a been so well satisfied that I didn't glance. I'm the best magazine to be think or going any farther. Now if found for $1.00 a year. There are you can leave with me a few sample sixty families in our church. Twentv- copies of that magazine I'll tell my one of them are my subscribers. . I customers about it when they come to really should go into every family. get their other papers and see "What's home without a mothed" whether they will subscribe.
and "What's a mother without a mis- CUSTOMER: I wish you'd put down sionary magazine ~ " Right beside me my subscription to begin with. is the Junior Missional-y magazine. (Dealer makes note.) Only three families subscribe for it. Isn't it strange how people will feed SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE: I have their children up on candy and all two other magazines I'd like to show you. (Takes out copies of "The Insorts of things and yet will not g-et ternationa,l Review of Missio'ns" and them anything worth while to read ~ "The Moslem World" and displays them, calling attention to special fea- Enter Special Representative who tures. ) You will not likely find many addresses newsdealer.
SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE: Mes- people who will subscribe for these but sages of your unusual news stand if you get even one subscriber you have travelled around the country. will be elevating not only your news 4
stand but your community. You have lated in her own mind she discussed them with a number of the leading a very :fine news stand here. members and presented them to the pastor and the official board. Pre- NEWSDEALER: Thank you. Weare vious attempts had been fostered by a small committee. Now if it was to be proud of our news stand. Our people made a church-wide affair it seemed logical that the official board should are not rich. They have very moder- cooperate. This they agreed to do and also to bear any expense incurred ate incomes, but they spend $800 a in advertising. They appointed one of their number to be especially reyear for periodicals or about $75 a sponsible for securing the attendance of the men. That was the next probmonth. Of course only about $85 a lem-how to get the people to come. year of that amount goes for religious While it is not the policv of the church to feed the people to get them periodicals. Now I see that even with to attend services, yet experience had proven that people who work find it that small amount I have sadly neg- a real task to finish their evening meal in time to get to a seven o'clock lected the side of general missionary service-especially those who live at a distance from the church. information. I'll get all my agents It was decided therefore to serve busy and the next time you come this supper. If whole families were to come it was necessary to keep the way you'll see a well-balanced news price down to the minimum. Another stand. Dayton church had been successful with 10c suppers. It was decided we Customer savs good-bye and goes out. would try serving 10c suppers.
Newsdealer cairs his ten assistants and Thirty-six women and girls (six for each evening), agreed to prepare amI sends them out through the audience with serve the supper with a charge of s.,uwbwscorifpttihoen blanks for The Missionary Re- only ten cents for each guest. World and Everyland. He may Six classes were decided unon ; ask for subscriptions to the International Three for adults-Bible, Present-Day Problems and Missions; two for Review and the Moslem morld. young people-Missions and Life Problems j and one for children- As the ten assistants to the newsdealer Missions.
return to their places behind the stand they The Dayton churches are highly favored by being near the denominamay summon several children in costume tional headquarters, so the very best material is available for teachers. of various lands to add to their force to The leaders of groups were all lead- ers in the denomination and the represent Everyland and some one in inter- classes were very successful. It may be said, however, that there are pernational costume for the Missionary Re- sons in every congregation who could lead such classes. Splendid helps are view of the World. Other magazines may available at church headquarters which anyone with average intellibe suggestively costumed. gence can use.
Mrs. Lewis's suggestions may be adapted The next step was advertising. The matter was talked over and anin various ways to present and improve the periodical circulation and reading situation in a church.
CAN IT BE DONE?
REPORTED BY FLORENCE C. CLJPPliNGER This is the question which confronted a few of the "missionary minded" people of Euclid Avenue United Brethren Church in Dayton, Ohio, in the spring of 1926. A church night program had been attempted several times with varying de,.grees of success, but it had never been made a real church-wide affair.
Finally the chairman of the missionary committee in the Sunday school, with a rather scientific turn of mind determined to put the matter to a real test. She wanted to ascertain whether there was any truth in the statement of some people that conditions at Euclid Avenue were altogether different from those at other places where Church Night was very successful.
After certain plans were formu-
BEST METHODS
nounced in the bulletin several weeks Aiftults Average in advance. Large posters were A tteltdaMe made and displayed inside and outside the church. A tentative pro- Bible-' , Ephesians' , 15 Missions-' , Peasant Pioneers" 12 Present-Day Problems-A differ- gram was multigraphed and passed ent speaker each evening includ- out to the congregation with the sug- ing the mayor of the city and gestion that the members check the the postmaster. 55 class they preferred and return the Young People slip so that arrangements could be completed. Later the real program "What Shall I Do With My Life" 13 was printed with a perforated slip at the bottom which was to be checked, , 'Religion and the Girlhood of signed and returned, indicating registration for classes and whether or Other Lands" 19 not the individual would be present Children , 'Trips to E,very Land" 33 7: 45 Devotional Services 99 YES, IT CAN BE DONE!
for supper. Then all was in readi- A HOUSE OF REST ness.
The highest hope of anyone for the "I 'have never had such a restfUl first night was 100 in attendance. time." When the C(JUnt was made it was dis- "The most restful house I have covered that there were 127 present ever known."
and the attendance increased, making "I have had the first restful vacathe average for the six Wednesday tion for years."
nights 147. While this may not "Our family has never been able seem a large number for a congrega- to be together on furlough before." tion of over 1,000 members yet it was -Quotations from missionaries from various so far in advance of anything ever lands. WhO have 11ved in ·'Tbe House of Rest."
accomplished before that the results In the lovely city of Pasadena, Calwere quite gratifying. Words of ifornia, there is a handsome residence, highest praise were heard on all sides centrally located, which has in its concerning the work of the different hallway a bronze tablet telling that classes. Surely some seeds were sown which will result in materially "This House of Rest is erected by extending Christ's Kingdom on earth. David P. Gamble, .Mary H. Gamble for their friends, the missionaries." The ten cent charge for suppers more than paid the expense incurred Every missionary family knows the for the food and they were not light problems of the furlough. A place lunches but real dinners. Many ar- to live during the furlough year is ticles of food were donated and many one of the greatest of them. To find paid more than IDe for their meal so an apartment with a large dining that there was a final balance of. room, bedroom, kitchen, bath and $10.35. This was used to buy small porch, beautifully furnished; to gifts for each of the teachers-all know that there are trunk rooms, busy people who had sacrificed a storeroom! reception room, laundry, great deal of time and effort to do the sewing room, a refrigeration plant for everybody in the house and beauwork. tiful verandahs overlooking a lovely Following is the program and the lawn which evidences skilful land- average attendance: scape gardening; to be assured that CHURCII NIGHT five people can live comfortably in the apartment, that a crib is avail- Euclid Ave. U. B. Church ;0 able and that all the neighbors will February 10th and each Wednesday night for six weeks. be glad to know that you have a baby-this is joy unspeakable for the 6: l5-8upper for all who attend classes, furloughed missionary. Cafeterias lOco and restaurants are near by, if you 7: OO-Discussion Groups.
do not wish to prepare all your own proach are provided into the homes meals. and families of the community. There As you look at the lovely apartments, furnished in such good taste, are 476 families on the visiting list, you may begin to think of the size of your monthly check until you are and in 52 of these families systematic assured. instruction is given from the New "The rent? Oh, the rent is nomi- Testament. nal. A large part of the running expenses are provided by an endow- The director is the tireless center of ment." all the activities. Her enthusiasm "The House of Rest" with its eight apartments has been open now for and cheer and high purpose are innearly three years. It has been a most valuable addition to the best fectious. She believes in the Bible, methods department of the Presby- and at every group meeting a Bible terian Church by bringing cheer and rest to many tired missionaries. All story is told, or other religious inmissionaries on furlough with their families, also Y. W. C. A. and Y. M. struction is given. During the sum- C. A. secretaries are eligible as House of Rest residents. mer 50 children were sent to the In different sections of the country Bethany Metropolitan Camp, and the there are individuals or couples wh'o could establish similar Houses of girls have already formed a Bethany Rest which would prove an investment bearing far richer returns than Club to continue the Christian influrenting agencies can report. ences which they received there. WINNING THE JEWS Nor do these Jewish young folks In the Brownsville section of Brooklyn there is a little corner store think only of themselves. The Sunknown as the East New York NeiQ'h- day school is helping an Indian boy borhood House. There is nothing attractive in its appearance. But about to go to school in the far West and it gathers a wealth of romance. one of the clubs has been making Scattered about are some Polish and Italian families, but the population scrap books for the Indian children is predominantly ,Jewish. of the Tuberculosis Hospital of Tuc- The Neighborhood House has discovered a way to reach into these son, Arizona. homes and to touch these .Tewish To understand the meaning of it lives. There is nothing. spectacular in the method. It is simply the way all you should hear the director tell of love and understanding. The win- of some of her boys and girls who ning factor is consecrated personality. Clubs and classes of various have gone out and taken positions of kinds are the means of contact, love Christian leadership. Let her tell does the rest. you of the members of the "Ala- The Boys and Girls Scout Troops, the Star Club, the Boys' Club and bama" and other gangs, who have other groups afford a way of getting acquainted with scores of young peo- come under the spell of Christ. To ple. Through them channels of ap- go with her into scores of homes would be a revelation of how Christ, through the lives of His' disciples, can win His way into Jewish homes and hearts. J. S. C.
THE HOLIDAY DOLLAR A special gift of at least a dime on each of the great holidays is a plan proposed in rhyme by Miss Olivia Lawrence, of the Woman's Board of the Reformed Church in America- thankofferings on January 1, Febru- ary 12, 'February 22, May 30, July 4, Labor Day, October 12, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, Your own Birthday.
Such an extra holiday dGllar of- fered with praise for the national and personal blessings of those days, and prayer for the nations and peoples of earth would mean a great advance.
Woman's Home Mission
EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK DAY OF PRAYER FOR MISSIONS Literature for Women and Children March 4, 1927 in Mission }<'ields and E'arm and Once again the Day of Prayer for Cannery Migrants.
Missions draws near. Every year NEW AMERICANS sees a wider fellowship of believing women drawn into this united prayer From the report of the Committee of the for missions throughout the whole Home Missions Council Q,nd Council of women wide earth. This year for the first for Home Missions, Thomas BurgeBs~ Chairtime it becomes in reality and in name 'lnan. a World Day of Prayer. Missionaries are already planning to celebrate the Significant progress by home misday in every mission land, and women sion boards has been made in enlarged of many nations are being drawn near service to our foreign-born neighbors, to each other as they draw near to the New Americans. Most of the God. boards have departments or special- ists for the promotion of church The Council of Women for Home work among ,immigrants-Christian Missions and the Federation of service and evangelism. Woman's Boards of Foreign Missions have made careful plans for the Collectively, the boards, through day through the work of a joint com- the two Councils, have carried on the mittee. A cycle of prayer has been Bureau of Reference for Migrating prepared to be used during the People: the welcoming of strangersmonths and weeks immediately pre- newly-arrived immigrants-following ceding the Day of Prayer. We shall them to their destination, and putget out of this day not more than we ting them in touch with Christian American friends and churches of their choice.
put into it. If it is prayerfully Bureau of Reference for Migrating planned for by the local groups its People blessings may be carried through the How the Councils Have Made It Poswhole year. It is hoped that the purpose for sible /01' Local Chul'ches to which it has been established may be Welcome Strangers steadily held in mind. It is a Day The growth of the Bureau has been of Prayer for Missions and for mis- extraordinary; during 1925 it in- sionaries throughout the world. No creased over 100%. "Welcoming addresses, or songs or exercises should Strangers," a leaflet recently off the be admitted to the observance that do press, tells the human side of the not contribute directly to its main work. It defines the Bureau as "a purpose. Neither should its scope be chain of contacts which reaches from broadened too much; it is a Day of the smallest church in the old coun- Prayer for home and foreign mis- try across intervening oceans into the sions. new homeland, providing a welcome It has been interesting to note for the newcomer to the church of his choice in the community where he through the years a steady growth in proposes to locate." the size of the offering that is made on that day toward the approved in- The organization of the Bureau is ternational and interdenominational comparatively simple. It involves a projects: Women's Union Christian part-time worker at Ellis Island and Colleges in Foreign Fields, Christian ~ecretaries in the offices in New York.
885
In addition, it involves cooperation Distribution by Religious D'enominatwn of pastors to whom names of Protes- Denominations Served ………….. 12 tant immigrants are sent, as well as Baptist Methodist Congregational Presbyterian church federations and church offi- Disciples Reformed Episcopal Orthodox· Armenian cials in every state in the Union. Evangelical Lutheran Greek Their cooperation is vital, as they are Russian the ones who are informed by mail of the arrival of the "stranger" and asked to serve him by' personal visita- Responsibility of Protestant Churches tion, providing a welcome and a fel- Immigration Year Ending .June 30, 1925 lowship in the local church. From European countries …….. 148,000 From dominant Protestant countries 108,(}OO The number of cooperating chap- From dominant Protestant countries 73% lains and port secretaries of other agencies in Europe has been in- Oanada creased and the bonds of working re- The importance of cooperation with Canadian churches is emphasized by lationships in interchange of names the fact that out of the 294,000 im- migrants who came into the United have been strengthened. One third States during the past :fiscal year, 102,000 came by way of Canada. of the number of names now received The Department of the Stranger of for distribution by the Bureau comes each denomination in Canada has sec- retaries in each local church to whom direct from Europe as advance no- are sent notices of newly-arrived im- migrants, and whose duty it is to see tices of immigration. that these immigrants are met and put in touch with the church and peo- In 1925' there was steady growth, ple of their denomination. This is the same as our system with the immonth by month, in number of cases portant addition that cards and work clear through lay secretaries as well referred by the Bureau. Our respon- as clergy in every place, and that it is working effi!ectively everywhere. sibility as Protestants is great since, All churches in Canada are thor- oughly alive to and enthusiastic over according to government immigration the work of welcoming the stranger.
figures for the current year, 73% of In addition to this the Department of the Stranger, through local secreour present immigration comes from taries and central offices, attends to all removals from one parish to anpredominantly Protestant countries other. These are not immigrants but in Europe. simply church people moving from one place to another within Canada. Growth of Work Thus it is that the tremendous waste caused by moving and not following 1924 19f!!5 Inorease up that is found in the United States, is effectively eliminated througnout Cases :referred to Canada.
churches ……… 5,284 11,098 112,% Elli. Island 1924 19f!!5 The work of our Bureau is closely articulated with welfare work on the .Jauuary ………… ,…… 129 450 Island. A joint meeting of welfare workers at Ellis Island, and officials February .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 719 386 of thirty-three religious and philan.
March ……………….. 524 862 April ………………… 369 1,262 May …………………. 365 975 ,Tune ………………… 331 902 .Tuly …………………. 117 563 August ……………….. 259 707 September ……….. :….. 524 1,040 October ………………. 953 1,206 November …………….. 526 1.420 December ……………. " 468 1,325 5,284 11,098 Cla••"ificatwn by ?'-utwnality Served Nationalities involved …………… 32 Armenian French 'Poiish Austrian German Roumanian Belgian Greek Russian British Isles Hungarian Serbian Croatian .Ta panese Spanish Czech J,ithuanian Swedish Danish Maltese Swiss Dutch Magyar Syrian Esthonian Norwegian Turk Finnish Persian
iO:!6] WOM…N 'S HmIE )lISSION BULLETIN
thropic agencies which they repre- while preaching Chril;ltian brothersented, passed the following: hood we practice it as our Lord did to all men. In churches where this Jiellolveil, That a~ representativ~8 of or- simple fundamental Christian method has been tried, results have been truly ganizations whose mterests and mfluences wonderful.
extend to the limits of Olll' country, and RELIGIOUS BOOKS FOR BLIND wa hihc!ht~dthorofugwhelcthoemewealnfadre workers, extend From the report of the Committee on Re- ministry to the ligious Privileges for the Blind of the Home Missions CouDell and Council of Women for many strangers who come to ~~ke their Home Miissions, Irene Haislip, Chairman.
home with us we express, by I'lsmg vote. The work of this Committee for the past year has been very satisfactory our great appreciation of the splendid and encouraging.
improvements that have thus far been ef- Last June the Chairman was sent fected * * * for the comfort of incoming to the Biennial Convention of the Na- tional Association of Workers for the immigrants. Blind which met at Hudson, Ohio. Much helpful information was gotten tioFnuarlthcehr~ngIets is our conviction that addi- and the report of the work of this urged by the Commissioner Committee was enthusiastically re- ceived. It was the first time in the should be made possible by the Govern- 22 years of its existence that any re- ligious work had been presented to ment at an early date these to include fire- the Association.
proof dock structure, better water supply, We are rejoiced to announce that our Braille book, Dr. George Mathe- Jvainddingextfeonrsiomn~diacnadl especially the plan pro- son's "Day Unto Day," has been examination of immi- published and the hundred copies were placed before they were off the grants at the ports of departure_ press. Many appreciative letters have been received from the blind and Bibliography on Immigration workers among the blind and we are now considering getting out another A brief annotated bibliography on edition. We also hope in the near Immigration and Assimiliation of our future to publish other books. This, Foreign-Born for c.hurch workers and of course, will depend largely upon leaders has been prepared, mimeo- the generosity of individuals and graphed copies of which can be se- Boards interested in this work. cured from the Councils. On Thanksgiving Day, Miss Lydia Attention is also called to the Hayes, the blind member of the Com- "Handbook-Bibliography of Foreign mittee, told of the work we are trying Language Groups in the United States to do at a union meeting of all the and Canada," compiled by Miss AmJ- churches in Nutley, N. J., and later Blanche Greene and published by the Miss Hayes was presented with some- Council of Women for Home :lris- what over $100 for our work. sions and the Missionary Education Movement. This highly commended As has been the case all along, so it and exhaustive book, invaluable for is now. We need funds with which all who come in contact with foreign- to carryon the work. 'Ve commend born, can be ordered fro!J1 the Coun- this work to you and ask that you cil of Women for Home Missions, 156 pray for it and contribute, if pos- Fifth Avenue, New York City, price sible. ,. $1.50, cloth; $1.25, paper. • Contributions may be sent to Counon of Christianizing Our Churches WOIll.8Il for Home Missions, 156 Firth Avenue, New York City. The fundamental which alone can make efl'ective the fulfillment of our duty to New Americans is the practice of Christian fellowship toward the stranger. The great need is to persuade people everywhere to practice Christianity, simply by expressing the spirit of goodwill and neighborliness to strangers about them. We cannot expect New Americans to come to our churcheS, to accept in any way our advances, to have any confidence in our sincerity, unless
Woman's Foreign Mission
EDITED BY ELLA D. MACL.WRIN, 25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY CHRISTIAN COLLEGES FOR and a few fathers were willing to let WOMEN IN ASIA their daughters attend lectures at As in Europe so in the Orient the men's colleges. The academic success term "student" is reserved for those of most of these students began to dis- who are carrying on their education pel the idea that women were as such beyond school age, and who have al- incapable of understanding the higher ready matriculated at some univer- studies and of passing the same ex- sity. It is only in the last twenty aminations as men. We must greatly years that Oriental women have de- honor the achievement of these pioneer served this term, as, in addition to a women who, underwent great exer- widespread disbelief in the capacity tions with few alleviations and en- of women for university studies, so- joyments, and thus paved the way for cial custom iii. the Orient enjoined their younger sisters to move on to marriage at an age too early to allow happier thing-s.
a girl to continue her studies be- In the twentieth century the num- yond her very early years. Even to ber of women students and gradu- educate girls at all seemed to many ates became sufficiently large to cause impossible, to most unnecessary, and serious tllOUght on the part of mis- to some injurious. Occasionally some sionaries. These academic women were learned father might educate a much- of immense importance a}!d influence.
loved daughter, but the acceptance of ]l.10st of them were Christian, and women's education as an ordinary their value in church work and in fact in national life is a l)rocess still mission schooL'i was beginning to be in its initial stages. It had its rise felt. 'l'he idea of women's colleges in the 19th century and is the fruit of sprang up in several places. But the Christian missions. Not only has the expense seemed prohibitive and the Church raised the age of marriage for number of specialist teaehers required Christian girls, thereby gaining for for. the staff seemed unattainable. The them the time and health for higher teachers must all be university honor education, but it has also opened the graduates themselves and no mission gate of learning to them by establish- could devote the few such women jng girls' schools in all its fields of which it possessed to the instruction work. Last year Ceylon celebrated of a handful of matriculated girls.
the centenary of the first girls' school Two or three missions made efforts of in Asia, the Uduvil school in Taffra, this sort and added college classes to which is the work of the American one or two of their chief high schools, Congregational Mission. but in hardly any case could they Women's colleges, however, are the carryon the work beyond the govern- fruit of the present century and, con- ment examination which comes as a sidering all the many obstacles that test at the end of the second year. beset their origin, it is amazing that The complete course of four years even the small group of tbem which which is required of "first-grade col- now exists has come into being at all. leges, " and the absolute separation All the objections raised against the from school which is so necessary for education of women in general were the academic dignity and standing of urged with ten-fold strength against a college seemed impossible.
their university education. But some The remedy was found where the girls strangely desired it, the univer- remedy for many missionary prob- sity authorities were not against it, lems may yet be found-in combina- 888 tion and union. What no one mission varied types of thought and action.
could afford to do, several missions Nothing is so uniting as a common in cooperation might accomplish. task, and in carrying on the work of And so in the last fifteen years Union union colleges we learn to give and Christian Colleges for women have to receive, and to realize how much sprung up in India, China and J a- greater than our differences is our pan, and have attained a success far unity of purpose and our community beyond the expectation of their of resource.
founders. The first response was an Seven of such union colleges have immediate increase in the number of become widely known in America by girls sent to the colleges. Parents means of the magnificent efforts made saw many of their misgivings re- in the years 1920-1923 to collect named when they found that their funds of two million dollars for their daughters would be taught by women aid. The seven are the following: and with women, and would be lodged (1) Woman '8 Christian College, 'I'okyo, in buildings where every care would Japan.
be taken of their health and where (2) Yenching College, Peking, China. their teachers would live with them. (3) Ginling College, Nanking, China. The girls themselves also were eager (4) Women's Medical School, Shantnng in their' desire to go on with their VniversHy, TsinllJl, China. (5) Isabella Thoburn College, Lucknow, studies in places where they could India. have the peace and safety of the (6) Woman's ,Christian College, Madras, boarding school combined with greater freedom or more manifold ac- India. (7) Women's Medical School, Vellore, In- dia.
tivity. The missions also before long The splendid generosity of those could welcome to the staff of their who contributed to that great enterhigh schools teachers of the same lan- prise has provided the seven colleges guage and race as their pupils, aca- with what was lacking in the way of demically fit for their work and land, building and equipment, though moulded by the valuable training de- all seven are sorely in need of endowrived from life in a residential col- ment in order to use the gifts belege. stowed upon them to the best advan- tage. And there are a few other The advantages of union in such colleges which in 1920 did not come missionary work are many. Not only under the definition of a "Union is the expense which would be too Christian College for Women" but great for one mission lessened by be- ing shared, but it is a positive gain which may justly claim that appellathat different types of Christian tion now, notably the Kinnaird Col- thought and different habits of devo- lege at Lahore and the Ludhiana tion should make their varying con- School of Medicine, which are both in tributions. It is indeed most unde- the Punjab. Nor is it at all doubtful sirable that" our unhappy divisions" that other colleges will very soon be should be perpetuated in the mission needed for the increasing number of field, and yet each sect has arisen applicants. India, for instance, has from a zeal for clearer truth or between three and four hundred mil- greater devotion, and the deep prob- lions of inhabitants, of whom half are lems represented by the seclusions of women, and it is clear that three or the Church of Christ cannot be four colleges will not suffice for them.
lightly dismissed as unimportant. Nor can the needs of Japan be met by The way to union is not negation but one college. The very success of the affirmation, and by wanted recogni- first Oriental colleges ror women in- tion of positive contributions made by sures their multiplication.
those who differ from one anoth!'r. The aim of these colleges is frankly The United Church of Christ will Chdstian. The purpose of each is to tindroom for all. the: richp.essof strengthen both intensively a~dex-
tensively the Church of Christ in the NEW ASSOCIATE MEMBER OF THE land in which that college is placed, and thus to aid the Church in its EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE great task of bringing that land to the feet of Christ. All other aims It is a great pleasure to present to are secondary to this. A missionary the constituency of the Federation of Woman's Boards of 'Foreign Missions college regards all truth as a revela- our new Associate Member, Dame tion of God and every student as a Rachel Crowdy, Executive Secretary seeker after truth. It believes that of the League of Nations Social Servthe Christian cause has everything to ice Department. Dame Rachel is COIlgain and nothing to lose by the widest sidered one of the ablest and most diffusion of knowledge, that igno- outstanding women of Europe. She rance, prejudice and apathy are its has accomplished a piece of work on great enemies, and that the nation to behalf of women and children un- paralleled in the history of social service. It was a great event when she visited America in June and asked especially to meet the ITission- ary women of North America. Her appeal was so irresistible that we pledged our cooperation and made her an asscciate member of our Ex- ecutive Committee. We hope to have a letter from her for our readers in the near future.
You will be interested in remem- bering this remarkable woman in your daily Quiet Hour. She feels keenly tbat the Christian women of the world are most responsible for the making of a new world in which justice shall prevail.
IMPORTANT CONFERENCE COMING DAME RACHAEL CROWDI The National Student Conference of the Council of Chridian Associa- tions at Milwaukee, Wisconsin December 28, 19,'26 to January 1, 1927 which the college ministers has much Consider the significance of the folto contribute to the world's store of lowing topics for discussion: thought and knowledge and much light to shed on the Divine truth of Theme–" CHRISTIANITY-THE WAY the Gospel. Its work is to remove barriers, to release hidden energies, OUT FOR THE LIFE OF TODAY." to make windows for the light and to draw the attention of the thoughtful 1. How Far Does Contemporary Religion to the claims of Christ" in whom are R<lsemble the Life of Jesus~ hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' , 2. Are We Mechanical Toys or Children of Godf ELEANOR McDOUGALL, President Woman's Christian College, Mad- 3. What Happens to Race Barriers and ras, India,. Economic Imperialism if We Believe That God Is LoveT 4. Qm Human Nature Be Changed' If So, How'
5. On What Terll)s is Life Achievable'
FROM l1IANY
LATIN AMERICA statesmanship. He is destined to be Summer Institute in Cuba in the forefront of leadership in the F OR two weeks in June the Presby- republic. The Indian has stayed close terian and Friends pastors, to the soil and has gathered strength teachers and other church workers from his simple environment for his held their Summer Institute in Car- task. "
denas, Cuba, the center of the Presbyterian educational work. "This Stone-Throwing in Costa Rica S Institute, " says The American HORTLY before his recent death, the late Rev. W. F. Jordan, of Friend, "had an added interest in that the Government is increasing its the American Bible Society, wrote of demands for better-prepared teachers the conversions which had been tak- in all the private schools. Fortunately, ing place in Costa Rica, and con- while motivated to some extent by tinued: "But the enemy has not similar conditions that exist in been idle. 'From publishing insults Mexico, there is no evidence that it in their paper, such as saying, 'The is in any wayan antireligious move- Protestant periodical is very good ment." This year, classes were held paper, good to make fires with,' the by four representatives of the priests have proceeded to advise bodily National University from Havana violence to the students. The out- and the public school system, and an come of this was seen when a band expert normal teacher from Amster- of students were in a near-by town, dam, N. Y. where they had arranged a special service. They were set upon and as· Power of MexicaD Indians saulted by a group of people. Sticks REV. PAUL E. BAKER, chaplain and stones were used. Some women of Fisk University, who has reo standing by urged on the men, one cently visited Mexico, is quoted as of whom struck one of the students follows in The Christian Advocate: repeated blows on the head until the "It i!' significant that the Indian blood flowed. Later a service was people are coming forward in the new held, when some who had thrown stones lisj;ened quietly to the GospeL" regime. The strength of the old em- pire is being revived. Of the thirteen million people in Mexico, three mil- Image Crowned in Costa. Rica lion are Indians. This number, if OVER a century ago the Govern.
given a chance, can make a wonderful ment of Costa Rica installed contribution to the life of the reo "the Virgin de los Angeles," a stone public. The Indian is not of mixed image about five inches high, as the blood. The characteristics of many patron saint of the country. A recent races do not fight within his per· ceremony is described as follows by a sonality. He has poise, spiritual writer in the Latin American Evan- power, artistic strength, character, gelist:" Costa Rica, in a great out- intellectual capacity. When he is burst of loyalty and devotion to the given the advantage of education and Queen of Heaven, has just crowned culture, he will be a great power in her image with a splendor and pomp Mexican life. Those who are bring· not hitherto seen in this land of pov· ing him forward show vision and true erty that walks barefoot. Every 891
queen must have a crown and so they the masses, in a sense of solidarity got her a gold one, encrusted with with the masses, and in a deman~ for precious stones valued at $20,000…. a square deal for all." "With this The occasion was a great one and the new idealism," reports Mr. Ewald, priests professed themselves highly "there is coming an awakening of inpleased with the whole performance. terest in religion. This has not yet They had been feeling somewhat con- affected any considerable number, but cerned about the decadence of their it has already influenced a sufficient religion, for today 'the Protestant number of the leading intellectuals heretics' dare to open their churches, and choicest spirits to warrant the and build their Bible Institutes, and belief that a well-directed effort just apparently, the people are willing." now might turn this tide of idealism Christ-ward.' , Ecuador "Humanly Impregnable" A Brazilian Town Made Over REV. A. C. SNEAD, Foreign Secretary of the Christian and H OW the town of Tatuamunha, in Missionary Alliance, writes of Ecua- eastern Brazil, has been transdor: "I have been in eight South formed is told by Rev. John lfein, a American republics during the last Baptist missionary. He writes; year and can say with a certainty "The church decided to build a place that this is the most difficult field on of worship, and the missionary recthis continent. There is nothing com- ommended a Christian bricklayer parable with the central region of who had been tried out elsewhere. Ecuador in fanaticism, priest-craft ·With his coming a new day dawned and heart-breaking irresponsiveness. for the town. His good work on the ]Ian after man, gifted with hopeful- building attracted many. As a result ness and courage, has collided with property owners became asllamed of this humanly impregnable wall and their dilapidated buildings, and in fallen back broken in spirit and consequence the town is experiencing physical health ….. Among the ques- a material transformation. The bricktions which confront the Mission is layer preached the Gospel by his whether the policy of establishing faithfulness as a skilled workman as stations among the Quichua-speaking well as by word of mouth. He has Indians out in the villages of the since fixed over the houses of several country districts shall be continued who were the worst enemies of the or whether the work can be more ef- Gospel, and others are awaiting the fectively done by concentrating the touch of his hand. This young major effort in reaching them through church, as yet only four years old, stations in the larger cities." alread;y: enjoys the distinction of having four of its sons studying for South America and the Y. M. C. A. the ministry and two of its daughters preparing for Christian service." I T IS the opinion of Charles J. Ewald, after a long period of care- Brazilian Mission to· Portugal ful study on the ground, that South Ameri')a offers to the Y. M. C. A. an T HE little body of faithful Chrisunprecedented opportunity for re- tians who make up St. John's ligious service. There is a remarkable Church in Rio de Janeiro have sent tide of idealistic passion now running Rev. Hyppolito de Campos to spend among the studen~s of the Latin six months in preaching the Gospel American republics. This, he says, in Portugal. He was for twenty-six has brought a" demand for greater years a Roman Catholic priest, and earnestness and reality and an inter- was sent by his bishop to drive the est in great vital issues. It is seen in early missionaries out of the city of the growing interest on the part of the Juiz de Fora and to break up their young!?!.' intell~ctuals in the welfare of work. One result. of his encounter.
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
with the Protestant missionaries was touches"–electric lights and steam his conversion. Later he began to heat-and explains as follows how it preach and served a number of came to be erected: ' 'The Moslem churc3es. Institute is the child of an alliance of religious tolerance signed in 1767 Five years ago" when nearly between Louis XV, and Sultan Moseventy years of age, he began wider hammed bin Abdullah. In 1895, tl1e evangelistb service- and has had a re- Prench 'Comite de l' Afrique' bemarkable ministry. Various denomi- gan to advocate this treaty to the nations have been making use of him letter. In 1920 the Briand Governin their Churches. He conducted a ment voted to the newly created series of evangelistic services in St. ,Moslem Institute a preliminary credit John's Church, Rio, that attracted many and led souls to Christ. The of 500,000 francs and the city of Paris brethren there conceived the idea of ceded the ground. Morocco followed raising the necessary amount of suit with a subscription of three milmoney to send him on an evangelistic lion francs. Later all of Moslem tour through PortugaL Just beforc Africa and also the French public he embarked a special farewell meet- subscribed and more than enough was ing was held at St. John's. The house obtained to complete the mosque, the was packed; friends of all denomina- minaret, subsidiary buildings and the tions turned out to bid him Godspeed. gardens."
EUROPE German Missionary Societies Livingstone Memorial in Scotland T HE Rhenish Mission reports that between the years 1914 and 1920 THE plan to purchase and make a there was no diminution in the num- national memorial of the house ber of mission stations, nor of the at Blantyre on the Clydc where European workers in the mission David Livingstone was born, which fields and that the number of Chriswas described in the May REVIEW, is tians increased from 231,000 to 308,- evidently making progress, for at- 000. The real difficulties appeared tention is being called to it in from 1920 to 192:'), when the number American newspapers. An editorial of mission stations decreased 'from in the New Y m'k Times on October 1]7 to 74 and the European workers 1st, after paying tribute to the serv- from 224 to 115. Even then the numices rendered by Livingstone to ber of Christians increased from science and geography, as well as to 308,000 to 361,000, or 40 per cent. his devotion to humanity) says: The income from the home con- stituency is only 65 per cent of the Whether the monument at Chitambo, amount received before the War, but where Livingstone died, or the memorial to this speaks well for the zeal of the him iu Westminster Abbey is the more friends of the society in hard times. moving, who shall say' A committee which includes Field Marshal Haig, Ramsay Mac· The Orient Mission of Potsdam, Donald, Sir .T. M. Barrie and .Tohn Buchan whose founder (Dr. Lepsius) died last proposes to acquire the house at Blantyre February, has changed its name to in which Livingstone was born and convert "Dr. Lepsius Deutsche Orient Misit into a museum for personal relics of the sion. " Dr. Bernhard Lepsius, the explorer. The cost will be £12,000. Con· brother of the former president, has tributions from Livingstone's admirers in been elected to this office. The misother countries will be gladly received. sion which is thirty years old, and was destroyed by the War is being rebuilt, Origin of the Paris Mosque first by the care of the orphans and the liberation of Christians who had THE dedication in July of an become prisoners of the Moham- elaborate mosque in Paris was medans during the terrible persecudescribed in the October REVIEW, The Moslem Outlook, published in South Africa, gives a detailed description of the building, including "the modern
tions and banishment, and who there that the consumption of alcohol in became Mohammedan. The society Germany decreased during the war, has already liberated from captivity but since then has leaped to un- two hundred such Christians. precedented heights; the German The German Institute for Medical republic even in its reduced size now Mi.ssions expects to send out eight having a drink bill of three billion medical missionaries during the pres- marks a year, nearly 2,500 marks per ent year, three to East Africa, one family, more than the maximum an- each to As~man, Nubia, Sumatra and nuities stipulated in the Dawes China and one to either Borneo or reparations plan. The Drys in Ger- China. many present the petition on economic as well as moral grounds and have Help tor European Churches aroused tremendous sentiment, many T HE Administrative Committee of members of the Reichstag aiding in the Federal Council of Churches the drive. There are twenty-seven has recommended that Reformation women members of the lower house of Day, October 31st, be widely observed the national legislative body, all this year and that the occasion be Dry. "
used for the purpose of securing financial aid for the relief of the Jews in Eastern Europe A churches in .Europe. Although eco- BOUT half the Jews in the world live in the eastern part of the nomic conditions in Europe generally have considerably improved, there are European continent. Post-war events still many places where the situation have thrust them into an economic is very acute, for instance, the collapse of the franc has brought real dis- and social pass possibly as disastrous tress to the French pastors and other as anything in the entire troubled Christian workers whose salary is ap- history of Jewry. The Russian proximately 6,000 franes a .year, revolution abolished the occupations which with the present rate of ex- which were almost their entire liveli- hood. The present economic "nearchange, amounts to about $160. The collapse" of Poland has fallen with Central Bureau for Relief of the great weight upon the Jews, so that ninety-five per cent or them are Evangelical Churches of Europe, with estimated to be unemployed. Kindred headquarters at Zurich is, however, difficulties have befallen othel' Eastern not confining itself to a relief pro- European Jewish popUlations. The gram. In particular, the Bureau is burden of keeping this vast populacooperating in the matter of develop- tion alive has fallen almost entirely ing a new leadership. Scholarships upon the American Jews. They have are furnished to likely theological contributed about $100,000,000 since the war through organizations, and students to enable them to study probably as -much more through perabroad and funds are now being sonal gifts sent across to friends and sought for a number of fellowships for study in America.
GermalUl A.k tor Local Option relatives. This achievement stands as one of the most remarkable gener- FIFTEEN million Germans have osities on record. The current appeal signed a petition to the Reichstag for $25,000,000 bids fair to be fully praying for local option in their met. The response has been such as country. The Christian Intelli- to move many non-Jews to give.
gencer, which states that this report Striking gifts have been that of $100,- has been received by the American 000 from the Rockefeller Foundation W. C. T. U., continues: "The drive and a subscription from Cardinal for signers to the local option petition Hayes. The money is being used most is the largest ever conducted in efficiently in establishing the Jews in Europe. The petition pointed out agricultural and other new occupa-
NEWS FROM MANy LANDS
tions with very gratifying results.- have already been much used in help- American Friend. ing others."
AFRICA A Congo Leader in Earnest M T The NUe Mission Press HE evangelistic work of the ANY interesting facts are to be Southern Methodist Church at found in the twenty-first annual Minga, in the Belgian Congo, shows report of this institution which has encouraging growth along various rendered such inestimable service in lines. Rev. C. C. Bush writes: "The carrying the Gospel to Moslems. self-management and self-support be- While more of its publications are gun last year have now reached self- used in Egypt than in any other propagation under the leadership of single country, they are to be found the wonderful native preacher and in thirty different lands. The Director executive, Nganjolo. He understand~ of the Press, Arthur T. Upson, says: the people of his own race and tells "A year ago we had 530 separate the chiefs to their faces that they Arabic publications, but now the cannot make him meaningless prom- number is over 570. All of these are ises as they do the white people. If in Arabic, with the exception of a a chief does not provide a parsonage few English translations from the and a church shed, Nganjolo will not Arabic; a:nd all are religious, not allow that village to have a preacher.
merely educational. …… In 1923 we If the people do not attend the ser- circulated 160,000 copies and in 1924 vices and contribute toward the sup- 340,233 whereas in 1925 the number port of the Gospel, he moves the was 357,056, without counting the preacher to a more responsive village.
consignment of portionettes which It does not take long for the preach- had been sent to adjoining countries. ers, the chiefs, and the people to see These figures take no account of the that he is in real earnest about the united colporteurs of the Nile Valley; King's business."
these faithful men sold 33,547 vol- umes as compared with 30,009 the Aniut Summer School year before." T HE United Presbyterian Mission in Egypt conducted a school for Egyptians as EvangeliMts teachers during two weeks in August.
REV. W. fJ. McCLENAHAN, of A. A. Thompson writes: "Taking the the United Presbyterian Church, group of one hundred teachers, it after pointing out some of the diffi- would be difficult to match the culties of missionary work in Egypt, splendid spirit of earnestness, ap- which he says" is growing no easier, " preciation, and good fellowship which continues: "It is a great cause for was manifested throughout. The rejoicing that young men are coming teachers came from a wide area; forward for the evangelization of from Alexandria, Ismailia, on the their Mohammedan countrymen, and north, to Luxor, and even Khartoum, at their own charges. Two of our on the south. There were 50 schools party this year have been Egyptian represented, having a total enrollment young men that have simply poured of over 7,000 pupils. There were 43 out their lives in carrying the gospel women and 60 men teachers enrolled.
to the people. Among others that Last year the total enrollment (our give promise of great service is a cer- first attempt to conduct such a school: tain assistant-stationmaster of the was 45-seven women and 38 men.
state railways in Upper Egypt. He The daily program began with Bible and his wife. were brought to the study, which was followed by the Lord, without any special human in- presentation of school subjects. Each strumentality, and a few years ago, forenoon a period was given for the in a small town in the Delta. They discussion of some school problem.
The evenings were set aside for lec- the same time as the heathen cere- tures of general interest. One night monies were in progress, and the the life of David Livingstone was unique sight of evangelistic meetings presented by means of slides." cheek by jowl with the celebration of ancient heathen rites will long be re- A GUt from a Heathen Headman membered as the outstanding event THE story of a pile of five-franc of the year. The immediate result of bills laid on her table by her house the campaign was an addition of over steward is thus told by Mrs. Gayle C. a hundred converts to the Church, Beanland, of Yaounde, in the Camer- and a tremendous spirit of enthusiasm oon, West Africa: "His brother is among the church members them- selves. Services were held at villages an evangelist in the town of a big where the chief and people' had headman. The latter's mother was a publicly declared that they would not Christian and a member of our }Jave the Gospel preached, and the re- sult is that there is a large open door Church. She died, and when they for the preaemng of the Gospel to went to bury her, according to Bulu people who, though not more than custom, they filled the grave with cloths, headdresses, and other articles fifty miles from Kuruman, have never that the spirit might have use for in the spirit world. The evangelist was heard the good news of salvation bea boy of strong, convictions, evidently, fore. "
for when he saw what they were doing, he went to the headman and told Ivory COlUlt MlUIs Mcvement V him that that was not a custom that ARIOUS references have been made, in the religious press to a Christians should follow, and that if he had gifts to give to the dead, he remarkable mass movement toward should give them in money that could Christianity among the natives of the be used for the carrying on of God'K French Ivory Coast, begun in 1914 work, and not be buried with the by a native of Liberia named Harris.
body. The headman, who is a heathen, He baptized many thousands of so respected his dead mother, as well , people, and when he went away left as the Christian evangelist, that he English Bibll's among them, saying took all the things out of the grave, that missionaries would come later to gave his mother a Christian burial, teach them, In 1924, says Rev, W.
had hymns sung and prayers offered, J. Platt, in The Bible in the World, and theJl gave the evangelist seventy 30,000 people were found, still wait- francs that he might send to the ing. The large unread Bibles had white missionary- to be used in the beeome almost a kind of fetish among carrying on of God's work." them. Four missionaries, three Afri- can ministers, and thirty-five cate- KThe Church Meets Heathenism chists drafted from other French URUMAN, South Africa, has ,Vest African mission fields, are now been a station of the London at work organizing and enlightening Missionary Society since 1818. An the hundred and fifty churches they evangelistic campaign recently un- lead, unlocking the hidden treasure dertaken by the church there is thus which those Bibles contain. One described by A. F. Jennings: "It hundred young men are in training was decided to make a united attack as emergency catechists at Dabou on the heathen centers in the Gamo- Bible School, right in the heart of pedi area, where there had occurred the mass movement area.
a strong outbreak of heatlienism.
The effect of the Church's impact on A Last Letter from Da.n Cra.wford D heathenism was tremendous, and ATED less than a month before the death of this famous misstirred the village people to the very depths. The campaign took place at sionary, a "Bush Telegram," as he
1926l NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
called it, tells of a river trip during who are just as smart as they are, which some Christians, hailed in a dress just as well, and are chosen by passing canoe, brought some greatly their recognized leaders for places of needed food to his party. He said: responsibility such as teachers, then "It was an intense joy and a relief temptation finds its way very strongly to us, not only for the sake of the to the hearts of our boys and they actual help and food but because we think, 'What is the use of all this 'minority' Christians in the canoe had resistance? Let '8 go the easy way.' put such public faith in their word All his life the native has gone the of promise because they were Chris- way of least resistance and nothing tians, while the men with us (not short of real baptism with the Holy Christians) said with a sniff that we Ghost and fire is going to give him might as well push off at daylight and character enough to fight the good get on as far as possible before the fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life heat, as the strangers (the Chris- and be faithful to the end." tians !) no! they were not likely to come to our assistance. Yes, depend An African Church Letter upon it, this example of practical Christianity has made much more E],WRY J. REES, a representative impression on our pagan paddlers in East Africa of the American than all our preaching. In fact, all Friends Board of Foreign Missions, along this river these outsiders saw who is now on furlough, recently rethat we have had love and help only ceived from his field a letter, which, from Christians and but for the as translated, reads: Christians I don't know (I cannot think!) what we would have done. It Sir: Greet for us the Elders of the church has been a most terrible journey." together with all of the church who enabled you (missionaries) to arrive in our country "The Easy Way" for AfricaJls to take away the darkness from our eyes. Tell them we were following the road that MR. AND MRS. CONOVER, of the goes into deep darkness, but now because American Friends' Mission in of your love and your giving we have been Kitosh, Kenya Colony, write as fol- turned back to follow the path that leads to lows of the problems which their life and to God the Almighty One. We native Christians have to face: "They thank you very much. are being confronted daily with the questions of smoking, drinking and Tell them we are still as nursing children, plurality of 'wives. Just over the for we were thinking to have the whole borders from our station there are Book of God, and now we have received only other schools which allow their mem- one part through the work of Bwana ReeB; bership to practice these things and there remains still another part. We are yet remain in good standing in their wondering what we shall do! Yon our community. And not only that, but fathers, please conBider together this word. their people are aggressive in trying to destroy our standard by saying to We of the Maragoli Church, onr people: 'Weare better Christians than you are, for we have been By JOEL! LITU AND JAIllO MWOLE. baptized and you have not. (The Friends of course do not practice THE NEAR EAST baptism) Come on over to us where you can be free.' There is no mistake Hundreds Rescued from Harems about it, the idea of plurality of wives appeals to the native mind, and our MISS K: JEPPE, an English best Christian boys are only a step woman is chief of the commisabove heathenism in many of their sion sent by the League of Nations to practices. When they see other boys Syria to rescue Christian women from Moslem harems. She reports that the 5 rescue work, with headquarters at Aleppo, was begun four years ago and that so far 1,400 young women, chiefly Armenian Christians, have been saved from the harems into which they had been sold when quite young by their captors or had been stolen for domes- tic slaves. Among these girls, 228
found their parents on being liberated here, and inquiry having been made and were welcomed home. Many of into Hashim Bey's antecedents, it was the rescued girls married Armenians found that he was educated at an after obtaining their liberty. The American college in Constantinople, League has provided funds to last but is a Persian and not a Turkish until the end of 1927, and it is hoped subject. Meanwhile the Constan- that by that time the majority, if not tinople Vilayet has decided to hold all, of the harem girls will have been an inquiry into the activities of the freed. Miss J eppe has received every American Young Men's Christian As- assistance from the French author- sociation, which has been established ities, headed by General Weygand. here since the armistice. It is in- sinuated that the Association is con- Palestine under British Rule ducting propaganda with the object PALESTINE today is 'an enormous of inducing the Moslems to change triumph either for Arab docility, their faith, and the authorities state Jewish common ~ sense, or British that if this is moved the Y. 1L C. A. prestige-it is hard to tell which. will be immediately closed."
Perhaps for all three. This is the opinion of the editor of the Presby- Robert College Enrolment R terian Banner, who goes on to say: OBERT College, Constantinople, has an enrolment this year of "The situation in Palestine is just as difficult as the situation in Syria. 690, the largest in its history.
Palestine is a section of the old Ot- Twenty-two nationalities are repre- toman Empire, peopled largely by sented. Nearly half the total are ·Arabs with nationalist aspirations, Turks, and there are large contingents under British mandatory controL It of Armenians, Bulgarians, Greeks, is a hotbed of religious trouble. It Albanians and Russians. One hun- has no defensible natural frontiers. dred students have enrolled in the It has been a traditional seat of war- engineering schooL Thirty are study- fare for generations. And further, ing at the expense of the Turkish intense and bitter antagonism between Government. Among the students are Jew and Arab has naturally resulted Hairi, younger brother of Ismet from the formation in Palestine of Pasha, the son of the Russian Com- the Zionist national home for Jewish mercial Attache and sons of the peoples. Yet, despite a situation of Governor of Constantinople, and other extraordinary complexity, Palestine officials. A report from Constan- is healthy, the people are thriving, tinople College for Women states that and the country is quiet. Palestine is 400 students haye registered there.
ruled by an iron hand, so far as the British are concerned. But the only School Question in Iraq armor of that hand is prestige. " AN ENGLISH prieflt in lrosnl dis- cnsses this subject in Annals, a Turks Question Y. M. C. A. Delegate Romanist paper, and deplores the A SPECIAL cable from Constan- fact that there are no schools of that tinople to the New York Times, faith in Mesopotamia. He says: "To dated September 28th, read as fol- our shame we Catholics have to admit lows: "Hussein Hashim Bey, while that our Nestorian compatriots do not representing Turkey, made a speech send ~ one of their children to the at the recent International Young Moslem schools. Financed by Protes- Men's Christian Association Congress tant alms from England and America, at Helsingfors wherein he admitted they manage their schools themselves, being converted to Christianity, add- and jealously guard their religious ing that all young Turks would liberty. It is only our Catholic chil- shortly declare themselves Christians. dren who are given unreservedly to The speech aroused much emotion the Islamic authorities."
KEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Another aspect of the question, with past the prime of life, who were still which readers of the REVIEW are glad to call themselves Christian more familiar, is to be found in the Endeavorers. The group consisted encouraging reports which come from both of young and old, for here we Baghdad of the schools conducted have never made the distinction. The there for both boys and girls by the fact is that India has no young United lIission of the American people. It has children and married Presbyterian and Reformed Churches. folks, but there are really no young In the boys' school the number of people's societies such as we have in .Jews, Protestants and Mohammedans America. Girls are married in their is approximately equal, and many teens and young men frequently be- haye had to be turned away. come Christian workers at eighteen years of age. One result of this is Stirrings Among Moslem.. that those who have served the mis- BISHOP LINTON of Persia, a C. sion from forty to fifty years are still M. S. Missionary writes in the members of the Christian Endeavor London Diocesan Magazine: "What Society and use it as a means of means the sale of thousands of por- training the children under their tions of scripture in this land 1 Why care."
is it that when I called on a mullah he produced a Bible from under the Y. M. C. A. in Indian Villages cushion on which he was reclining1 D S. HATCH, an American Y. Why does the driver of a post wagon, • 11. C. A. man, reports from when I asked to have prayer every .Martandum, "way down in the south morning before starting, produce of rrravancore, practically at the very from his satchel a portion, of the ~tip end of India," where a rural Scriptures? Why does a sayid come demonstration center is conducted by and confess his faith to me in private two Indian secretaries: "The area and say that it is because he has hun- in which the villages around Mardreds 'of relatiyes among the Ulema tandum are situated," says Mr. that he can not confess it publicly? Hatch, "is one of the poorest in the. Why can we, with hardly any effort, state. The land is hilly, unimproved, get a thousand Moslems to come to generally not very fertile, and not hear the preaching of the Gospel on capable of rich production as are the Cheistmas Day or Good Friday 1 lower wet lands. Tilling the soil and Why do Persian men sit with tears run~ing down their faces as they climbing palmyra trees for juice to make toddy and joggery syrup are hear the story of the Cross 1" In the main occupations. Both these Isfahan, the city where a few years leave the men idle at least four ago no christian was permitted to months of the year. Our secretaries live, the Bishop recently counted 450 have given attention to about twenty men on their side of the. curtain village Y. M. C. A. 's, which have which runs down the middle of the honorary, unpaid workers. They church, and on the women's side the have organized, nurtured, and guided crowd was even greater. An over- thirty cooperative credit societies. flow service held 300 to 400 more and They have demonstrated the keeping the doors had to be closed for lack of pure-bred poultry, methods of of room. gardening, bee-keeping, boys I work INDIA, SIAM AND MALAYSIA and scouting, and the use of the drama No "Young People" in India in education. A weaving school and two night schools, one English and AMISSIONARY in Madura, South one Tamil, are conducted. A library India, in describing a Christian is maintained. Two cooperative bee- Endeavor rally, says: "One interest- keepers' associations have been ing group was composed of men well formed. The various cooperative
societies have settled many disputes sufficient when we came up against by arbitration." human nature that sometimes had no desire to improve and even !,ose up in Wo:men Legislators Proposed opposition. "
I T IS reported that the Bombay and Non-Christian Wo:men Students Madras Legislative Councils will shortly consider and probably accept I SABELLA THOBURN College in resolutions in favor of removing the Lucknow, India, has this year 155 disqualification of women to become students, the largest in its history members of these Councils. Recent since the separation of the college orders of the Government of India from the school at Lal Bagh. One permit the removal of the disqualifica- feature that arrests attention is the tion in any province where the change very rapid growth of the body of is sanctioned by the Legislative Coun- Hindu and Mohammedan students. cils. "India," says The Indian Wit- There are now forty of these nonness, "has already produced a number Christian students, "yet we are not of women members of municipal sure" says The Indian Witness, "that boa]'ds also a few women magistrates 'non-Christian' can fairly be applied and lawyers. There are in the country to all of them for some have been many women who could render dis- mightily influenced by Christ and He tinguished service as legislative coun- has become a very potent factor in cillors. We hope that the voters of their thought and spIritual life. A Madras and Bombay Presidencies few years ago there were only three will soon be given and will quickly or four Hindu and Mohammedan students. The forty of this year afaccept tae opportunity to show the ford evidence of a remarkable change taking place in the attitude of world that Indian women when freed educated members of these communifrom the accursed purdah system are ties toward the rights and privileges as capable of rendering public service of the young women in their homes." in legislative halls as are the women of any other country."
A BrahDlin Teacher's Need Mosle:ms in an Indian Hospital ABRAHMIN graduate recently AT DERA ISMAIL KHAN, in the came to a village in Coimbatore Punjab, India, on the borders of district, South India, as magistrate, ·Waziristan, a mission hospital is to take up the office of his grand- maintained by the Church Missionary father in fulfilment of a vow to dedi- Society, and though the smallest hoscate his life to the uplift of the village pital on the northwest frontier, it exof his ancestors. An English Con- erts an influence over a wide area, gregational missionary says of him: affecting considerably the great closed "Highly educated and a former land of Waziristan. The nurse writes teacher in Dr. Rabindranath Tagore's of a recent incident: "One day an school, an intense admirer of Sadhu Afridi asked me this question: 'Why Sundar Singh, he told me that with does the doctor cure that man's blindthe torch of truth and the power of ness when he knows he is a robberT' education he was going to change the I looked around the ward; in it was whole village. He was earnest in his truly a mixed company. Here a desire and hard-working in his Mahsud (probably a brigand), there English classes, his vernacular lec- a fakir, not far away· a mullah (he tures, and hymn-singing processions had seven disciples with him), besides round the village. He was evidently men of the ordinary peasant class, self-confident, t,oo. I did not want and as my interrogator said, 'all behim to become disappointed too soon, ing treated as one.' It was an opporso reminded him that intellectual tunity quickly grasped to point out truth and education alone were not how our Lord and Master came to save
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
all. That mullah's son has a school Government encourages liberated in Waziristan, and has taken back slaves to remain in their own districts with him a complete Bible in his own and to undertake service on a basis language. ' , of free contract.
"Sadni-ji" in the Hospital CHINA DR. ELIZABETH G. LEWIS, the A Buddhist Priest's Confession surgeon in charge of the Presby- A LETTER from Rev. Alex. Saunterian Hospital at Ambala, in the Yangdcehros~, C. 1. M. missionary in Punjab, India, gives this vivid picture Kiangsu Province, tells of an Indian evangelist: "A sadni is a woman who gives up all home at- how those present at a certain regular tachments and becomes a wandering religious mendicant. Our Sadni-ji is service for believers" were thrown ina Christian and her face proves it, so to much wonderment when, at the bright and full of smiles. Health too is there and the vigor of a strong time for voluntary prayer, a man clad woman of fifty. In her hand is a kadli whose gay rhythmic jingle ac- in the garb of a Buddhist priest rose, and, from a heart unmistakably sincompanies her singing. She appeared cere, poured forth a prayer such as just as we were about to begin morn-. ing prayers and at once took charge, might have come from the pulpit instanding in the midst of the patients stead of the pew; but the climax was who were seated about her on the floor. '0, my dear sisters,' she said. reached when the evangelist came , Jesus does not want your money or your bangles or your fine saris. He forward and asked me to change the wants your hearts.' …. Later Sadni- closing hymn for one chosen by the ji went from bed to bed, talking and singing as she went." priest as his own public testimony.
The hymn selected was 'Just as I am, without one plea.' He was a priest of no mean ability according to the heathen standard, and had brought to the temple no small gain by acting as a medium, but he had already told the head of the temple of his renuncia- Slavery in Burma Stin tion of every false way and of his intention to abandon priest-life, and T HE press reports, on which was based the announcement in the that day he had decided to take the May REVIEW of the liberation by the great step."
British Government of about 4,000 OpiUDl Survey of China slaves in the Hukawng Valley in T HE International .Anti-Opium As- Burma, gave the impression that sociation has headquarters in slavery had thus been completely Peking, and Dr. W. H. G. .Aspland is eradicated from that portion of the its General Secretary. He has recent- British Empire. The London Chris- ly completed the annual opium surtian now announces a similar expedi- vey of China for the League of tion to the region between two rivers, Nations and the China Year Book. which unite to form the river Ir- Opium is now grown to the neglect of rawaddy.' This territory, though not cereals. The smoking habit is almost so extensive as the Hukawng Valley, as widespread as in 1907. is more densely populated, and the number of slaves to' be liberated will Coeducation in West China be greater. The Triangle (as the area is named locally) has also for many M ISS ALICE B. BRETHORST, a years been the refuge of absconding Methodist missionary, writes of criminals from British territory, and the first girl students in the West the opportunity may be taken to China Union University in Chengtu, bring a number of them to justice for Szechwan Province, a union institu- offences committed in the past. The tion supported by Canadian Method-
ists, Anglieans and Friends from icans. It has two branches operating England, Baptists and Methodists in rented quarters, one of which, it from the United States. She savs: is hoped, will soon have a modern "On September 8, 1924, eight flne home. It owns an athletic field of young women, registered on the same fonr acres at the edge of the city. terms as the men students, became the The attendance at Bible classes first class of women ever to be ad- reached 37,065 for the year. mitted to a school of higher learning in all of West China with its popula- Burning the Kitchen God tion of 75,000,000 people. Custom required that these girls be chaper- MISS Gillard, of Shaoking, Chekioned wherever they went-to their ang Province, tells the followclasses, to the laboratory, to the li- ing story in the Church Missionary brary, when they went for walks or Gleaner: "One woman said that she attended the religious services at the wanted an inquirer's card and she chapel. They are all fine Christian took down her kitchen god, which was girls and though their liberties had to pasted on the brickwork of her stove, be very much restricted they helped as a preliminary. Alas, before the their dean in every way to make the day for receiving the card came, her first year of coeducation a success. husband missed the god and insisted Five of th~m are preparing to be high on its being put back, and she, cowerschool teachers, two hope to go into ing beneath his wrath, ordered her social service work and one is taking little girl to take it from a drawer the pre-medical course." where she had placed it instead of burning it outright, and give it to her Y. M. c. A. Branches in Shanghai .father. The kitchen god went up again, and the inquirer's card was I N ADDITION to the twelve stu- withheld from the woman until this dent Associations in various edu- obstacle could be removed from the cational institutions in the City of home. This was the cause of special Shanghai, the Y. M. C. A. has a Navy prayer being made for that housebranch with a $350,000 building; a hold, prayer which is being answered.. branch for other Americans, British A few Sundays ago the husband, who and Europeans, which now has in forme,rly had been very bigoted, carhand the funds for a building, the ried their one-year-old baby boy to foundations for which are now being church twice for his wife, and himself laid; a Japanese branch with 500 attended the services. The woman members; and a Chinese Association. has again taken down the paper god, The laflt-named has just completed and burned it this time, and says that twenty-six years' service to the young come what may she will never put one men of this community. It has in its up again." central building a membership of 3,000, representing all provinces and Heathen Give to Church all religions, but directed by the 500 who are members of Christian REV. EDWARD H. SMITH, of the churches, operating through a board American Board, writes in the of directors of fifteen Chinese busi- Missionary Hemld of a little Chinese ness men and a large number of com- village which has subscribed $800 for mitte'lmen and other volunteer work- a Christian school and community ers. Its program for the community center in connection with the new centers in a men's and a boys' build- chapel built four years ago, and coning (:entral1y located but not mod- tinues: "Six years ago the Chrisern. It has a budget equal to U. S. tians subscribed liberally and were $80,000 . per year, all secured in able to raise about three hundred dol- Shanghai in fees and contributions. lars for their new chapel. Today the Its secretarial staff now numbers Church has come to a place where it twenty-three Chinese and two Amer- can call on the heathen community
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
for support and be heard. The faith- tainly was the happiest Sunday we ful upright living of an educated have spent in China. The Lord grant ministry fast coming into leadership that many more like it be reserved in the life of the community; the suf- for the future."
ferings of the people in these years of civil war and the oppression and Sehool Needs in Mukden cruelty practiced even by their own MISSIONARIES in Manchuria, as neighbors and relatives make the in China proper, realize, with Church to stand out as unique, the the development of goverl1ment minister of mercy, compassion, and schools along modern lines, that, if loving service. The leadership of the the Christian Church is to hold her Church in education; the outstand- youth, she must have schools that give ing work of the Christian community an adequate education, and further, in social service and moral reform that a sound Christian education under the leadership of the Y. M. C. scheme will attract the children of A.; these and their surrounding con- non-Christian parents, and thus ditions have given the Church in prove, as in the past, a valuable evan- China today her commanding posi- gelistic instrument. The Mission tion. We who have labored to bring Council and the Chinese Church are some of these things to pass against alive to the situation. A Christian discouraging conditions know how to Education Board has been established rejoice and thank God for them. to care for the Christian educational China has not been altogether won needs of Manchuria. Provision is beyet, but there have been victories ing made for primary imd middle enough to cheer and gladden the most scheols and for college education. hardened pessimist." But in Mukden, the center of the edu- cational work, there is no proper First Converts in One Mission school for boys. At present a school T HE Christian Reformed Church is being carried on in some Chinese sent its first missionaries to China buildings adjoining the Chinese in 1920. Rev. H. A. Dy_kstra wrote church. These are entirely inadeas follows from Jukao last November: quate and, in any case, are needed "The great event of the past two by the church for' its own activities. months has been the baptism of our The lack of an adequate scho'ol is very three first converts. These men had seriously hampering the work of the been receiving instruction for the past missionaries, and impairing their inyear or longer. Most of this instruct- fluence, they feel. The eagerness of ing was done by our Chinese helpers the Chinese for such a building is at the beginning and later by Rev. shown by the fact that they have al- De Korne and myself. A committee ready subscribed nearly $3,000 gold.
of the Mission examined these men and was gratifled with their knowl- Two Aspeets of Islam in China. T edge of God's Word and their confes- HAT the Moslems of China "are sion of faith in Christ as their Sav- participating in the renaissance iour. They were baptized by us on that is taking place in the whole last Sunday morning. How grateful Islamic world" is the opinion of a we are for these firstfruits of the Mohammedan editor in South Africa, mission work of our church in China. who goes on to say: "Quite recently But not only the morning service wa~ two Chinese magazines have been an occasion for joy. ~n the afternoon started, one at Tientsin and the other we gathered together as believers in at Shanghai. The magazine published our Lord about His table. In all at Tientsin is entitled Bright Virtue.
there were about thirty-three com- It is a progressive monthly, and con- municants. Dr. L. S. Huizenga ad- tains articles on different social sub- ministered the sacrament. That cer- jects. The trend of these articles
shows that the periodical stands for a Association of Central Japan, Toraji -correct and liberal interpretation of Makino summarizes some significant the teachings of Islam; and cham- facts about the city of Osaka. He pions the sacred cause of the propaga- says: "The biggest commercial center ti(m of our faith." in Japan, with a population of 2,- Another side of the picture is 100,000, has no university except one presented in reports from the work medical college and a private school.
of the China Inland :Mission in the And yet the city is noted for its first- Moslem province of Kansu, referred class theater, opera and popular arts.
to in the September REVIEW. Rev. F. Many amusement centers and popular D. Learner of Sining writes of the resorts for pleasure seekers abound.
recent death of a saintly Christian, The total number of prostitutes ex:- who was converted from Islam nine ceeds that of the girls in school. The years ago. number of poor ~oung girls who are engaged in this shameful business is JAPAN-KOREA so numerous here that the proportion Japa:a.ese Exclusion a Live Issue of them to the general workingwomen T HE Japanese mission council of is about one to six. With more than the :Methodist Episcopal Church, 500,000 factory employees, two thirds at its annual meeting, held July 30th, passed a significant resolution on the of whom are women, and with nearly immigration question, a portion of 25,000 prostitutes, the citizens of which reads: "Resentment in Japan Osaka are facing the most difficult problem of urban life."
following the enactment of the socalled Japanese clause of the Johnson Buddhist Sunday-Schools immigration act is not diminishing. T HESE schools, which, in their ef- Missionaries in Japan are not agitat- fort to undermine the work of ing to keep alive among the Japanese missionaries, take over many· of their grief and indignation which they have been feeling. On the contrary, methods, have been referred to often because of the Christian missionary's in the Review, though no statistics deep sympathy with the Japanese in have been given to show the extent their offended pride and disillusion- of the movement. A recent survey, ment as to America's sense of inter- quoted in the Record of Christwn national and interracial justice, we Work, shows that the Buddhists have have been able somewhat to assuage 4,175 Sunday-schools, as against 1,891 indignation with the assurance that whatever of unfairness has entered Christian Sunday-schools. The Bud: into American legislation will surely be dhists have 12,754 teachers, and 575,- rectified in time when the situation and the implication of these laws are 691 pupils, while the Christians have more thoroughly understood…… . 7,493 teachers, and only 132,080 Some remedy for this un-American and un-Christian attitude should be Christian pupils. The Buddhist Sunsought. The fundamental reform day-schools have little difficulty in needed is such amendment of our securing the cooperation and symnaturalization law as will open pathyof municipal officers and public American citizenship, under the safe- school teachers. There is an unlimited guard of high qualifications, without supply of priests and day school national or racial discrimination." teachers as candidates for the teach- ing staff. That is not surprising when one realizes that there are as many Buddhist priests in Japan as there are Christian members of all the Prot- Some of Osaka's Problems estant churches added together.
Christian workers in Japan find, how- I N A paper entitled "The Industrial ever, the old uncultured priests can- Workers of Osaka and the Gospel" not teach the keen and alert child of which was read before the Missionary this modern nation.
NKWS FR01f MANY LANDS
Wife of Priest Reads Bible representation elected by Presbytery THE story of how the Bible got and the Mission Council, and have into the home of the chief priest full administrative and financial in Nikko, the famous temple city of powers. Our Council has taken the Japan, is vouched for by the Ameri- step of placing evangelistic funds can Bible Society and quoted in the under the control of Presbytery. "
Japan Evangelist. The wife of the chief priest was sick, and the doctor Earnest Korean Islanders recommended treatment by a certain THE Presbyterian Church of Korea expert masseur. This man, Mr. Ta- conducts an interesting missionary naami, carries Bibles wherever he enterprise on Cheiju, a rock-bound, goes and is known as "the Jesus volcanic island off the southern coast man. " The doctor had told Tanaami of Korea. The people are very prothat he should not tell the woman gressive, and numbers of their young that he was a Christian, but as soon people go to school in Korea and as Tanaami carne into her room he Japan. The commercial activities of told her of his Christian faith and the island are chiefly in the hands of asked her permission to pray to God the women. Mrs. Knox, of the Southbefore giving his treatment. "I al- ern Presbyterian Church, says of ways pray before I undertake any- them: "As a result of the strenuous thing." 'V.hile giving his treatment life which they lead the women have he told her his experience and of developed virile minds. and Amazonian what God said in His Word. This physiques and are peculiarly fitted aroused her interest and she won- for leadership. This they exercise dered how she might obtain the book with excellent results in the churches. he had mentioned. Both this woman They practically finance the work and and her son became ardent lovers of serve as teachers and even church ofthe Bible and although they still do ficers. Home Missions of the Korean not dare to confess that they believe Assembly includes work among the in Christ, owing to the position the Koreans in Peking, Nanking, Shanghead of the family holds in the town, hai, Manchuria, Siberia, Osaka, and they are quietly recommending and '£01l:yo and at a meeting which I atpushing the Bible into the homes of tended the Cheiju women listened the many priests who are connected eagerly to the program which gave with the famous shrines in Nikko. a short sketch of the situation in each Devolution in Korean Missions of these places."
I N AN interesting article in The ISLANDS OF THE SEA Korea. Mission Field S. J. Proctor, of the United Church of Canada, "Flying Doctors" in Australia states that, in the opinion of a majority of the members of that mis- I N AN area covering approximately sion, "the time has come when we 2,000,000 square miles, the Ausshould seriously consider having the tralian Island Mission seeks to care for whole of our mission work, including the spiritual and medical needs of the finances, handled by a joint committee scattered population. The Record of of the Korean Presbyteries and the Christian Work reports that much mission, with equal representation. success has attended its efforts dur- Our men 's evangelistic work has all ing the fourteen years of its existence. but been so handed over; and the Ten nursing homes have been eswomen's work in large part. In tablished, each presided over by two educational matters we are further fully qualified nurses. While these advanced. ~~ll our mission schools women are primarily concerned with are now in-the hands of school boards. the medical care of settlers, who are These boards are composed of equal sometimes 500 miles or more distant from the nearest doctor or other
settlement, they also carryon social population in the Fiji Islands." The and religious work, and give special first coolies from India were brought attention to the spiritual instruction to Fiji in 1879, under a system of of the young people. One of the latest indentured labor which was abolished enterprises of the mission is a "Flying in 1920. They now number about 65,- Doctor" scheme. That means that the 000, and increased fifty pel' cent in aeroplane has been pressed into serv- the last recorded decade. "It will ice, and much more good is now being also require justice," says Mr. Mcaccomplished through the rapidity of Millan, "to safeguard against all transport. Wireless has also been in- foreign exploitation the future of the stalled with the special view of re- 84,000 ease-loving Fijian natives, ligious instruction being given to who are subject to the pressure of a those who are far off from any center. growing Indian community and a rapidly increasing number of Chinese The Gospel for the Tirurai immigrants. The changing situation will also call for adjustments which T HE Tirurai people, numbering will secure for the Indians themselves about 17,000, live on Mindanao a place in the Colony commensurate Island in the Philippines. Although with their importance as indispensurrounded by Moros they are not sable producers, at the same time Mohammedans, but pagans or ani- recognizing their aspirations as pro- gressive, intelligent and loyal memmists, living in fear of the Moros, to bers of a commonwealth… The Indian is normally one of the most religiously whom, before the American occupa- inclined men in the world. The new tion, they were obliged to. pay tribute, generation in Fiji are fast becoming and under whom they lived in about devotees at the shrine of Mammon. the same position as serfs. For the For bim to lose his desire to worship past three years, the rector of Trinity and become a victim of modern Mission in Zamboanga has made materialism will be a great and monthly trips to three of the most inestimable loss." important villages of the Tirurai, giving each place about two hours' NORTH AMERICA instruction weekly in the schools. An account was given in the February Moslems in the United States Review of two Tirurai young women who are now being train('d in Zam- T HE total number of converts from boanga, one as a teacher, and an- Christianity to Islam in the United other as a nurse, for service among States is well over one thousand, actheir own people. The country of the cording to Prof. Maulvi Mohammed Tirurai is situated in the very heart Din, in charge of the mission of the of what is likely to become the best Ahmadiya movement in this country, rubber-producing section of Mind- with headquarters in Chicago. He is anao. It has recently been visited by quoted in The Missio1U1ry Voice as representatives of some of the larg~ follows: "When our prophet, Mirza corporations interested in rubber Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the Ahproducts in the TTnited States. This madiya movement in India during fact gives added importance to the the latter part of the past century missionary work now being carried on. came to this country, he comported himself as the true believer should. Indian Problem in Fiji Detained on his arrival by immigra- tion officials, because, he says, 'I was I N THE opinion of A. W. McMillan, a missionary of the Moslem faith,' he writing in The 8ttldent Wm'Zd, preached quietly and engaged in his "It is doubtful whether there is any personal devotions before others problem of statesmanship in the South whose entrance was also being de- Pacific calling for more expert, tact- bated, until there was a total of nineful and wise treatment than that determining the future of the Indian
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
teen converts in seven weeks' time." eign missions, the problem of the Investigations by Dr. Zwemer have indigenous church; (5) from home revealed Moslem groups in Mil- missions, the problem of the rural waukee, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleve- church; and (6) from the field of land, Akron, New York City, religious and missionary education, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, the problem of young people in the Worcester, Sioux City,' Fargo, and local church. In preparation for this other smaller towns. convention, study and discussion groups have met for about two months Presbyterian Bodies Confer in twelve colleges and cities. Repre- sentatives of these groups will bring T HE first joint meeting of the com- their findings as a basis for further mittees on closer relations between discussion. the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. (South), and the United Presbyterian American Board Avoids Deficit Church was held, September 15th, in Cincinnati. These committees were RECEIPTS of the American Board appointed by their respective General of Commissioners for Foreign Assemblies last May. Some of the Missions aggregated $2,152,765 durconclusions reached are stated by ing the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, The United Presbyterian to have 1926. Expenditures were $2,152,272. been: "Never before has the relation The report points out that even the between the two churches been more small credit balance was "very gratiripe for negotiations. No doctrinal fying in view of the estimate made at unrest disturbs either communion, the beginning of the year." At that and, so far as our first conference is time it seemed that in order to close concerned, we found no doctrinal dif- the year without a greater deficit it ference that keeps us apart. Some would be necessary for churches and differences exist in machinery and individuals to giye an additional $85,- method; not in fundamentals of ec- 000. Legacies exceeded the yearly clesiastical polity, but in the details average by more than $80,000 and of organization and administration. added gifts prevented a deficit. The Whether the obstacles are insur- Board's debt, which was about $242,- mountable, whether they are sufficient 000 in 1920, now is $213,242. to justify the continued separate existence of the two denominations, Race Relations Study Courses remains to be seen." T HOMAS L. DABNEY, writing in Disciples' Youth Convention The Southern 'Workman, the magazine published by Hampton In- PARALLEl. with the convention of stitute, says: "Twenty years ago no the Disciples of Christ in Mem- one thought that today over twentyphis, Tenn., November 11th to 14th, five Southern white colleges would there is to be held what is called "a have courses in race relations. This youth convention," at which 1,000 is an astonishing achievement when delegates ilre expected to be present. one considers the fact that the South The topics for discussion have lieen has always claimed a sufficient knowlchosen as follows from six fields of edge of the Negro and the race quesactivity: (1) From the field of Chris- tion to preclude the necessity of any tian unity, a discussion of the special study of the problem." The practical basis for Christian union; universities of North Carolina, (2) from that of temperance and Florida and Missouri and Southsocial welfare, the problem of law en- western College in Texas are instituforcement; (3) from that of aca- tions where these courses., promoted demic education, the problem of the by the Commission on Interracial place of the church college in the life Cooperation, have been especially of the denomination; (4) from for- successful. Sixteen weeks is the time
usually devoted to one course. A which operates the station. Two comtest taken by one class included the plete courses, giving certificates of following questions: credit if the final examinations are passed, were begun in September. Do you think lynching is ever justified' Dr. James M. Gray, president of the . Do you favor the Dyer Bill against lynch- Institute, gives a half-hour lecture on lng' the subject "Mountain Peaks of Prophecy, " which is broadcast every If not, what remedy would you propose' Tuesday evening at 8: 30 o'clock. What do you plan to do after leaving The Rev. John C. Page of the Insticollege to promote goodwill and peace be- tute staff is lecturer in a course on tween the raees ~ Bible doctrine broadcast at the same What is your idea of justice for the hour Wednesday evenings. There are Negro' fifteen lessons in each of the two courses announced now, and after TResults of Jeanes Fund Work Jan. 1st courses in other subjects are HE annual meeting of the Jeanes promised. All broadcasting of WMBI industrial supervisors of Virginia is on a wave length of 288.3 meters. was the occasion of the following In announcing the plans for radio comment by the Smtthern Workman instruction, A. F. Gaylord, business on the 300 supervisors maintained by manager of the Institute, said: the Jeanes Fund throughout the southern states: "With rare under- Since 19M, the Institute has conducted standing, patience, _ and devotion a correspondence school in whieh 35,000 these supervisors have done pioneel' students, Hving in all parts of the world, work in improving colored schools. have enrolled. But we helieve the radio By organizing whole communities in- offers still greater opportunity for religious to enthusiastic school-improvement education. leagues, by introducing into the ;:c~ools practical handwork, by length- Chinese Give Infirmary enlllg terms, and by securing better teachers, they revived the interest of CHINESE Americans have raised the colored people in their poorly among themselves $12,000 to build supported, neglected schools and won an infirmary for the Ming Quong for them the attention and increased Presbyterian Home for Chinese girls financial assistance of school officials at Oakland, California. Last year and of local white people. They, when the new Ming Quong Home was more than any others, set going thc built by the Presbyterian Board of movement which has resulted in National Missions, Chinese Christians thousands of new, model school- on the coast in gratitude determined houses for Negro children and all that they would themselves build the the other material progress which now required infirmary. They planned a so signally characterizes public edu- country-wide campaign under the cation for Negroes in the South. And direction of five Chinese counselors having secured the sorely needed (one of whom was Dr. Ng Poon Chew, physical improvements in Negro lecturer and editor of the largest schools in many localities, these re- Chinese daily paper in the United sourceful supervisors, especially in States), and sent out two Chinese North CarolIna and Maryland, are young. women, both daughters of the more and more turning their atten- mission, as money raisers. In every tion to the work of the classrooms." city friends of the Home, husbands- perhaps grateful for what the Chinese Bible Courses "On the Air" mission had done in past years for their wives-former pupils and busi- T HE first regular educational ness men helped, with the campaign. courses of a religious nature con- The president of one tong contributed ducted by radio are being broadcast to the infirmary fund.- W(;'Inen and from the Chicago station WMBI, ac- Missions. cording to an announcement made by officials of the Moody Bible Institute,
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
GENERAL 169.86. Australia, 41; Hawaiian 61; Ja- pan, abandoned; New Zealand,' 45; Sa- Missions and Governments moan, 44; Tahitian, 11; Tongan, 19_ To- tal in Island Mission, elders 220; members, ASURVE>Y of foreign missions by 26,780; property, $518,S83.S0. Total num- the Bishop of Salisbury, pub- ber of elders in these foreign fields from lished in the London Times has awak- Utah Mormonism. 779; total members, 53,- ened much interest. He calls atten- 051. Add to these the figures of J osephite tion to the quickening of the moral Mormonism. which we do not have accursense of Christendom towards the ately at hand, and the number of elders will backward races. The mandatory probably be considerably over 900 men and clauses of the League of Nations Cov- women working to spread Mormonism in enant are symptoms of this change, foreign lands. which is mainly due to the development of a world situation in which For the Blind of the World the value, indeed, the necessity, of the spiritual forces of life has been T HE Mission to the Blind in thrown into striking and peremptory Heathen and Bible Lands, which relief. The Bishop summarizes the was started in 1918 by one who is astounding advance revealed by the blind, paralyzed and too helpless to numerical statistics of Christian mis- move, now has supporters in all sions. He pays tribute to the very English-speaking countries and an noble contribution made by America, annual income of about $5,500. The by its width of outlook and its strong Mission contributes to the support of financial support, to the spiritual de- both teachers and pupils in schools velopment of the people in British for the blind in many missionnelds, territory. AJso the scope of mission- and also makes possible the work deary work has changed, the missionary scribed as follows: "Portions of now concerning himself with the Scripture are now being transcribed promotion of human well-being in into Braille by hand, by members of every department of life. This has our staff, for the blind in Fiji, Sololed to new and improved relations be- mon Islands and elsewhere. In Egypt tween the missionary and the secular our blind evangelist, who has a small authorities. class of blind boys, employs them to transcribe portions of Scripture into MOrDlonism in Foreign Lands Braille by hand for the use of blind people who are being taught. In MOST people think of Mormonism China a quarterly Braille magazine is as confined to America. But it stereotyped by blind boys in the Pehas now spread into nearly very land king School for the Blind, and circuwhich has the Bible, including Chris- lated free of charge." tian foreign mission fields like the islands of the Pacific, where those who Growth of Christianity by centuries. have been converted from heathenism to Christianity are perverted back Close of first century ……. . 500,000 again to another false system, which Close of second century …. . 2,000,000 is little better than their first. Mor- Close of third century …… . 5,000,000 monism has started two new foreign Close of fourth century …… . 10,000,000 fields during the past year, in France Close of fifth century _…… . 15,000,000 and Argentina, in the latter of which Close of sixth century ….. . 20,000,000 reports of considerable progress are Close of seventh century ….. . 25,000,000 made. Its fields outside of North Close of eighth century ….. . 30,000,000 America are as follows, with the :num- Close of ninth century …… . 40,000,000 ber of elders reported in April, 1925: Close of tenth century ….. . 50,000,000 Close of eleventh century . _.. 70,000,000 Armenian, 2; British, 151; Danish, 25; Close of twelfth century ….. 80,000,000 French, SO; Netherlands, 61; Norwegian, Close of thirteenth century •.. 85,000,000 17 ; S. African, 18; Swiss and German. Close of fourteenth century .. . 90,000,000 226; Swedish, SO); total elders, 559; total Close of fifteenth century … . 100,000,000 members, 26,S71; total property, $368,- Close of sixteenth century .. . 125,00(),000 Close of seventeenth century .. 155,000,000 Close of eighteenth century .. 200,000,000 Close of nineteenth century .. 400,000,000 Close of 1925 ………….. . 500,000,000
books mentioned in these columns will be forwarded by us on receipt of price.-
THE REVIEW.
An Outline History of China, with a Thor- rights in the winter of A. D. ough Acoount of the Republican Era Interpreted in Its Historical Perspective. 1925-26. "
Herbert H. Gowen and Josef Washington This history is also provided with Hall. Map, xxix, 542 pp. $4.00. 1926. many references to enable readers ~o New York. verify statements or to extend theIr Though Professor Gowen, of the reading. The Bibliography is valu- University of Washington, issued a able and reasonably full, while its two-volume "Outline History of brief annotations are usually just and China" in 1913, the present one- always illuminating. In a word,. th~s volume edition, bearing the same title, is the most readable, concrete, JUdIis no mere enlargement of the former cious, comprehensive and up-to-date work. Prof. Gowen has entirely re- history of this great nation known to written his section, bringing down the reviewer. We commend it to the Chinese history to the b~ginning of reading public, as the history of a the Republic. His collaborator, Mr. great nation with an age-long history Hall, who was himself on the ground, and an ancient civil and literary cuI. adds nearly two hundred pages of ture. recent history, that of the Republic since its establishment in 1912. This Dr. Gowen gives the following rea· is a very valuable summary of what is not so satisfactorily done in out- son for reading this history: "Any line by other writers. Chinese schoolboy can tell you some- While the volume does not have behind it the wide reading and scholar- thing of Socrates, Christ, Shake· ship of Professor Latourette's "Development of China," this lack is speare, Luther, the British Empire, compensated for by its concreteness Napoleon, Washington, Lincoln, our and" anecdotal" style, which give it a vividness and interest, looked for Civil War, Ro('sevelt, Wilson. How in vain in the generalizations and emphasis on great trends of the times many of the educated among us can found in other less readable volumes. The authors of this book have measur- tell anything of the 4,OOO-year-old ably succeeded· in doing what they aimed to accomplish: "to write all. Book of History, Confucius, Taoism, interpretive story of the Chinese people based upon both scholarly re- Chin the Empire-Builder, the rise of search and intimate personal toucha popularly told narrative of the 'Im- Korea, the culturization of Japan, Li ,mortal Nation' from the beginnings Po the Divine Poet, Tang the Brilli- ant, the rise and fall of the Mongol Khans who nearly conquered Europe in addithm to Asia, the coming of Russia into Asian affairs, the Manchu Empress Dowager, the Chinese Re- publican Revolution, the student up- rising, Chinese guild organization, the China riots of 1925, or the Chris- tian General1 H. P. B.
of the world's most unique culture in Chinese Culture and Christianity. James the cave villages of the upper Yellow Livingstone Stewart. 316 pages. $2.50. River five thousand years before New York. 1926.
Christ to the assembling of the con- "The Laughing Buddha" is a novel vention to restore China '8 national which incidentally gives some inter- 910
926] THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY
e~ting side-lights on China '8 reli- descriptions; in the Chinese viewglOns. Here the same author treats point of religions as contrasted with more specifically of the underlying a foreigner's view; and in leaving principles, the outward manifesta- the reader with the impression that tions of Animism, Ancestor Worship, Chinese religious culture and even Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Chinese superstitions deserve further Mohammedanism. He describes their study, rather than to be summarily effect on Chinese society and the in- rejected as samples of a degraded fluence of recent culture contacts "heathenism. " upon all Chinese religions. Chinese culture, especially on its religious The concrete descriptions of Chiside, is well set forth; Christianity is nese religious views and practices not at all emphasized, though it is not can be especially commended to firstwholly ignored. As the subtitle indi- year missionaries in China. Yet one cates, it is a review of China '8 religious systems from the Christian would criticize an "old China hand" viewpoint. Had Professor Stewart and a university professor for emcompare(1 Chinese and Christian con- ploying in his Chinese proper names ceptions of culture and religions, his contribution to our comparative a romanization that is confined to a knowledge of these factors would limited section of the Mandarin, with have .been more distinctive, whereas its peculiarities. Why not use some the volume as it now stands does little more than mass and classify the widely known system that would not writings of Da Bose, Soothill and O'Neil, adding some of the less com- be provincial, and so serve a larger monlv known facts of books like Dore~s and the six-volume magnum constituency of young missionaries opus of De Groot. and aid in making still more general The most interesting chapters are perhaps those in which China's prim- a romanization that is used in all the itive psychology, philosophical presuppositions, phy"sics, physiology and best dictionaries and by the best feng-shui are concretely pictured and explained. Ancestor worship would writers {Jn China? H. P. B. be far better known bv Chinese missionaries if they could read chapter Heart of Black Papua. Merlin Moore IV, and those who have not seen Taylor. IIlus. S va. 266 pp. $3.00. New Beal's "Catena of Chinese Bud- York. 1926. dhism" or Du Bose's "Dragon, Image and Demon" will fipd chapter The lure of the jungle! How III a good summary of Chinese con- strong it must be to make white men ceptions of heavens, hells and the trek through it, day after day under hereafter. Taoist deities and demons the suffocating heat, when even the are very inadequately pictured in slightest clothing is a burden; through chapter VIII. The final chapter, the daily torrential showers which "Recent Culture Contacts," might soak to the skin; enduring the cold well be published separately as an nights when neither blankets or camparticle to enable a wide reading pub- fires bring warmth; suffering from lic interested in China's renaissance leeches that get under the thickest -to understand its leading features. foot and suck the traveler's blood; weakened by fevers which come Professor Stewart's differentiation fiercely and suddenly; braving the from other writers of similar volumes greatest danger of all-the native lies in his citation of religious facts who is "hungry for man." less commonly known; in his vivid The author gives a vivid picture of the heart of Papua, by pen and camera, describing the expedition of three white men across the mountain ranges of the interior. They saw the natives in their villages, learned the power of "magic," came to know of the unwritten law of "pay back" by which a man's death by violence must be requited and which causes never.
ending feuds resulting often in the A Year's Program for Young People. wiping out of whole villages. Then Harry Thomas Stock. Pamphlet. 25 there are the strange burial customs, cents. The Pilgrim Press. Boston. 1926. and the wearing of the feather headdress as a sign that a youth has at- Practical plans are here present.ed tained manhood and has killed a man. for activities and projects for young Many times these travelers were people, with suggestions for organizasaved from death by their quickness tion, expression, worship and disof wit and because of the innate fear cussion month by month. The objects the Blacks have for the white man's include church and neighhorhood skin and the white man's gun. work, missions, Christian character and habits, education and leadership. Many adventures are told with dramatic power, including an ex- Education for Peace, a Book of Facts and perience in the cannibals' camp, near- Opinions. Issued by the Committee of ness to death from thirst and escape Reference and Counsel, Foreigu Missions from the enemy by use of the camera- Conference. New York. 1926. man's :flashlight powder. A thread of mystery runs through the narrative Quotations from educators, authors, and gives a suggestion of plot. editors, statesmen, and conferences; statistics on the cost of war and There is interesting information resolutions by various bodies give a concerning the government supervi- wealth of facts and opinions for sion of the natives but no mention is educating the Church, the youth and made of the work of the missionaries the nation in the evils of war, its in Papua. The habits and character- prevention and the promotion of istics of the natives who are under peace. Pastors, teachers and others the sway of fear and superstition, should obtain and digest a copy of thirsty for human blood, "tricky, this pamphlet. clever and resourceful" show clearly their great need for Christ and His The Laymen's Missionary Movement of the Gospel of life, love and release from United States and Canada. A Pamphlet. the powers of darkness. J. H. R. Prepared by Lt. Col. E. W. Halford. PUi)lished by the Executiye Committee. The Quest for God in China. By F. W. G. New York. 1926. O'Neill. 8 va. 272 pp. $2.50. New York. 192.6. This brief history, published twenty years after this remarkable and truly China is to the fore in the public effective movement was founded, is mind. Religion is a great factor in more a characterization and estimate determining China's future. Mr. of achievement than a history, but it gives important facts that should not o 'Neill, an Irish Presbyterian mis- be forgotten. A great body of noble men were associated with it and their sionary who has been in China for prayers and works made it a great nearly thirty years, writes from factor in the advancement of the misknowledge. His presentation is most sionary cause in America. The "Men sane and is made sympathetically, and Religions Movement," "Dewith discernment and constructively. nominational Laymen's Missionary He describes Taoism, Spiritism, Con- Movement" and other activities owe fucianism, Buddhism, Chinese Mo- their impulse to this work. hammedanism, modern r e 11 g i 0 u S movements and Christianity. One Christ Supreme. Arthur H. Carter. 12mo. finds here much new light on the 83 pp. Art stock covers, 30 cen ts; cloth, religions of China and on religion in 75 cents. Chicago. 1926. general. There is no doubt whatever in the author's mind but that, with The author reveals Christ's charall the excellencies of natural and acter and glory in this brief study. ethnic religions, the necessity for ac- He shows very brie:fly one present· cepting and following Christ as day attitude toward Christ and the Saviour and Lord is supreme. • view of him given in the Old and New Testaments.
The Missionary Review of the World — October 1926
'737
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THE DISTIUBUTION OF MOSLEMS-A STA'l'ISTICAL TABLE …………. 7521 MISSIONARY SOCIETIES DOING SPECIAL WORK FOR MOHcAMMEDANS . .Insert THE RISE AND ]<'ALL OF ISLAM ……………………… JULIUS RICHTER 753 The .•tory of the ,growth and decadence of Mohammedan power in the Near East, J)y the weir-known German scholar and author. IMPORTANT HISTORICAL DATES~MOSLEM AND CHRISTIAN …… "… 759 'l'HE STRENGTl! AND WEAKNESS OF ISLAM ……… , …….. ,……. .. 760 MOSLEMS BREAKING AWAY FROM TRADITION . . . . . . . . . . JAMES L. BARTON 761 An interesting account of the chan,ges that are taking place in Moslem thought and practioo on aooount of the contacts with modern cimilieation.
MOHAMMEDAN BOYS AND GIRLS …………………… J. KINGSLEY BnwE 769 A former missionary in Smyrna tells of the training of Moslem boys and girls and the opportunities for Christian influence upon them.
vn:,ws MOSLEMS UNDER CHRISTIAN AND NON-CHRISTIAN RULERS………… 774 SOME MOSLEM! OF CHRISTIANITY ………………. If. E. PHlIilPS 775 The frank exprelfsions of Mohammeflans as to the shortcomings of Christianity ana why they do not becM"e Christians. A VISIT TO EL AZHAR UNIVERSITY ………….. ,., … _… J. E. SHEPHERD 780 HINDRANCES TO CHRISTIAN WORK FOR MOSLEMS ………. C. G. NAISH 781 A thoughtful study of some of tile reMons why 'Work for Mohammedans is so do.1fic·ult and produces such meager results.
THE CHRISTIAN APPROACH TO MOSLEMS ……………….. W. W. CASH 786 A practiool consideration of the most fruitful methods of presenting Christ to Mohammedans.
ISLAM'S GREATEST FAILURE ……………. STEPHEN VAN R. TROWBRIDGE 791 A presentation of the need of the children of M ohammedat! l"nd.. due to ihe failure of Islam to provide moral and spiritual training.
MOSLEM~,()ONVERTS 'TO CHRJSTIANITY …………… BISHOP J. H. LINTON 7!l3 A remarlffible Mcount of the conversions to Christianity through the 'Work of the.. Chureh Missionary Society in Persia during the last forty years.
YUSUF ATIYEH …………………………… _…….. W. G. GREENSLADR 798 The stm'Y of one of tile outstanding p'/,oitut,ts. of ,",ig..ions to Moslemlf in Syria. ….. .
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PILGRIMS AT MECCA, WORSHIPPING AT THEl
One hundred and ftrty thousand Mos]ems in the Haram Court gathered from every nation in the world of Islam
OCTOBER, 1926
XLIX TEN OUR MOHAMMEDAN NUMBER No APOLOGY is needed for devoting one whole issue of the REVIEW to a study of the world of Islam. The religion is over . 1,300 years old; it numbers among its adherents at least one seventh of the population of the earth; it is the prevailing religion in Turkey, Arabia, Syria, Persia, Afghanistan, Egypt, Tripoli, Tunis, A1geria and Morocco and has millions of adherents in Russia, Central Africa, Palestine, Turkestan, India, China, Malaysia and the Philippine Islands. Mohammedanism is an aggressive, missionary religion that is pressing on for the conquest of Africa and has its emissaries ill European countries, in North and South America and in the Islands of the Sea. Moslems are so devoted to their beliefs and practices that they resist all attempts to change their way of thinking and living and resent the work of Christian missions. They present one of the greatest tasks before the Church of Christ today.
For over five hundred years, Christian workers have been going into Moslem strongholds, seeking to win the followers of Mohammed to Christ. There have been many hardships and not a few martyrs among these missionaries, while the results have been meager.
In this number of the REVIEW will be found many facts and articles of great interest and value to every student of the subject. But many fine articles have been crowded out and will appear later: Islam and Western Ciyilization, by Basil lIathewR. From Mohammed to Christ, by Habib Yusufji. Christian Literature for Moslems, by M. T. Titus. A New Enterprise in Mesopotamia, by James Cantine.
Among the most valuable features of this issue are the suggestions given by Mrs. Oronk as to the Best Methods for teaching the textbooks and conducting mission study classes on the subject. In our September number will be found pictures of several costumes used bv )Iohammedans of various classes in different lands and a description of how to make them for pageants, plays and tableaux.
741
WHO WAS MOHAMMED?
I N ABOUT the year 570 A. D., Abdullah, the son of Abd ul Mut- talib, a merchant of Mecca, Arabia, went on a trading trip to Medina and died there. A few months later, his wife, Amina, gave birth to a boy whom she named Mohammed.
Arabia had been the resort of all kinds of religious fugitives–:- Star Worshipers, Zoroastrians, Jews and some Christians. Mecca had been a pagan center for centuries and the "Kaaba" was an Arabian pantheon with idols for every day in the year. Tribesmen came on annual pilgrimages to kiss the" Black Stone," to run around the Beit Allah (House of God) and to hang portions of their garments on sacred trees. Legends of all sorts clustered around the rocks, trees and springs of the desert.
In Arabia, Jews settled with their sacred scriptures, their Talwud, and rites; Christians brought their belief in Jesus, and one Arab queen and a king are mentioned as converts to Christianity. Mohammed thus came into contact with both Jews and Christians and at one time he had as a wife, Miriam, a Coptic Christian, who was the mother of his son Ibrahim.
In Mohammed's youth, a Christian army from Yemen attacked )[ecca and was defeated. While many of the Arabians rejected the old idolatry, they were not ready to accept Judaism or Christianity. 'fhe time seemed ripe for a new religious leadership. Mohammed's aristocratic standing, as a member of the ruling class of Mecca and as the son of an influential merchant, gave him prestige. He was taught by a chief man of the Koreish tribe to exercise power. He had natural ability amounting to genius, an attractive personality and an earnest view of life.
When Mohammed was six years of age, his mother died while on 11 journey to Medina and the boy was taken first by his grandfather and then by his uncle. 'When twelve years old, he went on a mercantile journey to Syria and met a Christian monk, Buhaira. Later he returned to Arabia and, like other lads, herded sheep and goats.
At twenty-five, he entered the service of a rich widow of Mecca, Khadija, whom he married. This gave him additional influence. About ten years later, he announced to his wife that he had been called to be a "prophet" and had received a vision in the Cave of Hira. Periods of mental disturbance followed, with other "visions." Then Mohammed began to preach but when he spoke against the idols of the Kaaba, hostility was aroused and persecution began. Nevertheless he gathered some followers. When persecution continued in Mecca, he fled in 622 A. D. to Medina where he had won some converts. 'rhis is the year one, Anno Hegirre, of the Mohammedan era.
Mohammed became not only the preacher and prophet, but a warrior and legislator. He built mosques and houses and raised an army. When Khadija died he contracted polygamous marriages in-
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
eluding one with the wife of his freed slave, an adopted son. He began to write letters to foreign kings inviting them to embrace Islam, collected an army of ten thousand men, attacked various strongholds and finally captured Mecca and destroyed its idols. Certain pagan ceremonies were, however, incorporated in Islam. In the year 631 A. D. he made final pilgrimage to Mecca in great state and I:oon after died. On his deathbed he prayed to God for pardon of his sins.
Mohammed is described as a man above average height, slender but of commanding presence, with a large head, piercing eyes, black hair and long bushy beard. He always walked rapidly and decision marked every movement. There is much diversity of opinion as to his character. Sir William Muir thinks that he was at first sincere and upright, believing in the so-called revelations, but that later he was intoxicated by success, used his power for selfish ends and deceived his followers as to the" revelations." The influence of his first wife, Khadija, was wholesome, but after her death he gave way to his passions. Only the later traditions claim for him sinlessness and superiority to Jesus. While only ninety-nine attributes of perfection are accredited to God, Mohammed is given by his followers two hundred and one titles to proclaim his glory. No Moslem prays to Mohammed but he is said to dwell in the highest heaven, several degrees above Jesus.
WHAT MOSLEMS BELIEVE I SLAM is described under two divisions-Imoo and Din-or "ar- ticles of faith" and" religious practices. " The six main articles of faith are: God, His angels, His books, His Prophet, His Day f)f Judgment and Predestination or Fate.
God. Allah is one, omnipotent and merci:l'ul. His character is impersonal. The Christian conception of a God of love is not understood but their idea of God's absolute authority involves despotism. Moslems believe in God over man but not with man or in man.
Angels. There are three species of spiritual beings-good angels, jinn and demons. Angels are created out of light and are endowed with life, speech and reason. Jinn or genii may be good or evil. They are created from fire and are greatly feared. (See the" Arabian Nights. ") Satan or IbUs is head of the evil jinn.
Books of God. Orthodox Moslems believe that God sent down one hundred and four sacred books. Adam received ten, Seth fifty, Enoch thirty, Abraham ten-all lost. The four books that remain are the Law (Torah), which came to Moses; the Psalms received by David; the Gospel (Injil) of Jesus; and the Koran, eternal and uncreated and revealed to Mohammed. Th,is last supersedes the other books.
The Koran (or Q'uran) is a little smaller than the New Testament, has vne hundred and fourteen chapters (or suras). It is not in chronological order and is a mixture of adoration,. prayers and imprecations, laws and legen~, facts and fancy. Much of it is unintelligible without a commentary.
It contains many historical and scientific errors, superstitions and unbelievable fables. It teaches perpetual slavery, polygamy, divorce, intolerance, degrada- tion of women and cruel bloodshed. It contains no doctrine of an atonement for sin. Prophets and Apostles. Mohammed referred to 124,000 prophets and 305 apostles. Six of the latter are major prophets-Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed-who supersedes and supplants them all: Moslems believe in Jesus as a prophet. The Koran says that he was miraculously conceived and born, spoke while a babe, performed miracles as a child, foretold Mohammed, was miraculously saved from crucifixion and is now in an inferior stage of celestial bliss.
Judgment. Awful terrors are portrayed for the judgment day when there will be a physical resurrection of aU the dead. The condemned will suffer unspeakable physical torture in a seven-fold hell. The blessed will enjoy indescribable physical pleasures in the" Garden of Delights."
Predestination is the most characteristic and far-reaching article of the Moslem creed. It affects everything in life. God wills both good and evil. There is no escape from His decree-it is fate (kismet). Religion is Islam (resignation). This fatalism paralyzes progress, initiative and social service.
WH.LT MOSLEMS PRACTICE IN RELIGION I T IS incumbent on all II true believers" to show their faith bv observing the five religious duties of Islam-the pillars or foun- dation of religion.
1. CONFESSION OF THE CREED. La-ilaha-iUa-'Uahu.; Mu.hammada-Rasulu.- 'allah ("There is no god but God; Mohammed is the apostle of God"). This is the watchword of Islam-inscribed on banners and doorposts, and on coins. It rings out from minarets, and is a cradle song and battle-cry.
2. PRAYER is the repetition of a formula and is the "Key to Paradise." After ceremonial purification men must face the Kaaba at Mecca and then kneel to pray five times a day (at dawn, high noon, two hours before sunset, at sunset and two hours after sunset). The prayers consist of short passages from the Koran containing praise, confession and petition for guidance.
3. FASTING. The chief month of fasting (Ramaean) is the ninth mouth of the Moslem year. During fast no one must drink a drop of water or take a morsel of food, smoke, bathe, smell a flower, or take medicine from sunrise to sunset. The whole night is, however, spent in feasting and other indulgence. Infants, idiots, the sick and the aged are exempt.
4. ALMS. These were formerly collected by a religious tax-gatherer. One fortieth of a man's total income is the usual rate. Hospitality is also a religious duty.
5. PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA. 'fhis annual pilgrimage is one of the strongest bonds of Islam and is a great missionary agency. It draws the Moslem world together and scatters the lnfiuence over Asia and Africa. The number who make the pilgrimage varies from 50,000 to 100,000 a year. Pilgrims, arrived in Mecca, pel'form ahlutions, visit lite lllosqne, l;:is~ nIP Black Rtone, rUIl around the Kaaba seven tillles, 01l'er, a prayer, drink water from the well of Zeru Zem and again kiss the Black StOlle. Finally, after throwing three stones at "the Great Devil" (stones at lIina) , they sacrifice a sheep or other animal.
Other t"eligious practices include circumcision, observance of sacred feasts, and jihad 01' taking part in religious wars against infidels. MOSLEM WORLD ATLANTIC INDIAN r/J;} 0 CEAN ….. …………………………………………
FROM "THE MOSLEM WORLD IN REVOLUTION" BY ·W. W. CASH The Islamic World and Missions Today BY REV. SAMUEI, M. ZWEMER, D.D., LL.D., CAIRO Editor of The Moslem World; Author of "The Disintegration of Islam," Etc., Etc.
W HAT is Islam? It is at once the great "surrender" and the great denial-the surrender of millions of human hearts and lives for thirteen long centuries to the obedience of Mohammed, the Arabian, and the blinding of those hearts and lives to the. light of the knowledge of God's glory as revealed in Jesus Christ. "Mohammed," says G. K. Chesterton, "did not, like the Magi, find a new star; he saw through his own particular window a glimpse of the great grey field of the ancient starlight."
When we say that a country contains so many Moslems, we really mean that it contains so many. monotheists, – not monotheists with the ethics of Moses but with those that are in most respects far inferior. There is not one cardinal truth in the Christian's creed about Christ that is not hidden, distorted or denied by Islam. To Mohammed, the teaching that God has a Son and that He died on the cross for human Sill aud If'ft an empty grave to ascend on high, seems blasphemy-a blasphemy that might shake the world.
Here we have at once the necessity for and the difficulty of missions to Moslems. All the arguments employed for missions to the Jews apply with double force to the Moslems. Their number is twenty-fold that of the Jews; the witness to the Messiah is less clear 745 and less glorious in the Koran than in Isaiah; the children of Isaac are on a higher intellectual, social and moral plane everywhere than are the children of Ishmael. If the Gospel of Christ is intended for all the world it is also intended for the world of Islam. That world was never so extensive, so restless, so conscious of itself as it is today. The Mussalman of Calcutta recently printed the following letter from the "Director of the Islamic News Service," London: At this period, entering upon a New Year, it behooves us all to look around and see the position of Islam in the West. When, twenty-three years ago, I embraced Islam, I did 80 standing practically alone. Today, what a difference there is. In England, the Islamic community of Britishers is 3,000. Three journals circulate here-The Islamic World, The Isll1!mic Review and the Review of Religions. All this has happened in a short space of time. In France, a country which I visit every month, there is the magnificent Mosque almost completed in Paris, with a strong Islamic population, and many French people who have accepted "the Faith most excellent." The French Society (of which I am representative in Great Britain) is named the "Fra- ternite Musulmane," and is a very strong body and active. In Germany, there is a MOsque in Berlin, with a number of Germans who are Muslims. In America, there is a Mosque in Chicago, and I was recently honoured by being asked to visit the Chicago University to speak on "Islamic History." In the Argentine Republic, there is a very influential Muslim population, with an Arabic journal El Argentino. Brazil counts thousands of Muslims. In Hol- land and Belgium, there are nationals of those countries who came to Islam. In Hungary, there is a strong community with some illustrious names. Those who prophesied the decline of Islam have seen their predictions falsi- fied, for Islam is gaining ground throughout the world. In Australia, there are, today, upwards of twenty Mosques. South Africa reckons numbers where sometime ago none existed. This is the present picture and, I venture to think, is a source of gratification to Muslims when one considers that Christianity with its millions of pounds, thousands of missionaries, books without number, and free distribution of thousands of Bibles, can make but little headway abroad, whilst, in countries nominally Christian, the bulk of -the people never enter a church. We must not relax our· efforts in any way, for it seems that a new missionary campaign is in the air. Muslims! it is our duty to present to the whole world the imperishable truth given to hu- manity in the glorious pages of that imperishable book, the Holy Koran. Islam ()fi'ers to a world torn by dissension and false doctrines, the one Path of Peace. Today, when a weary world seeks consolation, it is Islam and Islam alone that can guide a stricken humanity. Muslims! be up and doing, and bring to the Light those who are now groping in darkness.
This letter challenges thought and proves that Islam has a world program which Christendom cannot ignore. What are the present factors in the missionary problem1 I .. Extent and N1l!mbers. Statistics are dry and often bewild- ering, yet it is only by statistics that we can measure the present expansion of a religion which began in the sixth century with a minority of one man who claimed to be God's last messenger.
Today the number of those who profess and call themselves Mohammedans is nearly two hundred and thirty-five million. In
THE ISLAMIC WORLD AND MISSIONS TODAY'
southeastern Europe (omitting the scattered groups of Britain and j<-'rance as negligible in number, but not in their influence) there are three and a half million. They are found chiefly in Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro. Add to these a little over fifteen millions in European and Asiatic Russia and nearly two hundred thousand in South America (chiefly Brazil and Guiana).
Pass to the two great continents and the island world where Islam has made its conquests. In ~Urica there are nearly fifty million followers of the Arabian prophet and they are found everywhere except in the southwestern portion of the continent. In the Belgian and French Congo, Liberia, Mozambique, Somaliland; around the Lakes and Zanzibar and in Madagascar, on the west coast in Senegal, Guinea, Dahomey; in Uganda, Abyssinia, Kenya, Tanganyika; in Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast, Togoland and the 1'U.ll1c.u. PlSt1llJlV110N OF MOCUM5 £1:R'GtJ1mCDI!TKIIIUTI(lN OF lIIosu:11S Cameroons; nearly eleven millio1l in Nigeria and last but not least the solid belt of Moslem comitries on the north, Egypt, the Sudan, 'rripoli, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.
In Asia every country has its Moslem problem except Japan and Korea. In China there are about nine millions; in the Philippine Islands nearly six hundred thousand; in the Dutch East Indies over thirty-six millions; India has the largest Moslem population of any mission field in the world-over sixty-nine million. In Bengal province alone there are twenty-five million Moslems. Western and central Asia are almost wholly Mohammedan and here there are still great unoccupied fields that challenge pioneer effort. Shrouded in mystery and hidden behind the Himalaya ranges Afghanistan touches Russia, India, Persia and China–a land full of political significance and strategic position with a strong and virile people, yet without a witness for Christ. The few and far-scattered mission stations in Central Asia are like little candles burning in the night of Islam-Bokhara, Kashgar, Yarkand, Urumtsi-who even remembers
them in prayed In Arabia, Persia, Turkestan, Iraq, Palestine, Syria and Turkey the social, intellectual and religious outlook of the population was for long centuries through the window of Islam-and the window was barred.
II. The Hour Is Ripe. A new day has arrived, a day of opportunity and responsibility. The dawn "came up like' thunder" during the World War which shook the House of Islam to its very foundations. The Moslem world is in revolution. The fountains of its great deep have broken up. From within and from without mighty forces, often contrary and seldom under control, are striving for supremacy. Politically, the old world of Islam with its caliphate and arrogant Moslem law, its rigid social code, its slavery trade and slavery is gone. Nearly everywhere the doors of access have been torn off their hinges or nailed open. Four fifths of the vast populations mentioned above are encreasingly accessible to every method of missionary approach.
This is true, for example, of all British India, the Dutch East Indies, Persia, Mesopotamia, China, the Balkans, the whole of North Africa and Central, East and West Africa with the possible exception of Northern Nigeria. Even there and in Central Arabia and Afghanistan the hinges are creaking and hands from within are fumbling at the lock. A half century ago missionaries died in some of these lands hammering at closed doors, and the Church despaired of entrance. Today, there is overwhelming evidence that the hour is ripe for evangelism. The highways for the Gospel are preparing. Thousands of'miles of railways and motor roads have been built in Africa and Asia within two decades. The distance between Baghdad and Damascus, the old caliph cities, can be covered in nineteen hours by motor. Aeroplanes carry the mails across pathless deserts. Persia and Morocco are building highways; Abyssinia's capital is a railway terminus. Moslems formerly travelled to one center, Mecca. Now they are travelling everywhere. Thousands find their way to Paris and other European capitals. The press, the cinema and the highly colored advertising boards in every city are highways into the minds of the masses and create a thousand points of contact with Western civilization. All this tends to disintegrate the old IslaIUic standards and ideals. Education has become the first demand of nationalists in their effort at reform. Literacy in India and Egypt is markedly increasing. The Moslem press was never so active as it is today. In social reform, it is often the ally of Christianity; this iR espeeinlly tnw in eomhating the evils of the liquor trnffic. In Turkey and Egypt women are leading a new movement of emancipation. They are discarding the veil and demand monogamy. They seek to abolish the Islamic law by which by repetition of a. mere formula divorce if! possible.
All these currents of thought and life are rising as a tide against
J9~Gl THE ISLAMIC WORLD A:D MISSIO:S TODAY
Islam with its ancient tradition of a Church-State and undermining its very foundations. A new Islam has arisen among the educated classes which, in various forms, at ""Voking, Lahore, Aligarh, Angora and Cairo, is in open rebellion against ancient tradition. These Mos- lems are "open-minded enough to violate Koranic law and independ- ent enough to tread the road of progress rather than be fettered by seventh-century. religious legislation."
There are, it is true, reactions. The old Islam dies hard and the warlike spirit of fanaticism needs only a leader and an appeal based on real or imagined injustice to be inflamed. Nevertheless, the out- standing fact is that the world of Islam is "on trek." Their souls 'will find no true rest until they rest in Christ. Reports that come from every land indicate, in the words of the .Jerusalem Confer- ence, "a new willing'ness to hear the Gospel message, and much less antagonism than in former days.
'1'he number of inquiries is increas- ing everywhere, and public bap- tisms are not only possible but more frequent among the educated classes, especially the young men.
Some have lost their moorings and are adrift on a sea of unbelief; with others there is an eager and intelligent spirit of inquiry in re- gard to religion. Now is the su- THJ<J MOSQVE AT WOKING, SURREY preme opportunity for vinning A~7t~r: f~~n aJ~~~)ty~:~doi"~I~i~~m(i~po~~:~~i~~) these future leaders for Christ."
III. The Unfinished Task. Of Moslem lands and peoples it may be said what is recorded of the Greek widows: "They are neg- lected in the daily ministration." The unoccupied fields of the world are largely Mohammedan lands. I know of no missionary working among the two hundred thousand Mohammedans of South America, nor among the eight hundred and thirty thousand of Albania, nor is there a single Protestant society at work among the fifteen million :Moslems of Russia. A map of the mission stations in Africa indi- cates at a glance that pagan Africa is largely occupied, but Moslem Africa still has vast areas of population without a witness for Christ.
Abyssinia has two million Mohammedans and in the French Congo there are five million seven hundred thousand. It is no exaggeration to say that in both of these regions there is scarcely one worker spe- cially qualified or designated to carry the Gospel to these Moslem
millions. The missionary forces in Morocco are utterly inadequate for the needs of its more than five million people. The same is true of Northern Nigeria, the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan and Tanganiyka.
In Asia, the Mohammedans of Ohina and India are an outstand- ing problem because of their long neglect on the part of the Ohurch of Jesus Ohrist. In a series of conferences held in 1924, it was the unanimous judgment of leading missionaries that Moslem India is in a very real sense an unoccupied field. Little special work for Moslems is carried on although there are sixty-nine million of them. rrhere are large cities like Bombay, Lucknow, Delhi and Lahore, where formerly there was special effort to win Moslems, but where now there are few missionaries wholly devoted to this task.
While there are more than five thousand missionaries in India, the number of these who are specially prepared and set apart for the evangelization of Moslems is pitifully small.
Though, on the other hand, it may be said that there are many places whe~e missionaries are giving part of their time to Moslems, yet, even when one considers all this, it is still clear that there is such a serious lack of attention being given to the Moslem problem in proportion to its importance that its adequate consideration by all missions in India is urgently required.
The most tragic chapter in the elaborate survey prepared a few years ago on f'The Ohristian Occupation of Ohina" is that which deals 'with the neglected Mohammedans. A number of centers are pointed out where work should be begun: Peking, Tientsin, Nanking, Tsinau, Kaifeng, Sianfu, Chengtu, Yunnanfu, Oanton, Kweilin, Lanchowfu, Kirin, Moukden and Kweihwating. Yet today there is scarcely a missionary devoting himself entirely to this important element in the population. In China, the Moslems are more friendly than perhaps in any other land and the opportunity through medical missions and translation and distribution of literature is a challenge to the Ohinese Ohurch and the churches of Ohristendom.
Arabia, the cradle of Islam, still has great provinces without a witness for Christ: Nejd, Asir, the hill country of Yemen, the whole of Hadramaut, the Northern Bedouin tribes and the holy land of the Hejaz. What has proved possible in East Arabia through pioneer effort on the Persian Gulf is possible today for every part of the peninsula. Where are the men and women who will occupy these fields 1 IV. Signs of the Harvest. Generally speaking, many of these Moslem lands have proved barren soil after more than half a century of missionary effort; with the exception of India and the East Indies, where there are thousands of converts and hundreds of baptisms every yea'r. The great dark belt of solid Islamic empire from Morocco to Turkestan does not yet yield a large harvest of souls.
In Arabia, the faithful fishermen have labored the long night of
THE ISLAMIC WORLD AND MISSIONS TODAY
thirty-five years-how oft they toiled in the rowing and the wind was contrary! The total number of converts after all these years was less, than the number of the years of waiting. But the tide has turned at last. There have been public baptisms and men and women who forsook all for Ohrist are preaching His cross to others. We saw twenty-two adults baptized publicly at Isfahan on July 4th, this year. All were bold to confess the Ohrist. According to Doctor Robert E. Speer, Persia is today "the most open door to Islam." Mirza Ibra- him who died by torture in the dungeon at Tabriz in 1890 witnessed a good confession: "One night when he witnessed for Ohrist to his fellow-prisoners, they fell upon him, kicked him, and took turns choking him. His throat swelled so that he could scarcely swallow or speak, and, on Sunday, May 14, 1893, he died from his injuries. When the Orown Prince was informed of his death, he asked, 'How did he die~' And the jailor answered, 'He died like a Ohristian.' "
The blood of such has been the seed of the Ohurch. "Twenty years ago," said Kasha Moorhatch, "it was impossible for a Moslem to shake hands with a Ohristian, but now, not only do they shake hands, but, like Orientals, they quite often kiss each other. Then it was a death penalty for a Ohristian to speak before Moslem fanatics about the divinity of Ohrist, but now, if a Ohristian is well informed in language and intelligent in speech, he can say openly that Ohrist is God-Man, the only Mediator, outside of Whom all else are sinners incapable of mediatorship. Then it was impossible to sit with Moslems at one table, but today, among the higher classes, it is very common and free. Twenty years ago it was dangerous to preach in one of the Moslem languages in the presence of Moslems, but today any intelligent man who knows the language can speak about the Trinity, the Atonement, the New Birth, and can openly condemn Islam as a religion of pure formalism. " This testimony is true. The tactful presentation of the old Gospel story meets with response everywhere in Persia.
In every mission station in Persia there are growing groups of believers who witness the good confession. As a woman in Teheran put it, "The ground has been broken up and softened by the rain and is open for the seed. The old days of the hard closed soil are passed." Everywhere the sower goes forth to sow. The Bible Societies have doubled their circulation in Bible lands in recent years. During the past two years hundreds of gospels have found willing hands to accept them even in the old Mohammedan Al Azhar University. A Bible I presented to their ancient library in 1916 was being read there during Ramadhan this year.
. In Abyssinia there has been a movement toward Ohristianity on the part of Mohammedans led by Sheikh Zakariya, resulting in over six thousand forsaking Islam and becoming Bible Ohristians. Every-
where there are groups of inquirers and ill many places hundreds of secret disciples. It was an inspiration in 1922 to visit large churches in Java and Sumatra entirely composed of converts from Islam-a total of some forty thousand. In Bengal there are said to be sixteen thousand Moslem converts in the Church of Christ.
A few months ago I spoke to a Bible class of one hundred and thirty young men and boys at Omdurman (Egyptian Sudan), all of them Mohammedans by birth. My theme was the friendship of Paul with Jesus Christ. This I said had three stages: to know Him historically, to know Him as a living Person in His resurrection power, and to know something of the fellowship of His suffering. Under the very shadow of the old ruined tomb of the Khalifa these sons and grandsons of the warriors that fought for Islam with fire and sword listened to my challenge to accept Christ and follow Him in the battle for the Truth and for Purity-if need be to die for Him. And their black eyes flashed back a message of "~We are ready" that I shall never forget. Some are now awaiting baptism. "Say ye not yet four months and then cometh the harvest f Behold I say unto you lift up your eyes and look on the fields that they are white already unto harvest."
. Where are the reapers 1 That is the missionary problem today in the world of Islam. Who will go and who will sendf SURVEY OF THE MOSLEM WORLD North America ……………………………… . ]ins/mn Proportion Populations to Total Central and South America ……………….. . Australia ……… ~ …. ~ . . . . . 11,000 1 in 10,1)(j1) 174 RG1 1 in 500 1 in 1,400 Polynesia ……… . …….. . 25;000 15,000 1 in 70 Europe * ……………… . 7,058,949 2 jn 5 Africa 4,0.00,000 1 in 6 1,764,000 1 in 3 Abyssinia ……………………………. . 11),.'585,990 1 h1 10 11 in 12 Belgian Congo …………………………….. . 626,000 11,658,148 2 in :l British Africa …………………………….. . 24,858,204 1 in 4 5 :in 6 British African manaat"s ……………………. . 750,000 1 in UI 1,549,000 6 in 7 Egypt …………………………………… . 230,000 Total Freneh Afriea …………………………….. . ;'94,500 Total 382,:;00 2 in 9 Freneh African mandates ……………………. . 8 in 9 12,000,000 1 in 4;; Italian Afriea ……………………………. . 10,000,000 3 in 4 71,245,772 1 jn 70 Portuguese Africa ………………………….. . 3,411,590 49 in 1)0 9,136,000 1 in 3 Spanish Africa …………. . ……….. . 36,000,000 8 in 9 1 in 15 Other Count.ries … . …………………. . 341,860 9,350,000 Asia 10,200,000 8,35'O,O()0 Afghanistan ……… . 1,246,O()O Arabia ………. .
British Asia …………… .
Brit.ish Asian manda t.es …… .
China and Dependenl'i,'" …………………. .
Dutch East Indies ……………………… .
Freneh Asia ………………………………. .
Persia …………………………………… .
Russian Asia …………………………… . ..
Turkey ………………………………….. .
Other Countries …………………………… .
Total Moslem Population …………… . 240,56,2,864 1 in 7 ,., Chiefly in Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, C'7-f'eho-Slovakia, YugowSlavia, Rumania and Russia.
Societies Doing Special Work for
Societies Fields Moslem Population Iw_oTkers among Moslemsi Types of Work Results Reported , CANADA 15,000 families 3 part time IlEv., ed., med. 10,000,000 25 Few converts; 1 evang.; severe persecution. United Church of Canada …………… . China-Honan (North) Evangelistic Slight; signs encouraging. Sudan Interior Mission …………….. . French Sudan, Nigeria 1 103 I 1 UNITED STATES I Assists Societies Ed., med., ev., social I American Board of Commissioners …….. Turkey, Syria, Greece I'~ ,.o.o.o:~~~ ..(~Urkey) I· .. ·…. ·.. · Literature I American Christian Lit. Soc. for Moslems .. Moslems in all lands ]2,000,000 ………… Educational American University at Cairo ………… Egypt 2 ~ecognition of friendliness; study of Jesus 10 i Evangelistic by few enquirers. Christian and Missionary Alliance …….. Palestine, China I (India) 5 Just started Church of the Brethren ……………… IIndia (Bombay Pres.), lEV., ed. Many enquirers. Nigeria iAb~~t' '30,000 •••••••• 0 ••• Ev., ed., med. 1 convert in 6 years; 'characters influenced; ,Ev., ed., med. Churches of God ………………….. ·IIndia (:o:o:o:~~~: ::: 0 ••••••••••• JEv., ed., med. occasional conversions. Ev., med., lit., etc. Lutheran Orient Mission Society ………. /Kurdistan 300 Ev., ed., med. About 100 converts. Methodist Episcopal Board F. M. . ……. India, Malaysia, Africa 241 150 converts in Egypt; some adult baptisms Methodist Episcopal (Women) ……….. Africa, India, China I::::::::::: : in Sudan; some from Sweeper class and Presbyterian Church, U. S. A…………. iPersia, India, Syria, Irak high castes in India.
United Presbyterian Chureh ………….. India, Sudan, Egypt COOO,OOO Few. Hostility overcome; Arabia opened; 6 bap- Protestant Episcopal Church in U. S. A… Philippir:es, China, Liberia 3 (2 more in prospect) iEd., med. Reformed Church in America ………… Arabia, Mesopotamia tized in last 2 years. 8,000,000 42 'Ev., ed., med. No conversions. Reformed Church in U. S……………. Mesopotamia 3 E~ United Lutheran Church …………….. India 185,000 1 whole, 1 part time, 1 Ev., ed.
ENGLAND preparing Bible Lands Missions Aid Society …….. Near East ……….. . Assists missions Church Missionary Society …………… Nigeria, W. Africa; Egypt, Su- ]05,0'00,000 Approximately 364 (in- Ev., ed., med., lit.
dan, Palestine, Persia, India cluding wives) Church of England Zenana M. S. ……… India ……….. . 10 whole, 35 part time Ev., ed., med. . ………. . ………… lEv., ed. ' ……….. . Egypt General Mission ……………… Egypt 10,000,000 Friends Foreign Mission. " ………. " ., India, Near East 65,000 (India) 2 Ev. in India, lit. in Near EastjNot tabulated. Jerusalem and East Mission …………. Palestine, Syria, Cyprus ……….. . 15 Ed. mainly, med. and lit. started Increased number of enquirers.
Nile Mission Press …………………. Arabic-speaking world 100,000,000 5 foreign, 51 native Literature Some conversions; much general influence.
North Africa Mission ………………. Morocco,Mgeria,Tunisia,Tripoli 17,000,000 77 Ev., med., indus. :……….. .
West Indian Mission to West Africa (Pon- 10 IIEv., I'd. IIndefinite; increase of interest. gas Mission) ……………………. French Guinea, W. Africa 5 Evangelistic ……….. . Worldwide Evangelisation Crusade …… , . Arabia, Afghanistan SCOTLAND I…. ·…… · 7 IMed., ev. Inquirers. Scattered converts. Edinburgh Medical M. S…………….. Syria, Palestine 6,000,000 26 foreign, 8 native ,Ev., ed., med. ,Converts in India; no results appt. in Arabia. Southern Morocco Mission …………… Southern Morocco United Free Church of Scotland ………. Arabia, India, Africa 4 whole, others part time 1Ev., ed., med. !
THE CONTINENT II~~~n~~{is~~d. i Bethel Mission (Germany) ………….. E. Africa 50,000 ~ :~~r:e~~~: :2:0: native IE~~;;g~l;~ti~ . i~ :~~~~~r:t; ~ : :10 catechumens.
Danish Mission ……………………. Arabia 1 lEV., ed., med. IEncouraging. 2 1300 Christians, forced into Islam during the Evangelical Swedish Mission …………. Somaliland, Abyssinia war, return to Christian Church. German Baptists …………………… R,ussia, South 200,000 (~) Mohammedans who accept Gospel sent to German Orient Mission ……………… IBulgaria, Persia, Turkey, Syria ……….. . mission schools. 2,995 baptized up to close of 1925; 207 Karmel Mission …………………… Palestine 50,000 11 Ev., ed., med. baptized last year; 166 under instruction. Neukirchen Mission Institute ………… Java 7,000,000 15 missionaries, 11 wives, I· Ev., ed., med. I 5 doctors, 18 unmarried ~~~!~~s: ~~~~ents treated in hospitals and lady missionaries 2,000 converts. Rhenish-Westphalian Deaconesses' Society. Jerusalem, Cairo :::::::::::: I~~~i.C~~ .. . .. 16,000 converts. 7,000 converts. Rhenish Missionary Society ………….. East Indies 7,000,000 9 :Ev., ed., med. 4,000 converts. Mennonite Union ………………….. Java, Sumatra 7,000,000 Netherlands Missionary Society ………. E. Java 8,000,000 18 I· Ev., I'd., med. 1 enquirer in China; work in India new. Netherlands Missionary Union ……….. W. Java 15 Ev., ed., med. 76 church members; growing interest. Reformed Church in Netherlands ……… Java 28,500 (China) 150 Ev., ed., med. 150 converts. Utrecht Mission Union ……………… New Guinea 3 Swedish Alliance Mission ……………. North China, India About 1,000,000 1 in India IE·v·.· i~ 'I~di;, lit. in China (Over) Swedish Missionary Society ………….. E. Turkestan Women Missionary Workers (Swedish) .. , N. Africa, India 24 lEV., ed., med. 6 Ev., ed., med. Societies Fields Moslem Population [work ,rs arnong Moslems[ Types of Work I Results Reported i AFRICA ;8,000,000 30 I IDeSire for SCl'iptures and Christian litera- Algiers Mission Band ………………. Algeria, Tunisia lEV., lit. I ture; homes opened; classes for children.
Swedish Mission …………………… jEgypt_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _i_._.._._._._._._._.._._____'-1_5_ !,Ev., ed., social ISeveral confessions.
Protestant Missionary Societies Doing Work Incidentally for Moslems Soeieties Fields Workers Touch'g Moslern.. 1 Kinds of Work Results Reported . CANADA I. , I Umted Church of Canada ……………..Central I n d t a A l l in contact IMed., ed. and zenana Not many open conversiolls.
UNIT~D Amer~.can I …, .1 BI•b~e S~cIetyST.A. .T:ES. . . …. …. … East, . Bibles and colportage N e3;r Phlhppllles, Sudan, ArabIa; ……….. I A~erlcan Umve~sI~y of BeIrut ……….. SYrIa ! ……….. . 1190 teachers and assists., Educational 'About 500 Moslem students a year. Chma Inland MISSIOn ………………. China 126 iEv. and med. ! Slow; promising. I Evangelical Synod of N. A. . ………… Central India ……….. . , Good results in Palestine; little in Kenya Colony. American Friends ………………….. Palestine, E. Africa 123 IE~·.; ·e'r1.; ·~~d.. social Augustana Synod ………………….. China, Tanganyika (Africa) ……….. . I ………. .. National Baptist Convention …………. [Liberia i……….. . [, :::::::::: ' Seventh Day Baptist M. S……………. China, Java, West Indies ……….. .
Bible Lands Gospel Mission …………. Syria, Palestine I …•…….. ! ……….. .
Methodist Episcopal Board F. M…….. 'IN. Africa, Europe, India, Malaysia'I' i China 6 or 8 t Ev., ed., med. Interest awakened. I" …….. . Norwegian M. S. (American) ………… Camerouns t •••••••••••• ,……….. .
Reformed Presbyterian Church in N. A… , :Asia Minor, Syria, Island of Cyprus'8 ,Ev., ed., med.
Scandinavian Alliance ………….. '" . ·IIndia IEvangelistic Southern Baptist Convention …………. [Nigeria, Palestine, Syria 34 "Ev., ed., med. 16,284 members.
United Brethren in Christ …………… Sierra Leone ……….. . ',Ev., ed., med.
United ,christian M. S………………. ,China, Java, West Indies I •••••••••••• IE~·.,· ~~d" i~ 'Africa; ev., I' S~~~ ~~;'~~~~ions. Vesleyan Methodist Connection ………. IIndia, Sierra Leone 118 I 1 , ed. in India (Med., ed., indus., zenanal ………. .. Woman 's Union Missionary Society ….. '1 United Provinces (India) I'" stations World's Sunday School Association ……. Egypt, Syria, Palestine 13 , and orphanage iIi,creased attendance, especially in Egypt and Sudan. Ev., ed.
Young Men's Christian Asso()iation ….. 'iEgyPt, Palestine, Syria, Turkey,I .
Persia, Irak, India I………. .. :Ed., soc., lit. I.. · .. · .. · .. · ENGLAND I1 …. · ….. .. .1 Bibles and colportage i…… · .. •.. British and Foreign Bible Society ……. . All Moslem lands Plan to make work for Christian Lit. Soc. for India and Africa .. India, Africa London Missionary Society …………. . India, Africa Moslems part of 5-year campaign Presbyterian Church of England ………. Malaysia, India men and women Ev., ed., med. Results disappointing. 'jIE.L'·Iv't·.a.·.n·':·'ue·.lpi'ps·.tl~·'Ce·'d·' to Churell Some converts. I SRaelgviaotnisonBAe,yromnyd .M.i.s.s.io.n………………. India, .Java, China, W. Africa .. .. .. .. .. …… ,. … . ……….. . Scripture Gift Mission ……………… Moslem lands ……….. . S. P. C. Knowledge ………………… China, Africa, India Soc. for Propagation of Gospel ………. ,1India 1 in training of England missions …. , …… . Sudan United Mission ……………… 'Nigeria, French Equatorial Africa; ………… Few conversions; Government oppos",d. i Ey., ed., med. Anglo-Egyptian S u d a n , Recently decided to app(,int 2 missionaries for special Moslem work. _Wesleyan Methodist ……………….. . India, W. Africa I Some conversions in India. Wesleyan Methodist, Women's Auxiliary .. India, Ceylon I' . . . . . . . . . . . 'I ……….. . . . . . •. . . . ••• iEv., ed., med.
~~~k~l:~ ~~;d cOI,II,s~;.ipt~·r~· di~tribution SCOrrLA:-'D Church of Scotland ……………….. . National Bible Society …………….. . Punjab (India) Palestine, 1 i Increased interest. India, China, Syria, Egypt 15 . native ………. ..
Original Secession Chnrch of Scotland …. jCentral Provinces (India) i ..p..o.rt.e.r.s. . .. I.. · .. · .. · .. · , THE CONTI;;E:-'T 1 Berlin Missionary Society …………… is. and E. Africa, China [lEV. and educational In villages where there are Christian schools, Mohammedans try to Evangelical Lutheran (Leipzig) ………. India, Africa I found Islamic schools. Jerusalem Union (Germany) ………… Palestine Netherlands Bible Society …………… East Indies k ,Evangelistic Some conversions. Orebro MissiOl~ary S?ci.ety (Sweden) ….. ~ndia, French Equatorial Africa Work among Arabic-speaking people. Basel Evangebcal MISSIOn …………… So. Borneo, W. Africa I foreign and 13 nativ~ Ev. and educational ') Translate Bible ……….. .
119 in India : lEv., ed., med., orphanagesFeW converts; seeking to stop spread of Islam in Africa.
) ………. .. ,,Ev., literature fSome conversions.
Rise and Fall of
BY PROl<'EI'HO/1 ,JUl,IUS 1<'. lUCI!'l'ER, BEItLIN, UEHMANY Author of j' l'l"ot,(-stallt IVlissiollS in the Near J!Jast,}' etc., etc, I SLAM is one of the gigantic facts of history. It is the more fas- , cinating as it is one of the rare developments of equal dim~nsion which has gone on from its beginning to the present day in the full light of history. There was the prophet at Mecca infusing a burn- ing enthusiasm into the hearts and minds of his followers. There was the unheard of series of victories in the West and the East by which in the course of a single century an empire was equal, if not superior to the old Roman Empire. When the vital power of one nation seemed to be exhausted, another nation was at hand ready to lift again the sinking banner and to lead on to new victories, Even such terrible tragedies as the barbarous onslaughts of the Mongol hordes under Jengiskhan and Hulagu stopped only for a short time this brilliant career, or only seemed to change the scene of action. The history of the victorious march of the Arab armies from Medina to Poitiers and Tours, the foundation of the Mogul Empire in India and the rule of its first three or four emperors, the conquest of the Balkan and of the Danube countries up to Vienna, belong to the most brilliant chapters of history.
But it was not only an external history of bloody battles and ruined towns, it was to a great extent, also, a chapter of cultural development. The creation of the Moslem science of theology and of laws, within the short period of scarcely four hundred years, was an achievement in some ways comparable to the development of the Christian dogma from St. Paul to St. Augustine. In Islam, too, at the end of the creative period, there stands one of the really great men of history, Al Ghazali, who is the comprehensive mind closing the first and opening the second period of the spiritual evolution of the Moslem mind. We must not look at these events from the standpoint of the irreparable losses of the Christian Church, or of the failure of the crusades as a hopeless attempt to crush the dreaded enemy, '01' the most astounding growth of an anti-Christian heresy. Such points of view will bias us against the greatness of Moslem achievements.
After these glorious beginings, what does history teach 1 Slow yet irresistible disintegration, tumbling down with increasing speed from a unique height of power and splendor-and a terrible fall. The description we give in the following paragraphs represents only one side of the tragedy, but other articles will supplement this so that we think it worth while to concentrate attention on this catastrophe, one of the most arresting chapters that have passed before our eyes during the last decade and a half.
753 2
THE INTERIOR OF THE FAMOUS MOSQUE OF SANCTA SOPHIA IN CONSTANTINOPLE ThIs was hunt by the Emperor Justinian in 532 as a Christian Church. Its pillars, on the side (first floor) were taken trOll) the temple of Diana at Epbe~us. After the capture of Constantinople by the Turks In 1463, It was turned into a. mOSQue. The large dlt.ks display the Dames ot Mohammedan saints. .When will the mosque again become a chUrch?
THE RISE AND FALL OF ISLAM
Through many a long year, Islam has experienced a succession of reverses. These began in Western Europe. Since the victory of Charles Martel at Poitiers, the flood of Mohammedanism has receded; one part of Spain after the other, Lower Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Isles, were freed from the yoke. It was a hard $truggle, lasting several centuries. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the greater part of Eastern Europe was under Mohammedan sway. But then carne a reaction. The Russians fought against the Moslems, and, in the course of the struggle, which lasted some hundreds of years, they became experts in the art of war and in the subtleties of diplomacy. The absorption by Russia .of territories, that were formerly Mohammedan, continued throughout the nineteenth century. In 1800 Georgia, and in 1828, 1829, and 1878, parts of Armenia were annexed, while from 1844 to 1887 the Trans-Caspian territory and Turkestan, the ancestral homes of the Turks in Asia, were subjugated. A third series of Mohammedan reverses dates from 1683, when John Sobieski raised the siege of Vienna.> The Austrians gradually gaining courage, after struggles that lasted several decades, succeeded in driving the Turks back from the Leitha across the Danube, and regained possession of Hungary.
In the nineteenth century, a fourth movement has taken place, whereby the power of Islam has been still further curtailed. The "Sick Man on the Bosporus" had to suffer the amputation of one limb of his unwieldy body after the other. Provinces have either been made into independent kingdoms, or have been placed under the protection of European powers. Thus, in 1829, the Turkish Empire lost Greece and Servia, in 1830 Algeria, in 1858 Rumania, in 1878 Cyprus, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro and Bulgaria, in 1882 Egypt and Tunis, and in 1898 the Island of Crete. In 1911, the Ohristian Balkan states wrested by far the greater part of Turkeyin-Europe from the Ottoman Empire. In 1912, Italy annexed Tripolitania. The World War sealed the doom of the Ottoman Empire. What has remained after the total collapse is a national republic which can no longer be said to be based on Islam as a religion.
Turkey is only a comparatively small part of the region formerly under Mohammedan rule. What else remains today of the former realm of Islam? There was a time when the Sudan, the Fulbe and Hausa States of West Africa, Zanzibar and the whole of East Africa as far as the Lakes, in fact as far as the Upper Congo, were ruled by Mohammedan princes. Today the two Christian powers of France and Britain have divided these territories between them.
There was a time when India, from the Himalayas to Cape Cormorin, was governed by the great Moguls in Delhi and their vassals; but years ago the last maharajah bowed his proud neck before Christian Britain. There was a time when the Mohammedans were mas-
I (kto1,("
tel'S of the Red Sea aml of the Illlliull Ocean. Today Britain is mistress of these seas, and the converging points of the trade routes which cross their waters are under her control for Gibraltar, Malta, Aden, Perim, Penang aud Singapore arc important c01l1wciing 1ink~ of the British Empire. Of the two hundred and thirty-five millions of Mohammedans, only about twenty millions are at present under Moslem rule, while two hundred and fifteen millions are ~l1(ler Christian rule.
It was disastrous for Islam that from the twelfth century the rrurks assumed the leadership. From one point of view, this was an advantage. Through the centuries of their world empire, the Arabs have never lost their Bedouin characteristics. '1'hey have never learned statecraft. Their history is a record of ambitious cliques and reckless adventurers. The '1'urks, oil the contrary, were a people with a capacity for rule. By nature excellent soldiers, they founded a lasting government. But they diu not take kindly to civilization. Four great nationalities have played a leading part in the internal aI).d external history of Islam; the Arabs, the Persians, the Mongols and the Turks. The first three introduced splendid epochs of civilization and stood, at various times, in the foremost rank of general culture-the Arabs in Egypt, Morocco and Spain; the Persians in their own country; and the Mongols in India. 'l'hey achieved great things in architecture, philosophy, geography, and astronomy. They produced poets and religious thinkers of worldwide renown. Nothing of all this is to be found among the Turks, no truly great poet, no explorer of the unknown, no fruitful, constructive ideas in art. They rule with the mailed fist, and their rule is a curse for the peoples subject to them. Under their rule were found representatives of more gifted nations-Greeks, Egyptians, Macedonians, Armenians. As long as these languished under the Turkish yoke, they deteriorated outwardly and inwardly. Freed from Turkish tyranny, they recover. Think what Greece, Bulgaria, Servia, Oyprus, and Egypt have become since their liberation, and we reali'ze the curse of Turkish control. In the whole range of history, we can hardly find a nation that has done so little for civilization after seven centuries of unrivalled opportunity.
There are four chief causes of decay in Islam. (1) Mohammedan governments have proved incapable of developing the economical resources of their lands and of helping the popUlation of these lands to thrive. In 1875, a man who knew, Mustafa Fazil Pasha, a brother of the Khedive of Egypt, wrote to the Sultan: Your Majesty's subjects, of whatever faith they may be, fall into two classes, viz: the ruthlessly oppressing and the mercilessly oppressed. Industry, agriculture, trade–all lie prone in the empire. When a man can exploit his neighbour, he takes no pains to improve his mind or his field; and where tyranny and extortion reign, no one can hope for the fruit of his la-
92tlJ THE RISE AND FALL OF ISLAM
bol', ant! no one works. Every passing year robs us of our foreign support. All tIll' I<;uropean statesmen, on regarding the actions of your officials, exdaim: "That government is incapable of reform, it is doomed to destruction. " 'Vell, sire, are such prophecies lies?* (:l) Hand in hand with this economic incapacity goes internatiemal political incapacity, which has never known how to settle dis- IlUtes and establish lasting peace and order. First of all, there was the national enmity between Turks and Arabs. The northern half of the Ottoman Empire, as far south as 'rripoli in Syria, was Turkish; the other half was Arab. Probably the Arabs are the nobler race; they feel it to be an injustice that the Turks have assumed the place of paramount authority in Islam, and that the Sultan should be regarded as Caliph. '1'11ere was also bitter antagonism of 'furks and Arabs alike against their Christian subjects. ~-'urther, Turkey had not been able to amalgamate with herself races nominally Mohammedan, such as the Druses, the Nusairiyeh, the Kurds, and the Mohammedan Albanians. Large provinces of the empire-Armenia, Kurdistan; Syria, nearly the whole of Turkey in Europe-were in a chronic state of ferment, that nowhere allows of peaceful settlement.
(3) A third cause of the decay of Islam is the contradiction between the teaching of Islam and established facts. That MoslemR Bhoul<1 be subject to the infidel Christians is an intolerable thought, which raises the fanaticism of ~foslems to the boiling point. Yet nine tenths of all Mohammedans are subjects of Christian nations, and the rest are in more or" less close dependence on Christian Europe. What a contradiction! There is the same anomaly in Mohammedan theology· and learning. There have been centuries in which these have made great progress, but there was always a germ of death in them. That "winged word," with which Khalif Omar, or his Egyptian general AmI', is said to have excused the destruction of the invaluable lihrary of Alexandria, "Either there is in these !)Ooks what the Koran contains, and then they are superfluous; or they contain something different, and then they are false and noxi- (Jus," reveals the fundamental genius of Islam. The only allowable task of science according to Mohammedans, is the codifying and explaining of the authoritative words of Allah in the Koran, as they definitively regulate all that bears on the common life, the m0f'1Ql18. the courts of law, the bazar, and even the Caliph's throne. But this artificial system of law, which the learned deduce from the Korall and the Sunna with hair-splitting exactitude, is in sharp conflict with stern realitv. The Mohammedan higher schools exhaust themselves in an atte~pt to reconcile facts with the teaching of their sacred writings. '1'he whole modern state would have to be remodeled, :in order to be hrought into conformity with the will of Allah, as propounded by the mullahR.
Of' (Dr. GUlldcrt, nprotest..'mt Missions," 4th Ed., p. 257).
(4) In addition to all this, moral deterioration is eating at the vitals of Mohammedan nations. The Koran allows polygamy, one of the worst ethical errors of Mohammed. Polygamy is the rule, except where poverty enforces monogamy. The result is that even a greater degree of sensuality prevails in such nations than among Africans or Hindus. This carnality has borne fatal fruit. If the woman is but the plaything of the man and exists only to satisfy his lust, why need she be educated 7 The less she knows, the better. In the eyes of the man, she is but flesh. This general feeling has stood in the way of education of women. Unbridled fleshly desires, also, are fanciful and changeable. The slightest thing may cause antipathy, or at least indifference.
Never, perhaps, was the general decline of Islam more plainly set forth than at a conference of prominent and learned Mohammedans which met at Mecca from March 27 to April 10, 1899, to enquire into the reasons of this decline and to devise remedies. 'l'hc chairman opened the proceedings with an assertion that in any two adjacent countries, districts, villages or homes, one of which is M0hammedan, the other non-Moslem, you will find the Moslems to be less energetic, worse organrzed in every respect, less skilful in the arts and trades than the non-Moslems, though the former may excel the latter in such other virtues as honesty, courage and liberality. In explanation of this sad state of things, the conference adduced no fewer than fifty-six causes, embracing the whole range of life-religious, political and social.
The learned Oxford Orientalist, Professor Margoliouth, concludes his report of this significant conference by raising the weighty question, "Has Islam any golden age to look back on, except in the sense that at one time Mohammedan sultans were a terror to their neighbours, whereas now their neighbours are safe from their raids7" In answer, he asserts that "there is no real abuse current in Mohammedan states from which they have ever been free, except by accident for a limited time …… The days of the 'Pious Caliphs,' could they be reproduced, would mean no progress even in the most backward Islamic countries. The strengthening of Islam, if it is not to be a calamity to the whole world, is not to be effected by the reproduction of a barbarous past, but by an attempt to utilize the vast force which Islam represents, as a factor in the real progress of the civilizing and ennobling of the race. Whether this can be done, or the whole of this huge capital must be 'written off,' is the question which reformers have to solve." t t ("East and West," 1907, p. 393).
1926.1 THE RISE AND FALL OF ISLAM
IMPORTANT HISTORICAL DATES ~ MOSLEM AND CHRISTIAN C. 4B. C. The Birth of Jesus, the Christ. C. 29 A. D. The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. 312 A. D. Emperor Constantine ,converted in Italy. 389 A. D. Christianity supreme in Roman Empire. C. 570 A. D. Birth of Mohammed in Mecca. 622 A. D. Hegira-Flight of Mohammed from Mecca. Death of Mohammed in Mecca. 632 A. D. Capture of Jerusalem by Caliph Omar, 636 A. D. 642 A. D. John of IJamaSC1tS preaches to 1I10slems, 8th Century 732 A. D. Moslem conquest of Persia. 742 A. D. Defeat of Mohammedans in West Europe at Tours. 830 A. D. 1000 A. D. First mosque built in China. 1096-1272 I'll Kindy, a Christian Arab, issues his "Apology." 1182-1226 Moslems invade India. 1235-1315 The Crusades for control of Jerusalem. 1453 1492 Francis of Assisi preaches in Palestine. 1525-1707 Raymund Lull, missirmary in North Africa. 1683 Constantinople captured. Sheikh-ul-Islam established. 1740-1780 .~fohammedans driven from Spain by Ferdinand II. 1806-1812 1820 Mogul Empire in India. Eastern Europe checks advance of Turks at Vienna. 1850-1891 Wahabi reform spreads over Arabia (except Oman). 182,6 Henry Martyn, missionary in India, Arab~'a, Persia. Levi Parsons and PZ.iny Fisk reach Smyrna from America. 1831 Bishop T. Valpy French, miJSsion(1;ry in India and Arabia. 1833 English Church Missi01uwy Society enters Egypt. 1847 American Board missionaries begins work in Constantinople. 1875 American Presbyterians begins work in Ta;briz, Persia. 1885-1887 Eli Sm,1<"th of Byria begins translation of Bible into Arabie. 1889 English Church Missionary Bociety begins work in Persia. Ion Keith-Falconer establishes work in Arabia. 1906 James Cantine (l;fId Sam1wl M. Zwemer found Arabian Mis- 1908 1924 sion of the Reformed Church in America. 1924 New constitution proclaimed in Persia.
Young Turks proclaim new constitution.
Caliphate abolished in Turkey. Ibn Saoud, Wahabi ruler of the Nejd, captures Mecca.
HOW ISLAM SPREAD I SIJAM is a missionary religion and was spread by force of arms. . The three choices offered the conquered are: acceptance of Islam, the payment of tribute or death. Three periods mark the sweep of Mohammed's followers over Syria and North Africa and later over parts of Asia and Europe: I. A. D. 630-S00-Early caliphs-conquest of Arabia, Syria, Persia, North Africa and the peaceful penetration of China.
II. A. D. 12S0-1480-The Ottoman Turks and Moguls of India: conquest or Afghanistan, Turkestan, India, Java, Malaysia, Serbia and Bosnia.
III, A. D. 1780-1906-Modern Islam-Dervish orders and Oman Arabs and pilgrims-conversion by penetration in Central Africa, Russia, the Philippines and elsewhere.
THE MISSIONAR·Y HEVll~W 0:1<' THE WOllLD
THE STRENGTH AND BEAUTIES OF ISLAM 1. The conception of the unity, omnipotence, omnipresence and mercy of God.
2. The brotherhood of all believers-without distinction of race, color, nationality or station.
3. Fidelity to the creed of Islam and its application to daily life.
4. Fearless witnessing to the faith, before all people and under all circumstances.
5. The missionary conception and the ambition to bring all man- kind to acknowledge Allah and the Prophet. • 6. The sense of the duty of all Moslems everywhere to win con- . verts_ 7. Insistence on cleansing (through cerem<mial), antagonism to idolatry, opposition to intemperance and to many religious, social and physical evils.
MORAL AND SOOIAL EVILS OF ISLAM T HE inadequacy of the religion of Mohammed is seen in its effect on the lives of its followers. Mohammedan lands, such as Afghan- istan, Turkey, Arabia, Persia and Morocco, show the results when Islam has full sway. Some of the evils are: 1. Low ideals involving ungoverned pride, lust, envy, treachery, vindictiveness and untruthfulness which were evident in Mohammed's own character.
2. Lax interpretation of many of the commandments, especially the third, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth as based on the Koran.
3. Polygamy, easy divorce, slavery and attendant evils-especially the low status of women. The Arabs are the chief slave dealers of the world.
4. Illiteracy. 'From seventy per cent upward of Mohammedans in Moslem lands are illiterate. Some resulting evils are intellectual stagnation, narrowness, superstition, quackery, bigotry and blind adherence to tradition.
5. Narrow limits of education-largely confined to the Koran in strictly Moslem lands; the remaining education consisting of parental instruction.
6. Lack of a true sense of sin as relating to disregard of the moral and spiritual laws of God.
7. Lack of any idea of a God above, as an all-wise Heavenly Father. The Moslem creed includes agnostic, pantheistic and animistic elements. The misconception of God is responsible for the fatalism, formalism, and militarism among Moslems.
8. Lack of any conception of any adequate Saviour from sin or any indwelling Power to overcome sinful tendencies. 'l'here is a lack of faith in Jesus Christ as revealed in th(' gospel8 and of any clear idea of the Holy Spirit and His work.
Breaking Away from
BY REV. JAMIES L. BARTON, D.D., BOSTON, MASS. Author of "The Christian Approach to Islam."
T HE laws that control Islam are embodied in their sacred Koran and in their tradition. It is generally conceded that tradition is the more powerful of the two in controlling action. Change has always been looked upon with suspicion. Islam being considered a perfect religion in itself, change has been looked upon as evil and always to be opposed. As Principal Fairbairn says: "Islam is the most inflexible of all positive religions. It is an elastic spirit placed in an iron framework. The progressive is sacrificed to the stationary."
Sir William Muir: "Swathed in the bands of the Koran, the Moslem faith is powerless to adapt itself to varying time and place, keep pace with the march of humanity, direct and purify the social life, and elevate mankind."
Lord Cromer: "The Moslem stands in everything on the ancient ways, because he is a Moslem, because the customs which are interwoven with his religion forbid him to change."
Palgrave: "Islamism is in itself stationary and was framed thus to remain. It justly repudiates all change, all development."
Lord Houghton: "The written book is there, the dead man '8 hand, stiff and motionless; whatever savours of vitality is by that alone convicted of heresy and defection."
761
Stanley Poole: "No advance,no change has been admitted into orthodox Islam during the past thousand years."
Dr. Samuel Graham Wilson, after declaring that "Islam, as IsbetntleMda1fl·rko,mantdheI traditions by the great Imams, Abu Hanifa, Shafi, bn Hanbal, must remain fixed," adds that, histori- cally and actualIy, the dicta of our great writers are but partially true. Remarkable modifications have taken place in Islam in the past and conspicuous changes are occurring at the present time. Since these statements were made by students of Islam, many changes have swept OVer t,he Islamic world, not as general move- ments affecting all Moslem races alike, but chiefly affecting at differ- ent times and in various degrees a single people or nation. If we were -to consider only one natioll or race, We would not be justified in drawing conclusions of a sweep- ing character, but when we see so many different Islamic peoples moving away from their ancient mooring, although not all in the same direction or with the same 1'HE MODERN RULER OF TURKEY speed, only one conclusion can be Mustafa Kemal Pasha and his very modern reached, namely, that Islam as a religion is not holding the fol- wife (recently divorced), lowers of Mohammed in the ancient way. To change the figure, it is evident that the hitherto stagnant waters of the Moslem world are now being troubled through the im- pact of civilization and that much that Mohammedans regarded a generation ago as absolutely essen- tial to the Moslem faith is now no longer so regarded. One after another of the traditions that date from the days of Mohammed or of his immediate successors we now see set aside, sometimes by official acts, often by failure to observe on the part of the people, until, in some areas, as in Turkey, there are grounds for maintaining that no longer does religion dominate the state.
The point to be kept in mind is that Islam, which ,a generation ago was looked upon as static and incapable of change, is now in nearly all parts of the world changing both in its point of view and in its practices, and that many of these changes indicate a breaking away from traditions formerly considered as essential to that religion.
In imitation of Christian bodies of the West, Mohammedans
MOSLEMS BREAKING AWAY }<'ROM TRADI'rlON
held in Mecca last June what they called an "All-World Moslem Congress," at the invitation of Abdul Aziz Ibn Saoud, the Wahabi King. They decided to hold an annual session during the time of the pilgrimage. In the report of the Congress, printed in the London Times of July 29, no reference is, made to any discussion of the question of the Caliphate.
Mohammedan governments have been theocratic. Mohammed was both the temporal and spiritual head of his followers, and so have been his successors. Only when Moslems have lived under Christian governments has their religious life been separate from the affairs of the state. The Moslem ruler received his authority from Allah and ruled by divine right. 'l'oday this authority is denied the Moslem chief of state whose right to govern is accorded him by the people governed. In a word, the people of Moslem states are demanding the right to choose their rulers and to have a voice in the making of the laws they are expected to obey. This movement is especially marked in Arabia, Persia, Egypt and Turkey.
Moslems and Moslem governments have not been patrons of education. To the devoted follower of Mohammed, all wisdom is embodied in the Koran. All books and all teachings that deal with matters not contained in the Kor- TRADITI~~!~1I~8Uilt:J1~~RtNHODJA an are to be repudiated as evil in character and vicious in influence. Moslem peoples have been notoriously backward in all forms of modern education-historical, physical and scientific. The traditions of Islam have been against it. Many Moslem youth, more enterprising and daring than the rank and file, in defiance of tradition, have, in one way and another, secured an education. These have studied the economic conditions of Moslem countries, noted their backward social, intellectual and moral condition, and have come to the conclusion that without a change Mohammedanism must be left behind in the struggle for existence. There has been a decided intellectual awakening in all Moslem countries and mostly within a single generation, although greatly accelel'- ated within the last fiften years. In India the percentage of Moslems in school has risen from three percent thirty years ago to fifteen percent at the present time. A general movement toward 'Vestern education is marked in the East Indies, among the Moros in the
Pl1ilippilles, ill Persia, Egypt, Arabia and Turkey. Mohammedan men and even women are to be found in increasing numbers in the colleges and universities of the vVest, while the privileges offered by "'IVestern schools in Moslem countries are eagerly sought. In most countries governed by Moslems, modern education has entered and holds a commanding position today. '1'he best known of these are ~Jgypt, Persia and Turkey, which have established school systems ill which the sciences, history and one or more Western languages have a place. As a vital part of the ef- f ect of this new education, one notes the rapid increase of literature in all Moslem countries. The produc- tion of all kinds of literature, in the last fifteen years, in the vernacular and in Western languages, is phe- nomenal. The printing press has become a vital force in all these _________ countries, stimulated by the rapid J":'J.I.. .J.>;…L;..I …;)… …..-'-< '..,-II;. JfJ ..0' advance in learning while itself .j.J.-~,),"..T.f.¥J.'>!.:~~L;…~I.;J.:,"5~',.,,.;..,<:,,<,)J."»! ..,:……a.jo;J.u.l/~~Ji acting' as a stimulant to education. ,:,IJI j,..': ),:,')1 J-l….I J ….·J ~,,;.-'-'-,:…. ,,<,,,<,Rapidly the press, so far as educa- .~..,..;J.. ..»~ J-ai. tr.b~ r~' (§:;.JI""";J tion and religion are concerned, is becoming free even under Moslem governments. The Islamic world is going to school in spite of the restrictions of tradition.
The followers of no religion have so successfully resisted the in- troduction of the customs and fash- ions from the West as have .:<Ioslems. Most of their customs have had their roots in their own .'1. TURKISH EDITION OF THE KORAN traditions or in the direct teaching:,; of the Koran. To change would seem to devout Moslems to be denial of their faith. This is well demonstrated in the treatment of women, in methods of persecuting'
such as deny Islam, in the abstinence from wine, and in the daily customs once regarded as essentially religious. '1'he rapid rise of education for girls in 11os1em countries has inevitably led to a re- laxation of suppressive measures in the treatment of women and the granting to them of positions of increasing influence and leadership in the home, in society and even in the state. 'While apostasy is still looked upon as little short of a crime and is generally regarded as worthy of punishment, an increa:,;ing lenienry is noted in many conll- tries in the treatment of suell as inquire after Christianity. III '/'Ul'- key and Persia, as well as in otller conntries, there have been lllany
192DJ MOSLJ~MS RREA KING A'VAY FR.OM TRADIl'IO:'ii"
eases where perseention was !lot ('ollspienolls, and some ('oulltries, under the influence of the vVestern impact, have declared for religious liberty.
MolmmulOdall countries are not so strollg for prohibition as the teachings of the Koran would give warrant for concluding. A Moslem official, a notorious drinker, once defended himself to the writer when charged with action contrary to his faith by declaring that he strictly adhered to the teachings of the Koran since he never drank wine but only whiskey and brandy. The breaking away from this Photo by C. T. Riggs From "The Mis8ionary Heraldn SCENE IN THE "LfBERATION PARADE" IN CONSTANTINOPLE Turkish university students in Constantlnop,le. (Octobe!' 6, 1926) having dis- carded the "fe·z," wear hats and caps. Even the Turkish wome.n are wearing hats.
tradition is to be deplored, but it reveals the tendency of the times to adopt methods practised in the "Vest even to the destruction of time-honored traditions. There are many minor customs and tendencies which, taken in themselves, alone would have little significance, but when taken together indicate a changed and changing point of view that is of no little importance.
Discarding the fez by the Government of Turkey and the compulsive wearing of Western headgear is a point in hand. It is true that the fez has strictly no religious significance, but it has become in many countries the sign of a true Moslem. Native Christians in Turkey were compelled to wear it as a token of loyalty to the Government. Now no one in Turkey may wear a fez. How far this will affect custom in other Moslem countries does not yet appear.
As Moslem countries enter into closer commercial and diplomatic relations with the countries of the West, they have felt the
OLD-TIME STREET COSTUME WORN BY MOSLEM WOMEN inconvenience of having a different religious rest day from that followed among Christians. Japan adopted the Christian Sunday as its day of rest. Turkey is now considering a similar step in spite of the fact that Friday was the day observed by Mohammed and that is now observed by all Moslem peoples. ·While this step has not yet been taken, the fact that the Turks regard it as a debatable question shows how one Moslem country, at least, does not look upon even the direct teachings of Mohammed as absolutely binding upon the state.
Mustapha Kemal, the President of Turkey, recently said in a public address, afterward printed: "The Koran, which is the sole source of ancient law, is by no means a code and contains no legal system capable of satisfying the needs of modern life." .A, Moslem has recently come out in an article printed in Constantinople, urging that the custom of bathing the feet before prayers and of leaving off the shoes during prayers be abolished as a custom suited to Arabs but not to a civilized country. The writer of this article charges the absence of men in the mosque and the large crowds attending the Christian churches as due to the fact that the Christians do not make this demand, while the Moslems do. Therefore, the writer contends that provision be made for the wearing of shoes in prayers with a place for hats in the vestibule.
The abolition of the caliphate by Turkey has outstanding significance for Turkey and is of vast importance to the Moslem world. This step was a demonstration that the people of Turkey believed that their will is superior to the will of Allah as expressed through their Sultan and embodied in the person of their Caliph. The fact that the Moslems in Turkey and in other countries have not regis-
926] MOSLEMS BREAKING AWAY FROM TRADITION
MODERN TURKISH GIRLS IN THE AMERICAN SCHOOL AT BROUSA tered violent protest to this act of 'I'm'key and that, to the present time, no concerted steps have been taken to elect a Caliph for the Moslem world, are indications of an indifference that was not expected. Mustapha Kemal in an address, printed in Constantinople on November 9, 1925, said: "Persons who possess some information about the history of Islam know that the Abbasides' dynasty and all the other Moslem dynasties which have followed it have been nothing other than instruments of oppression which based themselves upon the legal system on which the foundations of imperial Rome were built. These instruments of oppression were founded on a legal system which recognized all rights as belonging to God, which brought back all issues to God, and which made use of all these divine rights which they called supreme authority. It is for this reason that the system on which the caliphate, or modern sovereignty, was based yvas able to maintain itself so long."
No one would assume that the president of Turkey is in a position to speak for Islam, yet the fact remains that he has spoken and acted and his deeds and words have not brought out a challenge. Turkey has hitherto played a large and important part in the Moslem world. It has furnished the Caliph to Islam for more than four hundred years, has been the keeper of the holy places and was for generations the outstanding independent Mohammedan government.
Arabic has always been considered the sacred language of Islam. It was the language spoken by Mohammed and it was in that beautiful tongue that the Koran was written. It has been a matter of belief that the Koran could not be written or prayer be made acceptable to Allah if presented in any other tongue. Mohammedans have repudiated translations of the Koran and adhered to their sacred book in
it.s original. In spite of this fact the Turks have authorized the puhlication of a version of the Koran in the Turkish language. It is reported that this Turkish Koran has been warmly welcomed and that Turks arc studying critically the book whie1dhcy have never hitherto understood. This makes another break from ancient tradition.
There has been a startling change in the Moslem attitude toward women. The education of girls is a sign and seal of this change, but that is only the beginning of what inevitably will follow. Plural marriages have been considered one of the constants in Islam, although all Mohammedans did not have more thau a single wife. The founder of the sect in the Punjab, called" The People of the Koran," says that he regards polygamy as bad as fornication. The National Assembly of Albanians recently declared against polygamy and the covering of the faces of their women. A Moslem lawyer recently published a series of articles in a Turkish paper iu Constantinople, inveighing against polygamy, in which he declared that the young men looked upon Moslem polygamy and divorce as a curious antique. These articles advocated a law against the marriage of more than one wife. The Turkish Grand General Assembly has passed a bill prohibiting plural marriages and providing that all marriages shall be published and that no divorce shall be valid until ratified by a court decree.
Educated Moslems are attempting to interpret Islam in terms of modern science. Students of the Koran and of Moslem tradition are convinced that if Islam is to hold its place as a religion of the twentieth century, it must be interpreted in terms that will meet the demands of the thiJ;lking young men who are in contact with modern thought. Every Moslem country is awakening to this situati~n and, to some extent at least, is attempting to meet it. Methods of higher criticism common in the West are being applied to the Moslem tra~ ditions, commentaries and even to the Koran itself. The orthodox leaders are greatly alarmed at this unholy method of handling their sacred literature and at the spirit which the desire to question authority reveals. This has led to the recognition of two distinct classes, the Fundamentalists who put the Koran and tradition above reason, and the Modernists who are endeavoring to bring the thinking and practices of Moslems into harmony with modern science and the social standards of Western civilization. This has led to many schools of reform among Moslems, each attempting to find a way to save Islam without throttling social, intellectual and moral advance.
In the Moslem world, all signs point to a decided break in Islam from the static past and an attempt to conform to the demands of a world of expanding intelligence and a society intolerant of traditional Moslem practices. This may mean the decline of Islam, or it may point to fundamental reforms.
Boys and
BY REV. JOHN KINGSDEY BIRGE, BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT Formerly Professor ill the International College, Smyrna O NE NIGHT, during the war, as we were passing through the city of Manissa, some Turkish boys boarded the train, and, as they did so, they kissed their father's hands. A business man in our party remarked on the courtesy and respect that these young Moslems showed to their parents-something that American hoys and girls might learn from the youth of Turkey. In this re- spect for elders and superiors, and obedience to authority, the early re- ligious instruction of Mohammed- an boys and girls plays some part.
Until recently, instruction in religion has been a large factor in all education in Moslem lands, and a generation ago was almost ex- clusively religious, particularly of girls. They studied letters and grammar, mainly Arabic gram- mar, in order that they might read the Koran. They learned the pro- nunciation of words and gained the ability fluently to read aloud the Koran, but of the meaning they had little or no idea. More re- cently, history, geography, mathe- matics and science have taken a A MOSL~;M BOY IN NORTH AI·'RICA place in the education of a Moslem child as in the Western world. But still religion has not beenJomit- ted. The child has been taught the qualities of God-that Rehas no beginning or ending; that He is different fr0m all created things so that not even a comparison can be made; that. He sees and hears, though not as men see and hear; that He is absolute and unlimited in His power and authority. The child also learns his religious prac- tices, such as prayer in the Arabic tongue five times a day, the rea- son given being that God has commanded it. When the child imi- tates his parents and goes without food or drink from sunrise to sunset, during the month of Ramazan, he is being drilled into an at- titude of diticipline toward God. "Islam" meang "submission" and a "Moslem" is "one who submits" to the will of God. Obedience to authority thus becomes the major virtue and children learn to re- spect their parents.
They are also taught to respect their governments. In Turkish 3 769
there is a word for" subject" but none for" citizen." 'l'he idea of citizenship, as we understand it, does not exist.
The Islamic system is not like the Christian. The division among us into many denominations produces uncertainty as to religious authority. In Moslem lands, there is comparative agreement as to what God has required of His followers, and the child learns certain definite requirements in belief and practices that become ingrained into his very system.
Once during the month of Ramazan 1 was sitting in a gallery of a mosque, watching the worshippers. I saw boys touching with their thumbs the three portions of each finger, one after another, and I learned that they were reciting the names of God. If they didn't know the Ninety-nine Most Beautiful Names for God, as they probably did not, they were repeating thirty-three times each, such expressions as "God is Most Great."
This religious education exerts an even greater influence over them, because so much of it is taught under emotion. Ramazan evenings are happy festival occasions, and even though the worship is very long, there seems to be a gladness about it, a social good time, that deepens the impression on the boy or g·irl.
On Mohammed's birthday and other occasions, children, especially the boys, gather with their elders to listen to long chants and songs about Mohammed and the glories of the Moslem past. On such occasions, candy will be passed even in the mosques, and perfume will be scattered on the hands of all, leaving for the boy and girl sensations which in later life, when intellectual belief may have been shaken, still bring back the old associations.
Thus their type of religious education grips the child. The whole tone of it impresses on the mind the limitless power of God, so that a conception of the universe is built up which recognizes sovereignty and authority.
It is only partly true, however, that Islam is more uniform in its religious teachings than is Christianity. Outwardly, most Moslems, in any particular country, recognize the same system of belief and worship, but everywhere Islam is saturated with heretical teachings which find expression in fraternal organizations. While they secretly teach various mystical ideas, most of them hold public services in which they seek to experience an actual oneness with God. I have seen boys, hardly able to stand, sway their bodies back and forth as they dreamily recite over and over the name of God. Once I attended a prayer meeting, or zikr, of the Rufai Dervishes, when half a dozen boys were present as worshippers and other children were in the audience. When the worshippers had been stirred to excitement, a charcoal brazier was brought in from which projected a score or more of iron rods, each with an iron ring on the end. The rings, as well as two or three inches of the rod, were red hot. The leader
lfOHAMMEDA.:'.' ROYS AXD GIRLS
extracted one rod after another from the fire, slapped it on both sides of his hand, then gave it to a worshipper. I could plainly hear the hiss of steam as the worshippers licked these rods until they were cool. The small boys licked their red-hot irons as an American boy does a lollypop. There was a pathos in their very earnestness. They were experiencing, they thought, God's power, but how pitifully lack- ing they were in any ethical conception of what is involved in the will of God! In these ways, religion, with its emphasis on the power and ar- bitrary will of God almost entirely without ethical implications, is taught to practically every boy and girl in Moslem lands. Almost as influential have been the crude and superstitious popular beliefs.
'fombs of holy men arc regarded as sacred and on uear-by trees are hung' bits of rags, as reminders to the -spirrt hovering around the tomb that prayers have been offered. On every side the boy or girl sees such evidences of belief ill spirit presences. Such stories as the "Arabian Nig'hts" have made vel'y real to the children an unseen world where God also rules with supernatural forces.
This type of education is now in the process of change. Not only has Turkey abolished the dervish orders but time given to religious instruction in school is cut down, AN ARAB GIRL. STILL UNVEILED attendance at mosque services is growing less and formal worship has been on the decline for some years. One day with a Moslem boy I visited the religious schools of Smyrna. Where there had been over twenty of these, not one was left. We entered a mosque and talked with the sad-faced caretaker who was sweeping the floor. We remarked on the beauty of his place of worship. "Yes," he said, "the mosque is all right. The trouble is with the people who no longer come to prayers."
In place of the religious education formerly given in schools, more time is being given to the physical sciences. In place of re- ligious festivals and the songs that extolled the Prophet, national holidays and patriotic hymns are becoming the vogue. Everywhere the influence of the ·Western world is supplanting with ever-increasing rapidity the traditions of the Mohammedan past.
One wonders what is the effellt of the impact of Western inven-
tions on the Moslem boy and girl. There cannot but come a new faith in the material forces of this world. The textbooks in geography picture the factories of the 1,Vestern world, and the modern inventor is adjudged a great benefactor. The boy and girl are not only conceiving new wants, but a new philosophy of life is being taught. The old holy men do not seem so holy now. The Western standard of material success appeals with irresistible force. God does not seem so powerful. Steam and electricity are the modern agents, and success is measured by ability to use these forces and to acquire more of this world's goods. There is no stopping the influence upon practically every Moslem boy and girl in the world today of nationalism and materialism, both of which come from the Western world.
The secular impact of the civilization of the West is having a helpful effect in at least one respect, especially for the children. The play life of the East has never been as rich as that of the West. Boys in Turkey, for example, have, in the past, played such games as leapfrog, blind man's buff, hothand, swattag, etc., but now the American games are coming in-soccer, football, basketball, handball, and even baseball. When boys were growing into young manhood, indulgence in sports a few years ago seemed undignified and unworthy. Now Western influence has spread a new spirit, and on every side athletic sports command the interest of the young and the respect of their elders. Team games teach a spirit that is indispensable in citizenship and essential to true religion. They require the sacrifice of an individual for the good of the group. There is a certain moral quality also taught by the necessity of taking defeat in a sportsmanlike spirit, and, through team games, fair play can be taught to the boy and girl.
Other forms of Western amusements are not always so helpful. 'rhe moving picture is found almost everywhere, even in remote towns, and Pola Negri and Gloria Swanson are teaching the Moslem youth, more effectively than any textbook, about the life in "Ohristian" countries. Many are saying that Western inventions are good but Western home life is on a lower plane than that found in the East. The unwholesome sex relations as depicted by the films fascinate many others and lower the ideal of the boy or girl as to what _ social and home life should be.
Into this complex mixture of the old and the new the Christian missionary comes today with a religion which already is misunderstood. Ohristianity to the Moslem all too often connotes a political division within his own country's borders or else the uniting bond between foreign powers. The child does not see evidence that Ohristianity is a force making for brotherhood between races and classes. The name is a hated name and a stumblingblock often in the effort to interpret the reality which, to the missionary, lies behind the word. But many Moslems want the moral force that the mission
MOHAM1IIEDAN BOYS AND GIRLS
school seems to have. They appreciate the work of the mission hospital until the Moslem doctors fear the competition with their own work. The social center has been tried in only a few places, but its success has been conspicuous. Many of the boys and girls who have been taught in the mission schools and colleges are filled with the spirit of service. They have tasted, in school, the joy of it, and they look, sometimes with pathetic eagerness, to the missionary for leadership.
Moslem boys and girls are reading what literature they can find, and their minds are being fed with much that is bad. The oppor- BOY SCOUTS DRILLING IN TARSUS, ASIA MINOR tunity of the missionary is to study all the channels by which the thought of the people is being affected, the textbooks in the schools, the newspaper, the magazine, the movie, and to seek to release influences among these agencies that will gradually give to the masses of people a new understanding of the fact that Jesus, the Great Prophet recognized by themselves, is One whom the whole world desperately needs today. As the Christian forces of the West live lives of Christlike service in the midst of the Moslems of the East, a new meaning will come to be attached to the idea of following Jesus. It is the Moslem boys and girls that are freest of all to take what the missionary brings and that can go forth in the Christian spirit to overcome the materialism which otherwise will saturate the Moslem East.
THE CENSUS OF THE MOSLEM WORLD DISTRIBUTION BY GOVERNMENTS: Under British Rttle or Occupation: In Africa …….•…………………. 28,910,000 In Asia …………………………. . 76,788,000 In Australia …………………….. . 25,000 —-105,723,000 Under Other Western Governments: In Africa Belgium …………………………. . 1,764,000 France …………… " …………… . 28,502,332 Italy ……………………………. . 1,659,000 Portugal ………………………… . Spain …………………………… . 239,000 Abyssinia and Liberia ……………… . 594,500 800,000 In Asia United States of America (Philippines) … . 597,994 39,000,000 Netherlands ……………………… . France ………………………….. . 3,341,860 Russia' (Europe and Asia) ………….. . 15,320,000 In Europe …………….. ………….. . In Amelrica ……………………….. . 2,469,957 204,429 94,493,072 Under Non-Christian Governments: 200,216,072 Turkey ………………………….. . 8,321,000 Mesopotamia ……………………… . 2,840,700 Persia .. " …. " .. , .. , ….,.,.,., ….. ,., 9,350,000 Afghanistan ' …………………….. . 6,380,000 Arabia ., ………………………… . 3,400,000 Siam ……………………………. . China ………… , ……………….. . 150,000 9,136,000 – – – 39,577,700 MOSLEM OBJECTIONS TO MODERN EDUCATION FOR WOMEN T HE Mohammedan women in many of the countries in the East are becoming imbued with modern ideals for women and are as- serting themselves. In India, the women held an All-India Mo- IJammedan Women's Conference to insist upon monogamy and other reforms. Everywhere they are seeking education.
An Egyptian Moslem gives the following objections to the modern education of women: 1. The educated women do not like to do housework. 2. They become extravagant about their dress. 3. They sing and play the piano to fit themselves to associate with cultured women of the West. 4. They spend their time reading love stories. 5. They do not live economically, 6. They wish to marry for love, money or good looks.
OF THE UNIVERSI1'Y MOSQUE ElL AZHAR, CAIRO, FOUNDED IN 969 A. D
To (''OI.llpJete a course in the .4zhar reQuirE:'s about twelve years. The curriculum includes juris- prudence. theology, exege~iE;, grammar, syntax, rhetoric, logic and the traditions; it bas 10,000 students and 250 professors.
Some Moslem Views of Christianity A Series of Interviews by Dr. H. E. Philips, Cairo, Egypt By A YOUNG STUDENT IN CAIRO, A MEMBER OF THE Y. M. C. A.
I HAVE no sympathy with the old school of Islam as represented in EI Azhar University but I am a Moslem and cannot accept Christianity as my religion, first of all because I find it very impracticable. Even Christians do not take its precepts seriously nor attempt to fulfill them literally. The commands of Christianity are so extreme that if they were put into practice chaos would follow.
Take one of the gospel teachings by way of example. How many coats do you have~ More than one'/ Have you given away all but one 1 Do you give to everyone that asks something from you and do you never refuse a loan to one who would borrow 1 What would become of society if your gospel laws were followed literally Y Jesus taught men to return good for evil. It sounds all right in theory hut the business of everyday life proves that it does not work. Neither Christian individuals nor states observe this rule. Justice and the social order cannot be maintained in that way. If you examine every distinctive point in the .Gospel, in the last analysis you will find that it is not practical.
A second reason why I do not accept Christianity is that the Gos- 775
pel is full of inconsistencies. Of course we Moslems do not believe that Jesus Himself ever taught the distinctive doctrines of modern Christianity. They are hopelessly at variance with one another. For example, Jesus is called the "Son of God" and also the "Son of Man." He says that a man becomes great by becoming small; that he finds life by losing or laying down his life; that he becomes strong by being weak. All of this is incomprehensible and unreasonable. Moreover Christians call Jesus God and they pray to Him while many times in the Gospel He is represented as Himself praying to God.
Jesus' first miracle was the converting of water into wine for a wedding feast. I have been told that Christians should not drink wine and that the Bible teaches that drinking intoxicants is a sin. In the Koran you will find that Mohammed did not drink wine and that he forbade his followers to use it. Moslems everywhere and. always are total abstainers. Spirituous liquors are strictly forbidden and have been introduced into Mohammedan lands through the greed of' Christian merchants.
A third reason why I adhere to Islam is because of its wonderful provision for social life, very little of which I find in the Christian Gospel. The Koran is called a " Guidance" for men and makes practical provision for every detail of life. Why should I leave this system for one that deals only in generalities? Christians have much to say about the "Sermon on the Mount" but its idealism is impractical and fails to grip our social problems.
You speak of polygamy as an evil and I agree that unlimited marriage is an evil. But Mohammed made no such blunder. He found unlimited marriage prevailing in pagan Arabia so he corrected it by placing limits upon those who accepted Islam. Under .Tudaism polygamy was sanctioned and practiced by the prophetf;, but because it was not regulated it was abused as in the case of Solomon. Islam takes into account the fact that there are more women in the world than men and that through war the proportion of men is often greatly reduced. It meets this problem with the practical provision for plural marriage with certain definite limitations. The much-vaunted monogamy of the Ohristian system is not rigidly enforced and sooner or later will yield to stern necessity. In my opinion it will be a change for the better.
A fourth reason for my belief in Islam is its intellectual superiority over the Christian system. I admit that, for the present, European civilization has forged ahead of Islamic countries but the reason for our present eclipse is economic and not intellectual, a condition which is due to the temporary military superiority of the West. How did Europe obtain this advantage ~ Most of her modern civilization was borrowed from Islam. Every branch of science was assiduously studied and developed in the centers of Islamic power.
1926J SOME MOSLEM vmws OF CHRISTIANITY
Stanley Lane Poole, in "The Moors in Spain," uses the following words in praise of Islamic learning: "Beautiful as were the palaces and gardens of Cordova, her claims to admiration in higher matters were no less strong. The mind was as lovely as the body. Her professors and teachers made her the center of European culture; students would come from all parts of the world to study under her famous doctors…. As for the graces of literature, there never was a time when poetry became the speech of everybody, so much so that no speech or address was complete without some scraps of verse.'''' Whether the suhject he astronomy or chemistry or geography or natural history the foundations are found in the Holy Koran. If the principle patrons of learning in that great epoch of educational progress were Moslems and if, as I believe, we are on the verge of a great revival in our religion, I see no good reason why I should forsake my faith. If the European nations are under happier circumstances today than are the countries of Islam and if their scientific progress is for the time in advance of that found in Mohammedan countries; it is not because of the teachings of Christianity but beeause Europe has taken the learning and the principles of Islam and has built upon them.
T could give many more reasons for my rejection of Christianity but these are my leading ones: it is morany impracticable; it is intellectually inconsistent; it is socially insufficient; it is scientically inferior. In all these respects I find Islam sufficent and satisfactory.
By AN ADVANCED STUDENT IN A SECONDARY SCHOOL IN EGYPT First of all let me say that I am not much of a Moslem. I am rather a free thinker or perhaps you would call me an agnostic. Our family is one of the best in Cairo and we always have had plenty of hooks and time for reading but in our home we never did discuss religion very much. At first I was very ignorant of my religion. Then an over-zealous Christian began trying to teach me the way of Christianity. It was not acceptable to me but this friend persisted and I was wholly unable to answer the arguments that were presented. Then I began the study of my own religion in earnest and soon found what seemed to me sufficient answers for all the Christian arguments. Indeed I became very proficient in debate on all religious questions and was a convinced and fanatical Moslem. Later I t00k up the study of European philosophy and found that the great thinkers of the world have never been religious men. I also found that neither Islam nor Christianity agrees with the best philosophy. 'l'he result has been that I have lost my zeal for Mohammedanism and I am now willing to take the good out of all religions and to profess none. ,,I[ho is Mohammed and who is Christ but men who • The quotation here used is found in The Islamic World, Jan.) 1926) p. 311 in an article by Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah on "Islam and Learning."
tried to help their people to live a better life and to relieve the social conditions they found in the world 1 As to my belief in God, of course anyone who has studied philosophy and science is compelled to believe that there is some great power back of all the phenomena that we see round about us. It may be a conscious power or it may only be an impersonal force. I do not see how anyone can be sure. I sometimes wish I could believe in a personal God as you do for it must be very comforting, but somehow I cannot believe.
I do not understand what is commonly called sin nor the Ohristian remedy through the blood of Ohrist. I am not perfect but neither am I conscious of any very serious sin nor do I feel the need of any other person to save me from sin. My religion has always been one of good works. I try to live right and never to harm anyone and what more do Ohristians want? After all my studies in philosophy I have come to think that if God is a conscious being He does not care very much about the individual but has more concern about nations, and if He does care about individuals what more does He want beyond the life I am now living¥ By AN ENGLISHMAN '¥HO HAS BECOME A MOSLEM My father desired me to enter the service of the Ohristian Ohurch, and to this purpose I studied. Early I had doubts, and could not reconcile myself to believe in the Trinity, Vicarious Atonement, and Original Sin. I read books on all phases of Ohristianity, and came to the conclusion that I believed none. About this time I came into contact with W. Stewart Ross, the agnostic leader, and editor of The Agnostic Journal. In this way I was introduced to the writings of Ingersoll, Hreckel and others. Ross quarreled with the Biblical conception of Deity, and I agreed with him, but never lost faith in a Supreme Being. I began the study of comparative religion (neglecting Islam which I had been told was merely an altered version of Ohristianity). Hearing Ross speak of the sublime conception of Deity pictured by the deism of Islam, I resolved to study this faith and to my surprise began to find myself at home. '1'he central truth of the oneness of the Deity and the idea of a deit.y who sent teachers not only to the Jews but other races was my own idea of an impartial Being. The life of Mohammed, the complete success attending his mission even in his own lifetime, the brotherhood of all believers which he accomplished, and the wholesome reforms he brought, wrung from me the acceptance of his prophethood. The Koran I found made a stronger appeal to me than the Biblical narratives had ever done, and when I came to dissect the Suras and Ayats, I found myself living in a new world, reading the inner meanings, and becoming for the first time in a state of At-one-ment with God.
1926J 80MB MOSLEM VIEWS OE' UHRI8TIANl'l'Y
In 1903 I confessed to my father that I was a Moslem, and later on met a Moslem for the first time. He was the Hon. Dr. Abdullah al Mamun Suhrawardy, M.A., LL.D. (now the Chairman of the Bengal Legislative Council). In his presence I repeated the Kalima.'" I became Honorary Assistant Secretary of the Pan-Islamic Society and afterwards Honorary Vice-President. In 1912 Khwaja Kamalud-Din came to England, and I associated myself with him in the Woking Moslem Missiop., and the Islamic Review. Prior to this I had been nominated "Sheikh of the British Moslems." Today I contribute to almost all the leading Moslem journals in India, Persia, Turkey, etc., and represent several of those in London. I represent also La Fraternite Musulmane de Paris, and by the invitation of the French Government was present at the Foundation Ceremony of the Paris Mosque. Recently I started the Minaret, a small Islamic journal destined for the Western reader, and a large percentage of my letters from enquirers came from the United States of America.
(Signed) KHALID SHELDRAKE.
*' The kaZima means the Moslem creed, "There is no God but God and Mohammed 1s the prophet of God."
A TURK'S VIEW OF THE CHRISTIAN MENACE W RITING to the Djumhouriet, a Turkish daily newspaper pub- lished in Constantinople, an anonymous correspondent describes the spread of Christian propaganda and institutions in Turkey and seems to be particularly incensed over the success of the Y. M. C. A. After outlining this growth, he proceeds to give this description of the manner in which the Christians project their influence: "First they get people to love them, and then they make them novices in their order. Their schools are each a danger. There the great deeds of Jesus are sung. The persuasive abilities of the members of this Association, both men and women, are so great that, like ants caught in a spider's web, people cannot again be rescued from their hands. The greatest secret of their success is love ….
"The Protestant young Christians begin with example and lead up to rule; they go from the concrete to the abstract. This sort of propaganda is fatal. They do not proclaim the principles of Protestantism. Nay, they do not even talk about religion, but by their attitude, their actions, their manners, by the compassion they show to animals, by the help they give to the poor, by loving what is good, by mercy to the unfortunate, they try to show the loftiness of their religion.
"The number of innocent Turkish children captured by these charms is constantly increasing, and these children are weaned from their individuality and are becoming each an American Protestant, nay more, not only a Protestant but a missionary."
A VISIT TO EL-AZHAR UNIVERSITY BY REV. J. E. SHEPHWD in the Bapti..t Missionary Hem~d E VEN within the memory of men now living, Christians could not enter El-Azhar, the great Moslem university in Cairo, but that is changed and even Christian missionaries pass in freely, as wel- come visitors.
One morning we found ourselves at "The Gate of the Barbers," the entrance to EI-Azhar. The porter brought some slippers and after placing these upon our feet, our dragoman kicked off his own shoes, and led the way. Then we entered one of the largest universities in the world, one of the most ancient, going back nearly a thousand years, to 980 A. D. El-Azhar is the intellectual focal point of Islam. Here we saw the intelli- gent youth of many lands-India, Syria, Morocco, Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria, Turkey, Afghanistan, and other parts of the world- all being trained for the priest- hood. 'rhey are here to be trained in the Koran. They are practi- ~ally men of one book. "In the shaded porticos of the great court they sit in circles, great or small, 'at the feet of' their sheikhs, the 'rahhis' of Islam, who themselves squat on low dais seats and dis- cuss the grammar, language, in- terpretation and legal teaching of the Koran."
We went freely from one group to 'mother and watched the process of teaching, all so different from our idea of what teaching should be. It was a study of the Oriental mind, with its great power of detachment and its equally great power of concentration. -"Ve could not help wondering what fruit these studies would bear in after days in other lands, what influence these young men would wield. EI-Azhar is a mosque, and there are six gates. The Liwan is huge, and its ceiling is supported upon three hundred and eighty pillars. The minarets are of different periods, the structure having often been altered, and various sultans from the twelfth century to the nineteenth having left their' mark upon it. The library is a spacious hall, with tier upon tier of shelves from fioor to ceiling, filled with books bound in crimson leather. There were many writing tables, and, in the center, was a glass case containing a treasure, the royal copy of the Koran. Every letter is printed in gold. Outside the mosque, we saw a large number of blind, who, through their infirmity, do not enter the place of prayer, but are heing taught just without the gates. There were between fifteen thousand and sixteen thousand students in the University-and provision f(lr twenty thousand. Some of these young students haye been won for Christ.
J,ISTENlNG TO A LECTURE ON THE KORAN I N ALGIF:RS
Hindrances to Christian Work for Moslems BY RE;V. C. G. NAISH, B.A., BEiRUT, SYRIA Member of the Council of C1u'istian Missions in Western Asia and Northern Africa M ISUNDERSTANDING: Not long ago in Egypt a simple man, a woodworker, came to one of the missionary centers and asked for baptism. He said: "I have heard the preaching at M— and it is excellent." "You don't need to be baptized," replied the missionary, "you can hear the preaching freely in any case. "
"But I want to belong to that society." "Do you want to be saved from your guilH" "Guilt7 What is guilt7" "Your sins." "My sins1" answered ·the man smiling. "Why, I've never sinned in my life." This story indicates clearly the real difficulty which stands like a blank wall between the Christian teacher and the Moslem. The Moslem does not know what the Christian is talking about. He probably does understand the Arabic words used, for many missionaries speak Arabic and other Moslem languages well. But the ideas he misunderstands. The connotation of the Christian vocabulary is quite different to his mind. A word which the Christian uses for the moral guilt and shame of sin means to the Moslem hearer simply transgression of ceremonial law. This carpenter, supposed that he was being asked about hi& observance of times of prayer and other duties prescribed by .the Koran. lIe had no conception of what we understand by sin against God. 'l'he first obstacle encountered is, therefore, that of making a Moslem understand. It is insuperable to any power but the Spirit of God. The fact is that ideas which the missionary wishes to present do not exist in the minds of ninety-nine of every hundred Mos- 781
1ems. We have to face the task of trying to convey these strange ideas by the medium of words which have quite a different meaning to the hearer.
It has often been said that Islam and Christianity have much in ('ammon. Moslems are not heathen or idolaters. They worship one God. Some would say that they are half Christians already; at leaRt they are monotheists. Nothing ('auld be more misleading. They do believe in one God, whose name is Allah, but their conception of him is utterly different from the God revealed by Jesus Christ. He is capricious, unspiritual, transcendent without being immanent, and He is loveless.
One day in Syria, some veiled Moslem women attempted to enter the train in which we were riding. "No room!" the conductor called out; "the hareem is fulL" The women flung up their hands in a gesture of despair. "Vhat shall we do'" they wailed. The conductor blew his whistle. "Allah will arrange something for you," he calmly said as the tram moved off.
That-is what Allah is like to the mind of the conductor and his Moslem brethren. He may arrange for you to get in the tram, or he may not, but to complain is of no use. Noone can tell what Allah will do. He may say one thing today and the contrary tomorrow. 'Both will be true because he has said both.
Take the word "heaven." While Christians use imagery of streets of gold, temples and harps, we understand that these metaphorically refer to a spiritual state which eludes the resources of human language. But to the Moslem paradise is very definitely literal and material.
In Dama~us a friend of mine was called upon by strangers to enter a shop and witness a document which ran like this: "I, Abdullah, remit to Ahmad the debt of ten pounds which he owes me, on consideration of his handing over to me one of his wives in Paradise. He, Ahmad, is to have thirty nine, and I. Abdullah, am to have forty one."
The Koran promises beautiful maidens (houries) to every true believer. Nevertheless it is a shock to find that a Moslem of this century takes the promise so literally, and that his idea of heaven is so unspiritual. How can one use the word heaven or Paradise to eonvey to him the Christian belief 1 And yet how. can we explain our religion without using its key words ~ , PRE;ruDIcE. Not only does the Moslem fail to understand the Christian vocabulary, but positively he has been taught to misunderstand it. An American born in the East, and using Arabic as easily as his own tongue, testifies: "The Moslem from childhood has been taught to hate the very sound of the words 'Father' and 'Trinity' " as applied to God. The reason is chiefly historical. Mohammed and many subsequent leaders of Islam came into touch with a corrupt form of Christianity. Even in some places today there is an igno-
J92G] HINDRANCES TO CHRISTIAN WORK FOR, lfQSLElIfS
rant type of Christianity that practically teaches polytheism. And it recognizes three gods, one called the Father, a stern judge whose chief aim is to detect men in sin and punish them with satisfaction, a goddess (for she is nothing less) called Mary, the mother of God, interceding with this stern deity, and a Son, who was once incarnate, a rather weaker and more distant copy of the goddess.
Is it any wonder that Moslems who met such a form of belief turned from it in disgust, accusing such so-called Christians of polytheism ~ The trouble is that Moslems of today assume that all who bear the name Christian regard the Trinity in this way, as composed of father, mother and son; and that God had a literal wife and literal offspring. Would anything make us listen to such teaching?
Small wonder then if a single Moslem can prejudice a whole audience against a preacher by reference to any of these terms, AN ADVERTISEMENT IN CAIRO- BOYS SELLING LOTTERY TICKETS IN ONE OF THE HINDRANCES CAIRO-ANOTHER EVIL though these same words may convey to the preacher precious and fundamental beliefs.
Moreover, it has been ingrained in the very nature of the Moslem that his own holy book, the Koran, is literally inspired in every jot and tittle. When it teaches something absolutely contrary to history, such as that Mary the mother of Jesus was the same person as Miriam the sister of Moses and that Moses was the uncle of Jesus, he feels bound to believe it.
The Christian Bible is rejected as an unauthentic book, a forgery, which has been substituted for the true Law of Moses, Psalter of David, and Gospel of J esns which were written down word for word in the same way that Mohammed wrote the Koran. Is it surprising that their prejudice is hard to disarm ~ NOMINAL CHRISTIANITY. The obstacles already mentioned are subjective. The greatest objective hindrance is the travesty of Christianity, professing to be the religion of J eSllS, which the Moslem often has before his eyes.
Lady Buckmaster wrote recently of a trip to the East: "As we approached Port Said I strained my eyes for a first glimpse of
the land of the Pharaohs. This is what I saw. 'Dewar's Whiskey' 'Black and White Whiskey' 'Dawson's Whiskey'; and I felt ashamed.
Intoxicating drinks are prohibited by the Koran. But the influence of the West has been too strong for the East. Of course, it is not fair to judge followers of Ohrist by the behavior of merchants whose god is mammon, or of tourists who worship pleasure. But, Rad to say, the Moslem does so. "So this is your vaunted superior religion," he sneers. What is a Moslem to think when British soldiers are the only drunken pe,ople he has ever seen ~ Or when lottery tickets are sold everywhere in his streets, and whole shops are exclusively devoted to their sale, though all gambling and betting are forbidden to him 7 It is the "Ohristian" who has brought them to his country. How does he view the construction by a foreign syndicate of a grand race-course in the most beautiful and quietest suburb of Oairo ~ How can he be other than shocked to see, flaunting themselves in his streets, fashions which even the best Westerners regard as too free or too fast 1 The grand Mufti of Beirut, although very friendly to the American community, recently refused to attend one of its functions. He pleaded, "I cannot bring myself to sit there among your 'maksiyat aariyat-your "clothed-unclothed dames!"
It is not only the Westerner who has misrepresented Christ's religion. Among Eastern Ohurches, also, there is often a performance very unworthy of their profession. A college principal in Egypt once asked some Moslem students the reason why Moslem nations are so backward in relation to other nations. The students replied: "It is not a result of religion; that is clear. We admit that yon are more truthful and honest. But the reason lies in race. If it were religion, the Ooptic Ohristians would be more honest than we are. But they cheat at examinations more than we do, and they are more immoral." Of course the Moslem believes his eyes rather than the protestations of a few earnest souls who try to explain the matter away.
NATIONALISM. In more than one country, where education is breaking down barriers of ignorance and prejudice, narrow nationalism is building a fresh and formidable barricade. Turkey, Egypt, Palestine and Moslem India are aflame with that sad parody of patriotism which makes antagonism and not service its aim. There is a certain type of Egyptian student who thinks he has done a fine thing for his country and supported her dignity if he has been rude to a foreigner. As an obstacle to Christianity, this race consciousness is formidable. Ohristianity is a foreign religion, therefore, they argue, it is unpatriotic. The saddest part of this is that Western nations have taught it to the East. It is a historical fact that the nationalism of antagonism arose in Western Europe, and has been carried eastward first by the imperialism and snobbery of merchants, tourists and officials, and secondly by the frightful example of jealousy and hatred which culminated in the war of 1914.
HINDRANCES TO CHRISTIAN WORK FOR MOSLEMS
Those who live in the West are responsible. Many Moslem stu- dents and others travel to Europe and America and see for them- selves the condition of civilization there. Some are shocked; some are cynically amused. Practically all return to the East with their prejudice strengthened. We can hardly expect them to admit that the vices of the West are in spite of the Gospel, not due to it. The Western nations are not Christian, and it is a wrong to our Master to call them so. But the visiting Moslem too rarely sees the spirit of Christ displayed in practice. If he does so, he is reverent. But Christianity more often means to his mind bootlegging, gambling and prostitution.
This obstacle is one that must be overcome in the West as well as in the East. Those who love their Lord in England and America may serve their Moslem brethren effectively by welcoming contacts with Mohammedan visitors and by putting a living Gospel before them. They share the blame if they fail to do so.
FAILURES OF CHRISTIANS. A stumblingblock is cast before Mos- lems not only by nominal Christians but by the failures of genuine . disciples. There is our imperialism, our quiet but arrogant assump- tion of superiority. A few missionaries talk about "niggers" with contempt or studied neglect. Not all are free from the charge of car- rying themselves with a superior attitude. Christians have gone to serve Moslems as a sacrificial duty but how few have loved the peo- ple themselves! "Zeal for men's souls while we care not at all for them personally and prefer to keep away from all intimate acquaint- ance with them is. a very hideous form of hypocrisy." Our behavior may be courteous and yet unsocial, judged with an unprejudiced mind. The missionary sitting in a public vehicle will often take out his book lest he should waste precious minutes. His honest opinion is that it is a praiseworthy thing to resist indolence of mind. But what if the courtesy he owes as a guest of the East demands rather that he adopt its social custom and talk with his felIow-passengers7 Even about indifferent matters for the mere sake of talking1 It is not because he hopes for opportunities of directly religious conver- sation. That is not a sufficiently disinterested aim. "Christ loved men, loved to be with them, loved them for their own sake and found joy in association with them, even if there was not an opportunity to preach to them. He was like a jeweler who loves to handle and study and admire pearls even though he makes no profit in the proc- ess; like an artist who loves to sit before fine paintings with no thought at all of possessing them. The way to bring Christ's mes- sage to the Moslem is to imitate His attitude."
In the last analysis it is Christ's followers, who are the obstacle. In West and East we misrepresent Him and the word of God is bound because we bind it. Alas, that it should ever be true that the Mos- lem seeing our lives should say, "If that is Christianity I do not want it."
4
Christian Approach to
BY REV. W. WILSON CASH, D.S.O., LONDON, ENGLAND General Secretary of the Church Missionary Society n .AMONG Christians, when a man is referred to as a Jew, immedi- ately people usually react unfavorably because of all they understand by the mere word. A man is judged not for what he is, but by what his name has come to mean in the minds of many. In the same way, the Moslem is prejudiced against anyone called "Christian," because of the background of history extending from the days of Mohammed to the present.
I. The difficulty of the Christian approach to Islam is seen, first of all, in the Moslem idea of Christianity. Nisarani, or Christian, is a strong term of reproach in Moslem lands, amounting almost to a curse. When two Moslems are having an angry dispute, one will call the other Nisarani to express his complete contempt and scorn of his opponent. This attitude of Moslems to Christians was in the mind of a member of the Moslem Conference in Jerusalem in 1924 when he thus described the missionary's task: To persuade the pr·oudest man on earth to accept a message he detests from a people he despises.
The Koran abounds in references to Christianity, and Mohammed came frequently into direct contact with the Eastern churches. To him it was the husks of a once-living faith. He saw it as a dying religion, suffocated under an immense pile of superstitions, inventions and fables, and sunken in idolatry, and weakened by corruptions. The divisions, bitter controversies, religious and credal rivalries made it almost impossible for an Arab to see JESUS CHRIST in the tangle of theological controversies. The worship of the Virgin stamped Christians as idolaters, and the priesthood of the day gave undoubtedly the impression that the Christian faith did not stand for the direct access of the soul to GOD•. It is little wonder, therefore, that Mohammed should have turned away from Christianity to found a faith on simpler lines, a faith that made GOD accessible to all, without any place in its system for monasticism or priestcraft.
In spite of all this, something of the sweet reasonableness of the Christian spirit appears to have touched Mohammed for, in all his references to Christianity, he is less severe than when speaking of the Jews. This is no doubt largely due to the fact that it was in the formative and creative period of the Mecca days that Mohammed met Christians. It is one of the tragedies of Christian history that this seeker after GOD could not find the goal of his search in Christ because of the failure of the Church adequately to represent the spirit and teaching of its Master.
786 What were the things that .Mohammed attacked in Christianity'/ I draw the following list from the references to Christianity in the Koran: 1. He complains of the bitter hatred of everything non-Christian, and the lack of appreciation of good in other faiths. This he attributes largely to the monks and priests. (See Sura 5.85.) 2. They consign, he says, all non-Christians (including Moslems) to Hell. (See Sura 2.105.) 3. He criticizes their narrow sectarianism and reminds them that "On thc resurrection day GOD shall judge between them as to that in which they differ." (See Sura 2.107-110.) 4. He criticizes Christianity because it teaches the Crucifixion of Christ, who, he says, was not crucified.
5. He attacks the doctrine of the Trinity, and the doctrine of the Sonship of Christ.
6. His main line of attack, however, is the whole Christian conception of GOD, as he knew it. It does not appeal to the Arab mind. It seems to lack any strong faith in thc' absolute sovereignty of GOD: Love, sympathy, service and sacrifice do not form any essential part of Mohammed's conception of GOD: He is more attracted by the Old Testament picture of a God, mighty in battle, oinnipotent and supreme, ruling as He wills the nations of the carth.
To this must be added the fact that Mohammed claimed to be in direct prophetic succession with all previous prophets. He did not set out to establish a new faith, but to build upon what he thought was the one world religion from the time of Adam.
When we remember that Mohammed's idea of Christianity represents the ideas of the whole Moslem world today; that where he misunderstood our faith, Moslems still misunderE#;and it; and where he attacked it, his followers still do the same, we will at once see that to study the right approach of Christians to Islam, we must take very serious account of past mistakes; and that, in our presentation of our message, we must take care that it is the unadulterated message of Christ we offer, and not a watered down, diluted form of Western Christianity.
MOSLEM CONCEPTIONS oJ<' CHRISTIANITY II. A second great factor must be remembered in approaching Moslems. Their conceptions of Christianity as seen in the Koran, traditions and history, are further strengthened by Moslem contacts with Christianity today. The Eastern churches have really changed very little since Mohammed's day. The ignorance of the priests, the lack of a strong spiritual life, and the absence of a presentation of Christianity in terms of social service and love, often confirm Moslems in the vi/ilw that their estimate of Christianity is accurate.
There are also the impressions gained of our faith by contacts with Western powers. Rightly or wrongly the Moslem attributes as a rule what is done by Western powers to Christianity. In his mind the Moslem does not say simply England or France or Italy did so
and so, but the Christians did it. He cannot distinguish between so-called Christian nations and Christianity. To the Moslem they are the same.
Let me illustrate this by what has happened recently in Syria. '1'he French Government completely misunderstood the Druse and the Arab. They mishandled the situation, and thus drove the people into rebellion, and to quell it they bombarded the open and defence- Ipss town of Damascus, with little thought of the consequences to women and children. The people of Damascus link all this in their minds with Christianity; hence the fears that have been expressed of a massacre of Christians. We know that this sort of thing does not in the remotest degree represent Christianity, but the Moslem is convinced that it does.
The wealth of Western nations gives the Moslem a picture of Christianity as something material, a faith that makes people rich, strong, powerful, and naturally they view us all as materialistic people with little or no idea of anything beyond this world. In preaching to Moslems, I have frequently been asked, "Do the Christians say any prayers ~" 'Ve often appear to them as rich and powerful, but pagan in thought and outlook.
A further problem arises through the confusion between civilization and Christianity. The two are not the same, but the Moslem cannot see it. The missionary task is to show Christianity as something infinitely greater than, and widely different from present-day civilization. The missionary must go further than this. He must show that organized Christianity today is not a complete representation of the faith of Jesus Christ. If it is necessary to show Christianity as greater than civilization, it is more necessary to make clear that Christ is infinitely greater than our picture of Him. The divided state of Christendom and the warring of sects, the clash of creeds and sectarian differences must be dissociated in our approach to the Moslem from the message that Christ brought into the world. The Moslem cannot understand the subtleties of our creeds, and the differences of our sects, but he can readily grasp the simple teaching of Jesus Christ, and no missionary work will be effective among Mos· lems that does not make Christ central and universal. It may rea· sonably be argued that this is done today; hut have we, as missionaries, really come face to face with Jesus Christ in His desire to express Himself through us to the Moslem mind ~ Very often it is an expression of Christ discolored by the mixture of Westernisms, denominationalism, and racial prejudices; and all the time the Moslem world is crying out for us to show it the full glory, beauty and character of Jesus Christ.
III. This leads me to the heart of the subject-the missionary task today. Protestant missions have occupied almost all the strategic centers of the Moslem world. They have built up, in the past
THE CHRJS'l'1AN APPROACH TO MOSLJ<:,MS
fifty years, great educational institutions, which have in turn given to the Moslem world a new reading public. They have carried out far-reaching social reforms through medical missions, and the hospitals, more than any other agency perhaps, have shown Islam what Christianity really is. Missionary doctors have proved to be a great asset in many Moslem lands. These two arms of missionary service, education and medicine, have together created a new situation that is bright with hope and promise. A widespread evangelism, the sale of the Scriptures, and the dissemination of Christian literature have laid foundations for a great advance, and, in many ways, the missions have been but a preparation for the day now dawning. This makes it all the more imperative that we should study the situation, and, above all, study ourselves and our work. If the Moslem is now awake, in touch with Western thought, and if he is thinking in new terms of modern life, and if he is no longer expressing himself in the language of a dead orthodoxy, but in living accents of a fuller life, and a wider liberty and freedom, then it behooves every missionary to ask himself whether he has a message to meet this need.
Most will agree that the old method of controversy is Iiot only out of date, but that it is a wrong approach to the Moslem. He is not an enemy to be defeated in argument, nor is he simply a sinner to be saved. He is a human being, throbbing with new ambitions, and demanding something that will help the whole life-body, soul and spirit. He is a brother beloved in search of God, and we must approach him as such if we would be any help at all. We start then by placing ourselves alongside our Moslem brother, on an equal footing with him, and in no sense as superior to him. We start by a brotherly contact which says: We both need God, we are both seeking God, let us seek for Him together. The missionary will thus begin as learner and teacher at the same time.
The Moslem to whom we speak has a long background of mif'lunderstandings. He at first will think, because we are Christians, that we are, therefore, narrow-minded, bigoted, fanatical and bitter enemies of Islam. His mental picture of us is Mohammed's, and he will naturally be suspicious and on his guard. He will be on the defensive, and will be ready to jump to the attack at any moment. As long as that complex remains, he is impervious to the missionary approach, and a pathway must be prepared that will enable discussion to be carried on in a spirit of friendship and mutual trust.
When friendship has been established the question arises as to what we are to teach. The Moslem will want to discuss the Trinity, and will plunge into the most intricate problem of theology because he revels in such discussions. He is used to them in Islam, and his zeal in this direction is only equalled by the love of political discussio;ns in the West. The missionary has really only one task-rightly to present Jesus Christ and so to represent Him that the Moslem
will be attracted to the Person of Ohrist, and not side-tracked by the theologies of Christianity.
I remember sitting with a group of sheikhs who tried hard to get me to discuss theology. Each time I said, ".My task is to show you Ohrist; I am His witness." I drew out my New Testament, and began reading- the Sermon on the Mount. I came to the verse "He that is angry with his brother" and at this point a Moslem sheikh broke in angrily, and said, "That is a lie." I was astonished, and appealed to the others sitting near. They all agreed with me that the teaching in the verse was true. The man brought other sheikhs, and made me read the verse again. I did so, and they agreed with lI!-e. Each time the angry sheikh said, "Is not that a lieF' "No," they all said, "it is perfectly true." A donkey boy standing near was evidently enjoying the scene, and taking a lively interest in the discussion. At last he broke in and said, "Do you want to know why the sheikh dislikes those words' Last night he tried to murder his brother in a fit of temper." The sheikh crimsoned with shame, and walked away, while the rest of the audience rocked with laughter. This sheikh had, for the first time, been brought face to face with Jesus Ohrist, and he felt himself judged; his conscience smote him when he was brought up to a great moral issue.
It is along this line I believe that our right approach lies. Moslems must be brought to face the great moral and spiritual issues of life, and to face them in the light of Ohrist and His Life. I have always found that along this line the Moslem is ready to respond, and that, having aroused in him an interest in the Person of Ohrist, he always goes on to ask, "If you so love Ohrist, why then do you say He was crucified?" The story of the Crucifixion as the unveiling of Divine Love is a new and complete revelation to him; and here again he comes face to face with Ohrist, and the claims He is making on that Moslem's life. The Cross interpreted in this way does not call out an angry retort, but a reverent respect and wonder. The appeal is irresistible. The Moslem, with his brother Christian, feels that he is on holy ground. He comes to criticize and argue, and stays to worship the Son of God Who loved him and gave Himself for Moslems. Thus the full truth of the Ohristian faith unfolds itself perfectly naturally and at each stage he is in touch with the reality of the living Christ. His Personality dominates the situation, and, as the Moslem responds, so he sees that this Man is the man-the one perfect Man the world has seen. Once this is grasped, the missiona.ry should be careful to stand aside, so that Ohrist may complete His work. It is after all an easy stage to the sincere seeker to pass from contact with Christ, the Man to the full vision of the Son of God visiting humanity with redeeming Love. The main and essential condition is that the contact from the outset must be between the Moslem and Ohrist Himself, and not simply between the Moslem and the
SLAM'S GREATEST FAILURE
missionary. Christ often cannot be seen because we stand in the way.
Our great need in the study of a new situation in the Moslem world is for us missionaries to come face to face with Jesus Christ, and to learn from Him how we may adequately represent our Mastel'. This may involve the shedding of many cherished prejudices, and the scrapping of much we have done; but, whatever else it means, it must lead to a new unity, fellowship and cooperation on the part of all missions in tl~e face of a common task. The Kingdom of God is greater than any of our missions, and our loyalty to Christ is supreme over any sectional loyalty to our particular Church or society. In this day of opportunity, can we not enthrone Christ as the one Head of all our work ~ Can we not think in terms of the Kingdom of God, and determine that we will be governed in our thinking by no less terms than the Saviour Himself and His Kingdom 1 Islam's Greatest Failure* BY REV. STEPHEN VAN R. TROWBRIDGE, MAADI, E/J-YPT World's Sunday School Association O NE OF the most delicate and perfect tests of the value of a religion is its treatment of children. To what extent does it reveal God to their inexperienced and eager minds 7 How far does it transform and beautify and safeguard their characters by the mysterious interaction of God's Spirit and their wills 1 Does the religion produce in them a faith which drives out base thoughts and conquers the insidious temptations which throng aud threaten childhood?
If you leave the modern quarter of Cairo and walk down through the narrow, crooked streets, you soon find yourself absorbed in watching groups of ragged, tanned urchins playing, begging, idling, gathering into tin GRns quantities of filthy cigarette stubs, and attempting to get a glimpse of the Sunday-school picture cards, if you happen to be carrying a few in your hand. If you know Arabic, you listen to what they are saying. Often you wish you had not heard. Sometimes you see one of the more daring youngsters attempting to pick pockets on the street cars. Your heart heats faster and you feel an unutterable sense of yearning and pathos, as step by step, you come to realize that their only knowledge of God is through the sin-stained life of Mohammed. Their only glimpse of paradise is from the fleshly passages of the Koran. Their .only thought of truth has its ultimate source in Mohammed's own complex self-consciousness-a marvelous blend of prophetic illumination, political .. Brief extracts from a pamphlet published by Mr. Trowbridge from whom copies may be had.
subtlety, and bold, selfish falsehood. All these children have is Mohammed!
Face to face with the problems of temptation and sin, the prophet of Mecca is a warning rather than an inspiration. His life is the tragedy of a splendid spiritual beginning and a lustful, selfish eilding. The Koran is certainly not a book to sanctify and beautify and fill with joy the lives of the children. Far f.om it.
Mohammed never revealed the Fatherhood of God, but with tremendous energy and persistence, year after year, did everything in his power to repudiate and root out this thought from the minds of men.
Mohammed could not summon the children to see in him the life of the Father, because his heart and hand had cOlmtless times boldly sinned against the laws of God.
"The mystery of the Holy Incarnation, and the story of the precious death of the Son of God, are put before them only as heresies to be adjured and trampled on."
"The children of Moslem lands are the same as those of Christendom, as troublesome, as erratic, as affectionate, as delightful to do with as the most ardent boy-lover at home ever found them; bubbling with energy and mischief, keen to see and learn anything you have time to show them; only tainted already with evil in its deadliest forms, that will have them in its grip long before they are men.
"What is to be done for them, these, our little brothers, for whom Christ died?" Are we doing our best for the Kingdom of Christ when we are letting boy-lives drift past us, with their precious chances, into tough Moslem manhood, unchallenged for Him 1 Dr. S. M. Zwemer has been gathering evidence from every corner and metropolis of Moslem lands. He says: "Because of general immoral conditions, which beggar description, many of our correspondents speak of the terrible physical inheritance of Moslem childhood."
As you survey these countries and catch a glimpse of the vast multitudes of Christless children, what are ,your thoughts 1 A PICTURE OF MOSLEM WOMANHOOD WITHOUT CHRIST
Converts to
BY THE RIGHT REV. J. H. LINTON, ISFAHAN, PERSIA Bishop of Persia, Church Jfissionary Society SUPERSTITIONS die hard. An American lady, staying with us at present, is travelling through Persia making a "study" of the country, its conditions and aspirations. She is firmly per- suaded that all Persians who possess initiative and resource are Ba- hais. Some days ago she was introduced to a young Persian Chris- tian who has suffered a good deal of persecution for his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is one of those aggressive workers that count so much in the spread of the Gospel. He boldly confesses Ohrist among Moslems, and rejoices to do so. Among the outstanding characteristics of the man are his initiative and zeal. I asked the lady what $11l' thought of this young fellow. uOh," she replied, "he is undoubt- edly a Bahai. " I asked on what she based her conviction. She said, "He has such splendid initiative!" Some day this lady will prob- ably write a book, and will refer to this young fellow as a splendid example of the go-ahead methods so characteristic of the Bahais! She has pre-judged the case.
I had almost begun to believe that the other superstition was dead-that" there are practically no Moslem converts to Christian- ity." The mischief of it is that one cannot help being influenced by one's own experience, and so one forgets the numbers of people who "have been in Moslem lands and know that there are no converts." It is the same old trouble of wrong premises. Let me therefore , plunge straight into the matter and present facts.
A "Chance" Meeting.-One day last week, by one of those strange coincidences that we sometimes call" chance," four Persian men met in my study. One had been a government official, employed in various Persian government offices, latterly in the Finance De- partment. The second was a son of a well-known Mujtahid (a doc- tor of the Sacred Uaw of Islam, who has authority to give a judg- ment). The third was a Sa,'llyid (a descendant of the prophet Mo- hammed). His father was the leader of the prayers in the mosque in one of the sacred cities. The fourth was an educated servant. They had one thing in common: they were all converts to Christian- ity.
As they spoke with one another, tellinl2: of their experiences, my heart burned within me, and I praised God for the Love and Power that had brought these men to the feet of the Saviour. I suggested that it would be l2:ood to give one another a testimony as to how we were brought to Ohrist. I began by t~lling the story of my own conversion as a boy, and how God had let me out to the mission field.
Then the ex-government official told how, for many years, he 793
THE lIIlSSlONAHY HEVIBW OF 'fnE WORLD
had been seeking spiritual satisfaction. He knew he was a sinner, but saw no way of escape. (Once a Moslem gets to the realization of the fact of sin, the call of Christ makes an irresistible appeal to him.) Then a serious illness brought him as an in-patient to the C. M. S. Hospital in Isfahan. He there heard the message of the Gospel, had talks with missionaries and others, and, at length, accepted Christ as his Saviour. He had a difficult time at home. His wife, a very strong-minded woman, would have nothing to do with him and he had to live in a room by himself in his own home! His wife's story, which I heard on another occasion was an interesting sidelight on it all. At one time she had seriously planned to poison him, hut at length his patience under her lashings, and the steadfastness of his faith, together with his undoubted change of life co~vinced her, and she too was led to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole family at length became Christians, and the "atmosphere "of that home was too much even for the lady traveler to whom I have referred. The man is now the pastor in charge of the Persian Christian Church in this town. The distinguished mark of his life is his " other worldliness."
The second man told of how he lived in a town some distance from Isfahan and was a teacher in a government school. His father, now dead, was a well-known Moslem priest and Mujtahid as was his brother. A Persian friend introduced him to the New Tes- tament, which he read for some time and, after some· conversations with his friend, he was led out into the light and liberty of the Gospel. He spent much time in reading the Scriptures and in prayer and preached on two occasions in the mission church. On the third occasion, he invited a number of his Moslem friends to be present as he wished to give his testimony. He spoke to them freely of his new found faith and of the contrast he had found between Christ and Mohammed, between the teaching of the Gospel and that of the Koran. There was naturally some disturbance, for in this Moslem land there is as yet no religious liberty. Some one ran and told his brother, the Mulla., who straightaway fainted and on recovering Call sciousness, condemned his brother, the "apostate," to death, ac cording to the Law of Apostasy in Islam. The young Christian was haled before the Governor in whose presence and in the face of the strictest cross-examination by the MuUas, he again witnessed to his faith in Christ Jesus. The people demanded thllt the Law of Apostasy be applied, but at length he was handed over to the police, escorted to the frontier, and exiled from his country. A few days ago he arrived in Isfahan. I cannot disclose the details, but it was a heartening experience for a missionary among Moslems to hear that man tell what God had been to him in Christ .Tesus. His fearlessness and his c11eeriness are a joy to behold. He preached at our service for Persian Christians on Sunday and told his story. Then the
MOSLEM CO);VEH'l'S" '1'0 CHlUSTJ ANITY
whole congregation stood and commended him in prayer. He goes forth not knowing what awaits him, but with a fair certainty that it will mean" bonds and imprisonment."
The third convert, the Sayyid, came to see me a good while ago, when he was a "Divinity student" in one of the Moslem colleges here. He came to Isfahan to study Islam under a well-known Moslem teacher, but the result is that he lost his faith in Islam altogether. He came to talk with me about the teaching of Jesus, but drew back at the exclusiveness of His claims. It was hard for a man, brought up as he had been in the strictest teaching of the Shari'at, to acknowledge that there was "no other Name under heaven, given among men whereby he must be saved" but the Name of Jesus. No wonder that he was unwilling to accept the word, ' , No man cometh unto the :F'ather but by Me." I lost sight of him for a long time, but he was surrounded by prayer though he knew it not. A few months ago I was accosted on the street by a Sayyid, and though I had only seen him once before I was sure that he was the same man for whom we had been p"raying. I made an appointment and when he came to see me he at once raised the usual objections as to the Deity of our Lord. Finally he promised to read a portion of St. John's Gospel every day, with a prayer for light, with a vow to God to follow what light he saw, and to confess before men if he saw Jesus as his Saviour and his God. In a week he was back, convinced and professing conversion. He has confessed Christ before Christians but not, so far as I know, before Moslems. The testimony of the previous speaker clearly impressed and strengthened him, and it is possible that before these lines appear in print he will have taken all the risks and will have made a public confession in baptism. Out here, "public baptism" will mean that within one hour the news will be pr6claimed among all the leaders of Islam in this city; his friends will mock him and count him unclean; they will refuse to drink out of the same vessel that he has used; he will be refused permission to enter the public baths or to drink from the public fountains j he wiII be called" Apostate" by those who have been proud to be called his friend. Public baptism means counting the cost, but it has been done over and over again out here. If our old Baptism Register could speak it could tell many a talc of what following Christ means to the Moslem whose name has now been written in that register, and in the "Lamb's Book of Life."
The fourth man, the servant, told very simply how he had been given up as incurable. The doctors had" given him his answer" as he expressed it. He came to the mission hospital, and was persuaded that prayer was the chief factor in his healing. Another member of his family was also healed in a remarkable way. He was convinced that in this way God was calling him to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He responded with his whole being. His wife and son have
also been converted and will shortly be baptized. Some weeks ago we were leaving the evangelistic service in church, where a large number of Moslems had been present. Among them was a m?tlla who is a very strong opponent of our work. He acts as a spy to find out who are interested, and then he sets to work to try to prevent their conversion. This servant, of whom I have been telling, went over to the mulla and said, "Friend, you heard a message of grace this morning. Will you respond 1" It takes some courage to speak to a m'ulla in that fashion. Something has" cast out fear"!
The above testimonies show four types of Moslems whom Christ Himself has touched and drawn to faith in Him. And what shall I say more, for time would fail me to tell of the four hundred and ,"'"——————"",, J-t – – – – – !920'_ _ _ _- – – – " ' – MISS10NARlE5 RETUItN 1$111·,8 FAMINE. CHOLERA, INFt.UENtA I!;JJ5 • WOr:!lD WAR, MISSIONARIES WITHDRAWN 3> 1910 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _""'·5 ,, "05—–___________.!." ::.~ 101 —- / GROWTH OF MOSLEM CONVERTS IN PERSIA 1895 _ _B/ : IN THE 1lNGLISH CHURCH MISSION, I Chart by Bishop J. H, Linton, f – – Moslem AduJt Baptisms in Isfahan, each 5 years. I …….. Total Baptisms. Adult and Children, each 5 years. lMO–/3 I 1096.5 , lea-._r FIRST BP.PlIS"'l twelve converts from Islam and their children who have been baptised in Isfahan in the last forty years, and the smaller numbers in some other towns in South Persia, such as Yezd, Kerman, and Shirazo. Our brethren in the American Presbyterian Mission could add their testimony as to those in the north of Persia who, with like faith and courage, have witnessed a good confession to Jesus Christ.
Wherein lies the supposed impossibility of Moslems coming to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ~ Is it some imagined weakness inherent in the power of the Lord Jesus HimselH Is He able to save the American, the Englishman, the Hindu or the Animist, but does His power fail when it meets the Moslem 7 Is the Moslem not to be reckoned among those "for whom also Jesus Christ died 1"
Is there some failure in the Gospel itselH We can speak only from our own experience of it. I have been a missionary for twenty-
MOSLE,M CONVERTS TO OHRISTIANITY
two years in Nigeria, and on the north-west Frontier of India, and in Persia, and in all these places I have seen Moslems who have come under the spell of the Love of God in Christ Jesus, and have been won to Christ. I look back on a day, three years ago, when on one occasion I baptised fifteen Persian men, mostly converts from Islam j a few were from Bahaism and one was a Zoroastrian. On one day last year even this record was broken, and this year we h~1Ve mor~ candidates for baptism than ever in the history of the work out here.
What is the scereU There is no secret. We are simply trying to fulfil the terms of our commission: "Preach the Gospel to every creature." We avoid barren controversial methods. We were not sent to criticise Islam or any other faith, but to "preach the GospeL" So we go forth with the Word of God in our hands and we preach the Gospel as we find it therein. We are proving that it is "the power of God unto salvation, unto everyone that believeth"-unto the Moslem as well as unto men of other faiths. We have no new Gospel for the Moslem. We preach to him Christ Jesus, God's only begotten Son, crucified, risen, ascended, reigning, returning. We dilute nothing. We keep back nothing. Our chief literature is the Word of God. We try, and fail badly, as we ourselves will most readily confess, to practice fully what we preach but our aim is to let the Moslem "see Jesus." Our hospitals and schools are meant to be an expression of the Gospel. These, and all our other missionary work, are primarily "evangelistic" in their aim. In every department of our work we are out to "do the work of an evangelist. " We preach in faith, expecting that God will win souls, believing that He is able to save to the uttermost all that come to Him through Jesus Christ. And we append our testimony that God is true to His word and to His promise.
In all this we rejoice to recognize the splendid service of the Persian Christia~s, for humanly speaking, without their fellowship and testimony this work could never have been done. We are an one in Christ Jesus.
MOHAMMEDANISM AND OHlUSTIANITY W HY IS not the Koran as good as the Bible 1 Why is not the be- lief in one God according to Mohammed, just as helpful to hu- manity as the Gospel of Christ? Mohammedanism denies Christianity as revealed by Christ: It is monotheism without the Christ of God, and, therefore, without the God of Christ. Jesus of the Koran is a character obscured by more dominant personalities. Mohammed denies His Deity and atonement on the cross and His resurrection and ascension.
The Islamizing of a people is a misfortune. The only thing that can overcome the power of Islam is the power of Christ.
Atiyeh-A Product in
BY REV. W. G. GREENSLADE, BEIRUT, SYRIA M;ss;onary of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
O N A STORMY night in February, 1865, a young Syrian took refuge in the home of Dr. Henry H. Jessup in Beirut. He came from a village in the Northern Lebanon, near rrripoli. His father and mother were Maronites and had turned him out of doors because of his leaning towards the teaching of Protestant missionaries. When he made his way to Beirut, where his brother lived, the brother, too, drove him away because he persisted in reading his New Testament. Then Yusuf Atiyeh walked the streets until, at midnight, he found the home of Dr. Jessup, the young Christian missionary from America.
At almost the same time, a Mohammedan from Damascus was in prison in Beirut on the charge of having become a Christian; and it was reported that two others had been put to death in Damascus for the same "crime." This coincidence had a remarkable effect upon the homeless young Lebanese, and was the beginning of an experience which led him, years later, to be the means of presenting Christian truth to multitudes of Moslems.
On May 25th of this year (1926) Yusuf Deeb Atiyeh died in Tripoli, Syria, at the age of ninety-four years. He was known to only a small circle of friends; but his book "Sweet First Fruits" (the first of several anonymously published books) is known whereever there are missions to Moslems. He was a modest, humble man who hid himself completely that Christ might live through him.
The first Arabic edition of B akura or "Sweet First }~ruits" was published in Leipsic, and was considered so valuable that it was translated into English by Sir William Muir, for use in Mohammedan countries where Arabic is not well understood.
It was placed on sale in Egypt and some copies reached Syria. The first Arabic edition being soon exhausted, it was reprinted by the missionaries in Egypt in an inexpensive form and has since been translated into Persian and some of the languages of India. A young Moslem effendi told Dr. Jessup that he was led to accept Christ as his Saviour by reading a copy in the Azhar University in Cairo.
Sir William Muir said, in his preface to the English translation: "It is a work, in many respects, the most remarkable of its kind which has appeared in the present day. It may take the highest rank in apologetic literature, being beyond question one of the most powerful treatises on the claims of Christianity that has ever been addressed to the Mohammedan world."
798 Atiyeh's second book, "Minar ul Hoc," was pronounced superior to the first and other good volumes followed, but none are so widely and so favorably known as "Sweet First Fruits."
But whatever may be said of the persuasiveness of the pen of Yusup Atiyeh may be said with double force of the persuasiveness of his life. He began his study of Arabic under the direction of an uncle, who was secretary of the Emir Beshir Shehab, a powerful feudal lord of the Lebanon. He continued a student throughout his life and attained an unusual knowledge of both the Bible and the Koran, and could repeat most of ,…—~—-' —–~….,., the latter from memory. After becoming a Protestant Christian, he was given a theological training and, for many years, was pastor of village churches in the Lebanon and other parts of Syria. While engaged in this work in obscure places, he began the literary work which carded his influence into many lands and to peoples of many tongues.
But his activities were not all of the study. After serving the church in Horns for two years, he went to Safita where he built a church and a manse; then he moved to Beirut, where he also built a church and a manse; then he was called to several other YUSEF ATIYEH. SYRIAN PREACHER AND AUTHOR places in succession. Though not ordained, he became known as a persuasive preacher and a winsome pastor. Later he was placed in charge of the mission bookstore in Tripoli and found more opportunity for study, and became a close student of the Hadith, or :Mohammedan tradition. Finally he was released from all other duties to g'ive his full time to literary work.
When the W orId 'Val' broke out, Atiyeh was an old man, over eighty years of age, but he was still busily engaged in writing Christian literature for Moslems. The Turkish authorities searched his house and when they found the manuscript of his latest book, a criticism of the Hadith, they took him to prison in Beirut. where they kept him several days, and then haled him before the military court. Some of his friends pleaded for the clemency of the court on the ground that the old man was a harmless dotard, but Yusuf Atiyeh was unwilling to be released on such a plea. He proclaimed to the court that he, Yusuf Deeb Atiyeh, was the author of the book in question, that he was no dotard, and that he had written it. out of love for his brother Moslems. The court sentenced him to two
years' imprisonment. "Later he was again brought before the court and was told that for some reason he had been released. Imagine the astonishment of the court when he immediately knelt down before the officials and offered a prayer of thanksgiving and a petition to God on behalf of the court which had tried'him.
As Atiyeh arose from his knees the president of the court recovered from his amazement sufficiently to say: "Are you not going to pray for the Sultan, and for the superior court in Damascus? And are you not going to thank us for our clemency in releasing you?"
Atiyeh's anSWer was: "I give thanks to none but my Heavenly Father who has heard my prayers and the petitions of my mauy brethren who have been praying for my release. God has heard and has broken my bounds. "
During his long life of distinguished service, Mr. Atiyeh was known to all as "Muallim Yusuf," the same title that is given to the simplest village teacher, or to a carpenter or mason. It never troubled him that he was denied honors and emoluments, or that his name did not appear on the title page of any of his books. It was enough for him that he was doing a needed work for his Lord.
During most of his life it was not even possible to print his books in Syria, and they could be circulated only wi"th great caution. At the outbreak of the war, the American Press in Beirut had actually printed the first part of his latest book, but conditions were so uncertain that it was deemed wisest to ship the printed sheets to England, where they still are. The publication of this book has never been completed.
The last few years were years of peaceful waiting. The pastor of the church in Tripoli says: "For the past ten years every time I have asked him 'How are you~' his answers have been confident. Sometimes he would say, 'I am ready'; sometimes' Mttka'ab' (shod as for a journey); sometimes' Mushayil' (i. e. with the kit slung over the shoulder, ready to set out); sometimes, 'Longing to be with my Lord.' " Nothing better could be said about the passing of Yusuf Atiyeh than to use words which he put in the mouths of two of the characters in "Sweet First Fruits." Ahmad Effendy al Cotely had just made the public confession of his faith in Christ, and was speaking of Yohanna Gheiyur, whose tract had first led him to study Chris- tian truth: "What do we not owe the writer of that beautiful epistle that guided us to the truth! Would that he had lived, and had seen the fruits of his work."
"Yes," answered Ahmed; "but he will see them in a more glorious way. in the presence of his Lord. The righteous pass away, but their fruits die not. They shall reap the harvest they have sown in that day when not a single grain shall fall to the ground."
~ ~,,-"B,B-S"T'""M~"E"'T"H-'O''D'S''' @
EDITED BY MRs. E. C. CRONK, 721 MUHLENBERG BLDG., PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Methods and Materials for Studying the boys and girls to make a trip the Moslem World through Moslem lands. Fascinating "A Moslem World, undergoing "Tourist Tickets" are printed with 'such varied, such extensive, such pro- coupons covering Arabia, India, found and such momentous changes, Persia, North Africa, Egypt and is of supreme interest and concern to all Christendom. The attention of Jerusalem, priced at the low rate of Christians is to-day riveted on Islam 10 cents per dozen, so that leaders as at no time since Moslem invasion may have them for all the boys and girls. There are also "Modes of ·of Europe. Seven out of eight Travel Cut-outs" to be furnished to Moslems Jive under flags of Christian each young tourist. A camel for the nations. The threatened and impend- .iourney across Arabia, an elephant ing disintegration of Islam calls for for India, a prancing horse for Persia, an adequate substitute. Only Christ a Nile boat for Africa, and a donkey .and His program can meet the on which to enter Jerusalem. Pat- terns for the six cut-outs are printed need."* on one sheet. Never before have our churches had Poster Patterns on MO'slem Lands," such an opportunity for mission by Maude Evelyn Bradley, are de- signed especially for "Two Young study. Never in all the yesterdays of Arabs" but may be used in connection with any book on Islam. They are to the world has there been any situation be made in the popular cut paper comparable to "The Moslem World work, and furnish valuable educa- ·To-day. " tional occupation for the makers as well as a colorful addition to the wall It is true, also, that never has there program. 'been available as adequate literature for mission study as is offered this year for the study of the Moslem World. To begin with, we have" Musa",' "Friends of the Caravan Trails",'
published by the Missionary Educa- by Elizabeth Harris, is a book for tion Movement, which furnishes an teachers of Juniors. It records, with adequate course for primary children, the subject matter, the actual teach- prepared by Mary Entwistle and ing experiences of the author with a .Jeanette Perkins. group of Junior boys and girls.
For Juniors, the materials are un- A valuable addition to the usually good. The Junior book, materials on the year's theme is to published by_ the Central Committee be found in Set. No.1 of the World for the United Study of Foreign Mis- Friendship Pictures. This set in- 'sions, is "Two Young Arabs"', by cludes four beautiful colored pic- A. E. and S. M. Zwemer. The booklet, tures, eleven by fourteen inches, '''How to Use Two Young Arabs," drawn by Fannie Warren, the artist ·contains suggestions for the course, who designed" The Children of Many together with seven patterns for Lands" posters. Included in the set 'handwork drawn by Maude Evelyn are pictures of Moslem children in Bradley. The course is arranged for India, Egypt, Persia and Arabia.
• (Statement from tlt-e Jerusalem (Jonference These pictures may be used in con- .;;1924.) aprice, 50. cents a set. lPrice. paper 50 cents, cloth 75 cents. 4Price, paper 50. cents, cloth 75 cents. 2Prlce, paper 50 cents. cloth 75 cents.
5 8()1
nection with the primary or junior Arabia books, or for independent missionary One thousand miles of railway built for and world friendship p,rograms in pilgrims, not dividends. Feb., 1909. o. p. week-day and Sunday-schools. Arabia, the desert of the sea. Dec., 1909.
Unusually good pictures are avail- 75 cents.
Notes on Oman. Jan., 1911. o. p.
able in picture sheets. The Missionary The Mystic N edjef, the Shia Mecca. Dec., Education Movement has four twelve 1914. 50, cents. page picture sheet· folders containing pictures of Moslem lands, each Mecca, the mystic. April, 1917. .50 cents. The flower of Paradise. Aug., 1917. 50 cents.
with a short description. They may The rise of a new Arab nation. Nov., be used for making posters, scrap 1919. 50 cents. May, books, albums, wall friezes or in various other ways. A visit to three Arab kingdoms. 1923. 50 cents.
Among the other pictures that are Palestine helpful in the course is the set en- The sacred ibis and cemetery· and jackal titled "The J1oslem World in Picture catacombs in Abydes. Sept., 1913, o. p.
and Story"," including a set of six Village life~ in the Holy Land. March, pictdres, eleven by fourteen inches, 1914. 50 cents.
Impressions of Palestine. 1farch, 1915.
in sepia, showing scenes from Persia 0, p. Jerusalem locust plague. Dec., 1915. 50 and Syril,t. rents.
The National Geographic Maga- A n old jewel in the proper setting. Oct., zine" is rich in picture materials ]918. o. P. which may be used in connection with the study of the :lfoslem world. The The last Israelitish blood sacrifice. Jan. 1920. 50 cents, following pictures will be found in For intermediates, there is a hand- book entitled "Lands of the Minathe files as indicated. The following list is quoted from ret",S by Nina Rowland Gano, "Friends of the Caravan Trails" by permis- containing a series of programs on sion of the Friendship Press. various phases of Moslem life and Egypt missionary work in Moslem lands~ with suggestions for projects of serv- The route over which Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt. Dec. 1909. ice, worship, and dramatization in 75 cents. addition to background material on the Mcslem world. Mrs. Gano tried The barrage of the Nile. Feb., 1910. 75 out her programs with a group of cents.
Sunrise and sunset from Mt. Sinai. Dec., intermediates in her own church. 1912. o. p. Reconstruction of Egypt's history. Sept., "Tales from Moslem La.nds"" is a 1!H3. o. p. pamphlet of hero stories for leaders Aloug the Nile through Egypt and the to tell in connection with the course Sudan. Oct. 1922. o. p. on "Lands of the Minaret" or other- At the tomb of Tutankhamen. May, 1923. courses for intermediates.
o. p. Maude Bradley has enriched the· Egypt, past and present. May, 1923. 50 supply of art designs with a "Cut-out Sheet of Moslem Types, "'0 giving eents. Crossing the untraversed Libyan Desert.
Sept., 1924. 50 cents. sketches illustrating the racial variety Cairo to Capetown overland. Feb., 1925. within Islam to be colored, cut out and pasted on any large map of 50 cents. Moslem lands. The land of Egypt. March, 1926. 50 For young people and adults there cents.
liPrice. 25 cents each. are three new books. "Ymtnq Islam 'Publip,bed by the Presbyterian Board of on Trek"," by Basil Mathews, Foreign Missions, 60 cents a set.
, '7The issues may be borrowed from, p-ubIfc Hbraries or may be ordered from the NaUona) !!Price, paper, 50 cents. Geographic Ma~azine. Washington, D. C., ex;" 9Price, paper, 50 cents. cept of course t4os_e ~hat are marked "0. p.", out lOPrice. 10 cents.
of print; l1Price, cloth, $1.00; paper, 60 cents.
926 1 BEST METHODS
sketches the rise and spread of Islam children and including every member of the congregation. and shows how the life of Moham- medan countries is being thrown into A QUOTATION MEETING turmoil by the impact of modern To acquaint a larger number of Western civilization and by the re- people with worth while words that lease of new spiritual forces. are being spoken and written is an The adult study book, published by opportunity and a challenge to mis- the Central Committee for the United sionary leadership. Stu d y of Foreign Missions, is . Quotations from books and maga- "Jioslem Women",'2 by A. E. and zInes. may make an interesting S . .:[ Zwemer. It would be impos- meetmg or a feature of a meeting. sible to find two authors of larger experience and more understanding The q.uotations may be selected by a insight into Moslem conditions than commIttee or by individuals and Dr. and Mrs. Zwemer. typed on separate sheets to be read In the book "The Moslem Faces the by different members. The wide Futw'e"/" by T. H. P. Sailer, As- sea~ch. through books, reports, and sociate in Religious Education of perIodIcals will be valuable. .An Teachers' College, Columbia Uni- entire meeting may be devoted profit- versity, we have a book for study ably to the reading and discussion of and discussion groups based largely quotations, or ten minutes of a Sunon fresh mat~rials concerning .the ~dea~yt-isncgh)coml aoyr class session or other dommant msoovcermal,entes d utchartoiuognhaol~t and be thus empl'oyed. Inreligious the dlVld:uals may be appointed to read Mo~lem W ~rld, f~rnished by ex- certam books or magazines and perIenced mISSIOnanes in the several present striking quotations from countries. the.m, or the quotations may be type- There are three maps available for WrItten and passed around, or printed the year's study in addition to the on posters.
missionary map of the world: '.' Islam is the only one of the great in AtwWo aclollo]Wrsa,paobtouthte3M3 oxsl4e8minW. osrhlod~" relIgIOns to come after Christianity; the only one that definitely claims to ing important places and distribution correc.t, complete and supersede c.f lIoslem population. Christi~nity; the only one that A large Ou,tline ,tlap of the Moslem categOrIcally denies the truth of ~VorlclF' for wall use, about 28 x 32 ~hristianity; .the only one that has, Inches. I~ t?e past, SIgnally defeated Chris- Small Outline Maps!6 are available tr.amty; the only one that seriously for individual use. Size 11 😡 14 dIsputes the world with sCevherirsatliapnairtty~· the only one that, in inches. With such an array of helps our of the ~o!ld, is to-day forestalling churches should have an unusually and gammg on Christianity."- succes,~flll year of mission study, and QUOTED BY CANON GAIRDNER, IN "The schools of missions should flourish Rebuke of Islam."
el!-r.olling members of all ages. Ad: "The Koran is a declaration of war against all mankind. Its last dItIOnal books for reading are listed chapter is a legacy of implacable aniin the Bibliography of the various mosity against the human race-outstudy b~oks. A reading program for side Islam. "-DEAN WILMAN.
an entrre congregation may be "Islam saw God but not m athn~'· planned beginning with the stories s::w the claims of deity but not which mothers read aloud to their rIghts. of humanity; saw authority ~Pr~ce, cloth. 75 cents; paper, 50 cents. but faIled to sdeeesfproeteisdmo,ms-ttifhfeerneefdorine~ hardened into Pr!ce, cloth, $1.00; paper. 60 cents. 14PrIce, 60 cents. to formalism, and sank into death. nprice, 25 cents. 16Price, 25 cents.
Mohammed teaches a God above us; to be. In the old days they came to Moses teaches a God above us and yet argue and controvert and insisted on with us; Jesus Christ teaches God doing so. 'L'o-day …. one is able to above us, God with us and God in preach the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ freely and plainly …. without US."-JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE. fear of interruption. "-w. T. FAIR- "Islam presents, even after the MAN. World War, the abolition of the Caliphate, and the present struggle "It is said that at the Lucknow for the possession of Mecca, a solidar- Conference several years ago there ity of organization unparalleled by were present five Christian clergyany other non-Christian religion." men who formerly had been Moslems. -A. E. AND S. M. ZWEMER in "Moslem At one time or another during the ..Vomen." Conference each of them bore his in- dividual testimony that the first thing "One seventh of all the children in which had drawn him toward Christ the world live under the shadow of was kindness shown him by some the crescent in the lands of Islam .. Christian." -A MISSIONARY. . . . . A conservative estimate based on the total Moslem world population "There can be no doubt that the gives the number of children under unity of Islam is rapidly dissolving. fourteen yea.rs of age at over 80,000,- The whole outlook upon life is chang- 000 . . . . . . The long unbroken line of ing. Strong nationalism, developing Moslem children, if, they stood to- in .each separate Moslem country, is gether holding hands, would stretch bringing about disruption and diviexactly twice around the globe's sion …. The dream of world conquest circumference. "-A. E. AND S. M. by the sword, furthermore, is at an ZWEMER in "Moslem Women." end. The penetration from without i~ going on steadily, but the great ,'Moslem minds are opening to new br('ak in Islam is from within. The ideas and impressions. Moslems are caliphate has ceased to be the rallyreading more widely and are study- ing centre."-A. E. AND S. M. ZWEMER ing the science of the West. Many in "lIoslem Women." are no longer content with the old Koranic laws in regard to women, "Islam has struck its tents and is and insist on education for both boys again on the march. The evidence is and girls. Out of this ferment, change too clear to be discussed with a light and revolution, nations are literally heart. Western civilization and Islam leaping into new life.' '-w. WILSON are entering one of those great periods of readjustment the like of which has CASH. not been seen for three centuries and Western civilization is prostrate and "Probably the greatest work divided."-New Y'ork World. Christian Missions have done in Mohammedan lands is to present in life "The sword of Mohammed and the and deed the fruits of Christianity. Koran are the most stubborn op- Hospitals, schools, relief of poverty, ponents of civilization, liberty and and integrity and honor in daily life truth the world has ever known."- have presented a new idea of service, religion, and manhood.' '-w. A. SIR WILLIAM MUIR.
SHEDD. LOCATING THE MOSLEM: POPULA.
"We must either give up missions TION to Moslems or go to them with the old Bible, the whole Bible, the Ten minutes with a map and a few martyr's faith. Anything else will charts will enable a leader to help a only confirm them in opposition to class or an audience to locate the Mo- Christianity. "-ST. CLAIR TISDALL. hammedans of the world. Follow the display of the map with the entrance " The spirit of these Moslems is of six boys and girls. The first should ~ntirely different from what it used
1926J BEST METHODS
carry a chart on which is printed in Other dates which may be similarly large, clear figures: presented are: Total Moslem Population of the 632-Death of Mohammed World, 234,814,989 636-Jerusalem taken 640-Conquest of Egypt This may be printed or pasted on 642-Moslem Conquest of Persia an outline map of the world. After 1453-Capture of Constantinople the audience has had time to read the chart, the leader may take a Other dates may be added as demoment for fuller statements. Five sired. "The Moslem Faces the other boys or girls may follow in Future", by T. H. P. Sailer, contains order, representing the continents. a very good historical chart, showing Each should carry a chart giving the contemporaneous happenings in the name of the continent represented various main areas of the Moslem and the Moslem population. These world, from the birth of Mohammed may be printed on plain cardboard or to the present.
superimposed on outline maps of the If an elaborate presentation of continents: dates is desired, twelve -persons may North America represent the twelve Moslem lands, 11,000 and present the dates in the chrono- South America logical order showing contempo- 193,429 raneons happenings as given in this chart. Australia and Polynesia 40,000 Europe TAKING TESTS 17,789,937 Africa This is an age of tests. Make the 59,444,397 most of them in mission study. If you do not think it advisable to Asia and Islands plnnge the average adult class into 157,336,206 abject humiliation and despair by giving them the tests prepared for The boys or girls who carry the adults, begin with Dne prepared for charts may give interesting facts concerning them.
IMPORTANT DATES juniors. The average adult of the average church may retain self-re- In a similar manner, the important spect but will have no cause for undates of Islam may be presented. seemly pride after taking one of these tests suggested for juniors. One person may carry a chart with the date, Two good True and False Tests are given on pages 33-38, "Friends of 570-Birth of Mohammed, and may say, as it is displayed, "You the Caravan Trails."
must remember me if you want to Dr. T. H. P. Sailer has prepared pass an intelligence test on lIoslem under the title "Tests on the Moslem affairs. I am the year of l'[ohammed 's World," some exceptionally good birth-570. ,,+ tests fOT special use with his book, On the second chart should be "The Moslem Faces the Future."
printed There is also a set of very interesting general tests called "What Do You 622-The Hegira The bearer Df this chart announces Know About the Moslem World 1"'" "Our year 622 is the beginning of which will be effective for groups studying any of the books on the years for Moslems. Their calendar theme. Two sections from the latter reads A. H. for Anno Hegirae instead set of tests are here suggested. of A. D., marking the Hegira, Moham- med's flight from Mecca to Medina." • Leaders may secure printed copies of both ·The figures "670" in the book "Moslem sets of tests and an answer key for the latter Women" are aD error in prInting, by application to denominationa1 literature headQ uarters.
A SINGLE-CHOICE TEST an oasis in the heart of Arabia which symbolizes paradise (2) Instructions: In each of the follow- another name for Heaven ing groups of statements put a cross among Mohammedans (3) after the number of the statement that you consider to be the correct pilgrimage center of the one. Moslem world (4) IX. The majority of the people in I. A sheik is; Jerusalem are: a well·dressed young lover (1) Mohammedans (1) a Turkish government official (2) Christians (2) a man of influence because of Jews (3) age, experience, or religious X. The majority of the people in the training (3) Holy Land are: a pilgrim of the Holy Places (4) Mohammedans (1) II. Fatima is: Christians (2) Jews (3) a common Oriental disease (1) a fine tobacco originating in XI. Mohammedans date their calendar Turkey (2) from: the Qneen of Sheba (3) Mohammed's first great mili· a favorite daughter of Mo· tary victory (1) hammed (4) the birth of Mohammed (2) the death of Mohammed (3) III. The Taj Mahal is: Mohammed's flight fro m a famous mosque ill Constan· Mecca (4) tiilOple (1) the birth of Christ (5) the Egyptian national antbem (2) XII. J eSlls' earthly life was cut short the title of the Emperor of at the age of thirty·three, but India (3) Mohammed's life was longer by a celebrated marble tomb (4) about: IV. A harem is: 5·l(} years (1) a kind of bloomers worn by 15·2,5 years (2) Oriental ladies (1) 25·35 years (3) the wife (or wives) of a 35·45 years (4) Moslem household, or the 45·50 years (5) section where she and the XIII. When Moslems pray, whether in other womenfolk Jive (2) India ~r Morocco, in Russia or the half dozen wives of a Mo· in South Africa, they always hammedan (3) face: a peculiar dance restricted to toward exact east (1) women (4) toward a certain small locality V. A millaret is: in Arabia . (2) a sacred place where people toward Constantinople (3) pray (1) toward the place on the an Oriental house·top (2) horizon (shiftillg according a tower used in caIling prayer (3) to the season) where the sun a dome with a spire . (4) actually rises ( 4) VI. A shah is: XIV. Irllq is an alternate name for: an Arabic exclamation of reo Syria (1) gret (1) Palestine (2) the supreme rnler in Persia (2) Mesopotamia (3) a rich young gallant (3) Arabia (4) the supreme ruler in Turkey ( 4) XV. The Koran is about the size of: VII. A caliph is: the New Testament (1) a Mohammedan high priest (1) the Old Testament (2) a supreme judge ill theological the whole Bible (3) disputes (2) much longer than the Bible (4) tne Mohammedan ruler recog· XVI. Mohammed lived about the year: (Underline correct date) nized as paramount (3) 500 B. C., 100 B. G., 1 A. D., the Mohammedan pope ( 4) 20() A. D., 500 A. D., 600 A. D., .700 A. D., 800 A. D., VIII. Mecea is: 1000 A. D.
a world·famous tobacco town in Arabia (1)
A CORRECT MATCHING TEST (1) Mustapha Egypt Kemal 1. The great cities listed in the first Persia column below are famous (2) Emir Feisal Arabia throughout the Mohammedan (3) Abd el Krim Mesopotamia world. Place the number of (4) Zaghlul Pasha India each before the name of the (5) Riza Khan Turkey country in the second column (6) Ibn Saud Morocco to which it belongs. Draw a (7) Shaukat Ali circle around the numbers of 'which you are sure. SILENT MESSAGES ( 1) Constantinople India Frequently the messages which are Soviet R u s s i a given in silence are most impressive. ( 2) Baghdad At one of the summer conferences, two young women, dressed in Moslem (Turkestan) costume, entered, each carrying a sheet of cardboard. On one was ( 3) Damascus Persia printed ISLAM IS and on the other ISLAM TEACHES. Following them, ( 4) Delhi French Sudan (West eight other girls entered, one at a time, carrying charts which completed Africa) the two sentences: ( 5) Cairo Syria ISLAM IS ( 6) Tehran Egypt The youngest of the wor}d's great re- ligions. ( 7) Angora Anglo·Egyptian Sudan Six hundred years younger than Chris· ( 8) Timbuktu Mesopotamia tianity.
( 9) Khartum Afghanistan A religion of intolerance.
(10) Mosul Turkey The religion of one seventh of the human race. (11) Bukhara Morocco ISLAM TEACHES (12) Singapore British Malaysia " There is no God but God and Mohammed (13) Fez is the Prophet of God."
(14) Kabul That God "created half of humanity for hell and cares not." II. Many of the greatest ruined cities of ancient history now That "God misleads whom He will and being excavated are in Moslem whom He will He guides." lands. Place the number of the city before the name of That polygamy has divine approval. the country to which it be- longs. Draw a circle around The two girls who entered first those numbers of which you stood on opposite sides on elevations are sure. sufficiently high that the eight girls who entered in order following them ( 1) Jerusalem Mesopotamia placed their· charts, one at a time, Turkey underneath to complete the sentence. ( 2) Carthage Palestine As each sentence was completed, the ( 3) Ephesus Tunis girls stepped to the side, four on one ( 4) Babylon Egypt side and four on the other side, until ( 5) Memphis Persia the audience had time to read all of ( 6) Samaria Syria the sentences and understand their ( 7) Persepolis significance. There was perfect silence ( 8) Palmyra followed by a special prayer for the ( 9) Thebes Moslem world and for missions to (10) Antioch Moslems.
[II. The follOWing great living Moslem leaders and statesmen are famous throughout the en- tire Moslem world and are mentioned repeatedly in our American newspapers. Num- ber as previously.
Woman's Foreign Mission
EDITED BY ELLA D. MACLAURIN, 25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY THE SOUL'S SINCERE DESIRE senting different parts of China met ATTAINED at Kuling was the real work begun.
CORA E. SIMPSON, R. N. At that time plans for the grading and registering of Schools of Nursing', Yes, it is a wonderful story, but with a uniform curriculum and systhe thrilling thing about it all is that tem of examinations with one nursing it is all beautifully true and it proves diploma for China were mapped out without a doubt that there is abso- and adopted. Miss Gage was elected lutely no limit to what God can and President and under her leadership will do for the individual willing to the first schools of nursing werfl trust and follow all the way He leads. registered and the first National Con- lt has been said that the record of ference was held in Shanghai in 1914.
the Nurses Association of China for At this conference the Chinese word the past dozen years is unsurpassed by for" nurse" was adopted and has any nursing organization in any land since passed into the language of the at any time in the world's history of people. The first examinations were nursing. Nursing in China was or- held in 1915 and the diploma secured ganized, developed, and brought to by two men and one woman. its present state of high professional efficiency by missionary nurses and The difficulties of the early days when the Chinese graduate nurses seemed almost unsurmountable. The take over the work of the entire or- nurses were far separated and travel ganization, as we fully expect them was difficult, dangerous and expensive.
to do within this generation, the work There were many dialects and the will continue to be in the hands of work was looked upon as "work fit strong, skillful, Christian nurses, only for coolies." There were no who will carry out the high ideals of books written or translated into the Florence Nightingale, the Queen of language, so is it any wonder the de- all nurses, and adapt them to meet velopment was slow during the first the needs of their own people. few years 1 China with her four hundred and A few schools had been registered, a fifty million, where live one fourth of few more nurses graduated, a few the world's population and where one books translated and a few more mem- third of the world's babies are born, bers added but when we met in con- and where the need for nurses is so . ference at Hankow in 1922 we had a desperate, presents one of the most membership o£ only one hundred and inviting fields of service found in any thirty-two. In the beginning the land today. I am sure any member membership had to be composed of of the Nurses Association of China foreign members but the time seemed would join me in saying: ''It is ripe for the "advance work among great to· be out where the fight is so our Chinese people." At that meet- strong, To be where the heaviest ing the constitution was remodeled to troops belong, In this fight for God meet the needs of the growing organ- and man" where the work is so ization, a Committee on Nursing Edudifficult but so soul-satisfying and cation was established with Miss Gage the love of a great people the reward. as Chairman and a General Secretary The Nurses Association of China was elected who should give her full was organized in 1909 but not until time to the work of the Association. 1912 when a special committee reprec As soon as the request· of the Nurses 808· Association of China was granted by nese was the language of the Confer- her Board and she was released from ence. We had reached a membership her position as Superintendent of of 518, had been admitted to member- Nurses at the Magaw Hospital, Foo- ship in the International Council of chow, the General Secretary entered Nurses and all departments of the on her duties. work were growing so rapidly that it At the time- the Association prop- was decided we must plan for a Head- erty consisted of a small case, a few quarters Building to meet the Asso- papers, a small typewriter table, a ciation needs. It was decided also that decrepit, useless, old typewriter, no delegates should be sent to the next office staff, an almost empty treasury, International Council of Nurses Con- the only income the annual fees paid gress to be held in Finland in July by the members, a loyal Executive 1925.
Committee who with the membership In the early days we had some help believed that "with God nothing is from the China Medical Board for the impossible" and that He had a place translation work but that was stopped for our Nurses Association of China. just in the midst of this advance work.
The first two years the office and Again God has cared for us. Books property were kept in the Secretary's have been translated by our members bedroom. The Secretary was sent by and friends. We have published over the Executive Committee to visit all thirty new books and revised and re- the nurses' and schools of nursing in published all the old ones, :put over China. Through this nation-wide thirteen million pages of nursing text- campaign and visitation the nurses be- books through the press, sold over came vitally interested in the work of fourteen thousand dollars' worth of the Association and a strong, loyal our books in 1925 and closed the year membership was built up through with a small balance in hand. Our which future important programs Nurses Journal-published in both for the Association were successfullv English and Chinese-the only one in carried out. This travel took the Se~ China-has been self-supporting from retary into all kinds of out-of-the-way the first issue.' Not one cent of mis- places. Hundreds of hospitals have sion money has ever gone into our been visited and addresses delivered. publications or books.
Over one thousand beds have been 'Ve have one hundred and fifteen slept in and over sixty thousand miles registered Schools of Nursing with a travelled. The ever-increasing corre- student body of nearly two thousand spondence has been carried on by the (both men and women are trained as Secretary, late and early, on trains or nurses). We have issued our diploma boats, or in Chinese inns wherever and to over one thousand graduates. Our whenever she could get time. About membership is over twelve hundred twenty-five thousand letters have been and about two thirds are Chinese cared for. We do not have a budget nurses.
today but God has cared for us and Up until the last day it seemed im- we have lacked nothing. We have possible to surmount the difficulties never been in debt and have always and send the Chinese delegate to the had a few dollars balance. Whenever International Council of Nurses Con- we need anything we send out a call gress. Nurses everywhere were pray- for prayer and God has always" dealt ing about it. At the last minute the bountifully with us. " funds were secured, the vises for the The first fruits of this labor were passports to cross Siberia were secured shown in the Canton Conference in through the Chinese Government.
1924 when for the first time in our Miss L. Wu and the General Secre- history our Chinese nurses were with tary crossed Siberia to attend the Con- us in large numbers-half of the dele- gress. One thousand and fifty dele- gates being Chinese nurses-and Chi- gates representing thirty-three coun-
tries attended the Congress. God had for research work, a large room for great things in store for our Nurses meetings. There will also be the home Association of China there. That for the secretaries and other workers great Congress decided to hold the and a Hostel for nurses passing next meeting in Peking in 1929 and through the great center of Hankow.
Miss Nina D. Gage of Changsha, At present there is no place for them China-a missionary nurse-was to stay. This building is greatly elected President of the International needed and at once. In the light of Council of Nurses. So when the great what we have told you do you think Congress meets in Peking in 1929 it this is impossible ~ If you could have will be presided over by a missionary been with us at our last conference nurse and be entertained by mission- in Nanking on Sunday and have seen ary nurses and the splendid Chinese our three hundred delegates taking nurses of today. communion, have looked into their The funds for the Headquarters faces and seen the determination and Building grew slowly. By vote of faith written there, and then rememthe Association we moved our office ber they represented the membership from Shanghai to Hankow so it would of over twelve hundred and the stube more in the center of our field. In dent body of almost two thousand and a marvelous way, unsought, a piece of your answer would be as theirs is land was offe.red to us in the spring "with God nothing is impossible." and again in the autumn. While we Because of this faith it has been pos- were praying for guidance (for we sible for God to give the things re- corded above and because of this faith felt we must be very sure of God'8 and the need this building will rise plan for the future location of our as a testimony of what God can and Headquarters Building) in reply to a will do because of the faith and the letter sent, a check for $1,000 was need of His Chinese nurses who are received from one of our loyal doctor so busy ministering to His ' , little friends. We took this as a guide and went forward with negotiations for ones" that they do not have time to the land. We asked the owner to al- tell you of their doings or needs.
low us to pay half down and half at These Chinese nurses are "our faith the end of six months. At first he and our pride, our joy and our agreed and then said that he must crown."
have all paid down at once. We could If you would like to put ~ome bricks in not do this so at five p. m. the deal was the wall send word to the General Secre- off. Our Committee prayed on. tary, Miss Cora E. Simpson, 740 Rush Before ten o'clock that night a Chinese Street, Chieago, Illinois.
gentleman came forward and offered Cora E. Simpson, R. N., a missionary of to loan us four thousand dollars with- the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of out interest for the rest of the year the Methodist Episcopal Church since 1907, if we would only buy the land for he established the Florence Nightingale Sehool of Nursing at the Magaw Memorial Hospi.
wanted "the nurses as neighbors." tal, Foochow. This was the first School of Two other friends made loans. We Nursing to receive a Registration Certipurchased the land. The loans were ficate in China and heads the list of paid off at the appointed dates and Registered Schools of the Association. the land is ours at a cost of ten thou- Since 1922 Miss Simpson has been the General Secretary of the Nurses Association sand dollars. of China. She is in the United States for The Headquarters Building we are a few months' rest and study after which she expects to resume her work in China working for will cost twenty-five thou- as secretary of the Nurses Association. sand dollars and will be the place Miss Simpson has written a book eonee.-ning where all the nursing activities of the marvelous growth of this work, "A Joy China will be handled. There will be Ride Through China for the Nurses Assooffices for the secretaries and trans- ciation of China." Price $2.00, the prolators and for editorial work, libraries ceeds to be used for the Headquarters Building Fund.
Woman's Home Mission
EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK MIGRANT GROUPS made. The workers are less suspi.
From the report of the Committee of the cious of the churches, and the com- panies ate depending most upon them ~~mJo;;:!s~~~:!~~~~Wilp~ng. 'i°d'an~~l. 'lJ,.:"':::'a';,,~ to supply the social and spiritual needs of these men. The Loyal Le- The different types of migrant workers may be listed as follows: gion of Loggers and Lumbermen, a loggers and lumber jacks, grain har- cooperative organization, is attempt- vest hands, cannery employees, fruit ing to serve the men socially and in- and truck harvesters, construction tellectually in limited areas.
gangs, sugar. beet workers, fisher- The need of social and religious men, boatmen, soldiers and sailors. services is very great in Minnesota, The needs of these groups are far Wisconsin, Michigan, New Hampshire from being adequately cared for and and Maine, but the church boards are most denominations, because of the doing little or nothing for the loggers press of other work, have been forced in these areas, and local churches are to neglect this very': important field. not doing much more. In Maine, the 1. Loggers and Lumberjacks. The Great Northern Paper Company 1920 census gives as the states in maintains a welfare department and which the lumber industry is of great- employs a full-time social worker in e:st importance: Washington, Oregon, certain camps. This is the only com- Idaho, ::iaine, New Hampshire, Min- pany in the state that is thus serv- nesota, Michigan and Wisconsin, re- ing its workers, and they report a porting workers in lumber industry great need in their own camps for ad- ranging from 4,701 in New Hamp- ditional spiritual service from the shire to 24,371 in Washington. This churches. The Crossett Lumber Com- group comprised 5% of the gainfully pany in Arkansas supports a Y. M.
employed males in Washington; 4.8'10 C. A. to the extent of $7,000 in its in Maine; 3.8% each in Oregon and main logging camp, and maintains a Idaho; 3.3.% in New Hampshire; welfare department in the mill town 1.9% in Minnesota; 1.8.% in Florida; at a cost of $40,000 annually. In 1.7.% in Wisconsin; 1.5% in Louisi- 1923, California reported from 10,.
ana; and 1.3% in Michigan. These 000 to 15,000 workers employed in the figures have greater significance when lumber industry.
contrasted with the record of .6% for From reports of missionaries and the entire United States. Nineteen others in close touch with men in the states in all employ more than 4,000 logging fields, it appears that all ef- workers in this industry and present fective religious work must be of the a challenge to the churches. sky-pilot or missionary type; that the In the Washington-Oregon-Idaho population of these camps is too un- region, the Presbyterian Church in stable and changing, to pltj,ce per- the U. S. A. is supporting eleven manent churches successfullv. The workers among the lumberjacks, the field remains largely unser,";ed and Christian Church one, and the Meth- the few missionaries now engaged odist Episcopal Church about half a among the lumberjacks are forced to dozen. In this region, because of the cover too large areas to do most ef- 1. W. W. and other radical agencies, fective work. Thousands of camps it has not been possible for the lum- remain untouched by any messenger ber companies to serve successfully of Christ, but agencies of moral de· the social needs of their workers, al. struction are everywhere surround· though some few attempts have been ing them. Dr. White, Presbyterian 811
sky-pilot, reports the need of inter- time, and 57 % had served in this denominational missions in the cities of Seattle, Everett, and Bellingham, capacity for five years or less; 43% Washington, to provide clean and de- had followed the harvest for more cent quarters for lumberjacks when they come to town; to furnish them than five seasons, 19 % more than ten with reading and writing materials, recreation and rest; to counteract the seasons. influences of agencies constantly rob- Workers are cared for in bunk bing the men of their money and any moral restraints they may have. houses, barns and homes; work hard and late hours; want little but work, 2. Grain Harvesters. The wheat meals, rest, and wages; are not much belt is Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Ne- interested in social life and religion. braska, South Dakota and Canada. Opinion has it that the remedy is so Thousands of harvest hands follow to stabilize and diversify agriculture the harvest from South to North. that this large migrant group will not Oklahoma, during a normal year, em- be neeessary. Agricultural Extenploys from 12,000 to 15,000 of these sion Departments in the wheat belt transient hands for three weeks; are giving instruction in this matter. Kansas from 20,000 to 30,000; Ne- Local churches and agencies should braska somewhat less than Kansas; in serve these groups. General welfare North and South Dakota the demand ageneies which tried to follow haragain increases. In North and South vesters have not proved generally Dakota, the Department of Agricul- successful. tural Extension is trying to introduce diversified farming with permanent 3. Oannery Hands, Fruit and employment, as a remedy for migrant Truck Harvesters. These workers are problems. Some migrant wheat har- here grouped together beeause they vesters are reported in Missouri also. are often the same workers, first har- Iowa's chief interest in this group of vesting fruit and truck, then working in canning factories. According to society lies in the fact that Sioux City is the second great gateway the census report of 1920, in Septemthrough which these workers pass to ber, 1919, there were employed in enter harvest fields of the north. canning establishments of this coun- Kansas City, Missouri, is the first and try, 198,147 workers, more than half most important gateway. Govern- of whom were female workers. In ment and private agencies are at March of the same year, only 35,692 work to place theRe men where needed hands were eng<tged by these estaband to avoid congestion and delay in lishments, at , Ilich time males far cities. outnumbered females. The differen- tial of 162,000 workers represents Migrant worker~ come from all pretty well the part-time workers enwalks of life. are I r all nationalities gaged in this industry, most of whom and conditions of s'lciety, and come are brought from eities and states from everv state in the Union. An not in the immediate locality of the analysis of 3,509 worl,ers who passed industry, and are therefore migrant through the Sioux City offine in the workers during the active season. summer of 1922 Ilhowed that there This does not take into aecount the were men from (!very state except many more tnousands of workers who harvest these and other fruit and Delaware; 43.9 % farmers or fa rm vegetable crops; unfortunately Cen- sus figures do not assist in determinhands; 12.4% common laborers; ing their number, but reports show 6.5% college stud(mts; the remaining that they are several times greater in numbers than cannery hands. 27.2% from 133 different occupations; 55% under 30 years of age, the This type of migrant differs greatly from previously noted groups belargest age group at 24 years; 11'1" cause it includes whole families in their migrations. Women and chilserving as harvest hands for firflt
926] WOMAN '8 HOME MISSION BULLETIN
dren assist in this important work "Would it not be easiest to arouse and therein lies much of the danger. public interest of the locality in work Families are quartered in small, one- for the children, and also easiest to room shacks with inadequate light establish contact with migrants by and few sanitary precautions. Pri- showing an interest in their little vacy is impossible and often comfort one;; ~ Children ought to prove exis not easily secured. These families cellent first sources of contact. Often are social outcasts from most forms the children of the camp are left to of recreation and entertainment in themselves while those older are the community where they labor; working. Organized play and kinderchurches and other local service agen- garten might be good methods for cies largely neglect this group. Chil- starting; possibly elementary school dren are taken from school early in work could be accomplished." the spring and return late in the fall. :Most children in migrant fami- The work of the Council of Women lies are retarded in education. Child Labor laws are often violated in em- for Home Missions has proved this ploying these children in harvesting approach to be very successful and fruit and truck crops. Dr. Keller, of popular. the New Jersey Agricultural Exneriment Station, says: "I have found 4. Su(%r Beet Workers. The folvery often the communities are a so- lowing states reported increased imcial menace to the casual labor rather portance of the sugar beet industry than the other way 'round. I mean in which many migrant families, the community treats these people as mostly Mexican, are employed durthey treat disease, thtly isolate them. ing the summer and autumn months: If the labor class becomes a social Idaho, Michigan, Ohio, South Damenace it is often a result of poor kota, Iowa, Colorado, North Dakota, treatment rather than a cause of their Wyoming, Kansas, Wisconsin. being casual." Dr. Folsom, of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, 5. Soldiers and Sailors. Several who has made wide studies of this denominations are supplying chaptype of migrant throughout the United States, makes the following lains for Army and Navy, and camp comments: pastors. The Protestant Episcopal "The social and religious needs of Church in 1844 organized the Seathese people are bound up with their men's Church Institute which is opereconomic needs. All should be taken ating in sixteen cities in the United into consideration in work planned. States and the Philippine Islands. Much more ought to be done. "Difficulties in establishing contacts: 6. Miscellaneous. Fragmentary re- (a) Short stay in the community. ports came in concerning cotton har- (b) Local lack of interest in them vesters, fishers, boatmen, oil field except as laborers. workers, . irrigation gangs, railroad (c) Their nationality. constructIOn gangs, corn harvesters, (d) Difference in religious and so- tobacco harvesters, etc., but time did not permit a closer study of these re- cial training and standards. ports. (e) Isolation in small groups on Come unto Me, ye weary, small farms. (f) Habit of working all members And I will give you rest.
of the family early and late. oh blessed voice of Jesus, (g) Local situations. Which comes to hearts oppressed It tells of benediction, '
Of pardon, grace and peace Of joy that hath no ending'
Of love which cannot cease.
-Selected.
NEAR EAST key, or at any rate children of refu-
Bibles Sold in Da.mascus gees, one is impressed with the tre- BIBLE Colportage, though at- mendous opportunity in work for tempted, was almost imp.ossible them. These young lives, growing in and around Damascus under the up in the greater freedom of Aleppo, Turkish regime. The Scriptures must be held and trained for Christ, were, however, regularly supplied to Most of them have lost the look of suf- the Irish Presbyterian Mission, the fering and terror which was so evi- British Syrian Mission and the Edin- dent on all faces only a short time ago.
burgh Medical Mission by the British They are looking 'forward and not and Foreign Bible Society. Since the back.' "
Turkish rule ended a distinct ad- vance has been made and Colportage Christian Books in TurKey has been conducted in all quarters of AMERICAN Board missionaries in the city. Colporteur Moses Burun- Constantinople repc.rt that at suzian has sold regularly over three present in Turkey, when ideas are hundred copies of the Scriptures a changing and reforms have been month in the city itself, and to all classes of people. There has been made, the opportunity for distributquite a demand for the Hebrew ing Christian literature is unprece- Scriptures among the Jews; and in dented. The mediums of circulation many instances complete Arabic Bi- have been book-stores in the larger bles have been sold to MOfllems. Over eities, sehools" and personal Turkish fifteen thousand copies of the Scrip- friends in the smaller towns. There tures have been sold in and around are encouraging results. In one Damascus since 1920. town, a group of dervishes are read- ing the Gospels and "Pilgrim's Prog- Christian Endeavor in Aleppo ress. " In the same interior town, a Turkish school put in a request MRS. ISABELE TROWBRIDGE for "Joseph," an Old Testament MERRILL, daughter and wife of play, for their graduating performdistinguished Congregational mis- ance. A number of college students sicnaries to Turkey, sends this story are stUdying the :0Jew Testament.
of future leaders in the Near East: The manuscript for the first "Life "A young people's rally was held in of Christ," translated into Turkish, the new Evangelical Church in is now ready for publication. It is Aleppo, Syria, recently. The four by Miss Constance E. Padwick, of Christian Endeavor societies of the Cairo, and is translated by a young city were present, the boys' and girls' Moslem woman who has been much soeieties from the camp church hav- interested in the work. It is to be ing been invited to join with the boys' published with funds provided by the and girls' societies of the city church. American Christian Literature So- The boys' society of the refugee camp ciety for Moslems.
has lately been organized with eightyfive members, and now has over a hun- "The MU880lini of Persia"
dred. When one looks at the earnest THIS is the title sometimes given and eager faces of these young people to Riza Khan, the new Shah of and realizes that almost without Persia, about whom the following exception they are refugees from Tur-. facts are given in the Kurdistan Mis- 814
1.926] NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
sionary: "A man with an iron will, in prayer, then to comment on the practical and diplomatic, he made Bible passage for the day, and finally and unmade prime ministers, de- t() lead the meeting." posed shahs and established a new republic. The Persian press, mer- Intercessors in Isla,han chants and the common people are A MISSIONARY in Persia, quoted almost unanimously in his favor. in Evangelical Christendorn, The only class which opposed him in writes: "We have had a very help- ] 924 were the neglected mullahs. ful week of prayer here in Isfahan, Since his recall he has put forth the meetings being well attended painstaking efforts to make the right up to the end. The week of mullahs his friends. Arthur Chester prayer makes a very great appeal to Millspaugh, head of the financial our Persian Church, and we look upmission sent to Persia from the on it as a regular part of our church United States in 1923, is extremely organization. The meetings were this popular with Riza Khan, because the year taken chiefly by Persian Chris- Persians know that the Amerieans tians, though we had an Armenian desire no unfair advantages. It is reported that Riza Khan treats the to conduct one meeting and a Hebrew Bahais, a progressive all-Persian Christian on Saturday. It is difficommunity, the Jews and the Zoro- cult to arrange time to get all our astrians very favorably. Though people together for a week, as the men are at work and cannot easily himself uneducated in the ordinary come in the afternoons, and the wosense of the word, he is encouraging men could not come out at all in the the Persians and the foreigners to evenings; but in spite of difficulties cooperate in improving the educa- we had from thirty-five to forty Pertional system of his country." sian Christians daily, besides mission- Women in the Persian Church aries, and they took up the inter- cession topics very heartily."
MRS. J. DAVIDSON FRA"!1E, of the American Presbyterian Mis- Bible Teaching in ~nscat A sion in Resht, Persia, writes: "MoreT MUSCAT on the Persian Gulf, the Reformed Church in Ameriand more we who have had all sorts of Bible helps and commentaries and ca has a well-established mission, instruction in the home marvel at where the seed of the Word is being these unlearned women whose one sown. Without funds for the rent book is the Bible. Their search of of a school building Rev. G. D. Van the Scriptures is untiring. One re- Peursem went ahead with school cent convert is already teaching work at his home and reports a daily others how to read the Bible and in- attendance of fifteen boys whom he structing them in its doctrineg as she is teaching the rudiments of educa- knows them. You know the place a tion and giving the Gospel at the woman has in Moslem countries. It same time. Among them are some is good to watch the place a woman of the brightest boys of the Koran has among our Persian Christians. school and one lad whose father, now At first she is diffiuent about express- deceased, was formerly one of the ing her thoughts in a public prayer strongest opponents of the mission in meeting, but gradually as she realizes Muscat. His daily program cloRes the freedom that she has in Christ with the reading of a chapter of the she becomes more and more to see Bible, and the singing of two hymns.
that she is -only one of a large and Each boy takes his turn in reading sympathetic family and allows her- a verse of Scripture. Miss Lutton self to assume the privileges of the reports a Sunday-school service num- membership in that family, until she bering in attendance between fifteen is free to talk to the common Father , and sixty-five, the majority of them
BaJuchis, but among them in increas- inces to whom we art' not supposed ing numbers Arabs. to tell the good news …. There are in addition about 700,000 pagans in Up" and Down" in Kuwait this territory."
T HE evangelistic work carried on in .Kuwait, Arabia, has met with Si", Que.tiolUl at Once I encouragements as well as discour- N a recent letter, written from 'the agements. Bible shop work is as ex- Egypt General Mission Hospital, tensive as ever. Sunday afternoon Shebin-el-Kanater, Egypt, Mr, H.
services attract a remarkably large Frank Roe tells of experiences when audience of lV[oslems, both men and itinerating in Egyptian villages, He women, A young man baptized sev- writes: "At least twice a week dur- eral years ago continues to testify for ing the summer months I go out with his Master, Another young man de- one of our Egyptian fellow-helpers.
clares he has become a Ch:-istian and There are about thirty villages with- has at times confessed the same be- in a four-mile radius of Shebin, and fore Moslems, On the other hand, we systematically Visit these every Rev. E. E. Calverley reports a new few weeks, Usually we get a respect- form of opposition in the form of an ful and attentive hearing, until, as Arabic book in refutation of Chris- we proceed, the gospel light throws tianity written and published by the into glaring relief some error of Mos- ·chief religious leader of the Persians lem faith. Then the devil asserts his ·of Kuwait. The book consists of two presence, and we are besieged with parts, the first a refutation of five a dozen questions, When six men doctrines ·of Christianity, and the shout at us six different questions at second a reply to Goldsack's book one and the same time, and the whole "Christ in Islam," It is interesting company of men starts yelling, you to note that the school teacher who can imagine what pandemonium is helping Dr. Calverley has under- Teigns ! Under these circumstances -taken to prepare a reply. our only resource is prayer, and we therefore pause for a few minutes AFRICA until quiet returns, We set out each Preaching to Moslem. Forbidden day aiming for a specific village, but REV. JOHN HAY, of the Sudan occasionally we pause to talk with a Interior Mission, writes in the roadside @'oup sheltering under a London Christwn, "It seems in· tree from the scorching sun."
credible that under the British flag today there are countries in which S. S. Grading in the Sudan T the missionary of the Gospel has no HE growth of Sunday-school work among the Shilluk tribe in liberty to preach. Such is the case in Northern Nigeria, Because of a the Southern Sudan was described statement made by a British repre- in tl:'l June Review, A later report sentative who made a treaty with the states: "The Shilluks entrusted with Moslem chiefs-a statement to the ef- grading the Sunday-school have their fect that Government does not inter- own picturesque way of describing fere with religion-it is held that the the classes: Men Who Are Con- Christian missionary must not be al- sidered Honorable (i.e. grey-haired lowed to preach to the Moslems in men), Those Who Are Younger, four great provinces. The doors are Those Just Married, The Boys Who ,closed, 'as it is against government Dance, The Boys Who Have Just Be- policy to permit Christian propagan- gun to Dance, The Boys Who Herd da within the areas which are pre- the Cattle, The Little Boys Who ·dominantly Moslem.' The last cen- Herd the Sheep. The training class sus, taken in 1921, shows 6,699,427 is organized, with a chief, a chief- Mohammedans in the Northern Proy- on-whom-he-has-his-feet, and a chief-
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
of·writing. The main school at Do- ing a summons to heathen sacrifice.
leib Hill is overflowing the church In another part of the district some building. Five classes are held out- converts were fined for planting of-doors. A year ago there were 26 yams, etc., on their farms before the baptized Shilluks. Today there are day arranged for holding the festival 87. The tribe numbers about 60,000. of the Orisa-oko, a pagan rite. Quite Mrs. Oyler, of the United Presby- recently in a town near Owo a young terian Mission, writes: 'The Chris- woman, a convert of only a few years'
ti;:!ns are very much interested :in standing, has borne severe bodily suf- this village S. S. work, but the time fering for the sake of her faith.
will come when the novelty will wear off. Weare praying for that time. "The Preacher, the Big Stick"
O A regular routine, day after day, re- NE of the distinctive qualities of African Christian leaders seems quires more strength.' "
Ex-Medicine Man an Evangelist to be their apt use of figurative lan- guage. A recent illustration of this A RCHDEACON E. W. DOur,- comes from the Christian Alliance TON, of Tanganyika Territory, Mission in the Congo. The teachers East Africa, tells the story of the of the district had met for prayer conversion of a medicine man, Ka- and council. They were discussing hodanga, who when he was baptized the lack of interest and zeal in the at about thirty years of age, took schools. The native pastor used this the name Yohana (John). He con- 'wise illus"tration : "We llile large tinues: "It is estimated that Yo- sticks of wood to keep the fire burn- hana, this ex-medicine man, has been ing at night or when we are away the instrument in God's hands in the from home. Some wood holds the conversion of fully one hundred Wa- fire well, some burns out quickly. If gogo, and his village, where there is the fire in the large piece of wood now a considerable Christian com- goes out, we cannot use it to kindle munity, is a light in the great dark- the other sticks of wood. We preach- ness around. It is in many respects ers are the large sticks of wood. If a model village, in which heathen our people are not on fire it would dances and the brewing or use of be well for us to examine the large pombe (native beer) are forbidden. sticks first and see why the fire is Yohana is a teetotaller and non- not burning there. If you are on smoker. Three of his sons are now fire so will your people be also."
Christian teachers, two of them being in charge of out-stations from which Malagasy Tribute to Bible D converts to Christ are being gathered.URING his visit to Madagascar, W. J. W. Roome, of the British Yohana is now quasi-pastor, and superintends the work of four out-sta- and Foreign Bible Society, was weltions in the Buigiri district." comed at a great meeting of Malagasy Yorll.ba Christians Persecuted Christians at Imerina. The follow- ing is an extract from an address of REPRESENTATIVES of the welcome which was delivered by Church Missionary Society find Randzavola, a pastor: "The misthat the persecution of Christians is sionaries and the Bible are like the by no means a thing of the past in right and left hand, working together !the Yoruba country, Wesit Africa, in the garden of the Lord here in and men and women are Rtill called this our island. Far be it from me upon to suffer in various ways for to belittle the work of missionaries; their faith. For insta'nce, twelve but they themselves are witnesses men living at a C.M.S. out-station that the Bible has accomplished much in the Benin district were fined £5 more than they alone could have pos- each in the native court for disobey- sibly done. There was a time, twen- 6
ty-five years ago, when the mission- be in close association with the misaries were not allowed to stay in our sionaries at the Forman Christian country; but because the Bible re- College. Rev. E. T. Jenkinson, who mained the work they had begun during the past year has been taking was by no means destroyed …. And a special course at Manchester Uniup to the present the Bible has found versity to fit him for work among entrance into many Malagasy homes. Moslems, was appointed, and was to into some of which the missionary sail from England for India on Sephas difficulty in gaining admission." tember 14th.
INDIA AND SIAM Non-Christian Students Responsive India's Attitude toward Christ EV. CANON A. W. DAVIES, R NOTE of warning is sounded in A an editorial in the NatixJnal John's College, in Agra, North India, principal of the C.M.S. St.
Christian Council Review, which recently invited the students of the says: "It is not often realized that college, including Moslems and Hin- the genuine admiration for Jesus' dus, to the occasional services which Christ and the remarkable spirit of are held on Sunday a:l'ternoons for receptiveness towards His teaching the Christian staff and students.
so common in India at the present Quite definitely he explained that it day exist side by side with an abso- would be Christian worship, and that lute refusal to ascribe to Him any it would give an opportunity for position of uniqueness …. Christian- openly acknowledging the drawing ity may cease to be allied with an of Christ and the desire to serve and alien culture and strengthen all the follow Him, and to enter more. and good and noble elements in the social more into His Spirit. It could not, and religious life of India; Chris- therefore, have been very easy for tianity may become indigenous in the non-Christian students to attend, India, adopting modes of life and yet .some thirty or forty of these worship and thought which are came, and a little later, when the in- suited to the people of this land; and vitation was repeated especially to yet the incompatibility between the the senior students, there was a most il'und,lamen;tal position of Hinduism encouraging response. Canon Davies and Christianity about the unique- remarks: ""Ve are only feeling our ness of Jesus Christ as the revelation way; but experiences of this sort, and of God will remain and will have to the knowledge of not a few in the be met." college who are very near the King- dom, together with the unique ex·· Union Work for Indian Moslems perience of the baptism of one who I N OCTOBER, 1925, representa- left the college twelve years ago, a tives of the (English) Wesleyan Hindu Brahmin, have filled us with Methodist Missionary Society gave new courage and hope."
expression to their conviction that work among Moslems in India should Gandhi on "the Language of Love"
A be undertaken by the various T a tea given by the American Board missionaries at :M"ahachurches and societies in cooperation, and an offer was made of a man to bleshwar, India, Mahatma Gandhi such a cooperative mission. This ac- made a brief address, speaking par- tion resulted in the Conference of ticularly to the missionary members the British Missionary Societies ap- of the language school. He expressed pointing a group representative of his hearty approval of the desire of the principal societies to consider the young missionaries to learn the this proposaL It was decided to ac- language of the country, and paid cept the offer and to send the man tribute to the linguistic achievements for training to Lahore, where he will of the missionary group. He stated
NEWS FlCOM MANY LANDS
his regret, however, at the failure of in the city or are off on tour to the many missionaries-in faet most of far part of the district. In addition the missionaries-to learn the lan- to this bazaar work, for many years guage of the Indian heart-the lan- members have voluntarily carried on guage of love. This failure is the personal work among a community more disappointing because the mis- of outeastes. Less than a year ago, sionaries come to India in the name on their own initiative, Indian mem- of love, and the Indian expects, and bers of the congregation planned a has the right to expect, the manifes- campaign with the objective of win- tations of this spirit. The missionary ning this community for Christ_ preaches love, but how often his ac- They organized the work themselves: tions belie his words. and conducted it, and within the last month or two have baptized Nepal Slaves Set Free about sixty. That these converts: THE plan for the abolition of may continue to grow in their new slavery in Nepal was last re- life and in the grace of the Lord one ferred to in the Review in March. A of our Indian Christians is providing speeial cablegram to the New York the salary for a full-time teacher."
Times August 29th announced the completion of the plan at a cost of Revising the Siamese Bible D $1,366,250, an average of $25 a slave, URING the past two years, re- ports Rev. Paul A. Eakin, of the total number liberated with compensation by the Government being Bangkok, Siam, "a little group com- 51,782. The rates paid in compensa- posed of three Siamese pastors and tion ranged from $7 for a female two young evangelistic helpers-all and $5 for a male under three years graduates of the Bangkok Christian old to $35 for a female and $26 for College–and a missionary have been a male between the ages of thirteen trying to put the Scriptures of the and forty. After forty the price New Testament into more idiomatic dropped fifty per cent. Tracts of and attractive :Siamese, as well as cultivable land have been thrown produce a more accurate translation open to the emancipated slaves in the of the Greek manuscripts …. The hills, and reclamation and clearance work has given them a deeper appre- works have been started in Tarai, ciation of the true nature of the suitable advances of cash being made Scriptures. Over and over again the to the freedmen by the reclamation pastors would jot down in their per- and agricultural offices. The Tmne.~ sonal notebooks obscure texts which despatch gave the credit both for con- had flamed out anew as the real ceivinll' and carryinl? out the plan to meaning was brought ont clearly in the Prime Minister of Nepal, but their own tongue, and the light in earlier accounts have made the Ma- their faces at such times is something harajah the chief figure. one will not soon forget. "
Indians Evangelize Outoastes CHINA THE United Presbyterian Church Mission for Ricksha Coolies be!1-'an its work at .Jhelum, in the Punjab, fifty years ago. One of its T OUCHED by the hardships of the missionariei' there writes: "Most en- ricksha men in Shanghai, Mr. couraging of all is the voluntary, George Ma:theson founded in 1913 evangelistic zeal displayed by Indian a mission; especially for this latrge members of our little church. Al- group. The latest report states: though they are not paid for this ser- "During this troubled year there has vice, they continue the regular evan- been no decrease in the numbers passgelistic preaching in the bazaar, ing through the mission premises and whether the missionaries are present attending the daily and nightly gatherings in the open air, and in
the halls. Even during the disturb- Car·toons." They are issued four on ances, the usual large crowds (jn a sheet in wall-scroll form and in.- which representatives from most of tended to be shown one by one as the provinces might be found) were the Bible story is told. The sketches always present, and orderly and have heavy lines with little detail, so friendly in attitude. The usual rou- that they may be easily seen across tine was carried on uninterruptedly. the schoolroom and comprehended by Sick and injured men were sent to scholars with little Bible knowledge; hospital and the destitute were re- moreover, being in Chinese style, the lieved as usual. In visiting and open- attention of the children is not diair work large numbers of men, wo- verted by too many foreign features men, and children are reached who in the picture. would otherwise remain unknown, and in the course of this itinerant Rewards of Out-Station Work work large quantities of suitable literature are distributed, includin[! REV. R. G. COONRADT, Ameri- Scripture portions and leaflets." can Presbyterian missionary in Tsingtao, Shantung Province, since A General's Zeal for His Men 1912, writes of llis country field: "Imagine our preaching and teach- REV. FRANK A. KELLER, of ing the gospel message, day after the Hunan Bible Institute, after day, to people who never would hear describing the Christian earnestness it if we did not tell them. There is of General Chang, who was men- always just another village or town tioned in the June, 1925, REVIEW, beyond asking you to come to them, says: "Through the enthusiastic as- It means another day, but who can sistance of Chief-of-Staff Chang, the resist the call? How many hundreds way was opened for the preaching of of Christian friends at home would the Gospel to every unit of the third give so much just for this one chance, division of the Hunan armv that was and with this thought and knowing. at Changsha. One week ;e had the that Christ is calling them I have soldiers here night after night to hear extended my trip and pushed on the Gospel, and see it, too, as illus- many times. One new convert said, trated by stereopticon slides. One 'I know the foreign pastor is too busy Dr two nights we had as many as to come to my home, but I do wish fourteen hundred here. Half of he could make just one visit and help them listened to the preaching of the me explain 'the Gospel to myoId Gospel in groups of about one hun- father.' This illiterate man had been dred each while the other half saw converted while in Manchuria. He the pictures in the auditorium; then came home to take care of his aged they changed places, so that all had father, and began at once to study the privile-ge of seeing the slides. the Bible and attend church at the Sunday afternoon services were held nearest meeting place. We went to in a number of the different camps." his home and his father was baptized later, and now the man has his uncle THE Bible Picture Cartoons and many others of his town study- China Sunday School Union ing, " has issued. chiefly for use in primary and daily vacation Bible Chinese Girls in Factories schools, a spries of line sketches illustrating. in Chinese style bat not CHEFOO, in Shantung Province, Chinese figures, the life of Christ. is described in a recent report as Cooperating with a Chinese artist, "a town where hundreds of women Rev. J. P. Esney, of the Presbyterian have bound feet, but still a town of Mission in Shanghai, produced this factories where these same women series, which they call" Bible Picture trudge bravely home at clusk on their tiny feet." 'l'his past year about 150
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
girls, most of whom work from six for souls far more precious than gold in the morning until six at night, en- are being won for Christ in this rolled in the popular education night place. Six men were baptized and classes. "A Y.W.C.A. secretary on five men and three 'women were reher first visit found twenty-eight lit- ceived as candidates for baptism. tle peanut sorters, hair-net menders, One of the first group is a man of silk spinners and embroiderers, try- considerable ability but has been ing to read under one dim lamp, and rather a bad fellow, much given to some were carefully drawing charac- litigation. Thank God, there is ,a ters on their slates which said, 'The great change in him and he shows liberty of an individual is sacred and those evidences of the new birth cannot be encroached upon.' How which always rejoice the missionary's will they explain the world when they heart. Recently he greatly befriendbecome conscious of individual worth ed one of his old enemies t() such an on one hand and a twelvp-hour day extent that his heathen neighbors for women and children on the were amazed at such an exhibition of loving forbearance." other? " Texts and Pictures in Tibet Labor ProbleD1s and the Y.W.C.A. BISHOP WARD, of the Moravian THE annual report of the Y.W. Church, writes of the work of C.A. of China contains the fol- Rev. H. F. Burroughs, of Khalatse, in lowing signfficant statement: "In- the Western Himalayas: "A supply of Tibetan text-posters has been obdustrial problems have loomed large tained from Shanghai. One of these is displayed in a large frame hung in China in the last year. The agi- on the verandah, and is read by all who come to the house, often opening tation that led to the May 30th affair up the way for a talk· about the Gos- pel. The text 1 John 5: 12 is exarose from labor troubles. The ap- cellent in dealing with Buddhists, as it admits of no ambiguity. One day palling number of strikes within the some lamas from a distant lamasery arrived, and cons,iderable time was last year show an increasing unrest spent in talking about this text, and also in showing them pictures in the and dissatisfaction on the part of la- church. One of them bought a gos- pel, and Mr. Burroughs was able to mboar~ and while some of these strikes give them a good supply of tracts and have been animated by political other literature to take back to their isolated abode. Some time ago, when motives, undoubtedly many of them preaching in Khalatse, he showed Copping's picture, 'The Hope of the have had their origin entirelY in la- World'-depicting our Lord with children representative of the five bor problems. The most striking fact continents. This so took the fancy of an old man that he gave Mr. Burin the industrial world is the unpre- roughs no peace until he got him one like it. This the old man has nailed cedented growth of labor unions, pre- up in his house."
senting a factor tremendous in its JAPAN-KOREA possibilities both for good and for Press, FilD1S and Ra.dio evil. The intensity of feeling that is DESCRIBING the present mission- ary opportunity in Japan, Mrs. developing puts a burden of respon- R. P. Gorbold writes: "The atten- sibility upon Christian forces, great- er than we have ever faced before.
The Y.W.C.A., nationally and local- ly, has been aware o~ this need and has played its part m the effort to meet it."
The ViIIage of YeIIow Gold T HE origin of the name, which is thus translated, of the market town in Szechwan Province is obscure but, writes Rev. C. B. Hannah, of th~ China Inland Mission, "from a spiritual point of view· the name has now a very blessed significance,
tion of the public is being arrested the Sunday-school, with Buddhist and a desire to know more about motives, which is being attempted in Christianity aroused by at least three Japan to-day. This mixture she calls far-reaching agencies: the news- "synthetic bread." She says: "If papers, the movies and the radio. For it fails to satisfy the people, how do instance, the two English dailies the priests thrive on it? The contact edited and pUblished by Japanese, one with Western materialism has shat- in Tokyo and one in Osaka, devoted tered the faith of many priests, pages before and after Christmas Day notably the chief abbot of the largest to the Christmas message….. As to sect of Japan, Count Otani, who has the movies, no doubt the films that resigned his office, and is a business are detrimental are overwhelmingly man to-day. He argues that prayer is in the majority, but there are others logically impossible. To the world he that portray the beauty of upright is famous for his luxurious living living in striking contrast with the and his debts. Some young priests do ugliness of sin. Besides these so-called not realize that the adapted hymns moral films a number of distinctively and manuals which they use are really Bible films have been very popular. Christian hymns disguised. When And through the radio the seed is be- they awake to discover the source ing literally broadcast." (which honest study must disclose), their position becomes patlietic. They Cured Lepers Evangelists are like chemists watering down a T HE leper colony at Kwangju, first-class prescription and selling it Korea, is widely known. Dr. R. as their own patent medicine. There- M. Wilson, the physician in charge, fore, with every prayer for Japan writes: "We feel that the results of pray for the priests."
the leper work from an evangelistic point of view are as encouraging as Town Crier Calls to Church the cures from the drug treatment, R EV. Henry M. Bruen, Presbyand of course they are even more terian missionary in Taiku, permanent….. We have sent out over Korea, since 1899, writes of a unique 150 cases from the Leper Colony experience which he and a Korean whom we consider probably cures, elder had in a certain village: "We and among these Some who were dis- had agreed to visit the sarangs tinctly evangelistic in spirit have gone (guest-rooms) after supper and inout and done splendid work in start- vite all whom we fOUIid to attend the ing churches. Seven of our cured evening service. However, while we lepers have gone back to their villages were eating supper the town crier's and have started thriving churches. voice was heard calling the villagers Five cured ones are now employed as to a town gathering. Our hearts country evangelists in remote dis- sank, as it seemed this doomed to tricts, and ten are doing good work failure any attempt to get the nonfor the churches in their own villages Christians at the church. So we gave without pay. The lepers are in- up the idea of visiting the sarangs structed to watch for any active sign and had just opened our service for or return of the diseases, and to COme the Christian constituency, when the back for examination. Occasionally church door opened and the koo-chang one returns." (headman) led in a number of the Plight of Japanese Priest. villagers and requested us not to pro- ceed too fast as he was going out for MISS A. M. HENTY points out in some more. The village crier had been an interesting article in the sent out by that non-Christian head- Church Missionary meaner the spirit- man to call the people together to ual inadequacy of the combination of hear the gospel message. Shortly he Christian methods, such as those of returned with another group and we
1926J NEWS FHOM MANY LANDS
preached to a full house. After the The period between Christmas and meeting closed he sat for an hour or Easter has been settled on for the more and talked with US." campaign, which is to extend not only over the United States but in Canada Bibles in Pockets and Heads and in several European countries. Dr. Stelzle said of it: CHRISTIANITY is responsible for one change in Korean dress- This campaign will not be merely a "Gothe use of pockets, according to Mrs. to-Church" movement. Our primary object Roy K. Smith of Chairyung, Korea, is to show the country of what religion conwho says: "There were no pockets sists. The messages to be prepared by the in the old Korean coat, but the Chris- commission of 100 clel'gymen will contain tian needed a place for his Bible, for the fundamental teachings of Christianity 'coming to church without a Bible is not only with regard to personal religion practically unknown in Korea. Fol- but with reference to tbe attitude of the lowing American example he made a Church toward present-day problems. large pocket in his jacket, and later 'several on ,a sleeveless coat or vest for Forerunner of Student Movement his Bible and other prize treasures. But it is not enough to carry the Bible REV. George A_ Wilder, for many in one's hand or pocket. We have years a missionary of the Amerimany who carry great sections, even can Board in South Africa and a whole books', in their heads and can brother o,f Rev. Royal G. Wilder, Tecite without a mistake long pas- founder of the Review, writes that sages. One man walked a hundred the organization of the Student miles to recite the Sermon on the Volunteer Movement for Foreign Mount to his pastor. When he Missions at Mount Hermon in 1886 finished, he was told that was all very was preceded by a similar student well, but he must not be content with movement twelve years earlier. He having it in his head, he must have says: it in his heart and put it into -practice. His reply was: 'But that " In the year 1878, Dr. W. H. Saunders is the way I learned it. At first I and I were in Hartford Seminary. It was tried to memorize it, and it would not tben that we conceived of the idea of getting 'stick, so I tried this plan. I would into touch with others in different seminaries learn a verse, and then go out and who, like ourselves, had determined to be practice it on a heathen neighbor un- foreign missionaries. As a result, cortil it would stick.' " respondence was started and we learned, much to our joy, that students in Princeton NORTH AMERIOA were working alon'g' the same lines. In th3 year following, in June, 1879, there met in 'Plan for Advertising the Ohurch New York City a small company of students who hail pledged themselves to be foreign A CHURCH advertising campaign missionaries. This was the first gener~l gathering of student volunteers, – will be conducted by the International Advertising Association, The organized movement was founded as a formerly the Associated Advertising result of the Student Conference at Maunt Clubs of the World. A commission Hermon at the invitation of D. L. Moody 'of one hundred clergymen of various in 1886 a.nd John N. Forman (Princeton denominations will prepare the mes- Colle!!e. '84) and Robert P. Wilder (Prine,,- 'sages to be promoted. This announce- ton '86) were the first traveling secretaries. went was made by Rev. Charles 'Stelzle, D.D., President of the Church Ministry to New York Lepers Advertising department of the as- 'sociation. Dr. Stelzle is remembered R EV. ANNESLEY T. YOUNG, -as the founder both of Labor Sun- D.D., of the Episcopal City Mis- -day, nearly twenty years ago, and of sion in New York City, has interested -the Labor Temple in New York City. himself particularly in the lepers who are cared foi- by the Government on North Brother Island in the East River, opposite 140th st. The settle- ment is not permanent in the sense that the lepers are transferred as soon as possible to the government colonies
in the Gulf of Mexico. However, there Women's Christian Association, under is occasion for frequent ministrations whose auspices it has been carried on among them while they are in New for six summers was that college wom- York. The Government takes excel- en might share the experiences of lent care of these people, so that there women workers on whom they depend is not much that can be done for them for many necessities. "College wom- in a material sense; however, the en who have missed much of life's sympathy and fellowship of a repre- drudgery are eager to know in their sentative of Christ is of immense own bodies and minds what it means value. Chaplain Young has provided to be part of the present industrial a phonograph and records, a radio to system, " says the announcement.
bring in the outside world, magazines, "They will acquire concrete facts on but, especially, himself in the, mani- which to base their study of industrial festation of his concern and sym- problems. They will increase the pathy, to emphasize the spiritual side number of college people who know of life with its strength and hope. and can cooperate with industrial workers. " After working hours' the Women DiscDss Raee Question group met for informal discussions THE women members of the with labor leaders, social workers and Federal Council's Commission on employers. At all other times they the Church and Race Relations, in lived, ate and spent their leisure with cooperatiori with the Council of their fellow·workers at typical recrea- Women for Home Missions and the tion, as well as at the work bench.
National Board of the Y. W. C. A., Y. W. C. A. Membership Plan held an Interracial Conference of Church Women, September 23rd-24th I N THE news item in the June REat Eagles Mere, Pa. The objects of the VIEW on the annual Y. W. C. A. conference were: (1) To enlarge the Convention, it was stated that an scope of interracial thinking and to optional membership plan had been_ enlist the women of the churches adopted, "which permits others than more actively in improving relations members of Evangelical Christian between white and colored groups in churches to become full voting mem- America; (2) -To discuss methods of bers of the Association." The Bul- letin issued by the Federal Council of bet t e r interracial organization Churches gives the following explanathrough churches and their auxiliaries tion of this plan: so that women may more effectively act on local interracial conditions; Henceforth any city, town or rural As· (3) To exchange concrete experience sociation may choose either, to use the from groups ()of women that have al- present church membership basis which con· ready attempted to carry out inter- fines its voting and office-holding members racial programs; (4) To study the to those who are members of churches eligible to membership in the Federal past experience of organizations that Council of Churches, or the alternative per· have done such work, to learn both sonal basis which confines its voting and from successes and failures, how best o.ffice-holding members to those who have to proceed in the future. made a declaration of loyalty to the purpose of the Association, promising to endeavor to uphOld it in their Own lives and in their College Girls in Factories work in the Association. The" purpose" contains four statements embodying loyalty DURING the past summer twelve to Jesus Christ, growth in Christian character, leading young women into the college girls spent six weeks of Christian Church and becoming a social force their vacation in Chicago factories, for the extension of the Kingdom of God. having pledged themselves to live on Three fourths of the memhers of the boards, their wages. The purpose of the ex- of the officers and of voting delegates to conventions must be members of churches periment, as stated by the National eligible to membership in the Federal Student Council of the Young Council.
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
J apan.ese-American Citizens future of the mission work in Mexico.
ACCORDING to a writer in World More than half a century of faithful Call, "the Oriental problem in seed-sowing is behind us. We believe America" is a problem of the that in the next decade rapid prog- American-born. B!1ng citizens by ress will be made in the establishment right of birth they long to be treated of a self.supporting and self·governas such, yet they are not treated as ing Evangelical Church that under Americans. Their capacity for divine guidance will leaven the whole citizenship is illustrated by a pupil land. "-Christian Observer.
in the Sunday school of the Japanese Christian Church at Berkeley, Cali- Training Porto Rican P …..tor.
T fornia. The American Legion pro- HE fine spirit of cooperation which prevails among the missionmoted an essay contest with the American flag as the subject. This aries of the various denominations at thirteen-year-old girl, whose parents work in Porto Rico was referred to are Japanese, wrote the following es- in the June Review, and the union say which was adjudged one of the theological seminary was mentioned three best in California: as one of the striking. expressions of I pledge allegiance to you, flag of my that spirit. This institution is con- United States, in word and in deed. I be· trolled by a board of trustees, com- lieve you will help me to be a loyal citizen posed of one member appointed by both in peace' and in war. I believe that each of the seven cooperating deyou will lead the world, not only in strength nominations. The curriculum probut in righteousness; I believe that your vides for a three years' course for stars are the shining symbol of the eternal brotherhood of men in the world. "Old which a high school diploma and Glory," as I stand and salute your heroic about one half of a college course are eolors of Red, White, and Blue, I promise for the present required. Additional to follow y~ur ideals of "Liberty, .Justice, work and the full college course are and Peace, ' not only for America but for the world. required of candidates for the degree LATIN AMERICA of Bachelor of Theology. "The seminary," reports its president, Rev.
Reasons for Hope in Mexico James A. McAllister, "has given Porto REV. H. L. RO~S! Southern Rico a native ministry. A dozen Presbyterian mIssIOnary in years ago, as many as ten and twelve Mexico, gives the following reasons American missionaries were caring for his confidence in the future of for the Presbyterian churches. Now, Christ's klingdom in that country: all the thirty-three churches have "As we observe how nobly the Porto Rican pastors. Practically the national evangelistic workers are same is true of the other denominabracing themselves to meet the larger tions. Over a hundred men have redemands on them and their churches, ceived preparation and there are now as we become more confirmed in the about seventy-five ordained Porto conviction we have always had that Rican ministers in the seven denomithe Mexican Government is friendly nations and a considerable number toward the Protestant work, as we of preachers not yet ordained."
enjoy such cordial expressions of love and confidence on the part of our Negro Missionary in Pa.na.Dla I national fellow-workers and the mem- N THE fall of 1923, a young Pana- bers of the churches along with man Negro came to the Bible expressions of confidence and ap- House of the American Bible Society preciation by a large number of the at Cristobal, Canal Zone, with a little influential citizens of our town, and, notebook. It contained a translation above all, as we read the Great Com- of the Gospel of Matthew into the mission and tbe promise attached dialect of the Valiente Indians of thereto, we are confident as to the Panama which he wished the Bible
Society to publish. S"ecTrheti~sr"y writes ready, the rubber traders are seeking Rev. R R Gregory, of the their prey and the Indian is on the alert. In all the province of Velasco Caribbean Agency of the Society, there is a dread of the foreigner. No Indian whom we saw by the roadside "was the beginning of our acquaint- would await our approach-he im- mediately disappeared into the forest. ance with Mr. E. S. Alphonse, an un- Every house at which we called suspected us. The master of the house usu~lly gifted young man." He was invariably jumped for his rifle as we appeared and held it handy until he converted about ten years ago, and at once became especially interested in taking the Gospel to the Valiente Indians of Panama. Although some of the Indians had learned to speak Spanish, in order to reach the tribe had ascertained our business. In these as a whole Mr. Alphonse lived several two provinces of Chiquito and Velasco years among them to learn their ways. there must be at least fourteen to He not only learned to speak their fifteen thousand Indians without a language but also reduced it to writ- witness for Christ among them." ing for the first time.
EUROPE Witch Doctor's Testimony Mosques in Paris and London AN INDIAN, fifty-six years of age, MOSLEM propaganda in Europe appeat;ed before the Session of continues unabated. An Asthe church in San Felipe, Guatemala, sociated Press report described the to be admitted as a catechumen. The dedication in Paris on .July 15th of following report is given of a part the first mosque in France. Those of his examination: "I am a new who were present at the ceremony inman. I no longer have a thirst for cluded President Doumergue, Mulai drink. I feel a great shame when I Youssef, Sultan of Morocco; Lord think of deceiving my fellows with Crewe, the British ambassador; the witch doctor rites. Here is my Minister of War Guillaumat, Gen. bag of red beans. I want them to be Gouraud and many other well-known yours as a token of a sinner saved. persons. President Doumergue and Above all God has come into my life. the Sultan were escorted by a special native guard of honor. Thousands of I believe in Him. I want to serve and to honor Him. " " And do you Mohammedans from Tunis, Morocco promise with the help of God to ab- and Algeria crowded the streets leadstain from all these superstitious rites ing to the mosque. According to the in the future f" "Of course. When report, "the presence of the British you have come into the light, you ambassador was remarked as a tribute don't want to go back into the dark to its Moslem subjects by the British again, do you?" Government. "
Rubber Trade in Bolivia Students of Islam are familiar with the activities of the Moslem group at A TRIP into the interior of Bolivia W oking, London. It is now reported a few months ago is described by John M. Mackinnon in Inland South that a third mosque is soon to be America. He speaks of the deserted erected in Dulwich, another section of towns which lay in the track of the London. The Islamic World comold rubber trail from the pestilential ments: " Among' the spires and regions of Acre and the River Beni, crosses of its Christian churches may soon rise the crescent of Islam."
where the Indians had been seduced Progress in Belgian Mission and enslaved by the unscrupulous rubber traders during the days of the ENCOURAGING reports come from rubber boom. "To-day," he says, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph C. Norton, "rubber is booming again, and terror whose work in the Belgian Gospel Mis- sion has long been familiar to readers is broadcast in these regions. AI-
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
of the Review. One such has to do or lecturers may be appointed if with the opening of a new evangelistic necessary. By Spanish law the head hall in the town of Marche in Luxem- of the college must be a Spaniard. bourg, a section of the country for The lack of religious liberty in Spain which the members of the mission had was commented on in the June been praying especially. One of them Review. writes: "After God had given us an opening in Luxembourg, He gave us New Slavic Evangelica.ls a house, then a worker, then simultaneously raised up a friend in T HE revival movement in Ukrainia, America who had never before given which was referred to in the July in a large way to the work in Belgium, Review is reported to be gaining to pay the purchase price of the new strength. The Record of the United house in ~larche." Another develop- Free Church of Scotland announces ment is the use this past summer of that in Russia besides the Baptist two motor cars, which were given by Church and the German-speaking friends of the Mission as a result of Lutheran Church, a new body, called the great blessing attending the open- "The Evangelical Christians," is in ail' work of last year, in which the process of formation. Its numbers are cal' of the Open-Air Mission of put by some at four millions, but London was so employed. In this others already give them double that itinerating campaign of evangelism, figure. This great movement is said in addition to preaching in untouched to have been caused in large measure sections of the country, a wonderful by returned prisoners of war, who in opportunity is given to distribute the tens of thousands came under deep printed Word. religious influences in certain of the camps in Germany and Hungary. Protestant Union Work in Spa.in When they went home, they took with them a new religious faith, and are WHAT is described by those who now spreading the Gospel in almost took part in it as "a great step every corner of Russia. Among these forward in the evangelization of awakening Russian Evangelicals there Spain" is the decision to establish this is a great hunger for the Bible. October a union theological school. This decision was made in April by "A Robert College for Greece" the third annual conference of the International Committee for Spanish T HAT Bulgaria was to have an Evangelization. Nine countries were institution which could be so derepresented-England, Scotland, Ire- scribed, was announced in the May land, Holland, Sweden, Germany, Review. A news item in the New York America, France and Spain. The Times on August 30th stated that Anglican, Presbyterian, Congrega~ Professor Edward Capps of the Greek tionaI, Wesleyan, Lutheran, and Department at Princeton University, French Reformed Church had each at who was United States Minister to least one representative. Twenty-five Greece during the Wilson Adminispastors and lay workers attended. tration, is now at the request of a No such representative Protestant group of Athenians organizing a gathering had ever been seen in Spain board of trustees for a nonsectarian, befo·re. The vote for this training non-political American college to be college was unanimous. There are to established. in Greece, modeled after be four professors appointed by the Robert College in Constantinople, to churches or societies concerned-the be known as Athens College. A com- Irish Presbyterian, the German mittee of prominent Athenians is en- United Committee, the Spanish and deavoring to raise $500,000 for the the Portuguese Church Aid Society, college buildings. A tract of twentythe American Board. Other teachers three acres near Athens on the road to Kyfissia has been donated as the
site of the college, and $100,000 has ment there. Miss Helen A. Davis, been raised for the buildings. Pro- who headed the party but plans to fessor Capps has requested the follow- return in December, says: ing men to serve on the board of trustees: Elihu Root, Dwight S. Mor- It has been a number of years since the row, Henry S. Pritchett, John H. first request from the Philippines came to Finley, Stephen S. Duggan, Ery the National Board for help. For financial Kehaya and Charles P. Howland. reasons it has been impossible to go be· fore. A recent cable welcomes us and asks ISLANDS OF THE SEA how they may help in the interval before onr arrival. Under the leadersh:p of the Igorot Boys Ask for Schooling Committee a club for young women has been started in Manila and has been doing ef- T HE new principal of the school fective work. This small club will be the conducted by the Protestant nucleus of our future Y. W. C. A. Episcopal Church at Baguio, on the island of Luzon, in the Philippines, GENERAL writes: "That Igorots are keen for Christianity and education is evident International Missionary Councll every day, hut it was especially so during the week when crowds of chil- T HE Committee of the Interdren came to enroll for this school national Missionary Council held year. Many of the boys wore only its session for 1926 near Rattvik, g-strings, yet everyone came prepared Sweden. to pay his matriculation fee which amounts to six pesos for the highest The meeting, which lasted from grades. We accepted nearly a hun- July 17th to 25th, was the second dred children but had to turn away held by the Committee since the last about fifty more because we 'had no meeting of the Council, which was more room j it did not seem right to convened in Oxford, England, in have more tban three boys sleeping 1923. The last previous meeting of in one bed. But some of the children the Committee was at Atlantic City, who were told to go home refused to N. J., in 1925. This one was attended go. One big boy named Tomas sat on by practically all of the regular memmy office steps for two days, in order bers, as well as by the officers and a to say, on all possible occasions, 'I few consultative members, representwill go to this school, mum.' " ing Europe, the two Americas, Asia and Africa. Dr. John R. Mott, Chair- Y. W. C. A. for the Philippines man of the Council presided. The themes which, in the main, claimed T HE Filipino young woman, Miss the time and challenged the thinking Soledad Garduno, who was de- of this group were the following: Spiritual Vitality; Presentation of scribed in the April Review as "a Y. the Christian Message in Relation to Non-Christian Faiths j Enlisting the W. C. A. pioneer," has been studying New Generation; Enlisting the Inin the training school conducted by terest and Service of Laymen; Christhe National Board in New York tian Education j Christian Literature j City. She was to accompany in Sep- Devolution Problems of Indigenous tember the first American unit of Y. Churches; Racial Questions j Human W. C. A. workers to go to the Philip- Relations in Industry, and 'Forced pines. Upon the urgent invitation of Labor; Religious Education i and the a Provisional Committee of the Philip- Next Meeting of the Council. On this pines, of which both American and last point it was decided to hold the Filipino women are members, they meeting in the spring of 1928 in will develop the Association move- Jerusalem.
books mentioned in these columns will be forwarded by us on receipt of price.-
THE REVIEW.
BEST BOOKS FOR THE STUDY Missionary Education, London, pp. 2]6, 2/3. OF ISLAM For a most scholarly presentation By REV. EIW'{EST W·. RWGS, BOSTON of the subject, we turn to Associate Secretary of the American Board Aspects of Islam. D. B. Macdonald. Mac· millan Co., New York. $1.75. Every alert student of missions realizes that the ancient solidity of The throbbing heart of the Moslem Islam has been softened by strange world is forbidden to the non·Moslem new fires. Moslem governments and but Burton adventurously visited the peoples are in a plastic state. To holy cities and told the story in ascertain whence are these new fires and what the influences shaping the A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to plastic mass is not an easy task. As Al-Madinah and Meccah. R. F. Burton. a guide to one really interested, a G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. 1856. small list of books is recommended. We include a most excellent bio- We have not included books writ- graphical study of a noble Moslem ten as "exposing Islam," but sug- saint: gest such volumes as will provide a sufficiently broad basis for a fair A Moslem Seeker after God. S. M. Zwemer. study of Islam and the present Fleming H. Revell Co., New York. $2.25. Christian approach to the Moslem. Such a general study of Islam does Although this great religion and not, however, satisfy our interest. its influences cannot be gauged ac- The present is a time of such unusual curately by studying its sacred book significance that we name three volalone, yet a good translation of the umes dealing with the changes now Koran is certainly of first importance. going on in the Moslem world: The Koran. Tr. by J. M. Rodwell. Every· Modern Movements among Moslems. S. G. man edition. E. P. Dutton & Co., New Wilson. Fleming H. Reyell Co., New York. 80 cents. York.
Accompanying the Koran, there The Moslem World in Revolution. W. Wil· shoulo be a 2'lioslem's interpretation son Cash. Edinburgh House Press, Lon· of his religion. This will best be don. 2 shillings net. found in Young Islam on Trek. Basil Mathews. The Spirit of Islam. Amir Ali. 515 pages. Missionary Education Movement, New Christophers. London. York. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 60 cents.
A fair study of Islam by one whose Studies in each separate field of viewpoint is Christian is also essen- Islam might well supplement these tiaL Several excellent books are general volumes. Because Turkey available. The briefest is in some has been the active volcano in the ways the best: molten mass, we include the follow- ing: Outline of the Religion of Islam. H. U. Weitbreeht Stanton. Missionarv Equip· Modern Turkey. Eliot G. Mears. Macmil· ment and Literature Supply, Ltd., Church Jan Co., New York. $6.00. House, 'Westminster, Loudon. 1 shilling. Turkey. Arnold· Toynbee & Kenneth Kirk· wood. Ernest Benn, Ltd. London. 15 shillings.
Somewhat longer is "The Story of The contact of Christianity with Islam "-Lunt, United Council for Islam must first be viewed historically 829
and for this purpose, there is one Shepard of Aintab. Alice S. Riggs. Misbook of outstanding importance: . sionary E.ducation Movement, New York.
The Rebuke of Islam. W. H. T. Gairdner. Clotb, $1.00; paper, 75 cents. United Council for Missionary Education, London. 60 cents. My Life and Times. Cyrus Hamlin. Pil- grim Press, Boston. 1893. 50 cents. Another volume of special value is In closing, we refer to two recent Vital ]lorces of Christianity and Islam. report volumes of permanent signifi- Oxford University Press, New York. cance: $1.20. Conference of Christian Workers among When we come to consider the Mloslems. 1924. International :Missionnewer contacts of Christian missions ary Council, 347 Madison Ave., New with the changing conditions of the York. $1.50. Moslem world, three volumes of permanent value come to mind: Christian Literature in Moslem Lands. George H. Doran Co., New York. 1923_ A Christian Approach to '[slam. Jas. L. $2.50. Barton. Pilgrim Press, Boston. 50 cents. The Editor adds the following list The Moslem World of Today. John R. of books of special interest and value Mott and others. George H. Doran Co., on various phases of the subject. The New York. $2.50. 1926. mission study books on the subject have already been mentioned. The Moslem. :Facel! the :Future. T. R. P. Sailer. Missionary Education Movement, The Arab at Home. Paul W. Harrison. 8 New York. 254 pages. $1. (A study vo. $3.50. Thomas Y. Crowell. New book). York. 1924.
The dramatic possibilities of the Islam-A Challenge to Faith. Samuel M. present situation are presented in a Zwemer. 8 vo. Student Volunteer Moveplay: ment. New York. 1907.
Osman Pasha. Rapp. The Century Co., History of Protestant Missions in the Near New York. 145 pages. $1.25. East. Julius Richter. 8 vo. $2.50. Flem- ing H. Revell 00. 1910. Another play, easily staged by a church or Sunday school, has been A History of the Arabian Mission. A. Dewritten by Miss Wilcox: Witt Mason and F. J. Barny. 8 vo. $1.25. Reformed Church in America. New York. Kasim. Helen Wilcox. Missionary Educa· 1926. tion Movement, New York. 50 cents. An American Physician In Turkey. Clar- For a study of old conditions, ence D. Ussher. 8 va. Houghton, Miffiin which still prevail in most of the .CO. Boston. 1917. Moslem world, we mention Among the Wild Tribes of the Afghan Our Moslem Sisters. Annie Van Sommer Frontier. T. L. Pennell. 8 vo. Lippin- and S. M. Zwemer. Fleming H. Revell, cott. Philadelphia. 1909. New York. $1.25. A History of the Arabian Mission. Rev. The hope of progress is happily Alfred DeWitt Mason, D.D., and Rev. brought out in Frederick J. Barny. mus. 8 vo. 256 pp. $1.25. Board of Foreign Missions, Re- Memoirs of Halide Edib Hanum. Century formed Church in America. New York. Co., New York. 372 pages. $4. ]926.
A few missionary biographies will Arabia, the land of romance and of be found especially helpful in this legend, is also a land of reality. It is study: known as the birthplace of Moham- med and the Koran, the land of great Raymund Lull: First Missionary to the deserts, the home of wandering tribes, Moslems. S. M. Zwemer. Funk and Wagnalls Co., New York. 75 cents. Of camels and horses and dates; but Henry Martyn: Confessor of the Faith. few know Arabia as the scene of Constance Padwick. George H. Doran heroic missionary adventure for God Co., New York. $1.50. and humanity. This latter story is told here. After a preliminary de- scription of the land, the people, their history, civilization, education and re- ligion, the authors-one of whom is a missionary to Arabia-tells the inspir- and Mexico brought back effective ap- ing story of how the Arabian mission peals.
was founded in faith thirty-seven H is worth while now and then to years ago; how the stronghold .of read a book like this, which tells of Islam was entered; how the work has opportunities seized which are missed been extended and strengthened until by most of us, which tells of work now there are five stations, manned well done in the common world in by forty American missionaries, as- which most of us live, which tells of sisted by twenty-two native Christian faith staggered by sorrow, but helpers. It is a story of prejudice strengthened by friendship_ The overcome, women and children en- author well closes her book with the lightened and friends won to Christ. poem by Alfred Noyes, entitled: It is. an intimate record of faith, of THE GIFT THE DEAD DESIRE courage, of sacrifice, of achievementone that is worthy of a place in the There's but one gift that all our dead desire, annals of missions and that enlarges One gift that men can give, and that's a the list of the" Heroes of Faith." dream, Unless we, too, can burn with that same tire Of sacrifice: Die to the things that seem.
Morgenrote in Japan. Dr. Emil Schiller, Die to the little hatreds; die to greed; Superintendent in Kyoto. pp. 51. and Die to the old ignoble selves we knew; Map and Halftone Illustrations, pp. Die to the base contempt of sect and creed, VIII. Priee 6() Pfennigs. Allegemeine- And rise again like these, with souls as true. Evangelisch-Protestantischer Missions- verein. Berlin. 1926. W. J.H.
This attractive booklet tells of the The Task of the Christian Church. A World Survey. Foreword by Dr. Thomas work of the Allgemeine-Evangelisch- Cochrane. 8vo. 141 pp. World Domin- ion Press. London. 1926. Protestantischer lYIissionsverein which Using the World Missionary Atlas, has carried on mission work in Japan the Statesman's Year Book and the Mission Year Books as sources ior for the last 40 years. '1'he book gives statistics, the compilers of this re- ligious world survey have gathered a comprehensive view of the work 01 a valuable collection of facts about all the countries of the world. Each the society and its methods, in ten country is listed, with information about the area, population and chapters, of which the two most in- teresting discuss the question whether J·apan needs Christianity and whether the old religions can satisfy the mod- ern Japanese mind. T. B.
The Life Story of Alice Culler Cobb. Mary Protestant mjssions, and the task of Culler White. Illustrated. 240 pp. the Church in that country is briefly $1.50. New York. 1925. set forth. .Much of the information This charming life story lays no is not new and some countries are claim to greatness but is told pri- dealt with very meagerly, but as a marily for the sake of those who love handbook of world-wide missions it will be especially useful to those who or ought to love Wesleyan College, wish general iniormation. Georgia.
Mrs. Cobb was born in the Old American Relations with China. 8 va. South and her school days closed 225. $1.50. Johns Hopkins Press. Balshortly before the Civil War. For timore. 1926. more than forty years her life was knit with that of Wesleyan College The conference of Missionary and the care of a large household with Board representatives, Chinese and growing children, seemed not to rob diplomats held at Baltimore last her teaching of success. In the later September is already well known. years, she became a Secretary for This volume reports the addresses and discussions on treaties, extrater- Women's Work in the Foreign De- ratoriality, customs control, indus- partment of her Board of Missions trial conditions, missions, etc. There and from her travels in the Orient is also an excellent bibliography, Do You Know?
Who built the Ark? was the Drst Chri.tian martyr?
were the Samaritans?
Send fOT thu 5-minute (Now in its 12th edition) Bible Test FREE The Christ of· the Are you satisfied with your knowledge Indian Road of the Bible – the most interesting book in the world? See if you can answer the By questions in our free 5-minute Bible E. STANLEY JONES Test. The ten Moody Bible Institute Home Study Courses give you the Bibli- "N0 man since Thoburn has cal knowledge necessary for the most brou~t a message so fresh and striking." perfect daily religious lif€'_ They are non–secta.. rian and there is one suited to the needs from "One of the few little books of the beginner to the advanced Christian. The recent years that no minister wonderful experience ot 34,000 men and women should miss."
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11==:~:~:=:==:=~;~=~~J A Correction, ieal regions mentioned in the Old and New Testaments. REV. E. D. LUCAS, D.D. succeeded Dr. .T. C. R. Ewing as president of Forman DR. ADOLF KELLER, European Secretary of Christian College, Lahore, India, in 191!"l. the Federal Council of Churches, is to de- Jlev. H. D. Griswold, Ph.D., 'has not been liver a course of lectures this autumn at president of the College, as stated in the the University of Znrich on the problems of Personals in our Angust nnmber, but American Protestantism. has been president of the Board of Direc· tors, from which position he has recently RJOHARD C. MORSE, LL.D., former general resigned, his place being taken by Dr. H. secretary of the International Committee C. Velte. of the Y.M.C.A., and now eighty-five years of age, has attended every world's confer- *" ence bnt one since 1872, and was the oldest delegate at the recent Y.M.C.A. conference PERSONALS in Helsingfors, Finland.
MRS. LEWIS L. ANllWALT, of Allentown, *** Pa., has been elected President of the Woo man's Missionary Society of the Reformed BISHOP LOGAN H. RolYI'S, chajrman of the Church in the United States. Honse of Bishops of the Chinese Church, was appointed by its General Synod to * spend the summer Visiting the Chinese Christians in the Philippines, Singapore, MISS Luoy H. DAWSON has resigned as and Borneo, in response to a reqnest from Secretary for Promotion in the Board of the bishops of those territories. National Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. *** WIMJAM T. ELLIS, LL.D., has recently re- MR. AND MRS. .ToHN J. BREMAN are the tnrned from a ten months' tour of Bible first missionary candidates to be accepted lands, wherein he covered all the geograph.
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The Missionary Review of the World — August 1926
~orbon ((ollege Do You Know?
ONE Ole THE CHRISTIAN POWER HOUSES IN THE MOSLEM WORLD The composing room of the Nile Mission Press in Cairo-an auxiliary or the American Christian , Li terature SocIety for M08lems.
Help Reveal Christ to Moslems The Messa!le of Christ is interpreted to Moslems through Christian Literature published in Arabic, TurkIsh , Persian, Chinese and other languages spoken by Moslems. By your prayers and gifts you can help in this, far-reaching work and can supply the much needed Christian Literature for Moslems.
Egypt Syria Russia China Palestine Persia Morocco Java Algiers Turkey India Sumatra Tunis Arabia Malaysia South Africa These countries are furnished with Christ's Message through The American Christian Literature Society for Moslems cooperating with the Nile Mission Press and with Interdenominational Committees on the fields to give the Gospel Message through the printed page.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS William I. Chamberlain, Ph.D., President Dr. Robert E. Speer, Delavan L. Pierson, of New York, Vice Presidents Rev. S. M. Zwemer, D.D., Cairo, H onorary Field Secretary Rev. Ernest W. Riggs Dr. Frank Mason North Mrs. William Borden Mrs. William Bancroft Hill Dr. William B. Anderson Miss Anna A. Milligan Dr. John H. Raven Mr. Fennell P. Turner Mrs. D. L. Pierson Mrs. Finley]. Shepard Mrs. James M. Montgomery Dr. James Cantine Send your contributions to MRS. E. E. OLCOTT, Treasurer, 322 West 75th Street, New York · City.
Apply for information and literature to The Secretary, Rev. James Cantine, D.D., Room 1018, 156 Fifth Ave., New York.
Please mention THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD in writing to advertisers. THE MISSIONARY Review of the World DELAVAN L. PIERSON. EJltor CONTENTS FOR AUGUST, 1926 Page FRONTISPIECE ………………………………………………….•• ….. . MAP OF THE NEAR EAST SHOWING STATWNS OF THE NEAR EAST RELIEF EDITORIALS ………………………••……………………………• 581 AN AMAZING SoorAL MOVEMENT IN THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS AND SLAVERY IN BOLIVIA 1926 PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS IN SoUTH A 'l'EN MONTHS' REPORT ON IMMIGRANTS HINDUS AND MOSLEMS IN INDIA AFRrOA 'l'HE OUTLOOK IN PALESTINE DAMASCUS IN TIME OF WAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ELIAS NEWMAN 589 A vivid description of the destruction caused by the F'renC'h bombardment and general disturbances in Syrw.; and the opportunities of the Christian Missions.
A JAPANESE MISSIONARY TO THE FOR.MOSA HEAD lWNTERS ………. 592 JESUS IN THE GHETTO TODAy …………………. JOHN SrruART CONNING 593 A masterly presentation of the present·day attitude of Jews toward Jesus Christ; the causes and results of this change. .
NEAR EAST RELIEF AS A CHRI8TIAN MISSION ……… SUMNER R. VINTON 599 The reUgious and missionary influence exerted in the orphanages and relief work in Syria, 'Armenia and other stations, together with an estimate of the results of these influen(Jes on the future generations.
THIRTY YEARS' CHANGES IN WEST AFR.ICA ………….. MELVIN FRASER 605 A striking account of the great tran.'formation that has been wrought in West Centra! Africa illuring the period of service of one missionary.
THE MODERN MISSIONARy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ALEXANDER M. ALLAN 608 AN INDIAN MISSION IN ARIZONA …………………. HELElN O. BELKNAP 609 The remarkabLe story of what on.e man was able to accomplish in the building up of an American Inaw.n community, with. indian Christian leadership, suppLy· ing schools and churahes to the Pima Indians of the Southwest.
FIFTY YEARS IN THE ISLAND OF NEW BRJTAIN …….. WILLIAM H. Cox 617 One of the modern miracles of missions in a former savage islaM of the South Sea.s, shown in the work carried on by the Australian Methodists.
BEST METHODS • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . hUITED By MRs. E. C. CRoNK 625 WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLEWIN . . . . . . . . EDITED By AMY G. LEWIS 631 WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLETIN …… EmTED By FLORENCE E. QUINLAN 634 NEWS FROM MANY LANDS ……………………………………….. 637 THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY …………………………………… :… 653 TJ<:RMS: $2.50 a year. ($2.00 in clubs of five.) Foreign postage, 50 cents. Single copies, 25 cents. Published monthly. Copyrighted, 1926, by MISSIONARY REvrEW PUBLISHlNG CoMl'ANY, INC. AU rights reserved.
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PERSONALS Please send me, Free. your 5-Minute Bible Test. No obligation. REV. H. D. GruSWOLD, PH.D., has resigned from the presidency of Forman Christian DR. JOHN R. MOTT returned June 2d College, Lahore, India, in which he suc- from a six months' trip in the Pacific Basin. ceeded the lata Rev. J. C. R. Ewing, D.D., Early in July he sailed for Helsingfors, K,C.I.E. Dr. Griswold has been a member Finland, to preside over the World's Y. M. of the Punjab Mission of the American C. A. Conference and two other gatherings Presbyterian Church since 1890. The new in Sweden and Denmark. President of the College, which has been for some years a union institution, is the OBITUARY Rev. Canon Force·Jones. MR. CLEVELAND H. DODGE, who has been "* largely responsible for the success of the RIr. REV. LooAN H. RooTs, D.D., of Han- Near East Relief, and who has given gen· erously to the Y. M. C. A., the Near East kow, China, has been elected chairman of Colleges and other philanthropic work, died the House of Bishops of the Chinese Church in his home in R.iverdale, New York, on which combines the Anglican and the Prot· Thursday, June 24th, at the age of sixty· estant Episcopal forces in China. A ma- six. He was the son of the well·known jOl'ity of the bishops are Englishmen, a far,t William Earl Dodge of New York, and the which makes the tribute to Bishop Roots grandson of another Christian philanthrothe greater. pist of the same name. Mr. Dodge was for many years President of the National F. F. MONK, Principal of St. Stephen's Council of Y. M. C. A. His brother, Dr. D. College, Delhi, has resigned in order to Stuart Dodge, was the founder of the Syrian make way for the election of an Indian to Protestant Oullege, which has grown into the principalship. the American University of Beirut, of which Bayard Dodge, son of Cleveland Dodge, is "" now President.
REV. JAMES SIBItEE, D.D., who went to Madagascar sixty-three years ago under the London Missionary Society, celebrated his ninetieth birthday in April. He was the architect of a number of Christian churches in the island and in the ten years since his retirement, has made 800 missionary ad· dresses.
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Y U G o- "'-_
S LA V IA THE CASPIAN .rEA E Y ~() >; …. "" … 0 ….'"
THE MEDITER PE.~SI A L ~– B A.
STATIONS OF THE NEAR EAST RELIEF IN GREECE, TURKEY, ARMENIA, GEORGIA, AZERBAIJAN, SYRIA, PALESTI:-!E AND EGYPT (See page 599)
AUGUST, 1926
XLIX EIGHT AN AMAZING SOCIAL MOVEMENT IN BOLIVIA O NE of the backward republics of South America, where the Roman Oatholic Ohurch has been long in power, is Bolivia. Here all the weaknesses of the system and the consequent social evils are evident. Recently there seems to have come an awakening of the social conscience and church leaders and Protestant missionaries report what they call" an amazing social movement." A correspondent in La Paz writes: "About the middle of March a meeting of the clergy of the La Paz Diocese was held to consider the problem of education of the Indians of Bolivia who constitute about 75% of the population of the country. A letter from the Pope to the Bishops of Bolivia had recently made suggestions regarding the social activities of the Ohurch, especially in connection with the Indian Problem."
The meeting of the clergy was called by the Bishop of La Paz and the Papal Nuncio was the principal speaker. He said: "The Indian Problem is one of the most urgent that Bolivia has to consider. If it is not solved soon within the Ohurch, it will be solved outside the Ohurch, because of the constant and insidious labor of the enemy, which we all know about," (referring of course, to Protestant Missions).
It was suggested that a "Gran Oruzada Nac;ional Pro-Indio" be undertaken, with the support of the Ohurch, the Government, high society and the newspapers. Professional organizers were brought from foreign countries to push the drive according to "el sistema norte americana."
The adobe walls of the houses here are smooth finished, affording a good surface for pasting posters. Lithographed posters, a yard square, of a typical Indian helid were put up by hundreds throughout the city, along with an appeal for support of the drive.
Bolivia is anxious to raise its standard among neighboring countries. Thus an ingenious appeal was made to patriotism-the idea 081
of making the present inert mass of Indians into intelligent and useful citizens. The drive was evidently spending considerable money for posters, entire pages of newspapers, get-together dinners, etc.
About the first of April two events occurred that produced the first discordant note. It was announced that the office of the drive would be consecrated to the "Sacred Heart of Jesus"-a tendency to fanaticism. A similar attempt to consecrate the nation of Peru some three years ago caused strikes and riots in Callao and Lima. Then the adversaries of the Adventist work obtained a government order limiting their activities. This appeared to be a restriction of religious liberty.
The suspicions that were developing that the drive was neither patriotic nor altruistic but religious (fanatical) were confirmed by these two events. At first the newspapers were loth to publish criticisms of the drive, so that a series of posters and handbills appeared calling attention to the real nature of the" Cruzada." Funds were to b.e for advertising and to bring in priests expelled from Mexico. It was very interesting to go out on the streets every day and see the new posters pro and con.
The newspapers finally broke their silence and a surprising number of articles appeared telling about the good work being done hy the Protestant educational missionaries. One night at the conclusion of the band concert at the Plaza somebody shouted Abajo los frailes, abajo la cntzada. Soon a great crowd gathered forming an impromptu anti-clerical demonstration. The procession passed by the President's palace. He appeared on the balcony and assured them that as long as they committed no disorders, they had the right to express their opinions.
Thus a tremendous anti-campaign and anti-clerical movement began.
An important social function in favor of the drive that was to be held in the Municipal 'l'heatre, presided over by the Bishop and with the President of the Republic as principal speaker, had to be suspended.
A. few days later it was announced that the drive had been definitely abandoned and the same day the newspapers announced that the government had provided means for a great school for Indians near La Paz, thus eliminating the Church from the solution of the Indian problem.
Another big news item the same day was the passing of a law recognizing the right of the Protestant missionaries to preach and to teach among the Indians.
In the evening, a great celebration of the success of the antidrive movement was held. Five thousand men marched. Banners with letters two feet high bore the following inscriptions:
1926J EDITORIAL COMMENTS
"LET US EDUCATE THE INDIANS WITH THE SALARIES OF THE BISHOPS."
"WE ASK FOR THE SEPARATION OF THE CHURCH AND THE STATE."
"WE ASK FOR LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE." "WE ASK FOR A GOVERNMENT BUREAU OF INDIAN AF- FAIRS." "THE STATE SHOULD EDUCATE THE INDIAN." "WE DO NOT WANT FANATICISM."
Along the route of the parade the air reverberated with shouts in unison like college yells: "LET THE BISHOPS GET OUT." "DOWN WITH THE 'SOTANAS' " (figurative for priests). "LONG LIVE FREEDOM OF WORSHIP," etc.
At the Plaza several speakers addressed the gathering from the balcony of a fashionable club. The speaker, who was apparently the best known and most popular, was the President of the Federation of University Students. He reminded the people that the victory they were celebrating was due largely to the students and the labor organizations working together. He made a statement imported from Russia, that evoked much applause and that expressed the intellectual's estimation of the value of religion: "Religion,is an opiate for the people."
The next day the newspapers that at first supported the "crU'zada" commented on the large number of participants in the anti-clerical demonstration and the orderly way in which it was conducted.
PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS IN SOUTH AFRICA AT a recent conference of British missionary societies, held in 1"1Swanwick, June 16th to 19th, some interesting facts were brought out by Dr. C. T.Loram a member of the Native Affairs Commission in the Union of South Africa, and Rev. J. H. Oldham, who has recently returned from a tour of South and East Africa.
There is still a contest going on in South Africa in regard to the "color line." While the "Color Bar Bill" was passed, it was only by a small majority for white South Africa is not unanimous in the matter, and the native commissioners are strongly opposed to it. The Christian Church finds it difficult, if not impossible, to keep out of politics when moral issues are involved. The native questionthe race problem-is not a local matter, but a world problem.
The native Christian population is increasing, not only in numbers, but in percentage. These African Christians are becoming more elevated, refined and educated and cannot be treated as "heathen" and outcastes. Today, over one-third of the popUlation
is Christian as compared with one-fourth ten years ago. The native Christian population of South Africa is now about two million, having increased fifty-two per cent while the heathen population has in- creased only four per cent. Dr. Loran said: "The future evangelization of the natives will be mostly done through native agencies, and the white missionary must become more and more of a missionary superintendent. Much of the work of evangelization will be done by the separatist native churches of which there are already over a hundred ….. As the result of a recent inquiry, it has been stated that these churches are not seditious in their origin, but, nevertheless, those natives who have a feeling against the white man are inclined to join such communions."
It is interesting to note that in East Africa recently, the Governments seem to have realized the importance of native education. Now they are awakening in a remarkable way to their obligations, and money is not being given grudgingly. There is a danger that the Governments may develop an educational system without regard to the missionary enterprise. This is partly doe to the presence of a Moslem element in East Africa, for the British Government is always very sensitive when a Moslem population is concerned. On the other hand, some missions have not been willing to cooperate with the Government. In East Africa, as elsewhere, there is a lack of appreciation among many in the white community of the work of missions. The good will of the Government should be behind the missionary machine.
Fear for white civili'zation is the dominant note in South Africa today. This arises mainly from the figures and diagrams presented in the 1921 census which purported to prove that if the present rate of increase continues, in ten years there will be in South Africa 4,000,000 whites and 19,000,000 natives. This will explain some of the recent legislation.
"A tremendous revolution is going on in Africa today," Mr. Oldham said, "and a fundamental factor is the change in the attitude of governments toward the African problem, which in tropical Africa is entirely different from that in South Africa. The great human problem hitherto mainly left to the missions must be dealt with by the Government. While, in South Africa, native advance seems to be contrary to the well-being of the white man, this is not so in tropical Africa. Education of the native must be carried through for the benefit of the African. Missions must cooperate with governments in the scientific examination of the problems with which they are faced so that the materialist conception shall not become dominant."
Dr. Donald Fraser, now one of the Foreign Mission Secretaries of the United Free Church of Scotland and known throughout Africa for his long service at Loudon, Nyasaland, said truly: "The
Government may be the handmaid of the Kingdom of God, but it is dangerous if the Kingdom of God becomes the handmaid of govern- ments. " For missions to come under' government control would be a disastrous thing. In South Africa there is a hiatus between the life and service of the Christian Church and the life of the native. This gulf must be bridged by the welfare societies. :n. w. P.
THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS ON SLAVERY IN 1926 SLAVERY, slave-raids, slave markets, and slave trade still con- tinue in Abyssinia, the Hedjaz, Morocco, Tripoli, the Libyan Desert, Rio de Oro, Arabia, Egypt, the Sudan, Eritrea; French, British and Italian Somaliland; Tibet, Afghanistan, Li- beria, most independent Mohammedan states; and several other territories. This statement is based upon the report presented to the League of Nations in September, 1925, by its T'emporary Slavery Commission. This commission was composed of British, French, Belgian, Portuguese, and Dutch officials who had had much experience in colonial administration.
The more insidious forms of slavery and so-called adoption, debt-slavery, concubinage, and forced labor are prevalent in many parts of the world and to a very large extent. These evils are not limited to Africa. Forced labor, disguised under various forms of taxation or openly exacted by chiefs and local government officials, is inflicted upon the people in many parts of Africa. The League's Commission did not have time to examine the evidence that it re- ceived on this subject and its report does not specify where the evil exists. .
The Assembly of the League of Nations in September, 1925, after receiving the report of its T'emporary Slavery Commission, adopted a draft Convention, which it requested the Council to circulate to all the members of the League and to other Powers, including the United States. 'l'11ese governments were invited to comment on the Draft Convention, and, at its session on June 9, 1926, the Council, having received these comments, decided to place the Convention on the Agenda of the Assembly that is to meet next September. When the Draft Convention was presented to the last assembly, it was de- scribed as a "minimum standard" which all governments might be expected to adopt. An examination of its terms will show that its requirements are so easy as to lead one to fear that it will accomplish very little in abolishing" slavery in all its forms" as the signatories of the Treaty of St. Germain in Article 11 pledged themselves to endeavor to secure. So far as forced labor is concerned, it falls far below the standards set up in the Mandates of the League, in which the mandatory powers agreed to prohibit all forms of forced labor, except for essential public works and services, and then only in re- turn for adequate remuneration. The British Government have gone
still farther in restricting recourse to forced labor, for which authority must be obtained from the Secretary of State, which authority will be given only "when absolutely necessary for essential services, " and only" for specified work for a specified period," and such labor must, in all cases, be fully paid. "Under no circumstances could the British Administration tolerate, in any form, the principle of compulsory native labor for private profit, be the employer native or non-native" is a statement in the report of the East African Commission. As compared with these statements and the terms of the Mandates, the Draft Convention says nothing about compensation, and it may be fairly interpreted as legalizing forced labor for private profit. The earnest hope must be expressed that the Draft Convention will be amended very much before it is concluded and opened for signature.
A TEN MONTHS' REPORT ON IMMIGRANTS STATISTICS furnished by the Department of Labor, covering immigration during a period of ten months enaing April 30, 1926, reveal the following interesting facts: Of those attempting to enter the United States 17,040 were debarred and 7,917 were deported after landing, making a total of 24,957-about ten per cent of the whole. Among those debarred 14,656 were without proper visas; 3,700 were considered likely to become public charges; 1,377 were mentally or physically defective; and 1,214 were of criminal or immoral classes.
The total number admitted during the ten months was 246,165 but since there were 63,556 immigrants who left America during the same period there was a net increase of only 182,609. The majority of immigrants (122,435) were admitted at New York, but 76,148 entered by land from Canada and 30,735 from Mexico. It is noteworthy that on the Pacific Coast the number of emigrants exceeded the number of immigrants by about 1000. The majority of those entering were between the ages of 16 and 44 (184,088). The total number of males was 135,833 and of females 110,332. The majority of those who left America were also between the ages of 16 and 44 (48,013).
The largest number of immigrants from any European country came from Germany which sent 40,927. Next to this was the Irish Free State which sent 18,814. It is significant that we received only 6,632 from Italy whereas 17,812 returned to that land. Scotland sent us 11,139; England 8,878 and Sweden 7,398. "The Yellow Peril" seems to be a misnomer since China and Japan together sent only 2,027 while 3,601 went back to Asia.
Skilled workers 45,783 constitute the largest class of immigrants admitted. Next come laborers 32,048 and servants 25,083; followed
EDITORIAL COMMEN'IS
by farmers and farm laborers 22,632, and) the professional classes numbering 9,061.
The intention of these immigrants was to distribute themselves as permanent residents (one year or more) throughout the United States as follows: New York '60,046; Michigan 28,2.05; Massachusetts 21,795; Texas 20,045; Illinois 16,512; California 15,992; and Pennsylvania 14,583.
Only the larger groups are separately mentioned in this brief summary. The smaller groups and those unclassified may be found in each instance by subtracting the group figures here given fr{)m the totals.
On the whole the showing is encouraging. An important problem with the immigrant as with the native is to discover some means by which he can be induced to devote himself to agricultural pursuits in the country rather than eke out a precarious and less useful existence among the submerged masses of our great cities,-notably New York.-c. L. w.
HINDUS AND MOSLEMS IN INDIA RIOTS between Hindus and Moslems in India nearly always begin in one of two ways: the killing of cows by Moslems infuriates Hindus, who retaliate with violence, or the playing of music in idolatrous processions by Hindus before Mohammedan mosques provokes Mohammedan violence. Th~ aggressors in Cal- cutta were the Arya Samaj, a reform Hindu sect who claim to stand for a purified Hinduism. Missionaries in North India know very well the violent hostility of the Arya Samaj to Christian Missions. The Samaj is perhaps even more hostile to the spread of Islam, and is untiring in its efforts to reconvert Mohammedanised Hindus back again to Hinduism.
This Hindu-Moslem antagonism is one of the most burning questions in India. Unfortunately the Mohammedans are becoming more, rather than less communal in their outlook. The whole political future of India depends upon the degree to which the com- munities, especially the minority communities can so far trust the majority of the nation as a whole as to throwaway the artificial props of communal protection such as special electorates, etc. In this respect Christians have shown a good example, inasmuch as the All-India Christian Conference has for several years pronounced against special communal privileges for Christians. Mohammedans, however, appear to be growing in their belief in the necessity for commmunal aggrandisement, and in several provinces their claims are becoming the dominating fact in politics.
One reason for this increased communalism of the Mohammedans may be disillusionment in the agitation over the Caliphate. No more .complete political overturning has been seen in our time than that
suffered by the Central Caliphate Committee. A campaign of violent antagonism to the British Government was started for its alleged designs on the powers exercised by the leader of the Angora Turks, Mustafa Kemal Pasha. The interest of Indian Moslems in the world of Islam has not decreased, and the smallest Mohammedan newspaper is interested deeply in what is happening to Moslems all over the world. Any definite scheme however for a pan-Islamic movement has completely vanished, and leaders of the community have turned their energies into the aggrandisement of the 'community as against the Hindns.
It is to such a community, and in such a mood, that the Christian Gospel must be preached. It is needless to say that such people, al- ready resentful and suspicious and class-conscious, will resent more than ever any suspicion of Christian overlord-ship, or any language which suggests a religious war by the Christian on the Moslem. The situation in India is the clearest possible challenge to us to represent the Christian claim with all the winsomeness and humility and reliance on truth and the things of the Spirit which are native to the mind of Christ.-w. p. .
THE OUTLOOK IN PALESTINE T AS'r YEAR between two and three thousand Halutzim, as the L pioneers of the Zionist movement are called, passed through Haifa. They are establishing settlements, not in the Jerusalem district, but on the plains, and many of the worst places are being transformed into a veritable Garden of Eden. There are about one hundred and ten colonies altogether under the Zionist movement.
When the great Jewish University was opened, Rev. S. B. Rohold, of the Carmel Bible School, and his wife were given front seats, despite the fact of their being Christians. 'l'his shows the extraordinary change which has taken place in the Jewish attitude towards Christianity in the past few years. Dr. Klausner, of the Jewish University has written an epoch-making "Life of Christ," and four thousand copies of the first edition in Hebrew, printed in Jerusalem, sold immediately. It was reprinted in Poland, and translations in England and America have recently appeared. Dr. Klausner's book has also opened a new era for selling the New Testament in Palestine, and thousands are now reading it. One leading Jew, who has not actually become a Christian, has been instrumental in putting a eopy of the New Testament in every room at the Jewish hotels. When Canon Dauby, a great scholar who translated Klausner's book into English, lectured in St. George's Cathedral, Jerusalem, two thirds of the audience were intellectual Jews.
The suspicion on the part of the Arabs towards the Jews is apparently breaking down, and the former are now even uniting in schools. Among them too is a growth of demand for the Scriptures.
RE~'UGEES FROM HAURAN IN DAMASCUS NEAR THE
CHURCH Damascus in Time of War BY REV. ELIAIS NEWMAN Missionary of the Irish Presbyterian Mission, Damascus, Syria F OR over a year now things in the city have been in a very un- settled state and for ten months, ever since the Druse outbreak, the political situation has been very precarious. On more than one occasion the Druses were almost within reach of the city. The real crisis began with the ruthless bombardment of the city by the French on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 18, 1925. Without the least warning we were bombarded for 48 hours and one-thirtieth part of the city was d,estroyed, thousands being killed and buried in the falling debris and other thousands made homeless.
This was only the beginning of the present miserable state of things; for since October hundreds of villages outside Damascus and all over Syria have been bombarded, many of them being completely wiped out.
Damascus is practically besieged. The French have put barbed wire entanglements all around the city; military posts have been established at the main entrances and at other strategic points and no one is allowed to venture out of doors after hours. Rebel bands are all around the city and they are in possession of the "Ojhuta" (the fertile garden district that surrounds the city) and hardly a day passes without a battle. During the night we are kept awake by the roar of the heavy guns bombarding some village or by the sound of the rifles and machine guns firing in some section of the city, or in the gardens beyond.
589
Rebels have been captured and shot but some of them have been hung in the El Merdje Square and have been left hanging for hours for public display.
Very often the rebels have retaliated by hanging some innocent man, some Armenian or Circassian. Very often rebels enter the city and carry off some wealthy citizen for ransom. 'rhe Jewish quarter, near "The street called Straight," has been entered several' times and Jews robbed of money and valuables.
Most of the men engaged by the French in the fighting in and around the gardens are Circas- sians and not a few are Armeni- ans-mere mercenaries who evi- dently could find little employ- ment elsewhere. The city is filled with refu- gees, Moslem and Christian alike, who are eking out a miserable existence. Beggars abound every- where, men, women and children. But in spite of the prevailing misery and utter wretchedness the Protestant missionaries have a marvelous opportunity for service in this unhappy city.
REV. ELIAS NEWMAN ON THE RUINS OF The Victoria Hospital of the A STORE ON THE "STREET CALLED Edinburgh Medical Mission is STRAIGHT." DAMASCUS ministering daily to the sick and sorrowful. Though it is situated in Photo by United Pres..
a dangerous corner of the city, the workers persist in preaching Christ by word and deed in spite of the bullets that fly over their heads and sometimes pass through the buildings.
The B.ritish Syrian Mission is also carrying on its educational work among the young and there is abundant opportunity to witness among the many Moslem refugee women who attend the classes.
The Danish Mission at present is without a missionary, the Rev. Alfred Nelson being home on furlough, but their reading room for Moslems is kept open by a faithful young native Protestant.
The Irish Presbyterian Mission, which is concentrating its ef- forts among the Jews, is experiencing much encouragement. We conduct two schools in the Jewish quarter, one for girls and the other for boys with 400 young Jews and J ewesses on the roll. Bible women visit the homes and are experiencing much sympathetic re- sponse as they try to make known the story Gf redeeming Love.
The reading room near "The street called Straight" is filled
DA.MAS0US IN TIME OF WAR
daily to its utmost capacity and the English night school has forty young eager Jews as its students. There is also a school for Christian boys and a Protestant Church in which Armenian, Arabic and English services are conducted.
Surrounded by anguish, misery and wretchedness as we are, we are not a bit discouraged but are hopeful that our task is not in vain in the Lord. Protestantism has a great fu- ture in Syria and the Evangelical missionary is not hampered by the accumulated suspicions that rest on those of the different Roman Catholic orders working in the land. Every Christian missionary in Damascus needs the prayers and sympathy of the people in the homelands. Please pray for us 1 "AN AMBASSADOR OF GOOD WILL" TO THE NEAR EAST I T WAS stated in a "personal" item in the July REVIEW that Dr. W. W. Peet, who spent forty years in Constantinople as a representative of the American Board but rho is described by the Living Church as "a distinguish- IRISH PRESBYTERIAN LADY MISSION- ed Methodist minister," had been S~~m!lK 1liT~'l~R~~gt1 SiiJr'2l dJ o~~.s appointed by the Federal Council 18. 1925 of Churches to visit the churches of the Near East, with the above title~ Further details of the plan are given in a statement issued by the Federal Council. The sending of an "ambassador to the East- ern Churches" is being carried out by the Committee on Eastern Churches of the Federal Council, of which Bishop Charles H. Brent of the Episcopal Ohurch is chairman. Cooperating are great reli- gious organizations, including the American Bible Society, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, ·the Young Men's Christian A.ssociation and the Near East Relief. "Dr. Peet goes without any fixed program of action," says the statement. "He is to be an 'ambassador of good will' to the Eastern churches from the churches of America and he is to manifest that good will in any way that seems most effective to him."
.- A JAPANESE MISSIONARY TO FORMOSA HEAD HUNTERS The head-hunting savages of Formosa had been very free from epidemic diseases until the Spanish Influenza struck them, as it did all other peoples twenty years ago. This great curse had come upon them, they argued, because OE the Japanese occupation. They therefore swore vengeance and one day the Japanese community at Karenko was suddenly surprised by a savage attack from the head-hunters and revenge was secured when the savages carried away the heads of 26 Japanese.
Among these men that lost their lives in this savage attack was the father of Inosuke Ino-ue, then a student at the Seisho Gakuin (Bible School) in Kashiwagi Yodobashi, conducted by the Oriental Mission.
The Samurai way would have been to have sworn vengeance; to have gone among the head-hunters as a soldier or policeman and to have killed a number of them. Young Inoue however, was trying to follow Jesus Christ and he remembered how when Jesus was nailed to the cross He prayed for His enemies. Therefore Inosuke Inoue resolved to go to the head-hunters and teach them the Christian way of life.
In preparation for the work he studied medicine one year and learned .many practical remedies and how to hel.l1 in emergencies. With this preparation he went to the natives in the mountains of Formosa with a message of peace and good-will and a desire to help.
He found them very suspicious at first but gradually he won their confidence and found that they had many admirable qualities. Their idea of the Supreme Being is that of an ".All-seeing-eye" to see all the deeds of men. He sees such bad deeds as stealing, therefore there is no stealing among the members of the tribe.
The life was most simple and the hardships not a few so that his health broke down and he returned to Kyushu and spent three years in evangelistic work there.
When he had learned the language of one of the tribes called the "Taiyaru," he returned to the head-hunters, consisting of about 35,000 souls. There are still about 135,000 savages in the seven tribes.
Mr. Inoue spent seven years at a settlement in the mountains called "Karapai" and gave himself unstintedly to the people to help them in any practical way that he could and to teach them to know Christ and His Gospel. During all this time his work was carried on as a personal enterprise. While his work was a labor of love he did receive some gifts from the savages in return for his medical aid. With this and native fruits and occasional help from friends in Japan he managed to carry on in a life almost as simple as that of the natives.
Mr. Inoue has just published a study of the head-hunters of Formosa, and has just succeeded in getting a supporting committee organized through the cooperation of the Tokyo KyoKwa Doshi Kai. Among those who have thus taken the responsibility of securing financial support for Mr. Inoue's work are Mr. Hampei Nagao, Judge Watanabe, Dr. Takada, head of the Nanko Hospital, Mr. M. Tsuge, of the Japan Oil Co., Mr. B. Tada of the Taiwan Sugar Co., Mr. B. Fukunaga of the Keisei Sha Publishing Company. This committee have undertaken to raise Yen 2,500.00 per year to support Mr. Inoue's self-sacrificing work.
Mr. Inoue told his story recently before 500 pupils of a public school of Tokyo at the invitation of the principal who introduced him as the Livingstone of Japan.
(From the World'. Sunday School Association)
in the Ghetto To-day
BY REV. JOHN STUART CONNING, D.D., NEW YORlK Superintendent of Jewish Evangelism, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
F OR eighteen centuries Jews have ignored the Greatest Jew of history. He has been given no place in their life or literature. They have tried hard to forget Him and live as though He had never lived and taught and suffered in the ancient homeland of their people. It has been nothing to them that He belonged to their race, and that the influence of His teaching and personality has changed the face of the world. The very use of His name was banned. U Jews had occasion to mention Him He was referred to anonymously as "That Man," or "The Orucified One," or "The Nazarene. "
This silence concerning Jesus during the first Ohristian centuries is' accounted for by Jews on the ground that He was a wholly negligible factor in world affairs.. They call attention to the almost entire absence of any reference to Him in contemporary Jiterature and insist that equally among Jews He had made no appreciable impression. The records of the Acts of the Apostles, however, tell a very different story. If Ohristianity at first attracted little attention in the great Roman world, it was certainly very different in the little world of Palestine. Before the fall of Jerusalem in A. D. 70, the new faith had not only stirred Palestinian Jewry to its circumference, it had siInilarly agitated many of the scattered Jewries of the Diaspora. Even the Talmud bears testimony to the widespread influence of the Nazarene. For while Jesus is noticeably overlooked in that great repository of Jewish tradition, there is plenty of polemic against Ohristianity. Ruppin, with a truer appreciation of the achievements of the first followers of Jesus, explains the failure of Judaism as a missionary religion after the close or the first century by saying: "Ohristianity took the wind out of its sails."
The real secret of the reticence of Jews concerning Jesus in the early centuries was the amazing progress of Ohristianity. They showed their resentment by ignoring the Founder while fighting His faith. The use of the name of Ohrist by the primitive Ohristians was also a factor. They attached to it an incomparable reverence and authority. His was "the Name above every Name." It was "for the sake of the Name" they went forth upon His service. It was through the Use of "the Name" that mighty deeds were done. This was sufficient ground for Jews to ignore it. If there was any other reason it might well have been that Jews had no cause to be proud of the bitter and relentless hostility and persecution meted out to Ohristians during this period. Judaism never ceased its intrigues 593 2
'i'BE :M1SStONARY REVIEw 0]' 1'H:E) WORLtl
and assaults upon the followers of Christ until Christianity at length climbed to the throne of the Cresars.
Then Jews had a very different reason for their silence. Possessed of civil power, Christians did not forget their former persecutors. To them Jews were the enemies of Christ and His cause. Theological controversy focused attention upon them as the reprobate agents in the drama of salvation. They were the "Christ Killers." Ignorance and superstition, unrestrained by the spirit of Christ, and enraged by the Jews' persistent rejection of Jesus, let loose upon the children. of Abraham floods of hatred and persecution. There are no darker pages in European history than those which record the shameful wrongs and atrocities perpetrated against Jews by nations nominally Christian. Confinement in ghettos, ignominious garments, exclusion from remunerative occupations, ostracism, prison, exile, fagot and sword were the recurring instruments of ecclesiastical tyranny.
Is it any wonder that Luther, who was by no means an unqualined friend of the Jews, in referring to their treatment by the Roman Church, .declared: "If I were a Jew with such poltroons teaching Christianity, I had sooner become a hog than a Christian."
And lest we should regard these manifestations of antagonism as exceptional, the discredited characteristics of a dark and cruel age when many others beside Jews suffered for their faith, we must remember that in their case legal discrimination and persecution have lasted until our own times. On the statute books of the old Czarist Russia, over one thousand enactments were recorded, specially directed against the Jews. Neither have we forgotten Kishineff, nor the pogroms which followed the war. Even in this year of grace there are few lands, nominally Christian, in whicn antisemitism does not have a place. America itself is not free from the virus.
So it has come about that the name of the meek and lowly Jesus has been regarded by Jews generally as a symbol of ill usage and ill will. They justify their rejection of Him on the ground' of the conduct of His followers. As a mark of their hostility to Him and to His cause, they have outlawed His very name. For nfteen centuries no representative Jew has had a word to say about the Founder of Christianity.
Yet Jesus, in spite of Jewish determination to have nothing to do with Him, was never completely excluded from the ghetto. In times of deepest hostility there were always individual Christians, like Bernard of Clairvaux, who revealed to Jews the spirit of the Master. Through such lives Jesus passed within the most carefully guarded gates. No enforced silence could wholly prevent the use of His name. Not even Christendom could quite conceal Him. There were in every generation Hebrew Christians; some of them attaining to positions of conspicuous leadership in the Christian Church.
JESUS IN THE GHETTO TODAY
In the Middle Ages London and Oxford had a Domws Conversorum for the care of Christian Jews. Indeed, so potent at times was the influence of Jesus in the Ghetto that the most resolute measures had to be adopted to prevent large defections from the synagogue. Con- verts were excommunicated. The burial service was read in their homes, and the offenders were counted as dead by the members of their family. The boycott was effectively used to prevent their se- curing employment or relief. Jewish leaders stopped at nothing that would make bitter and wretched the lot of those who were led to make confession of their faith in Jesus as Israel's Messiah. Yet, in spite of everything, there were always some who were willing to endure shame and ignominy, loss of home and an assured livelihood, for the sake of Him in whom they had come to believe. A consider- able list of notable converts has been compiled from among the J ewish followers of Christ before the dawn of modern missions. Such names as Ariston of Pella, Nicholas of Paris, Paul of Burgos, and Edzar of Hamburg remind us "that Jesus, though despised and rejected, still found His way into the ghettos of Europe and won to Himself a people for His name.
With the opening of the nineteenth century the rising tide of missionary interest began to express itself in concern for the Jews. Societies were formed in Britain and on the Continent for their evangelization. Missionaries found their way into various lands, and many striking conversions were recorded. In 1806 David Mendel avowed his faith in Christ and, changing his name to Neander, "the New Man," he became the great Christian historian whose "Life of Christ" blazed the trail for all the later studies of "the greatest life that has been manifested upon earth." Dr. Joseph Wolff, with a devotion truly apostolic, carried the Gospel into the ghettos of Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Persia, Mesopotamia, Arabia and India. He was followed by a conspicuous succession of scholarly missionaries. The total of Jewish baptisms during the nineteenth century has been estimated at 224,000. No missionary effort in behalf of any other non-Christian people can in comparison show such results. Jews are prone to minimize the value of missionary activity among their people by asserting that 'converts to Christianity have been either ignorant or actuated by motives of self-interest. Such names, however, as Sir Julius Benedict, Professor Benfey, Dr. Paulus Cassell, Lord Beaconsfield, the Herschels, the Mendelssohns, the Margoliouths, Edersheim, Saphir, Rabbinowitz, Schereschewsky, and many more, indicate that the appeal of Jesus, now as in the days of His flesh, wins a response not only from the common people but also from the noblest and most cultured of the Hebrew race.
At the present time there are many evidences of a change of attitude toward Jesus on the part of the Jewish people. The passing of the Russian Pale and the lowering of the ghetto walls have
broughtJews iu large numbers into contact with Western thought and life. It has been impossible to mingle in world currents so largely influenced by the personality and teaching of J esns, without being forced to consider Him and arrive at some conclusion as to His claims. Reform Judaism, which was born of an effort to adapt the ancient faith to the conditions of modern life, early sought to place its own interpretation on the life and character of Jesus. He is regarded by representatives of this school as one of the great men of the Jewish race, an exalted moral teacher whom Jews generally should accept and follow. This is the attitude of such authors as H. G. Enelow in his" A Jewish View of Jesus," and Joseph Jacob in his "Jesus as Others Saw Him."
The Reform Movement, however, represents but a small section of Judaism. Having discarded most of the Jewish religious traditions, orthodox leaders look upon these adherents of Reform teaching as already occupying a halfway house to Christianity. For them to speak of Jesus is only one more evidence of their departure from the established traditions of their people. But of late there have been signs that even among the orthodox the old Jewish tradition of silence concerning Jesus is coming to an end. A treatise in Yiddish on Jesus by Dr. Chaim Zhitlowsky has recently been published. Its appearance has mightily stirred the New York Ghetto. Dr. Zhitlowsky maintains the historicity of Jesus and demands that Jews revise their attitude toward Him by accepting Him as one of their prophets.
Of far greater significance, is Dr. Joseph Klausner's "Jesus of Nazareth." Dr. Klausner is one of the greatest living Hebraists and historians. He is a Zionist. He i.s a professor in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He wrote in Hebrew for Jewish readers. He emphasizes the historical reality of Jesus and regards Him as one whom Jews can no longer ignore. Their acceptance of Him as a teacher he considers would add much to the prestige of the Jewish race. Needless to say this Hebrew scholar is leagues and leagues away from the Christian position. He will have nothing to do with Jesus either as Messiah, Saviour, or Prophet. He says: "To the Jewish nation He can be neither Goc;l nor the Son of God, in the sense conveyed by belief in the Trinity. Either conception is to the Jew not only impious and blasphemous, but incomprehensible. Neither can He, to the Jewish nation, be the Messiah; the Kingdom of Heaven-the Day of the Messiah-is not yet come. Neither can He be regarded as a Prophet; he lacks a Prophet's political perception and the Prophet's spirit of national consolation in the political national sense." In other words, Dr. Klausner as a Zionist rejects Jesus for the selfsame reason that actuated the leaders of his people nineteen centuries ago-Jesus did not give political supremacy to Israel. He does, however, extol Jesus as a teacher and looks forward
1926J JESUS IN THE GHETTO TODAY
to the time when properly edited, "the Ethics of Jesus will be one of the choicest treasures in the literature of Israel for all time."
The real significance of this book is not what Dr. Klausner has to say about Jesus, but that a distinguished Jewish scholar should write about Jesus at all. Nearly three score Jewish generations ha,:,e come and gone without pronouncing His name. Now that name is being carried by this book into every Ghetto of the world. This is nothing short of a revolution.
But, as might have been expected, such departures from age-long Jewish tradition were bound to encounter the determined opposition of official Judaism. Their attitude has not changed. Their antagonism to Jesus and His claims is as determined as ever.
In the autumn of 1922, Rabbi A. A. Green, of the Hampstead synagogue, London, in order to fortify his young people against the Christian influences to which they were subjected planned to hold a class for the study of the New Testament, choosing first for exposition the Gospel of Mark. Though his purpose was wholly defensive, the angry tumult raised by the Jewish press and community was so great that the effort had to be abandoned.
It will also be recalled that last December when Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, of New York, took advantage of the appearance of Dr. Klausner's book in its English translation to speak of Jesus, his utterances stirred up the wrath of his orthodox brethren. Though he followed Klausner in saying that Jesus must be accepted as a historical character, that He was a Jew, that He could not be acrepted as divine, and that He never intended to found another religion; he went on to declare that "the Jews must accept Jesus as a Jewish teacher and accept His ethical code." The furore created in orthodox Jewish circles by these utterances was so great that with shouts of indignation the resignation of Rabbi Wise as Chairman of the Palestinian Fund for the rehabilitation of the Jewish homeland was sternly demanded. And though his resignation was not accepted the extreme orthodox section established their own Fund.
These things show that beneath a veneer of tolerance there is still a deep-seated antagonism to Jesus. As a writer in the Jewish Chronicle, of London,. commenting on Rabbi Wise's utterances, expressed it: "For a Jew to preach-in any form-to Jews on 'Jesus' is an abomination, is 'death,' or betrayal of the soul." But the root of the antagonism is not wholly a misunderstanding of the person and character of Jesus. It is perhaps more a fear for the future of Judaism and of the synagogue. As another critic of Rabbi Wise put it: "For Jews to study and discuss the life of Jesus is simply to clear a path from the synagogue to the church."
But such attitudes and utterances only reveal the desperate condition of Judaism. Jesus is surely and unquestionably winning His way into the ghettos of the world. Nothing but unchristian conduct
and failure to proclaim His Gospel can hold Him back. Wherever His spirit is manifested in sympathy and kindness and His truth intelligently and earnestly unfolded He wins an undivided response from Jewish hearts. rrhough efforts to interpret Christ to the Jews by the Christian Church have been incredibly meager and fitful, yet the present-day influence of Jesus upon Jewish life far exceeds that of any previous period.
Since the war, in Eastern Europe there has been something approaching a mass movement of Jews toward Christianity. From a report presented to the General Assembly of the United Free Church of Scotland last May we learn that in the city of Vienna since 1918 many thousands of Jews have entered the Christian Church, among them Hans Herzl, son of the founder of the modern Zionist Movement. Within the confines of the old undivided Hungary, during the same period, no fewer than 40,000 Jews have been admitted to the Christian churches of that land. In Budapest alone over 2,500 .rewish converts have'been added to the membership of the Presbyterian Church, and half as many more to other Protestant communions. In Ukrainia whole congregations of Hebrew Christians have been formed.
Here in America the influence of Christianity upon the Jewish people is difficult to estimate. Christian efforts to break down prejudice and win Jews to an adequate knowledge of Jesus have been feeble and intermittent. It is only within very recent years that any Protestant denomination has attempted to make work for the Jews an integral part of its missionary program. Notwithstanding, the impact of evangelical Christianity upon Judaism has not been without definite results. It is estimated that 20,000 Jews have entered into the fellowship of the evangelical churches of America in this generation. Hundreds of churches in all parts of the country have Jews in their membership. The number might be incalculably increased if every church having Jews in its communIty-and there are many thousands of such churches-sought with sympathy and under, standing to interpret Christianity to their Jewish neighbors.
What then will be the future of Jesus in relation to the Jews? For those who nourish their faith on the Christian Scriptures the answer is clear. We catch the vision of a day'when "All Israel will be saved." That day, as envisaged by the great Apostle is to be a veritable springtime of blessing to the whole world. Jesus is to see at length the travail of His soul and be satisfied. He is to be crowned as Lord in every Ghetto of the world. To this end the purpose of God is silently, surely moving. Over every effort in behalf of this ancient people His promises are brooding. We may well cherish the hope that here in America the Christian churches of the land may have a large share in hastening the promised day of Israel's redemption when with measureless devotion and exultation Christ will be acknowledged by "His own."
THAN ONE HALF OF THE AUDTENCE AT THE REGULAR ORPHANAGE
SERVICE, SYRIA Near East Relief as a Christian Mission BY SUMNER R. VINTON, NEW YORK Director of Visual Publicity of the Near East Relief T HE impression of the appeals made at the beginning of the Near East Relief work persists in the memory: "Children are hungry. Feed them." The first emphasis was on relief work and America responded splendidly. A great program of relief was inaugurated which has saved more than a million lives, mostly women and children.
Even relief work is one expression of that great Christian missionary spirit that seeks to share blessings with others whether material or spiritual. Jesus Christ Himself came to earth with a great spiritual mission, but He did not hesitate to heal the sick and feed the hungry. His disciples have followed Him literally. Missionaries have again and again been the leaders in relief work during famines and after great national disasters. "Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction. " But this is not all of religious activity for James adds an important item that some overlook. The prophet Isaiah also saw this expression of religion in clear perspective (58: 6-8) and Christ reiterated it (Matt. 25: 31-45).
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DAILY VOJ.UNTARY PRAYER MEETING GROUP OF NAZARETH ORPHANS. THE BOY WHO STARTED THJS HAS "GRADUATED", BUT SIX BOYS WHOM HE TRAINED CONTINUE THE PLAN It was inevitable that in Near East Relief there should come a shift of emphasis. This was foreshadowed in the very terms of the charter granted by Act of Congress in August 1919 in which it is stated that part of the objective of Near East Relief is t.o "assist in the repatriation and re-establishment of suffering and dependent people of the Near East ….. and to promote the social and economic and industrial welfare of those who have been rendered destitute." It is not enough to save people from death. They must be helped until able to help themselves. As long as they are in need they are our" Neighbors, " to whom we must minister.
At the outset of the work, when Near East Relief was still known as the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, the extent of the tragedy of Armenia was not fully known. In those days it was thought that $100,000 would be the total amount needed to meet the emergency. By 1919, however, it was realized that a nation had been completely dispossessed and that at least a third of them were dead. ~'he children in the care of America were for the most part hopelessly alone, without relatives who could some day take over their support after the immediate emergency period should have passed. The bulk of the orphans were under twelve years of age and America found herself in the position of both father and mother, with responsibility not simply to care for them
NEAR EAST RELIEF AS A .cHRISTIAN MISSION d01
physically, but to fit them for life. It was necessary that some plan should be formulated whereby these children should eventually be fitted for self-support.
As a first step toward this end, it was natural that a program of school work should be undertaken. There have been no illiterates from among the graduates of Near East Relief orphanages to swell the large number who ·are totally illiterate in the Near JiJsst. Even this elementary schooling haa proven itself to be a first step toward the development of a possible leadership. It was natural that vocational training should be undedaken and that a program of industrial training should be inaugurated. That program is in full force today. It teaches the children to produce such things as can be sold in the countries in which they are to live and work. While Near East Relief is introducing improved tools and methods, the instruction is not 80 advanced as to educate the boys and girls above t.he level they can hope to attain. Naturally much has been d<m~ along the line of agricultural training, for the bulk of these boys and girls must earn their living frOID the soil.
Schools and colleges, industrial and agricultural training, have long been recognized as a part of a sound foreign mission policy in the non-Christian lands of the world. They are needed to develop leaders for the native church and to bring it to self-support.
But the essentially missionary character of the work of Near EVENING PRAYERS [NONE Ob' THE GIRLS' DORM.ITORY ROOMS IN SYRIA WHERE 600 SLEEP
East Relief is revealed by the fact that the program today has a distinctly religious, Christian element. It is definitely committed to a program of religious education. Most of the children are of Armenian-Gregorian, or Greek-Orthodox, parentage and all of the orphanages directly conducted by Near East Relief are Christian.
Religious education from a Christian viewpoint had to be a part of the program in view of the type of men who organized the move- ment. Ambassador Morgenthau's appeal was brought to the then Lay- men's Missionary Movement as being the organization that could best put the need before the coun- try. Dr. Barton, long a mission- ary in Turkey and at the head of the American Board, has been chairman of the organization; :Mr.
Charles V. Vickrey, the general secretary, has been associated with missionary movements from the days of his being one of the famous Yale '98 S. V. Band and later a secretary of the Young People's Missionary Movement.
Consider, too, the large number of missionaries among those who had charge pf the administration of the early relief work. Their own work had been interrupted by the war, so that they were free; they knew the country, the people, th~ language, and they had the mis- sionary spirit in their hearts.
We should remember too that, as the emergency period passed and the work no longer ONE OF . THE BLIND AT JERUSALEM commanded large space in the READING NEW TESTAMENT. WHEN public press for its news value, the ASKED WHY SHE MOVED HER HAND IN- predominance of support has STEAD DB' KEEPING STILL FOR THE come from the chnrches. The PICTURE, SHE SAID HElR FINGERS viewpoint and advice of men and TOUCHED THE WORD "JESUS" AND SHE COULD NOT WAIT TO FIND WHAT IT SAID ABOUT HIM women intetested in church and missionary work bave greatly helped to give form to the present program. .
The following elements may be noted in the program of Religious Education that permeates all the activities of .Near East Relief.
First, the teachers are practically all of them Christian, largely the product of mission schools, Second, religions chapel services. Third, thanksgiving and God's l;>lessing asked at meals. Fourth, Bible stu'dy is a part of the daily school program and, of course, enters especially into the Sunday program.
192&] NEAR EAST RELIEF AS A .cHRISTIAN MISSION
Fifth, evening prayers in the dormitories. Sixth, in some of the orphanages voluntary, orphan-led services of real significance and value have developed. Seventh, in this connection may very well be mentioned organizations for the development of self-government, such as the Juvenile Court at Corinth. The aim is to have the orphans themselves define and enforce moral and ethical standards in keeping with the teaching of Christ. Eighth, Sunday services: Ca) Where feasible, children attend local churches according to the faith of their fathers. In some cases there is not room for all of the orphans each Sunday-for example, Armenians in Corinth, Syra and Athens. A great deal of thought and effort has been expended on plans to enrich, strengthen and extend the work of these churches. Dr. Voris spent five months during 1925 in the territory of the Near East interviewing the leaders of the Oriental Churches and getting their pledge of support for plans that would introduce Western Sunday-school methods adapted to the calendars of the Oriental Churches. (b) Special church services in the orphanages. These are necessary for the reason menti{)ned above, but they would have been organized anyway. These orphanage services take the form of regular church services with preaching, very much on our ordinary American plan. (c) Sunday-school work. (d) Services aimed to develop the expressional side of the religious life of the orphans.
In February of this year a representative group met at the national headquarters of Near E.ast Relief to formulate definite plans for Sunday-school lessons for use throughout all the Near East. This group was composed of representatives of the Oriental Churches in America, the Religious Education organizations of America, the Mission Boards operating in the Near East and other agencies working there, including the American Bible Society, World's Sunday School Association, Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., W orId Alliance and Federal Council of Churches. The religious educators and the Foreign Mission Boards were further represented through the Joint Committee on Methods and Material for Religious Education in Foreign Fields, which had created a Committee on Near East Lessons for this purpose. These men and women agreed to proceed at once on lesson material to offer the Near East Relief overseas personnel and the native church leaders for their use or modification, both abroad and in America.
A Committee on Correlation of work being done by American agencies in the Near East was created and will be of large service. Although each agency will retain full freedom, correlation of effort will go far to supply the demand of the Eastern Churches for our Western Evangelical interpretation, social application, and practical example of Christianity.
It is a notable fact that within the last two years there has come what Dr. Barton calls a revolutionary changw in the attitude of the Oriental Churches toward Western Christianity. The Greek Bishop of Syra voiced this change at the Universal Conference on Life and
Work, at Stockholm, and said that it was due to the demonstration of love that the churches of America had furnished through Near East Relief.
-While this organization has no claim to oeing a foreign mission agency of any church or group of churches in -other particulars, Near East Relief has as its great objectives the building of individual Christian character, the development of leadership in things worth while, the creation of a better spirit and relationship between individuals and nations and a real advance of the Kingdom of God and of righteousness upon earth. Near East Relief is rendering notable service along missionary lines in Bible lands.
BIBLE CLASS AT SIDON. P'ART OF 1'l!E DAILY SCHOOL PROGRAM The Road to Happiness This is the Road to Happiness: And take the Gloak of Charity, St.art Now, f)'om Where You Are; The Staff of Wise Employ, , 'Turn to the Rigllt and keep straight on," A loaf of Bread of Daily Grace, And you 'Il not find it far. A flask well filled with Joy; Along the Path of Willing Feet A word of cheer, a helping hand, An dover Heartease Hill, Some good to give or share, Aeross the Fields of Sweet Content, A bit of song, a higb resolve, The Stream of Glad Good-Will; A hope, a smile, a prayer.
Then through the Lane of Loving Heart, And in the Place of Dnty Done, The Gate that's called To-day, Beside the Door of Home, And down the steps of Little Things You'll find the House of Happiness- Into the Common Way. For Happiness does not roam. -Annie Johnson Flint in Sunday School T·"nes.
Years' Changes in West Africa *
BY REV. MELVIN FRASER, D.D., LOLODORF Dr. Fraser, for over thirty years a Presbyterian· Missionary in West Mrica, is President of Dager Memorial Theological and Bible Training School at Lolodorf. Dr. Fraser has, as he says in the following article, seen the entire mission force in the Cameroun change more than once in the three decades of his service there, and has seen the work grow from small beginnings to its present importance.
T HE past thirty years in West Africa have been years of more change and forward movement than were the preceding sixty years. A pen picture of contrasts between prevailing conditions in our Africa mission field thirty years ago and today is not only interesting as a bit of modern history of something that again "turned the world up-side down," but as a kind of dynamic incentive to more of such turning and movement toward the beckoning possibilities of which the past score and half of years are but an earnest.
Thirty years ago, there were three stations at Baraka, Benito, Batanga, all on the rather moribund coast; another, Angom, seventy miles up the Gaboon River, and Efulen, an infant of less than three years. Today, Baraka and her French satellite Angom having been transferred to the Paris Evangelical Society, the annual budget is made out for six additional stations, an average of one new station every five years-Elat, MacLean Memorial, Metet, Foulassi, Sakbeyeme, and Yaounde, with occupation of Bafia soon to ripen into the status of a station.
Thirty years ago about a score of missionaries, by dint of grit and grace, were on the field. Today there are more than four score. The personnel'has so changed that not one is there today who was there when the two of us survivors arrived on the field thirty-one years ago. God buries (or otherwise removes) the workers, but carries on the work. But, strangely enough, while the number of missionaries has increased four-fold, the work has so expanded and become so exactingly specialized that each missionary seems to have about four times as much to do. But as the days and duties so the strength.
Thirty years ago there were some half dozen organized churches dotting the coast-{)nly one, Angom, inland seventy miles up the Gaboon River, with a membership of a few hundred-rather static and, like Laotiicea, "neither hot nor cold." Today there are thirtyone churches reaching more than 200 miles into the jungle interior and holding a membership of 32,000 men and women.
A score and a half of years ago, as many Bible readers as there are fingers on one hand, with little or no special training and operat- ~om Women and Mt.BBion8~ April, 1926. 605
ing within the bounds of old organized churches on the coast, constituted the native evangelistic force. But the Spirit of God has been at work and things have been brought to pass. At this writing some 500 Bible readers, like the stars in a dark night, twinkling, differing in magnitude and difficult to count, men who start and hold preaching points, are distributed far and near, groups of eighty at a time taking their rotary turns at the school of systematic Bible training. This host of men-mostly young men, brands plucked from the burning but yesterday, on meager although "living" pay, unlearned, names unknown in the home land-are true knights of the cross, mighty and indispensable in the soul-winning movement of our Mission. Thirty years ago the Presbytery of Corisco could report two or three licentiates; now there are forty of these prospective ministers.
In those days of small things thirty years ago, small vernacular schools were running, rather spasmodically, at one or more of the stations, a few lads "playing study" at German or Spanish, and village schools were scarce. In this year of 1926, a visitor at any interior station would hear the buzz and feel the "pep" of these "power factories "-two to three hundred vernacular boys and girls studying the five-years' course of French, and from a score to several dozen surrounding village schools, near and far, busy in their separate localities.
Then the girls, put under a lien and decorated brides with bright beads as soon as they could walk, were forced into polygamous marriage and the notion prevailed among male natives that girls and women could not-at least should not-know anything but sin and servitude. Now a girls' school of one hundred at any station is a matter of course, and girlhood, potential womanhood, through applied Christianity is getting her Magna Charta.
Then boys had to be gone after and literally coaxed and hired with a promise of goods-half a yard of cloth to wear instead of nothing, and a handful of salt once a week-and they came not alone, but under escort of the missionaries, lest they be kidnapped as they walked through hostile villages. Today, travel being safe and school appreciated, the aspiring boys overflow the dormitories and school rooms and gladly pay the nominal fee for the privilege. In much less than thirty years, the keenly observing and ambitious boys, who have both eye and instinct to find roads, have learned that the path to position and prosperity and escape from grinding drudgery runs through the schoolroom. Yet not the school alone, for it has dawned upon thousands of boys and hundreds of girls that the fear of Jehovah is both the beginning and the continuation of welfare and wisdom. In those receding pioneer days, medical work was small and doc- tors exceedingly scarce. The yelling, ubiquitous witch-doctor had it
192fl] THIRTY YEARS! CHANGES IN WEST AFRtcA
all his own way-and it was some way. Now it is the policy to have a physician at each station, with a well-supplied dispensary and equip- ment to serve the thousands who come, walking or carried, from near and far, many of them asking for sleep medicine and to be "split" by the white man who, with the sharp knife, has all power to cut and cure. And the voice of the plumed monster whose roaring held the people spell-bound and scared out the witches is heard in the land as an echo of thirty years ago.
Then the native, the untrained child of nature, had been born and bred to think-so far as he indulged in thinking-that there was more pleasure and profit in fighting, gambling, tricky trading in rubber and ivory, than in working. Let the women do the work, except the little sewing of his cloth, which was the man's job. But the appar- ently lruzy native was not slow to wake up as soon as he was given something definite to do and a motive for doing it. The visitor today is amazed to see the hundreds of apprentices at Elat and other sta- tions being trained in as many as a dozen forms of craft which teach the dignity of work with the hands, as well as provide a means of decent living. And all this with the primary aim of making men, not things.
In the pioneering days, the interior native was amazed at the idea of putting thought on paper. He had only recently seen paper . and borrowed a coast word (kalate) for book, and was staring in shy astonishment at the recently-arrived alphabet that could spell words. Now, more people can read thim the number of stars seen by the naked eye on a clear night, and a vernacular literature is abroad.
These same thirty years ago, two or three theologs might have been seen sitting at the feet of the venerable lady professor in her hospitable cottage on the coast of rOll-ring surf-where Sunday morn- ings after church she was wont to refresh the missionaries with lime- ade and cookies, good cheer and chat. Since then, as many. as twenty- seven dusky and husky sprigs of divinity have gathered in class in the theological and Bible training plant, with lecture rooms and dor- mitories costing $8,000 and a curriculum covering four years.
The principle of self-support has come to the front and to the rescue. In those former years, the natives received their benefits in quite a literal and extreme sense, without money and without price. There were patients without fees, schools without tuition, churches yet strangers to the grace of liberal and systematic giving. They wanted to be and were fed from a spoon. Then the interior work was opened and developed on the basis of self-support in churGh, educa- tional and medical departments, and, the coast people complied.
In these thirty wondrous years, perhaps there is no one thing in the economy of practical existence that has changed more markedly or happily than the matter of health. Tropical Africa used
to be called the "white man's grave," and in the face of facts it was hard to gainsay the saying. Not only were avoidable graves filled by drinking whites who lived carelessly, but even our missionaries died needlessly. Hemoglobinuric fever made havoc up to about twenty years ago. The climate has not changed, but the health record has. At last some of the causes of malady and mortality have been found out and dealt with. The Anopheles mosquito has not moved out nor been exterminated, but it has been arrested, indicted, convicted and has had the ban put upon his hatching, boundaries set as to where he shall go, and his sting is counteracted by such specific as quinine.
What has been done in thirty years is worthy of a glance, but surely cannot be fairly interpreted until that glance sees the finger pointing plainly forward to the great things of the next thirty years -of which all the past, glad and grateful as we are for it, is but an earnest with which we cannot be satisfied until our Lord has "seen the travail of His soul and is satisfied."
THE MODERN Hl:SSIONARY BY ALEXANDER M. ALLAN, BOGOTA, COLOMBIA The Christian missionary of today does not spend much time under a palm tree, preaching to savages with a Bible under his arm. He is more usually found ata typewriter, and does more bookkeeping than is generally supposed.
He does not often have the dreary voyages and the isolation of the pioneers of half a century ago; his furloughs are more frequent, and his living conditions much better.
Neither does he have, however, the quiet life of his predecessor; he has far more strain, more organization, and more demands on his mental force and nervous energy.
The ideal modern missionary is the human keystone of an arch, the inspirer of a group of national workers, the brain of a movement, the prayer center and counselor of a national church.
Long ago it was desirable that his furlough come as infrequently as possible-travel was so difficult-; now it is considered of the utmost importance to recruit the forces, sharpen the mind and refresh the spirit of the missionary through more frequent furloughs, so that he may be more adequately furnished for his task.
Suffering was the keynote of the early pioneers; efficiency is the watchword of the present generation.
"Take care of the Lord's money even if His servants suffer" was the old battle cry. Today we hear it said rather: "Take care of the Lord's servants, even if it costs more."
Then a missionary gathered his audience, as. a personal evangelist; the day may soon come when the radio will be used to preach the Gospel simultaneously to thousands of villages.
Though methods change, the spirit of Paul, greatest of all mission· aries, is still what we most covet: the grace, patience, endurance and love, coupled with the art of creating and fostering churches, in which Christ is all and in all.
SACATON PIMA I N DIA N CHUR C H IlTTJI.'r AS A MEMORIAL TO DR
H. COOK An Indian Mission in Arizona* A Christian Church That Has Become the Center of an Indian Tribe ACHURCH which has entered into the whole life of its people is at work among the Pima Indians in Arizona, centering at Sacaton. The leaders of this work, both Indian and white, have, in fifty years, led a whole tribe from semi-barbarism into a Christian community, The results show the aptitude of the Indians for Christian civili'zation, if Christian ideas and ideals are presented in the right way. The field takes in four hundred and six square miles, all of the Gila River and part of the Papago reservations. The mission has grown until it now has over thirteen hundred members and includes nine churches and stations scattered over this area. 'rhe white missionary in charge has nine full-time Indian helpers and one part~ time man.
Fifty-six years ago young Charles H. Cook started the work on his own responsibility. The mission boards had no money for such an enterprise, for Indian affairs in Arizona were at that time in a very unsettled state. The Government at Washington warned him that it would be dangerous to go. But Cook went, working his way out and preaching whenever opportunity offered. He arrived at the Agency on December 23, 1870, with two dollars in his pocket. On January 1st, he was on the pay-roll of the Government as a teacher with a salary of $1,000 and all expenses paid, a good income for those days.
·'.i'he following story is reprinted by permission at' the Institute ot Social and Religlous Research. 370 Seventh Avenue, New York City, from its volum,e of stories ot successfu1 country churches entitled "Churches of Distinction in TOWIl and Country,'" ThIs volume i s publ1shed for the In stitute by George H. Doran Co., New York.
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From that time until he was an old man, Mr. Cook worked with the Pimas. During the earlier years he could do his mission work only on Sundays and at night, for he had to earn his living on week- days. After he had been working on the reservation about eight years the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions undertook his support so that he was able to devote all his time to the mission work. At first he talked and preached out in the fields, because it was there that he found the Indians. Sometimes he would talk in the little round dwelling-places called "kihs," where one must stoop to enter and sit with lowered head because of the smoke. Sometimes he preached in the village counsel-houses, and if the people were friendly, the village captain or sub-chief would call them together for the meeting. His addresses were always interpreted during the first years, but he studied the language and worked out for himself a dictionary of Pima words, so that before long the Lndians could understand him. He taught much and he won the children at first by giving them cubes of sugar and pieces of bread. "That's the way he catch 'em," said an old Indian. As soon as the children learned English, they could interpret for him.
Mr. Cook's courage and patience were proof against all discouragement. It was twelve years before he won his first convert and nineteen years before his first church was organized. The work grew by the conversion of one Indian here, another there, then a whole family, then several families. The next step would be the organization of a church. So it went. The first church was organized at Sacaton on April 3, 1889. The. Gila Crossing Church was organized in 1894, the Blackwater in 1900, and the two other churches, Casa Blanca and Maricopa, were organized in 1902.
Mr. Cook ministered to the whole man. He taught the Pimas the simple story of Christ, and he also taught them better ways of living; he worked to protect their water rights just as faithfully as he preached the Ten Commandments. The Pimas grew to love and trust this earnest white man, and gradually began to take all their problems to him and to put his words into practice. As a result of his wise dealings with these people the church today is so woven into their lives that one cannot mark the place where its influence begins or where it leaves off.
The land of the Pimas is sandy desert country, fertile, indeed, with water, but absolutely unproductive without it. The water question has been a burning one for years, for the Indians are dependent for their living upon the land. From prehistoric times they have understood the practice of irrigation, the Gila River affording plenty of water for their needs. But as the white men settled in the valley far above, they gradually diverted the water to their own use. In the days when the Apache was on the war path, thePimas helped to protect the white man, but when those dangerous days were over
192(>] AN INDIAN MISSION IN ARIZONA
the white man expressed his gratitude by taking the Indian's water.
Some wells were put in which provided water for part but not all of the reservation. Many of the Indians have had one crop failure after another, year after year. Is it any wonder that the Indian says: "When the white man begins, he takes all"? Oharles H. Oook, however, was one white man who never let the Government or the public forget the injustices done to the Pimas. It is safe to say that had not this guardian of their interests been at 11and to check- mate these efforts to despoil the Pimas of their heritage, they would long ago have been objects of charity.
"Oook agitated the Pima's need [for an adequate water supply] and laid the foundation for the remedy of that need; the work that he did pointed the way to what was needed," said the sec- retary of the Indian Rights Association. Dr. Oook also fought to keep the Pimas' land for the Pimas, and his successor, Dr. Lay, has carried on the struggle.
"I want the Pimas to value their land," says Dr. Lay, the present missionary. "I do not want them to forget that many of their fathers and grandfathers died to keep the Apaches away."
In other ways also Dr. Oook and his successor have served the ONE OF THE INDIAN ELDERS temporal interests of the Pimas.
With the Ohristian Indians as leaders, the recreational and social life of the Pimas has gradually been changed. Standards of family life, the marriage law and the position of women, ever a determin- ing factor among Indians, are now those of the average white com- munity. The church is the main influence in directing public opinion and the old Indian religion commands no followers.
Years ago, the first native policeman to attempt to enforce the laws against drinking on the reservation was one of Dr. Oook's earliest converts. At that time, the Indians used to make intoxicat- ing wine in big jars called" olIos." On these occasions whole villages would get drunk, and often there would be fights. "We would see a man all covered with blood, his clothes all bloody," said an old Indian, adding reminiscently, "and once in a while a murder."
Indian policeman, sent to break the "olIos" and stop the drinking would usually end by joining in the celebration. Finally, the agent appointed a new chief of police and put new men under him. The son of this chief of police tells what happened. "My father," he said, "had become interested in the story of Jesus before this; he had commenced to attend church and had been baptized. He went out with his men and they didn't get drunk like those others did. They smashed the 'olIos' with the wine in them. That was the beginning of stop make that stuff. My father was the first Indian policeman to enforce the law. against the drinking in any village." The reservation is now a model of sobriety.
Recreations, too, have changed. Formerly the foot and horse races between villages were the excuse for heavy gambling. "The women," an old Indian declared, "would even bet the skirts they were wearing." Recreational life now centers in the church and the Government schools. Villages compete in clean. athletics, and the poij.cy of the Mission includes a definite program of recreation. The Pima Athletic Association, which now has seventy members, was organized by Dr. Lay seven years ago. A football league is controlled by the Athletic Association.
As time has gone on, more and more responsibility in the various organizations of the Presbyterian Mission has oeen accorded to the Indians. Often the outstanding weakness of a work of this kind is that everything is managed for the Indian, he himself contributing nothing. Here, on the other hand, the management of affairs has been gradually turned over to the members, until at present they take as much responsibility as do the members of the average white church.
The Sacaton Church, which was built in 1918 as a memorial to Dr. Cook, is the central and largest church building. The Indians and their white friends all worked together to raise the funds and obtained $17,000 of the $25,000 needed. The building committee then appointed the church treasurer and Dr. Lay to ask a bank in Casa Blanca for the remaining $8,000 on loan, and the request.was granted with no other security than" the face of an Indian." The building is of gray stucco. The church auditorium seats five hundred and the basement is divided into differen.t classrooms and a kitchen, furnished with a stove and dishes and silver for one hundred people.
Eight other buildings are scattered over the mission field. Four are the homes of regular church organizations, one is a mission and the rest are small chapels located in parishes which are so large that it is more convenient to have two places of meeting. The chapels are used for Sunday evening meetings, prayer meetings, and Christian Endeavor meetings. The total value of these" outpost" buildings, which were all built by the people themselves, even to the adobes, is $8,000. Four have outdoor arbors where summer meetings
AN INDIAN MISSION IN ARIZONA
are held. There are two manses, one at Sacaton and one at Gila Crossing, and there are also two houses for workers on that part of the Papago reservation which is included in this field.
The Indians are assuming more responsibility all the time in self-suppol:t, and in this connection it should be borne in mind that because of the whites taking their water, many of these Indians are not as well off financially as they were thirty years ago. This is still a home mission field, a little more than $4,600 having been received in 1922-23 for the support of the work from the Presbyterian Board and from some outside contributors. There is little doubt, however, that when the Pimas all have water, the work will become entirely self-supporting. In 1922, the churches gave $432 for home missions, $38 for foreign missions, $120 for evangelism, $50 for other church THE PRIMARY CLASS OF THE CA8A BLANCA CHURCH IN THE SACATON FIELD causes and $126 for miscellaneous benevolences. 1m 1902, twenty years earlier, they gave only $138 for home missions, $14 for foreign missions and $29 for all other church and benevolent causes. In 1922, $1,275 was raised for congregational expenses; in 1912, $450 was raised for this purpose, and in 1902 only $127.
Collections are taken up at all meetings. Each church uses the budget system and makes out its own budget. An every-member canvass is made every spring by the group leaders. The people promise to pay something, but they rarely pledge actual amounts because they cannot tell in advance about their crops. They give what they can.
Membership of the churches increases steadily. In 1902 the total membership was 896; in 1922 it had grown to 1,382, distributed among five organized churches. This represents a higher membership average than in any other group of Indian churches in the United
States. The total number of members equals 22 per cent of the population.
Oare is taken to keep track of every church member and a regular" ever-follow" system has been worked out. Ea,ch elder is supervisor of a district and watches over every church family in his district. When the weather begins to get cold, he sees that all of his families have enough wood. If a home is without wood and has not the money to buy any, he calls the men of the church together and they cut and haul wood for that family. Or, if the house of a widow or sick family is letting in the rain and cold, the men of the cliurch take time to rebuild the house. Furthermore, in every village there are group leaders each of whom has a list of people for whose attendance at meetings he assumes responsibility. These group leaders 20me together once a month in the Religious Oouncil, which was organized two years ago to discuss general policies, methods and plans.
Members have a real feeling of responsibility toward those who are not members of any church. "If one of our neighbors is not a member of any church we have to go to him and hold a little meeting at his house," said an elder, "then we just keep ou' going until he say he is glad to see us, until he wait for us to come back again. We talk to him about the Gospel and keep on coming again' and again. Then when Communion is coming, I have to go to him and ask him how he feel now. I say, 'If you want, come to Communion.' He say, 'All right, I go.' Then I report to Dirk Lay who goes and sees him. Maybe the next Communion he join, or the next one after that."
The chief evangelistic effort is made at the yearly camp meeting, held in the large arbor at Casa Blanca. These camp meetings were started by Dr. Oook fifteen years ago and have been held every year since. They are now managed by the Indians themselves through the Elders' Association (which includes elders from all the Indian churches on the Gila River and Salt River reservations). On the last days there is always a big collection which amounted at the last me~ting to $431.94. Expenses came to $289.56, and the balance was sent as a contribution to home missions.
Years ago Dr. Cook started to teach the Bible to school children once a week. This work has grown until now regular catechism classes are held every Tuesday night at Sacaton in which all the Presbyterian school children in the Government boarding school are enrolled. Now every church member is enrolled in one of the six Sunday-schools of which the total membership is 1,580. Once a year the children are asked if they would like to join the church. After the class period is over, Dr. Lay conducts a training course for teachers and anyone else who is interested.
The nine Christian Endeavor Societies-six senior, one inter-
1926J AN INDIAN r.nSSION IN ARIZONA
mediate and two junior-have a total enrollment of two hundred and forty-two. Regular meetings are held on Sunday morning or evening, and each society has socials through the year. The senior societies often go almost en masse to other villages to help organize Christian Endeavor Societies if there is none or to encourage a society already organized. Other organizations include an Old People's Society at Casa Blanca of twenty-five members; a Y. M. C. A. with twenty members at Blackwater, and women's missionary societies, with thirty-fiV'e members, at Sacaton and Blackwater.
'1'0 be at Sacaton and see the services through a Sunday convinces one that this church has somehow given the Indians a real V'ision of a living Christ. Church services at Sacaton come in the afternoon and the scene resembles the grounds of a state fair with 11-' THE HOUSE OF A WIDOW FAILS. INTO BAD REPAIR, HER FELLOW-CHURCH- MEMBERS FIX IT l'P FOR HER teams and riding horses fastened all along the fence about the church grounds.
The number of mission workers this field has produced shows how the message has touched the hearts of the Pima Indians. Six have gone into the ministry in the last five years. In the last ten years, a total of eighteen have decided to dedicate their lives to Christ. All of the nine native assistants and the part-time worker came from this field. Three of these men are stationed on the Papago reservation. One of the mission workers tells of the instructions Dr. Cook gave to him when he started off to do his first preaching. "Take care of yourself," Dr. Cook told him. "You are like an open book in the eyes of your fellow men. People will come to hear you preach. They will read your everyday life and see whether you are trying to lead the kind of life you are talking about. They will read your conduct, your conversation and your actions. So I say, take care of yourself."
The present missionary in charge, Dr. Dirk Lay, has the absolute confidence of his people. "There are more than five hundred Indians here that Lay could take straight to hell with him if he wanted to," is the way one of his Pimas put it. He loves the Indians like brothers, and they love and trust him in return. "The elders and I have a perfect understanding," said Dr. Lay. "When I came I told them that I was going to treat them like white men and I wanted them to treat me like their own people. I told them that I wanted their respect; that I would not stay unless I had it. If I do something they don't like, they tell me about it and I do the same with them. You must have faith in your people or they will not have faith in you." The elders once told their white pastor they thought he was devoting too much of his time to athletics, to baseball especially. They talked the matter over pro and con and Lay explained to them carefully that in those places where church people did not go in for baseball t.here were often Sunday games. "You see, we go in for ball at Sacaton," he told them, "and we don't have Sunday ball." Since then he has never heard another word against athletics.
Dr. 'Cook realized that Indians, like white men, are reached not in masses or by wholesale legislation, but only as the mass is broken up and touched as individuals. "The first white man that gave us a chance to believe was Cook," said one of the elders; "then, when we old Indians learned Christian ways, we helped too. T'ogether we worked, trying to do what is right, help others, pushing right on and going right ahead."
The Mission at Sacaton has shown the capabilities of the Indians for civilization and for Christianity. It has shown what can be accomplished by Christian men of large and humane views, following a Christian program. Part of this program has been the difficult task of trying to persuade the American people that the Pimas had rights which the white man was bound to respect. Largely as a result of the missionaries' efforts along this line, the outlook for enough water for all the Pimas is favorable, the Pima lands have been allotted and they have not been leased. On the reservation, white leaders and Indians together have worked out an adequate program for a rural people living in small villages scattered over a large area. It is a program which has reached the whole life of the Indian and centered it in the church.
There are fifty thousand Indians in the United States, among whom no missionary work whatever has ever been done, either by the Roman Catholie or the Protestant Chureh. These Indians wait yet the eoming of the missionary with the White Man's" Book of Heaven. "
NATIVES DANCING IN NEW
Fifty Years in the Island of New Britain BY REV. WILLIAM H. COX, RABAUL, NEW BRIT'AIN O N the 15th August, 1875, there landed at Port Hunter, in the Duke of York Group, midway between New Britain and New Ireland, the pioneer missionary band consisting of Rev. Geo. Brown, eight Fijians and two Samoans. Mr. Brown had been moved by the stories he had heard of the barbarism of the peoples of the New Britain Archipelago, and he had prevailed on the Mission authorities in Australia to authorize the opening of a new field. He called at Fiji on the way to pick up native teachers to assist in establishing the mission.
The story of the response of the Fijians to the appeal for volunteers in this enterprise is one of the epics of missions. The case was stated to the students in the District Training College, and after having the following night to think it over and pray about it everyone of the eighty-three volunteered. Nine were selected to go. The government officials in their desire to make sure that no undue pressure was brought to bear on the men, and that they would fully understand all that was involved in going to New Britain, app~ared almost to do their utmost to frighten them. The noble answer of the student who was selected as spokesman thrills the reader even today. After assuring the Administrator that everything had been 617
fully explained to them, and thanking His Honor for the interest that was being taken in them, he said: "But, sir, we have fully considered this matter in our hearts; no one has pressed us in any way; we have given ourselves up to do God's work, and our mind today, sir, is to go with Mr. Brown. If we die, we die; if we live, we live."
In less than three months from the landing at Port Hunter one of these heroes had died-the first to lay down his life for New Britain. In 1878 four others were murdered in the hills of New Britain, arid the blood of the martyrs recorded in the dust the ignorance and savagery of the tribes to whom the missionaries had come in obedience to the ancient commission. Since then mound after mound has marked the last resting place of a long line of those who have counted their lives not dear unto themselves. Tonga, Samoa, and more particularly Fiji, have found in New Britain an outlet for the glowing missionary spirit which sends out laborers to the Lord:s harvest.
In this year of Jubilee it will be of interest to note something of how the Mission has grown and what its influence on the natives has been.
Fifty years ago the first missionary landed, and since then over one hundred white workers have come and gone. A malarial climate has meant a severe test for every new arrival, and only a very small number have been able to stay more than ten years, while the average complete term has been about four years. As each worker must learn the language of the people after arrival On the field, as well as adapt him or herself to altered conditions of life and work and to a strange people, the short term of service is a distinct -handicap. At present eight ordained missionaries, four lay missionaries, and ten missionary sisters represent the white staff, and three hundred and thirty pai'! colored workers (all but four of whom are local natives) work in the villages. Forty thousand people come under the influence of the Mission, and are ministered to in three hundred and fifteen churches, where the pulpits are occupied by the workers mentioned above, with the help of :five hundred and fifty other native local preachers. '1'here are ten thousand members of the church, and over ten thousand young people receive instruction in the day and Sunday-schools.
Perhaps the most outstanding change which the Mission work has brought is seen in the freedom with which the people now mix with each other, and the distances which they confidently travel from home. They themselves invariably refer to this feature of present day conditions when comparing them with those of former days, and cite this as an instance of what Ohristianity has done for them. The early missionaries recorded that 'villages a mile or two apart lived in constant dread of each other, and for men, women, and children
FIFTY YEARS IN THE ISLAND OF NEW BRI'l'AIN
of neighboring villages to assemble in one place on friendly terms and unarmed, as is constantly seen now, was unheard of. The writer lived for several years in a village on the east coast of New Ireland, and in that village two dialects were spoken. It was the meeting place of those two tongues; but a village three miles away knew only one, and this is an indication of how restricted were the movements of the people in the old cruel days of heathenism.
An interesting incident in the writer's experience had to do with those old conditions of inter-village warfare. We were visiting a new area with a view to settling several native teachers to break up some new soil. It was sUggl9stedthat we visit a village a little inland. I went without any misgivings, and little suspecting what NEW BRITAIN CHRISTIANS LISTENING TO A SERMON I was to witness. As we approached the village I noticed that round it were high barricades of timber, then falling into disrepair. We were accompanied by the young chief of the village we had just left, a mile or two away. 'Vhen we reached the houses we sat down on rocks and pieces of wood in the yard. I noticed that very special attention was paid to the young chief, and that from each house bundles of home-cured tobacco and valuable shell ornaments were heaped before him. I received a few gifts, but he had piles. We moved on after a time to another part of the village and sat down again, and they did the same again. One after another hurried to this chief with loads of gifts. We had been seated only a few moments in this second place when everybody appeared to be talking at once, and there was a most disconcerting hubbub. There was a tremendous shouting, sounding like arguing and quarrelling, and the young chief was loudest of all.
SOME CHILDREN OF SAVAGES IN NEW BRITAIN I did not know a word of what was being said, and it sounded as if anything might happen. A comforting fact was that the women were present and amongst the noisiest of the company. That is always a good sign, as if there is likely to be fighting the women disappear by common consent. The row was kept up for about ten minutes, and then the young chief rose and walked across the yard and gave his hand to a man who was standing there, and who had not had a word to say. Without another word being spoken, it was all over! I learned that the two villages had been at war with one another for many months, and that this was the first time that this young chief had dared to show his face in this village since hostilities began. Evidently there was general relief and rejoicing that at last peace had been restored, and only a few minutes later I counted as many as five women hanging round the young chief's neck at a time, smiling most affectionately into his face, and offering him the ends of their cigarettes to smoke-a very common courtesy amongst such folk.
That young chief was the first convert to Christianity in that neighborhood, and was a great help to the Mission until his death a few months ago.
What Christianity can do for even the most backward peoples could not have a better testimony than is found in the case of Aparam To Bobo, a native chief whose home is near the center of the missionary operations. Aparam was converted when a young man thirty years ago. He was born before the first missionary arrived, and knew no other life than that of barbarism with its suspic~on and fear, and its cannibalistic cruelty. As soon as he received the light he be-
19261] :E'1FTY YBARt'. IN TJim ISLAND 0]' NBW, BRITAIN
came a preacher and was tireless in his activity as he journeyed here and there to tell the good news to neighboring villages. His missionary suggested that he should buy a small boat so that his journeys by water might be safer and more comfortable, and, to assist him, advanced the money required. It was not long afterwards that Aparam brought the boat back saying that he wished to return it. The missionary assured him that he did not need to trouble abont the money that was owing as he could wait. But Aparam said that the boat was no use to him. "When I go to a village now the people do not wish to see me or hear what I come to tell them, all they have eyes for is my boat, and they crowd around that and feel it and admire it, and can talk and think of nothing ·else. It is a hindrance to me in my work." And that good, true, soul would not have a boat at that price.
At a teachers' meeting, with the white missionary in the chair, the question arose as to where the next meeting should be held, and one of the teachers suggested that it be at a village an hour or two's walk into the bush. Another teacher who was disposed sometimes to be a little difficult objected to this proposal, on the ground that a beach village would be much more convenient, and a good deal of heat was introduced into the argument, and these two men were on their feet together expressing warmly their views. The white missionary was watching that things would not go too far but did not know just what to do. Just at that moment Aparam, who had been outside, came to the door. He saw at once that something was wrong, and just standing long enough to take in the situation he hurried across the floor to the teacher who had let his temper get the better CHILDREN OF THE MISSION PLAYING IN NEW BRITAIN
of him, and those who saw it will never forget the picture. He put his two hands up on the other's shoulders, and looking up into his eyes he begged him not to be angry. In pleading tones he said: "You must not be angry, this is God's house, be calm, there is no need to be angry over this matter." He pleaded until the angry man was subdued and harmony was restored.
Many, many stories cou.ld be told to illustrate how true and genuine he is, and how real is his Ohristian experience. '1'0 know him truly is to love him, and he is one of God's saints. He is now an old man and is past hard work, but his faith and devotion continue unabated. Let it be said that the people from whom an Aparam To Bobo could come deserve the best we can give them, and the mission work that could produce such a trophy is eminently suited to the people.
The liberality of these people in the support of the Mission's work is no mean indication of their growth in grace and of the place the Mission's work holds in their hearts. When the first missionary arrived they had not a sixpence of foreign money, nor were they noted for generosity. Many a story could be told to prove the mean- ness of the people. We are thankful to record that their offerings this year at the annual missionary meetings amounted to £4730, and the Jubilee Fund for the erection of a new college for the training of village pastors and schoolmasters stands at £1150. To develop in the villagers a proper sense of independence and to prepare for their taking on larger responsibilities we have for some years asked them to assist in the support of their own teachers, and this year they contributed in addition to the above the sum of £590. To mark the Jubilee and to keep pace with the development of the people we are proposing to give them some share in the control of the Mission and in the finance of the District, and as a first definite step we have asked them wherever possible to undertake the entire support of their teachers, appointing stewards to collect the money needed, and pay the teachers themselves, instead of handing the money to the white missionary, as heretofore, and depending on the latter to make good any deficiency. We have reason to hop~ that this will mean a larger income arid also the development of a healthy independence amongst the natives. '
It should be remembered that gifts in money do not represent the whole of the support which comes from the people. All churches are built by them free of cost to the Society, and church debts are not permitted. Most, of the teachers' houses are built in the same way.
The· Mission's work was commenc~ with the help of teachers from the older missions, but now almost all the teachers employed are local men who have been trained in the ,i;nstitutions run for that pur- pose. This marks a definite era in the development of the Mission that we have now reached the stage when these men are able to accept
1926J FIFTY YEARS I N THE ISL.AND OF NEW BRITAIN
larger responsibilities. In the year 1916 the first native minister from amongst our New Britain people was received. Since then four others have been similarly received and are gracing the position.
Girls' schools have been established under the care of Mission Sisters, and in this way some preparation is being made for the Jarger liberty which is coming to the native womankind. By slow degrees love matches are taking the place of the old mercenary arrangement by which girls were disposed of in matrimonial matters by their relatives, and, imperceptibly almost as many changes are taking place, the difference which constitutes the gulf between today and fifty years ago is tremendous.
A NATIVE CHURCH IN NEW BRITAIN BUILT OF LIME There are still large areas untouched by Christian work, and IDany thousands are today waiting for the coming of the evangel, and there will need to be a great increase of staff and of expenditure before the task is completed, but over a large portion of the field the light has shone forth, and we are thankful that the Gospel has proved efficacious with even such unpromising material.
But briefly, cannibalism has become a thing of the past, intertribal fighting and the making and carrying of weapons are only memories, the natives intermingle freely even from widely separated ·villages and districts, many have learned the secret that puts new light into men's faces and new hope into their hearts, and not a few have entered into fellowship with the Master in service and sacrifice and Saviourhood. Women are slowly coming to their own, and young men's faces are toward the sunrise as they seek for education and knowledge that will make them adaptable to conditions which are ever changing.
There have been many failures-how could it be otherwise ¥ -but the experience of fifty years leads us to set out on the new era ushered in by the Jubilee with a confident assurance that the best is yet to be, and that the people are worthy of, and will respond to, the best we can give them.
The Jubilee celebrations were carried out on a large scale, and in feasts and dances, and particularly in decorations, into which were introduced many reminders of earlier days, and in which there appeared distinct features marking the utmost the natives of New Britain can do to honor a person or an occasion, the people sought to express their appreciation of what the Mission has done for them and what it means in their lives. The making and decorating of skillfully designed miniature houses such as find, or found, a place in certain ancient native customs involved much thought and work, and was eloquent of the people's desire to make the celebrations worthy of the occasion.
But best of all was the recognition by what seemed general consent of'an obligation to prove today the genuineness of the work of grace in their hearts by responding to the call to carryon the work of evangelizing their own people, and to go out as messengers of the Gospel to the untouched areas, just as Fijians and Samoans and others came in the early days to them.
A spirit of expectancy is abroad, and our prayer is for wisdom and grace to lay hold of this so that a vigorous and glorious church may be built up even in New Britain.
@ BEST METHODS @ ~ .~ ~ … _,, _ _
•••o" …._ …….
EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, 721 MUllliENBURG BLOO. PHILADELPHIA, P A.
UNMARRIED MOTHERS IN she seemed to possess everything they MISSIONS lacked, even as they possessed every- "Mother of a Thousand Daugh- thing she lacked. The sisters decided ters" is the world's tribute to Eliza to move from their New York apart- Agnew, whose great mother heart ment to their lovely old family home found place for one thousand girls of in a village, in which a college for Ceylon for whom she worked and women was located, and to adopt this prayed. She brought them to Jesus. Chinese daughter and send her to school. With joy they shared the Fidelia Fiske in Persia, Ida Scud- home and all the experience of college der, Anna Kugler, and Isabella Tho- life. When their adopted daughter burn in India and scores of women was graduated and went back to in home mission institutions in Amer- China there seemed no reason why ica are honored unmarried mothers in another daughter should not be added missions. to the family. A second Chinese daughter came in, and, when she was Belle Bennet in Kentucky adopted graduated, another took her place. one girl after another, thus becoming Now the sisters in America are sharmother of an international family. ing three daughters in China and are rejoicing in the affection of their A business woman in New York children's children. learned of a girl in North Carolina who longed for an opportunity for Unmarried motherhood suggests an education. missionary possibility unlimited.
"I will adopt her and send her to school, " proposed the volunteer mother. OUR TEMPLED HILLS IN MAGAZINES She has no large city office, and no safe-deposit box filled with bonds and By EMMELINE HARBISON stocks. Every morning she goes to work and every week she receives her To be listed among valuable helps modest salary check, her life bright- for leaders in the study of the rural ened immeasurably by her newly ac- church are magazine files and current quired family. The daughter she has numbers. Miss Harbison calls attf3ll1,- never seen sends splendid reports and tion to some arti/des which will be chatty letters of college life and the helpful and suggestive.
mother and daughter plan together Seldom has there been a mISSIOn for service in after-college days. study theme that has needed such up- Two sisters were left without any to-the-minute information as the one immediate relatives. They had an at- for this year on the problems of rural tractive home and enough money to life in America. For that reason we provide everything they needed, but should constantly be relating our all the zest was gone out of life. One study to the contents of the maga- round of social functions following zines on our library tables. One is another wearied them. A Chinese very fortunate if that list of reriodi- girl in New York attracted their at- cals has the American Review gf Re- tention. Young, eager and ambitious views in it, because during the past 625 4
few months it has been full of ma- blacksmith's shop, a Wisconsin terial dealing with agriculture and "dirt" farmer vividly pictures eco- the farmer. Beginning with an ar- nomic changes in ' ,One Farming ticle by Secretary of Agriculture Problem "-February, 1926, and in Jardine, in the January, 1926, issue, June, 1926, .a Southern farmer with which concisely sets forth the changes merchandising experience views" Fa- that have occurred since 1900, there vored Farmers" for us. It will be follows in the February number interesting to compare this last ar- "What the Corn Belt Demands," ticle with one written by the wife of dealing with the political situation a Mississippi farmer in the Century and "Farm Bloc" legislation. In for January, 1926–"As Every March there is not only a presenta- Farmer Knows."
tion of agricultural Iowa, but a re- The Literary Digest has not nesume of what the farm press has to glected the rural church in its colsay on farm needs. The April num- umns devoted to religious affairs. ber pictures the rural South and the The comments under "Threatening May issue gives interesting illustra- Rural Dry Rot," February 20, 1926, tions of the cooperative movement in are good and if you have back issues "The Northwestern Farmer in Busi- on file, " Gas Chariots and Dead ness. " Practically all of these num- Churches" will prove interesting bers have some interesting editorial reading-February 28, 1925. comment on the subject. This by no means exhausts the ma- However, one wants to get other terial available. During 1925 there viewpoints to evaluate the situation were many articles relative to the in the light of the Church's responsi- rural situation. We have suggested bility, and the April, 1926, World's some of the most recent material Work with its different political atti- only.
tude not only shows change in the article" The Waning Influence of the PRACTICAL PLANS Farmer," but predicts the future Appreciation, Associa.tion, Relaxa.- trend of the numerical influence of the farmer on our body politic. In tion. At a luncheon given by Baptist the same issue an editorial open let- women of the Central District Board ter to the Iowa Farmer reflects some in Chicago five foreign missionaries of the controversial aspects of the home on furlough and nine home mis- sionaries whose field is Chicago were situation. guests of honor.
A study of the country store past The purpose was to honor the misand present with suggestions of the sionaries, to afford opportunity for economic situation may be found in closer acquaintance, and to furnish the December 5, 1926, number of the an occasion for relaxation. The home Saturday Evening Post and the story missionaries who have been working of a successful foreign-born farmer- under much strain as well as the for- "A Homesteader in Minnesota "-in eign missionaries who have been away the American Magazine of November, from home for years were so enthusi- 1925. astic over the pleasure and benefit of such a gathering it will likely be Four aspects and points of view made an annual affair. have been depicted in the Atlantic MO'l1.thly during the past year. In Race Relations Sunday. A Con- March, 1925, there is a study of one successful "Cooperative" – "The gregational church in New York City Farmer in the Pit" and the economic observed a Race Relations Sunday re- situation is presented in "Our Em- cently in a way that was interesting battled Farmers' '-November, 1925. and educational. A group of Chi- Beginning with a controversy at a nese Christians was invited to plan
BEST MEITHODS
and conduct the entire Sunday eve- " Ming Kwong. " Both men and ning service. women were in this class and four out of the six chapters were led by The choir was composed of Chinese men. Each week a short Chinese students. 'fhe American organ was play was presented. still while Chinese instruments furnished the accompaniment for na- The menu for the last dinner was tional and church hymns in Can- made up of Chinese dishes, recipes tonese dialect. A group of Chinese for which were found in the book children recited selections, and a "Chinese Ginger," by Catherine At- Chinese Christian pastor made a kinson Miller. talk. On invitation the pastor of the church who had formerly been a mis- Ma.p Building_ Ata young peosionary in China made an address fol- pIe's meeting, with South America lowed by lantern slides showing Ori- for the theme, a map game patterned ental life. after the old-fashioned "Tail the Donkey" was played. A large out- After the service the members of line map of South and Central Amerthe congregation were given an op- ica and Mexico was drawn on book portunity of becomin~ acquainted muslin and hung on the wall. Three with their Chinese neighbors and of or four large rivers were indicated examining many articles from China but no other details. Small tags lawhich were on display. belled Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro, and so on, were dis- This congregation plans to invite tributed, two or three being prepared other foreign groups to participate in for each city. When the name of the their church services in a similar city was called various players holdmanner. ing corresponding tags were called and asked to pin their tags on the Minion Study in Missouri. A map at the place they thought that city was located. Of course some of Presbyterian church in Mt. Washing- them were far afield, which caused ton, Missouri, has a membership of much merriment and enabled the 425. 'l'hrough interest resulting from leader to claim undivided attention a missionary circulating_ library a when the final map was prepared, church school of missions was proj- showing the correct location of the ected with weekly sessions on cities. Wednesday evenings. Dinner was served at the church by the six circles The Home Church and Its Students. of the Women's Auxiliary in turn with a charge of twenty-five cents for Court Street Methodist Church, adults and twenty cents for children. Lynchburg, Virginia, remembers its From fifty to seventy-five people usu- students in its plans and programH. ally came in time for dinner. Others During the Christmas holidays all of came later. On the opening night its college students were invited as 165 attended Mission Study Classes honor guests to the Wednesday eveand on the final night, 174. The at- ning tea which is a part of the regutendance never rail below 110. lar program for officers and teach- ers. There was a special guest table The general theme for study was with a Christmas tree, and a pres- China. Beginning with the children ent for each student guest. After there was a class with a half hour the Christmas story, the songs and period for handwork and another the talk, there was no doubt in the half hour for stories and pictures. minds of the students that their home church was counting on them. A scoutmaster conducted a class Monthly communications are sent by for Boy Scouts, while the missionary thiEl church to all of its college superintendent of the Sunday school students. led a class for girls in "Torchbearers in China" and ' ,Young China."
From forty to fifty adults studied
INTERNATIONAL REI.A'fIONSHTPS IN 'fRE MAKTNG DOLL MESSENGERS 01' mothers. The little girls-and older ones too-dress in their best, and not FRIENDSHIP only enjoy their own dolls but also visit and enjoy those of their neigh- World peace does not spring full- bors. A new doll may be added on grown from the tip of brandished this day and passed on to succeeding swords. Peace parleys are not a matter for government diplomats only. generations. Seventy-three years ago an Ameri- The Committee on World Friendship Among Children is proposing a can battleship was anchored in Yeddo project for promoting understanding Bay as Commodore Perry said to and- good will between America and Japan, "Let's be friends." Japan. There will be no booming of can- The children of America are in- non on March 3, 1927, when scores of vited: thousands of American dolls will speak the same message for America '8 1. To become acquainted with children to the children of Japan. "lEna Matsuri," Japan's 'Festival of Dolls, which is celebrated on the third It is proposed that the dolls be sent day of the third month of each year, by grollPS of children in public and to learn something of Japan's love private schools, Sunday-schools, for children and home life and to be- neighborhoods, and summer camps, gin to know Japan as she really is. or by individual children, families, and friends. 2. To send thousands of dolls to join the doll families of Japan and The dolls should be new American to serve as messengers and ambassa- dolls carefully dressed in every dedors of good will and friendship. tail, with extra dresses if possible. They should cost about $2.50 or $3.00. The Festival of Dolls is a gala day Upon reaching Japan the dolls will for all Japan. On that day each fam- be distributed by the Department of ily brings out of its ancestral treasure Education to the girls in the schools. house the dolls of mothers and grand-
BEST METHODS
If possible the presentation will be pIe of Japan in good will toward made on "Hina Matsuri," March 3, America. Each class, or individual, 1927. sending a doll, is to prepare a mes- sage of good will in about 150 or 200 'I'here are about 4,500,000 girls, six words to be sent with the doll. to fourteen years of age, in the public schools of Japan. It is hoped that The doll travelers must have tick- the children of the United States will ets and passports, properly vised. send to Japan not less than 200,000 Tickets cost ninety-nine cents with a passport fee of one cent. dolls. The first week in October is desig- Among the opportunities afforded by this plan are: nated as Doll Messenger Week, with posters displayed, and publicity given The forming of a Community Doll the plan throughout America. One Messenger Committee to plan for of the most important possibilities of local cooperation in making the projthis project lies in the opportunity of ect a success. educating thousands of American children and their parents in inter- A study of Japan in schools, Sunnational thinking and in good will day-schools, and other groups. toward Japan, and likewise the peo- The presentation of plays and pag- eants featuring Japan.
EXCHANGE DOLLS MAY MEAN AS :MUCH IN WORLD FRIENDSHcrP AS EXCHANGE PROFESSORS
'j'HE MIBSIOXARY HEVmW OJ·' '1'lcH; WOHLD
The circulation of books and leaf- A farewell or bon voyage party lets giving information about Japan. at which the dolls are guests of honor. A Japanese exhibit may be a feature The publication in local papers of of this party which holds abundant interesting and informing items. with educational possibility. photographs of children of America with their doll messengers. A broadcasting meeting on March 3, to "listen in" to messages from The presentation of stereopticon across the sea in impersonations. pictures of Japan, and the making of Japanese albums using picture sheets There are possibilities without and illustrations from magazines and limit in the plan." other sources. * Full information and instructions will be A study of routes, methods of given on application to the Committee on travel, in outlining the dolls' journey World Friendship AUJ(Ing Children, 289 Fourth and destination. Ave" New York. N. Y.
A SUGGESTED STANDARD OF CHURCH EFFICIENCY Each church should have: 1. A Beneficence Committee that is alive and doing things. 2. Definite missionary education in all departments of the church and Sunday-school at least once a month. 3. An annual, personal, every-member canvass that really reaches everybody. 4. Weekly offerings for missions in church and Sunday-school through the duplex envelopes. 5. A treasurer of beneficences that remits monthly. 6. Giving at least "as much for others as for ourselves" the goal. 7. Prayer for missions–constant, definite.
A REASONABLE STANDARD OF PERSONAL EFFICIENCY ]. A life of victory over sin by the power of the indwelling Christ.
Reb. 7: 25. 1 Cor. 10: 13.
2. The habit of trying to win others to Christ by personal testimony.
Acts 1 : 8. Dan. ]2: 3. '
3. Daily renewal of life through Bible study and prayer. Joshua 1: 8. 2 Tim. 3: 14-17.
4. Making the world-wide proclamation of salvation through Christ an object. of serious and permanent study. 2 Tim. 2: 15. John 4: 35.
5. Giving to God with system, proportion and sacrifice, with one- tenth of income as the lowest proportion. Lev. 27: 30. Mal. 3: 8-10.
Luke 14: 33.
6. To plan definitely to enlist other men in the missionary enterprise -endeavoring where possible to band them together in groups in the I support of a missionary. Matt. 28: 18-20.
7. Habitual prayer for more laborers for the ripe harvest fields, and a serious personal" effort to find them. Luke "10: 2.
Woman's Foreign Mission
EDITED BY AMY G. LEWIS, 150 FWfH AVENUE, NEW YORK WOMEN ORGANIZED FOR PEAVE more cultured. The world was drawn An address by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt more closely together, men travelled at the annual meeting of the Federation of in every direction: the missionaries Woman'. Boards of Foreign Missions of went wherever there were people to :'>orth America at Atlantic City, January 10- hear and heed them; the business 11, 1926. man wherever there was a profit to be In looking over the questions which had, until the world seemed grown are to be asked and answered at this together and there were those who conference there is one question I dared to say that now, another great would like to answer. "Do the Chris. war would never come. .And then tian women of your community really in the midst of this confidence there desire the world organized for came the greatest war the world had peace 1" I answer "No," and the ever known and the most destructive.
reason is simple. I had a letter the When Julius Cresar dominated the other day from a man in the West known civilized world, history tells who said, "Out here nobody is in- us that he had only 300,000 men, and terested in the question of war and he commanded all the territory from peace. It is a question which every- the Thames to the Euphrates; and body dodges." Why should they not when Napoleon looked out upon his dodge it 1 There is no war in sight. neighboring nations with the desire Perhaps another may never come. of world power and gained it, he com- What is it to them? They don't manded almost all the known civil- think, they don't know how to want a ized world and he had about 400,000 world organized for peace. men. But when the great war came, Can the women of the churches do men were mobilized by the millions anything about it? Yes, they can and millions, and ten millions of convert everybody in their church to young men actually gave up their want a warless world, to understand lives on battlefields in that one war.
how to get it. We may have peace if Thirty-two nations were engaged in we will. it and when it was over in almost Now, why is this question before every land great men who were schol- us 1 Why is it at this moment so im· ars, who knew history, who knew perative? It is assuredly the great· science, who knew civilizations, these est question in the world. The sci- men said as they recited to them- entists for many, many years have selves the losses that had come as a been exploring old lands and I think result of that war, "We have nearly we must concede that they at least destroyed civilization." .And another have found that mankind has been war like this would utterly ruin it.
occupying this world for a great many What does it mean to us particu- thousands of years; nobody knows larly 1 It means this, that the races how long. They have discovered that and the nations that brought that wars were always common among all greatest of all wars, were Christian these primitive people, and they have nations. It was a conflict of Chris- found that races have been wiped out tian nations upon one side against of existence; nations have disap· Christian nations on the other. .And peared. to aid one side to destroy the civili- This was the history of the world zation of the other side men of less and time went on and man became developed races were brought to Eu- more civilized, more enlightened, rope to do their part. There were men 631
of all the religions and pretty nearly preaching in the remotest corners of all the races that came to serve the the globe, and I find that in the dif- Christians upon the two sides to de- ficulties now besetting China many a stroy each other, and when the war missionary has spoken strongly and was over this had its effect upon in most statesmanlike language the those races and nations that had facts concerning that diffi~ulty. It come to assist, and they are saying was the missionaries who have stirred things they did not think before. these people to want education, to Not long ago, in conversation with desire schools but having had schools a very eminent and distinguished In- and some education they have learned dian-he was a graduate of Cam- to read our history. They know it rather better than some of us, they bridge University-I asked him the know the story of the American revoquestion, "What. attitude do the lution and they ask, "Why is it pa- Christians take now in India toward triotism for the Americans to have rethe great war 1" He said, "They say that every great prophet has brought volted and a menace to the world truth into the world and that Christ when other nations would revolt?" brought the highest truth of any, and They throw up the words of the therefore Christianity is the greatest Magna Charta to the British and they of the religions." I pressed another throw up the words of the Declaraquestion, "What answer does India tion of Independence to the Amerigive?" and his reply was, rather hesi- cans. This is the reason why mistatingly, "India says that she finds sionaries and the Christian Church the Christians a very blood-spilling have an especial du1ly that never came to them before. people. " I am told that when that great What, then, can we do about it? The first thing that is to be done Christian Conference was held in is to understand that war may be Stockholm last summer, great men eliminated from the world. "Peace who were there were shocked not a is an adventure in faith. " The faith little when an Oriental arose and said, "We may regret war, but let it of the Church should be absolute. not be forgotten that all the most de- There are those who say, "Wars alstructive of the equipments of war, ways have been; they are therefore the submarine, the airplane and poi- inevitable, and they always must be." son gas and the new great cannons, Those who take the opposite view say and far-shooting, long-distance guns, that war is a barbarism which beare the contributions of Christian na~ longed to the past and the question tions. They were never in the world of today is, "Are we civilized enough until the Christians brought them." to make an end of it 1" I know the These are the things that they are human mind is slow in coming to con- clusions, very slow in changing its saying over on the other side. position. But it can be done and I Yesterday in a debate as to the would say to each and everyone of status of the Western and Eastern you as you go home, to resolve that civilizations and their relation to each in your own church you are going to other, one Oriental-I think he was a do whatever you can to convert every Syrian_asked a question-and he man and woman in it to the faith that asked it of an American, who did not war may be put out of the world.
answer it well. His question was, How can we prevent war 1 By sub- "Christianity claims that it has the highest and the purest principles to stituting something for it-arbitrabe found in the world, but tell me, tion – conciliation – when men sit in the intercourse of the Western na- around a table and talk things over tions WIth the East, have those prin- and finally come to a conclusion.
ciples ever been applJied?" I am sure everybody here has seen Now the missionaries have been somebody in a temper. You may even
WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN
have tried it yourself. Well, when a ental; the Orientals can understand person is angry he is crazy; he Him" what did he mean ¥ He was doesn't know what he says or what thinking of all the wars, of all the he does. And you know that any- profits, of all the big business, of all thing an angry man or woman says the ambitions; these were the things is pretty silly. Well, it is so with na- he had in mind.
tions. You put into the hands or that And now there is rising just a pos- angry man a gun and somebody is Ribility-one wonders what it may pretty sure to get killed. You feed a. mean-in the Gandhi movement in nation on lies and hatred and suspi- India, in that strange bloodless move- cion; give it plenty of navies, air- ment in China, in a similar mood that planes and armies and guns and all has eome at times in Syria, even in that and pretty sure it will be that it .the Philippines-can it be possible will rush into a war. that out of that same Orient where But disarmament that is coming is all the religions were born there will not quite enough. There is the League come an interpretation and an under- of Nations. '1'here is a court ready standing of Christianity which the to hear disputes and to render judg- West has never yet applied Y This is ment in certain matters. There is a question for us to consider. It seems the Hague tribunal. We have all the to me that the time has come when machinery, but it is your business every church should rise to a higher and mine to' demilitarize the minds of interpretation of its own faith, to a the world; to demilitarize them so rededication of its own principles, that they do not want to fight. When with a determination to stand for there is a difficulty they will find principle no matter what it costs, to some other way out of it. stand for the application of princi- I myself believe that a terrible ple in the dealing of our own nation challenge has been given to the Chris- with every other land.
tian Church. Christianity stands for And how shall we do it? Let us humility and modesty and gracious- not forget that today the women of ness and kindness and generosity, the world, of the Christian world and all those things, and yet while especially, are enfranchised. No the missionaries have been teaching longer are they without responsibil- these principles and have been living ity. In twenty-nine countries women up to them, the nations they repre- are voting and today they are the sent which are called Christian have rulers of things, whether they know not been dealing with the nations of it or not. And among the church other lands in this spirit and they women I am told many times there is don't now. great indifference. That vote can Let us not forget that with the same make this a warless world. How can treaty which gave the Chinese the we do it? By standing fast, one by right to become Christians, opium one, to these ideals in crises that wav went as a legal business, and China arise demanding of us national acthereafter disapproved of it and pro- tion.
tests even yet. So it is this problem, whether from the Orient there may The following prayer for America come from pagans dealing with is being offered each week in the Christian principles an answer to Madras Union Christian College, In- Christians dealing with pagan prin- dia, showing how eagerly ChrIstians ciples. When a Japanese who i!': a in the Far East are watching the Christian said, "If the Orient is ever Temperance Movement here. to be Christianized, it will be through the interpretation of Orientals and , , We beseech Thee to grant Thy strength to this nation in. its conflict with the evils not of the West; the West has never of strong drink, that the resolve which has understood Christ; He was an Ori- been nobly mad~ w.a:y ~ ClIQNy kept." EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, ]56 FIF'l'H AVENUE, NEW YORK LIVE ISSUES IN INDIAN AFFAIRS prepared to welcome the taking over By THOMAS C. MoFI!'m'T of the educational and health service 'for the Red Men by the states. Many From the report of the Comm.1ttee on Indian friends of the Indians will regard this Missions of the Home Missious Council and as inadvisable in view of the graft Council of Women for Home Missions, Dr. Moffett. Chairman.
Every year settles previously con- and the local indifference or injustice tested interests and brings into promi- which the white man has evidenced in nence new concerns of the Indians of the past and during the "Century of our country. The Bursum bill, in- Dishonor. "
volving the lands and titles of the In October, the Supreme Court of Pueblo dwellers and white settlers in the United States rendered a decision New Mexico, was to the front a short sustaining authority of the New York time ago. Now 'a government com- State courts to pass upon the prop- mission is working out an equitable erty rights of Indian citizens. For adjustment of conflicting claims and a long time the political status of In- in the course of five years probably dians of this state had been unde- final adjudication of these interests fined and a subject of much contro- will be attained. The agitation pre- versy, the claim being made that they vented a serious neglect and injury to were" free and independent nations the rights of the Pueblos, which the enjoying treaty obligations with the Bursum bill would have involved. Federal Government."
Citizenship for the Red Man has The closing of the Chemawa School long been a debated question, and the near Salem, Oregon, to any further signing in July, 1924, by President registration of Indian' children from Coolidge of the Act of Congress con- Alaska should be made a live issue ferring this status on all Indians born by a plea for the continuation of these within the United States, closed this bright and promising Alaskans in this contention. The bill provides protec- very excellent institution. Nearly tion for the property interests and one half of the enrollment is from wardship of members of primitive Alaska. The Tutuilla day school on tribes and individuals, while it re- the Uma reservation, near Pendleton, moves the great injustice of withhold- Oregon, has been closed because of a ing this right and privilege from these departmental ruling that there must native Americans. The use that the be an attendance of at least eight Red Men will make of this boon, and children. Due to a temporary con- their preparation for suffrage in- dition, the number was reduced thiR volve the problems of additional edu- year and the Washington authorities cation and their competency in ad- ordered it closed. The boarding ministering their own affairs. school for the same tribe, registering The relations of the Indians to the from ninety to one hundred pupils, states in which they live has attained was closed last year on the ground of new prominence within the last few economy, months. The SeClretary of the Inte- The constant complaints by In- rior, in his report submitted to Con- dians and by organizations, such as gress, has surprisingly advocated the Indian Defense Society, of bu- much larger responsibility of the reaucracy in the Federal Indian Serv- states instead of Federal control of ice have reached their height this Indian affairs; and appears to be year. A long list of neglects and 634 abuses charged against the Commis- vestigation aud experimentation resioner and Indian field service makes vealed. a formidable indictment. Many of those charges appear to be unwar- The progress in reaching the Inranted or extreme, and among the dians with the Gospel is of supreme 5,000 employees of this branch of the concern, and is the cause of both Government, there are many devoted, gratification and of serious reflection. unselfish and capable men and women At times the work seems to move very who deserve appreciation and highest slowly, even though whole tribes have praise rather than the censure and been led from primitive pagan condicondemnation whieh have been indis- tions into Christian faith within one criminately vented upon them. or two generations. The prayer, "Lord, increase our faith," is ever The physical ailment, which afflicts needed, for there are difficult features the Indians of all tribes, and which is of this task, which make zeal and exreceiving anew the systematic care of pectation lag behind opportunity and the Federal Bureau and its medical need. The total number of missionstaff, is trachoma, the dread eye dis- aries seems sufficient and the approease, involving granular lids, im- priations generous for Protestant paired sight and resultant blindness. service to Indians in the United The government and mission schools, States, and yet there are thousands of hospitals and field workers are en- the Indians without a knowledge of listed in a vigorous campaign to pre- the revealed truth. Recent advancevent and to cure this evil. Our ports ment made by the evangelical of entry have long been closed to im- churches shows no great awakenings migrants afflicted with trachoma, but or large accessions to membership. upon the native Americans there have In the large government boarding been comparatively no restrictions, schools the last few years have eviand the infection has been wide- denced decided improvement in spread. Dr. F. 1. Proctor, of Massa- Protestant service. District convenchusetts, has been rendering a most tions and campmeetings of the Invaluable and expert service without dians and their friends have been incharge to the Government or mission creasing with marked interest and an boards, in scientific and specialized interdenominational regional conferinvestigation and treatment of tra- ence in Oklahoma with cooperation choma in the Indian country. from our Councils is a forward move of this year. The drug evil, peyote and its attendant "mescal worship," afflicts The Committee has collated facts many tribes; and this cult, since hav- and figures regarding religious ining been incorporated as a church or struction in government boarding religious sect, continues its propa- schools. We record our gratification ganda of exploiting Indians who are that of the 49 government Indian ignorant of the injurious effects and schools reporting, 33 stated that the degradations attendant upon this religious leaders were receiving coophabit. Four states have forbidden the eration, encouragement, appreciation importation or .sale of peyote, a spe- and good will in their work, from the cies of cactus growing in Texas and 'Superintendent and principal. In Mexico seientifically designated anhy- several of these cases not only are the Ionium, and most of the churches, superintendent and principal cooper- Protestant and Roman Catholic, have ating, but they are enthusiastic in strongly condemned its use. Dr. the help which they give. Of the 16 Harvey W. Wiley, the eminent medi- other schools 11 fail to answer the cal and pure food expert, has renewed question and your Committee is takhis testimony as to its extremely dele- ing steps to secure an answer. Only terious effects which his scientific in- one school reported the superintend-
ent and principal as actively not co- A Prayer for Christian Unity operating. In the other cases, cooperation was partial or questionable or, o Master of the Galilean way, at least, not up to what it might be. In the light of these returns, your Forgive us for the vows we fail to keep, Committee feels very strongly that Forgive us that we so neglect Thy sheep, the government officers with whom So idly waste this shining harvest day! the religious workers come in contact, Forgive us for the stumbling blocks we lay should be heartily commended for the Along the paths by which wen seek Thee! fine spirit of cooperation which they have shown toward the religious pa:o- Sweep gramS in their respective institutions. From our small minds the strife that WORLD FRIENDSHIP mEALS FOR holds Thee cheap, BOYS AND GIRLS BI'cak Thou the BI'ead of Life to us, We Approved by the Admlnlstratlve Committee of pray! the }l'ederal Council. 1926. What matter that we cannot understand I. We believe that nations should obey The mystery of Love that is divine, God '8 laws of right. Nor pierce the veil1 Dear Lord, our faith increase, II. We believe that nations become truly To know that since our hands may reach Thy Hand Our lives are made alt-powerful through thine '1'0 heal a wounded world and bring it peace!
-Molly Anderson Haley.
great and honorable only by be· ing just and unselfish.
III. We 'believe that Christian nations INTERNATIONAL IDEALS OF THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN have special duties to other na' AMERICA tions. .
IV. We believe that Christian friendship can overcome bad feeling between Adopted by the Executive Committee of the Federal Council. December. 1921; the Quad- peoples and races. rennial Meeting of the Federal Council. DecPID- ber. 1924; and many of the denominations at V. We believe that Christians who love theIr annual assemblies In 1922. 1923. 1924.
their own country will work for goodwill between nations. I. We believe that nations no less than individuals are subject to God's VI. We believe that men and women, immutable moral laws.
boys and girls of all races and colors should be fair and just to one another. II. We believe that nations achieve true welfare, greatness and honor only VII. We believe that all nations should through just dealing and unselfish service. work together for world peace.
VIII. We believe that all nations should settle their disputes and quarrels III. We believe that nations that regard themselves as Christian have spe- in a W'orld Oourt of Justice or in cial international obligations.
other peaceful ways.
IX. We believe that aU nations should IV. We believe that the spirit of Chris- cut down their armies and navies tian brotherliness can remove every unjust barrier of trade, and should stop making war. color, creed and race.
X. We believe everyone should work to stop war and we promise to V. We believe that Ohristian patriot- do our part. ism demands the practice of goodwill between nations. Three blossoms in a happy garden grow. Have care, for this one, 10, VI. We belim;e that international poli- Is white as any snow: cies should secure equal justice Its name is Peace. for all, races.
Three flowers-and one, in hue, VII. We believe that all nations shoulr! A delio,ate goldj associate themselves permanently A harsh breath, then its golden for world peace and goodwill. L€aves shall droop and fold; VTII. We believe in international law, and Its name is Joy. in the universal use of interna- tional courts of justice and Three flowers-and one is crimson, boards of arbitration. Rioh and strong; "'his will, if well entreated, all lX. We believe in a sweeping reduction Others outlive long; of armaments by all nations.
Its name is Love. X. We believe in a warless world. and -Richard Watson Gilder. dedicate ourselves to its achieve- ment.
FROM.l1ANY
EUROPE measure of the National Church Assembly sanctioning practices and doctrines declared British Y. W. C. A. Conference by that settlement to be repugnant to the word of God would be a reversal of the reo T WO interesting ceremonies in con- ligious constitution of this realm, which con- nection with the biennial confer- stitution this meeting emphatically calls ence of the Y. W. C. A. of Great upon His Majesty's Parliament to maintain Britain, which was held in London intact. the end of June, were the special Sunday afternoon service in Westminster English Tax on GaDlbling Abbey and the reception of the delegates by the Lord Mayor and Lady THE prevalence of the gambling Mayoress in the Mansion House. Im- evil in Scotland was referred to in mediately following this conference the April REVlEW.. Christian leaders the World's· Committee of the Y. W. in England are now greatly concerned C. A. met in Oxford July 1st to 8th. over proposed legislation to place a Among the delegates from the tax on betting. The London Christian United States were the following: says: "The protracted campaign for Mrs. James S. Cushman, Mrs. John legalized gambling is apparently now II. Finley, Mrs. Robert L. Dickinson, within measurable distance of success. Mrs. Lewis H. Lapham, Mrs. Harold The argument is based, plausibly Hatch, Miss Katherine Lambert, Miss enough, upon the needs of the na- Mabel Cratty, Miss Sarah Lyon, Miss tional exchequer; but there can be Clara Reed, of Springfield Mass., little doubt that, at bottom, it is not Mrs. E. C. Carter, of Briarcliff, N. Y., the political economists, but the bet- Mrs. E. M. Townsend, of Oyster Bay, ting confraternity, who have been N. Y., and Mrs. Charles L. Jones, of most ·active in the campaign. Hold- Milwaukee, Wis. ing, as we do, that gambling is one of the most ruinous of modern vices, we English Prayer-Book Revision welcome the manifesto of protest is- sued by the Bishop of Lichfield, and ANNOUNCEMENT was made in signed by more than fifty Anglican the June REVIEW of the meeting a"nd Free Church leaders, both minto be held June 1st under the auspices isters and laymen." of the Evangelical Alliance in Albert Hall by Free Churchmen and Church The London Guardian renews its of England Evangelicals, to protest "appeal to the leaders of Christian against suggested changes in the thought in towns and villages through- Prayer Book as tending toward Ro- out the country to keep in the fore- ·manism in the English Church. It is ground of their teaching on the subreported that 8,000 people were pres- ject the moral effect that would be ent, and that after speeches by vari- produced by raising revenue for the ous leaders the meeting unanimously State from the taxation of gambling." adopted this resolution: Prague Students Buy Testa:ments Solemnly and on behalf of true religion IF ANY of those who have attempted throughout the whole country, this meeting religious work in Prague recently calls upon the archbishops now considering had been asked about the probable proposals for the Prayer Book revision to f saIe f N ew Testament s maintain the Protestant Reformed religion, success a 0 0 as by law established in this realm. Any among the students, "their answer,"
637
says the News Sheet of the World's in which Catholic, Protestant and Student C h r i s t ian Federation, Greek Orthodox Christians meet reg- "would have been at the best a smile ularly to do some "hard thinking" of kindly but certain disbelief." But together on Christian problems. one day on the terrace of the Studentsky Domov a table appeared dis- The Bible in French Schools playing Testaments in Czech and German for sale. No attendant was FRANCIS HACKETT, in an article evident, only a plate in which was to in the June Atlantic Monthly, be deposited the price of books taken, makes an interesting comment on and this placard: "How to Read the the differences between British and Bible" : F'rench civilization resulting from the part which the Bible has Do not try to find instruction in science. played in each. Press reports in- Do not stop at insignificant passages. dicate that France may be beginning Approach it without prejudice. to realize what she has lost by exclud- The Bible gives news about people who ing all Biblical instruction from pubdis!lOvered a new life; it is also an urge lic education. A recent government to discontent with oneself and with our regulation for schools of higher grade social order. states in substance: The result surprised even the Pupils must not be allowed to ignore the author of the plan. In the course of principal traditions of the great men of the three hours thirty-four Testaments people of Israel, nor the Books of the Bible were sold and the price for them de- -first, because these are part of the intelposited by the purchaser. Now a lec- lectual and moral patrimony of hnmanity, ture on "How to Read the Bible" is and second, because if ignorant of them we being advertised, and a second sale is cannot understand Protestantism nor Puriplanned to follow the lecture. tanism, nor art as it belongs to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Russian Students in Paris "This, " comments the Christian Ad- T HROUGH the World's Student vocate, "is not going very far in the Christian Federation comes news direction of positive religious instrucof several groups of Russian students tion, but it is a hopeful sign. It is in Paris, among them a Bible-study especially noteworthy that Francecircle studying the Gospel of St. Mark, which some would call 'atheistic'- another, consisting of Belgrade peo- feels the need of the Bible in the pubple, former Prague students and some lic schools, at the very time when newcomers, studying the writings of American atheists, who include Volthe Holy Fathers, and the circle of the taire and other Frenchmen among Four Evangelists – quite a new de- their intellectual guides, are protestparture. This consists mostly of vol- ing against every proposal to make a unteer workers of the Student Move- place for religious education in school ment, now students of the Ecclesias- hours." tical Academy. Its purpose is to interest the Academy students in the Protestantism in Hungary work of the Movement and at the same time to be a training center for Move- MR. W. P. LIVINGSTONE, of the. ment workers. The group members United Free Church of Scotland, must pledge themselves to study the who recently returned from a visit to Orthodox liturgy and to master one central Europe, reports a remarkable of the three main foreign languages Protestant revival now under way in (English, French or German). In Hungary. According to Mr. Living- November a meeting took place with stone, there are now 1,500,000 memrepresentatives of the French Student bers of Protestant churches in what is Movement and of the Foyer Interna- still Hungary and 1,000,000 more in tional for women students, which re- the new states formed since the war sulted in the organization of a circle, out of parts of the old kingdom. At
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Prague the Hussite Chureh has Mahmal escort and pilgrims usually doubled its membership in the last hold in the Hedjaz during the pilseven years, and Mr. Livingstone grimage. Tb.e band which accompanies spoke to one Protestant congregation the Mahmal will not be allowed to acof two thousand in a suburb where, company it to Mecca, and must stop at ten years ago, the membership was J eddah. The" Holy Carpet" will only fifty. Practically all of the members of the Protestant churches are have to be sent from J eddah to the Czechs. Kaaba in packages and without cere- German Women Teach Missions mony ; the Kiswa ceremony usually held on the occasion will be absolutely T HE women of Germany are mak- prohibited. The Wahabi Government lng their influence felt in all phases objects also to the Egyptian military of life. The improved conditions in escort entering the Hedjaz with arms, politics, in communal welfare, in all and it is proposed to deprive the force matters of public interest, are to a of its arms on its arrival at J eddah. very large extent due to the activity These objections are due to the Waof the women. One of the most inter- habi teachings which preclude the esting of the developments of recent holding of showy ceremonies in the months is the activity of the women sacred cities. teachers in, the public schools along missionary lines. The evangelical When Egypt Prayed for Britain teachers of religion are united in an organization which publishes its own THE last annual report of the periodical, a paper of high merit in Egypt General Mission speaks the articles it contains. The presi- in this striking fashion of our debt dent of the association is Oberi-n Mag- to take the Gospel back to Egypt; dalene von Tiling, who is prominent "Has it ever dawned upon us that in all forms of women '8 work and is when Britain was pagan, Egypt was a member of the Prussian Parliament. thinking of us, praying for us, plead- The January number of the periodi- ing with God for our salvation 1 At cal referred to contains four articles that time Alexandria was the 'Home on missionary questions. One teacher Prayer Base,' and Canterbury a miswrites; "Missions belong to the sion station in a dark heathen land. schools, for their own sake and for the This is what Gregory wrote to Eubosake of the children." gius, Bishop of Alexandria; AFRICA The English race, situated in the far cor- ner of the world has hitherto relllJlined in Egyptian Pilgritnage Checked unbelief, worshipping stocks and stones, but aided by your prayers, I made up my mind D[FFICULTIES between the Gov- (it was God who prompted me) to send a ernment of Egypt and King Hus- monk of my own monastery to them to sein, then ruler of the Hedjaz, made preach. _.. ,At Christmas last more than ten it impossible for Egyptian Moslems to thousand English people, we are informed, make the pilgrimage to Mecca in 1923 were baptized by our brother and fellowand 1924, and in 1925 the internal bishop. I tell you this that you may know strife in the Hedjaz had the same what your prayers are doing at the world's effect. This year some 12,000 Egyp- end." tians were planning to make the pilgrimage when the Ministry of the Grace VB. "Grandfather" Interior received a report from its representative in the Hedjaz, to the REPRESENTATIVES of the effect that the Wahabi Government, Church Missionary Society point under Ibn Saoud, objects to the tradi- out that paganism in many parts of tional ceremonies which the Egyptian Africa is doomed, but that the African is faced by the perils of materialism. His greatest need is an education dominated by Christian ideals and permeated with the spirit of Chris-
tianity. The Church Missionary Out- 1887, Mr. S. A. Bill being the pioneer. look for April states that at least He is still alive and has not returned thirty men and twenty women recruits for furlough since 1918. They have are needed immediately for the rap- been gathering a very gracious haridly developing C. M. S. missions in vest of souls, 2,785 being baptized last Africa. All these could be supported year. The outstanding feature of the by government grants or local funds work is the developing of the grace without any additional charge on the of giving. Years ago the secretary at Society's budget, beyond that for home became convinced that the methtraining. The urgency of the call od of supporting native workers from from Africa can hardly be overstated. the funds of the society was wrong For some years the Bishop and other and he pleaded with the missionaries experienced missionaries have warned that they insist on the support of their the Church at home that all was not pastors, evangelists and school teachwell in Uganda, and that the story ers coming from native gifts. Their which has been one of the glories of reply was that their converts were too missionary history might easily be- poor. But the secretary at home was come a tragedy. As some of the insistent that the subsidizing princi- Baganda have put it: "Grace has ple was wrong, and at last the miscome into the heart, but grandfather sionaries agreed to give it a trial. is still in the bones," and the result is The result has been remarkable, and often a condition such as grieved St. a surprise at first to the missionaries Paul in Corinth. themselves. Last year the native Christians in West Africa contributed An Arab Colporteur a.t Work about $65,000, while the total income of the Mission at home was a little REV. W. H. RAINEY, secretary of under .$53,000. the British and Foreign Bible Society fo1' North Africa, writes: "We Modern Inventions in Elat have longed for the day when Arab colporteurs would carry the Arabic T HE Halsey Memorial Press at Bible to Arabs. We have searched for Elat, West Africa, continues to be the right type of man but without a marvel to the natives: "The printsuccess. Then we fixed our hopes on ing office is continually visited by the Kabyle and Arab boys being edu- curious natives wondering what this cated in the French Evangelical Mis- is all for. Travelers have come from sion and the Methodist Episcopal great distances to see the marvels of schools. At last our patience is re- this strange workshop. The presswarded. The great experiment is be- feeder is an amazement, but the monoing made. A native Arab colporteur type is a still greater wonder. The is now visiting the Arab cafes in conversation of a group which one day Algiers, and offering the Scriptures to stood gazing at this typesetting was his countrymen. He has already been overheard by a missionary; one of instrumental in selling a considerable them remarked that he would like to number of copies. Then we hope that see the inside of the head of the man during the summer vacation, two that invented such a thing. His young Kabyle students will undergo neighbor maintained that it could not an apprenticeship in colportage work have been a man but a spirit which that will fit them for service later could do such wonders. But a third said, 'When people know God for on." years He gives them wisdom passing understanding.' It is believed, how- Surprising Gifts from Converts ever, that many of the women who visit the shop marvel more at seeing T HE Qua Iboe Mission, which has water brought forth from the wall by its headouarters in Belfast and its work in West Africa, undertook a mission in the swampy district extending south of the Niger delta in
1986J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
turning a knob. These women have teach in the Engli~h language in all their lives carried water from Syria. Property is free from taxes rivers and springs, and it is unbe- and school supplies free from cuslievable to them that such a necessity toms duties. No military service is could be obtained at so little labor. demanded from the students. A su- A 45-foot well just outside the build- perior councilor education has been ing, with a power pump attached, is formed to reorganize the secondary the secret of these astonishing water and higher instruction. The Presi- works." dent and two elected members of the faculty of the American University THE NEAR EAST oj' Beirut have been asked to sit on· The New Wo:man in Syria this council. No requirements have T HE "awakening of girls and been made with regard to the en- women in Beirut to public con- forced teaching of French. No obsciousness within the last few years" stacles have been raised with regard is described by Miss Frances Garside, to meetings, services, textbooks, conof the Y. W. C. A., who says: "More 1+ent of courses, or selection of and more girls are entering the Uni- teachers. Permission has been grantversity of Beirut, going in for phar- ed for all students to enter Syria for macy, medicine, bacteriology and study, regardless of the country from dentistry, with the full intention of which they may come."
entering these professions later. Yet, only eight years ago, the first young Palestinian Jews Hear Gospel A woman in Syria entered a business T the recent eighty-third annual meeting of the British S.ociety office, that of the American Mission. A year later the second Syrian girl for the Propagation of the Gospel ventured into business life, though it among the .Jews, Rev. Frank J. Exley was not for two years later that the described a service in the mission hall third was interested. Today, there is in Haifa, a center where the Jewish not a business office or importance population is increasing very rapidly.
which does not have its stenographers He said: "Jews are not being in- and clerks from among the young duced to enter our mission hall in women of Syria and. in several, young Haifa with any idea that the Gospel women are practically in charge and is to be toned down to suit their making good. These girls are, in the prejudice. The text on the wall is a main, living at home. The Moslem clear proclamation of our message.
girl is slower in coming out into the The service as a whole is in Hebrew.
new order of things." The addresses are earnest appeals to receive Jesus Christ as Saviour and The French Mandate in Beirut Master and Lord. The place is full PRESIDENT BAYARD DODGE of Jews-keen, alert, intellectual, lis- of the American University of tening with the utmost intenseness to Beirut in a recent statement on the the message, and ready enough to talk relationship of the University to the about it afterwards to those who have ]'rench Mandate says that members been speaking to them."
of the French High Commission in Syria and the Grand Lebanon have Medicine and the Bible in O:man shown extraordinary courtesy to the REV. G. D. VAN PEURSEM, of University and that no intimation of the Arabian Mission of the Reinterference with the work has been formed Church in America, writes of suggested. He continues: "The treaty an inland trip: "During our three- between Washington and Paris rati- weeks' stay in Sib it has been amply fied July 13, 1924, definitely gives demonstrated that the need for med- permission to American schools to ical attention is inexpressibly great.
5
The attendance at the morning clinics INDIA, SIAM AND MALAYSIA numbered about one hundred and A Tribute to Character fifty. Dr. Dame operated every afternoon and some days were given over WHEN Dr. S. K. Datta, of India, to surgery altogether. One half day on a recent visit to Australia, he performed nine major and nine was asked by a prominent citizen if, minor operations. 'fhe first week he after all the years of the work of the did an average of.seven operations a Christian missionaries, many highday. Many men sat in the courtyard caste and cultured Indians had acfor four days waiting their turn for cepted Christianity, he replied, "Very ·a much-needed operation. Some had few," but he admitted that, for the to return without relief because the past two or three generations, the doctor had no time. " While med- fathers had been saying to their sons: ical work naturally received the "Look at· these English officials and greater attention in Sib, we were able consider their lives-straightforward, to distribute many portions of the truthful, earnest, laboring to elevate New Testament. The people of Oman our nation and to organize and uplift are very polite, too polite to object to it to the high standard of their own.
one's reading the Bible in their pres- Then look at the missionaries, leading ence. I tried to sing the same hymn lives of great self-sacrifice without every day in the extemporized wards, so that the boys came and sang with any idea of personal advantage. Inme and quite a few of them learned deed, quite the reverse-and what the words and tune." for f '1'0 teach our people lofty ideals of life. They have something which Books as Tools in Baghdad we have not-some motive which our beliefs have failed to suggest. We REV. .JAMES CANTINE, D.D., paying tribute to the work of the want you to cultivate and live up to Ame'rican Christian Literature So- those ideals."
ciety for Moslems, describes what he calls" the evangelistic workshop" in Indian Preachers as Exorcists A Baghdad: "One end of the large RECENT evangelistic campaign conducted by the Methodist Episroom is filled in with book-shelves loaded with hundreds-thousands, if copal Mission in the Madras District you count tracts-of the publicatIons led to many baptisms. J. J. King- of the Nile Mission Press, printed ham writes in the Indian Witness: with aid from your society. On the "The converts are of twenty different walls are illumined gospel texts, ap- castes, a very reassuring fact when pealing and suggestive, from the same one reads some of the assertions of the source, while down the middle of the ignorant that Christianity reaches room are tables, holding the books and only the untouchables. Our congre- papers under discussion. On the g~tion in Vepery alone would utterly 'couches along the sides sit from six dIsprove such statements ….. On a to a dozen men, some reading, but village circuit near the city, the usually listening to someone reading Ptreacher has been called to many a book which is being commented up- homes as an exorcist, to drive out the on. An inquirer, who has been given demons who have taken possession of a book dealing with sO.me specific Hindu women. The aboriginal re- Christian truth, brings it back and ligion is demon-worship and Hindu- something is said that interests all ism proper is grafted into the ancient present and a general discussion fol- cults. The pastor goes to the house lows ….. Now and again one of the and talks with the people, who gen- Armenian or Syrian Christians wan- erally profess their faith that Jesus is ders in and receives an object lesson able to drive out the demon and state as to how the truth can be made at- that that is the reason why they have tractive to a Mohammedan." called on the minister for aid. He
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
then prays for the patient, and in a examination on the Bible stories short time there is complete relief, she taught them since our last visit, and on general truth; also finding out returns to her right mind and goes 'how they are' in every way-eheckabout her household duties. This has ing up oIl births, deaths, marriages, resulted in a number of conversions removals, baptisms, offerings, and and haptisms." many other things. While this is be- Hostility from Arya Samaj ing done in the Christian quarters, some of us are bringing the message CHRISTIAN workers at a rnela in of salvation to just as many souls as North India describe their ex- possible, over in the heathen village, per~ences with a representative of by day and night and sunrise services; this modern sect: "While he by the word of our testimony, by gospreached, yelled, drew and held the pels and tracts, picture cards and crowd we smiled and sold gospels. posters, and psalm books, sold or given But the more we sold the more angry he became. His abuse soon became away. "
more than other Hindus and a near- Buddhist's Son, a C. E. Leader T by Mohammedan shopkeeper could HE newly organized Christian Endeavor Society in Chiengmai, tolerate and only by our interference was he able to get away unmolested. Siam, is sponsored by a graduate of But he only. went to get a band and Bangkok Christian College. This several Arya preachers, who began young man's father, a staunch Budtheir preaching about fifty feet from dhist and the governor of a populous where we were. We could not have district, has from the first opposed asked for better help; because after the action of his eldest son in leaving having heard their messages, the peo- the religion which is announced by ple became more and more eager to His Majesty, the King, to be that of hear what our message was in return the Siamese. All the other members and to take Christian literature ….. of the family put every difficulty in It was not an unusual rnela day, but the way of his adherence to the Chriswhen evening had come the writer tian faith. While living with them had preached sixteen times and sold and in every other particular a loved nearly one hundred gospels, while the member of their circle, he gently but Indian preachers all had had their very firmly adheres to "the Jesus turns and several hundred gospels Way, " witnessing for his Master by had been sold and thousands of free a most consistent walk and conver- sation. He is zealous in seeking to tracts distributed." win young men to Christ, and is the Village Work in the Punjab most enthusiastic temperance leader THERE is no monotony about mis- in Chiengmai. sionary life in India, according to Mrs. M. M. McKelvey, of the United A Pathan Preacher F Presbyterian Mission in the Punjab. ROM the United Presbyterian Mis- sion in Lyallpur, North India, She writes of some of the methods used: "We always try to have a ,comes a report of some successful 'team,' as we go to each village; that special meetings. "The last night the is some of us go to the Christians, and preaching was by a converted Pathan, some to those without-who for the said to be a relative of the Amir of most part are to be found in the more Kabul. He was well taught in the pretentious part of the village. In Koran and other Mohammedan books.
common with the usual method in the He left for Bombay, that he might so-called Christian districts, we fol- lead in debates with Christians. But low a Bible course in the two hun- the more he studied his own books the dred villages where there are Chris- more he began to doubt that there was tians. Each visit to them means an in them a way of salvation. For some
time he prayed that he might be as- ers from Africa and India. " The sured of salvation, but not leave his doors to the student world are not own religion. Finally he was brought closed," agreed these student secreto know Jesus as the Saviour through taries, after sharing experiences of fellowship with a Hindu convert. He the past few months in an agitated is a fine-appearing man and a vig- and tense student world, "but the orous preacher. His message was personal qualifications of student seegiven the best of attention by a large retaries matter a hundredfold more audience. They had decorated the than before. Anyone of fine enough tent and the road leading to the court- personality and with a genius for yard. They also gave him a dinner. friend~hip can cross the barriers that The pastor feels that at last this com- stand even against organized Christimunity has been reached, and that there has been a real awakening." anity. "
Lingnan University Sia.Jllese Village Christians T T A VILLAGE to the south of HE NBW Chinese name of Can- ton Christian College was an- A Prae, Siam, the little group of nounced in the June REVIEW as Ling- Christians were asked to join in com- han University. The Associated Press munity spirit worship, which consists item so gave it, but the correct form of killing pigs and fowls and offering is Lingnan. Chung Wing Kong, the them to tbe spirits to ensure a good Associate President, stated before re- crop. After the offering is made to . turning to China after a visit to the spirits this meat is eaten with rice America, that Chinese had taken over and much liquor. When the Chris- the entire maintenance of the Agri- tian people refused, pressure was cultural Department of the Univer- brought on them through the local of- sity. The trustees have now voted to ficials who threatened to cut off the appeal to the public for a $2,500,000 water supply from their fields. This fund for maintaining and developing would mean starvation, but still tbey the college during the next five years.
refused and appealed for help to the The Chinese want the college and are missionary, who brought the matter doing all in their power to support it.
to the notice of the Governor of the A representative body of alumni and province. This evidently was effec- former students recently sent a letter tive. But while these threats were in to the board of trustees declaring their the air ten persons were received into loyalty to the institution and decry- the Church in this place and others ing present Bolshevik activities in are preparing for baptism. China. Three fourths of the expenses for the current year have come from CHINA Chinese courses. Lingnan Unlversity Leaders for Chinese Students is the only modern university in a dis- trict having a population half as large ACONFERENCE of student Y. M:. as that of the United States. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. secretaries, both Chinese and foreign, which met in Shanghai several months ago, voted Chinese Mission to Lepers O:'ITE of the results of the recent to invite Reverend David Cairns, of world tour of W. M. Danner, of Aberdeen, Scotland, to come to China the American ~lission to Lepers was this coming autumn for talks on Chris- the organization of a Chinese society tianity among the mission schools. The possibility orasking Bishop Temple along similar lines. Mr. Danner says and Maude Royden of England to of its officers: "Rev. T. C. Wu, the come later, for more general work, was General Secretary, is a Baptist minalso discussed, and the desire was ex- ister, in his early thirties, who has pressed that the international visitors studied at several American universiof the future should also include lead- ties, traveled widely, and held a
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Shanghai pastorate successfully. It "Marks of the Lord Jesus" is in keeping with the spirit of the times in China that a Chinese Secre- AN INFURIATED MOB in Kweiltary should be employed, and it was :1 in, Kiangsi Province, is reported satisfaction as we left Shanghai to to have tattooed recently on the face know that the new Chinese lYIission to of a Chinese Christian the characters Lepers, the crystallization of the in- meaning" Foreign Slave. " The Lonterest that had been aroused among don Christian, which tells the story, the Chinese by our meetings and in- says: "Following upon a Socialistic terviews, was already organized and demonstration, an attack was made functioning under capable Chinese on a body of mission workers and conleadership. Dr. Fong Sec, Vice-Presi- verts; and one man, a scholar, who dent, is editor of the Commercial resented the indignities visited upon Press of Shanghai, and though, like Christians in general, was afterward -our own American Directors, busy singled out for still more violent treatwith many vocations and avocations, ment. As reported in the newspapers, he has given generously of his time amid hoots and jeers he was led to the to the Mission to Lepers. Mr Yinson city square, bound, and, as if to show Lee, the President, in addition to be- that only those who follow native suing of splendid Christian character, perstitions could be true Chinese, he has great executive gifts and is pos- was marked with the words' Foreign sessed of boundless energy and en- Slave!' And was it not grandly true thusiasm, steadied by sane and far- that, in faith and hope, the man susseeing judgment." tained relations that were foreign to the thought and feeling of his perse- Power of a Christian HOIne cutors-had he not a citizenship that was heavenly?" MRS. ROBERT F. FITCH, of Opium Smoking Incre…..ing . Hangchow, China, who, with her husband who is President of Hang- ACHURCH of England missionary chow College, was sent to China in at Mienchuh, Szechuan Province, 1898 by the Presbyterian Board, is quoted in the Church MisMnary writes of the influence of Christian Gleaner as follows: "Opium is hospitality: "Fine reads are being smoked far more than it ever was in opened now all through our province. the Manchu days, and this is due to One twenty miles long passes our col- the militarists. Farmers are forced lege, and we invited the manager and to plant a certain proportion of their the director, both non-Christia·ns, to a land in opium, ,and to pay taxes on dinner at our home. Our Chine~e the crop. All the 350 opium dens in dean asked the blessing and, Oriental- this city are run by soldiers. No one like, he made it a long one, remem- dare start one without· permission bering especially our guests. The of- from them, and this permission is obficial on my left said, 'Do you people tained by paying a large sum of pray to God for us?' 'Are we not money in addition to a regular tax. brothers?' I said softlv. He searched Under the Manchu regime a man my eyes for sincerity. ;nd then slowly was ashamed to confess that he nodded. We gave a dinner to twenty- smoked opium; now there is no five of the heads of missionary and shame. Dens are situated in almost government schools in Hangchow. It every city, and the sign is a dirty proved a most social affair and now curtain where the door should be. the headmasters all meet once a month Opium, too, is much cheaper than it at each other's homes to drink a social was, and life is so uncertain and so cup of tea and discuss school affairs. full of risk from the activities of rob- Dr. Fitch is the only foreigner pres- be.rs that all sorts of people are tak- ·ent. " ing to the habit of smoking."
JAPAN-KOREA and broadcasting, opera and dance, Religious Legislation in Japan are all creating new anxieties. "Is ACCORDING to a wirele'ls dis- our sympathy for Japan," says the patch to the New York Times, editor, "to be less becanse her youth June 1st, a Japanese Methodist is facing the same temptations as bishop, Kogoro Uzaki, charges that ours? The backward races of the Christianity is being discriminated earth may have remained such beagainst in a bill prepared by the De- cause of the indifference of the West, partment of Education to be intro- but Japan has changed because of its duced in the next Diet. The bill has active interference. Statesmen and a section devoted to Buddhism and diplomats, educationists and mer- Shintoism but none to Christianity, chants, have all contributed to the which is included in the "Kyodan," meaning other religious groups, in- change. Is the Church satisfied that cluding those of a questionable she has made an adequate contribu- tion ?"
nature. Bishop Uzaki points out that the Christians number only 250,000, Japanese Young Men'. Club but that their activities are far great- REV. J. H. LLOYD, Protestant er in proportion. Moreover, there are Episcopal missionary in Wakamore Christians in Korea than Bud- yama, Japan, writes of work which dhists or Spintoists, but the bill ap- has been opened in the town of Sakai plies there also. Little hope is held by Rev. M. Sakaguchi, rector at of changing the bill, as the commis- Marusu and Nogami. It began, he sion considering it is composed of says, with a young man who was eight Buddhists, three Shintoists, two formerly a motorman on the electric Christians and the rest laymen, but a road between Wakayama and Osaka, few of whom are Christians. The bill but who lost his right arm in an accigives the Minister of Education the dent. "He heard of our services at authority to prevent any religious Nogami and began attending them, teacher from continuing work or pro- became a catechumen and was later fessing his faith if the Minister recog- baptized and confirmed. He formed nizes their teaching "tends to violate a young men '8 club at Sakai and public peace and order." through him the members invited Mr.
Sakaguchi to come to Sakai once a Westernization of Japan week and teach them Christianity, AN article in the Chltrch Mission- which he has now been doing for over ary Outlook for March says that two ye/lrs . . . They invited me to closer contact with Europ8 and come once a month, and I have been America has brought about a funda- several times. There have been forty mental change in the life of the people cf Japan. The atmosphere of to sixty young men and a few old the citie<; is charged with the smoke fellows sprinkled in. A few years of numberless factories. High-speed ago you could not have dragged these electric lines connect the great centers of commerce with the ports, upon men out with a rope and tackle. Now which their prosperity so largely dc- they are falling over each other litpends. The streets are filled with erally to get the thing out of Christramcars and buses, taxis and motor- tianity of which they have heard and f()r which the human heart every- where yearns, a loving, saving God."
lorries, which are gradually ousting the jinricksha and hand-cart. The Japanese Newspaper Evangelism T popularity of European food has HE proved effectiveness of this missionary method is already facreated a demand for European drink, and flasks of non-matured miliar to readers of the REVIEW. When whiskey (Osaka Scotch) are sold Dr. Pieters prepared his pamphlet in freely on railway platforms. Cinema 1919, he reported that since the be-
NEWS FROM MANY DANDS
ginning of the work in 1912 inquiries lief work for the sufferers from the had been received, not only from all recent floods in Korea, writes; "At the towns, but from everyone of the one place, representatives of the 257 townships of Oita Province. Rev. Roman Church followed our workers H. Kuyper estimates from the latest from house to house audibly finding figures that the province' is covered fault with our plan of issuing a minonce in two years. He says; imum ration to every house that was in desperate need. They said: Here is an area o~ about 2,500 square miles, dotted over with small towns, smaller Look at us; we had a f-ew families hurt villagE's, tiny hamlE'ts and lonely dwellings by the flood, and we gave them each Yen 15, in secluded valleys, in which some 900,00,0 and made them comfortable. But the Jesus human beings spend their lives. The mis- Churcn people have given a little to everysionary problem is to cover this territory body, instead of saving it and giving to with the gospel message. The Eiseikan is their own members only, and what have they making its contribution to the solution of this tremendous problem by dropping the got~ gospel seed, every two years, on every nine square miles of this territory. And drop- "'What have they goU' They ping it, mind you, not at random, but where have the knowledge that hundreds of some person has evinced enough interest to people have been kept from starving; ask for it. . . . I like to think of our ad- that clothing and bedding and food vertisement in the daily papers as a light and sympathy have reached 750 famithat casts its beams into every nook and lies; that little children who cried corner of this province, giving men at least for food have been satisfied; that a chance to 'know Him whom to know is peor old bones have slept warm at eternal life. night; that the ' Jesus Doctrine' is known all up and down this river as Growth of Korean Sunday-Schools a teaching that means help for every- T HE attendance in the Sunday- one. " schools ma=ed and directed from Kwangju, Korea, has increased over "Called to be an Evangelist" two hund.red per cent a year for the past fourteen years, according to REV. W. F. BULL, of Kunsan, Rev_ M. L. Swinehart, Southern Korea, who has been in Korea for Presbyterian missionary, who states twenty-seven years, is described by an that, after fourteen years of experi- associate in the Southern Presbyterment and close observation, those in ian :Mission as being "preeminently charge believe the work of conduct- fitted for the work of evangelism." ing these outpost Sunday-schools to The writer continues: "He loves the be one of the most successful forms of Koreans and understands them. Durevangelistic work thus far attempted ing the ten-day Bible class for men in Korea. In one heathen village, in the K wangju field, we were exwhere Sunday-school work was begun tremely fortunate in having him with several years ago, there is now an or- us to conduct the evening evangelistic ganized church, with its own pastor, meetings, the early morning prayer and having about forty baptized meetings, besides teaching one period communicants. From the first serv- a day. These night meetings and ice, held out of doors with sixteen early morning meetings were atlittle boys and girls as an audience, tended by hundreds of people, not this work has developed until now only the men of the class but many there is a Sunday-school with twelve others, besides wemen and children, classes and an average attendance of and at night there were many unbeover two hundred. lievers present. The day class, too, by special request was held at a free Relief for Flood Victims period in the afternoon so that the entire school might have the privilege REV. E. W. KOONS, American of hearing him and not just one class. Presbyterian missionary in Seoul, Mr. Bull has almost a perfect knowlwho was in charge of considerable re- edge of the language of the Korean
people and a wonderful freedom in velopment. Hawaii is a unique center for the use of it." !he inve.stigation of. racial crossing, cultural mteraetlOn, and socral relationships. 'L'hese ISLANDS OF THE SEA various opportunities are not permanent. Some of the peoples are disappearing, othel'S Comity in the Philippines are being rapidly Westernized. If further a11(1 more systematic studies are to he made, T HE growth of interdenomina- too much time must not be lost. tional comity in missionary work has recently been well illustrated in The Foundation, through the Divi- the Philippines, where the American sion of Studies, has pledged funds for Presbyterian and Baptist Boards c('operation with the agencies which have readjusted their territory. Under will make these investigations, has an agreement made twenty-five years provided special trips for two profes- ago, these two missions have occupied sors from Sydney and Adelaide, and jointly the island of Panay. Some has sent representatives on study years ago there was also assigned to visits to Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Baptists the island of Samar, the Australia. third largest in the archipelago, which has a population of 379,000. Hawaiian Gifts for Missions Though it is far removed from the other Baptist stations, it is near the THIS is the twenty-fourth year of islands of Leyte and Luzon, both the work of the American Epis- Presbyterian fields. An arrangement satisfactory to the representatives of copal Church in the District of Honoboth missions has now been made, by lulu and the sixty-fourth year since which the Presbyterians have relin- the English Church began work in quished to the Baptists all the work the Hawaiian Islands. The former on Panay, and have taken over has at present four self-supporting Samar. "This," writes Rey. C. R. parishes, sixteen organized missions Hamilton, D.D., "is practically vir- and seven unorganized. Bishop La gin soil for the Gospel. Within a "J:lothe, during the past year, baptized very short time following the transfer twenty-six children and adults, and of our former Iloilo station force to confirmed 174. "Once again," said Tacloban, the missionaries inaugu- the Bishop, addressing his Convccarated evangelistic meetings in several tion, "I haye to congratulate the misof the Samar towns, and acceptance sionary district on having paid in full of their message was prompt, nearly its apportionment for missions. Every one hundred making definite decision parish and mission met its quota. This for Christ. Calls are coming for miil,- amounted to $9,000; $5,000 for the sionaries to come to other towns and general wcrk of the Church sent ·to doors are opening on all sides." New York, and $1,000 for disposition by our own District :;Vfissionarv Ra.cia.l ProblclBs in thc Pacific Board. This latter sum has been df THE Rockefeller Foundation has recently issued the following state- great assistance to us in helping out ment: the very inadequate stipends of the C'lergy and in the Iolani and the . The islands of the Pacific offer excep- Priory schools. It is a matter of tIonal advantages for investigating raei'll pride to me that Honolulu was one and social problems. The Polynesian people of only six dioceseR or districts that in Hawaii, Samoa, the Marquesas, the So- paid its total quota." ciety Islands, Ellice Islands, etc., will repay continued study. The Melanesians in the NORTH A·MERICA Admiralty Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, Solomon Islands, New Hebrides, Fiji and Plans of Evanston Comm.ittee other islauds offer a wide and fruitfui field ~or investilf3tion. C'ertahl aboriginal groups ACONFERE0JOE dealing with the III Austraha represent one of the few ex- specific problem of church co, amples of people in an early stage of de- operation on the college and univer- sity campus has been called by the Continuation Committee of the Inter-
1!l26] NE.WS FROM MANY LANDS
denominational Student Conference bility in respect to the denominational proheld at Evanston, Ill., in December, gram as defined in the unified budget. 1925. The meetings will be held at the "Cniversity of Illinois, September 2. That the local chnrch put on a well Bth-9th. The attempt is being made prepared Every Memher Plan, which will to keep a fifty-fifty ratio between stu- secure the pledge necessary to insure pay- ·dents and student workers who at- ment of the qnota. tend the gathering. 3. That the money so pledged be punc· tually collected and forwarded on the basis of one twelfth of the year's qnota every month.
The Continuation Committee also The combined foreign budget of the 'announces a study conference entitled general and the women's societies "World Students and the Christian adopted for 1927 was $2,370,000, and Church, " to be composed of forty that for home missions, $1,422,500. leading foreign and forty representa- tive American students, together with Boy Scouts and the Church twenty non-student mission experts. They will meet September 10th-17th THAT the churches haVE; been somewhere in the vicinity of New York City to examine the foreign quick to see the values in the Boy program of the Church as it appears to students, and to assist the Church Scout movement is evidenced by the in its approach to the foreign students in the United States. This con- fact that more than fifty per cent of ference will differ from the method employed at Evanston, in that the the troops are conducted under the progressive minds of both youth and ~aturity will be joined in approach- auspices of the churches and, of the mg the problems which they face in common. The Student Volunteer 12,000 church troops in the United Movement and the Friendly Relations Committees of the Christian Associa- States, 10,000 are in Protestant tions are cooperating in the promotion work for this conference. The churches. Recently a committee of Executive Chairman is Tlfr. George Paik, a Korean and a graduate stu- representatives of the churches, under dent in Yale LTniversity. the chairmanship of Dr. Macfarland of the Federal CwoituhncoilffiocfiaClshuorfchtehs~ in cooperation Scou~ Movement, has been engaged in workmg out a plan whereby the scout prcgram and the religious education program of the churches may be brought into more vital relation to each other. The plan will provide a definite statement of minimum re- quirements for a standard church ATBaptist Missionary Finances troop with appropriate recognition by THE annual meeting of the the church. Parallel to the church Xorthern Baptist Convention in year progra~ there will be, month by month, speCIal features of seasonal Washington the Board of Missionary emphasis in the scout year. It is hoped that this closer relationship Cooperation reported that in five may enable a higher percentage of the boys of scout age to profit by the years the missionary gifts have de- scout prcgram and prove a most ef- fective means of training fBr Chrisclined from $11,2,90,642 to $5431 869 tian service through the church.
while the contributirns for' cu;rent expenses have risen frfiogmure$s16~7a5k2~29n3o to $25,627,771. The account of the many millions contrib- uted during the same five years for Armenian Church in Amerlca investment in church property. The Board urged that as the local churches As A result of the nation-wide surgrow missions be enabled to grow vey recently comple1 ed among with them, and presented the follow- the Armenians in the United States ing program: under the direction of Archbishop Tirayre, the Primate of the Armenian 1. That every local church be induced to Church in America, and his Central aceept a quota representing its responsi-
Committee, the members of that com- zens of Virginia. . . . '1'he Hampton munion and their American friends Board of Trustees at its annual meethave inaugurated a campaign for ing in April decided that in order to funds with which to rehabilitate the conform to the law it would be neces- Church and undertake some very nec- sary to conduct hereafter all gatheressary Americanization work. The ings for entertainment or instruction Armenian children are shown by the as private meetings, open only to survey to be in urgent need of reli- members of the school community and gious education and spiritual nur- to invited guests." ture. According to statistics some eighty per cent of the more than 100,- Czechs in Old New York Church 000 Armenians in this country are members. of their national Church, THE Madison Avenue Presbyterian 'which dates from 301 A. D. The Church, New York City, from the younger generation, however, has pastorate of which Rev. Henry Sloane grown away from its Old World cere- Coffin, D,D., has resigned to accept monials and somewhat lengthy serv- the presidency of Union 'rheological ices, mostly because they have had no Seminary, has long been extending its training whatever to understand or ministry to the neighboring colony of appreciate them. To remedy this 30,000 Bohemians. When Dr. Coffin situation, the Archbishop believes it is came to the church twenty years ago, necessary .to make a most vigorous he found that it was supporting a effort for the religious education of mission over on the East Side. Bethe growing boys and girls on the one fore long this mission was given up, hand, and on the other to have the not because the church wanted to Church, in a measure, adapt itself to abandon its work among the people the changed conditions of country of that neighborhood, but because it and times. preferred to have them come to the home church and mingle democrati- Race in Virginia Law cally with the Christian people of older American stock, many of whom WHAT Principal James E. Gregg, came from families socially promi- of Hampton Institute, describes nent in New York. This daring venas "a resurgence of race prejudice" ture of faith has more than justified resulted in the passage by the Gen- itself. Today of the 1,800 members eral Assembly of Virg'inia of a bill of the Bible school fully six hundred for the compulsory separation of are of Czech parentage. It is doubtthe races in all public gatherings. ful if any other church in the coun- "This," says The Southern 'Work- try reaches as many children of Czech man, "was evidently directed against parentage as the Madison Avenue Hampton Institute because of its con- Church. Furthermore, Czechs of the tinued observance of the custom of first and second generation are found seating all persons attending enter- in great numbers among the members tainments at the Institute without of the congregation and are made discrimination because of color. It very much at home in all the activwas introduced into the Assembly ities of the church. They are reprethrough the efforts of the Anglo- sented on the official boards. Saxon Clubs of Newport News and Hampton; and became the law with- Armenians on California Border out the Governor's signature after the adjournment of the session. It was REV. GEORGE F., KENNGOTT, opposed by several of the leading PH.D., Congregationalist home white newspapers of the State; by missionary leader with headquarters the Richmond Chamber of Commerce; in Southern California, writes in the by the State Interracial Committee; American Missionary of a littleand by other prominent white citi- known situation just beyond our southern border: "Under our immi-
NEWS FROM MANY IJANDS
gration law, with its quota system, teachers who could get a good salary only one hundred Armenians may be elsewhere. " admitted annually, though fifty thousand clamor for admission. Unable LATIN AMERICA to enter directly, thousands have gone to Mexico, believing that after Church and State in Mexico establishing residence and gaining Mexican citizenship in two years they THE editorial article in the April may then enter the United States. Rem:ew, entitled "The Secular . . . Though millions of money and Crusade in Mexico," showed that the thousands of men have been devoted regulations now being enforced by to the salvation of the Armenians we the Mexican Government are not diwill not admit them to America. rected against the evangelical mis- Christians for centuries, trained in sionaries, but that the latter are coour mission schools, physically fit, operating with the Government in mentally alert, spiritually discerning, evel'y way possible. The constituthey knock in vain at the doers of tional provision which requires all Christian America in order that they who perform any ministerial rite to may be with their families who have be of Mexican birth has been felt by comB hithel' before them. On the the representatives of the Protestant other hand, the Mexicans, largely il- Episcopal Church to work especial literate and ·unskilled, fairly swarm hardship for them. For instance, the across the invisible border." dean of the cathedral in Mexico City escaped banishment only by promiss. S. Missions in Canada ing not to officiate in any religious service. That denomination· requires T HE religious need existing in some that the rite of confirmation be per- sections of rural Canada was de- formed by a bishop, but nnder the scribed at the annual meeting of the present law Right Rev. Frank Creigh- ton cannot conduct such a ~ervice in s. P. G. in London by :Miss Eva Mexico. Press reports in June were to the effect that on July 15th much Hasell, who reported on the so-called stricter regulations would be promul- "Sunday-school Caravans." In one gated which would not only insist place only twelve out of forty grown that priests and ministers must be people had ever attended a Christian Mexicans by birth but would provide service before. She said: a fine of 500 pesos and fifteen days' imprisonment, followed by expulsion, "In the southern territory in the as a punishment for violation. Priests diocese of Calgary, where one of the who arouse the public to disobey the Archbishop's Western Canada Mis- laws by letter or by sermons will be sions was, there is now a large Mor- sentenced to one year in jail and mon temple, and in all the day schoolR fined. of that district they have their special teaching in the last half-hour of every Haitian Priest Converted day. In one district the Mormons had started a Sunday-school, and even the T HE recent conversion of a Voodoo Church of England mothers were priest in Haiti is described by Rev. sending their children to it because Mr. Wood, of the American Baptist they thought it was better to have Home Mission Society: "The man some Bible teaching than none. We had been visiting our little Sundayhave now seven caravans; we start school, and had learned by heart a the seventh this year in the diocese ef number of texts, one of which was, Kootenay. There are fourteen of us 'No man putting his hand to the at work; a great many of us who can plough and looking back is fit for the do so, payeur own expenses. Each Kingdom of Heaven.' A little later caravan cests £320. None of the he left the district, and became a workers are getting any salary at all, Voodoo priest, working all sorts of although many of them are trained
magic, consulting the spirits in lonely prehensive urban and rural hygiene places at night, and going from dis- and health programs. The program trict to district as a medicine man. for Rio de Janeiro carries a special But he could not forget the verse department of infantile hygiene, which he had learned. At last he was which includes the care of mothers taken sick, and during his sickness he and of children up to the age of six. had an extraordinary vision which Clinics are being opened gradually in was to him the clear call of God. different sections of the city. The in- When he came to himself, he told his stitute, using funds provided by the wife that God had caned him, and Board of Missions of the Southern that he had determined to follow. He Methodist Church, offered to provide immediately destroyed his three books a home for such a clinic. After the of magic, and threw away the money most careful investigation, the Govthat he had earned by them. He is ernment accepted the olfer, and the now visiting all the Voodoo centers work was begun on Christmas Day. around, telling the people his story of In an address made at the opening of the grace of God. the new clinic the doctor in charge, speaking as an official of the Govern- 4'Revolutionaries in Brazil" ment, expressed the pleasure of the Brazilian authorities in h-aving found T HIS is the title by which Freder- so satisfactory a basis for cooperative ick C. Glass, of the Evangelical effort with the evangelical mission Union of· South America, describes forces. " himself and his ccmpanions on a recent trip into the interior. He says GENERAL of the authorities in one town: "They examined all our baggage for bomb~, World Student Cooperation but found only Bibles! This so impressed one of the police authorities, T HE League of Nations brought tothat he at once purchased our very gether in :'Ilay representatives of best Bible, and furthermore invited seven international student organizaus to put up at his farm on the way." tions to discuss methods of cooperal'.fr. Glass continue~: "Our colpor- tion on subjects of common interest. teurs had twice visited these regions Many matters were dealt with in a some years ago, and I could see re- fine spirit of collaboration. Good suits of their work. In one remote work was done on the question of sefarmhouse I found a man, well ever curing special facilities for students seventy, who had been converted traveling into or through foreign through the reading of one of the countries. This will include the re- Bibles that they had sold. His sons duction to a minimum of passport and grandsons and their families and visa formalities and the obtainhad professed to follow his religion, ing of tariff reductions on railways. though they had not had anyone to The responsibility for gathering inexplain it to them." formation and for approaching gov- ernment and other authorities to ob- Health Problems in Brazil tain these advantages, was delegated to the International Confederation of I N RIO DE JANEIRO there is an Students. It is likely that before institutional missionary pIa n t, long their work will result in subknown as the People's Central Insti- stantial benefits to students who are tute, which is trying to put into effect traveling: The questions of foyers, the conception of a physical as well self-help, and student clubs, loans to as a spiritual ministry which was em- students, exchange of students, unemphasized at the Montevideo Confer- ployment among students, and a comence. "At the same time." says the mon international center, were all Christian Century, "the Government discussed, with a view to practical of Brazil established a national beard action being taken. of health which is working out com-
'0THE MISSIONAmr UBlRAR'l&0 I ~
0kAJ'" ~ 'LHKI """UV!' iriAi, … Uvu' QUO'"
Any books mentioned in these columns will be forwarded by us on receipt of price.- THE REVlEW.
Osman Pasha: A Drama of the New Tur- Prophet of Islam~Jesus of Naza- key. Wm. Jourdan Rapp. 145 pp. $1.25. New York. 1925. reth."
Many find it difficult to believe that Preaching this belief Osman Pasha the cruelty, intolerance and fanaticism that have characterized the Turk meets the same end as his Master at in the past can be undergoing changes that are transforming the the hands of fanatics. The book rewhole Near East. But to those who see the situation in Turkey with a veals an intimate observation of the well informed, unprejudiced mind, the vast struggle of the Moslem world new spirit at work in Turkey today to take its place in Western civilization brings a thrill. The struggle be- and should be thoughtfully read by tween the old conservatism, fatalism and the slavery of traditions and the all who believe that there is an an- swer to the profound uneasiness throughout the Moslem world today.
Turkey is conscious of her needs as never before in her history. What answer will the Christian world give her? J. w. E.
new nationalism that is waking from Modern Education in Korea. Horace H. a sleep of centuries deeply conscious Underwood. 8yo. 336 pp. $4.00. New of its mental and spiritual hunger is York. 1926.
strikingly brought out in this drama. This valuable monograph is the most It is written with an understand- thorough study of educational condi- ing of an awakened people, a sym- tions in Korea. '£he author was born pathy for their bewilderment and in Korea, the son of one of the great- discouragement and a belief in their est missionaries of the modern future progress. Church, the Rev. Horace Grant Un- Osman Pasha, a leader in the new derwood, D.D., LL.D., a pioneer mis- Brotherhood of Jesus, points the way sionary in Korea, the founder and to fuller life by his own death. His first President of the Chosen Chris- love for the daughter of American tian College in Seoul, an evangelist, missionaries breaks down the barrier an educator, an administrator, a of religion that stood between them Christian statesman. The author of and he becomes a follower of Jesus. this monograph, is Professor of Psy- The interpretation of the new spir- chology in the Chosen Christian Col- itual effort by many of the modern lege, Seoul, and has taken a high educated Turks gives to the book an stand as author of an English- absorbing interest. Jesus is pro- Korean Dictionary and a book on claimed a Moslem prophet and the "Every Day Korean." The present Gospels a holy book of Islam. There- volume indicates a painstaking ex- fore a man can be a disciple of Jesus amination of sources and an immense and remain within Islam. Enlight- amount of labor in collating and sys- ened Moslems can thus successfully tematizing materials. After a brief preach Jesus to Islam. Osman introduction on the country, its polit- Pasha's desire is to make Jesus a ieal history and the history of mis- vital foree in Islam. "The goal of sionary work, he presents a wide life is God. The path is love. And range of facts regarding education he who has best pointed the way is a under the old Korean Government, 653 the beginnings and development of six hours we have been traveling missionary education by all the re- through acknowledged Disciple ter- ligious agencies operating in Korea, ritory, as yet untouched by our peo- and the educational institutions and ple, and for which practically noth- policy inaugurated under the super- ing has been done by any evangelical vision of the Japanese Government force. On beyond lies Paraguay, an- General since 1910. The last section other five hundred miles of territory, graphically presents the educational for which we have peculiar responsi- opportunities in Korea. bility. Except in the larger towns While the volume is an intensive we have passed through, even the study of education in Korea and lim- formal and lifeless ministrations of its itself to that country, it involves decadent Romanism are denied the principles, methods and precedents people. "
which make it of wide interest to the And yet Dr. Corey is referring to South America's Mesopotamia, lying students of education in other lands. between the Uruguay and Parana Rivers, where the fertility of the soil Illustrations, <;harts, statistical tables, is probably unexcelled in any part of the world. While Southern Brazil, a bibliography, eleven appendices, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina are attracting the money and the and a careful index, make the abun- windmills and Fords of the United States, and immigrants from Gerdant materials readily available for many and other parts of Europe, spir- itual and social assistance from these reference. It is a fine thing to have Christian lands are most sparingly a young missionary do such a satis- factory piece of work. The reader does not wonder that it has won for the author the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from New York Univer- sity. A. J. B.
Among South American Friends. Stephen given, especially in the case of the J. Corey. mus. 182 Pl'. $1.25. Cincin. Continent's ten million pure-blooded nati. 1925. Indians. Yet the Disciples' field just The Vice-President of the United mentioned is that which in the seven- Christian Missionary Society gives us teenth century saw the memorable here his journal of a visit to South experiment of the Jesuits, resulting America last year, when he looked in an Indian imperium in imperio especially into the work of the Dis- ruled by the Church, but falling in ciples, and attended the Montevideo ruins in 1768 when their spiritual leaders were expelled. More to the Congress. As he circumnavigated point as suggesting Protestant possi- bilities is the remarkable work done the Continent, except for crossing it mainly by one man, Barbrooke Grubb from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso, he of the South American Missionary saw both coasts and had glimpses of Society, which is going on from the interior which are agreeably pictured for the reader. strength to strength.
The frontispiec, a church door at Cuzco with its Spanish inscription, Dr. Corey's book is of especial in- "Come unto Mary all ye that labor terest to the Disciples, but its travel and are heavy laden, and she will glimpses and its particularized regive you rest," is a summary of the ports of centers where his Church is Christian religion commonly seen in most active are samples of what Evan- the book on its Roman Catholic side. gelical Missions are doing for our sis- The Protestant aspects of Christian- ter continent. The independent ity are encouraging in certain cities Presbyterian Church in Brazil is the and in the spirit of comity and co- finest specimen of what is doing there, operation evident in those centers. but earnest Protestant workers are Yet how far short our churches are more and more uniting in the from doing what needs doing may be brotherly and Christlike attempt to seen in this quotation: "For fifty- purify religion and life and to extend the blessings of Evangelical Chris- primitive religion. In this study we tianity to all that great continent. have only the first volume of at least two in which Sir .Tames confines him- H. P. B. self to accounts of the worship of the Sky, the Earth and the Sun as de- The Beast, Modernism and the Evangelical scribed in ancient Latin, Greek and Faith. Francis Asa Wight. 311 pp. Indian literature and as seen among $2.00. Boston. 1926. travelers among the primitive peoples of today. No index is provided but The author of this book undertakes the twenty pages of Contents make one almost despair of ever getting a to deal with modern issues "of a mo- respectable knowledge of so encyclo- paedic a subject. Yet informing and mentous nature, involving the life of curious data here given fill the reader with a desire to know still more of both church and state" (i). ' Writing this central group of primitive man's major deities. not so much for the erudite as for the The three forms of worship are great body of believers, he seeks "to treated at the same time, though the race variations are separately treated show the stately steppings of our God as the worship is found among Ary- ans, Persians, Romans and Greeks, down through the ages" (iii) and to the ancient Babylonians, Assyrians and Egyptians and then among the give at least a general forecast of the civilized nations of the Far East, end- ing with the worship as seen among future. the backward races of India, Africa, The book, divided into five sections America and Indonesia. The sky is the most universal object of nature in (I. The Beast and the False Prophet. its varied phenomena, and hence is the starting point of this study of II. The Fundamentals of Our Faith. natural religion. The Vedic wor- shiper of remote antiquity and his III. The Bible VB. Modernism. IV. modern descendant in India look Prophecies and Their Fulfillment. upon all phenomena of nature as ani- mate and divine, though he empha- V. Our Lord's Return.), is somewhat sized the Sun especially. Hardly less devoted to nature deities are the lacking in unity. In passages of ex- untutored Africans who pray to the Earth. American Indians have pressive invective the author pays his specialized more on Earth worship, "the Great Grandmother of all." In respects to modern religious and poli- Indonesia it is the White Divinity dwelling in the Sun that is the object tical movements. The destructive of veneration, while the Black Divin- ity of the Moon is of secondary imtendency rather overbalances the con- portance.
structive. This volume contains scores of in- cidental references, such as the Extreme literalism characterizes Chagga myths of the Fall of Man, an African 'rower of Babel, many stories some interpretations of Scripture, of the origin of Death, Plato's com- bating the youthful scapegraces who For instance the "New Jerusalem" had apparently given up the habit of praying and doing obeisance to the (Rev. 21: 10) is taken to be literally a cube measuring 1,500 miles in each direetion (242). After a severe ar- raignment of the speculations of the International Bible Students' Asso- ciation, the author himself eomes perilously near " setting dates" in his treatment of the "Four Horse- men" of Revelation (pp. 267-9).
The section on "The Fundamentals of Our Faith" is the most valuable part of the book, though chapters xvi, xix, xx and xxiii deserve attention.
In general the author seems too anx- ious to defend the Scriptures, which, properly interpreted, are their own best defense. c. R. S.
The Worship of Nature. Sir James George Frazer, O. M., F. R. S., F. B. A. 672 pp. $4.00. New York. 1926.
When the author reduced his twelve tomes of "The Golden Bough" to a single volume, he did a great thing for busy readers of comparative rising and setting Sun and Moon, etc. written for children, but its text would hold the attention only of the The entire volume is full of interest- exceptional child. Its chief value wquld be to help leaders get up a ing proofs of man's desire to worship, meeting on Chinese Leaders, past, and present. even when he knew no higher object Opening with the story of two to deify than Sun, Earth and Sky. Chinese nobles, some three thousand years ago, who decided to let Lord In his second volume Sir James will Chang arbitrate their differences, the author draws sketch after sketch of complete his survey of the worship of Chinese characters – poets, philoso- phers, statesmen and generals who the Sun and deal with the personifi- helped China to become the great country of the Orient. cation and worship of other' aspects The striking face of Miss Pao Swen of nature, both animate and inani- Tseng as shown in one of the illustra- tions is perhaps the finest testimony mate. H. P. B. of all to the essential nobleness of Chinese character. Our Templed Hills. Ralph A. Felton. Illus. 12mo. 240 pp. $1.00. (60 cents, paper). One closes the book with the feel- New York. 1926. ing that its message lies not so mueh in what it says as in the thoughts it Dr. Felton knows and loves the arouses. With such a past record, rural church. He was formerly a China.'8 future must needs be great! worker in the Department of Church and Country Life of the Presbyterian The Ethics of Opium. Ellen N. LaMotte. Board, a compiler of rural surveys 12 mo. 2()4 pp. $1.75. New York. and now is extension Professor of 1924. Rural Socral Organization at the New York State College of Agriculture, The opium habit makes even Cornell University. His book is the greater slaves than alcohol, and saps general study volume put out by the morals, physical strength and se1£- Council of Women for Home Mis- control. There is even less reason to sions and the Missionary Education license its general sale than to permit Movement. Professor Felton de- the sale of intoxicants and yet many scribes the modern life in rural dis- governments permit the poppy to be tricts, the practical Christian pro- grown and opium manufactured and gram for these communities, the sold for the sake of revenue. Miss leadership required and the relation LaMotte discloses the distressing of the rural problem to national facts and discusses the ethics of the progress. This study is full of con- situation in all countries. crete facts and examples from life in various parts of America. It is rich Tales of Young Japan. People Who Lived in suggestion though many of the in Japan. 12 mo. 61 pp. Is. Church ideals will not appeal to all workers Missionary Society. London. 1925. or meet the need in all communities. There seems to be an over-emphasis Eleven missionaries tell, for young on the social at the expense of the people, these tales of kites, marbles, spiritual aims, plans and forces. parties, silk worms and silk making; These things for temporal w('lfare a journey up Fuji; school and home ought to be done, but the other things life; tea drinking; theatres and other for eternal welfare should not be left Japanese 'customs. Many facts, in- cidents and personal "contacts will undone. help young people of America and England to understand these interest- Chinese Heroes in Legend and History. ing people. William Munn. Introduction by Rev.
G. T. Saywell. 94 pp. Is, 6a. London.
1926.
This little volume might well be called "Sn!tP Shots of Chinese Heroes" as each sketch is so very brief. Its style suggests that it is
The Missionary Review of the World — July 1926
OF THE MOUNTAIN PARISH: AT BUCKHORN
A Gratifying Assured Income Bonds Income ISSUED BY Some years ago the executors of a will American Sunday-School Union which directed the payment of an AN- PHILADELPHIA NUITY of $lO,OOO.1JO to the widow of the decedent were inclined to purchase the I., IllC4IfJIOIIted ••d,r law••f ~ Sla', of PeJUIS}'IVIlIia ANNUITY from a life insurance ('Offi- Assure pany. But as the entire estate was ultimately to go to various charitable and 1. The greatest possible safety in investment.
missionary objeds, they decided, on the 2. The return of a high rate of income duradvice of attorneys, to divide among four ing life. missionary organizations, one of which 3. The definite distribution of your money was The American Baptist Home Mission while you live. Society, '~ amount required for the purchase of the annuity. 4. The satisfaction of knowing that your money will aid, after your death, in the Our Finan('e Committee ('onsists of very estahlishment of Sunday Schools in rural able business men. and the investments di~tricts otherwise unreached by religious of our ANNUITY FUNDS are now being influencE'; and in providing a moral and largely ",ade in guaranteed mortgages. religious literature true to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our ANNUITIES yield a very gratifying income and there are many advantages in For information about this form 0/ in'lJcstment, our ANNUITY PLAN whieh I will be and income to he deri~ed the,.ejrom, addruJ glad to explain. Kindly address: Secretary CHARLES L. WHITE AMERICAN SUNDAY·SCHOOL UNION THE AMERICAN BAPTIST JOHN H. TALLEY1 A ••i.tant Tre"aurer HOME MISSION SOCIETY 23 Ealt 26th Street New York City 1816 Cheat.."t Street PHILADELPHIA. PA.
PERSONALS MISS ELLA D. MACLAURIN, Executive Sec- DR. RoBEIT E. SPEEa, Rev. Hugh J. Kerr, retary of the Federation of Woman's Boards D.D., Shadyside Church, Pittsburgh, Mrs. Charles K. Roys and Miss Gertrude Schultz, of Foreign Missions, Bailed for Europe on plan to visit China this autumn at the request of the Presbyterian China Council. June 22d for two months' study of condi· Visits will also be made by one or more of the party to Japan, Korea, Siam and the tions in France, England, Germany, and Philippines. Anstria.
""
DR. W. W. PEET, so long the leading mis· siona~y statesman in Constantinople, has heen made "Ambassador of Good Will" by DR. WILLJAM 1. CHAMBERLAIN, Secretary the Federal Council of Ohurches of Chr~t of the Foreign Mission Board of the Re· formed Church in America, is leaving July in America to the Christian Ohurches in the third to attend the meeting of the Cl<Jmmit· too of the International Missionary Cl<Jnncil Near East. ". to be held in Rattik, Sweden, July 17th to 24th. OBITUARY REV. E. ,C. CRONK, D.D., secretary of the MRS. MARGARET R. TROWllRIDGE, widow of the founder and first president of Central Laymen's Missionary M,ovement of the Turkey College, and daughter of Elias Riggs, D.D., LL.D., the famous missionary United Lutheran Church, has been appointed linguist and translator of Constantinople, died in Aleppo, Syria, January 25th in her secretary of the Eastern Division of the eighty·fifth year. She had spent fifty·eight years in active missionary service and three Evangelical Lutheran Orient Mission So· of her children are now missiollaTieB.
. . ciety whi~h conducts work in Persia and Kurdistan. * MRS. FRANKLIN WARNER, President of the ** Woman's Board of Missions of the Con· Mas. ARTtHm. H. SMITH, who, with heT distinguished husband, had spent fifty·three gregational Chnrch, is also to serve as As- years in the service of the American Board in North China, died in TunghBien January sociate Secretary of the reorganized Amer- 28th, in her seventy-eighth year.
ican Board in charge of educational and promotional work. wroRll, *t h e" "
.. * * famons MRS. ANNA R. ATWATER has recently reo DAN CRA missionary to signed her office as vice·president of the Central Africa :for nearly half a century, United Christian Missionary Society (Dis· died in Elizabethville, Belgian Congo, On ciples) of St. Louis. June 3d.
Please mention TIm MIBsroNARY REVIEW OF TIlE WORLD In writing to advertisers. THE MISSIONARY Review 0 f the World DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Etlltor CONTENTS FOR JULY. 1926 J<"RONTISPIECE ………… 'fHE PARlSH CmIMUNITY AT BUOKHOR.N, KENTUCKY Page 485 EDITORIALS …………………………………………………….. 489 THE CHUR.CH IN THE COUN-fRY THE CoMPLEX TASK JN AMERlC'" 492 HUMAN IMPOR.TS AND SPIR.I'fUAL Ex· THE PRESENT:DAY MISSIONAR.Y Mo· 493 PORTS TIVE 500 THE SOIL AND THE SPIRITUAL LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J. SCOTT KING 504 A thoughtful study of the natural relatwnahip between the environment and oc· cupatwn of the farmer and his religwus natme. . 509 A CHRISTIAN pROGRAM FOR A RURAL CHURCH; . . . . . . . . RALPH A.. FirurON 520 CHANGES IN RURAL L,IFE DURiING THE PAST TWENTY·FIVE YEARB 523 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WARREN H. WILSON 529 A strilaing presentation of the outstanding contrasts between life in rural dis· tricts a 'quarter of a century ago and today with its modern machinery, inven· 533 tions and opportunities. 539 THE GOSPEL AND THE SOIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. B. PARSON 544 A study of facts brought out in connectwn with the recent conference held under 551 the aU&pices of the lnternatwnal Associatwn of Agricultural Misswns. 554 557 THE REAL JOB OJ;' THE RURAL CHURCH ……………. JOHN McDoWELL 573 Passing over the superficial and secondary responaibilities of pastors and churches in country d'f,stricts, Dr. McDowell points out the fundamental and most essential work that neeas to be done in thesepamhes.
RELIGIOUS ADVENTURE IN RURAL AMERICA : . . . . . . . . . . . M1I.LCOLM DANA Some extremely interesting and inspiring examples of what pastors have actually accomplished in their rural pamhes.
QUALIFICATIONS OF THE COUNTRY PR;EAOHER ……. C. M. MOUoNNELL A word picture of Ifhe kind of men most needed to ."in farmm-s and their fam· ilies to their rightful place in too Church of Christ.
RELIGIOUS NEEDS OF OLDER RURAL DISTRICTS . . . . . . . . . . . R A. ADAMS A descriptio'1l. of conditwns in the eastern stateR that have been deserted by farmers or by Protestant, chuTche•.
PIONEER WORK IN NEiWER COMMUNITIES …. ANDREW J. MONTOOMEB.Y A survey of the westB'ffl and southwe8tern fields of America and their religious needs.
IjNITED CHURCHES IN RURAL COMMUNTTIES …… ELIZABI!7I'H R. HOOKER A study of the camparati"e value and effectiveness of denominafwna! and !Ln· denominatwnal community churehes.
THE STOR.Y OF BUOKHORN, KEN'fUCKY ………………………….. BEST METHODS, IN RURAL COMMUNITIES … EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLE,TIN …………………………….. WOMAN '8 FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN …………………………..
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS ……………………………………….
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DReloabvearnt Jt ~Peieerrs,onP, reSseidcreenttaI'1 Wm' a1It,.CrhaMmcbDerolugaina",ViTcer·.Pasr"uriedrent L. W II ;:cbl~ca:~~; office, 3d & Reily Sts., Ha$~~~~u~,y~:; F;ditorial and Bu~~:sY~:l:C~;t~56 Fifth Avenue, ,8". F;ntered as second·class matter at the Post Office, Harrisburg, P••, under Act of March 3, ROBERT E. SPEER'S Important New Book The Unfinished Task of Foreign Missions • JAMES SPRUNT LECTURES, 1926 Cloth, $2.75 q lProfessor Harlan P. Beach says, "The reading of Dr. Speer's last book, only continues and strengthens my opinion that he is the one man in America, if not the world, who has had almost unequaled opportunities to visualize and investigate questions such as are treated in his volume . . . . . . It certainly is a most impressive volume upon a very important theme. It should awaken a deep interest in world evangelizati0!I. "
Missions says, '"A new book by Robert Nashville Christian Advocate says "Here Speer is always eagerly welcomed b'y those is a book for every' student of the progress who know how sane and strong and clean is of Christianity to read, study, and lay close his thought. This book will not prove dis- by for reference. Dr. Speer is the man to appointing; it is one of his best." have written it. He is as thoroughly equipped for the task as any living person." The World Call says, "Mr. Speer asks and answers the questions 'Is the missionary International Review of Missions says, enterprise still necessary? Is its work done? "These lectures add a worthy volume to Dr. If not, why not?' etc. In doing so he presents Speer's loug list of books. Into them the facts and figures in logical array, but in author has poured not only the choice coninteresting and helpful fashion, furnishing tents of his notebooks, with their vivid recolfood for thought and material for missionary lections of travel and rich results of wide and addresses. The book will be read by pastors, varied reading, but also clear and penetrating professors and missionary administrators, but thought expressed in forceful language." just as eagerly and helpfully by laymen generally."
TWO OTHER IMPORTANT WORKS ON MISSIONS The Task in Japan Chinese Culture and Christianity By James Livingstone Stewart By August Karl Reischauer, D.D. p'f'()fessor of Philosophy and Comparative Re- Professor at }.!e'J.ii Gakuin, Tokyo ligions, West China University} Chengtu. Szech· wan. Authtw of '~The Laughing B1tddha/' etc. "'~ pttidi1if~~ern,Mis;ionary Impera- Does China need Christianity today? tiv~S4!d on twenty years of first-hand study, made by its author on the mission This book,gives the answer. Dr. Stewart fields of the Orient. . has spent twenty-four years in China, and during that entire period has been furnish- Missionary Review of World: A If pene- ing his mind with what he now puts fortratingly accurate analysis of the real work of ward in the pages of this book. missions, not only in Japan, but in other fieldsa strong plea {or the type of missionary work Dr. Stewart during his quarter of a century necessary if Christianity is to hold the field.'" ,1.60. ~ou~i~o:a:h/t~dfdChfn~~:ti~:;~'led lfn t~~ thought life, then read this comnrehensive re- view of h~r:' present-day system. ,2.50'.
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 158 Fifth Avenue, New York 17 N. Wabash Avenue, Chicago Please mention THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD in writing to advertisers. (See page 539)
JULY, 1926
XLIX SEVEN THE OHUROH IN THE OOUNTRY MANY people today are inclined to confuse bigness with great- ness, to think that stentorian tones indicate an important utterance, to conclude that. the larger and more flaring the electrical sign, the more valuable is the merchandise it advertises.
In the same way, some believe that the power of a church is indicated by the size of its membership, that the importance of a community is proportionate to its population and that effectiveness depends on organization. Size is a factor in greatness-other things being equal –and numbers do count in the Ohurch and in the Kingdom of God as truly as in earthly warfare and in politics. But the most intensively powerful factors in God's universe are not necessarily the most ex- tensive, or the most easily recogni2ed. A microbe that can not be perceived by the senses may defy and bring to naught the strength of a giant; a small electric wire may carry light and power to oper- ate a huge factory. – The importance of a parish is not dependent on its size; a preacher is not powerful in proportion to the length of his life, the amount of his salary or the advertising space devoted to him in the press; the vitality of a church cannot be judged chiefly by the num- ber of its members, the cost of its structure or the completeness of its organization.
The small church in the rural community, the topic for this year's home mission study course, is of tremendous importance, not only to the individuals in the community but to the nation at large.
The country is a feeder of the city and the vigor of city life depends largely on the quality of blood flowing into it from the country.
Some of the greatest forces for good (like Abraham Lincoln) and for evil (like Joseph Smith, the Mormon) have come from rural districts.
While the results of rural church work are frequently inconspicuous or discouraging, the importance of such work is increasingly recog- 485
nized. There is all the more reason, therefore, for avoiding any course that saps the life of these small churches-through rivalry, through stressing non-essentials or through failure to keep in contact with the Source of all Power. After all, the real secret of life and of effective service is the same for country and for city.
Today the country parish is being restudied and reappraised as to its real needs, its resources, its importance and its program of life and service. While streams of country youth flow into the cities and supply fresh blood to colleges, a counter stream of business and professional men and women of mature age is flowing back into rural districts-occupying farms, estates and suburban homes. This transfer makes a complicated problem of financing, supplying leaders and maintaining a constructive program.
The articles by specialists in this and in subsequent issues of the REVIEW deal with many phases of this problem: the changes that have taken place in the last qnarter of a century, the characteristics of a successful rural pastor, the type of country church that has proved most efficient; the neglected rural populations of today, the religious educational problem in the country, and the real job of the rural church. The books and articles on this subject are worthy of study and the way this problem is dealt with today will largely determine the character of the individual, the Church and the nation tomorrow.
THE COMPLEX TASK IN AMERICA T HE immensity and complexity of the undertaking to reach all classes in America is revealed in the different nationalities one meets in the narrow circle of his daily round. A Rumanian takes the ashes from the cellar of his home and a Pole whitewashes its walls. A Hollander prunes the vines or works in the garden; a GermaIi 'plumber comes to stop a leak and his }Jelper is a Dane. The man who mends his rugs is a Syrian, the cook is a Swede and the waitress a Norwegian. His wife's seamstress is a Belgian and the man painting the fence is a Swiss. A Chinaman does his laundry, a Russian is his tailor; his groceries eome from a "Velshman, meat from a Scotchman, fish from a ~"rench man and vegetables from an Italian. The policeman who patrols his street is Irish, the milkman is a Lapp and his cobbler is a Hungarian; the bell-boy in the hotel where he spends a night is a Filipino and among the waiters are Slovaks, Greeks, and Serbians. He takes his lunch in a Turkish restaurant where he meets a college classmate who is a Bulgarian, with a friend who is a Montenegrin. The Austrian Consul lives in the house opposite. In the Men's Bible Class that he attends are a Cuban Protestant, a Mexican, a Brazilian, a Lithuanian, a Peruvian and a Haitian, while a Japanese merchant and his family attend services in the church of which the sexton is
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
a Portuguese. The janitor of his office building is a Canadian. The man who washes his office windows is a Spaniard, and his scrub woman is an Austrian. In an early morning train, among twentyeight passengers in the car, four are reading German papers, twelve .Jewish, six Italian, and the only American-born man in the car beside himself is a Negro.
Verily, the task of interpreting the Gospel of Christ to the mixed multitudes in America is not an easy one.
HUMAN IMPORTS AND SPIRITUAL EXPORTS n .AMERICA'S greatest imports are not the material riches from other lands but they are the human raw material that comes to our shores. The diseased and tainted are supposed to be excluded at the ports of entry while the residue is fashioned into uReful and beautiful citizenship in American schools and churches.
America's greatest exports are not her grain and manufactures, hut they are the ripened spiritual products-men and women transformed by education and freedom and transfigured by the Gospel of Christ. These redeemed and transformed souls carrv America's best business methods, ideals of liberty, equality, frate;nity, neighborliness, community spirit, initiative, brotherhood; they carry the Ohristian evangel and the best methods for taking Christ and for expressing Christian service to all-the nations of the world. East, west, north and south, American men and women trained in Christian churches are scattered over the world as the living seed of the Kingdom of God. The Gospel of Christ alone can save men from their sins and can give to them the individual, social, national and international salvation that all need-without distinction as to race, nationality or social position.
THE PRESENT-DAY MISSIONARY MOTIVE H AS ANY radical and important change taken place in the motive that leads young men and young women to offer them- selves for missionary work in non-Ohristian lands ~ Ninetytwo of these young volunteers have recently been accepted and assigned to their fields by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. Others are going out under the Baptist, Oongregational, Disciples, Protestant Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal, Lutheran, Reformed and other Boards. They have heard the call to leave home and kindred and to go to these other lands. What has been the motive that has led them to respond "Here am I, send me'"
There are those who would have us believe that not only religious ideas are changing but that the very foundation of religion is changing. 'l'hey say that the original motive for religious worship and obedience was fear, as it is today with African spirit worshippers. Gradually, they tell us, there developed the idea of "loyalty to
tribal or national gods, as with the followers of Shinto. Another step is shown in the desire for religious world conquest, exemplified in Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. 'l'he personal motive may be merit-seeking, love of conquest or fanatical faith. Such conceptions, we are told, have led to foreign missions.
Does this explain the Christian religion or the motive that leads Christians to proclaim the teachings of Christ~ Such was the central theme discussed at the annual week-end c(lnference of the International Missionary Union, held in New York City (April 30th to May 1st). Nearly one hundred missionaries on furlough and former missionaries came together, representing twelve fields and over twenty mission boards. They discussed the questions" What change has taken place in the missionary motive1" "What is the Gospel today~" and "How should the Christian message be adjusted because of national judgments and attitudes f"
The missionaries recognized that the modern missionary motive is more complex than formerly. Today many Christians not only feel the urge to go out to other lands because of their faith in Christ as the Son of God and the Revealer of the Way of Eternal Life, but they go because they know the ignorance that exists concerning the highest ideals of the life that now is. They go out hoping, by personal contact, understanding and influence, to help promote world peace, interracial brotherhood, social and industrial betterment and intellectual advancement.
There is no question but that with many the missionary motive has changed from that emphasi'zed in the New Testament. Some missionary speakers lay such stress on the need to promote brotherhood, or industrial betterment, on the sympathetic study of other religions, and on the benefits of modern education, that students are led to volunteer from no higher motives than those that might lead them to go out as agents for modern machinery or prepared food or in the interest of politics, science or s~cial service.
From a humanitarian standpoint, there are many good motives that might lead one to become a foreign missionary. None of these are adequate when we consider the difficulties and the issues involved. From a Christian viewpoint, however much one may be impelled by a desire to help his fellowmen to better their ideals and environment, the supreme missionary motive must be loyalty to Jesus Christ as Divine Lord and Saviour, a sense of the need of men for a way out of failure and sin and a conviction that He alone shows the Way of Life, here and hereafter. Most of the outgoing missionaries are actuated by such loyalty to Christ and by the desire to present Him to those who do not know Him, but they need, also, to be thoroughly grounded in faith and knowledge, and able to give the reasons for their conviction that the Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes on Him.
Soil and the Spiritual
BY REV. JOHN SOOTT KING, LITTLE BRITAIN, NEW YORK F ROM the mythologies of ancient peoples and from the folk- lore of those not so ancient we seem safe in assuming that a spiritual contact existed between nature and man through long periods of his development. Field, forest and mountain were believed to be alive with unseen beings whose good or ill will was potent. In many of the Psalms and Old Testament prophecies these ideas are lifted into an everyday experience of God who is not very far from anyone of us. If the starry silences of Oriental deserts impressed men with ideas ab()ut Him who inhabits eternity, the lowing herds on succulent hillsides and the teeming vegetation in fertile valleys impressed men with ideas of God's closeness, and of His thoughtfulness for the lives of beast and man.
When ,Lot pitched his tent toward the city of Sodom, the deterioration of Lot began. Somewhat like Lot's story has been the taking from rural life of a spirituality which seemingly and atavistically ought to have been permanent. 'l'he grare of city life, which is sulphurous at times, has blinded the eyes of many who have found pleasure and comfort in the open country. The maJ;erial conveniences and exciting pleasures of a city make strong appeal to thoughtless minds and weary bodies. There is a kind of intoxication in the whirl and rush of the city. Discontent soon overtakes country life by comparison. The city has no clear message for the deeper longings of life. Having eyes and seeing not and having ears and hearing not the realities of the country near him, the countryman, whose tent is pitched cityward, grows blind and deaf to the intimations of immortality surrounding him.
The economic struggle in agriculture, which tends toward cooperative enterprise, has created a class spirit against present business conditions. A sense of injustice in the scheme of t.hings prevails. Unconsciously an inferiority complex develops. Even in the cooperatives suspicion and envy arise. Some will not enter the cooperative attempts to better conditions. Division, where solidarity is necessary, grows. Where good will among independent conditions obtained, ill will obtains in cooperative conditions. If in it all one hecomes soured and discouraged then there is an inclination to an independency which is atheistic in thought and antisocial in habit.. "He that loveth not knoweth not God."
The unconscious struggle going on between cultures tends to blunt spiritual tendencies. The necessary neighborliness of the rural dweller makes the cultural question more serious in the country than in the city where racial groups can keep together. The Slavic, Latin, 489 ,
Teutonic and Anglo-Saxon stocks all have their own peculiar mode of thought and reason and of conduct, religious and moral. Alone each might carryon to perfectness, but each is affected by the other so that there arises a hybrid culture which lacks the basic beauty and zest of any of them. The mystical Slav, the reverential Latin, the God-militant Teuton and the God-law Anglo-Saxon mingled together in their absolute integrities would make for the final man, but alas, they mingle together in their worn ofi or lost integrities and the composite tends to produce the poorest of each.
The old idea of land tenure is passing away under the assault of the land speculator. Farms are less held for their ancestral meaning than for a high price. The hold is tenuous. Instead of inherited acres representing a. great love and devotion on the part of pioneers who cleared forests, blasted out rocks and underdrained meadows, they merely stand for the highest price to be obtained from a buying public. The tent is pitched toward Sodom.
Some or all of these things may be but transitory conditions. However they are very real while they last and very damaging to that spiritual contact which man should get out of God's creations.
The open country must still have messages for the souls of men, and the souls of men must still be capable of hearing them. The great religions of the world .had their birthplaces in the open country. The great poets 'have found their virile messages out of forest and mountain, singing bird and bursting bud. Jesus based His approach to man's sleeping soul upon pictures of falling sparrows, blossoming meadows, sun-caressed and rain-kissed fields in which men sowed and from which they reaped. An ancestral hall is the figure of a loving Father whose son returns from the feeding of swine. The gospels of Jesus have hallowed in a peculiar way the soil.
Nor will we believe that men's souls are dead to the messages of the open country. They are only dormant. A plowing of the environment with a new economic policy toward agriculture may loosen up the soil around the sleeping seed. A rain of sympathy on the part of urban business and culture, shown in respect for rural la bor as as high as any trade or even profession, may cause the seed to swell. But most of all we must believe that prophets whose hearts are full of love for the country and its people will do most :in stirring into life the sleeping good. There still linger traces of the older order of things. The country is not all sordid, nor all animal as in Zola's La Terre. A crude righteousness, crude: senses of justice, crude longings for beauty and culture abound everywhere in the country. Timid and unspoken may be these virtues, but they exist and only await some clarion voice to cause them to put their grave clothes aside and come forth. Brotherliness is just around the corner inmost lives awaiting the temptation to come out in front.
THE SOIL AND THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
Religion is not very deeply buried in any man, especially not in the ones we can foreigners, were we to get down to it with a loving not prying cordiality.
Because the rural dweller is by necessity an individualist, the only approach to him is individual. The weakness of much Christian work in country places lies in the lack of individual approach in sympathetic neighborliness. Pastoral work, not only by minister but by layman also, with a pastoral knGwledge of the one pastored is the Church '8 hope of holding the country and of bringing it back to its prophetic place amid the material tendencies of urban life which is fast becoming major in our civilization. To interpret the speech of the country side as did our Lord, to make men feel the nearness of God as did He, will require perhaps abnegation and surrender of what seems more worthwhile. Abraham left Ur of Chaldea. Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom. There is a wide difference in what an Israelite and the Ammonite and Moabite connote to the world by way of religion, law and morality.
CHRISTl!AN STEWARDSHIP SENTIMENTS T 0 HAVE is to owe-not to own. ·When a man acquires riches, God gets a partner or the man loses his soul. I II will place no value on anything I have except in its relation to the Kingdom of Christ."
A wise man will not hesitate to give away what he cannot keep, obtaining thereby riches that he will never lose.
Systematic earning makes an industrious man; wise spending a well-furnished man; thoughtful saving a prepared man; conscientious giving a blessed man.
Unconsecrated wealth in the hands of Christians is one of the greatest hindrances to the progress of the Church.
The Kingdom of God can never be established merely by the raising and expending of money, but money is greatly needed for its world-wide extension.
Stewardship puts the Golden Rule into business in place of the Rule of Gold.
Jesus Christ teaches that a man's attitude toward God and His Kingdom is revealed by his attitude to the property com- . mitted to his trust.
A Christian Program for a Rural Church BY PROF. RALPH A. FELTON IN "OUR TEMPLED HILLS"
1. Help to strengthen family ties in the midst of all the pres" ent-day forces that tend to tear them apart. Stress the sacred- ness of family life.
2. Keep the children as the center of the home and com- munity life, thus using the stones to build parish houses, in place of reformatories; using the rope to construct play- ground swings, instead of for hanging people; giving at least as much space to parks as to cemeteries; having school- houses as fine as barns; providing as much furniture for the children as for guests; giving as much time for the bedtime story-hour as for the radio and the newspaper.
3: Emphasize both bodily health and spiritual holiness, both sanitation and saintliness, before Him who tells us that we are the temples of the living God!
4. Put more emphasis upon true worship, but also recog- nize the fact that religious obligation is not exhausted by go- ing to church; neither is the church's task completed by simply persuading people to come to meetings.
5. Develop a Christian atmosphere in which a clean and wholesome social life can be lived in this day when commer- cial agencies are bidding for the control of all recreation.
6. Christianize all relationships in such a way that, as we are drawn closer together by improved methods of commu- nication and by cooperative economic agencies, we may build that world-wide brotherhood that has been talked about for so long.
7. Help make this earth beautiful which God has made holy, and conserve its fertility as well as its beauty for future generations.
8. Teach respect for law. Look upon government and laws as the best judgment of the best people, and develop the in- dividual conscience to obey and to enforce the law.
9. Put the spirit of Christ into everyday life, so large a portion of which consists in earning a living; placing service above profits, ideals above dividends, and human relation- ships above material wealth.
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. .. P'I"..a. … oow. ftI …"l' . . {- ) dIow ……pIdodJ~ PERCEN'I'AGE OF INCREASE IN POPULATION OF TERRITORY RURAL IN 1920, BY STATES: 1910-1920 Changes in Rural Life In the Past Twenty-Five Years BY REV. Wl..RREN H . WILSON, D.D., NEW YORK ])ireetor of Town and Country Department, Board of National Missions, Presbyterian Ohurch, U. S. A.
RURAL life had its crises in the years near to 1870, when the great migration to new land began; in 1890 when, the new land being all settled, we began to exploit the settled acres; in 1910 when the Country Commission aroused the world, and in 1920 when world forces took possession of farm and village life. Between the changes of fifty-five years past and those of twenty-five years past is this difference: the earlier were American and continental; the later are international and world-wide. . This paper has to do with processes in which the American countrymen have a share ill the same experience of all lands.
At the beginning of the twentieth century we were made aware of what we called "rural decadence." The terms "hill towns" of New England, "paganism," "abandoned churches" were on the lips of church leaders. They appeared with increasing frequency in serious prints. Religious people were troubled over the decline of the country church, but they did not know its meaning. Every religious society that had rural congregations had the experience of closing some of them, avoiding as long as possible the recognition that many others were practically dead. In 1909 Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed by means of a famous "Report on Country Life"
493
that the causes of this decline were economic. His formula, trans- ported across the Atlantic by Sir Horace Plunkett, was "better farming, better business, better living." This connection between the life of the spirit and the toil of the hands had beim known to many individual church workers, but was not proclaimed until Roosevelt's famous Commission cleared the atmosphere and opened a vista of understanding.
There followed five years of "Conservation Movements" and "Country Life Movements." 1, was called at that time into the serv- ice of the Presbyterian Home Board as Superintendent of the Coun- try Life Department, and it was my duty to attend conferences in which religion, education, better farming, cooperative purchase, proc- ess and sale, were all discussed as parts of a common process. Theodore Roosevelt and Liberty Hyde Bailey had shown the way to consecrating the soil and harnessing the forces of religion with the task of honoring the Lord in material things. How different that time with its high hopes and its recognition of the spiritual value of material things, from the present in which farmers are demanding. better economic conditions without regard to the spir- itual use, which we then hoped would follow from the improvement of the industry!
In this quarter century we have seen a great socializing of morals, of health and education. The Prohibition Movement is the highest expression of a moral standard put into a social propaganda. It may have run away from its original idea, as some believe it has, in its legal forms, but at the beginning it was a movement for indi- vidual abstinence from intoxicating liquor. Among farmers it he- came a social movement for the community in the interest of temperance. It is originally an agrarian reform. Somewhat more slowly and by the same path has come the transformation of bedside health service into public health nursing in the community.
At the beginning of this century education was content with the little red schoolhouse. Now country people are. generally converted to a socialized form of education either in the consolidated school .or in intelligent, skilled supervision of schools. The agrarian ad- vance has changed the farmers' desire to be taught only what their fathers learned into an eagerness for teaching in agriculture and home economics as well. While there are some objectors and somo states are reluctant, yet the extension of social education among villagers and country people is natural, and like other changes of this period it follows international experience.
But the most striking change in rural life is the nationalization of agriculture. It began, I suppose, in the earlier period when the Department of Agriculture was formed and the colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts in every state were launched about sixty years ago. But in this quarter century of world influence we are
RURAL LIFE IN THE PAST TWEiN'.rY-FIVE YEARS
confronted with problems our fathers did not know. The boll weevil taught us to employ the county agent. Seaman Knapp, sent into the South by the Secretary of Agriculture to combat this pest, devised a series of demonstration farms supervised by the county agent. In the Administration of Woodrow Wilson during the war this system was made national. The Farm Bureau grew up around the county agent's office at the county seat, and now we have agriculture pivoted upon the action of the National Government. We have the Farm Bloc in Washington and many state capitals. Farmers are demanding that the Government help the industry which twentyfive years ago regarded itself as the one independent occupation in the world.
Corresponding to this change is the denominational care of the country church. All Protestant communions before that time had what the Presbyterians call "presbyterial administration." Even the Methodists care for their weaker country churches through the conference. With the Roosevelt Country L,ife Commission Report in 1909 a new era began and now at least ten of the greater communions, including the Roman Catholic, have Departments of the Country Church, usually under their Board of Home Missions, which endeavor to use national resources and national experience in the interest of the local country congregation. In doing so they seek for international models and assemble the wisdom of centuries and of other lands as best they may to help the country church. Already the American experience is used in China and India, and the community church, as well as the "demonstration parish," is studied and imitated by missionaries. Evidently this religious movement which seemed national is in reality international.
One may well contrast the rural life of 1925 with that of 19QO. rroday country people are concerned with collective action in their farming and in their industry. They have heard of agricultural cooperation in Germany and consumers' cooperation in England. Cooperation has a definite meaning to farmers. The word refers to a mode of collective borrowing of money, collective processing of meat or milk, collective breeding of cattle, collective selling of farm products, and collective purchase of the goods farmers and villagers want. In 1910 farmers and residents in small towns were engaged in individual struggle, under low prices, for survival. In 1925-1926 country people are cooperating, in a time of high prices, for survival, with even more alarm in their expressions.
Another strong contrast between the extremes of this quarter century is expressed in urbanization. Villages and dwellers of the open country are getting hold of comforts and conveniences which are bought, not hand-made. It would seem that a good angel had looked upon the bleak slavery of farmers in the former century and planned for them enjoyment as wen as release; for the automobile,
COMING TO CHURCH BY OARRIAGES AND ON FOOT IN TEXAS the telephone, the radio, and in the background the rural free delivery of mail, are devices that seem to be suited to the need of the farm family living upon their lonely acres. 'l'hese devices, wllich were at first reluctantly used by farmers, though that reluctance has diminished with each successive year, have completely changed the social process of the farm house. Every day letters come and the paper comes to the door; every hour the telephone jingles with news of the neighborhood and reliable information of the markets. Every evening the radio sounds from its corner and every Sunday it preaches; while the automobile stands crouched in the barn or the garage ready for a dash to the nearest or the farthest point, in less time than it used to take to put a bridle on the farmer's mare. It would seem that these changes would make the country so attractive that Ntlfthecity people would. move out there to live, but in fact theY have simply stirred the mixture of country life more vigorously; or to change the figure, they have speeded up the separator by -which the cream and the milk are separated. The selection of those who live in the country and those who are impelled to leave the country is hastene4 by these wonderful facilities.
The social facilities are not the only ones given the farmer and the villager. New tools have come for his trade and new devices to save the steps of his burdened wife in the kitchen. The tractor is the rival of the horse, which the automobile has driven from the public roads. Many devices for doing the labor of the farm have come with it. But better still are the manifold facilities for making the house attractive within and the labor of the kitchen easier. Some of them are intended for health improvement but others have to do with the heating and lighting of the house. The old-fashioned farm of our grandfather's was self-sustaining in that it produced what
RURAL LIFE IN THE PAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS
it consumed: but the modern farm, equally prosperous, is self-sufficing as an electric plant, as a heating plant, as a unit of dairying or of canning fruits j though it is by this fact all the more dependent upon the manufacturer and the salesman.
Twenty-five years ago the farmer took pride in the skill of his hands to provide for his wants. He did not think of himself at that time except as an independent producer. But now the farmer is a consumer and he knows it. Therefore, he is concerned about his income. Even in India and China and Africa the quest of the dollar, the rupee and the shilling, is molding rural life. Reports from missionaries and travelers tell of the modification of village and family life for the purpose of making money, and the invasion of those lands by European and American goods that must be bought with cash. The studies made in Cornell University upon the problem of the income of the farmer, which resulted in the new word "labor income" with its peculiar meaning, have been memorable. We used to think about farm profits in a vague way. Since 1911 we have had a measurement of the pay a farmer gets for labor and management. 'l'his measure is used in China and India as well as in Montana.
Another striking change in the quarter century is the accelerated selection of those who may dwell in the country by reason of intensified industry. Farm life and village life are now thoroughly industralized. Generally speaking, none dwell in the country except those who can give an industrial reason for living there. The surplus of our populations is in our cities, with few exceptional areas. During the period following the war, immigrants have been drastically excluded from this country and the industries to which they were accustomed to attach themselves in the manufacturing centers have raised their wages, thus calling in many men and some women and children from the farms. By this the one-time exodus from the country has become a lamentable procession, and the announcements 2
of the Department of Agriculture, concerning especially the great industrial states east of Chicago and north of Washington, have tended greatly to discourage the people of the country and to give the impression that farm industry is a failure.
Another rural change in the spirit of recent years has been caused by the extended propaganda on behalf of moral reform, as on behalf of prohibition and of those domestic moralities which are . exalted by the Ku Klux Klan, and in the interest of the so-called Nordic stock. Whatever the cause of these agitations they have greatly disturbed country people. It may be that they are part of a racial discussion in which we are at the beginning. Their effects are already written in legislation and recorded in a complete change of the atmosphere and tone of rural communities in such states as Indiana and Texas. Everyone who knows these states appreciates that the old days of friendly, easy intercourse have gone and a new time with strong aversions or conflicts and not a little fear has arrived. The future is obscured for thoughful people in these small towns, whi~h are iarming centers, and the present is not as agree- able as the past.
The bitter cup of disillusionment, too, has been pint to our lips by the writers of the time. Until the past decade we were able to idealize the people that live in the country. We had fears and we were challenged to remedy abuses but we did not doubt the goodness of the structure and the beauty of the ideals of the village and the farm until "Main Street" was written and "TeeftaUow." These books and others like them slashed the portrait of our ancestors . with a ruthless dagger and robbed those who love the country of their pride in the life of small communities. That they told truth is evidenced by the wide reading they had among country people themselves,but they have left us without the ideals in which we clothed the farmer and the mountaineer.
Last of all, in the quarter century has come the proclamation of the city supremacy. In the Census of 1920 the city crossed the line for the first time ahead of the country. Fifty-one per cent of our people were found to live on the city side of that arbitrary line of 2500 population and less.· The newspapers and those who read them are all convinced that America has become an urban order of life and say it daily. Strange to say, at this very time, owing to other causes, notably the sales program in the interest of the auto- mobile and the radio, people are moving out of the city into the open country. .Families are touring out into the country and the resi- dential section of the bigger cities is forever being pushed farther and farth(lr from the city hall. . ..
It would be in vain to close this brie~:recital'with any indication of finality, but it may be worth saying that the changes of the past twenty-fi,ve years are generally superficial. No change has come in
1926J RURAL LIFE IN THE PAST TWENTY-FIVE YE,ARS
the source of our food, cotton, wool, lumber, ores and petroleum. 'Po produce these, people live in the country. So long as we have to tend dairy cows in order to get milk and cream, which are necessities of life, and so long as we have to plant and reap wheat in order to make bread; so long as we must have petroleum to lubricate the machines of the world, we will have people living in the small communities. The changes of the past twenty-five years are striking and picturesque indeed, but the family farm is still the unit of agriculture, the greatest industry of them all, in which is engaged sixty per cent of the rural population. This is the largest population engaged in any single industry in any part of the world under like conditions 'of cOmfort and prosperity.
THE IJIIDRCH' IN THE CHANGING COUNTRY Times in the country have changed. Jnstead of lamenting "the good old days,"
it were better to try to keep the rural church up-to-date_ Improved farm machinery means that fewer people are needed in the country; therefore, fewer people are left to support the rural church; therefore, small churches should be consolidated. Automobiles and good roads have en~rged the rural neighborhood, making it possible for scattered farm people to attend strong central churches. The little rural neighborhood nnit has largely given place to the country unit for agricultural organizations. The small neighborhood church must likewise be enlarged, both geographically and in its program of activities. The cunsolidation of rural schools is paving the way for a consolidation of rural churchoo.
The radio, like the telephone and the rural free delivery, has decreased isolation and puts farmers in touch with world movements_ Religion in the country must be adapted to the needs of this new rural life and must give the farmer a wider horizon. R. F.
Changes in Rural Standards of Living BY PROF. RALPH A. FELTON, ITHACA, NEW YORK T HE changes that have taken place in rural life are revealed by a study of the cost of living of two families_ ~'he first entries are those of the father who kept strict account of his expenditures; and the second, those' of his son who, forty-five years later, kept an equally strict account_ Both father and son lived on the same farm, and in each family there were three adults and three children. They illustrate the difference in the standard of living today on American farms from that which prevailed forty-five years ago.
FATHER'S SoN'S EXPENSES, 1880 EXPENSES, 1924 $1. 73 Light, including up-keep $99.00 52.00 Food 447.73 93.68 Clothing 280.15 Three children 411.43 61.81 Church 95.07 Doetor and medicine 167.30 72.20 Papers and books 161. 70 6.40 Trips and vacations 22.26 Z_50 Amusements Z7.65 691.65 .00 159.82 _00 14_96 General operation (COAl, gasoline, auto, labor) 16 .17 Miscellaneous $321.45 $2,563.76 -From II Our Templed Hills.
Gospel and the
BY THE REV. A. B. PARSON, NEW YORK CITY Assistant Foreign Secretary, Protestant Episcopal Ohnrch CHRISTIAN forces at work in many lands have in one respect been neglecting the majority of the human race. We have forgotten that the masses live as tillers of the soil and cannot understand the refinements of an urban evangel, a message that seldom carries outside of the bounds of city life. A distinctly new note is being sounded to preach the Kingdom of God in the great rural regions of the earth. "If the world is to be Ohristian," says Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones, "then Ohristianity must broaden its conception of mission possibilities."
Our attack on the evils of the world has too often centered on individuals in cities and we have offered a Gospel powerful and transforming so far as it went. We built schools and hospitals by the side of churches and magnificently the enterprise has gone forward-except in the great, cleared spaces where the world's farmers care for the world's needs. There we did not go, because for the most part the missionary enterprise was born among literary folk, the product of refinement in city and college.
This expanding world movement has yet to learn the Gospel of the soil: that God's purpose must surely be to redeem the basis of all existence, which is the agricultural ground work of our world economic life. A great proportion of the earth-family live in the eountry and their viewpoint is determined by the conditions of rural life. A place must be claimed! for rural missions in the programs of all mission boards. The work of any communion will be incomplete if it evangelizes, educates, does medical and' other social work, but omits agricultural missions.
Oonsider some of the confessions of missionary leaders. In India much of the unrest is said to be due to the fact that schools have too exclnsively prepared young Indians for literary and clerical occupations to the neglect of the activities that are more fundamental in the life of their millions near to the soil, since 90% of the people live in some 700,000 villages. A leader in Ohina writes: "Our education as at present conducted is of an exclusively literary type and seems to me to foster in the pupils an exaggerated idea of the excellence of books ….. " And yet Ohina is the center of that bursting Far E{tst wherein one half of the world's population lives; and four fifths of these live on the land and secure their living from the land. The African Educational Oommissions* found that though the "See reports "Education in Africa." and "Education in East Africa." Phelps-Stokes Fund, 101 ,Park Ave., New York.
500 work of missions has had profound effects on the general life of the continent, "we have contributed only a small beginning toward the training that is required to prepare the native to make effective use of the soiL"
Benja;min H. Hunnicutt, of Lavras, Brazil, the first agricultural missionary (and yet appointed as late as 1907), says: "Agricultural missions are still in their infancy, and their status with the boards at home, the missions on the field, policies of development, and work are all matters of very grave study."
THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AGRICULTURAL MISSIONS This group seeks to keep before mission boards the serious import of our still incomplete world missionary enterprise. Its purpose is to associate all those interested in agricultural and rural l11issions throughout the world for the development and exchange of ideas in order to improve agriculture and create a rural Ohristian eivilization.
'1'he Association's outlook on rural life includes all organized efforts for economic, social and religious development such as: increased production per acre and per capita, conservation of natural resources, good roads, cooperative markets, community centers, recreation, household arts and economy, public health service, improved churches and schools.
The Association was organized on January 1st, 1920, by missionaries and others interested in agricultural development at home and abroad. Twenty-five mission boards and other agencies are represented on the Executive Committee of the Association. Important investigations are being made by fiv'e committees as follows: Methods in Agricultural Missions at Home and Abroad. The Agricultural Community at Home and Abroad. Cooperative Organization of Agriculture. Women and the Family in Rural Life. The Rural Message and the Students of America.
The year past has been notable for two important conferences: the first (the fifth annual meeting) in New York in December and the second a regional conference in April at the School of Agriculhue, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
EXAMPI,ES OF AGRICULTURAL WORK In present-day annals of mission lands no projects carry more weight than that of the quiet work of the American Presbyterian mission at Moga, Punjab. Rev. W. J. McKee and his associates are heeding the saying of the Governor of India's United Provinces that "India must prepare for the rule of her masters-the farmers!" Mr. McKee emphasrzes the village as the unit of work and the children are trained to meet all the conditions of their lives. Chief
among the things that are taught is gardening. Each child is given a plot of ground which he learns to cultivate. This agricultural w-ork is simple, but in view of the fact that millions in India must work on small plots, the effect will be far reaching. Group living and mutual aid are values that Christian teaching can add to Indian life.
China, similarly, presents the village as the unit of the community. The leaders of the New China are thinking seriously and constructively about rural China. This transformation of a people in a few years is bringing baffling complexities and underneath all questions is the agricultural. President Kenyon h Butterfield says: Half of the world's population lives in the Far East. Four fifths of these eight hundred million human beings live on the land and secure their living directly from the land. In these two facts lies the significance of the Far East in the problem of agriculture viewed as a world question. The process of industrializing the Far East is well begun though by no means half done. Now industrialization means urbanization and both together mean new drafts upon agriculture. More mouths to feed, fewer hands to produce food, higher standards of urban living, will once again crowd the soil of the Far East to its fullest possibilities. It is not alone food that is wanted in the Far East. This region is especially adapted to certain raw materials for manufacture that are in constant and growing demand. Silk and cotton are the most important of these; but beans and other plants are also important, being wanted in rapidly increasJng amounts for their oils and similar extracts. A long list of these products can even now be made and will be increased as transportation becomes easier. It follows therefore that the world interest in Far Eastern Agriculture is two-fold; first, the capacity of the region to feed half the world's people-its own half-the half which will soon be two thirds; and, second, its ability, iu addition to growing food, to grow raw material for industry.
The valuable counsel of the U. S. Department of Agriculture has been increasingly at the service of missionaries and boards. The Hon. William M. Jardine, Secretary of Agriculture, says: Our religion has its roots in a rural society, and it will lose much if it does not keep those country foundations sound and secure. Religion must keep its touch with the soil if it is to be deep and· vital. Religion is one of the deepest and most vital instincts of the human race and it should reach its highest fruition when it is associated with other deep and ancient instincts. One of the most conspicuous of these is love of the soil and of natm:al things which owe their life to the soil. Religion which is founded on the reverence and understanding of country people has a strength which it could never obtain from urban sources. This is the type of religion that needs to be presented more and more in our rural communities-a religion that does not speak in general terms, but that ties up religion with all that is good in farming and rural life. Religion can in this way make a genuine contribution to farming and the Inrmer, and they in their turn, inspired by this new religious con- ception, will give their fundamental solidity and strength to the re- ligious life of the nation.
THE ,GOSPEL AND THE SOIL
The Spring Conference of boards and missionaries, students and faculty members in Ohio could have had no more fitting setting than Ohio State University since this state is 94% farm land and of its total area 78% is devoted to cultivation and improved farm land. This conference combined to bring together expert knowledge of the needs of farmer folk the world around. One is deeply moved at the sweep of the forces represented by the followers of a Galilean village Youth, the Incarnate Love shown in an Oriental whose life was lived in the countryside. His teachings were illustrated mainly by allusions to homely farm life: the seed, the plow, the wheat, the tares, the soil.
The quiet transformation taking place was unostentatiously reported by a worker in South Africa, in making famine non-existent among Christian natives due to their knowledge of improved agriculture. Pagan peoples in the very same locations are still suffering from periodic famines. In other words, the scientific farmer, the product of Christian missions, constantly has a residue of his crops over against the day of need; while the native unschooled farmer faces constantly recurring starvation.
The non-Christian world stands in jeopardy without an inclusive Gospel that will save the whole of our human processes. God in Christ reveals to us new realms to be conquered before we can claim that we have the completer truth. The missionary enterprise, send· ing out modern agricultural apostles, proclaims a science friendly and transforming and humane for the most numerous of the classes of the world's workers.
To be secure in the proclamation of such a daringly comprehensive message we need an extension of our home labors. Our present danger is that the joyful possession of and working of the soil will give place to the tide that already has turned to the city and to an industrial society eager for a too comfortable de-agriculturalized urban life.
It will not do to try to take to non-Christians something we have not first experienced. It is for us to build a more Christian rural America. We have had a first era of the rural church, one of criticism, analysis and intellectual grasp of the problem. The seeond stage is one of hope, fervor and passion. If the rural church is to be cleansed of dry rot, the American farmer saved from peasantry, the city saved from an influx of pagan youth, a prophet must arise who will build upon the insight of this intellectual era, bringing together the forces of religion under a single battle cry against the devil and the sin of a false aristocracy and a false superiority, in order that the whole land may be Christian and strong. The whole man, the whole land, the whole world is to be redeemed. Then let us rise up to an unfinished work and give to earth 'speoples a finer life as the fruit of faith in a God who loves the whole world.
Real Job of the Rural
BY REIV. JOHN McDOWELL, D.D., NEW YORK Secretary of the Board of National Missions, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
"And He went round about the villages teaching"-Mark 6: 6.
O BVIOUSLY the real job of the Church of Christ cannot be determined by its location or its environment. Whenever its work has been thus defined, the rural church has been long on program and short on dynamic, long on statistics and short on spirituality, long on stimulus and short on impulse. Noone will question for a moment that the religious condition of those who till the soil, who drive the plow, who delve in mine and who dwell remote from the marts of trade should never cease to be of serious concern to all Christians. Of course, the rural church must not be insensible to the needs of the people, old and young, nor indifferent to the pressing problems of the community. It must be wide awake to all these things and always close to the business and hearts of the men and women, boys and girls for whose well being and welfare it exists. If the rural church is to fulfil its place and do its work, survive and succeed, it must have at least two things: First, a clear idea of the mission to which Christ, the Founder, has appointed it.
Second, a firm purpose to fulfil that mission and not to die while there is work to do.
-What, then, is the real job of the rural church 7 For an answer to this question, Christians should go to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments rather than to modern sociology and modern surveys. Surveys will prove a help in projecting the program of the rural church but they are not authoritative in defining its real job and its supreme purpose. The final court of appeal on this momentous question to which we should willingly submit is the teaching of the Scriptures, especially the teaching of the New Testament.
The rural church's mission is nowhere else authoritatively defined. Definitions from other sources are of value only in so far as they are in harmony with the teachings of the New Testament. Before these teachings, pre-conception and prejudice and pride should willingly bow and, to the full limits of the truth as revealed in the records of the New Testament, the rural church and every other church bearing the name of Jesus Christ is in duty bound to conform.
What, then, according to the teaching of the New Testament, is the real job of the rural church7 Choosing the Book of the Acts as a purposeful chronicle of the origin and growth of the Church and closely studying its narrative, we discover the answer it supplies to 504 be as simple as its implications are startling. The real job of the Church, according to the New Testament, is to witness to and for Jesus, the Christ. "Ye shall be my witnesses" (Acts 1: 8), said .Jesus to His followers on the day of His Ascension. That was their sole responsibility, a responsibility which each according to his several ability must discharge. It was to this end that "power" was promised, "when the Holy Spirit is come upon you."
Beginning with their native land, Judea, their witness was to extend to the uttermost part of the earth. "Weare witnesses," said Peter and his companions, harking back to the significant term again and again. Each act of the Apostles was a witness bearing, whether an interpretation of national history in the light of the grace and truth which came by this Christ, the healing of the sick, like the lame man at the beautiful door of the temple, or the ceaseless proclamation of Jesus crucified and risen. All such evidence as this is clear. "To witness for Jesus Christ!" That is the Church's real job everywhere throughout the world without discrimination and without discount.
In these modern days when the Church is called upon to do so many things and to be so many things for the community, all of which have their place and all of which are important in their place, we do well to go back to these early records and remind ourselves that, according to the constitution and charter of Christianity, the real job of any church bearing the name of Jesus Christ is not vague and indefinite but real and definite and that job is to be a living witness in every community to Christ and for Christ.
It is true that the Church has other functions, functions which are of great value to the community, but even these apart from the primary function of the Church will sooner or later disappoint the community and be discounted by the people. We heartily agree with Rev. Fred Eastman when he says: Let us keep constantly before us our historic ideals of religious and political freedom, education and Christian service. More important yet, let us bear in mind that these great ideals are the product of such religious conceptions as our faith in a Sovereign God dwelling in the human soul. Fundamental in all our "Unfinished Business," therefore, is evangelism, or getting individuals into fellowship with God. If the Church were to forget its history and become so blinded as not to see the religious roots of its passion for freedom, its desire for education and its devotion to human service, and were to set about working for these things simply through laws and movements whose object is the change of social environment, it would be a useful institution but it would cease to be a Christian Church.
The ideal for the rural church ought to be a saved soul in a saved body, living in a saved community. It is becoming clearer every day that the men and women and children in the rural districts need and want religion, and the religion they want and" need is the religion that means peace and purity and joy, the sense of God's nearness, the comfort of Christ's love, the strength that comes from spiritual
food and fellowship. They want the rural church to be a house of prayer and praise for all people, the place where divine truth seems clearer and human brotherhood dearer and heaven nearer than anywhere else in the world.
The rural church will succeed in proportion as it wins the affection, confidence, support and loyalty of the people by doing its own work, namely, that of witnessing to and for Jesus Christ. Apparent success on any other basis-especially political, financial, agricultural, educational, social or sensational-means for the rural church a living death. The rural church must be a minister to life, personal and social, and in its ministry to life it will respond to the two deepest and most universal desires of mankind, namely, the desire for peace and the desire for power. The rural church that is a witness to Jesus Christ will soon reveal the fact that the secret of social well being is the individual life and the secret of all individual life is acquaintance with God and the supreme source of acquaintance with God is Jesus Christ.
If the rural church is to be true to its primary task, it must be unflinchingly loyal to its divine commission and close to the needs that call it into existence. It must attend strictly to its own specific job. So far as it attempts to duplicate the work of other institutions, to that extent it will fail. There must be a deepening within the rural church of the conviction that it exists because man has a soul that needs to be saved and needs nurture-worship, sympathy, love, hope and the cultivation of the spiritual life. The rural church does not primarily exist to provide workshops, soup-kitchens, farm schools and medical clinics. All of these are necessary and have a very real value to the community, but this is not the need that creates the rural church. Scripture, history and experience unite in saying that the Church exists primarily to lead men to repentance, to give them faith in God, teach them high ideals, to equip them with motive power; in a word, to make them open and loyal disciples of Jesus Christ.
Through the Gospel of Christ, the rural church ought to offer every man, woman and child the abundant life that Christ came to give. If it fails to do this, it is not the Church of Jesus Christ and the people will go unsaved, unserved and unblessed. It is becoming clearer every day that the rural church that will fill a soul with the love of Christ through its services will soon discover that through such a soul the community will be served and the diseases and disorders that disturb the community will be eliminated. The rural church that makes the heart clean by its regenerating Gospel and glad by its uplifting worship will do more to bring the Kingdom of God into the neighborhood than many free lectures, free concerts and free lunches.
"No improvement of environment," says the Rev. Paul Douglas
THE REAL JOB OF THE RURAL CHURCH
in his book, "The New Home Missions," "will make the human soul commensurate with its largest visions. In its profoundest reaches life will ever need a redeeming touch deeper than. any social ministry. There are many things and they are mostly fundamental which law and education cannot do because they are weak through the flesh. "
There is always a danger that the rural church under the pressure of its immediate and urgent needs will forget the Master's fundamental teachings respecting the application of His Gospel to men. Make the heart right and then righteousness will abound. "Oleanse first that which is within the cup." .Put love into the breast and then it will shine in the eye, speak from the lips and work through the hands. The feet will run on errands of mercy if the soul is merciful. The rural church, like the Apostle Paul, must "become all things to all men" that it "may by all means save some." (1 Cor. 9: 22.) It is with this motive that the rural church should worship and work. It is not to please men but to save men that its program should be projected, not to win their favor and applause but to win their souls. This is the 'first great objective of all the work of the rural church. It is evident from the teaching of the New Testament that the supreme desire and effort of tlie rural church should be the conversion of men. That is its real job, this not as an after-result to be attained by method of gradual approach but as its direct goal and its immediate objective. The Gospel of Christ begins at the right end. Convert a man, a family, a tribe first; educate, cultivate, stimulate afterwards. Was this not exactly what Christ Himself meant when he IT, said: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6: 33.) Whenever conversion is genuinely Christian it will be followed by thoroughgoing changes of habits and conduct and, manner. These are the "things that accompany salvation." History shows that where an individual or a family or a tribe has been brought to a saving belief in Christ the result is never mere salvation in the sense of an inner change of heart and such an outward change of life as affects only the clearly moral relations and practices. There always follows a rapid succession of changes more or less radical in every sphere of His life and thought, changes which not seldom make a deeper impression upon the minds of an observing world than the essential spiritual change which is the source of it.
The new birth is the basis of all moral progress and enlightenment, the first necessary step toward every good, whether personal or public, whether social or political, commercial or religious. Christianity seeks to regenerate the heart and thus transform character and ultimately the community. Whoever has experienced this spiritual transformation of change of heart-whoever has been vitally renewed in motive and aspiration by the power of Christ is counted a
citizen of the Heavenly Kingdom, a genuine product of saving grace even though his outward circumstances have not yet felt the full effect of that change.
When the rural church is true to her commission she will aim always and only at one result, spiritual regeneration. But this re- suit will affect all the rest of human life. There is no part of life so material, so secular or so superficial but is modified and influenced by the regenerating power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The right kind of a church for the rural life is one which, how- ever simple in its worship, however small in its membership, is mani- festly filled with the spirit of Christ, which is always the spirit of service, sacrifice and love. The rural church must seek to make every one who enters it feel at once-"these people are glad to be Chris- tians and glad to have me with them, and truly it is good to be here." Such a church will survive and in the best sense of the word will succeed.
To s'um up, we affirm, first, that the real job of the rural church when true to her commission, as given by Jesus Christ and described in the New Testament, is that of witnessing to and for Jesus Christ; second, that the content of this witness is at least fivefold: (1) To witness to the saving power of Jesus Christ-evangelism. (2) To witness to the developing power of Christ-education. (3) To witness to the healing power of Christ-medical service. (4) To witness to the transforming power of Christ-character-build- ing. (5) To witness to the reconstructing power of Christ-community- building.
Let the rural church trust God and believe in the value of the human soul and let this' faith send her forth with the glad message, "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Yes, "whosoever," irrespective of doctrines, creeds and sacraments i "whosoever shall call"-albeit ignorantly, feebly, foolishly-the call and not the manner of it being the sale condition-"Whosoever shall call shall be saved." Let heragain sound forth in every village of our land the Gospel of Christ in terms of its democracy: "Whosoever will may come," and the rural church will soon convince the people that it is a supreme necessity in human life. Let the rural church speak the gospel of good cheer as the Master did, not to the farmer but to the man who farms, not to the workingman but to the man who works, and it will win its way into the hearts and homes of the people. Let the rural church in the name of Christ offer a program that is as deep as human nature and as wide as human need and it will be what it was intended to be, "The Body of Christ"-not an end in itself but a means to an end, not an institution to be built up out of the community, but an instrument for building up the community in thtl truth, in the life and Spirit of Christ.
Adventure in Rural
BY REV. MALCOLM DAriA, D.D., NEW YORK CITY Director, Town and Country Department, Congregatiunal Church Extension Boards PHILLIPS Brooks once said that "being a minister is fun." The average rural minister would doubtless be inclined' to make some mental reservations before admitting the truth of that statement. He would not, however, deny that the rural min- istry offers adventure, and, as to its being fun, a man makes his ministry a lugubrious or happy experience by what he puts into it.
n is the minister who conditions the success of any work. It is quite – frequently said, "Make the jobs big enough and men will go into the rural ministry." There is a good deal of truth in the statement. But after all, the need is everywhere for men who will go into the country and create their own jobs and make them truly big. Someone has said: "Many a church is languishing for a big task." 'L"rue! The churches are ready and waiting to be chal- lenged.
'L'he first man who comes to my mind is Wilbur I. Bull, recently of Ashland, Me., and now gone to an- other part of the same state to re- peat himself. When I first saw him he was something of a curiosity to me, for he is one of very few men WILBUR 1. BULL OF MAINE with whom I am acquainted who ac- tually prepared for the ntml ministry. The Ashland region is some- what remote, in Aroostook Co unty, famous for its seed potatoes, and only fifty miles south of the Canadian border. Wilbur Bull went there thirteen years ago and has been eternally at it ever since. He is more than a preacher. He made himself an "institu- tion" all over the country. Until 1922 there was a region of perhaps two hundred and fifty square miles with only a Catholic priest, now and then an Episcopal minister, and Mr. Bull himself, as resident pastors. Of course, to the shame of Protestantism, where the open country is neglected by the Church, all sorts of "bootleg cults"
thrive. The region had its share. For years this sky-pilot of the Aroostook had been cherishing visions of bigger things commen- S09
surate with the needs and opportunity. But he worked while he dreamed, and "spread himself" in a really wonderful way. I am glad that I was allowed the privilege of helping to promote the really big thing that is up there now.
Aaron Sapiro had come in to the county to organize the potato growers. I heard him speak to a thousand farmers over at Caribou. If he had only substituted church or religion for every mention of sun-kissed oranges, prunes, tobacco, etc.-industries he has organized-it would have been the best description I have ever heard given of a much-needed rural church technic. We tried the same arguments for cooperation and pooling of interests in religion that he did with potatoes. And it went across. Ashland is the only place large enough to support a minister of its own. The three other little vil· lages, and the eight or ten school districts, have never had the high 0«/ACIf; PASnlRAL la-.-~ ~ ~ IIERIA'I1ONAL DEMRJM:In' ".~ _ _ _ aIIIIIIS – – – _a:HDIU -……. ………… M.8.~1IIC'mR- ~S£IM:ES 1I_IIIRl-_ OLL _ -.-.-…–_':r~ –M_OI_ 'IIIIA.!IlIIMVCIIEISIU lWIIIRlRMK IllCAllIIIMIIIIJIIIII, –..~ …S..C..T- .-.1.H..iI.'I.I.D- .t, ATIlCI1R1t1S. BIBLI_II UIIII MIIEH &LiIGrr ——"""""'" lWUIIiI!IIiM CIllRJtll,A LDfIIII SIIIW:t _'l'llllt'RAMB _~IIIMCI sams nTDXY awiIIl JlIS'PlRAL IIlMIIlIMllIOHS 'RAIlIDLESSOIIS atR~~ltll OWAI"llMf'U.
THE PROGRAM AND STAFF OF THE LARGER PARISH, ASHLAND, MAINE
RELIGIOUS ADVENTURE IN RURAL AMERIOA
SUPT. W. 1. BULL THE LARGER PARISH COUNCIL OF THE AROOSTOOK CHURCH grade ministry needed tQ get results. They are too poor, and, as in potatoes, they have never learned the game of cooperation. Mr. Bull gathered together a group of us men who had been to college, and who had not forgotten the stunts we put on there, and we visited some thirteen points-usually farm houses- where we had afternoon games, a big supper, and then a good time" saying our pieces." ,life really evolved a first-class vaudeville troupe before we had done. Better still, we "sold" them the idea of the .Aroostook Larger Parish. Each cooperating unit sent in a delegate to discuss possibilities, and pool resources.
In 1921 they had only Mr. Bull. The illustrations show the Larger Parish and the Program which were there by 1924. The Parish Council still functions. It meets every six weeks and the people themselves make the plans used in Aroostook, a "practice of pure democracy in religion" that should obtain everywhere. The staff included three men, all college trained, and two of them seminary graduates. The finest departmentized work I know of anywhere is being wrought out. Results of such work cannot be tabulated. Sapiro told the farmers never to let a potato get out of the region without the name Aroostook appearing somewhere, so that when people said potato folks would think Aroostook, and when .Aroostook was mentioned folks would think potatoes. So we conjured with the· name Aroostook to develop a community spirit co-extensive with the entire parish of two hundred and fifty square miles. Town and country antagonisms, village jealousies, and neighborhood feuds exist pretty much everywhere in rural America. They are forgotten up in .Aroostook. The Council, the ministers, the equipment, belong
to everyone, and all boost for the thing as a whole. Dean Bosworth defines the Kingdom of God as "a society of friendly folks. " The Kingdom is coming throughout the Larger Parish. On the vorst possible Sunday for the purpose, in 1924, sixty men (not women) got on their snowshoes, skiis, sleds and horses and canvassed' for the annual budget. They raised $3,100 in cash and pledges against $1,800 the year before, and despite the fact that potatoes were not selling for enough to pay for the fertilizers used in raising them.
One of the most serious tasks facing America today is the maintain- ing of a high grade population upon the soil. Rural religion and the Church have much t.o ~o with it. BothaL'e functionillg suc~~s- fully in Aroostook. .' , . ' . " . … " ' C ( Now take a long leap out to Colorado: About two hundred and fifty miles west of Denver, tventy- six miles from the nearest rail- road station, and six thousand feet up in the air, is Plateau Val- ley or "the Hidden Arcadia of the West." vVhy do men covet city parishes hemmed in by ugly build- ings, buried in smoke, with no sky- line or far glimpses of God's open ~ Consider what is in this little valley. To the north, running east and west for miles, are the Battle- ment Mesa oil-shale hills. rfo the A RURAL PARISH IN COLORADO south is Grand Mesa rising four- teen thousand feet into the air and snow crowned most of the year. Through the fertile valley runs the Plateau Creek, rising eight thousand feet up in the mountains to the east, fed by melting snows all along its eighteen-mile course, and giv- ing perfect irrigation privileges on every side. Alfalfa is the chief industry of the Valley to feed the fifty-five thousand cattle grazing on the Battlement Mesa National Range. Forty-five hundred people live in the four little villages, and "the neighborhoods" scattered through the hills. Two thousand of these are young people, six hun- dred of them being school children. Six churches have been minister- ing religiously to these people for some thirty years.
An old college friend first invited me to come into the valley.
James F. Walker, called the "Sky-pilot of the Rockies" had, like Bull, of Ashland, been doing pioneer work there. He also had dreamed of what might some day be made to be. Walker is a man's man, as well as a man of God, and had done most all of the ,things the local inhabitants have ever attempted-except to "sit Mc- Oarthy's mule. " Next, I think of 'William D. Barnes, who came after.
R.EL:tGtOUS ADVENTURE lN RuRAL AMER1CA
BUS SERVICE FOR A DAILY VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL IN COLORADO He was of a different type but, as the cowboys put it, "a he-man and a regular feller." I heard Barnes tell the kind of minister required in the Rockies. He said, "The cowboys always suspect a streak of yellow in a preacher. There was one man I simply could not get next to. I finally concluded that to win him I must put on the gloves with him. So, one night, we drew the chairs in the little church, donned the mitts and went at it. He was a better boxer than I was but I managed to get in a few punches for the glory of the IJord. Both of us were rather soft, and at the end of fifteen minutes my opponent suggested that we had had enough. He has been my best friend ever since. A few days later the cowboys told me that I was expected to ride a wild steer at a rodeo. I wondered how the Lord would get me out of that fix. He did it. On· Saturday afternoon I' was playing ball with the Scouts and sliding in On the home plate 🙁 ,broke my leg-and thus saved my neck."
The people were prosperous at the time of my first visit to the Valley but had no money for religious enterprises. The latter simply did not register, and the church was not considered a "going concern." Just as it is ·most everywhere in rural America the methods of the church were not comparable to those on ranch and farm- and so were not respected. Not one tenth of either the old folks or the young folks were in any way connected with the churches and Sunday-schools. And yet, people buy what they want now-adays! Our job was to put up something in the name of religion that these people did want. And it was done. The church at the center, Collbran, had been talking a $5000 investment in that anathema of church building possibilities-a cement basement under the wee 3
church. Folks were languishing for a bigger job than that! Realizing that "the needs of the community must be the law of the church" we began to study, tabulate and vision those needs. Finally a $20,000 Community House, with eVenT facility of a modern Y. M. C. A. building, a seven-day-a-week religio-social program, and a multiple ministry, was proposed. The ranchers could not afford to hire "hands" and parents wanted to hold their children on the farms. We suggested that people who went over the top in Liberty Loans and War Drives of every sort for children overseas might do the same by those children spared and returned to them. The people decided that" the best is none too good for us" and went to it. And the thing was done. Due partly to an "inferiority complex" country folks often say, "It is part of the fate of living in the country that we cannot have the alluring attractions and conveniences of the larger centers." This was utterly disproved. Look at the Community House, bought by the entire Valley, owned and administered by its representatives. They have every club in Plateau Valley that exists anywhere, except a policemen's club, which they do not need. The peopie have gotten religion enough so that bootlegging is not tolerated as "fashionable" and "smart" but is dealt with in true western style. There is a Plateau Valley Larger Parish now! The things enjoyed at the center are taken to the far circumferences of the parish. One minister cares particularly for Collbran village and its community house activities. The other is big brother to everyone outside. "Fords" and a Reo speed wagon, with movies, library books, athletic supplies, etc., visit some eight outstations. When summer comes, the children are brought in to the Daily Vacation Bible School held at the big plant. Other such schools are held at different points in the Valley. Those 'who prefer to come in to the center for church and Sunday-school are also brought in the year round.
A regular circuit of preaching appointments, Sunday-schools, social occasions, children's hours, parish visitations, is maintained, and summer student work done during the summer months. Music, and even Bibles, have been introduced in some of the school districts that request them.
Once again, the story cannot be told in figures, although every good activity has doubled and trebled its patronage. The proof of the worth-whileness of this religious adventure is the changed social f1nd religious atmosphere throughout the entire Valley. Everyhody is getting to know everybody else and all that believe are working together. There is an entirely new attitude toward religion and the church. I,n the beginning five organizations competed more or less. They represented four different sects. Now four of the churches have entered the "big drive" forgetful of their particular brand of religion and content to be really Christian. The
RELIGIOUS ADVENTURE IN RURAL AMERICA
cowboys will get on their broncos when the Sunday for the every m~mber canvass comes round, and will visit every home in the Parish. They will return with the Valley's share of the budget raised; including the" apportionment" and the refund to the Church Building Society which has helped them so generously. They do not throng the churches yet. Not many have entered the ministry. But they say it is "fun." Religion and the church are beginning to "hit us where we live."
For the next successful parish, church and minister, let us drop back eastward to the sand-hills of Nebraska. At Hyannis, on the Burlington Line running from Lincoln to Billings, Mont., lives as fine a put-up minister as anyone wants to see, Ernest Larson: He is at work single-handed, but with the help of "Lizzie" Ford, he is YOUNG PEOPLE'S COi-rI'ERENCE IN THE BLACK HILLS covering miles of territory in his ministry a~d getting a real kick out of it. One risks life and limb to run an automobile out in the Rockies. The test in the sand-hills is one's temper and vocabulary. The roads are sand, inches deep. Your machine smokes and balks on a very slight rise, and you must set your wheel some little time before you negotiate the turns in the serpentine trails winding through the clefts in the hills. But there are folks to be reached in the sand-hills, and Larson goes after them. Every rural minister has his ordinary work to do, the ordinary things that must be done well to be successful. He can afford to find effective specialties. [,arson is a young people's man. In the summers, when schools close, the young folks all go back from the little villages along the railroad to work on the ranches scattered everywhere. That spells Larson's job. He goes after them, visits them on the ranches (get-
ting his board and lodging free for weeks at a time), pitches-in and helps in the farm work if necessary, and all the time he is busy promoting open country activities of social, athletic and religious sorts_ And such farmstead visitation pays, proving that a house-going minister makes a church-going parish.. When the schools open in the fall the churches Larson ministers to all fill up as a matter of course. The young people take their places at church and Sundayschool, in the Christian Endeavor and in the choir. It is the correct thing to do, the thing people like to do. The only trouble is that Larson ought to be twins or triplets. He does not spend his time lamenting or bemoaning what he is not, however, but he uses what he is fast and furiously_ The church at Hyannis is a successful one_ The parish is. It is a cattle country where folks are busy raising stock. Larson is bettering humans, and the people know it. They are for him.
If you want to look in on another real man of God, take the train at Hyannis and ride north and westward for a few hours, over the South Dakota line, to Edgemont. Alan M. Fairbank lives there, of the famous foreign missionary Fairbank family. Alan wanted to be a foreign missionary but is proving a real missionary in the homeland. It is rather interesting to note that in picking our successful churches thus far, and with no such intention, every minister we have taken as an example has been ambitious to serve over an area as well as a church. Some rural ministers have small ideas of their job, thinking of themselves as called to one church, one people and one little place. That is their idea of "parish" and, "community." It is not the idea of the successful ministers, as I know them. Alan Fairbank is bound that the Lord's business shall match "big business." Like the foreign missionary he thinks of himself as sent to take large stretches of country in the name of the Most High. As far out as business solicits trade from IDdgemont so far out he considers that the church owes pastoral oversight and religious fellowship. And he is no less a man of God because he is many more kinds of a man than one-a social engineer, a local statesman and a community builder. Alan Fairbank has been building a church, i.e., getting his people to do it. A local man drew the plans, the people had sand-hauling bees, brick-making bees, and lots of other kinds. They got three dollars for everyone invested. Later on, as there was no public hall in town, the church was put at the service of the community. The church in the country has a large social mission it cannot evade. The Edgemont church is a successful one most largely because its young minister is interested in every side of the community life.
Now we will take the train for northern Minnesota where I had heard of a minister with another specialty. I wanted to see what it really amounted to. The man's name is J. C. Cadwell. This
RELIGIOUS ADVENTURE IN RURAL AMERICA li17
rural minister believes that it is part of his work to help keep the boys and girls on the farms. I heard Cadwell give a novel sermon. The occasion was a Sunday meeting of a farm club, the church was a barn, the pulpit was a stall, and the text was a young calf. The substance of the sermon was something like this: "It pays financially to raise registered stock. This calf is worth only ten dollarii1 on the market because its registry is known only on one side. Were both parents known, it would probably bring seventy-five dollars. God Almighty does not want 'scrubs' in your herds. More than that, he desires only pllre-breds in your families."
This reminds me of a letter from a successful young minister down in the Ozarks-a returned soldier and a real man. He is building what might be termed a church over a region, as well as local ones. He has some novel ideas of pastoral duty. "The outstanding thing we have accomplished in eight months has been the getting of an agricultural program under way. There is an agricultural committee of the Carter County Chamber of Commerce but it has no program. I pleaded for one and they made me a member of the committee and its secretary. We have things well under way by which three counties will have the use of a county agent. Twice we have had a poultry expert spend a week in the county. It has resulted in having a number of hen houses built and others will be built soon. December 11 we took two auto loads of men and women to Mountain Grove to visit the Poultry Experiment Station. Now we are trying to create an interest in the growing of strawberries. Most of the people here have no vision of what can be done in these hills. If any forward progress is to be made socially, materially, spiritually and educationally, we must find new ways for these people to earn money. This we are trying to do."
The church, like almost every other good thing, is supported by profits. If there are no profits the people cannot have lithe worthwhile things of life." Fred Wangelin is making his people economically so that life, and life more abundantly, can be supported. He is preaching all the time by what he is in the midst. The people are more than ready to listen to him when he takes a text and speaks to them out of the Bible during services of worship.
If religion is a .life rather than a creed, these ministers and churches are promoting it by serving their communities in every kind of helpful way, and in the Master's name. I must close with a word about Hilda I ves. She is not ordained, but she can preach. A member of one of the largest churches in New England, she came to feel that she was not getting or giving much by religion manifested there. She craved actually working in Christ's name. She must' have heard of John Frederick Oberlin. She wanted a hard job, or as he put it, "no easy parish, but a work no one else would do, which would not be done unless he did it. " She began work with
a church long closed, a people scattered, poor but proud. They needed a minister and they got one. Hilda I ves is beloved through- out the entire region and her story has gone all through New England. I have heard her tell it. And the strange thing is that although she is not a trained minister she has arrived at the best possible rural minister's method and technic. In Christ's name always, she has gone about doing anything and everything needing to be done for every last man, woman and child amongst the hills.
I have come across a large number of laymen, even college students, who are serving rural communities far better than ordained min- isters. The reason is not hard to guess. They are not trained to think that certain things are ministerial, or belong to the ministry, but are ready to do any last thing that appears to be needed for the welfare of the people about them. Let me close this article by quoting from Hilda lves. She was as successful in her ministry and her" church amongst the hills," as any church or minister that I know about.
A minister who has won by a spirit of Christian friendliness and love the confidence and heart of his farmer friends, can point the way to financial gain and economic team work. For the past year and a half, I have been minister of a little church in a town of five hundred people, children counted and included. Nine miles from markets, with farms rocky and none too fertile, the farmers had wrenched from the soil a bare living. There had been no money to keep the farm buildings in repair. Investment in modern machinery had been out of the question. Every man was going it alone, and pretty severe going it was. Proud, self-respecting and of amazing endurance were these people, but they needed help. I announced that on every Sunday afternoon, after the three services of the day, I would collect for the whole· sale markets of the city in which I lived, sixty-two miles away, any surplus crops that my parishioners might have. Certain church members, fortunately very few in number, were distressed by the announcement. They had never really believed that Christ wanted them to take the ox out of the pit on Sunday, for fear that it might disturb the rather rigid worship of their day of church services, and the "Thou shalt not" atmosphere of their homes. In making this comment, I would not in any way belittle a passionate devotion to a Sabbath of quietness, rest and meditation. So every Sunday afternoon my F:ord sedan never failed to be crammed to its creaky top. A typical load might be: apples, potatoes, beets, eggs, chickens, cottage cheese, a braided rug. Or again, I would find beets, lettuce, eggs, preserved raspberries and a rooster with its feathers still on. Checks for sixty cents, a dollar twenty-nine, four dollars and sixty-three cents, or sometimes as high as thirteen or twenty dollars, I bro)lght back from the sale of the produce. I found Christian wholesale and retail dealers who were glad to help those who were having a hard time in life, and I asked it of them as a distinct Christian service. I found the need of small loans a real financial problem. Fifty dollars for seeds and fertilizers or supplies might be the means of much gain, but the farmer did not want the loan at the price of mortgaging his farm. Loans were secured of Christian friends who had means, on my assurance of worthy character, who desired to ease such burdens in Christ's name. A lily pond in the town was next capitalized by selling the lilies at city florists' shops for twenty-five cents a dozen. One young couple earned sixteen dollars in this way. Another young woman who
RELIGIOUS ADVENTURE IN RURAL AMERIOA
had been deserted by her husband immediately after her marriage, and who was ill from worry, derives twenty-two dollars from her aster bed. This she used for her little boy's education. The making of both hooked and braided rugs was established, and the preserving of blueberries, raspberries and other fruits was encouraged.
Health conditions in the town were deplorable. Early diagnosis of disease and preventive health work did not exist. In one lonely farm house, with six windows open to the winds, I found a woman who had had six bones of her ankle broken. Seven years had passed and the bones had never been set. I took her at once to an eminent physician, who did not advise the rebreaking of the distorted' bones because of her age. The day must soon come when Christianity will be so alive in the hearts of jealous, passionate followers of Christ, that such human lives and their need cannot be overlooked. There were many cases of cancer, and some were way beyond surgicalor medical aid. One doctor said, "I have never served the church as I should. Bring to me any patients who need me, and I will gladly give my services and procure free beds at the hospitals, and x-ray pictures if necessary, as my contribution to Christ's work in your town."
A traveling dental clinic was brought to town and set up in one of the rural schoolhouses. The mouths of thirty-nine children were put in perfect condition. Most of the children knew no more about a dentist than they did about an alienist. The result was a joyful clinic. The children took delight in the whirr of the machines, the mixing of fillings, and the variation of square and round holes in their little teeth. It was a living demonstration of the power of the mind to create pain and apprehension where they should not exist. All the extractions were saved for the morning. Forty-nine teeth in quick succession were antiseptically removed, amid an interested group of mothers and children. No estimate can be made of the amount of good accomplished by such a far-reaching health measure for these little children. One little tot four years old had ten fillings in her baby teeth, while one family, with no mentality and accustomed to very raw food, had hardly a cavity in their teeth. No money had been in that home for sweets, with good results. A fear of hospitals exists in the country, because no one goes to a hospital until disease is so severe that death generally occurs. Death is then attributed to the hospital, instead of to neglect. Quack doctors are resorted to in superstitious ignorance. All our health work was done in Christ's name. Patients were prayed for at all services, as well as their doctors and nurses. Christ as the great physician, with the healing touch of love, lived in that village, and as a physician, many first followed him and came to His house of prayer. So did men come to Him in days of old.
r have given an account of a very few among the many ministers and churches r happen to know about which are really successful- and also a story of "Religious Adventure in Rural America." And it is high time that religion did adventure some in the name of the Jfost High! The ministers cited are successful because they are fwerlastingly going about doing good and are in the midst as those who serve. Their churches are successful because they are really serving-serving all of the people, all of their interests, and all the time. It is this kind of minister and church that rural America needs to bring in the Kingdom of God.
Qualifications of the Country
BY REV. C. M. McCONNELL, CmCAGO, ILLINOIS Board of Home Missions and Church Extension, Methodist Episcopal Church T HE country church is simply the church in the open country, or in the village or town of twenty-five hundred people. 1'here is nothing peculiar about it, and it is not in a class by itself. Farmers are just folk who live and work in the country and till the soil. In all essential things, they are like other folk.
The country preacher, therefore, is a preacher who is the pastor of one or more of these churches in open country, village or town. He is called upon to preach, conduct funerals, perform marriage ceremonies, call upon the people and minister to the community in a wide variety of activities. In summing up the qualifications of a country preacher, we must keep these general considerations in mind. We take these for granted and will simply call attention to some special features which stand out in the qualifications of the country preacher.
In the small town and open country community, life is lived in full view of all. It is like a clear running brook, with the pebbles on the bottom plainly visible.. Daily papers are not necessary to spread the local news of the day's events, for the back yard radio is always operating. The so.:called private life of the preacher is public property and his life is read by all. The preacher. cannot step out of his character as a preacher and do and say things as a detached person. If his work is to count, he must, therefore, be of good character. His goodness cannot be purely conventional but must be genuine. "He reminds me of God," was the remark of a neighbor about a preacher in a village.
The man who lives his life in a small community where life is open and intimate must not be only good but have a certain attractive goodness. Some righteous folks are so repellent and hard that their influence is positively against the church. They keep the letter of the law and it is the letter that killeth. "How do you like the preacher~" is a common query in the country. This has a great deal of meaning. Back of this is the question of the attractiveness of the personality of the preacher. Austere, repellent characteristics may be endured once a week, but they are not relished as a steady diet.
"He is a live wire" is a common remark about a certain type of country minister. The country is alive, .and growing things abound. There is no place in this environment for "dead ones." A certain vitality or alertness is necessary if one is to succeed ill the country as a preacher. One needs to be alive and responsive to 520 nature. The great human interests of the community need to be recognized and taken into account. A dull, listless individual who does not respond to the life of a country community will not accom- plish much. The opportunities for service generally come to those who are alive and alert. Perhaps this is what Jesus had in mind when he said "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." In a still larger sense it was what Jesus meant when He said "I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly."
In the country, with all its natural life, there are apt to be many dull, uninteresting lives. A vigorous, full living, alert, forceful person- ality can infuse life into one of these dying communities.
The country preacher should be an idealist. He needs power to see green grass in a brown, barren field, or a wholesome life in a dull, unpromising clod of a person. In a community which is reeking with gossip, sordid with a slavery tothings-{lows, pigs, chickens and barnyard smells-one needs to have ability to idealize the reality. There is a reality in the country which cannot be escaped in person but only in imagination. If a man is borne down and overcome by these realistic surroundings in the country, he will have little happiness and satisfaction in his ministry. It will be difficult for him to stay in the country unless he can idealize some of the stern realities. , In one of the ancient ceremonies by which candidates for the priesthood were tested, there was a custom of asking each candidate the question "Art thou a human being?" This should be asked every candidate for the country ministry. Unless he is human enough to attend a public sale and discuss the good points of a cow with a farmer he will be out of place in th~ country. If a ball game on the back pasture between two teams from the rival crossroads annoys him, he would better move to a more populous center where he can hide in the crowd. If he preaches in the country he must live with and among the people.
In all of this, he will not forget his task of preaching, .if he is a real country preacher. There are some who can preach only to crowds. They must have the thrill of a big audience. A few empty pews seem to cool off. their oratorical heat. To the average country church, there comes a small group of people-some old, others young. They come from hard, physical toil, weary with early. rising and long hours of wrestling with nature. Mother Nature exacts a heavy toll of muscle and brain. To interpret the Gospel of Christ to such a group is no easy task. Any wordy blacksmith with a gift of bellowing lungs can make an impression on a few easily stirred souls, but only a Christian interpreter can really preach.
Into this realistic situation, the preacher must bring idealism.
From the slavery of things, the preacher must bring release. The great natural forces which operate in the natural world must be
interpreted to those who work with them. In all of this, the preacher must make clear the message of Jesus to farm folk. Jesus taught in the synagogues of the Jews and preached on the hillsides to a handful of fishermen, farmers and shepherds. He knew their language and their manner of life. Jesus was the ideal country preacher.
The preacher who lives in a country community moves among men, women and children as no other man. He has their confidence and carries the keys to the homes and institutions of the community. In this, he can render a great service as a man of brotherhood and good will. He will find feuds, factions, racial hatreds, property and class distinctions and a wide range of interests, many of which are antagonistic. Wherever he goes, he can carry peace and harmony and good will. In some instances, he is perhaps the only one who can perform this service, and, if he does, he is a rare soul doing a task which can be done only by the grace of God.
Just now we are facing a very subtle, deadening situation in regard to rural churches. Country life is not very highly valued. The farmer has been scorned and his life minimized. The country church has been despised and rejected of men. The man entering the country ministry must set himself against this purely vicious tendency. For a long time, he will have to furnish his own morale and find his rewards within his own soul. Hence, he needs a calla conviction, a settled, given determination-to serve God in the open country, in village or in town, as his field of human service. Without this, he will, for a time, run well, and then run out to a larger field of service.
Some of the characteristics we have mentioned can be acquired while others can not. The training of the country preacher differs little from that of any other minister. If he will take the long, slow processes by which other ministers are developed, he can learn most of the essential things necessary in his profession. The theory that the country preacher should be trained in an agricultural college has its supporters, but the minister is not called upon to teach agriculture to farmers, and, if he masters the use of remedies for the soul, the agricultural expert will take care of the soil. The point we are trying to make is that the minister who expects to preach in a cOl1ntry church should be as thoroughly trained as the one 'who expects to become a bishop or moderator. The technique of the country minister may differ somewhat from that of a minister in the industrial section of a large city, but, at present, there is little hope to get this technique :from any course of study in a college or theological seminary. The great fundamental principles of the ministry are necessary for success in any field of the ministry, and, once we admit that the country church is worthy of the best, we shall be able to secure a reasonable share of the best preachers.
CONDITTONS-THE MIGRANT WORKER'S
Religious Needs of Older Rural Districts BY RALPH S, ADAMS, LANSDALE, PA. Rural Church Field 'Worker, Reformed Church in the United States SOME very interesting studies of rural church conditions throughout the country have been made by denominational, in- ter-denominational and non-denominational bodies, and have aroused many from the prevailing complacency and satisfaction as to church conditions of this day. The impression was quite general that the rural areas of the" Thirteen Original Colonies" were well churched, in fact too well churched, and that no new congregations were called for in these states. That impression did not, however, prevent denominational boards from granting sustentation to competing churches within this area, mostly for the purpose of maintaining a particular denomination in that field, regardless of the real need of the people.
In a study made by the IlI1stitute of Social and Religious Research it was discovered that about 95% of the aided churches in their study within these states were in competition with churches of other Protestant denominations. Only under very exceptional circumstances could such expenditure of missionary funds be considered worthy of a Christian church, and this practice should be speedily abandoned and the funds used in fields which present a special missionary challenge.
Other surveys have emphasized this same condition and problem, and church boards are gradually making the necessary adjustments. These surveys have rendered a splendid service in this way 523
and have also revealed the fact that local congregations are failing to perform much-needed missionary services within their own communities, to areas and groups consistently neglected by church people. This phase of the Plissionary responsibility of the local congregation will be considered here rather than an attempt to locate fields for new congregations, although such need still exists.
SOME NEGLECTED AREAS 1. Unchurched communities are to be found throughout these states, enough to warrant special attention. Particularly is this true in the mountain areas where transportation is difficult, and population is sparse and impoverished. Nevertheless these people have souls and deserve the gospel message. The church that will support a religious program in one of these isolated communities, even though there is no hope of the congregation ever becoming se1£- supporting, will perform a service more in harmony with Christ's teaching and example than by supporting a competitive church. In the coal fields of the Appalachian Mountains are numerous unchurched communities of coal miners and their families. Because most of these people are aliens, the Protestant churches have too often assumed that they are of the Catholic faith. But recent investigations have revealed the fact that many were members of a Protestant church in Europe, but are not provided with Protestant services in "The Land of Promise." Some inter-denominational effort should be made to locate these neglected communities in the eastern states, and to agree upon a constructive missionary program of occupation.
2. Neglected areas within the community represent one of the most common mission fields in the East. The over-churched community-and most of our communities in the East are over-churched -usually has a center of concentration of church buildings in the village or town, or on the good roads leading to this town. The respective parishes of these churches overlap to a great extent and no one church assumes the entire responsibility. All are rather sensitive to the accusation of proselyting for members, therefore, the parish boundaries are pretty well understood. All the parishes include the community center and much of the richest farm land as their legitimate field for "enlisting membership "-the service idea is either lacking or decidedly in the background. Each may include some territory in the community not occupied by any other parish, but there is no systematic effort to assign all the territory to one or other of the churches. Consequently there are areas along the outer edges of the community, in the foothills or on the mountain slopes in mountainous areas, for wJ1ich no church claims a responsibility. These areas frequently are occupied by poorer families not able to pay much toward the support of the church. This condition is one product of denominational competition.
RELIGIOUS NEEDS OF OLDER RURAL DISTRICTS
The responsibility of a church is for the entire community, and it must be actively concerned with the welfare and problems of all people within that community. If this causes denominational friction, it is high time that ~1I concerned allow the spirit of Christ to prevail, and that some agreement of cooperation and consolidation be made so as to promote the welfare of the community rather than to advance anyone denomination.
3. Rural areas surrounding cities and lawns present a challenging missionary problem. The inhabitants of these rural areas in increasing numbers are employed in city industries and occupations, and many attend city churches. As a consequence, the country churches lose considerable of their membership and support until finally many are forced to close their doors. If all the people of these areas would transfer their membership to the city churches, and if the city or town churches in turn would assume the pastoral responsibility and spiritual oversight of these neighboring rural areas, they would not be neglected. But, unfortunately, the city pastor does not assume responsibility for the people in these areas, and many of the older families do not transfer their membership to the city church. The result is that the spiritual life in these surrounding rural areas is at a very low ebb. This is the area frequently where road-houses and other vice dens spring up to cater to the less scrupulous inhabitants of the nearby city. This situation prevails about most cities and large towns throughout the East; only a few city churches have begun to recognrze their rural responsibility.
SOME NEGLECTED GROUPS.
In the rural studies of the Interchurch World Movement, continued by the Institute of Social and Religious Research, it was discovered that only 16% of the town and country population of the United States are church members, and that 28% of these are either inactive or non-resident. There are areas of course within the Eastern states where such figures do not apply, but church people have been too willing in the past to assume that a much larger number of the citizens of their own communities are connected with some church than is actually the case. House-to-house surveys in many of our Eastern communities have revealed startling conditions of unchurched families and individuals, and life-long residents of communities were amazed to learn the large numbers of such within their midst. Fortunately, these studies also revealed the neglected groups within the community so that the churches have the facts clearly before them, which facts are necessary for the organization of a constructive home missions program. These groups are listed below in order that you may test the situation within your own community.
1. Alien gronps :-In this day of .organized hatred, even in the
name of the Church, it is not surprising that alien groups within our communities are neglected. Reference has been made to the aliens in mining communities. ·While they could well be included here also, special reference is made here to the large number of alien families engaged in business in the villages, and to the increasing number of alien farmers. It is apparently easier for some to con- tribute to the support of missions than to extend a welcoming hand to the alien within their own community. Usually" foreigners" are not wanted as neighbors, or in our church or social functions. But we expect them to! mend our shoes, clean our clothes, dig our ditches and build our buildings. The result is an alien settlement in 0UI'
midst, out of harmony with our American customs and laws, and resentful of the treatment received. The foreigner may become a bootlegger or a law- breaker of some other stamp, but in our eyes he b e com e s unsocial and, therefore, "cannot . become Americanized and assimilated."
Does such an atti- tude stand the test of Ohristianity~ Alt, no.
We must put aside our prejudices and give him and his wife and INTERIOR OF MIGRANT'S HOME his children a chance.
Our forefathers too were "foreigners," but they did not become Americanized by such treatment. One third of the alien population of the United States is found in rural America, so that the problem of this group needs consideration.
2. The t enant farmer :-Over 38% of all farmers in the United States are tenant farmers, and the proportion is increasing. Have you welcomed the tenant farmers of your community into the church and made them feel at home T If not, the chances are they are not attending church. If we allow poverty and lack of good clothes to stand in the way of extending to them the blessings of the Church of Jesus Christ, we are not deserving of the name Ohristian.
3. Su,rnrner popu,lation :-This group presents a problem in the mountain, lake and river resorts-a problem which fewcountrv churches located in those areas have successfully solved. .
4. Migrant work ers :-'L'here are many thousands of these workers engaged for only a few months in the summer time to harvest fruit and vegetables and to help operate the canneries in the Atlantic states. Entire families leave their homes for these harvest fields,
RELIGIOUS NEEDS OF 'OLDER RURAL DISTRICTS
and live in shacks or barns under very unsanitary and often unfavorable moral conditions. The men, women and older children work in the fields or factories, and the younger children are largely neglected. Most of these workers are aliens or Negroes, and are generally not received into the community life by social or religious organizations. An Eastern state agricultural extension director replied to my inquiry as to whether or not these people present a menace to the communities in which they work, that the communities are rather a menace to these migrant families, with their intolerant and unsocial treatment of these workers. This conclusion is quite general among students of migrant groups, and places a considerable indictment upon our rural churches.
5. Rtlml youth:-iVith great regret I refrain from discussing t his much-neglected group in the country. The foregoing groups represent a considerable challenge in many rural communities, but this group is present in every rural community, and the writer has yet to find one where the churches are d 0 i n g what they can and ought to do for their youth. In a study of THE nAY NURSERY HELPS MOTHERS AND BABIES the rural churches of fifty-three counties, Dr. Paul Douglass, of the Institute of Social and Religious Research, found that only 5.3% of these churches had any organization for girls, other than Sundayschool, and only 3..7'}'o had an organi<zation for boys. And yet our boys and girls are the greatest asset the country produces! In his book, "How Shall Country Youth be Served ~," Dr. Douglass says: "The conclusion of the rural studies of the Institute is 'the greatest untouched field of Christian effort in rural America is the work for boys and girls.''' Think this over and apply it to your church and your community.
WHAT SHALL WE Do ABOUT IT?
The writer ventures to suggest a few things which the local rural congregation can do now to serve the neglected areas and groups in your community, and to undertake a real program of home missionary endeavor. This can be done through your missionary society, your organized church school classes, young people's organizations, or all working together, in cooperation with similar groups from other churches, if such cooperation is possible.
The city church can serve the rural areas surrounding the city by increasing the staff of workeTS to supplement the efforts of the pastor, and launching the program of survey, study, visitation and organization of these neglected areas. Volunteer workers could do this with less expense and with perhaps greater benefit to the volun- teers. The country church could send out service teams regularly to remote areas in the community or in the mountains, to conduct Sunday-school services, for visitation, to direct the social and recre- ational life of these people, to teach English and Americanization lessons to aliens, and generally to establish R'bond of friendship be- tween these people ·and the church and commttriity.
You can challenge the poor families to membership even though they can support the church but little; you can organize auto squads to transport them to services and 0 the r church functions, or you can hire the school bus on Sunday for such service. Some country churches h a V e pur- chased the i row n busses for this purpose and by th~s method· have very effectively extended their service and their influence.
You can welcome DRAMATIZING THE STORY OF MIRIAM AND MOSES the newcomer in the community, w h e the r alien or tenant, by means of a church or community reception, visi- tation and general friendliness. You can assist in Daily Vacation Bible School for the children of migrant families in your commu- nity, or you can help to support it. Perhaps your church is in a position to establish a day nursery and playground for these chil- dren where they can be cared for and taught during the day, and to which the parents can be invited in the evening for recreation, entertainment and good fellowship.
You can organize your boys and girls into organized church school classes, give them definite responsibilities of importance and various activities furnishing them with a means of expressing the Christiariity which they have been taught to profess. Through Ii survey you can locate the neglected groups in your community, and theh6rganize a definite and constructive program of home mission- af'yendeavor which will make Christianity mean more to you, to the groups served, and to the community as a whole. 'rhese, and many others, are the missionary opportunities of the rural churches.
IN A BAPTIST CHAPEL CAR FOR MEXICANS IN THE UNI1'ED
Pioneer Work in Newer Communities BY REV. ANDREW J . MOJ'TGOMJ')RY, D.D., NEW YORK Town nnd Country Department, Board of Na tional Missions, Presbyterian G"burch, U. 8 . A.
O N a recent trip, it was the writer's pleasure to meet an en- tertaining gentleman who proved to be an inventor. He had with him a working model of an appliance for automatic control of railway trains. The model train, should it run into a block with 'signal set against it, would come to an immediate stop. The inventor also could intervene at any time and bring his train to a dead rest.
Whenever the subject of overlapping in rural areas is mentioned in certain groups of home mission experts, discussion comes to a prompt stop. Furthermore, when a present need for pioneer work in rural areas is suggested, there is again a loss of interest. All this shows that the campaign against competition among churches in small communities has succeeded- possibly succeeded too well. At any rate, it is exceedingly difficult, ill some quarters, to secure a fair hearing on the subject of the need for pioneer work.
The old romantic, spectacular frontier line of home missions is a thing of the past, but there yet remains a margin of unchurched and unevangelized territory in our country, with reference to which Christians cannot be indifferent. The changes being wrought by economic conditions in rural districts are rapidly creating new needs. The nationwide movement cityward is depleting the rural 529 4
530 [Ju11 church, making it more and more unable to carryon. At the same time, there is an alarming increase in tenancy farming. Parallel with this is the growing movement of migrancy occasioned by season- allabor. We are without exact information as to the extent of this movement in its broad aspects but certainly little is being done for those who are embraced within it.
Perhaps definitely localized instances of neglected communities may be of far more value than statistics, so far as this study is con- cerned. The statistics, if anyone is interested, are, of course, easily available.
Begin with Arizona. A seasoned observer reports a score of communities made up of pioneers from everywhere, struggling to get a home, without any religious privileges whatever so far as a settled, permanent ministry is concerned.
Southern California has a Denominational Superintendents' Council in affiliation with the State Church Federation. At its monthly meetings, this Council has assigned about four score com- munities t.o individual denominations, the other affiliated denomina- tions agreeing not to enter such communities until, in the judgment of the Council, they are large enough for more than one church. The Executive Secretary of this Council states that there are still a large number of churchless communities that should be served by some denomination. In the San Joaquin Valley the rural need is very evident. There are possibly a half dozen different racial groups, none of them large, which ought to have Protestant ministry. In one county of this Valley, the need was so great that, outside of the incorporated towns, a rural parish was formed. The pastor of this parish has a territory 90 miles long and 20 to 30 miles broad. On his letterhead he carries the names of 14 towns and communities. 'Chis is a striking instance of need, but it is not the only instance of such need and in many smaller territories similar neglect exists. On the slopes of the Sierras are many lumber-jacks, for some of whom provision is made but most of them are without any religious privileges. In the oil fields located on the rim of this great valley are many people living on the "leases," who do not have the benefit of any church.
The whole state of Nevada is an example of unmet rural need. The larger towns and cities are provided for, as usual. There are 200 school districts with 15 or less pupils, 150 districts with less than 10 and 100 districts with less than 8. To reach these scattered com- munities is a mighty task. Most of them are entirely destitute of church privileges. From "One community a girl of eighteen wrote, "I have never seen a preacher, a priest or a church in my life." The . analysis made by one of the workers in Nevada of the population applies not only to Nevada but to many other rural communities outside of that state as well. There are about three. generations
PIONEER WORK IN NE,W'ER COMMUNITIES
covered in any statement of need. The grandparents came from the East on the heels of the gold excitement. They had the usual religious background. The parents have succumbed to the lack of religious environment and have little, if any, religion. The children do not have even as much religion as their parents. They are growing up with practically pagan ideals. In such overlooked communities in Nevada there are from 3,000 to 5,000 boys and girls under twenty.
In western Vashington a study was made of 573 communities outside of the cities and towns having a population under one thousand. In this list were 379 communities without churches. In most of them the population is very small. In all of the communities mentioned above which do have churches 78% have only one church.
This study was made about three years ago and should now be qualified by certain changes, but these changes are not radical enough nor extensive enough to vitiate the appalling need. It would thus appear that about two-thirds of these communities are churchless. Observers know that what is true of the rural areas of western Washington, is true of the northern tier of states ranging eastward to the Mississippi River.
Idaho is essentially a rural state. A recent study there shows that about 24% of the population is Mormon and about 12% is Christian, including Protestants and Roman Catholics. The need of missionary work is pathetically revealed by such a statement as this.
Utah has been held up as the one bright example of eliminated competition. There is no competition outside of the cities, and yet whole counties like Morgan, Rich, Wayne, etc. are without any Christian church whateTer. The Mormons with their pagan conceptions are the only sect that attempts to carry a message of religion.
In Wyoming, somewhat the same need exists in its rural areas. The Star Valley in Lincoln County has 2,000 population and is without the service of the Christian ministry.
In Colorado a community or rather four communities are reported along the line of the extension of the Moffat Railroad with a population of from 1500 to 2500 without regular service. No one except an itinerant missionary cares for this field.
In West Texas, the large ranches are being broken up and sold to farmers. There is here a rapidly developing territory that has a purely pioneer mission character. There are in the state 750,000 Mexicans of whom a goodly number are located in rural communities. Little or nothing is being done for them.
Generally speaking, the South is so well provided for in the way of service that little need be said, but in Florida, growing rapidly as it is, there are smaller communities and rural settlements that should be reached by the Church at an early date. It is estimated that during the 1925 season, there were 600,000 "tin can tourists"
in this state. They cannot be classed as rural, but on the other hand many of them were found distributed during the winter months in the smaller communities throughout the state.
That there is a large need for pioneer mission work is evident so far as unchurched communities are concerned. As appears from the above, these communities are largely marginal but they are not to be overlooked for that reason. The Church should revise its creed to the effect that while overlapping is a sin, overlooking is also a sin.
A recent study of the whole rural problem has revealed that, speaking by and large, it is clear that few church members in the open country travel farther than four miles to at- tend church. More than one half of them do not travel over two miles. That raises the question where the people who live over two miles and are not included among the church goers inside the four-mile limit go to church.
While there is no exact data on this particular subject, there is much ground for believing that a considerable number of farmers and their families living over two miles from an open country church, neither join nor attend BIBLE COLPORTEURS any church. Here is developing then a new margin of unmet need. The coming of good WalkIng across the continent roads evidently has done little to change the distributing ScriPtures to those habits of people living outside of the two- in neglected communities.
mile radius. Thus, all over the country there is growing up this new need for reaching such people.
In conclusion, two reflections may be stated: One is that the best known method of reaching an entire territory is by one of the great denominational bodies concentrating its energies on that territory with some kind of a guarantee from an inter-denominational body, such as a State Home Mission Council, that it will be protected from invasion.
The other reflection is that, much as it has been anathematized, it begins to appear that in unreached areas we should return to the itinerant system of ministry if these marginal fringes are to be evangelized.
Churches in Rural
.A Study of the Relative Value of Denominational and Undenominational lVOTk BY ELIZABETH R. HOOKER, NE,W YORK Institute of Social and Religious Research T HE only church in a small rural community has several re- sponsibilities that are either peculiar to itself, or that its position renders peculiarly binding upon it. These responsibilities include the following: To enlist in a single fellowship all the religious elements of the community.
To provide religious education for the youth of the community. To afford leadership. To serve as part of the base of supplies for the world-wide Christian program. To continue to perform these functions.
Can these functions be. fulfilled better by a church connected with a denominational body, or by one without such a connection 1* COMPARATIVE NUMBERS OF RURAL UNITED CHURCHES Denominational 1111 11111 11111111111 1111 1II1lI11I1I11U 11111 III I1111 1111 IIJ 11111 III 1111 1111 1111 1111 !III IIII I1111 1111 Itil 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 528 UndenominationalllllllllllllllllllUlIUllltllllllllllllll1 137 AVERAGE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE UNITED CHUR,CHES De-nominational $419 tlIlil 1II11fI1I1I1II1 1111 1II11tI1l1t11ll 11111 till 1111 IrII 1111 1111 fII IIII IIII I1111 ml 1111 IIIIJllIIIIIIIIIIHIl11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 Undenom.inational $260 lIilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllli PER CAPITA GIFTS OF THE UNITED CHURCHES Denominational $3.98 1I1f11l1 11II11111111111f1ll1 1II1J111H11H11111 1111 1III 1lit 1111 111111111111111111111111111111111 1111 1111 1111 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 Undenominational $2.17 1II111111fllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll1l1l11ll11ll11ll1llUIII ENLISTING ALL RELIGIOUS ELEMENTS: The inhabitants of many small rural comllmnities include persons of very different religious traditions, the adherents of no one denomination being sufficiently numerous to support a church of their own kind. In such places, if there is to be a church at all, it must be one in which many different religious elements can unite.
Persons of diverse religious origins were found in 1924 in the membership of many united churches both denominational and undenominational, there having been discovered by the Institute in the town and country area of the northern and western parts of the .*The answ~r to this ~u~stion will be b~ed u.pon facts .revea;led by a study c~nducted by tbe Institute of Soclal and RehglOus Research, the results of which wlll shortly be PUblIshed in a book entitled "United Churches."
533
United States l37 undenominational churches and 528 denominational united churches.
The lists of denominational elements combined in the membership were obtained through mail questionnaires for 48 of the undenominational churches and for 100 of the denominational united churches. The undenominational churches reported forty-two different denominational origins; the denominational united churches reported thirty-five. The different origins represented in one church ranged from two to twenty-four. Most of the undenominational churches were composed of many elements; and of the 100 rlenominational united churches, nearly half consisted of five or more plements and over one fourth were composed of six or more. The denominational origins included not only denominations from which interdenominational cooperation has come to be expected, such as the Congregational, Presbyterian, and Methodist Episcopal, but individuals from immersionist denominations like the Northern Baptist Convention and the Disciples of Christ; members of liturgical churches, such as Lutheran and Episcopal; and representatives of more emotional groups, as for example the Na'Zarenes. Some churches even reported individual Jews or Mormons; and a few had enlisted one or more Catholics.
The first function of such a church in small rural communitiesto enlist in membership persons of diverse denominational originshas therefore been fulfilled by many churches both denominational and undenominational. But in 1924 there were nearly four times as many denominational united churches as undenominational churches.
Moreover, a larger proportion of denominational united churches in small communities than of undenominational churches similarly placed, served their respective communities as the only church. The facts were ascertained for half the denominational united churches, and for more than half the undenominational churches. Of the denominational united churches one half were alone in their respective communities; of the undenominational churches, only one third. Because the denominational united churches were so much the more numerous, the number of denominational united churches serving their communities as the only church, was five times as great as the corresponding number of undenominational churches.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION :-The fact that small rural communities form, to a considerable degree, the nursery of the nation, renders particuilarly important the religious education of their children. Efforts in this direction were being made by all the churches investigated, both denominational and undenominational. Progressive methods were in use by individual churches of both types. In this matter, however, the undenominational church was under a serious
UNITED OHURCHES IN RURAL COMMUNITIES
handicap. This was described from his own experience by the minister of one undenominational church, in the following extract from a letter: " . . .. As an organ of religious education the independent church has no program for progressive work …. The Sunday school, for instance, has been conducted according to certain methods for years. . Few of the people ever attend conventions and gatherings where advance methods are discussed and new ideas are set forth. The pastor cannot go before the church with a progressive program of religious education and secure its adoption unless the people are of a type who personally desire such new methods. That has been one of my greatest trials in my service here. Our work in religious education is woefully antiquated. I have tried and tried to introduce new methods but the answer is that they have always done that way …. In a denominational church there is a general program of religious education ….
Efforts are always being made to bring as many schools as possible to conform with that standard. The pastor may go before his people and hold up this standard as the denominational ideal and, as part of the larger group, the local church should at least strive to conform to it."
Many other religious leaders agreed with this minister that in regard to r.eligious education the denominational united church has a 'great advantage over the undenominational church in that it has systematically presented to it both expert advice and stimulus to effort.
LEADERSHIP :-United churches alone in their communities, both denominational and undenominational, were found to assume more responsibility of leadership in public welfare than does the average denominational church, especially if the latter is in the presence of one or more competing churches.
In regard to the professional church leader, the minister, the denominational united church has the advantage over the undenominational church. Because regular denominational agencies are at its service, it obtains a minister more easily. 'l'he minister chosen or appointed is less likely to be inefficient or unworthy; for he is sponsored by the denominational body, and in the rare cases when a minister is guilty of misconduct denominational agencies may discipline or remove him. The March Community Ch7~rchman reports: "There is no denying that here and there a church gets taken in by a bad man. We know one man who has left two denominations without credentials and with charges over his head. He is a trouble-maker everywhere he goes and there is a trail of moral scandal. But he continues to find a church, though he usually makes a long jump."
In view of the need, the Community Church INorkers have established a Service Bureau; but time must elapse before it can perform service comparable to that rendered by long-established denominational agencies. Under the circumstances, it is not surprising that although some undenominational churches were served by noble and powerful ministers, many others reported difficulty in finding pastors and frequent interregnums between pastorates.
A few have had experiences with undesirable ministers. Not a few undenominational ichurches declared that their whole future depended upon securing the right sort of pastor.
The difficulties of undenominational churches regarding ministerial supply, combined with their lack of supervision from denominational superintendents, renders especially important the quality of the lay leadership. Where this was strong, sustained, and noble in character, united churches were securing good ministers, and through them and in conjunction with them were leading their communities. But since the small rural community with such lay leaders is the exception, in respect to community leadership also, the advantage was usually with the denominational united church.
BENEVOLENCES :-In the great program of the Christian Church throughout the world, every small rural church is an essential factor as part of the base of supplies. '1.'0 denominational churches their duty and privilege iil this matter is brought home by publicity regarding the missions of their own boards, by denominational apportionments and by other forms of overhead education and incentive. – Undenominational churches. lacking any such stim-: ulus, contributed comparatively little to objects outside the local community and, in many cases, to philanthropic causes rather than to missions. The average annual contribution to benevolences in 1923-24 of the undenominational churches for which data could be obtained was $260, while that of denominational united churches was $417; and the average contribution per member, which for denominational united churches was $3.98, for undenominational churches was only $2.17. The weakness of undenominational churches in benevolences was forcibly expressed by the minister of such a church as follows: "Where a part of the church has no passion for missions and no vision beyond self-support, it is more difficult for the pastor and those who have the vision to push a large program through. In the denominational church there is always more or less opposition to the program from headquarters, but it is rather easier to combat it when the church knows that Presbytery-or Conference is going to call for an accounting and the church be compared to others."
PERMANENCE:-Which is more likely to render enduring service as the only church in a small rural community, the denominational united church, or the undenominational church 1 From communities in which the existence of an undenominational church had been reported to the Institute of Social and Religious Research, inquiries frequently brought such answers as these, from different states: "Enthusiasm six months or a year. Does- not seem to fllnction." "Built a fine building. Did not last long." "Continued for a few months. Chaos." "Wcnt up in smoke." Reports like these came from every part of the field studied.-
UNITED CHURCHES IN RURAL COMMUNITIES
Without the help regularly furnished to deuominational churches by their overhead bodies, in the way of expert supervision, steady ministerial supply, and home-mission aid in emergencies, undenominational churches, unless they enjoyed exceptional circumstances and unusually strong local leadership, frequently fell into inactivity or even died out completely.
.Denominational churches alone in their communities sometimes pass out of existence; but the efforts of overhead officials make this fate for them comparatively rare. A denominational united church, moreover, is frequently upheld in the position of sole church in a small community by a home missions councilor other interdenominational agency, which prevents threatened encroachment by another church.
Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that a considerable number of undenominational churches have connected themselves with some denominational body. Thirty-one churches that in 1924 were listed as denominational united churches, had formerly been undenominational churches.
CONCLUSION :-This comparison of the respective advantages, as the sole church of a small rural community, of a united church with denominational connection and a united church without denominational connection, may be summarized in five statements: In the town and country area of the northern and western parts of the United States, denominational united churches were in 1924 nearly four times as numerous as undenominational churches; and of united churches ascertained to be alone in their respective communities, those connected with denomi~tions were five times as numerous as those not so connected. ~, Denominational united churches had in general systems of religious education that were more modern.
Denominational united churches obtained ministers more readily, and in spite of notable exceptions on the whole secured better ministers.
Denominational united churches made larger contributions to the Christian program throughout the world, both in proportion to the number of churches and in proportion to total membership.
The service rendered by united churches was in general more enduring.
The inevitable conclusions would appear to be these: Undenominational churches seem likely to be serviceable as the only churches in small rural communities of two kinds: those much divided in religious adherence, and those with strong and sustained lay leadership. For small rural communities of other kinds, the information gathered in 1924 seems to favor the choice of united churches connected with some denominational body.
81l!
A GENERAL VIEW OF THE PARISH CENTER AT BUCKHORN. KENTUCKY
Story of Buckhorn, Kentucky *
'fHE A MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY WHERE THE CHURCH Is EVERYTHING Southern Appalachian mountains were settled by a purely American white population of English and Scotch ancestry. This primitive region with heavily forested mountains teem- ing in coal and mineral riches that await development, is incongru- ously described as "the backyard of the South." The neglect im- plied in this phrase is largely due to the fact that these scattered settlements along the banks of creeks and rivers and among precipitous mountains have no political significance. Until the treasures of their mountains, the timber and minerals, are made accessible, "backyard" citizens they will remain.
Meanwhile their history and customs, their primitive and secluded life, their folklore and ballads, and especially the fervor and tenacity of their Protestant faith, compel admiration. It is this primitive American civilization, rather than the human passions and feuds which have given this region publicity and obscured the sterling qualities of the people, that commends the Southern Highlander to our attention. Our social and religious traditions have been so profoundly modified that it is good to rediscover their original flavor.
Buckhorn, in Perry County, Kentucky, is close to the conjunction of Perry, Clay, Leslie, Owsley and Brethitt counties, one hundred and thirteen miles southeast of Lexington. The journey from Altro, the nearest railway station, is one of eight miles in the saddle over the mountain trails and precipitous valleys with their rushing alpine streams. I;t is a surprise to find at Buckhorn a struggling valley settlement at the junction of the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River and Squabble Creek, lighted by electricity, with many houses furnished with baths and running water, a modern group of buildings whose saw- and grist-mills and barns are so much better than any others encountered in the region.
Buckhorn was a trade center, with water-power, an unusual amount of arable land, which is a prime factor in this mountainous country, timber and coal in abundance. The chief advantage lay in the fact that as the valleys are the travel routes, they converged npon Buckhorn and made it one of the most accessible points in a difficult region.
Twenty-four years ago Rev. Harvey S. Murdock first came into the region to investigate some mission work that needed funds. He had completed his college and seminary courses and was serving his apprenticeship in a branch of the Lafayette Avenue Presby- .From "Churches Of DiBtinction in. Town. a.nd Country.JJ Goo. H. Doran Co. 53£)
terian Church, of Brooklyn, New York. His report on this field was so favorable that the necessary funds were granted and the young pastor accepted the call to his life work. Today Buckhorn church has a membership of eight hundred and four, a group of buildings that are rendering a great service to the far-flung mountain com- munity, a valuable tract of land for agricultural demonstration purposes and recreation, a loyal group of supporters and workers, and· a growing army, whose numbers unfortunately have not been recorded, of those who have passed through its school and church influence and are spreading it in less favored communities.
The social and religious conditions of the people among whom ~ir. Murdock began his life work were primitive. More than 20 per cent of the voting males were illiterate and a much higher propor- tion of the women and children. The local schools were of the most primitive character, and even now, as then, the children are kept from school for seasonal harvests or labor.
Necessity and close contact with a relentless nature have given these people an elemental wisdom in the use of their natural resources. Coal crops out on four levels. The highlanders have learned to satisfy their wants and needs as far as possible from their environment, and while their environment has at the same time closed them in from the progressive world, it has compensated for this by developing a sturdy character that is instinct with self- reliance. They have, however, for so long done things for them- selves that theory, when applied to such problems as their unsani- tary conditions, their physical and mental disabilities, is not always cordially received. .
In their isolation they have for so long waged warfare in order to survive against the laws of a relentless, prodigal nature that, having triumphed and successfully controlled them, they are not readily amenable to the laws of man. They have for so long been a law to themselves in the course of their long isolation in- these mountain fastnesses that the slow and distant machinery of law and justice irks their sensitive and passionate temperament. Crimes of violence and feuds are common in so primitive and individualistic a society. When the whole mountain population is so closely inter- related that the accused must of necessity be tried by a jury con- sisting of his own or his victim's relations, there is little prospect of obtaining justice from a court. The same condition has led to their reputation as "moonshiners."
At present these people subsist on farming; corn, potatoes, sorghum and garden vegetables, with very little fruit, constitute their entire output. Sheep furnish them with food and clothing. In these homes the spinning wheel is still in use for blankets and articles of domestic use. 'Their quilts are elaborately made and together with baskets have become articles of export trade. Manu-
1926J THE STORY OF BUCK:HORN, KENTUCKY
factured clothing is preferred to the homespun garments of their forefathers, but at Buckhorn efforts are being made to encourage the weaving of tweeds as the fireside industry for which their Scottish ancestors are still famous. Besides sheep, which thrive among their mountains, the small amount of low-lying land available for cultivation and grazing limits their stock to mules, pigs and a few cattle. Slender agricultural resources keep the people povertystricken, especially as families average six and one-half persons.
Through the long years of their isolation these mountaineers have made their religious beliefs an important part of their narrow intellectual and emotional life. What forms of worship they brought into these mountains, or such as have found their way into their fastness to modify profoundly the original belief and practice, are now jealously guarded. The old toiler-preacher was their only pastoral experience. Being of their own soil and tradition he brought them nothing that would lift them out of themselves.
For the type of Christian service required in such communities the :worker. must possess special qualifications. The pioneers of the Buckhorn work were people who loved nature and the simple people who lived so close to nature. They learned to appreciate the silence of the great mountains and little valleys or bottom lands along the creeks and rivers where the settlements lay, the trees, birds and flowers. A few years ago Newell Buck, the author of "The Call of the Cumberlands," visited this littl~ community center, and wrote: "I found at Buckhorn a company of idealists who were attempting the impossible, and the strangest thing about it is that they are succeeding." How well they have been succeeding the Buckhorn of 1926 must answer, if only in part.
These workers relied upon the deep religious conviction of the people and their response to the Gospel of Christ as preached by the Protestant Church, in whose traditions they and their ancestors are steeped. With this common Christian understanding the workers at Buckhorn have slowly gained the confidence of this shy, suspicious, individualistic people by their economic, social and religious services to Buckhorn as well as those communities in the vicinity. They have created a new center out of Buckhorn, grinding corn and sawing lumber, caring for the sick folk and educating the young people. But the church has been the real center of all these services and activities. The ideal of Christian brotherhood and service is the only one wherewith to combat the religious and social demarcations, that begin with religious dissension and narrow sectarianism and end in family feuds and a non-moral atmosphere of law-breaking and prejudice against all forms of enlightenment.
The church school at Buckhorn is independent of the state, but the state avails itself of the efficient staff and modern equipment by paying Buckhorn school $1,000 to $1,190 a year for taking over
the pupils of the district school for Seven months. Buckhorn has its own permanent educational program interpreted by a staff of twelve to fifteen teachers, with buildings that house teachers and pupils. In this school pupils of both sexes are taught from kinder- garten through high school and prepared for college. The natural aptitude of the children of this independent, self-reliant race schooled in adversity, is exploited by Buckhorn to the utmost.
The children, like their parents, are accustomed to make nearly all the implements of daily life, and full scope is given to this genius under expert teachers in the technical courses of the' Manual Train· ing School, equipped with tools and simple machinery. The g~rls also receive technical training in the Domestic Science Hall. There are also a Primary Hall, a kindergarten equipped with the latest educational devices; a two-story home for small boys orphaned .and stranded in the mountains; a three-story 'dormitory for seventy-five older boys, with a two-story addition; a tW6-and-one-half story home for little girls; a three-story dormitory for seventy-five older girls; and a two-story building used as a dining-hall.
The children of these mountaineers, doing their share of labor from an early age, l'TIOW how to work, but they must learn to play. The school plant now includes a gymnasium, with basketball for the girls and young boys and other organized games. The pastor is an old college "fan," and it is natural to find a good baseball team whose prowess is known in Lexington and other urban and mountain centers. The pastor has personal charge of its training, and it is in the difficult role of umpire that his associate is spreading the code of sportsmanship among the children who did not.know how to play, and to whom the idea of competition or rivalry raised the latent passion of family feud.
Not everyone reached by Buckhorn parish is a worshiper, but wherever the church has had a preaching point for five or six years, practically everyone attends church. This is chiefly a tribute to the deep religious sentiment that is one of the marked characteristics of these mountaineers. Buckhorn's church auditorium comfortably seats about three hundred and fifty people, but it is a common thing to find seats for an overflow amounting to about four hundred and seventy-five. The regular attendance averages three hundred and fifty out of a membership of seven hundred and four. Besides the Wednesday evening service, with an attendance of two hundred and fifty, Buckhorn church conducts a series of evangelistic meet- ~ngs which last for a week or more in every preaching point of the parish. Its Sunday-school, however, has the phenomenal total membership of one thousand and thirty. This is due to the fact that the adults attend Sunday-school and remain for the church service which follows. Buckhorn has a Christian Endeavor Society meeting with a membership of about two hundred.
THE STORY OF BUCKHORJN
Buckhorn village has increased about 100 per cent in the twentyfour years of parochial work. Every neighborhood in the vicinity is served by the two Ininisters, aided by teachers from the school. Nearly a dozen preaching points are in active operation, and the total Buckhorn parish enrolls nearly a thousand members, with eighty-nine added during the past year. This is in a community of about two thousand people.
The evangelistic services conducted by Buckhorn at these various points are not through imported evangelists but by the ministers of the parish, of whom two are stationed at Buckhorn and one at Cow Creek.
At Buckhorn all the pupils in school attend chapel services at eight 0 'clock in the school hall before the classes begin for the day. In each class the teacher has a period for the study of religion and the Bible. This religious training is in the mountain tradition where the daily life of the people is full of Biblical maxims and texts. rrhus the school avails itself of this tradition and relates the religious training to all the subjects, especially in domestic and social science. Hundreds of graduates have passed, during twenty years, through the school and church influence of Buckhorn, going as preachers, teachers or home makers to the farthest recesses of the region and beyond. During these twenty years more than four hundred of these pupils became teachers. Moreover, the Vice-president of Buckhorn, the heads of the departments of manual training, agriculture, math· ematics, English and history are all mountain boys graduated at Buckhorn. Not such a large proportion of women teachers are so trained, but all have a sympathetic understanding of the people. It has been found necessary to decline pupils owing to lack of accommodation. At present about four hundred students are educated annually from kindergarten through high school.
The best evidence of the work and its influence in the region is the social and religious spirit that is a precious Christian leaven in a great wilderness. But it should be remembered that these people have long preserved a religious spirit, through years of isolation, which was their only solace and comfort in a hard life of adversity. One has merely to hear the angelus which calls the parish to prayer every day to understand this fervor. There is no fixed time for the angelus, but an elderly woman for many years has rung the bell, and as its first stroke echoes up and down the wooded valleys every man, womap. and child for a few moments bows the head in reverence. There may be a clatter of dishes and a babble of conversation in the dining hall, or cries of children in the playground, or a lonely man or boy working in a patch on the mountainside. But all heed the angelus and cease for a moment's prayer. It is a beautiful custom, and one that is naturally and essentially the outward sign of the soul of these Southern mountaineers.
MBTHODS
:: EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, 721lfuHLENBURG BLDG. PRII,ADELPHJA, PA.
Since the days when" My Country ing the following suggestions by Mr.
'tis of Thee" was first sung publicly Adams for a community survey.
by a group, of Boston school girls Map Your Community. and boys we have continued en- thusiastically to proclaim, PURPosE.-To discover and visual- "I love thy rocks and rills ize the bounds of your community; Thy woods and templed hills," to. locate homes, institutions, roads, but never until this year of 1926 raIlroads, and other items of interest have the Protestant churches of in the community; to furnish a back- America together ,turned their at- ground for further study and survey _ of the community's resources. tention so seriously to the actual problems and possibilities of our MATERIALS.-Country road map or ., templed hHIs." geological survey map of the area including your community. The A dilapidated, neglected country former may be procured upon rechurch is often the prose of the poetie quest sent to your State Highway "templed hills." • Department and the latter from the Director of Surveys. U. S. Geological This year praetically all of the Survey, Washington, D. C. Sheets churches of American Protestantism of drawing paper, about 20 x 30 will study the rural church. inches or larger. Pentagraph, which may be purchased for about sixty For some of the methods here sug- cents from any art supply store. gested, and for the pietures we are Straight-edge ruler. Drawing penespecially indebted to Ralph S. cil. Fine-point pen. Pazant pens. Adams, Director of Rural Work of Compass. India ink. the Reformed Church in the United States. Mr. Adams is also author PROCEDURE.-Procure a map of of .." Project and Study Manual for your area from one of the above Rural Churches" to accompany the sources. Mark upon it the boundacourse, "Our Templed Hills." In it ries of your community, lightly in pencil .first and then with ink later are !l'iven exceptionally practical suggestIOns.
KNOW THY COMMUNITY when dbey.fitnhietelyfoleloswtaibnlgishemd~thdoedte!r- mined If knowledge is power there is no occasion for inquiry as to the ex- Approximate on each road leading planation of the powerlessness of our efforts to meet the present-day out from the community center the situation in the rural church. We do not know our rural churches and possible boundary of the community. the communities in which they are located. Any rural church will be Mark lightly in penciL Visit several able to meet its problems and possibilities more effectively after study- families on either side of that mark, on each road, asking them in what village or town they purchase their supplies, market their products, do their banking and secure their great- est social contacts. By their answers *Projeet and Stul1y Manual. B1./ Ra.lph S. determine more accurately the place Adams, 15 cents. 01lr TC'mpled· Hills. By where the interest is directed more Ralp" A. Felton. 60 cents, paper; $1.00. toward some other community center cloth. Pubhshed by Missionary Education Movement.
544 From farm ta-mllies have come the men and women who bave be]ped to makeADlerica great. Most undervo.lu<:d of all farm crops are the bright~eyed boys and girls of the open country, who are frequently un<terprivileged.
than toward your own. Mark def- er on by means of a Pazant pen. Fill initely this boundary on each road. in the symbols with a fine-point pen Draw lines connecting the bounda- and carefully letter the map to reries on these roads and you have the veal its identity. Place the key to bounds of your community. Locate the symbols used, in the left hand each household of the community on lower corner of the map for conventhe map by means of an unshaded ient reference. circle. Indicate all church buildings by means of. a circle with a cross This map will furnish the ground over it, and all school houses by a work for the religious census survey circle with a cross inside. Indicate described in project two. shops, stores, banks, and other places Take a Religious Census of business, .theatres, libraries, community buiidings, roads, railroads PURPOSE.-To learn the religiou!, and other places of importance by affiliations, past and present, of every' means of convenient symbols and an family in the community, to locate' appropriate key. the unchurched, to learn the reason for their present lack of church af- By means of the pentagraph (di- :filiation, and to discover their church rections for its use will accompany preference, if any. the instrument) transfer the community from the original map to a MATERIALs.-Map of community. large sheet of drawing paper on an Colored crayons. Household survey enlarged scale of two or four inches blanks for each household in the COllto the mile. It may be neces- munity. (Write to the Rural Church sary to transfer the community Department of your denomination center (village or town) on a for such blanks). sheet of paper separate from the rest of the community and on an PROcEDuRE.-Divide your comeven larger scale in order to enter munity into convenient districts and conveniently the many necessary mark them clearly on the map. Disymbols. This should be done in pen- vide your class or group undertaking cil first, to be inked permanently lat- this survey into teams of two and assign each team to a certain di.strict. S If undertaken on a cooperative basis,
place members of different denomina- (h) List the households of ten- tions on each team. Visit every ants, indicating their church and household in the community and se- Sunday-school affiliation, if any.
cure the information required. Num- (i) Make any other significant ber every household blank and mark lists which may occur to any mem- the corresponding number on your bers of the class.
community map in the position oc- (j) Duplicate an of these lists for cupied by the home of this family. each of the cooperating churches in UTILIZING THE RESULTs.-(a) By this study. These should be turned checking the information on the over to the pastor, together with the household cards, mark on the com- map and the original household munity map with different colored blanks, for his constant reference and crayons the households affiliated with guidance.
various denominations, leaving the (Quoted from" Project and Study Man· unchurched households uncolored ual.") until such time as they shall have CORNER 1¥ALL AND FLOOR affiliated themselves with Some SPA'()E.
church. Where there are members The rural church should be given of more than one church in the same right of way for a wall program for household, mark these with equal a specified period. portions of the colors representing said denominations. This map will Engage all available talent in chart visualize the religious opportunity in and poster making. Quotations from your community. the book Or from other sources may be printed on charts and hung on (b) List the name of all the indi- walls of Sunday-school buildings. vidual church members by denominations. Rural America's greatest need is not more churches but the enlarge- (c) List the names of all indio ment of the work of each church ln viduals over twelve years of age its local parish: in the community, who are members of no church. There are more than 101,000 rural churches in the United States for a (d) List the names of individuals rural popUlation of about fifty milholding membership in churches out- lions. If these churches were evenly side the community. distributed there would be .one for (e) List the names of all children .. about every 493 members. from one to twenty-one years of age, .. .. dividing them in groups of the same age, and indicating, in columns fol- If people work and play together; lowing each name, the number of the buy and sell cooperatively; why household of which he is a member, should they worship competitively~ .. * * th~ name of the denomination of which he is a member (mark- Many rural church problems which ing with an X if he is no mem- cannot be solved by local communi- ber), of what Sunday-school he ties demand a nation-wide policy of is a member (marking with an X thE) denominations.
if he is no member), and indicating his church preference. Four fifths of our rural population (f) List the names of all adults. are not members of any church. .
giving the same information for each .. 41< ..
as indicated in item (e) grouping Thirty-eight per cent of the farms them, however, into groups of 22 to in the United States are operated by 30, 31 to 40, 41 to 50, 51 to 60, etc. tenants on one year leases. +*+ (g) List the alien families in the community indicating whether or not A> million farmers in the United they are affiliated with any local States move to new homes every church or Sunday-school. year.
BEST METHODS
Every fifth family in rural Ameri- church who have no way to ride, as ca is foreign born. well as those who may be able to furnish transportation for others. " " A Christian "program for the new COMMUNITY GROVES. – Lutheran, rural life includes the teaching of Reformed and Dunkard churches in health as well as the care of the sick. the Rocky Ridge Community in Maryland purchased in 1919 a beau- . One of the best sources of mission- tiful grove, and dedicated it to the physieal, social, edueational, moral ary supply is the rural church. and spiritual development of the eommunity. It is owned by the "" ehurches, and supervised and con- trolled by a Park Board of represent- Other forms of charts, with maps atives of the churches. and pictures may be helpful in keeping facts before the people of the church.
THE THOMPSON TOWNSHIP COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA OF CLYDE, OH'IO A demonstrafion of the possibilities of m~usica.l cooperation in a rural community. The dire-croT and nine players are members of the Reformed Church, one of the Evangelical Church, four I.. utherans; the two teaobers who began tho work were Metbodlsts. This community orchestra furnished music for Parent-Teacher Ass()Ciation meetings and other community ai'fairs. Many of them belonged. also, to a Community nand of twenty-two pieces which played for Memorial Day. Field Day and otber out-door occaslons.
Bulletins may be placed on stand- The people of the community ards, if wall space is not available. cleared the park, erected a pavilion, placed stands and tables, and in- PRACTICAL PLANS. stalled playground apparatus-see- saws, swings, sandboxes and slides. TRAINED LEADERSHIP.-One church, in five years, has paid the expenses Two years later outdoor evening of 4000 pastors of its rural churches services were held in the pavilion and to attend summer training schools have been continued for five years for rural pastors. with an average attendanee of 500.
AUTOMOBILE AID SocIETY.-In one An annual community pienic is one ehureh a number of automobile own- of the outstanding events of the year. ers agreed to gather up children who The common interest in the grove and could not otherwise attend mission the eooperation in its maintenance study meetings, and to return them and in the aims and efforts :for which to their homes. it stands have helped to eliminate petty strife and jealousy and to unite A study of the eommunity will re- the entire community in work for the veal those who are unable to walk to
physical, social, educational, moral entire summer in hospitable rural and spiritual development of the homes. community. 'l'RAVELING MISSIONARY LIBRARIES. qOMMUNITY CENTERS.-No longer do Community Houses belong exclus- -Ten books began it. A committee ively to city centers. Scores of them selected them and individuals doare being built on our templed hills. nated them to start the plan. They In some instances they are built and were loaned without any charge to a owned by one church. In others a missionary society in a rural comnumber of denominations cooperate munity, for thirty days. During in their building and maintenance. that time they were circulated among the members. Some members read Often they contain in addition to every book. At the end of the thirty a general assembly room, a gymnasi- days they were passed on to another um with apparatus for games and society, the address and shipping inphysical training, a reading room or structions being furnished by headlibrary, and a kitchen. quarters. The only cost .to each so- The young folks of the rural church delight to present plays and pagea.nts. A gr(jup may go to a number ot communities or theJ':J may be an exchange presentation.
GUESTS FROM ALL NATIONs.-"I ciety was the price of one new book long for a summer in the open coun- to be added to the library and the try in America," wrote a Japanese postage for forwarding. The new Christian kindergarten teacher who books were selected by the committee was spending a year in America. "Do and not by individuals. However, you know of some Christian family individuals who had books they who would let me be a member of wished to donate were asked to send their family for a few weeks 1" them to the committee and if they were judged suitable they were Usually we think of hospitality to added. When there were enough foreign students as the concern of volumes they were divided and two city churches alone. Missionary libraries were sent out. leaders in rural churches might do an exceptional service by arranging, CHuRCH NIGHT.-Mid-week servthrough correspondence with their ices in rural churches usually do not Mission Board or Student Secre- have a large attendance. taries, for foreign students or furloughed missionaries to receive invi- Most churches are burdened with tations to spend several weeks or an a multiplicity of meetings. One night must be held as choir night,
another as Sunday School Teacher mISSIOnary messages. If a committee Training Night, and yet another for or an individual in each community the meeting of the official board. plans carefully several months in ad- Seven nights a week are not sufficient vance, missionary news items and for all of them. stories may be scheduled in county papers with current weekly items. In many places Church Night with Leaflets may be circulated by mail. a combination of meetings is helping The circulation of the MISSIONARY to solve some of the problems. A REVIEW OF THE WORLD as well as desuggested schedule is: nominational magazines may' be in- creased by careful attention, and 6:00 to 7:00 P. M. Fellowship Supper for Everyland may be introduced into Everybody. .almost every family in which there are boys and girls. 7:00 to 7:45 P. M. Church Council or Official Board meeting; Home Projects THE UNUSUAL MEETINGs.-In ad- Class for Parent.; Supervised Play for dition to the "usual meeting" of the Children. women's or young people's societies there may be some unusual meetings. 7:45 to 8:00 P. M. Worship. Once a year a rural society may in- 8:00 to 8:40 P. M. Teacher Training vite a city society to hold a meeting in the country. The city society- in Class; Leadership Training Class; Bible turn may invite the rural church Study-adults and young people; Re- members for a guest meeting in their ligious Education–ehildren. church. 8:40 to 9 :15 P. M. Business meetings of various organizations; Home and Com- THE COUNTY FAIR.-In ali increas- munity Study Classes; Religious Educa- ing number of county fairs mission- tion for Children. ary booths are attracting much at- 9: 15 to 9 :45 P. M. Games, Songs, Recre- tention and offering a large oppor- ation. tunity for the distribution of leaflets !l: 45 P. M. Doxology and Benediction. and the display of maps, charts and posters together with other materials This schedule provides something of missionary education. for every age and every group during all periods. SIXTY-TWO VARIETIES No waste of time is allowed. The Possibilities for Service in Rural fellowship supper at the beginning and the recreation period at the end Chureh giye opportunity for exchange of greetings. Inasmuch as some of the By RALPH S. ADAMS groups will need monthly meetings only this schedule is merely sug- 1. Organize a mission study program for gestive. all groups in the church. 2. Organize a program for local mission- HOME NIGHT.-Since the days of ary endeavor for the whole church. automobiles someone is going some- 3. Provide charitable relief where neceswhere all the time. In a number of sary. communities home night is being 4. Teach or arrange for classes of farm given a regular place in the schedule women and girls in~ hygiene, nursing, of engagements. Everyone knows sewing, cooking, etc., cooperating with there is no use in trying to schedule the county home agent or the community outside meetings for that night. Fam- nurse. ilies plan to have one evening to- 5. Consolidate the women's organizations gether, with time for an unhurried in the church or the charge. dinner or supper, conversation, 6. Declare a "farm woman '. year" for games and family worship. the church, and organize the church pro· gram for the year around the needs of MISSIONS BY MAIL.-Every mail farm women. box is a missionary opportunity. 7. Lead yonng people's meeting. Alert leaders will see that leaflets, 8. Teach a Sunday·school class. paper and magazines carry mission- ,9. Organize a Junior Congregation and ary messages into every rural com- serviee. munity. The county newspaper office offers unusual opportunity for
HI. Organize a story hour for children and 39. Organize anwng the Sunday-schools in prepare stories for that purpose. a convenient area, a base-ball league basket-ball league, or tennis tournament: 11. Prepare a program or course on voca- tional guidance for the young people. 40. Secure and equip a, playground for the community. 12. Organize a choir. 41. Conduct a community play day with 13. Organize a junior choir for instruc- games and fun for young and old. tion in singing. 42. Lead church and community socials 14. Prepare and render cantatas and re- citals from time to time. and all kinds of group games. '
15. Conduct an occasional community sing, 43. Conduct a community picnic, fair or or lead community singing in conjunction pageant. with some other community event. 44. Arrange a program and menu for a 16. Encourage parents to buy musical in· Father-and-Son's banquet. struments for their boys and girls and provide for their instruction through the 45. Do the same for a Mother-and-Daugh- church. ter's banquet for the entire community.
17. Organize an orchestra for Sunday- 46. Observe Boys' Week by means of an school and community purpn8es. educational and recreational program for the boys and their parents. 18. Organize a community band. 19. Observe music week and prepare a 47. Start a movement iu the community musical program for the week. for the erection and operation of a com- 20. Support and edit a parish paper for munity hall, or a parish house. your charge. 48. Distribute church papers and litera- 21. Organize in the congregation a system ture. of family visitation to assist the pastor. 49. Make posters and signs for coming 22. Do the same for visitation of the sick. 23. Do person8.l work in winning souls to eveuts.
the church imd Sunday-schooL 50. Care for church property and equip· 24. Assist your pastor in evangelistic ment, keeping it in order and good re- pair. efforts. 51. Provide new equipment where needed. 25. Assist your church board in making ,the every-member financial canvass. 52. Dig out the church basement and make it suitable for purposes of religious edu- 26. Conduct a Sunday-school and young cation, and socials. people'8 organization conference for workers regularly. S3_ Provide and equip one room in the 21. Prepare a program and conduct an in- ehnreh building for a nursery and arrange stitute for the chnrch or the charge on for someone to be in charge of the babies religious education and young people '. whHe the mothers attend services. work_ 54. If the church is in the village or town 28. Organize a teacher training class aud which serves as a community center, pro- teach it or study the course yourself. vide a rest room with conveniences for 29. Conduct a leadership training course tired farm mothers, who come to town for young people, using this or some on shopping trips. other suitable course. 55. Cooperate in organizing and conduct- 30. ,Cooperate with other churches in the community in organizing and conducting ing .a community health campaigu, in· a community training schooL cludmg lectures, demonstrations, exhibits 31. Attend' religious conferences and clinics, health dinners, better families: camps. contest, etc. 32. Dramatize Bible stories. 5<). Start a movement to bring the ser· 33. Organize and put on a community vices of a community nurse to your com- products exhibit. munity.
34. Bring a "good pictures" exhibit to 57. ,gecure lectures on important church your community. Write the Perry Pic- ture Company, or the Copley Prints_ and community matters, and follow these with the open forum method of discus- 35. Put on an educational exhibit for the community, with the help of the school, sion. the county agents, and the State Depart- 58. Secure the support of a :first-class ly- ment of Public Instruction. ceum course for the community. 36. Make and encourage the makiug of 59. Do the same for bringing a Chautau- collections of insects, flowers, leaves, dif- ferent kinds of wood, birds' nests in the qua Company to the community. winter time, out-door photographs, and 60. Cooperate with the farm and home stamps. This has great educational val- ue. bureaus in bringing a farmers' institute to the community. 37.' Lead a hike of young people for pur- pose of nature study and wood-craft_ 61. Observe Education Week in the fall, by means of programs and activities 38. Organize a camping party with a pur- pose. throull'h the schools, churches and other organiza,tions.
62. Cooperate with other community agencies, through leadership and service; in bringing the right type of community life and services to the community.
From "Study and Project Manual for Rural Churches·' by permission.
Woman's Home Mission
EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK THE LITERATURE PROGRAM A second conference of the year From the report of the Committee on Study likely to influence the kind of publi- Courses and Literature of the Coullcil of Women for Home Missions, E. Jessie Ogg, Chairman. cations issued, was one held in De- cember composed of the educational For six years the Council of Women secretaries of the mission boards and for Home Missions and the Missionary the educational committee of the Education Movement have been part- Council of Christian Associations to ners in the pUblication of home mis- which the officers of the Joint Com- sion literatUJI'e. The joint committee mittees on Home Mission Literature having this in charge is ever striving were invited. A. full day was given to keep abreast of the times in the to consideration of the character of theory and practice of education and missionary education best suited to in missionary statesmanship. One of and desired by college students and the significant events of the past year consideration of where the responsi- was a conference held under the aus- bility for promotion rests.
pices of the Missionary Education 1926-1927 Literature Movement at Wallace Lodge, Yonkers, New York, in January, 1925,-for the The Committee is publishing this pUJI'pose of studying the needs for year only one book for adult and new methods and new types of ma- young people's groups, Our Templed terials. The joint committee partici- Hills, a study of the Church and pated in this conference, and has been Rural Life, by Rev. Ralph A. Felton, devoting much of its time and Professor of Rural Social Organiza- thought through the rest of the year tions at Cornell University and for- to the problem of broadening the. merly a member of the staff of the scope of home missionary education Country Life Department of the in accordance with the plans outlined Methodist Episcopal "Board of Home by the Conference, the principal re- Missions. Mr. Felton's book is ac- suIt of which was to initiate prOGCSSCS companied by a comprehensive pam- leading to an enriched cUl'll'iculum phlet for study class leaders and by for all grades. In order to provide special material for the use of rural for the sustained study necessary for churches.
the planning of the materials required The first volume in a new inter- for the several grades, a series of mediate series of three books, Fron- standing sub-committees has been tiersmen of the Faith, is by Rev. Ed- formed, corresponding to a parallel win E. White, until recently one of series named by the Missionary Edu- the Presbyterian U. S. A. missionary cation Movement for the foreign mis- education secretaries. Mr. White's sion program. These sub-committees book is historical in chara.ter· and have found it mutually advantageous tells in a style suitable for early to meet frequently in joint session to 'teen-age readers the stories of the discuss their common problems and pioneers of home missions with the to outline materials of general char- aim of giving the background neces- acter that are needed by all groups sary to a later understanding of the regardless of home or foreign eonnec- part home mi~ions has played in the tions. Such materials are required development of the nation and its particularly for younger children, task today. A separate manual for and special emphasis has been given leaders has been prepared by Mr.
to this phase of work during the year. White.
551
No new junior book is being issued. TOWN AND OOUNTRY The Better America Series of three volumes is now complete, and it is the From the report of the Committee of the earnest hope of the committee th~t Home Missions Council and Council of Women leaders will adopt one of the books III for Home Missions, Edmund deS. Brunner, that course that they have not hitherto Chalrman. used. Junior groups that have had all three of these books will, in normal During 1925 correspondence was circumstances, be ready for the first entered into with boards that have volume of the intermediate series de· organized departments of rural work, scribed above. with a view to ascertaining what sort of rural work was being undertaken, 1927-1928 Literature what the objectives were, how the rural program was channeled down There was unanimous agreement to the field. at the Wallace Lodge Oonference that several general courses on missions This correspondence produced some were needed for adult classes and interesting replies, a sUIIlllllary of that these books should be kept avail- which follows. able over a period of years for the use of those groups that desire to The work of organized departments study such subjects, rather than of rural work divides itself into two specific fields or particular problems. general heads, according to the policy It was deci"ded that the immediate de- of the denomination, and the power of mand was for studies of the essen- the department, board, or commission tially missionary character of Chris- handling rural work. tianity itself and a summary and reinterpretation of the task of t~e 1. One of these functions is com- Church in the world today. As dIS- mon to all bodies. This is interpretcussions of these proposals went for- ing the rural problem to the denomiward it became clear that this was a nation and advising with individual theme which ought to be treated in churches or ecclesiastical units as to the broadest possible manner and that possible programs of rural work. it should deal in the large with mis- This work, through various avenues, sions their motive, aim, and expres- places the resources of the rural exsion 'rather than with the home mis- perience of Protestantism at. the comsion or the foreign mission enterprise. mand of the local church.. In its Therefore a new era has dawned larger aspects, it is a task of propawhen study bookS are to be planned ganda and education. and published jointly and promoted by both home and foreign agencies. 2. Some of the denominational rural departments go beyond this and The Joint Committee will also co- have specific, administrative duties. operate with the Missionary Educa- As such, they handle or are influention Movement in publishing in 1927 tial in apportioning missionary funds, a book for young people on the sub- and they employ missionaries and ject, "What it means to be a Chris- field workers. This brings them tian in the light of the world purpose sharply into contact with the probof Christ." lems of over-churching and over- looking. The chief aim of the committee has been to keep sensitive to the demand Briefly stated, the administrative of home missions, to interpret mis- objectives were: sions as the task of the Christian Church for all of life and to serve The elimination of competition in fields ihe constituent bodies in every way where cooperation is possible. in making this task of the Church real to the most obscure person in the Secnring a more (lhristian and economic most remote corner of the country. distribution of home mission funds: i. e., as between city and country, and as between opportunity and competitive points.
Setting up of higher standards as a basis for receiving aid.
Procuring good stipends for high-grade home missionaries.
Aiding churehes in developing efficient program of work.
Training of leadership.
WOMAN '8 HOME MISSION BULLETIN
In at least two of the denomina- outlined in some states a year's tions, Methodist Episcopal and Pres- course in reading and survey, under byterian, U. S. A., these objectives supervision. A two-foot country-life are in the way of being achieved. In book shelf of about twenty titles is other denominations, some of thesc made available. things can be done only unofficially and by conference and moral suasion. There is some valuable work in leadership training by the use of Various means are adopted for students for surveying and serving achieving the objectives. Courses are parishes during summer vacations. being given, or are in prospect, in The Baptists have employed rural theological semina,ries of almost all secretaries in six states to train, suof the denominations with employed pervise and help rural pastors. The rural officers. All of these officers Methodists have a number of socooperated in summer schools. Oon- called rural leadership professors in ferences of various kinds were held. all their theological seminaries and in Some covered a minor unit of the de- some colleges. nomination and were held in connection with another meeting; some in The Par Standard has been revised local churches for the church and its and simplified. There are three community, Such conferences were Standards, the simplest of ten points definitely promoted by one denomi. for' use in uncomplicated, opennation. Others held schools for country situations; t~ fifty point church, community, and religious Standard for use in the exceptional educational methods, using the minor church and comprehensive condition. unit next above the .local church. A pamphlet detailing these Standards will probably be printed. Rural committees or commissions were organized in each minor unit of An endeavor has been made to coseveral denominations. These were ordinate the efforts of the various to keep the rural subject before the church boards that are interested in authorities of the churches, District, promoting summer schools for rural Association, or Presbytery, to study workers, and to bring this united supneeds, and to cooperate with the na- port to the State Colleges of Agritional department in channeling culture and other institutions interdown its material. ested in such schools. In more than one instance all that the authorities Demonstration parishes were used of the Agricultural Colleges' Sumby a number. These are taking on mer Schools are waiting for to estabbroader programs than in the early lish a Rural Pastors' Summer School days, and are experimenting with is assurance of the support of various many of the newer ideas. The older church boards. type of demonstration is all but gone, its program being now the accepted The Federal Department of Agrithing for the country church, no mat- culture has promised that it would ter how far short of it the average issue a booklet setting forth the recongregation may fall. sources which federal and state gov- ernments can place behind the in.di- Promotional literature was issued vidual rural community. It is felt in some communities. Therc is not as that this book will be of value to. every much of this as formerly and it is rural pastor. used most where the work is newest. A few of the denominations issue de- Mrs. John C. Campbell, of the Ruspartmental publications. sell Sage Foundation, desires to es- tablish a training school for mountain Loan libraries of v!ll1'ious sorts were missionaries in Knoxville, Tennessee, utilized and publicity given to these. or other center. Dr. William J. A valuable expansion of this idea is Hutchins, President of Berea College. that of the Congregationalists who has the same idea in mind. EDITED BY MISS ELLA D. MACLAURIN, 25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY We know the readers of our Bulletin will be delighted and thrilled with this wonderful message from our own Mrs. E. C. Cronk. She is one of the few outstanding women who are working to bring up a generation of boys and girls who will make a "warless world" possible. Give this message the widest possible pUblicity.
'rhe Report of the significant Conference on "Law Enforcement" is now ready. ana can be had from 129 East 52d St., New York City. Fifteen cents per copy, or ten copies for one dollar. Send for it. You will find it priceless. E. D. M.
THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE IN first missionary, eight are devoted to RELATION TO WORLD PEACE world peace. Next to "Glory to God K~THAI<INE SCHERER CRoNK, Philadelphia in the highest" stand "peace on earth, good will toward men." Excerpts from an address delivered at the anmtal meeting of the Federation of Wom· In the face of this announcement an'3 Boards of Foreign Mi.•.•wns of North made by the angels or heaven, dare America, in Atlantio City, January, 1926. we claim today that war and peace The begiiming of the missionary are matters for the consideration of enterprise was the coming of Christ to earth. Of such importancE) is the other organizations and conventions but not for the Church and her mis- sionary councils1 After thousands of years of war, hatred and bloodshed throughout Old Testament days came the angels' song of peace, love and disarmament. The Lord Christ sent out His disciples not only to a nation-wide but to a world-wide bloodless conquest.
Scoffers today, as in the past, charge that "The Church is impo- tent. What has the Church done"1 "Eyes have they, but they see not. "
Darwin also scoffed in his day until he saw what the Church was accom- plishing through missions. Then he testified. "The lesson of the mission- ary is the magician's wand," and ac- cepted with appreciation an invita- tion to honorary membership in the South American Missionary Society.
Among the many accomplishments of the missionary enterprise for world peace let us consider six.
1. It has helped to make the world a neighborhood. It's an old story for MRS. E. C. CRONK speakers nowadays to draw from their pockets a daiIy paper published relation of the missionary enterprise in some 'Oriental city and show us the to world peace that of the fourteen football score of American colleges, words recorded in the message of the the latest market quotations from angels heralding the coming of the New York, and even "Jiggs and 554 Maggie. " Who pioneered the way than upon the presence of British for world neighb-orliness T Some troops. " time ago the London Times conceded, "We owe it to the missionaries that General Crowder: "Missionaries the whole region of South Africa has can do more than diplomats or busibeen opened up." ness men to maintain international peace and promote harmonious rela· Similar statements have been made tionships between the United States regarding other countries by voices as and the Far East." far from domination by a board of missionary direction as is the Times. General Charles Warren, when gov- ernor of Natal: "For the preserva- 2. The missionary enterprise has tion of peace between colonists and played an important part in estab- natives one missionary is worth a lishing the schools and making the battalion of soldiers." textbooks of the world. Domingo Sacramento, elected President of the America's first treaty with China Republie of Argentina while he was was negotiated in 1844 by the Hon. representing his eountry at Wash- Caleb Cushing and Dr. Peter Parker, ington, went back with the slogan: pioneer medical missionary.
"THE MORE SCHOOLS THE FEWER Missionaries have been the victims REVOLUTIONS.' , rather than the cause of uprisings due to the unwarranted aggression of And straightway appointed a mis- the countries they represented. sionary as his Minister of Education. John W. Barrett, former United Ziegenbalg, Schwartz and Carey in States Minister to Siam, declared India, Moffat and Livingstone in Af- that, during his five years of service, rica; Gale in Korea and Hepburn in one hundred and fifteen missionaries Japan, helped to reduce to writing gave him less trouble than fifteen the languages of nations, and together business men. with their pupils helped to make the textbooks of the world. 5. The missionary enterprise" llas established friendships not only 3. The missionary enterprise has among nations but also among indio helped to establish the world's busi- vidua,!!.'!. aere lies one of the most ness relationships. Sir W. Mack- active and' effective means of world worth Young, returning> to Great peaee. Those first friendships be· Britain after his Lieutenant Govern- tween nationals of different countries ship of the Punjab testified: "As a were brought about in almost every business man, I am prepared to say instance by missionaries. that the work which has been done by missionary agency in India exceeds in 6. The missionary enterprise has importance all that has been done made known throughout the world (and much has been done), by the Jesus Christ, the only hope for a British Government in India since its world of peace and good will. commencement. Thus viewing the relationship of the 4. The missionary enterprise has missionary enterprise to world peace helped to establish diplomatic rela- through the perspective of history we tions and to make peace programs. recognize its value. With "hats off In more than one country, mission- to the past" there comes a call for aries have been in tjJ.e receiving line "coats off to the future." when the first officially appointed government representatives arrived. Five suggestions for ways of work- ing are offered: The testimony of three prominent diplomats is to the point. Maitland, 1. First of all we must know. Even when governor of Cape Colony, said: before we can pray intelligently we must know. "Knowledge is power." "I have always relied more upon the labors of missionaries for the A brilliant young student said repeaceful government of the natives cently: "The trouble with the mis· sionary women is that most, of them read nothing, know nothing and talk
nothing except their own specific ternational Houses, so individually work." there must be established an interna- Now I am persuaded that among tional house in our hearts. " Thou magazines there is none of greater shalt make unto thee friends of other value than the MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, but it is not the only nations and be to them a friend" is" an unwritten code of a warless world.
magazine for the enlightenment of Notwithstandi~g all the really good women who want to be world citizens. literature published by our mission- All over our land tnere should be ary agencies, there is enough of misstudy classes and discussion groups interpretation and misrepresentation using such books as ' , On Earth and "superiority complex" on our shelves to incite a world war. Peace."· 2. We should pray. "More things No publications should be counteare wrought by prayer than this nanced which are not fair and world dreams of." Prayer for world friendly. An unvarying requirement peace should be made in every mis- in missionary literature should be sionary group and by every miss.ion- careful criticism before publication ary worker. At this time of crisis by missionaries and nationals of the Boards issuing Prayer Calendars countries dealt with.
might well sound tlte call for daily 5. We should train our boys and prayer for peace. girls in ways of world friendship and 3. We should vote. The old slogan world peace. True internationalism "Vote as you pray," which originally does not spring full clothed from a carried only masculine implication, resolution adopted in convention of suggests also feminine responsibility federation meetings. There was a in our day. Many of us women have ·generation between the first Female a feeling of modest virtue if we Mite Society and the Student Volun- shrink from the polls. The indiffer- teer Movement. Even though mothers ent good citizen is a menace. We no longer rock the condemned and un- cannot be honest and fair with our- sanitary cradles, mother hands still selves and with the world if we sit in rule the world. There was a genera- comfortable and sheltered rocking tion between the first appearance of cbairs while agencies of evil are elect- tiny bows of white ribbon pinned to ing to responsible office men and mothers' dresses before strong young women who will make and further voters passed the 18th Amendment.
policies of unrighteousness and in- There is a sort of hopelessness justice which will lead to hatred and about changing the attitudes of age. bloodshed. We have no right to glory Youth is the only hope of human in the missionary achievements of the agency for a warless world. past, in a present which tolerates unrighteous aggression and forces on Why are we so laggard in teaching another nation harmful narcotics, un- principles and practices of world less we are doing everything in our friendship to our boys and girls? power to right the wrongs. Why do we satiate their omnivorous hunger for reading with questionable 4. We should practice friendship. books and periodicals while our one No binding friendship of legislation magazine for world friendship and can be passed by congresses and parliaments, but even as collectively we world peace is at hand Y Would that meet the international opportunity in we could place Everyland in the our cosmopolitan cities through In- hands of every jUl'lior and intermedi- ate boy and girl in the world.
""On Earth Peace" is one result of the Con- Would that we could properly estiference on the Cause and CUre of War, he'd in mate the strategic value of boys and Washington, D. C., in January, 1925. Price 30 cents. Order from Miss May H. Leavis. girls in making and maintaining P. O. Box 4, North Cambridge, Mass., or from peace in the earth. your own Home or Foreign Mission Boards.'
FROM .MANY
NORTH AMERICA run bakeries; you find them in the real estate business; many of them are e~· Mormons Ask to Hear the Gospel ployed in banks and some of them a.re ~n the professions. .They seem to fit In ill REV. E. W. HALLOWELL, Sun- day-school missionary in Idaho, any line of work. The poorer classes work under the Presbyterian Board of Na- in the fields, in d~iries, as day .laborers .on tional Missions, writes of a recent ex- the railroad and hIghways, and In factorIes, perience: "The people had asked me and in the south as fishermen.
to come to the Emerson district to A Conference on Rural Work hold the revival because the mothers and fathers were beginning to feel THREE interdenomina~i~nal meet- the effect of the Mormon lethargy on ings of State Home MISSIOn execu- their children and they were anxious tives were held at Utica, Rochester to do all they could to overcome its and Ithaca on May 7, 10, and 11, for influence. The people went around the promotion of some plan whereby the work of the churches may be so themselves, 'Supplementing my per- coordinated as to provide more satis- sonal work with their own efforts. As factory religious. work in town and . a result, the entire community was country sections. Dr. Charles E. V~r milya, Secretary of the Home Mls- stirred, so that even the Mormon sions Council, Dr. Ralph A. Felton of bishop came to me and asked us to Cornell University, who has made an come into their larger room on the extensive study of rural church con- last night of the service and give their ditions in the state, and Dr. U. L. people a chance to hear the sermon. Mackey were among those present. There were over one hundred at the The committee on. more permanent service, thirty being Mormons. At plans arranged to meet on June 1st in the close the bishop came to me and, Syracuse, to perfect arrangements I think honestly, thanked me for the whereby the relieving of overchurched services of the week."
Portuguese in America and underchurched situations may be undertaken in a more definite and ex- THERE are about 100,000 :foreign- tensive way. born Portuguese people in the United States for whom practically CouneU'. Prohibition Co_ittee nothing is being done by the. evan- IN ORDER to give effect to the ac- gelicai denominations, accordmg to tion of the Executive Committee Rev. Henry J. McCall, San Leandro, of the Federal Council which referred Cal. They have come from Portugal, to the Administrative Committee the tIhsleanAdzsoreas~dMtahdeeirHa,awthaeiiCanapeIsVlaenrddse. question of further activity in behalf of temperance and prohibifion, the Mr. McCall writes of those in Cali- following special committee has been fornia: appointed on this subject: Rev. Frank Mason North, Honorable Carl E. They make good American e.itizens,. and it Milliken, Bishop James CannJohn, JMr., Mrs. John Ferguson, Rev. 0 n . is not uncommon for Amerwan girls to Moore, Rev. Charles E. Burton, and marry Portuguese boys. In the San Lean· Dr. Robert E. Speer. Its aims have dro district they are chiefly dairymen. been outlm' ed as f 0IIows: (1) "To They are good fruit growers; they make good truck gardeners; they ?wn groce~y stores (a Portuguese grocer m. San LUIS Obispo is practically a millionaIre); they 557
give early attention to the prepara- The present enrollment in the regular tion and circulation of pamphlet lit- school term is 3,673, with an additional erature designed to continue with in- enrollment of 3,595 for the summer creasing emphasis the education of the schools and conferences, a total of over people as to the fundamental reasons 7,000. These schools give a common for prohibition. (2) To consider education, they prepare students for college, they fit girls and boys to be whether the need for speeial study home-makers, and they give training courses of discussion outlines on pro- in trades and industries, which ill! the hibition, for use in Sunday-schools, largest school number fifteen. . Dr. young people's groups and student Thomas Jesse Jones, Educational Diorganizations, is adequately met at rector of the Phelps Stokes Fund, the present time, and, if not, take says: steps, in cooperation with the proper organizations, to provide such educa- The aim, policy and organization of The American Church Institute for Negroes tional materials. (3) To inquire into constitute one of the most effective agencies the question of temperance instruc- in the South for the development of the tion in the public schools, with a view Negroes as well as for the cultivation of to seeing whether anything could be helpful relationships between the white ani! done to reinforce such a program." colored people.
Presbyterian Work for Indians Methodid Service Program T A HE annual report of the Presby- COMMITTEE of seven Bishops to terian Board of National Missions conduct a two-year campaign in says that several tribal groups and behalf of the world service program communities of Indians which have was named by the Board of Bishops been served for one or two generations of the Methodist Episcopal Church at have been practically evangelized and their recent meeting in Washington, won from their old worship and the D. C. The committee consists of dominance of the medicine man. The Bishops Birney of China, Blake of Dakota Sioux, the Choctaws, the Nez Paris, Miller of Mexico City, Fisher Perces, the Umatillas, the Pimas and of India, Hughes of Chicago, Nich- Spokanes belong in this classification. olson of Detroit and Henderson of The Sioux Indian churches in four Cincinnati.
states, numbering thirty-six organized The committee will endeavor to congregations, exemplify the new arouse renewed interest in America order of affairs in·a country most in foreign mission work and to inhostile and most dangerous to the white population a generation ago. crease the revenues of the denomina- The large governmen~ boarding schools tion for this work.
now systematically provided for, Presbyterian Foreign Missions either by Presbyterian missionaries THE Board of Foreign Missions of or in cooperation with other denomi- the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. reports that at the close of nations in support of Protestant re- the church year, March 31, 1926, ligi()us work directors, are the fields there were engaged in the evangelistic of most recent notable advance in side of work 409 ordained mission- effort and in results.
Church Institute for Negroes aries, working with the native forces of 584 ordained ministers, and 2,725 THIS organization, founded in unordained men and women workers. 1906, is one of the agencies of the These were in charge of 5,830 organ- National Council of the Protestant ized churches and other groups of Episcopal Church. In these twenty Christians, with a total church mem- years about 36,000 students have been bership of 217,857. All missionaries enrolled, and the number of schools do more or less direct evangelistic under the Institute has grown to ten. work, and many of them who are not
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
ordained ministers are devoting all As a Missionary Board, we have a g,·.."t their time to this type of work. There interest in the development of ChriBtiau were 2,533 Foreign Board schools of ideals in China. Even though we have only all grades, including colleges and a small work there, we believe that 'Iil technical schools connected with Pres- missionary interests should entirely repudi byterian Foreign Mission work, in ate all extraterritorial privileges and all which 117,400 students were being protection from the military arm of the trained under Christian instruction. Government. In the medical field of service, in 85 hospitals doctors and nurses minis- We believe that missionaries should go to tered to the needs of 49,916 in-pa- proclaim Christ's way of Life, Loye, tients, while in 115 dispensaries they Friendship, Goodwill and Brotherhood,to all treated almost 1,000,000 out-patients. mankind. We believe that His way of The seven printing presses produced Life is the very antithesis of force. 125,193,474 pages of the Bible and other literature. The total number of In any new treaties which are made we missionaries was 1,579 and the amount want to record our conviction that no of money spent $4,774,000. special toleration clauses for the protect~on of missionaries should be included whiCh Quaker Approach to Japan give special privileges beyond those which the ,chinese Government is willing to offer. WHAT is characterized by the Christian Century as "one of the Ohinese in San Francisco most imaginative enterprises to be announced by an American religious DISTINCT changes are noticeable organization in recent years" is that in the Chinese attitude to the of the American Friends Service Com- problems of Chinatown. The whole mittee. In an effort to allay the pres- Chinese community, Christian and ent suspicions between Japan and this non-Christian alike, is accepting a new country the committee has made an responsibility for its ()wn people. appeal for funds whereby one hun- There has been built a first-class Chidred mature Japanese students-ap- nese hospital with scientific equipment proximately the same number of Jap- in all departments. A Chinese Y. M. anese as are excluded from the C. A. building has been erected. A United States by the working of the new printing offtce has been estabpresent immigration law-are to be lished which has the only Christian brought to this country annually for editor of a Chinese paper edited in the postgraduate study. At the same community. A forward-looking protime, approximately a like number of gram must increasingly develop the American students are to be given an Chinese themselves to carry as much opportunity for study in the universi- as possible of the responsibility for ties of Japan. their own people.
American Friend. and Ohina Alaskan Progress THE American Friends Board of AT BARROW, in the Arctic section, Foreign Missions in its annual ses- practically every resident adult sion, Richmond, Indiana, May 10-12, Eskimo is a member of the church. expressed deep sympathy with the The Eskimos were only one generation difficulties through which the Chinese removed from the stone age, yet they nation is passing. A minute adopted are merging rapidly into modern at the meeting says: civilization. The work of the Presby- terian hospital at Point Barrow, the We deplore the un· Christian methods, "farthest north" hospital in the practices and policies which have been in· world, was carried on with a smaller flicted on China by so·called Christian na· number of patients than usual because tions. We especially deplore the use of of the fact that the sanitary teachings military force in order to perpetuate in· of the doctor and the. nurse have bedefensible political privileges in China. gun to register their effect in the lives of the people. The homes of the Alaskan natives are clean and well- kept. They are taking advantage of the splendid school maintained by the
Government. They have organized I was just ooIning into J. that Sunday native cooperative stores in nine morning from a trip higher up in the monnpoints north of the Arctic, and the tains and found the people full of exciteonly thing that prevents their achiev- ment. Many had taken their saints (inutgl's) ing of a high degree of economic in- out into their yards and were kneeling bedependence is their inability to trans- fore them and reeiting their prayel·s. News port reindeer meat to markets. had flown from door to door that the , 'Ghrist of the Evangelicals" was coming LA·TIN AMERICA in the clouds. One wOlIUln who had once made a profession of faith in one of our Friendly Vbitora to :Medco meetings was heard to cry out: "0 Lord, thou knowest that I am one of those who ACONFERENCE on Friendly Re- believed, and that I fell away, but forgive lations Between the United States me, Lord." and Mexico, which met in Mexico City, April 10th to 20th, was organized by Brave Workers in Nicaragua Hubert C. Herring of the Congregational Education Society, and Miss REV. W. F. ABERLE, of the Cen- Caroline Duval Smith of the Y. W. tral American Mission in Nicara- C. A. of Mexico. The members of the gua, whose workers recently met with group–twenty-two ministers, laymen, such violent opposition, writes: educators and editors-provided their own expenses, and the overhead ex- "The Granada situation is much pense was met by special gifts from improved. The Government insures interested donors. During the course our protection and peace and there is of the ten days, the group met with much to encourage our hearts." representatives of the Mexican Government, including President Calles, He describes a meeting held by the and listened to addresses from repre- mission, and says: sentatives of various points of view, business, political, educational, re- The woman on the opposite eorner thought ligious, and cultural. It made trips she would molest us a lot by having the to near-by villages, studying at first drums come and play in her house, bllt we hand the land question, the religious simpJy shut the door and went on without issue, and public education. The any trouble at all. When some of the peo· group was cordially received by all pIe began throwing stones at the door and elements in Mexico City, govern- on the roof, the Jefe Politico sent more mental and otherwise. They have re- policemen, who guarded the doors of Dona turned with a deep sense of obligation Isabel's house until her drunken drummers to contribute something towards the went home after eleven 0 'clock. In their understanding between the two coun- drunken fury they would beat their drums tries. "t a terrmc rate, yelling "0, sweetest Virgin, take away these Protestant.s." They An Airplane in Guatemala had a procession thanking the Virgin for getting us out of Granada, and now that THERE are many places in Guate- we have not really gone, but have returned mala where the automobile has after a few days in Managua, the men tease never yet gone. There are even said the women, telling them the Virgin fooled to be many Indians who look on the them. railroad as a thing of the devil and who will not risk their lives on so Dominican "Endeavorers" diabolical a contraption as a train. One may well imagine, then, the con- AT HATO MAYOR, in the Dominsternation caused by two airplanes ican Republic, some genuine that flew over the north part of the Christian work is being done, which country a few months ago on their is described in the Christian Endeavor return trip to Colombia. A Presby- World: "Julio Filomeno became a terian native preacher tells the story Christian and also a Christian En- deavorer at San Pedro de Macoris. as follows: He is a barber by trade, and a happy Christian by habit. He secured the Singer Sewing Machine agency at Hato Mayor, and moved with his family to that former center of ban- ditry. About the same time Jose A. Manana, an Endeavorer from San Cristobal, became postmaster at Hato
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Mayor. The two families undertook people, and then one or two of them the formation of a Christian En- come down to Lima and make indeavor society, and in November of quiries, and so it goes on." 1923 the society, with twenty-two members, elected its first officers. Buenos Aires Boys' School "These Endeavorers got a room and THE Colegio Americano, conducted began work, Julio doing most of the by the Christian Missionary Sopreaching. The result is that Hato ciety (Disciples) at Buenos Aires, Mayor has a really native church, and Argentina, graduated seven from the it is the only church in the republic commercial department and one from which approaches self-support. It re- the high school at the annual comceives no money from the Board for mencement. Certificates were also Christian Work in Santo Domingo, granted to fifteen boys who had comand its only outside aid is an allow- pleted the work of the grades. The ance of about ten dollars a month diplomas and certificates were prefrom the conference of native sented by the U. S. Ambassador, Peter churches, for help toward the rent of Augustus Jay. Colegio Americano a building. The present building is enrolled 250 boys in the various denct large enough for the work. The partments during the past schcol year. influence of the church is shown by Bible study is a part of the curricthe fact that recently the mayor of the ulum and Sunday-school and church town told Julio that if the Evan- services are held weekly for the fifty gelicos would like a church, and boys who live in the school dormiwould ask for it, the town would deed tories. Athletics and a Boy Scout them a good lot acrcss the street from troop are among the extra-curricular their present location, on condition activities. that they would start building within a year." EUROPE "A Seed of God'. Planting" Britioh Missionary De:ll.cits REV. JOHN RITCHIE, a repre- T HE following statement of the fi- sentative of the Evangelical nancial condition of six British Union of South America in Lima, missionary societies is being quoted. Peru, in describing the little groups No report is given of either the of believers won on his evangelistic Church Missionary or the London tours, says: "We get them to organ- Missionary Society, both of which are ize a committee from among them- said to have very large deficits: selves that they may see to it that meetings are regularly held. We say The Church of Scotland spent £79,- to them, 'You do not need a priest. 657 last year, while its income was but .Gather and worship God, He is your £69,996. Its total accumulated deficit Father. Ccme to Him, read His word for missionary work now stands at in His Book, learn His will, sing His £20,532. The Friends 'Foreign Mispraises. ' And so they gather-not sionary Association received last year in what you would call church wor- £28,499, which was £10,275 below ship, although to them it is. To help its expenditure. The Presbyterian them we circulate among them various Church of England had an income of books, such as the sermons of Mcody, £43,593, and an expenditure of £47,- Spurgeon, and Wesley. If they have 218. The accumulated missionary defno preacher they can read a sermon, icit of this church is now £7,453. The and so the thing grows-the wonder Society for the Propagation of the is to see it grow. And how this seed Gospel had a total income of £342,50l. of God's planting gets blown over the While this represents an increase over hills! One man tells another and he the previcus year, it failed to reach gets interested, and interests other the expenditures of £363,026. The United Free Church of Scotland re- 6 ceived for work over-seas £185,215,
while the expenditure was £190,830. which is another new thing. For The accumulated deficit in this church evangelical books, hitherto published has now become £15,506. The Meth- only by evangelical publishing houses, odist F'oreign Missionary Society had have scarcely ever been sold by any an income of £316,388, to meet a agencies outside their own circles. budget of £3i36,779. The translation of "The Meaning of Faith" was made by the Committee English Methodist Union on Cooperation in 1;..atin America, which also a.rranged for the publica- T HE hope of union between the tion of this book and a number of three branches of the Methodist others by Sr. Jono, during a recent Church in England, the Wesleyan, visit of the Secretary, Samuel G. In- Primitive, and United, has been so man, to Madrid. strong that in the REVIEW of June, 1925, the union was spoken of as al- Russian Interest in Buddhism. most an accomplished fact. The lates!; reports state that the. plans for unit- T HE Russian Academy of Science ing the three churches have been con- is arranging for a Buddhist Considerably advanced by a decision gress in Leningrad this fall. Dr. which "indicates agreement over Tedor Scherbitsky, the great Orienquestions that have hitherto proved a talist and a member of a very eminent barrier to llnity." Difficulties which family of the old regime, will have had arisen between two conflicting charge of the meeting. He has long sections in the Wesleyan Church, as enjoyed the personal friendship of to doctrinal standards and the ad- some of the great lamas of Tibet and ministration of the Lord's Supper, Mongolia. "Why," asks Christian have at length been harmoniously ar- W ark, "do the Russians plan the ranged. After the plans now con- congress ~ At any rate, it brings templated are finally approved by a them into friendly touch with Asia. majority of the three churches, it will Mongolia already has a_ Soviet form be necessary to promote a bill in Par- of government. Report has it that in liament, in o.rder to give legal au- Moscow the Bolshevists have opened a thority to the union. It is thought university exclusively for Chinese that the bill, already in draft, may be- students. The Russians publish a come law by the spring of 1928. weekly and a monthly periodical ex- clusively in the interests of the Orien- Protestant Books in Spanish tals. The proposed congress lies along the line of their past work. In AN EVENT of unusual significance former days St. Petersburg produced ft to Spanish-speaking Protestant- the world's greatest Orientalists. The Russian Academy is keeping up ism is the publishing by Jorro, one of the tradition. Its interest did much the biggest publishing houses in to enable the Oriental scholars of var- Madrid, of a translation of "The ious countries to translate the ancient Meaning of Faith," by Fosdick. It is sacred books of Asia and even helped probably the first time that a large make possible the Sansrit-English secular publishing house in the dictionary. The Ethnography Mu- Spanish-speaking wodd has deliber- seum, one of the products of the ately disregarded the criticism that Academy, has the greatest collection will be brought on it by reactionary illustrating Oriental culture in the forces and put its imprint on a Prot- world." estant book, so distinctly religious that it contains Scriptures and pray- Ukrainian Protestant Movem.ent ers for daily study. The publication of this book by the house of J orro T HE Ukrainian Evangelical Almeans that it will automatically be liance of North America is apput on sale in the large book stores all pealing for help for a religious moveover the Spanish-speaking world,
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
ment which started among the Ukrain- of North America recently sent a ians in Europe two years ago. It has memorandum to President Coolidge, made itself felt in the Ukraine proper, Secretary of State Kellogg and Sen- a semi-independent state of the Soviet ator Borah, recommending that the Federation, in Ruthenia, a province of United States cooperate with the Czechoslovakia largely inhabited by League of Nations in adopting a new Ukrainians, and among the Ukrainian international convention which would refugees, exiles and students who are free tens or hundreds of thousands of congregated in large numbers in such persons from conditions which closely centers as Prague and Paris. But the resemble slavery.
movement has been especially significant in Galicia and Volhyn, provinces Ohrist in Old Cairo Hospital O of Poland populated by Ukrainians. F THE hospital conducted by the C. M. S. in Old Cairo, Miss Con- With the cooperation of the Central Bureau for the Relief of the Evan- stance Padwick writes: "It is won- derful enough as an object lesson for gelical Churches of Europe, the active the people of a thousand villages, who, assistance of a number of American in coming into the compound see, gencongregations and with the enthusias- erally for the first time, a community tic backing of the Ukrainian Evan- which has the spirit of a home, where gelical Alliance, seven missionaries no one demands baksheesh for every are now at work in this field. But so service, and where there is kindliness many thousands of people are mani- for the very stupid and the humble. festing their interest in the Protestant 'Dr. Harpur,' said a Syrian lady in faith, by attendance at services, by trying to account for the influence of asking for Bibles and religious litera- the hospital, 'treats all the fellaheen ture that the few men now on the field as if they were great people, and all are overwhelmed by the demands Egypt loves him. ' The patients know made upon them. that Christ is in that compound and AFRIOA they carry the news. Little Hamida, E:rlsting Forms of Slavery aged ten, after a dream in which the Christ had lifted up the bedclothes THE Foreign Policy Association and the cradle and touched her tuber- announces that slavery in the man- cular knee, said next morning, 'I dated areas of Africa has been legally know it will be healed now. He is not abolished. This does not imply that like your pictures, but one thousand slavery in " frica has disappeared, for times better. When I go I am going domestic slavery and very oppressive to tell my brother about Him. He can enforced labor is still practiced in tell the boys and I'll tell the girls.'
many parts of Africa (especially So the news of that Person spreads."
Portuguese Colonies). Flogging is permitted and the forced labor al- Heroic Village Teachers T lowed for public works is given the HE story of Kadisha, a Congo elder, whom his enemies had manbroadest interpretation so that practically, slavery still exists. In French aged to have imprisoned for two Togoland and the Cameroons natives weeks, is told by J. Sayles in The are said to have fied to Spanish Christian Observer. He says: "When and Portuguese territory to escape the fortnight was over and he had abuses. been released, quite simply he went The League of Nations, in 1920, back to hiS! work, although he knew appointed a commission to investigate that his enemies would laugh at him slavery, and is now proposing to all and hurl insults. Again he walks nations, including the United States, from village to village preaching the an international agreement on the Word, and we learn that the pagans subject which is full of loopholes. wonder and say, 'Where does this The Foreign Missions Conference strength come from ¥' Great souls arB-
found among these African village well as his wife, and with his conteachers. It is hard to understand version the little village has become what it means to these babes in Christ entirely Christian. to be living in the midst of an indifferent or hostile population, to be New Opening in the Sudan witnesses for Christ amongst Satan worshipers, to preach often to empty BRITISH Government officials in a benches, to be laughed at, to be in- province in northern Nigeria sulted, to! be threatened and beaten, have offered to open a "closed" tribe to have to struggle with the igno- to the workers of the Sudan United rance, the doubts, the temptations of Mission. This tribe has been closed their own hearts; all this by them- until now because of the frequency of selves without comfort and compan- murder. Murder seems to be rather ionship in the far-away villages of the like a pastime to them, but possibly African jungle; knowing that if they there may be a religious or fetish sigwent to other concerns they would nificance at the bottom of some of have an easier life and earn bigger their apparent crime. Christian mismoney. Yet they stick to their work, sionary influence has often done more and do it to the best of their ability to counteract the tendency to kill than for just one reason: They love our all the punishment which has been Lord Jesus .Christ." meted out by the Government. In the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan the S. U. M. A Wife'. Knowledge missionaries in the Nuba Mountains Province, inhabited by pagan hill A MAN in one of the small African tribes, have been asked by the Gov- villages not far f,rom Elat was ernment to occupy another district, in the subject of much earnest prayer the hope that their presence may have and effort on the part of his friends. a beneficial effect. The admission of because he was so stubborn in his re- missionaries to their first station in fusal to accept Christianity. Every- that province resulted, after a time, in body else in his village was a Chris- the Government being able to withtian, his wife being a faithful fol- draw the garrison they had in the dislower of the "Jesus teaching." This trict. man would not tell his friends why he was so set in his determination, but Conference on Africa in Belgium one day, when Mrs. Lippert was visiting his village, she found him in the AN INTERNATIONAL Conference meeting she was conducting and on the Christian Mission in Aftalked to him. In the course of con- rica is being convened by the Internaversation he revealed his secret. tional Missionary Council at Le Zoute, Belgium, from September 14th to 21st "I just feel bad in my heart," he next. Membership will be restricted said. " You see, my wife confessed to 250 persons, 200 of whom will be God a long time ago, and she started nominated by the missionary societies to school and has learned the book. of Great Britain, North Ameriea, and .soon I shall have the shame of having the Continent of Europe, and fifty a wife that knows more than I do. So places will be left for government I try to make her much trouble." offi~ials, educational speeialists, and African guests. The chairman will be When he had once put his objection Dr. Donald Fraser, late of Nyasaland, into words, the man was compelled to and now one of the Secretaries of the laugh at it himself, and it didn't take United Free Church of Scotland Mislong then for the missionary to bring sions. The main headings of the prohim to a right understanding of both ceedings are "The Specific Task of himself and the God he was trying Christian Missions in Africa" and not to know. He promised to begin " The Relation between Christian to go to school the very next day, so Missions and Other Forces Impinging that he could "learn the book" as on,Afriean Life." Among those who
NEWS FRiOM MANY LANDS
are expected to take part are Mr. J. costly features whieh have been part H. Oldham, Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones, of the Turkish weddings for ages. Dr. Anson Phelps-Stokes, Dr. D. The law forbids the transportation of Westermann of Berlin, Bishop Camp- the bride's goods to the home of he;r bell of Liberia, and Dr. W. C. Wil- prospective husband, which hitherto loughby, formerly of Tigerkloof and has been the occasion of great. "pomp now of the Kennedy School of Mis- and parade. The marriage feast must sions, U. S. A. not last more than a day, whereas formerly such celebrations frequently THE NEAR EAST continued for a week, and the bride's father kept open h()Use, not only for The Hospita.l in Tiberias relatives and friends, but also for en- tire neighborhoods or villages and for AFTER describing the rapid mod- any passer-by who wanted a free meal. ernization of Tiberias, so that The feast may be attended only by "it would be hard for Herod Antipas relatives and those formally invited. to recognize his old town again," Dr. Most drastic of all from the bride's Herbert W. Torrance, of the United standpoint, there must be no wedding F'ree Church of Scotland, writes of gifts. " the mission hospital, in which he says there have been as many as fourteen Turkish Colonel Buys a Bible nationalities at one time; "In-patients .have varied from a Jewish rabbi from F LYMAN MacCOLLUM relates in . Jerusalem to Jewish refugees from • the Record of the American Bible Bagdad and ·Mosul; from an Italian Society the following experience of a Mother Superior of a convent to a colporteur: "I would like a copy of Persian woman of the Bahai religion; the Holy Book in a good binding, to from a plucky little boy wounded on keep on my desk opposite this Kothe slopes of Mount Hermon by a ran, " said the 1'urkish colonel. French aeroplane bomb to a British " Don't be afraid of me," he smiled. officer who was thrown from his horse "See, I haven't even got my sword and fractured a limb; from a hardy with me this morning." Then he con- Druze warrior with a portion of shell tinued more gravely, "I know little in his abdomen to a Jewish sergeant about your religion, but I admire some of the Palestinian Gendarmerie suffer- of the Christian customs. I am told ing agony from an abscess in his ear; that Christian families gather tofrom a Bethsaida fisherman to a fine gether morning and evening to pray old Moroccan Jew; from a Transjor- and sing. I wish we had such a cusdanian shepherd in a pelisse of curly tom. But with us, as you know, a white goatskin, wounded in the legs man's family is like his stove or any by porcupine quills, to an engineer in other necessary sort of furniture. We blue dungarees with an oxacetylene- have no such religious intimacy in our lamp burn of the eyes. Out-patients homes. And on the third day of our made a grand total of 12,892 attend- week I see you all, book in hand, go- ing to your places of worship, each ances." man with his family. The signt al- ways fills me with regret that we Mo- Turkish Rules for Weddings hammedans may not do likewise. I shall read your book often and glad- THE following Associated Press ly." With glowing heart the colpor- cable from Constantinople shows teur moved on. another step that is being taken by the new Turkish Government: "Fath- Report of Near Ea.st Relief ers of marriageable daughters have found a ;real friend in the governor of BECAUSE it was by an Act of Con- Constantinople province. He has gress in 1919 that Near East Re- promulgated a law restricting in great lief was incorporated, it presents an detail expenditures allowed in connection with weddings, and forbid- ding ml'Uy of the picturesque but
annual report to that body. The one Eager Lutenera in Aden recently submitted, which covers the activities of the organization for the REV. CARL J. RASMUSSEN repyear ending December 31, 1925, states resents the Danish Church Misthat the total income from all sources ~~on in the strategic town of Aden, was $4,752,239.25. Since the beginning of the WDrk 132,,532 children the gateway and stronghold," as he have been cared for. The record for calls it, of the province of Yemen in the past year shows that a total of Arabia. He writes of his work: 68,159 children were served: 21,907 in orphanages of Near East Relief; "Many barriers which prevented 8,769 supported or subsidized in other the Gospel's entrance to the people '8 orphanages or homes; 1,428 aided in hearts have been broken down. When special native schools; 5,519 super- missionaries first came the people vised and aided in homes; 17,414 fed looked upon them with suspicion. in hospitals, refugee camps or through Few wanted to have anything to' do industrial relief; and 13,122 served with them, and the schools were an in clinics. Throughout the year the abomination in their eyes. All this policy has been continued of getting passed away; the people now seek the the children out of the orphanages mission doctor and dispensaries for and into homes or apprenticed in help and advice before they go anytrades as rapidly as possible. Orphan- where else. The schools are filled with age graduates are now providing the students eager to learn English. They larger part of the teaching and med- willingly attend the daily Bible-readical nursing staff in various areas. ings and prayers. Three years ago we started a Sunday service. This Arab. Prize Kuweit Hospital branch of the work has given us far more joy than I can telL In the be- APROOF of the strong position in ginning very few people would come Kuweit, Arabia, of the mission of to listen to the Gospel; those who the Reformed Church in America is came were laughed at by their given by Rev. Edwin E. Calverley, friends; but now we get our church who writes: "A preacher in the chief hall packed every Sunday, besides mDsque had been urging his hearers to many shy and passing listeners outimitate the Christians in their relig- side the doors and windows. In our ious zeal by establishing a Moslem congregation we have seen people hospital. The idea was welcomed and from Mecca, Medina, Hadramout, and a plan made to ask for capital contri- points in the interior." butions to build the hospital, and to guarantee its continued support by Schools in Afghanistan putting a voluntary charity tax on all goods imported into the town. Over AWRITER in a Moslem newspaper three hundred signatures of mer- published in Capetown, South chants accepting the plan were se- Africa, says that future historians of cured. The Sheikh, however, refused Afghanistan will date its modern pehis support, saying he wDuld continue riod from 1919, the beginning of the to patronize the American Mission for l'eJign of the present Amir, Aman himself, his family and his retainers. IDlah. "When the Amir," says the Moreover, he declared that if the author, "began to reorganize the charity tax were collected from any country after the European model, he one through any compulsion he would turned his eye to the schools also. Acfine the collectors heavily. The enter- cordingly he introduced general eduprise was dropped and I was assured cation and founded a large number. that the mDtive that actuated most of The enterprising ambition of the those who had supported it was not so Amir led him also to inaugurate femuch hostility to us as shame that the male education in Kabul. Seminaries Moslems had nothing like our work for girls were opened. He was the to express their religious zeal. " first ruler of Mghanistan to found a Maktab Masturat-rather an unfor- tunate designation, since Masturat it-
NEWS FROM MANY UNDS
self means 'the veiled. ' Although the fectly cured. Meanwhile, Mr. Archigirls' school was a success, it was bald says he could daily baptize many more or less closed on the resolve of people who come under Boijnath's the National Assembly in 1924. For ministry. They include not only the mullas set their face against it Hindus, but Bengali and Santali peoand protested that such an institution ples, hundreds of whom are seeking ran counter to the spirit of the Koran to join the church. and that it would lower the moral level of Afghan maidens. According Moslem Soldier.. Say "Amen" to the latest information from Afghanistan, the school has been re- I N THE autumn a young Tamil opened amidst rejoicings." had his baby baptized in church," writes a missionary of the Church INDIA, SIAM AND MALAYSIA Missionary Society in the far north of India, "and asked me to go to his Outcastes Now Church Elders house for prayer that evening. When I arrived I found that he had in his REV. H. A. WHITLOCK, of the house the havildar (Indian sergeant) American Presbyterian Mission and three big, tall Punjabis of the in Lahore, India, writes of the or- regiment to which he is attached as ganization of a church in the village clerk and schoolmaster. When he of Merh and the ordination of elders: called for prayer we all stood up, "It made one thank God and take Christian and Moslem alike, and asked courage to see these men who belonged God's blessing on the house. I ended to the outcastes, who had never been the petition in the name of Christ, and anybody, now being inducted into the a loud 'Amen' came from the Mosmost sacred office in our church. It lems. When I recited the grace in the also gave one pause to think and to name of the Trinity, again the Mospray, for none of them would be cap- lems said' Amen.' It was an astonishable of reading the Word of God for ing experience. We had some good himself or of giving it to others save as he had committed it to memory. talk. " The hope of the community really lies in the children, some of whom are in S. K. Datta Refused Adllliuion our schools and can come home during the vacation and read God 's Word to THE National Christian Council of their own parents and elders! So the India, Burma and Ceylon decided Session was formed, and a sermon was to send its chairman, the Bishop of preached to them about their office, in Calcutta, and its Vice-Chairman, Dcr. the simple words which would give S. K. Datta, on a friendly visit to the them the rudiments of their duties." churches in South Africa with a view to getting into personal conference Baptisms in a COWllhed with the Christian leaders on the In- dian situation. The Government of T HE municipal cowshed serving as South Africa, has refused to allow a church and the manger serving Dr. Datta, because he is an Indian, as a pulpit, because the community to enter the country. The South Afhad no other meeting place, twenty- rican Outlook comments: eight outcaste Hindu sweepers were recently baptized Christians in the Does the Government know that Dr. Datta villagi. of Dhanbaid, Bengal, by the is one of the outstanding men of India, a Rev. C. H. Archibald, Methodist Epis- member of the Legislative Assembly of the copal missionary, according to report Government of India and the General Secrereceived by the Board of Foreign Mis- tal'-' of the Y. M. C. A. in India; that he sions. An Indian evangelist, Boij- is eld in very high regard there by all nath, recovering from leprosy, has ~I. ses of people, European, Indian, Chrisbeen traveling about the villages near :'-llian and non-Christian; that he went on a the mission leper asylum, preachin!!'. similar mission two years ago to Australia The' iloctors say he will /loon be per- and Fiji and created a most favorable im- pression' If these facts were not known, the Government has taken action with in- sufficient information and its prohibition
ought to be cancelled forthwith. If, with a After the successful completion of her full knowledge of the facts, it has for· studies in Manila, Princess Phon will bidden Dr. Datta's visit, we blnsh for be sent to the United States for post- South Africa. It is difficult to think of this graduate work. She was awarded a action a8 other than inept, short·sighted, scholarship in the Siamese Red Cross and "peninsular" to a degree. To refuse a short time ago. such a man permission to enter the Union is an attitude intelligent people cannot Siamese National Missions understand. T HE Siamese are attempting to or- School for Burmelle Girls ganize and carryon home mis- sionary work themselves, so all em- ANEW building has ;recently been phasis possible is placed on it, and opened for the Methodist high every encouragement is given the school for English-speaking girls in young people to be strong enough and Rangoon, Burma. The three hundred willing to be home missionaries, and girls at present enrolled represent a carry the Gospel to millions not yet cross-section of Rangoon's cosmopoli- reached. For a year or more this work tan population – Scotch, English, has been upon the hearts of the Chris- Eurasian, Persian, Indian, Burmese tians of Bangkok. The ancient city and Chinese. The new building, de- of Lopburee has been selected as a scribed by the Rangoon p;ress as "one suitable place for the effort. Two or of the finest school buildings in three times this place has been visited Burma," is of modern fireproof con- by a company of evangelistic workers. struction, three stories high, and con- In April an eight-day campaign was forms to all the requirements of a undertaken by a company of five men modern sanitary school building. In and one woman. In two different addition to well-lighted classrooms, places they held open-air meetings there are dormitories and kitchens for each day. Singing was used to ata number of resident students and tract. The Christian religion was exliving quarters for the two mission- pounded, morality and the Gospel aries in charge. Through the resale were preached. Interested ones were to Government of a valuable plot of received in personal interviews. Colland originally granted free in 1882, porteur work was done. A temperwhen the school was founded, a sum ance lecture was given. People were of $100,000 was realized. Two thirds well mannered and there was no opof this has gone into the new school position, but there were no marked for girls, and one third is being held results. The workers felt that the soil for use in the erection of a school for was just prepared. The work calls for boys. a family to settle there. A Christian school will be required and it may be Slamese Princess a Nurse medical work. The four Siamese churches are making regular contrib- PRINCESS PHON DISKUL of utions to the National Missions Fund. Siam, a daughter of His Royai Highness Prince Damrong, an uncle "Wild Men of Borneo" of the present ruler of that country, has just entered the training school T HE missions of the Methodist for nurses at St. Luke's Episcopal Episcopal Church in Malaysia Hospital, Manila, according to the reach many different groups of people. Living Churoh, This marks the first Rev. A. V. Klaus writes of the work time that a princess of the royal in Borneo: "In Pontianak, the capfamily has ever been permitted to ital of West Borneo, a group of Chistudy abroad. The Princess is taking nese (many of whom are not yet proup this course of study in line with fessing Christians) have raised $4,000 the policy of the King, Parajaditok, for a combined school and church whose policy is to have members of building. This amount will doubtless the royal family trained to take soon be doubled. Schools for the Chicharge of all the institutions in Siam.
1926J "NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
nese are all self-supporting. In addi- Episcopal Church in Tzechow, have tion to the Chinese work, we are try- undertaken to finance a share in proing to do our share toward the civiliza- viding an additional $3,000 within the tion of the Dyaks, the 'Wild Men of next four years. It is expected that Borneo. ' These people are being other members of the association will taught in our schools to till the soil do the same thing and so make the and work with their hands, as well finances more nearly adequate to the as to read and write. Many of our needs of the school. In addition to people in West Borneo walk as much this financial aid, several educated as ten miles in order to be able to Chinese gentry volunteered their servattend a service. II ices to teach in this school. This year there will be a faculty of nineteen; CHINA two are American missionaries, six others will receive salaries, eleven Root. of the Chinese Church volunteered their services.
REV. F. J. WHITE, D.D., of the Notable Chinese Oftl."ial American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, says of the present PROFESSOR JOHN STEWART situation in China: BURGESS writes from "Princeton in Peking" of the administration of "The anti-Christian movement has eighteen counties around Peking, strengthened the Christian cause which, he says, constitute a sort of more than anything that has hap- District of Columbia, by Hsueh Tu pened in the whole history of Chris- Pi, one of Marshal Feng's generals, tianity in Ohina. It has sifted out who was civil governor of Kansu some unworthy adherents; it has kept Province during Feng's contr91: ."In out of the Christian ranks all but the his first six months of office in Peking, thoroughly convinced; but, best of Mayor Hsueh organized a 'model vilall, it has compelled Christians to re- lage' immediately around his yamen evaluate their religion and to take a as a demonstration for the benefit of firmer hold on God. Heretofore, it the head men of the villages in the would seem as though a sudden metropolitan, area. The streets are in tempest might sweep away the whole good order; small public parks have Christian organization. But, during been put in; every child in the area this year, while it has not been mak- goes to school; a modern playground ing new branches, it has been striking has been initiated; a health center new roots. This process has been go- with a visiting nurse has been organing on before our eyes. Many branches are unfruitful, but the root ized. " is there and will remain until the tree will blossom forth and hang The Words on the Lantern heavy with the fruits of the Spirit." R A. TORREY, JR., writes in Word Gentry Aid Mission School • and Work: "Today is one of the largest festivals of the year and I wish WHEN it was proposed to close the you could go out on the streets of this Middle School in Tzechow, Szech- dusty little walled town of Lin I wan Province, or reduce it to a junior Hsien, called a city because it is the high school grade, because of lack of county seat. The streets are jammed funds to carryon the institution with people in a holiday mood. For properly, Chinese gentry of the city two full weeks business has been at a disapproved. They organized to form standstill; stores have been closed, a "Cooperative Loan Society," with few people have been to market either the school as the chief beneficiary, in to buy or sell, little work has been order to provide" a productive endow- done in the homes, and everyone has ment of $3,000, the interest to begin been taking a vacation and spending the latter part of this year. Rev. the days visiting friends and relatives. Lewis Ravermale and Mrs. Haver- In the temples are piles of ashes where male, missionaries of the Methodist
paper and fragrant incense have been spellbound, with faces expectant and burned before the silent dusty gods, ears and eyes drinking in every smallwho sit on their thrones staring out est detail. Such touches of local color over the worshippers' heads. Little as the foreigner never could put in oil lamps flicker before these gloomy make the story vivid and real. The idols and cast a wavering glow down Japanese version of 'The Prodigal on the bowls of food set before them, Son' parable is not' Bring out the best to grow cold until some crafty-faced robe and kill the fatted calf.' Fatted priest carries them off to nourish his calves are not generally served on lean body. As they trudge past the such occasions in this land. But the entrance of the Christian chapel their father's command 'Bring out the best eyes will be greeted by a lantern three kimono and heat the bath,' is quite the feet high. It is white and luminous, proper thing to say, and quite underspeaking of peace and purity. On standable. However, what American it are the beautiful Chinese characters would think of putting it quite that in red that invite; 'Come unto me all wayY" ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' " Buddhist Prince Y. M. C. A. Patron Bolshevism in Mongolia PRINCE TOKUGAWA, descendant of a line of powerful Buddhist A F. ALMBL.AD, sub·agent of the nobles, who drove the Christians from • British and Foreign Bible So- Japan 250 years ago, illustrated the ciety for Mongolia, writes: "We em- modern liberal attitude of Buddhism ploy thirty-one colporteurs, who, de- toward Christianity when he recently spite all the unrest, have continued urged the support of the Tokyo Y. their work steadily. During 1924, M. C. A. by every "right-minded they sold over 363,000 copies of the man." The prince, himself a Bud- Scriptures. Most of these were Chi- dhist, is president of the Japanese nese gospels and were bought by Chi- House of Peers, former chief of nese people on the borders of Mon- Japan's commissioners at the Disarm.' golia. Over 11,000 volumes were ament Conference in Washington, and gospels in the Mongolian and Tibetan one of the most influential men in his languages. The billows resulting country today. His speech before the from the political storms that have re- executive committee of the Patrons' cently swep1J over the world are being Association of the Tokyo Y. M. C. A. felt even in Mongolia. Bolshevism is included the following statement; spreading in that country, and the young Bolshevik Government in Urga My ancestors excluded Christianity from has expelled the Swedish missionaries .Japan. Today I am heartily supporting the there. Outer Mongolia is for the time Patrons' Association for the T'okyo Y. M. being closed to missionary work. In C. A., essentially a Clll'istian organizatioll. Inner, or Southern, Mongolia evan- It is a strange contrast, yet my ancestors gelization of the Mongols went on last acted according to the conditions and year as usual. " exigencies of their times, and so do we. T am not going to discuss religion, but 1 JAPAN-KOREA know this much, that Christianity is a good religion and the Y. M. C. A. is an organiza- The Prodigal Son in Japanese tion recogni£ed as a splendid gnide for young men. That is the reason why I ac THE Japanese as a nation are cepted the offer to act as one of the ad· famous at story-telling, and there visers of the Patrons' Association. It is are many. professional story-tellers, my conviction that any right-minded man who make a living entertaining with should support such a movement. their tales-both historical and fictitious. Miss Evelyn Oltmans tells how The Patrons' Association is comsome of the Christian women use this posed chiefly of leading business men gift in their work; "As the teacher who, while all do not profess to be tells a Bible story, the children listen 0hristians, are so deeply concerned about the welfare of young men and boys that they are supporting the plan
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
to raise yen 600,000 in Japan which, mense ten- and thirty-day classes for with the yen 1,000,000 already raised Bible _study, and their evangelistic in America, will make possible the zeal. There were added last year on erection of a modern building in place . confession of faith nearly 1,400 new of the one destroyed by the earth- members. Our missionaries are fac- quake and :fire. ing new and very difficult conditio.ns.
The old Korean seclusio.n is gone and Witness of a. Patient's Lite the last few years have seen flooding WHEN a Japanese clergyman into Korea, Bolshevism, Marxism, about four years ago took his Tolstoism, naturalism, agnosticism, nineteen-year-old son, who was rap- atheism and various other' isms '. idly dying of tuberculosis, to a city Books teaching these things are enterhospital in Kyoto, Japan, the authori- ing the country by thousands. Young ties were reluctant to admit a Chris- Korea, torn from the o.ld anchorage, is tian. They said, "We want it plainly being dashed hither and thither by understood that he is not to talk to waves of new tho.ught. It is not a others about his faith or distribute time for pessimism or fear, but for Christian literature." However, they earnest prayer, for vigorous evanomitted one stipulation – they neg- gelism, and for Christian educatio.n."
lected to forbid the boy to live his Christianity. Doctors and nurses soon Korean Missions in Manchuria T noticed that he was never impatient HE missionary activities of Kor- ean Christians have been referred nor quarrelsome. He was not deor spondent like the others. In his asso- to often ip. the REVIEWl. Rev. J. D.
ciation with the others he was always Buskirk, the Methodist Episcopal kind and sympathetic. Although his Mission in Seoul, reports that Korean burden was as heavy as any of theirs, Metho.dists raised last year $1,748 for he was helping them. They would ask missionary work in Manchuria, in ad- him, "How can you be so happy, suf- dition to the grant from the Board of fering as you do in the midst of all Foreign Missions. He writes: "The this T Do you not fear death?" His district superintendent, Rev. Pai answer was, "I know the true God." Hyung Sik, is a true missio.nary with One day the authorities told the mis- missionary vision for the fields be- sionary who came to visit him how' yond and with leadership to inspire much they had been impressed by the his co-workers. Four members of the boy's life and they said, "If this be Annual Conference and two supply Christianity, we want more of it." pastors work with him. They labo.r Not long after that the boy died, but under real difficulties in that diso.r- through him the way was opened for ganized, bandit-infested region. Mr.
all the patients to hear the Gospel. Sik reports that one of his pastors has The hospital is now visited by the to keep track of the movements of the missionaries and by the girls' choir bandits at all times to avoid meeting from St. Agnes' School. them. _When he learns they have left a certain village he goes to that village New Tendencies in Korea to. visit the Christians. Beside the THE Southern Presbyterian Church preachers, the Korean Woman's Mis- is responsible in Korea for a pop- sionary Society has sent a Bible wom- an to Manchuria, one of the- strongest ulation of 3,000,000, "among whom, " graduates of the Woman's Bible School. The work has made definite says the Ohristian Observer, "we have progress the past year." 92 missionaries, 5 main stations, 5 hospitals, 111 organized co~grega tions, 500 other places of worshIp, and a communicant membership of over Trained Christian Women T 10000. The Korean Christians are HE; W o.men 's Higher Bible Schoo.l of the Northern Presbyterian Misnoted for their prayerfulness, their devotion to God's Word, their im- e sion in Pyengyang, Korea, graduated
in February four bright young wom- served reputation for savagery, " en who are the first to complete the which the Fiji Islanders had in three years' course of the school, and former days, he says of them: "For who now go out to meet a long-felt many years now there has not been a need for more highly-trained Chris- professed heathen in the Fijian comtian workers. Such is the demand for munity. Today they are a Christian these graduates that the young women felt some difficulty in deciding which people, with church, pastor, school of their many offers to accept. One and teacher in every village. These is Bible teacher in a school in Pyeng- children of cannibals contribute year yang, one has become hospital evan- by year sufficient to support their own gelist, another accepted the position native workers and send, in addition, of Bible woman with the Australian contributions for the work of God in Mission, and the fourth will remain in other lands; and what is vastly more Pyengyang to teach in the Higher important, they have sent their Sons Bible School, and be secretary to the and daughters-hundreds of themprincipal. Those admitted to this to work and die in. New Britain, Papua and the Solomon Islands, school must be women of proved where heathenism still exists." Of Christian character under forty years one of these Fijians, who has comof age, and graduates of either an pleted six years' of service in Kabaacademy or a Bible Institute course. kada, New Britain, the missionary in Twenty-eight are enrolled this year. charge says: "He has endeared him- In addition to their studies the young self to the hearts of the people to an women are aSsigned regular duties in extent he might well be proud of, but various churches on Sundays, and in a characteristic way he lays the during the week do personal work tribute at his Master's feet with the among the women. words, 'It is not mine.' "
ISLANDS OF THE SEA Filipino Day of Prayer D RIBUTE was paid in the March, South Seas Gift for Near East M. AMBROSIO, a Filipino, • writes in The Christian Century T1925, REVIEW, to those "two mis- that on Washington's Birthday "the sionary heroines," the Misses Bald- Filipino people as a whole, through- win, who, under the Woman's Board out every barrio, town" and province of the Congregational Church, have of the nation, prayed to the Father of spent so many years in their remark- all mankind and Author of all liber- able work at Kusaie in the Caroline ties that 'America might fulfill her Islands. The ,spirit of the Christians sacred pledge of giving freedom to the whom they have trained there is Philippines.''' He speaks of the oc- shown in a recent report of a gift of casion as a "national day of prayer,"
$250 from the Kusaie Church and though he does not state by what au- Christian Endeavor Society, for the thority it was so designated, and con- benefit of orphans in the Near East. tinues: From every point of view this is a All religious sects an.d <1ellominationR, remarkable piece of generosity, espe- Protestants, Aglipayanos and Roman Cath- cially when we consider the extreme olics participated, as well as all clasBeR, -poverty of these islanders. The money students, laborers, professionals, and offi· has been sent to Miss Shane in Greece cials. All the Protestant deuominations for the benefit of the large number joined in a union prayer service at the boo 'tanical gardens; all the IWman Catholics of refugee orphans in her care. held a public mass and prayer service at the Luneta; and the Aglipayanos, the third Fijians as Missionaries religious sect, which is a nationalistic refor· mation of the Catholic Church, also held I N CONTRAST to what Rev. J. W. their services at their cathedral. Although Burton, General Secretary of the the national prayer was written· by a Prot· estant layman, Dean Jorge Bocobo of the Methodist Missionary Society of Aus- College of Law of the University of the tralasia,caU~ "an all-too-well de- Philippines, it was used by all the churches,
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
religious and social institutions, and schools vide Christendom today. The followand colleges that took part in the celebra- ing subjects have been suggested by tion. the committee for discussion: The Call to Unity; the Nature of the New Lives in the New Hebrides Church; the Church's Common Con- fession of Faith in God; the Church's CONTRIBUTIONS from certain Ministry; the Sacraments; and the Christians in Chicago made pos- Unity of Christendom and the Place sible the purchase of a new motor boat of Different Churches within It. The for the work of Dr. Maurice Frater churches are now being asked to in the New Hebrides. Dr. Frater choose their representatives, on an ap: writes in the magazine published by portionment that will total five hunthe Moody Bible Institute of a meet- dred members for the Conference. ing at which "a native brother, who was formerly a notorious cannibal, Jews Acce"dble to Go"pel voiced in earnest tones the petition of the class for God's rich blessing upon DR. J. MACDONALD WEBSTER the saints in Chicago." Continuing, of Budapest, a Scottish mission~ Dr. Frater writes: ary working among Jews, is quoted by the Missionary Herald as having em- A few Snndays ago we had a baptismal phasized at recent meeting of the Forserviee, which llI1lde a red·letter day in the eign Missions Conference of North history of the native church. Fifty-three America the accessibility of the Jews men and women came forward to acknowl- to the gospel message, when the mesedge by baptism Jesus Christ as Saviour sage is dissociated from crude eschaand Lord. The feature that specially im- tological ideas and the vagaries of pressed me was the courage and confidence "queer" Christian sects. "Nothing with which timid women accepted this chal- less than a revolution," he said, "has lenge of their faith. A New Hebrides taken place in Jewry in recent years. woman is the shyest of mortals and shrinks The removal of legal restrictions and keenly from any place of prominence. Yet discrimination in Russia, Rumania, when the names of the thirty-eight women and elsewhere has brought a sense of were called, not one was dismayed, hut with- religious as well as political deliverout the slightest evidence of fear or shrink· ance. Millions of Jews for the first ing they all came forward to confess Christ. time are coming into contact with other social ideals than their own. GENEltAL Many of them are revolting from the rule of the rabbi; to multitudes of Conference on Faith and Order them religion has no meaning. In large numbers they are leaving the ACOMMITTEE representing the synagogues. A new national con- Anglican, Baptist, Congrega- sciousness is developing." While the tional, Disciples, Eastern Orthodox, liberal movement is awar from Chris- Quaker, Lutheran, Methodist, and tianity and often anti-Christian, there Presbyterian communions, coming are many elements of hope. The from Australia, Japan, India, Greece, Christian preacher of the right 80rt Czechoslovakia, Germany, Norway, is welcomed in the ghetto. Dr. Web- Sweden, England, Scotland, and the ster has preached in over a hundred United States, met in Stockholm last such places. He has found them op- August, during the Conference on posed to certain forms of Christianity, Christian Life and Work. to issue a such as Roman and Greek orthodoxy, call in the name of their several but not to the Christ of the New Testachurches for a World Conference on ment. questions of Faith and Order to meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, in August, 1927. The World Conference will attempt to make a diagnosis of the problems of faith and order that di-
MESSJ(ONARY
Any books mentioned in tbese columns will be forwarded by us on receipt of price.- THE REVIEW.
Best Books on the Church and Rural life SELECTED BY DR. EDMUND DES. BRUNNER, NEW YORK Director of Town and country Surveys, Institute of Social and Religious Research- Tested Methods in Town and Country Surveying Your Community. By Edmund Churches. By Edmund deS. Brunner. deS. Brunner. 109 pp. $1.25. New York. 173 pp. $1.25. New York. A manual of survey method, show- A handbook of methods based on an ing sample schedules, prepared with intensive field study of forty out- special reference to the rural church. standingly. successful churches. Diagnosing the RUral Church. By C. Churches of Distinction in Town and Coun- Luther Fry. 234 pp. $1.75. New York. try. Edited by Edmund deS. Brunner. 198 pp. $1.50. New York. A penetrating critique of present administrative methods of evaluating Individual stories of fifteen of the churches which also develops signifimost successful town and country cant methods for improved diagnosis. churches of America, representing many types of conditions. United Churches. By Elizabeth Hooker.
The Story of John Frederick Oberlin. By This book, now on the press, pre- A. F. Beard. 50 cents. Boston. sents the first scientific, nation-wide study of the movement for church The classic story of the great coun- union in local rural communities. try life minister. A book of genuine and abiding inspiration. The Evolution of the Country Community. By W. H. Wilson. 254 pp. $2.50. The Country Church and Rural Problem, Boston. By K. L. Butterfield. 153 pp. $1.25. Chicago. A revised edition of a standard book tracing the development of the A scholar's analysis of the relation country community through its variof the country church to the whole ous stages and discussing the main question of rural welfare. outlines of its concern.
A Christian, Program for the Rural Com- Church Cooperation in Community Life. munity. By Kenyon L. Butterfield. 88 By Paul L. Vogt. 171 pp. $1.25. New pp. $1.50. New York. York.
The first attempt to state in terms A practical discussion of the basis of economics and sociology a suitable for inter-church cooperation within Christian program for the rural com- the community. munity.
The Farmer's Church. By Warren H. WH· Rural Religious Organization. By J. H.
son. 264 pp. $2.25. New York. Kolb and C. J. Bornman. 63 pp. 15 The matured convictions and judg- cents.
ments of the dean of country church A story of the origin and develop- leaders. Stimulating, vigorous and ment of religious groups in a Wis- thoroughly worth while in every way. consin county. Very suggestive.
574
THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY
How Shall Country Youth Be Served t By Our Debt and Duty to the Fanner. By Henry C. Wallace. 232, Pl'. $1.75. New H. Paul Douglass. 259 pp. $2.50. New York. York.
This book, too, is a pioneer work A popular presentation of the and discusses the rural work of such serious agricultural situation of 1920character-building agencies as the Y. 24 with its implications for the social M. C. A., the Y. W. C. A., and the and economic welfare of the nation.
Scouts. Rural Education. By O. G. Brim. 302 Pl'· $1.40. New York. fhe Town and Country Church in the United States. By H. H. Morse and E,d· The most recent general survey of IDund deS. Brunner. 180 pp. $1.75. the topic. New York.
Studies in rural church welfare Ice Breakers and the Ice Breaker Herself. summarizing intensive field studies in Edna Geister. 2M pp. $1.35. New twenty-five typical counties distrib- York. uted throughout the United States, together with collateral material from An excellent manual on games and 154 other counties. Religious condi- socials. Also gives hints as to how to organize for good times.
tions are discussed against the back- ground of economic and social life. Springfield Church Survey. H. Paul Doug- lass. 8vo. 445 pp. $4.00. New York. The Farmer. and His Community. By 1926. Dwight Sanderson. 254 Pl'. $1.25. New York. This is a thorough-going, painstak- ing survey of the religious conditions The latest and best discussion of the and religious forces of Springfield, community idea; defines the commu- Massachusetts. The city was selected nity and discusses its relation to each by the Committee on Social and Reof the main topics of social interest; ligious Surveys as a typical American by the Professor of Rural Social Or- city between fifty and one hundred ganization in Cornell University. and fifty thousand population, with Introduction to Rural Sociology. By Paul characteristic American background. L. Vogt. 451 pp. $3.00. New York. It presents the problems frequently found in a middle-size city of the At- Revised edition of the best textbook lantic seaboard such as rapid growth, available in the general study of sudden influx of alien population and rural sociology. other typical features of industrial Rural Life. By C. J. Galpin. 386 pp. communities. All the factors in the $3 ..00. New York. religious life of the community are Discusses the fundamental bases of presented so far as they can be anarural life. Chapters on social anat- lyzed and set down in print and the omy are of importance. mass of carefully digested material will prove extremely helpful in the The Little Town. By H. Paul Douglass. building of constructive programs. 258 pp. $1.75. New York. (Out of print.) The history of the 'City and its geo- graphical and economic features have An analysis of the average Amer- all been taken into account, with speican village; its ambitions, limitations cial attention to the development of and opportunities, both for the de- the churches and the way in which velopment of its own" clustered life" they have adapted themselves to an and in relation to its contiguous farm environment that is changing rapidly. territory. Graphs, charts, tabulated statistics, Report of the' Country Life Commission. eight copious appendices and a com- 150 pp. $1.00. New York. plete index, make the book useful for thorough study of the problems with An historic document from which which it deals. The closing chapter dates the birth of the modern country presents a Protestant church program life movement. for Springfield based upon the facts growt~ of the church in numbers; and findings. Among the striking things which are brought to light are but the church exists for a far deeper the large percentage of unchurched population (no less than 34.05% be- purpose than mere numerical ining put down as having no religious connections whatsoever), the relative crease. The fact that records have slowness of the churches to keep pace with the growth of the city, and the not been properly kept, and that they utter inadequacy of their program of religious education. have often proved inaccurate, is not The question always arises in such necessarily ali evidence of spiritual a survey as to how one will find accurate measurements for a spiritual inefficiency; nor is the fact that there enterprise. One of the charges brought against the churches of is a considerable difference in the Springfield is their lack of efficiency. But what constitutes efficiency in a number of hours which each member church Y The survey seems to imply that it is to be measured by the devotes to the service of his church per month, and the cost per member for the operation of the several churches. When our efficiency ex- perts have said the last word there is still much to be taken into account from the standpoint of an enterprise whose chief object IS advancing the Kingdom of God. J. B. R.
Do You Know?
The Christ of the In what book of the Bible the Sermon on the Mount appear.?
Who commanded the Sun and Moon to .land .till?
Whowaathe firltKingof Iorael?
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The Missionary Review of the World — June 1926
BOOKS
MBs. HENRY W. PEABOl>Y, chairman of ~orbon ((ollege the Women's National Conference on Law of UCbeo(ogp anb Enforcement, represented that organization in Washington in April in the congressional Jlll)l)lonl) hearings on the prohibition question.
•** REV. JOHN W. WOOl>, D.O.L., Secretary of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was recently elected president of the Foreign Missions Conf*ere~ce •of North America.
REV. KENNETH D. MILLER. is now secre· A GRADUATE School and College of tary of the Federal Council's Commission on Theology of higb scholastic stand- Relations with Religious Bodies in Europe, ards, intense evangelical loyalty, and and will also act as American representa- unusual curriculum. Eminent professors, tive of the Central Bureau for Relief of the devoted students, and influential alumni Evangelical Churches of Europe. make it a center of power. Its Massa- chusetts degrees, Boston culture, and *** cosmopolitan spirit draw students from all parts of the country. Special oppor- DR. RUFUS M. JONES, of Haverford Col- tunities given to graduate students. An lege, has been invited by Christian organiza- open door to notable service in the pultions in China to give a series of lectures in pit, the mission field, and other Christian commemoration of the fortieth anniversary leadership.
of the establishment of Y. M. C. A. work in NATHAN R. WOOD, tha.t country. President, Gordon College, REV. HENRY SLOANE CoFFIN, D.D., for BO'ston, Massachusetts the past twenty years minister of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, New HARTFORD York City, has accepted the presidency of Union Theological Seminary, in which he SEMINARY FOUNDATION has taught for the• pa•st •twenty·two years. Theological Seminary BISHOP GENNADIOS, metropolitan of Sa· School of ReligiouB Education loniki, recently headed a commission from Kennedy School of Missions Greeee to the United States to present the thanks of the Greek Government and W. DOUGLAS MACKENZIE, President Church for aid, and to interest Greeks in America in the support of the Y. M. C. A. A UNIVERSITY of religion. Three sep1'lrate j;cho()ls of Christian tn.ining -grouped on one *•* tampus. The Theological Seminary trains for the ministry; the S('hool of Missions for the SENORA NATALIA CALLES, wife of the foretgn fip.ld j the School of Religious Education President of Mexico, has aceepted the hon- for the lay worker and tea·:!h~r and for social orary presideney of the Women '8 Christian" service. Courses in any of the three schools Temperance Union in that country. a.re open to all students. Thus opportunity is oft"ered fOT full~rounded religiow:l education. *** Hartford Seminary Found.l,tion is located in REV. ARTHUR. B. Moss has retired from the center of the intellectual and cultural life the associate secretaryship of the Methodist of New England, half way between Boston and Episcopal Board of Foreign Missions to be- New York. come pastor in JaU?aica, N. Y. A series of handsome and well~appointed *** buildings makes its campus one of the moat beautiful in its section of the country. The MRS. ANNA M. 1IA.&KN1i:SS bequeathed in Catle Memorinl Library containing 125,000 her will $2,500,01)0 each to the Presbyterian volumes is for the use of the three schools. Boards of Foreign and of National Mis- This is one of the richest theological libraries ~ions, $1,000,000 to til" Church Extension in the country. The faculty is composed of 27 Committee of New York Presbytery, and scholarly men and women with vitalized person- $250,000 to the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian alities who have :.1ttained aistlnctlon in their Church, New York City. respective fields.
*** Hartford Seminary Foundation DR. MARY &rONE, well-known Chinese Hartford, Conn. physician and Cln-istian worker, and her friend, Miss Jennie Hughes, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, are now in the United States.
** DR. AND MRS. F. HOWA&D TAYLOR, of the China Inland Mission, are now visiting Australia.
*** REV. E. STANLEY JONES, D.D., author of " The Cln-ist of the Indian Road" has established a new monthly paper of which he is the editor, called The Fellowship of the Frienas of J es'U8.
Please mention THB MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD in writing to advertisers. THE MISSIONARY Review of the World DELAVAN L PIERSON. &lltor CONTENTS FOR JUNE, 1926 Page FRONTISPIECE . . . "G()LD IN THE ORE"-UNCIVIr.IZED ZULUS READY FOR REFINING EDITORIALS •…………….•…….•……………..•……••……..•. 405 ORGANIZED ATHEISM IN AMERICA lJHRISTIAN COOPERATION IN MOSLEM FINDINGS 0:1' THE MOTT ,CONFERENCE IN LA2IDS CHINA RY,LIGIOUS EDUCATION IN BRAZIL PROGRESS IN LATIN AMERICA AMERIC.-AN iNTERNATlONAL Ex· CHANGE A NEW NATION IN THE MAKING-IN AFRICA …….. SAMUET.. M. ZWEMER 413 Interesting observatwnB made on a reoent trip to the Egyptian Sudan.
OBSTAOLES TO CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAMES L. STEWART 422 The vice-p;'csident of West China Union Unit'er9ity and author of "The Laugh- ing Buddha" desC'l'ibes the present·day difficulties that face Christian missions in Ohina and that hinder progress.
FREDERICK B. BRIDGMAN, OF SOUTH AFRICA .•.. CHARLES NEWTON RANSOM 429 Facts about the life, ohtJ,racter and work of one of the great missionaries of the AmeriCan Board among the Zulus–one who gave his life for the advancement of the Africans.
THE NEGRO CmJRCH IN THE CITY ……………….. GEORGE E. STEVIi'NS 435 A masterly paper by a Christian Negro of St. Louis dealing with problems that face the urban Negro and showing the contributw1. that Negro Ohristian churches 1rUIke to the welfare of the city.
SOME HANDICAPS OF THE NEGRO ………………. 000Rr.ES S. JOHNSON 440 A NEGRO VIEW OF THE COLOR PROBLEM ..•.• , ……….. JY.sSIE FAUSEI' 442 DR. JOHN C. YOUNG OF ADEN, ARABIA …..'! …… CAMPBELL M. MACLEROY 444 A bwgraphioal sketoh of a il'Uccessor of Honorable Ion Keith·Falooner who has held the lonely outpost for many years i1~ the southrwestern corner of Arabia.
THE PLIGHT OF THE ASSYRIAN CHRISTIANS ………. E. W. McDowEIL 447 An appeal for the sufferers who have been driven from their homes and have been aeprived of theiff mea1.S of livelihood by the persecutw1.s of the Moslems and the unrest connected with the World War and its aftermath.
BEST METHODS ………………………….. EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK 449 WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLETIN ……………….. . .. .. .. . . .. .. .. . 456 WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN ………………………….. 459 NEWS FROM MANY LANDS ……………………………………….. 461 THE MISSIONARY LIBRARy………………………………………. 477 TMRM.S: $2.50 a year. ($2.00 in dubs of iive.) Foreign postage, 5{) cents. Bingle copies, 25 cents. Published monthly. Copyrighted, 1926, by MISSIONARY REvIE.W PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. All rights reserved.
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Your Summer Address Change of address for the summer months must reach the office before June 10th. V. S. Arnot, Afrioan Missionary Explorer. Safety First James J. Ellis. 62 pp. la. Pickering & Inglis. Glasgow. 1926. and ANNUITY William Carey. J. H. Morrison. 218 pp. AGREEMENTS Hodder & E!toughton, London. George H. Doran, New York. 1926. ==~~~==~~~oofth,ee==~~========= ,hats with Children. Amy Le Feuvre. METHODIST MISSION BOARDS 108, pp. 28 6d. Pickering & Inglis. Glasgow. 1926. are synonymoUi terma. These two boards now Moslem Women. A. E. and S. M. Zwemer. have outstanding annui. 263 pp. Paper, 50 cents; Cloth, 75 cents. ties totaling $5,500,000. Central Committee for the United Study The larger the buaineu of Foreign Missions. West Medford, the greater your security. Mass. 1926. Write lor iuD inlormation to Modern Education In ltofea. Horace H. Morris W. Ebnes, Treasurer, Board of Foreign Underwood. 328 pp. $4.00. Interna· tional Press. New York. 1926. MiNions of Ihe MethodUt EpilCopal Church. 150 Filth Avenue, New York. N. Y~ or Our Templed Hills. Ralph A. Felton. 235 pp. Paper, 60 cents; Cloth, $1.00. Coun· W. J. Elliott, Treasurer. Board of Home Mis- cil of Women for Home Missions or Mis· aions and Church Extension 01 the Methodist Episco. sionary Education Movement. New pal Church. 170 I Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
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Sarangie, a Child of Chosen. Lois Hawks Swinehart. 157 pp. $1.25. Fleming H. Revell. New York. 1926.
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The Wonderful Names of Our Wonderful OF MISSIONS Lord. T. O. Horton and Charles E. Hurl· burt. 19] pp. Biola Book Room. Los A Journal of Old Time Religion Angeles, California. 1925. and Sound MissionafY Work Youth Looks at the Church. Addresses, WILLIAM FETLER, Editor Questions, Discussions and Findings. National Interdenominational Student Tells about God's workings ir. the great ,conference. 295 pp. $1.00. Abingdon Russian and Eastern European Mission PreBS. New York. 1926. Fields.
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"GOLD IN TIlE ORE" – UNCIVILIZED ZULUS, READY FOR
(See pago 429)
JUNE, 1926
XLIX SIX ORGANIZED ATHEISM IN AMERICA NEWSPAPERS have been giving much pUblicity recently to those who seek notoriety by attempting to found clubs of atheists, agnostics and so-called "free-thinkers" in American colleges and universities. One such society of twenty-five members has been formed in Yale and another in Rochester University where they have blatantly assumed the title of "Damned Souls." The President of the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism announces that they are raising $100,000 to promote atheism in the colleges, and will make an effort to discontinue the office of chaplains in Congress, to remove chaplains from the army and navy and will fight against the week-day religious instruction plans for school children.
Such agitation and propaganda are not new. Atheism was popular following the French Revolution and spread in American colleges that had been founded to train Christian ministers. Atheism feeds on materialism and all forms of selfishness and sin. "The fool hath said in his heart' There is no God,' " but that does not disprove God nor prevent Him from carrying on His work of love in the world. Many writers in the secular press today merely laugh at the young atheists and prophesy their early decease. Christians have no fears for their faith or for the Church. There have been many kinds of unbelievers since the world began. The only cause for disturbance is that some foolish and ignorant ones may be misled, may deny God, may fail to receive His gift of Life through Christ and so may bring ruin on themselves and those who follow them. Such propaganda has little effect on intelligent, earnest men and women.
One chief cause for the spread of irreligion is ignorance. Parents and teachers, who do not know God, cannot be expected to train the coming generation to believe in Him. Senator George Wharton Pep,per, in a recent address made some allusions to well-known Biblical incidents which it was found that less than half of his student 405
audience understood. Professor Watts, of Temple University, con- cludes: .
"It is extraordinary, with Bible societies reporting millions, if not billions, of Bibles sold, that the knowledge of its contents seems to be reaching a vanishing point. Entirely aside from its religious value, there is every reason why the Bible, with Shakespeare, the Greek and Roman classics, and a few other books, should have a vital meaning for the students who intend to go in for public life or literature."
Much less do the youth of America know the Bible as a revela- tion of God and of the Christian way of life.
Another cause of atheism is the desire to be free from the restraints of godliness. The antagonism of Bolshevism and of many communists to Christianity is due to the fact that Christ upholds the principles of government, of law and order, of monogamous marri- age, of unselfish consideration for the weak and teaches the observ- ance of all obligations to God and man. Christianity is opposed to so-called tI free-love," disapproves of the tyranny of capital or of labor, and is against the selfish disregard of the property, the lives or the liberty of others.
A third cause of the spread of atheism is the" false conception of religion such as is promoted by some advocates of eclectic religion.
Such men and women look upon religion as a product of human phil- osophy, the outgrowth of fear, mystery, superstition and a sense of inferiority. Congresses of religions are based on the idea that no religion is revealed or is absolute and trustworthy but that all are the result of human strivings after God and all contribute to the knowledge of a Higher Power and of life. No real benefit has ever come from these congresses of religion (such as is proposed for the Philadelphia Sesqui-centennial). On the contrary, they have only added uncertainty and confusion to the minds of those who are without solid basis in their belief as to God. The calm assurance that comes through intelligent faith in Jesus Christ as the revelation "of God and His way of life gives a very different conception of religion and is the only satisfying basis for religious tho"u.ght and practice.
It is difficult to unde.rstand the motive that atheists have in their efforts to spread such disbelief in God. It may arise from a desire for publicity, may show an inclination to "radicalism," may be due to a wish to secure a following, or may be based on a misconception of the meaning of liberty. How different is the motive that actuates the Christian in his missionary work. His desire is to spread the Good News of God's love, of the free gift of life through Christ, as he has experienced it. He knows the comfort, the power and the joyful satisfaction that come from faith in the loving Heavenly Father and all-wise Ruler of the universe. He knows the effect when lives and thoughts are brought into sympathetic harmony with Him.
926] EDITORIAL
The atheistic propaganda, so far as it succeeds, can only spread selfish individualism, chaos and despair. The Christian propaganda that produces an intelligent following of the teachings and spirit of Jesus Christ will bring harmony, human brotherliness, unselfish service and calm confidence to face the realities of life or of death.
" The Word was God . . . the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory . . . full of grace and truth . . . He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life."
FINDINGS OF THE MOTT CONFERENCE IN CHINA T HE conference called to meet with Dr. John R. Mott, in Shanghai, January 5th to 7th, was called to study the situa- tion ill the Christian churches in China. It was arranged by the executive committee of the National Christian Council and was presided over by Dr. D. Z. T. Yui. The executive committee received the findings with appreciation and recommended that they be referred to Christians in China and abroad" as valuable source material for the study of the Christian movement in China today. "
Some of the questions which were discussed and 'the findings are as follows: The first series of questions relates to the spiritual condition of the Church in China and the causes of the anti-religious movements. The findings report that temporal prosperity and undue emphasis on material things have imperilled spiritual life. The increased influence of church members may have been secured at times at the expense of spiritual power. Unbelievers have received a wrong conception of the nature of the Church. Complexity of machinery has, in many cases, decreased spiritual power. The remedy for this is greater dependence on the Living Christ, with unhurried Bible study, prayer and meditation, fellowship in spiritual things, emphasis on the spiritual motive and power in preaching, teaching and all activities, and more mutual love, confidence, and cooperation among Christians.
The second series of questions relates to making Christianity most effective in China, with autonomy and thorough adaptation to the Chinese nation. There is need for a truly Chinese expression of Christianity, dropping its Western trappings and foreign control. The purpose is not to make Christianity and the Church Chinese, but to permit the spirit and teachings of Christ to find free and natural expression through Chinese hearts, minds and activities~ The third series of questions relates to Christian literature-its nature, aim, production and influence. The findings recognize the great and growing demand and need for snch literature. A constructive literary program is of major importance at present-a program by which all available resources will be utilized effectively. A survey of available literature should be made and capable Chinese
Christians should be employed to produce satisfactory Christian books and pamphlets.
A fourth series of questions has to do with the future policy of Christian missions-the functions of foreign missionaries, their technical training, missionaries to Moslems and other special classes, their relation to the Chinese Church, and the control and ownership of mission property. The findings recognize the aim of missionary work to be the establishment of a self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating Christian Church with spiritual education, power and freedom. The highest quality of trained, humble, spirituallyminded and loving missionaries is needed in administrative capacities. China still needs many foreign workers but staffs should be adjusted and budgets should be revised to make a larger proportion of the funds available for Chinese work. Religious education and other special forms of work need more adequate support. The Chinese must learn to administer mission property and work. For this purpose, a new survey of this property is recommended and every new' project should be considered with a view to its future maintenance by the Chinese Church. Visits from mission board administrators and an exchange of spiritual leaders between China and other nations is also urged.
Chinese treaties with foreign nations is the subject of the next questionnaire and the resultant findings. Extraterritoriality and toleration clauses are unanimously declared to be now prejudicial to the progress of the Christian movement in China.
Christian education is the subject of the sixth series of questions and the findings express the conviction that such education must continue an organic part of the activity of the Chinese Church, with local boards of management, thoroughly Christian in character, maintaining their institutions as private schools, with full religious freedom, elective courses in the Christian religion, and winning Christian personalities as teachers. An international conference in Jerusalem is proposed for the further study of mission problems.
These topics all deal with questions very vital to the future of the Christian Church in China and may well be the subjects for earnest prayer for guidance by Christians in every land.
CHRISTIAN COOPERATION IN MOSLEM LANDS n .AS ONE result of the conferences held in 1924 in North Africa and Western Asia by Dr. John R. Matt, Dr. Samuel Y. Zwemer and others, the evangelical Christian workers among Moslems in those lands have taken the preliminary step to organize an Inter-Mission Council for Northern Africa and Western Asia. The secretary is Mr. W. B. Smith (Central Y. M. C. A., 6 Sharia Nubar Pasha, Cairo, Egypt). The present plan calls for an executive committee and a council of missionaries. The aim will be to promote
EDITORLAL CO~NTS
a spirit of fellowship, to meet annually in conference, and to unite in the production and distribution of literature.
One of the results of such an organized council of missionaries should be to prevent, as far as possible, the duplication and overlapping of mission work and should advance the more adequate occu· pation of the field. Already something has been accomplished in these respects by the United Missionary Conferences of Syria and Palestine, held annually since 1919. These conferences have recently taken up such topics as the best methods of dealing with converts from Islam; the growing menace of alcoholic drink; the development of the native churches; and the most effective way of presenting the Gospel of Christ to Moslems.
Since the close of the war a great change has taken place, in Syria and Palestine at least, in the matter of religious liberty. While there is not yet entire freedom to preach the Gospel or to accept Ohrist on the part of Moslems, yet, for the first time, open public baptisms of Moslems have taken place in such cities as Beirut, Damascus and J erusalem. These converts have been able to continue in their ordinary businesses without molestation-something unheard of under Moslem rulers. One large mission has adopted the policy of opening missions in hitherto unreached Moslem areas. Evangelical Christian workers are more definitely organizing their schools, hospitals and other forms of work around the one purpose of effectively witnessing to Christ among the Moslems. The need for good Christian literature adapted to Moslems is increasingly felt and the mission presses and societies are working more energetically to supply this need.
PROGRESS IN LATIN AMERICA RELIGIOUS liberty made a notable gain in South America last year by the separation of Church and State in Chile when the new constitution was adopted in August. With Uruguay having taken the same action recently, and with Argentina having broken relations with the Vatican, the union of Church and State in South America remains only in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia and Venezuela. In Brazil, an effort to change the constitution so as to form an indirect link between the Roman Catholic Church and the Government was defeated. In Mexico, government officials, in referring to the laws against foreign ministers and the nationali'zation of ohurch property, have insisted that this is only to curb political activities of the Roman clergy and is not in opposition to religion or to the legitimate activities of foreign missionary societies.
One of the important findings of the Montevideo Congress calls for the uniting of the churches and boards, in certain strategic centers, to support workers among student classes. A significant event last year was the appointment, by the Young Men's Christian Asso-
ciation, of Dr. John A. Mackay, of Lima, to work with the student classes in the different countries of South America. The Association has already been sending Sr. Julio Navarro Monz6 to lecture to the student and other intellectual groups, and with marked success. The carrying out of the one hundred and six findings of the Montevideo Congress, as far as possible, with the raising of more than two million dollars for South America and the proper organization of the various conferences for the Caribbean region in order to deal fearlessly with the important questions facing the Christian forces of those countries, challenge us to renewed faith and consecration.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN BRAZIL NOT union, but division follows the preaching of Christ. Some believe and follow, while others reject and oppose.· It is one of the results of human free will and of religious liberty. 'rhe Bible and Christ form the greatest dividing line in the worldf(lr or again.~t! It is for man to choose. But, even where there is 1lominal oneness of allegiance, there is great division as to definition, method and the implications of discipleship. In Brazil, for example, where the Roman Catholic Church was long in nndisputed ('ontrol, and where the priests still exert great power, two amend- ments to the Constitution have recently been proposed-one seeks to declare Roman Catholicism as the religion of the country and the other provides for religious instruction in public schools.
The Rev. Hugh C. Tucker, D.D., Secretary of the Brazil Agency of the American Bible Society, writes: "As soon as the congressional committee began work on the amendments, public interest was aroused and discussion opened up through the press. Advocates of the two measures were active and voluminous by letter and wire in their pleas in favor; opponents 'Vere not less so in their protests and arguments against. f!'he representations and telegrams from Protestant groups and individuals made a profound impression on the members of Congress and those actively at work to secure the passage of the two amendments. One result was a revelation of the strength of Protestantism in Brazil.
Liberal elements-positivists, spiritualists, theosophists and others -swelled the ranks of protest, and the first of the two amendments was lost. .
"While Protestants recognized that religious instruction should not be divorced from public education, they felt persuaded that the two amenaments constituted a move to include the Roman Catholic teaching of religion in public schools. While foreign missionaries refrained from taking part in the discussion, the Protestant nationals took the risk of being charged with unchristian beliefs and principles. The situation in Brazil presents a striking contrast to
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
what is taking place in the United States, where an increasing num- ber of Protestant Christians are pleading for the privilege of read- ing and teaching the Bible in the public schools, and the Roman Catholics tenaciously oppose the movement.
"The wide publicity given to the subject in Brazil awakened interest in religion and led to a large number of inquiries for Bibles.
Pastors and other Christian workers called for supplies to have on hand at their churches to meet the demands, and a Y. M. C. A.
secretary asked for a supply of Scriptures to meet the requests that were coming in as a result of the religious discussion.
"The extension of evangelic-aI Christian activity in Brazil, through preaching by foreign missionaries and national!;!, the wide circulation of the Bible in the language of the people, schools, litera- ture, and certain forms of social service, is becoming more and more a recognized factor in the very noticeable intellectual, social, and spiritual awakening of today. Federal, state, and municipal gov- ernments, and private initiative of religious organizations, social groups and others are actively at work to combat illiteracy, multiply centers and means of instruction, and popularize education.
"The evidences of aWllkened interest in religion are apparent.
Pastors and evangelists report good attendance at the regular and special services; the Sunday-schools are prosperous; many invita- tions come to preach the Gospel in communities where there is no established Protestant work. Colporteurs and Christian workers are selling more copies of the Scriptures than ever before. When the presidential candidate for the next term read his campaign plat- form, he announced that he approves of the complete separation of Church and State, for two reasons: first, the church has prospered under this new regime as never before; and, second, he believes that equality, liberty of thought, and freedom of action for other forces c.:mtribute to the development and progress of the country." .
THE CHINESE HONOR DR. CHRISTIE J AST October there was unveiled, in Mukden, a bronze bust of L Dr. Dugald Christie C.M.G., who retired in 1922 from active service as a missionary of the United Free Church of Scotland. All kinds of people in Manchuria-officials, merchants, laborers and country men-contributed to the fund of $6,000. The unst stands on a granite shaft in front of the Medical College, of which Dr. Christie was the fOlmder, and looking towards the hospital which he established more than forty years ago.
The following translation of the inscription on the pedestal of the bust appeared in the Record of the United Free Church of Scotland: Dugald Christie, a native of Scotland, came across the sea to Manchuria in the eigthth year of Kwang Su of the Manchu Dynasty, and established
the Mukden Hospital. In the first year of the Republic he organized the Medical College, by which the treatment of disease was for the first time placed on a scientific hasis. He won universal approbation for his unwearied labors as a pioneer in charitable work.
In the eleventh year of the RepUblic he resigned and returned to his native land. He had been in Mukden for about forty years, during which he showed a spirit of self-sacrifice and sincerity. Although he repeatedly met with obstacles and difficulties, yet he never failed in his purpose to go forward. Year by year the sick were raised to life, their number amounting to tens of thousands. All classes, high and low, recognizing his services to society, willingly contributed in aid of the work, which has now g1reatly expanded.
His virtue and merit are imperishable. Accordingly a sum of money has been raised for the erection of this bust in bronze, to preserve his memory, and this brief account of his life has been carved in stone, as a stimulus to all who shall read it.
In the tenth moon of the fourteenth year of the Republic, erected by the public of the Manchurian Provinces.
AMERICA – AN INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE I NTO America, very many of the blessings of democracy and Christianity have come. In this new world, many dreams of freedom have been realized. It may yet be the arena of the greatest spiritual conflict between Christianity and paganism which the world has ever seen. America is the smelting caldron into which the silver and gold of many nationalities is being melted, to run into the molds of God's purposes. The most important international exchange is the exchange of foreigners fresh from the old world for earlier men and women who came to America to have their characters and their lives smelted, purified and saved. In America, the great plans of God for the people of the earth seem to be ripening.
The Japan Current striking the western shores of North America suggests the spiritual influence which Asia, when Christianrzed, may exert upon the new world. The Gulf Stream is an illustration of a hundred currents that flow from America to temper the climate in northwestern Europe. If the Gulf Stream should cease to flow eastward, what would happen? If spiritual influences from America should no longer pour toward Europe, Asia, and Africa, especially in these days of conflicts and national testings, there would be a great loss to the Christian ideals of the world, and many spiritual harvests would never ripen. To make Christian the peoples of America would be to make the country the lighthouse for many peoples of the world who are still in darkness.
IS THE OUTLOOK? – A GROlJP OF SUDANESE
A New Nation in the Making-in Africa Impressions of the .Anglo-Egyptian Sudan Revisited BY REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.D., F.R.G.B., CAIRO, EGYPT '/<;ditor of The Moslem World; Author of "The Law of Apostasy ill Islam," etc.
I N THE vast Sudan today.the:e is being. enacte~ before all eyes the spectacle of a new natlOn m the makmg. Hitherto the many tribes and peoples of the territory south of Wady HaIfa, and north of the Uganda frontier have neither politically or ethnologically had much in common. But for the past two decades all this new territory has been increasingly welded into the British commonwealth of nations. The picked body of men devoting time and energy to the material and moral development of the Sudan c;leserve all honor. Their task is not easy, for the Sudan is a place where three religions, Islam, Ohristianity and Paganism meet; and three races, the Egypto- Arabian, the Sudanese and the British must be taught to live in harmony.
At a meeting of Arab notables in Omdurman, at a tea-party in the American Mission garden, recently, I quoted Al Mutannabi's wellknown lines: I am known to the night and the wind and the steed, To the sword and the guest, to the paper and reed.
413
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NVans NVI.LdA.9…3….-O'I9NV These lines summarize the recent history of the Sudan. The night of Pagan ignorance, the coming of the swift cavalry of the Arabian conquerors, the fire and sword of the Mahdi and his Khalifa, and finally, the British "guests" with their new administration, with Gordon College, the missionaries and their schools.
For .Allah [as Kipling says] created the English mad~the maddest of all mankind.
They do not consider' the meaning of Things, they consult not creed nor claD. Behold they clap the slave on"the back and behold he ariseth a man! They terribly carpet the earth with dead, aDd before their cannon cool They walk unarmed by two's and three's to call the living to school.
A NEW NATION IN THE MAKING-IN AFRICA
In the Sudan we see British rule at its best. The relationship between white and black is in many respects ideal. Something of the manly, independent quality of the Sudanese draws out the best an Englishman has to give. Not only the general administration, but the excellent railways, Gordon College, the Welcome Research Laboratories, the building of the Makwar Dam and many other things indicate a sense of international stewardship.
The recent development or Port Sudan and the Cape to Cairp railway scheme with its connections show that the Sudan now lies at the crossroads of all East Airica.
Today even West Africa is becoming closely linked up. Many thousands of Nigerians and Gold Coast Moslem natives trek across the great desert areas of the Sahara to the Eastern French and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. At the great dam being constructed at Makwar, south of Khartum in the Gezireh cotton fields of the Sudan Plantations Company-in which South African capital has taken a predominant part-Nigerian workers are seen in hundreds. Why do ~he Moslem tribesmen of Nigeria and the West come to the Upper Nile Valley! Because they are on their pilgrimage to Mecca-from Khartum they go via Port Sudan, to Jeddah, the port of Mecca in twenty-four hours.
I. AREA AND POPULATION The following table and the accompanying map give the latest available information of this great South Land with over a million square miles area and over six million people. The Sudan is divided into fifteen provinces as follows: Province Chief Town Area Population Bahr-el Ghazal Wau 119,800 sq. mi. 2,500,OO{) Berber EI Darner Blue Nile Wad Medani 40,800 "" 111,412 Darfur Al Fnsher 13,900 259,154 Dongola Merowe 142,500 " II 400,000 Fang Binga 120,100 151,849 Haifa 31,800 " " Il H 114,000 Kassala Haifa 113,600 40,708 Khartum Kassala 59,500 "" 140,000 Kordofan Khartum 5,200 186,400 Mongalla EI Obeid 117,400 " 4( 486,622 Nuba Mountains Mongalla 60,700 300,000 Red Sea Talodi 34,600 ,4 " 317,81'1 Upper Nile Port Sudan 34,900 113,415 White Nile Malakal 60,000 (( Il 700,000 EI Dueim 16,500 290,000 ""
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The center of urban popUlation for the whole Sudan is still Khartum, the capital, with a population of 30,797, North Khartum, linked by a steel bridge with 14,319, and Omdurman, a great straggling African city of 78,624 people. At present ferry service binds the latter to Khartum but a bridge is being built across the White Nile and there is no doubt that in the near future the twin cities will count two hundred thousand inhabitants. What Gordon in a moment of pessimism described as a "useless possession" has become one of
the great future assets of the British Empire in Mrica. In 1925 the imports of the Sudan were over five million pounds sterling and the exports over four million pounds; the laUer have doubled in five years. Peace and prosperity have gone hand in hand. The popula- tion is rapidly increasing. One may travel almost anywhere in the vast area with safety and facility where only a few years ago certain tribes were a terror to each other and such a menace to private prop- erty that trade was well nigh impossible. The Sudan Government railways and steamers are the admiration of all travellers. One may travel from Wady HaIfa in the north to Obeid the capital of Kordo- fan in the south and to Port Sudan and Suakin eastward in railway carriages more comfortable than Pullman cars.
The population of the Sudan consists of three classes: the pure Arab, the Negroid and the Black race. The Arabs entered as conquerors and destroyed the old Christian Kingdoms of Nubia and Dongola, as well as those centered at Sobat on the Blue Nile. Only a short distance from Khartum ruins of Christian churches can be seen-granite pillars with crosses-mute witnesses to Christian life centuries before Islam. The Negroids-of mixed blood with their dark brown skins, black crisp hair, long heads, flat noses and thick lips are considered the best workers of the Sudan. The Blacks represent many tribes and races, and until recently they were the slaves both of the Arabs and the Negroids. Today they are overcoming their natural indolence and are engaged in collecting gum, rubber, senna, ivory, in cultivating the land and navigating the rivers. It is estimated that there are over two hundred tribes in the Sudan, some of which, as the Nubas, use a score of dialects. Arabic is becoming dominant in the north. In the south the multiplicity of language presents extraordinary difficulty for the Government and for missions.
Barbarous customs of bodily mutilation, teeth-filing, lip~perfora. tion, face-markings, and puberty ordeals still prevail even among some Moslem tribes. Illiteracy is well nigh universal and, except in urban centers, superstition rules everywhere. At Omdurman an entire bazaar is devoted to the sale of amulets and charms. Less than one half of the total population of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is even nominally Moslem. But Islam is slowly extending its influence everywhere. No definite line marks the border between Moslem and pagan tribes on the map or in the mind of the people. Where Islam penetrates it forms an amalgam, a paganized Islam. The Koran has become a fetish instead of the old village idol. Stone and tree worship still exist side by side with the mud-built mosque. Yet in the government scheme of education, which began at Khartum, Islam received the place of honor. The Koran is the primary textbook aJ].d for all practical purposes Islam is made the state religion. Friday is the legal holiday and already over six hundred mosques are found
1926J A NEW NATION IN THE MAKING-IN AFRIOA
in Khartum and the provinces, some of them handsome buildings built in part by Government grants! Every year thousands of Su- danese go to Mecca and return with fanatic zeal for their religion.
Everywhere one finds the Religious Brotherhoods of Islam in evidence. The Qadariya (here called the Jilaniya) the Mirganiya, Ahmadiya (or Idrisiya) and the Rashidiya orders have their zawias or religious houses! We visited one at Um Dabban near Khartum.
It was a beehive of many activities-school and mosque, sacred tree and enclosure, a place for sacrifice and holy graves, a guest-house nicely furnished where they offered us tinned provisions and coffee.
In such centers out in the open desert they teach young lad~ the mystic-way and from here the wali or saint goes on his pilgrimage.
Finally the saint, male or female, dies and their tombs become cen- ters of Iniracle and pilgrimage.
At Khartum North we visited two of such saints' tombs. That of Nafassa is scarcely thirty years old but she has a constant stream of worshippers and the grave is covered with more "holy llnr- tains" of many hues than the Tabernacle in the wilderness. In the Northern Sudan on every bar- ren hill and under every green tree we may see saints in the mak- ing. Worship consists of muttered prayers, touching the grave or ty- ing bits of cloth to the bier and A TYPICAL SUDANESE WOMAN rubbing its dust on the forehead.
'l'hank-offerings for recovery consist of white and red flags fluttering on tall poles and so attracting new devotees.
Among the pagan tribes animism with its doctrine of an ever- present supernatural world-seen in the whirling of desert winds, the mirage, the uncanny gnarled tree, the hovering spirits of bird and beast and man-holds myriads of hearts in bondage through fear of death and the beyond.
By the establishment of impartial justice between man and man; by maintaining domestic tranquility and peace; by economic de- velopment through irrigation works and the introduction of new agricultural products and methods; by education especially at Gordon College and in the newly opened Kitchener Memorial Medical School; by the wide-spread influence of the Welcome Research Laboratoris in studying and checking disease; by the opening of government dispensaries and hospitals, Great Britain has proved worthy of her 1 Ct. P. E. Martln-"The Sudan In Evolutlon," p. 246-247 (London, 1921) . • CarmIne WIll18-"Rellglous Contraternltles of the Sudan" (Khartum, 1921), 2
trust. The completion of the great Dam at Sennar, already flooding 300,000 fertile acres in the Gezira plain, marked another step in the evolution of the Sudan. Most appropriately the inauguration of the Dam was not only a civic triumph but a religious ceremony and prayers were offered by the Mohammedan Mufti and by the Anglican Bishop of the Sudan, the Right Reverend Dr. Gwynne.
But the Sudan can not live by bread alone. If any land has a claim and a challenge for missionary enterprise it is this border land.
II. MISSIONARY OCCUPATION Many centuries before General Charles George Gordon laid down his life at Khartum, other Christian martyrs witnessed for their faith. If the meager records of church historians were altogether silent the very stones would cry out that the Sudan belongs to Christ.
In June, 1698, the Jesuit missionary Father, Charles Xavier de Brevedent, entered the Sudan, then known as the Empire of Ethiopia. The first Catholic Mission however was not established in the Sudan until 1846. It continued to work until the time of the Mahdi rebellion. Father Ohrwalder and others were taken prisoner and with horrible cruelty the mission was destroyed." When peace was restored in the Sudan in 1898 this work was again taken up. At present there are four missionary bodies at. work: The Roman Catholic (Austrian), the Church Missionary Society (Anglican), the United Presbyterian Mission (American), and the Sudan Unit.ed Mission (Int.ernational).
As early as 1878 Gordon advocated the evangelization of the Sudan. In 1905 the C. M. S. sent out its first workers. At present they occupy the following stations: Khartum, Omdurman, Wad Medani and Atbara. In the southern portion of the Sudan the Society's work dates from 1906, when, on the invitation of Lord Cromer, Malek, 1,000 miles higher up the Nile than Khartum, was occupied with a view to reaching the Dinkas (Jiengs), a pagan tribe. Other stations for work among them are Juba, with a boarding school for the sons of chiefs, Yei and Lau. Yambio is the center of work among the Azandi, and at Yilu a medical mission has been established among the Horus. The girls' schools at Omdurman and Khartum are drawing an ever larger circle of friendship among the people and the wellequipped hospital at Omdurman under Dr. Lloyd is like a beacon light for the whole community. The whole Moslem staff of the hospital has caught the spirit of service and are following Christ's example before they have gained sufficient courage to confess Him openly. The work in the Bahr al Ghazal province among the pagan tribes has closer affinities with Uganda than with the north.
Bishop Gwynne writes: "It is a matter of great satisfaction to 8 Of. "Ten Years' Captivity In the Mahdl's Camp," by Father Ohrwalder.
A NEW NATION IN THE MAKING-IN A:FRICA
report that what has been talked about so long will, please God, be accomplished this year: that is the separation of the southern prov- inces of the Sudan to form a new diocese, with part of Uganda. The Venerable Archdeacon Kitchen, who has been for more than 25 years a missionary in Uganda is to be the first Bishop of the con- templated diocese. With definite objects and magnificent opportuni- ties, that which had already been won through the strenuous efforts of the missionaries will be consolidated and new schemes for advance planned, and thus another section of the line will be completed in that sphere occupied by our Church."
The American United Presbyterian Mission entered in 1900 under the leadership of the Rev. John Kelly Giffen, D.D., and Rev. George A. Sowash, D.D. With similar enterprise and methods as in the Nile Valley their work has expanded until it reaches from Wady HaIfa across the borders and into Abyssinia. They have work at HaIfa, Khartum, Omdurman, Khartum North, Geraife, Atbara, Sin- kat, Wad Medani, Dongola and Port Sudan; in the south at Doleib Hill and Nasser.
Although this wide field is very much under-manned and has suffered irreparable losses by death, recent years have witnessed a distinct advance on every line of endeavor. The schools are crowded with pupils, the hospitals with patients and homes with visitors and inquirers. The largest Bible class of Moslems in all North Africa, as far as I know, meets every Sabbath in the American Mission School at Omdurman; one hundred and twenty are taught the story of Christ and of Paul by a converted Moslem I Every form' of missionary effort indeed finds fruitful results in the Sudan today. Agricultural and industrial schools although only recently opened have proved their value. The education of the African can best follow the lines of such institutions as Tuskegee and Hampton. Primary and secondary education for boys and girls is a missionary necessity since the only government education so far provided is Islamic in its textbooks and tendency. One has only to look into the eager faces of the pupils in any of the mission schools to realize that such thirst for knowledge and such hunger for friendship and guidance are a call of God to teach all these tribes. In Arabic and English and in some of the many dialects the people already read for themselves the Greatest Story in the world. The need for hospitals and dispensaries is self-evident. Where the natives have the choice between a government and a mission hospital they choose the place where "mercy and truth are met together."
During my all too brief visit at Khartum and Omdurman in February-March last the changes I noticed since my former visit ten years ago were, from a missionary standpoint, full of promise. A new day has dawned. Doors once closed are wide open and the people responsive as never before. At Doleib Hill where they toiled
. for two decades scattering the good seed in hard and barren soil there now is the joy of the harvest. Nineteen hundred are attend ing Sunday-schools and some hundred have been baptized. In Om- durman within a stone's throw'of the ruined tomb of the Mahdi three to four hundred Moslem men gathered night after night for an open- air evangelistic meeting in the American Mission compound. I spoke on such subjects as, "What is Christianity1" "Who is Jesus Christ7" ""Vas Christ Crucified?" "Is There .Toy in the Christian Life1" and the audience was as attentive as in a church service at home. Over a hundred of the leading men accepted a special gift of Mat- thew's Gospel after an address on the "Principles of True Civiliza- tion. " Ten pounds' worth of religions books and Scriptures were sold at these meetings. In the Coptic Cathedral at Khartum two THE PROTESTANT CATHEDRAL AT KHARTOUM. EGYPTIAN SUDAN mass meetings were held on week days and at least fifteen hundred were present on both occasions.
Among the young men and boys there is such a demand for literature of the right type that the Church Missionary Society is planning to open a book shop at Khartum. The American Mission Agricultural School at Geraif is conducted on the lines of similar work in the Southern States and promises much for the future. There is sympathy and cooperation with the missions on the part of many of the leading government officials and an increasing conviction that Islam is not the best religion for the Sudan. The many Christian activities centering at the Clergy House and the Cathedral for the British of all classes are also a powerful witness for Christ. The growing native church is becoming conscious of its mission and eager to enter regions beyond. At a general meeting of all the missionaries and native pastors and teachers, men and women, the conviction was
1926J A NEW NATION IN 'l'HE MAKING-IN AFRIOA
expressed that only by doubling the forces now on the field could the present opportunity be adequately met. Every station and every institution I visited is under-staffed. The places on the map where "the true Light now shineth" are after all like little candles burning in the night of paganism and Islam. Vast areas and millions of people are untouched by all the societies now on the field.. The provinces of Kassala, Dongola (for the greatest part) Kordofan, Darfur, the northern half of Bahrel-Ghazal, the Nuba Mountains, Fung and the White Nile district are practically unoccupied. Who holds the mandate for the spiritual and moral uplift of these multitudes?
Remembering the utter destitution and the long neglect of these vast areas and large populations, the Hnes written on seeing Gordon's statue as it stands racing the great desert and the Sudan at Khartum, have a living message: The strings of camels come ill single file, Bearing their burdens 0 'er the desert sand; Swiftly the boats go plying on the Nile, The needs of men are met on every hand.
But stilI I wait For the messenger of God who cometh late.
The great Makwar Dam at SennaI' is a rebuke and a challenge to the faint-hearted and lukewarm THE REV. MALEK FANOAS in the Ohristian churches. Here Pastor or t be Church In Khartoum is material investment of eight million pounds (sterling) in concrete and steel, in brain and brawn, with absolute faith that the im'es tment will bring adequate return. Faith in what? in the fertile soil and in the fellahin Sudanese.
We have the reservoir of God's unfailing grace and power j we have the soil of the human heart, fashioned everywhere alike and thirsting for the Living God j we have the Seed of the Divine Word which if it fall into the ground and dies never fails to produce a har- vest. 'Wno dares to begrudge the investment of a few hundred thou- sand pounds and the hundred additional missionaries needed to make Christ known in every province of the vast Sudan'
to Christianity in China
BY REV. .JAMES L. STEWART, D.D., CHENGTU, WEST CHINA Vice·President of West China Union University; Author of II The Laughing Buddha"
PERSISTENT hindrances to the progress of the Gospel among the Chinese are not new today and may therefore be considered briefly. They contain such difficulties as: I. Indifference. One meets occasionally with a "God of Wealth" (the colloquial for our "millionaire") in China, but they are proportionately about as rare as her fabled phrenix. In no nation are the multi-millions nearer the bread-line. To live "hand-tomouth" seems no great hardship to multitudes. It is rather that willing hands and therefore mouths must too often go wholly or partially empty. Each day is a constant struggle for existence. What has Christianity to offer for such immediate need' These throngs are out for food, clothing, shelter, an opportunity to work. The Christian message seems ofttimes utterly remote to such men. The preacher talks of faith and hope and love and peace and truth. Much of it is lost upon ears tuned only to the stern realities of daily need. The seed in such cases falls upon stony ground. They go their way indifferent. II. Already supplied is the attitude of another vast section.
China seems to be full of gods of all grades. The merchant has the god of wealth; the mechanic has Lu-ban, the great artificer; the farmer a tutelary god for each group of fields and special gods for each type of cattle, while the scholar has his great Sage and Heaven. In addition there is Animism with its natural objects containing spirits, Taoism with its deification of higher natural forces, thunder, lightning, fire, flood, Buddhism with its personification of psychic fac- t<irs, mercy, wisdom, pity, and Mohammedanism with its appeal to one invisible. absolute Being. If more are needed bas not each man nearer still his own ancestors with their peremptory demands and promises 7 Somewhere from among this galaxy of gods one or several have long since been selected and seemingly found sufficient. Can the Christian God give more than these according to their promises? Why add another, or discard all old for one new?
m. Social customs and sqnctions are disturbed by the aavent of Christianity and so protest. The authority and very existence of all the gods suggested above are challenged, and evidence adduced to show they are fictions. It naturally seems to many that the basis of society is being destroyed. Moreover old street customs concern- ~e February number of the REVIEW contained a.n article outlining certain "Hindrances to Christianity in China," It was an attempted ana1ysis ().f such hlndran"'es from a croRI:I-sec1'i nnal aspect of Chinese SOCiety. It n0ed~ supplementing by lIlore speetfic statement, especially in view of more recent events. A prartical survey can be made from sunh sf"andDoi'lts as Persistent Hindrances, Present-Day Hindrances. and thuesuaPlr(J)lfmoulntsdeorr Hindranoos of the Messenger. This article presents such an attempt within the BPace.-J. 1.. S.
422 ing idol processions, theatricals to the gods, etc., are affected when Christians refuse to assist. More intimate still the old social relations of husband and wife, elder and younger brother, parent and child, sons and daughters are all viewed from a new angle and a new freedom acclaimed. So, to some, it seems that the very family is in danger of dissolution. Even old marriage customs based on the "eight characters," burial customs based on "fung shui" and the sacred philosophy of the past as contained in the Book of Change are all being undermined and unheeded. To the conservative the very basis of society and the nation seem threatened. Who but should decry such disaster!
IV. Sin and evil in all their forms are inevitable opposing forces. In times of unrest such as that through which great China is now passing it is but natural that evil in many forms goes almost unrestrained. Foot-binding fortunately seems steadily to decrease, but gambling and lotteries are in places legalized for revenue. Opium which was so gallantly suppressed about a decade ago is now in sections even forced upon the farmers for the sake of funds. Drunkenness and the social evil abound about many military camps. Blackmail, duress, robbery, arson, rape, murder, militarism fill reports from day to day in the papers of big centers and go all unrecorded out in the defenseless countryside. Let no one malign the great Ohinese people. They too loathe such iniquities, but they are powerless at present. Ohristianity alone, in many places, dares raise a voice against these social· sins and their roots in the lusts of the human heart, and in consequence she is in turn slanderously accused and attacked. Sin and evil in their most hideous forms are steadfast hindrances to the Gospel.
HINDRANCES PECULIAR TO THE PRESENT Present-day hindrances form a second kind of barrier to be overcome. These are regularly mentioned in our newspaper and other reports. They may be grouped under familiar captions: I. Anti-Foreign Feeling. Ohristianity has not always suffered from this in its contact with Ohina. Some opposition, 'it is true, has been to Christianity as a creed and system of conduct. ThuB Oonfucianism has doubtless ridiculed it and even raised riots to oust it from communities and from the country. Yet it will be also recalled that Nestorianism was quite evidently welcomed to the old court at Ohang An by the great Tai Tsung, first of the native Tang dynasty, and that in more recent times under the Mongol, the Min and eyen early Manchu dynasties, Ohristians were protected and praised, even Jesuit missionaries holding public office as Schall in his post as Imperial astronomer. Indeed it appears to have been a question of allegiance to foreign Pope or native Emperor that caused the rift in cordial relations, and such fear of foreign aggression has continued to impede the progress of Ohristianity unto today.
That converts were by becoming Christian also becoming the subjects of France, or Britain or America was quite the common consensus of opinion a quarter of a century ago, following the breaking down of the Boxer Rebellion. The new Republic has done much by its religious freedom and other measures to dispel such difficulties, but now it bursts forth in another form.
II. Anti-Imperialism. Fear of foreign aggression has again attained a great emphasis. The Renaissance of the past few years has brought many surprises. Among others returned students from many lands as well as those educated in their own institutions of learning have been reviewing their contacts with Western nations. The investigation shows a record of constant aggression. Burma, Indo-China, Macao, Hongkong, Weihaiwei, Port Arthur, all show lost territory, parts of which were at least claimed by China. Now Manchuria, Mongolia and even 'ribet appear to them also threatened. Foreign concessions too seem to have taken on an arbitrary attitude through the years. Customs autonomy has been denied and extraterritoriality still demanded. Such seems to be the history of the last century of contact, and China emerges bound on all sides by treaties won from the Manchus then her rulers. In the enthusiasm of the new Nationalism, all this foreign aggression seems arbitrary "Imperialism." This in turn is turned against Christianity for do not the missionaries come from just these countries1 True in their messages, they preach a religion of love, and claim they have no relationship with their governments, but who does not understand the simile of "the dragon head and the snake's tail." And then, are missions not present and protected by treaty forced by these very powers? Many in China today understand the true meaning of the missionary movement, but on the contrary there are others who fail to understand, and oppose Christianity on a basis which they believe is real patriotism. Christianity is "Imperialism" and the missionary its political agent. That should be sufficient.
III. Anti-Capitalistic Sentiment. Much of the'conflict with the foreign nations in the past has arisen over questions of trade. As commerce requires capital, it is easy to conclude that all is capitalistic. Westernism spells Imperialism and back of Imperialism is capitalism-that is the thesis. All this has been aggravated of late by the growth of industrialism. Child and woman labor, long hours, unsanitary conditions, small pay, strikes are not new things in China.
But all these have been emphasized by the mills and factories now springing up in so many port cities. With them have come new forms of labor organi'zations well known in the west with resultant conflicts, lock-outs, strikes and riots. Such conflicts are all the easier to create and embitter when the mill owners happen to be foreigners. Then the issue seems quite clear. It is Western capitalism crushing and exploiting China's helpless citizens. Who would not heed their cry of distress' And the missionaries and therefore their converts,
0138TAOLES TO OfffiISTIANITY IN CffINA
what is their relation? They are the "running dogs" for the cap- italists. They penetrate into the country. Some trouble arises in 30nsequence, new demands are made of the nation, some new port is opened or seized, and the ultimate fruits of victory go to the capitalist. This reasoning again results in one of Christianity's hindrances.
IV. Scientific Matet·ialism. One of the things welcomed enthusiastically from the West, despite opposition to other elements, has been modern science. That has been a great source of enlightenment. Unfortunately the theory of science that has been most readily accepted has been materialism. That perhaps was to be expected. It is naturally the simplest suggestion that all things are but congeries of atoms somehow shaking about and forming a universe.
A CHRIST1AN "CELL" -,HIGHER NORMAL STUDENTS. ONE OF OUR BEST ANSWERS TO COMMUNISM IN CHINA Moreover,much of China's own former philosophy tended toward materialism and'naturalism. Science, therefore,spelled Materialism, that seemed ~elf-evident to many of the scholar class. Then all talk of God or gods, souls and immortality, ,such as religion taught, was utter fable. All religion wassaid to be but an "opiate" destroying progress and self-reliance. It must be onsted if the nation would be free. Science, with possibly aesthetics added, should suffice. To this challenge the older religions had nO reply. Christianity readily answered that hermstitutions stood wholeheartedly for seience. What she did oppose was au inadequate interpretation of scienti:fie fact. She stood for Idealism in some form which in turn demanded the beliefs in God, Freedom and Immortality which Materialism denied and discarded. But such a clearing of the issue' as we well know in the West, will take time. Meantime Christianity is widely attacked today as Superstition, the arch-enemy of Science.
V. Communism comes next. This is not so much the underlying cause of much of the present anti-Christian movement, as its stimulus and somewhat of its strength. Bolshevic propaganda could scarce have come to China at a more prepared period, and it has not been slow to make clever capital of the conflict. We need only mention here Russia's gesture of friendship in waiving old indemnities, foreign concessions, extraterritoriality, most of which 'tis true she had already virtually lost, and her raising of her legation to that of an embassy. All this was apparently to aid China in her struggle against foreign imperialism and capitalism. Naturally the anti· Christian agitation was also quite in keeping with her aims. Communism is avowedly materialistic and atheistic. The Third Inter· national has then quite readily supplied money and men to the propaganda. Attacks in the approved "direct action" way have been made not alone upon mills, but churches, hospitals and schools. As education was admittedly the open door to capture China's leadership, the main effort has been directed against Christian higher grade institutions and colleges. Thus the effort is to turn the great scholar class, especially those of the Renaissance against Christianity-and the end is not yet!
POOFOUNDER HINDRANCES WITHIN THE CHURCH Some of these more subtle and internal hindrances to the progress of the Gospel are: I. Devolution. That foreign control in the growing Chinese Church should decrease and native Christian control increase, is a fundamental principle joyfully accepted by practieally every mission and missionary in China. The difficulty is not in the postulate but in the personalities who have to perform the task. There are therefore many hindrances. The missionary is abundantly willing, but hesitant. He finds it hard to believe that the young boys who have grown up about him are now capable men. He fears that the work helms lavished his love and labor upon will sag or dissipate. The young Chinese in turn may be over confident. What youth yet did not feel that he could soon reform the world were the power but placed in his hands' Then· too, missions as a whole- have trouble in making the transition. Some, indeed many of the young leaders are capable and thoroughly reliable. Yet there are sure to be others who need more experience. It is difficult to make rules that will apply to a few and not to all. They smack of favoritism, with the foreigners setting themselves up as judges. The task is not an easy one. It is being solved but naturally not always according to the reason or at the rate some on either side could wish. Hence there is friction. For this cause occasional members leave our ranks and readily suggest that the cause is too much foreign domination within the Church and that were it but wholly under Chinese Christian control all would be well. Fortunately such are few!
19211] OBSTACLES TO CHRISTIANITY IN
II. Sectarianism. Most of the sects now dividing the Church in China come from abroad. At the recent Shanghai General Christian Conference it was found that there were approximately one hundred and thirty different bodies at work in China, each claiming to have some special, superior angle on the truth. Next there are national divisions. It may be the same denomination, but it has been adjusted to its own national temperament and government, or the same thing is seen from sections of the same nation dragging to the far-off field, old prejudices. Indeed at times the division is between high and low, regular and reformed, close and open, etc., of the same fold. More recently the discussion over fundamentalist ,and modern- CHRISTIAN STUDENTS AT COMMENCEMENT IN WEST CHINA UNION UNIVERSITY ist has been thrust upon the field, and now the debated question of extraterritoriality is upon us. Such divisions dissipate purpose and power and at times even seem to destroy those great fundamentals of love, brotherhood and good will. Needless to add, that this does not originate with the missionary. It lies at the door of Christians in the homelands.
III. A Misinterpreted Message. All Protestantism belongs to the Fuh-yin, the" Glad Tidings" group, and despite their differences and divisions men and women all over vast China are being led to the one Christ. In the past the varying denominational emphasis .did not so much disturb the believer. But today the doctrines of the schools are being attacked by angry and adverse criticism. Naturally misinterpretations, extreme views which the great majority of
the Christian communion have long since discarded but which still find their way to the field, suit such criticism best, and lead to ridicule of the whole message. Some of the more serious in the anti-Christian movement urge that China needs Christ, her sons should "cultivate the passion and personality of Jesus." They hold that the Church is His false interpreter, and say: "We do not need the Church with its creeds and its contradictions, we can go ourselves to the source." In the light of all this, it is little wonder that our own membership are inquiring, "What really is Christianity"? The confusion and contention may be full of hope for some future time but they are hindrances today. Yet who knows, perhaps the purer Christianity in both precept and practice will come clarified by the Chinese Church. In the meantime, too often, the Christ is being again crucified by the misconceptions of His friends.
IV. Spiritual Sag. That perhaps is the most serious hindrance. The earlier missionaries, and consequently their converts, may not have had flll the advantages of present-day culture, though not a few of them are still our masters in investigation into and understanding of things Chinese. But one thing the majority assuredly possessed, it is that which we speak of as "spirituality," by which we doubtless mean the Christ spirit, especially as shown in His humility, His hunger and thirst after righteousness, His whole-hearted love of humanity, his heroic self-sacrifice. It would be false to say there aTe no such missionaries today, but there are doubtless many splendid groups in which these qualities do not dominate. We have superior surgeons, expert educationalists, clear exponents of the evangel, all of which is excellent for the expansion of Ohristian civilization, those fine fruits of our culture, but many seem somehow to lack in measure that one thing needful which the pioneers possessed and propagated, the very roots of the Christian religion in spiritual regeneration. But here again let us not blame the brave and ofttimes brilliant force of missionaries upon the field. Tl:te source of the sag is at home. Water will not rise beyond its level. If hearts in the homeland are not strangely warmed how can we expect them to glow with an all-constraining light and heat among these many hindrances in mighty China!
And yet, despite all these adversaries, He who is for us is greater than all those who are against us. God is working, and there are being added to the Church in Ohina daily such as are being saved! It is well that we recognize our hindrances but it is better that we know Him from Whom our Help cometh!
B. Bridgman, of South
BY REV. CHARLES NEWTON RANSOM, SOUTH A}'RICA MISSION, ZULU BRANon I N THE death of Dr. Bridgman (August, 1925), the world has lost a missionary and a statesman; a "missionary statesman"- but we must not miss the emphasis on missionary.
Dr. Bridgman radiated an influence all over South Urica and indeed to the ends of the earth. Some men are great as seen from afar, some, like Dr. Bridgman, are great and good to those nearest also. One's heart is greatly moved in reading the tributes written to Mrs. Bridgman from South AJ- rica. The pastor of our native church in Johannesburg, Rev. G.
Sivetye, wrote: "We are as the dead. In many gatherings I have attended in the Transvaal, both Black and ·White have witnessed of him.
–Would that our people in Natal might have heard these testimonies. I know of no man so mourned by his friends as this missionary of ours. Indeed the Lord has called him to some greater work above. . .. What our Father and Umfundisi (missionary) accom- plished in so short a time compels me to think that he was conscious that he would be called for higher service soon. It is indeed a higher FREDERICK B. BRIDGMAN service for which he has boen called or else God could not have taken him from the work in which he was most needed. 'Ve all feel helpless. There was so much that was dependent upon his wisdom and clear judgment and so much that cannot be done without Ilis aid."
This pastor is the noble son of Pastor Sivetye who was brought out of heathenism through the influence of Dr. Bridgman's father and mother.
Pastor Sivetye encloses a resolution (in English), passed by the Transvaal Interdenominational Native Ministers' Association: "That this meeting of Native Ministers tender the Associati~n 's sincere condolence in the sad loss which they, the natives of South Africa generally, have sustained in the early demise of Dr. F. B.
429
Bridgman. They feel that his memory will be treasured as that of the most valued and beloved of South Mrican missionaries and champions of the native cause."
A native of Natal writes: "It is quite obvious today that we are in lost of (have lost), our nobleman of Jerusalem on account of death of our Rev. Bridgman." Another writes: "God has indeed taken away our Moses-what shall We do I . . . Be comforted by a verse in Job which says, 'Though He slay me yet will I trust in Him.' I am too small to say that to you, but I am compelled to say it." The church of Paulpietersburg, Transvaal, wrote: … "Irreparable loss . . . The people of Paulpietersburg say they have lost their bosom father whom they will never forget . . . they thought he would come back to see the fruits of his toil and prayers. But they know that he has gained the crown of his work at Heavenly Mansion."
A whit.e missionary of another Mission in Natal expresses, I think, the general feeling: "I am sure that not only myself but all the other members of our Mission feel that in the loss of Dr. Bridgman the cause of Christian missions all over South Africa has suffered. A brave and mighty soldier has left our ranks, and we bow our heads in sorrow and submission."
DR. BRIDGMAN'S LIFE Dr. Bridgman traveled twice around the globe and so was known personally to many in different countries. He was born at Imfume Mission Station, Natal, South Africa, May 18,1869, and was the son of Puritan missionaries who labored long among the Zulus. He had many handicaps as a boy, but an indomitable spirit. While still a lad he came to the United States, and after preliminary studies went to Oberlin College and the Chicago Theological Seminary. He married a fellow student of Oberlin, the brave daughter of one of the bravest and most consecrated missionaries-Dr. Davis, of Japan. In his student days, young Bridgman made an heroic rescue of some of his fellows who were drowning in the sea off the Block Island lighthouse. This was a forecast of rescue work on a national scale. After the seminary days he and his wife became intensely interested in a church in Wisconsin, but the appeal from the foreign field was irresistible, though his deep humility led him to distrust his fitness.
He and his wife were heartily welcomed to the Zulu Mission in 1897 and began work at Imfume, his birthplace. Long had Imfume been neglected because of the always inadequate staff of the Mission. His course in waking the old mission house, victim of dry rot, white ants and neglect, was far surpassed by his courage in awakening the church. His stern measures were at the risk of popularity, yet he won the undying affection of the people. But the cities of South
FREDERICK B. BRIDGMAN, OF SOUTH AFRICA
DR. BRIDGMAN OFFERING THE CLOSING PRAYER AT A SERVICE IN THlil COMPOUND Africa were forging to the front, and the work there would be pivotal Dr. Bridgman was put in charge of the Durban work where he captained the enterprise for twelve years. Such was his success that when he left he was accorded an extraordinary farewell by natives, by those of other denominations, by the Ministers' Association, and lastly by the business community and town officials in a great meeting with the Mayor presiding. I think the honor was unprecedented. Then came twelve years of even greater service in Johannesburg. He wrought constrnctively and powerfully in both cities in the face of difficulties sufficient to appal a giant.
What a tempestuous period was covered in those twenty-four years! Recall the Boer War in 1899-1902; the Zulu Rebellion- 1906-7; the complicated war tragedies in Johannesburg-1914-1918; the fearful strikes in Natal and the Transvaal; the boiling race issues, British, Boer, Zulu, Indian; the rapid commercial developments with attending perils; the political upheavals; the amalgamation of four divergent colonies into one South Africa Union. These excitements 'and changes directly affected the whole missionary cause. Dr. Bridgman, realizing this, studied and mastered public questions with the enthusiasm of a statesman, while patiently pursuing the undramatic . duties of missionary routine.
"Seest thou a man diligent in his business1 he shall stand before kings." The great qualities in Dr. Bridgman brought him into prominence everywhere, adding to his toils as well as to his honors. Who
could keep tally on the hours which he spent with Governors, Prime Ministers, Secretaries of Native Affairs, Virith influential Commissions, Mayors, Counsellors and other public servants? While on furlough he was "inspanned" to aid the great missionary campaigns. He was chosen as one of the representatives of the Board to attend the Edinburgh Conference of 1910, over 6,000 miles from his base. In 1911, he was a Board representative to visit the West African Mission, 2,200 miles away. He represented the Mission at the celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Berlin Mission, South Africa, and bore the brunt of the celebration of the 75th Anniversary of our Mission in 1911. The difficult undertaking was so successful as to affect visibly the attitude of whites towards blacks in all the years which followed.
He suffered from physical handicaps, troublesome eyes, terrible headaches, severe sicknesses. He had his share to bear in the national afflictions of locusts, rinderpest, cattle-fever, horse-sickness, great storms, epidemics, bubonic plague and other ills. His personal perils would need a separate chapter-poisonous snakes, leopards, lions, mosquitoes, which he reckoned worse than lions, wilderness walks, run-away horses, adventures by night, perils of mist and storm and the dangers of the deep. In the civil war in Johannesburg, pitched battles were fought within a mile of his home: shells, bombs and aeroplanes kept the household in danger night and day, and the path of duty was in the valley of death.
To follow even the outline of his detailed work makes one's head swim. How did he keep his so steady? As mission officer, he contended for seven years with Government to secure certain native rights-five years for certain other rights. As chairman, he presided over deliberations on perhaps a hundred topics, and was compelled to consider not only all the details of the work but the detailed interests of each individual missionary. He was called to regular and special meetings of the natives, to long and exhausting councils, to building churches, five in Durban and ten in the Johannesburg field. The central churches in Durban and Johannesburg cost respectively $6,000 and $10,000.
He must raise the money, inspire the natives to give enough at least to kindle spiritual fire, superintend the work. He must start and keep up schools, find and pay teachers, that the head might keep pace with the heart. He must train lay preachers, instruct sixty or more a week, know them personally, listen to their grievances and needs, and help in many ways unnecessary in the homeland. Mine compounds must be visited, sites secured, managers conferred with, conditions studied. Visitors from home and abroad must be entertained. Surely he forgot to preach, and trampled on the Great Commission. Never! He preached as if preaching was his only business. His sermons whether in English or in Zulu showed the keenness of a
J926] FREDERICK B. BRIDGMAN, OF SOUTH AFRICA
scholar, and the "far ben" depth of one who comes from God, and speaks to the "heart of the people." Some of these were master- pieces, as that on "The Worth of the Individual Soul." The most despised coolie seemed transformed into a diamond.
SOME OF DR. BRIDGMAN'S SAYINGS How character revealing are some of the off-hand sentences found in his letters: "Who needs patience more than a missionary'" "Of course we are right, so we shall win." "May the day be hastened when the interests of the Kingdom shall be more precious to them (the natives) than those much coveted rights and privileges and honors of recognition." The celebration of the 75th Anniversary of our Mission was put on the broader basis of "The Coming of the Gospel to Natal," so that other societies might share. He wrote: "We desire. to make the event the fulcrum, and the celebration the lever, to' lift work and workers in this field into the higher plane of effective cooperation and ultimate union which are so greatly needed." "It is only by constantly reminding ourselves of the ultimate spiritual issues of this controversy that we get grace sufficient to keep pegging away." "We certainly feel the need of revival of spiritual motives and powers both in our own lives and in our churches and pastors and preachers and lay workers. "
SOCIAL SERVICE AND REGIONS BEYOND In reference to the social service work in .Johannesburg he wrote: "I unswervingly hold to the importance of regenerated character, through personal loyalty to the personal Christ.' 'This quotation is most important as showing that in opening the great chapter' of social service in Johannesburg, he was not substituting this service for evangelistic work but subordinating it. Before he came to Johannesburg, he began on his own initiative, a study of the social conditions in twelve leading cities of South Africa. He found them, as a South African paper put it, "Augean Stables."
He visualized results in an illustrated lecture. Great assemblies were moved. One response was the formation of Native Reform Associations of influential white citizens. In Johannesburg he saw recreations and amusements open to natives "were almost entirely servants of evil," that sports, music, moving pictures "must be guided by a Christian hand in order to uplift the race." His dream was realized when after years of agitation and hard work, Rev. and Mrs. Ray Phillips, with positive genius for this kind of work, came to make it a reality. The directors of mines each year of late placed 3
$30,000.00 in his hands to further social schemes. The Bantu Social Center was built at a cost of $40,000 and the developments will doubtless outrun even his most ardent dreams.
Perhaps the climax of his missionary service was in his struggles to help the "regions beyond." He toiled for Bushbuck Ridge, about 400 miles from Johannesburg, in the Transvaal. Thirty-five thousand natives were living in darkest heathenism. A native leader, converted in an evening school in Johannesburg, was, almost singlehanded, carrying the torch of truth with magnificent courage among those people and crying for help.
Thousands of natives working in Johannesburg came from the region of Inhambane, 600 miles away. Hundreds of these were converted, and came under Dr. Bridgman's pastoral care. Some of them, with the zeal and courage of apostles, returned to their home, established seventy centers of work, building churches and schools in the face of heathen apathy, governmental opposition, famine and fever. Dr. Bridgman was melted with compassion for these people. Again and again he left city and home and plunged into that wilderness with all its dangers and difficulties and in behalf of the people appealed to the homeland for just one man at least to help in this desperate situation. The sorrows and agonies over this matter helped break the "silver cord." Anyone to whom Dr. Bridgman's life appealed could not do better perhaps than help establish that work at Inhambane, which was on his heart day and night.
A MAN AND A MESSENGER Oh! Bridgman, you were a man and a messengerI Your love of humor, love of play, cheerful smile, helped you win when argument alone would not appeal. You wrought for the rights of the native peoples. You sought to reconcile black and white, and make them see their need of each other. You demonstrated the blessing of the Peacemaker. You believed in intensive development, but you would not forget extension and the Macedonian cry. Even your' 'failings lean to virtue's side." You preached Jesus Christ. You lived Jesus Christ. How was it when you came to die? Just listen in! "This is my message." "I rest on the three great' knows' of the Apostle Paul. 'I know whom I have believed' " (the verse was finished for him). "'l'hat," he said, "takes care of all the daily toil and work." "We know that all things work together for good" … "That takes care of all the hardships, the difficulties, and the emergencies of life. All will come out right." And then, " 'For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.' That takes care of all the rest."
O! Youth in lands of the light, hear in Dr. Bridgman's life, the Master's call, and spring to help finish the unfinished task.
MORNING AT A CAR-STOP NEAR A NEGRO CHURCH IN
The Negro Church in the City BY THE REV. GEO. E. STEVENS, D.D., ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI T HE Negro church like other churches is established to preach and practice the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There can never be any substitute for this gospel message.. Having been a pastor in St. Louis for over twenty-two years, I can say confidently that our preachers are sound on the basic teachings of salvation from sin through the atoning work of the crucified and risen Christ. The older I grow the more I realize the absolute truth and vital bearing of two sayings of our Lord: "Without Me ye Gan do nothing"; and "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you."
THE NEGRO CHURCH AND NEGRO MIGRATION Within the last ten years quite forty thousand Negroes have settled in St. Louis. This general movement, which is just starting, marks a new chapter in the life of the nation and constitutes a big challenge to the Church. 'rhis movement is the result of the awakening spirit of a whole people bent on improving their condition, seeking better wages, better schools and more security in freer sections. The beginnings of this migration were coincident with the great industrial awakening in the North a decade or so ago, but it was accelerated when the North began to call for laborers.
435
TllE M!SSIONAItY RllVrEW Oli' 'l'nEl WO!lLlJ t.tune
The World War took from the North the bulk of its foreign labor, which fact, coupled with federal restriction on foreign immigration since, has brought Negro labor greatly in demand iJ;l the big industrial centers at the North. Two thirds of the twenty-three thousand colored men employed in the thirty-five or forty big industries here in St. Louis have come within the last decade. Two thirds of the sixteen thousand colored women employed in various ways-as maids, cooks, laundresses, day workers, in elevators and stock rooms of the big department stores and certain factories-two thirds of these sixteen thousand women have settled among us during this decade. These figures do not include the many professional folk, the teachers, doctors and lawyers, preachers, business men and women and mechanics carrying on their own businesses; many of these also have come to us within this period and chiefly from the South. While the South has sent us many serious problems in this migration the general life of the city on the whole is richer for their coming.
Many of the churches help by conducting a sort of labor bureau; many of the 8,000 maids and cooks in the leading white homes of the city were secured through some pastor. We are always recommending these for some position. The message also, from the Negro pulpit has changed somewhat in these years, not indeed the message as to "the faith once delivered"; but the time formerly spent on rousements and the crafty exploitation of emotions, is spent on a message which out of the Scriptures has to do with dependability and integrity of character, efficiency and trustworthiness in service, mastering the job and staying on it when mastered. The characteristic question which pastors put to their men is: "Are you making good Y" Many of the newcomers are from the rural districts of the South and the pastors and other Christian workers have had to teach them the ABC's of proper living in their new environment. It is difficult for one on the outside to realize the fear, the solicitude and sense of responsibility which the Negro Church has felt in respect to getting many of these migrants adjusted to the exacting life of the big city. The wastage in soul values has been great. They are exposed at many points to all sorts of sharks. The Negro churches in the city have been working along these lines too far apart, and to this extent have failed to do all they might have done. As a result of a recent conference of our city pastors of the different denominations, an effective organization is in sight to meet these conditions .better.
THE NEGRO CHURCH AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS The Negro Church in St. Louis has rendered a much-needed service by keeping in touch with the School Board of the city. We have kept its members reminded of the big increase of the Negro school population. Nearly one half of the seventeen thousand Negro school children here came to us in this last decade or were born of parents
THE NEGRO CHURCH IN THE CITY
who came during that period. Unless the school authorities are kept posted so as to make provision for this increase, multitudes of our young become street gamins and court dockets are filled with cases of juvenile delinquency and crime.
In St. Louis we are fortunate in our superintendent and Board of Education. They seem to be alert and responsive and seem to be trying to give to all the city's children adequate school opportunities. But even so it has been found necessary and is still necessary for both the colored and white citizens, working together with a fine spirit, to keep before the Board the tremendous change that has taken place in the Negro population and the imperative need of an adequate and forward program for the colored schools of St. Louis.
In one section of the city, school facilities were so poor, that is, so far removed from where these children lived, that they cOIlId not attend; their parents out at work, they were neglected, they lived in the streets getting into all sorts of trouble. The Roman Catholic Church turned one of its abandoned churches in that district into a school. They have under their care daily something like four hundred children. It is a parochial school. These are children of socalled Protestants. What a challenge to the non-Catholic Church and community this is! It shows why we have had to keep close to the Board. I understand that millions of the Drexel family of Philadelphia, given to propagate Roman Catholicism among Indians and Negroes in this country, are being used here liberally. Rome now as ever is on her job. She turned this lack of school opportunity to her own account in some measure an advantage to our young. If there be censure, it is against Protestants. Judging from the progress the Roman Catholic Church has made among us in the last twenty years, St. Louis is destined to become a leading Negro Roman Catholic center.
The more than three thousand cases of delinquency among our young which have passed through the juvenile courts in the last eight or ten years, resulting from bad housing conditions and overcrowded schools and from no schools at all, have stirred our pastors and churches. We have within the last five years made appeal after appeal to the school authorities and the reaction to these overtures on the part of the Board, the press and leading white- citizens at last has been gratifying. Some relief is in sight.
Naturally, when hundreds of thousands of dollars are involved in providing new schools it is important to know that this migratory movement into our cities is not a spasm, not an unrest of a few months which will die down and be followed by a tremendous recession, entailing great loss of money and energy. Weare convinced here in St. Louis that the spreading of Negro Americans over the nation, in the light of the genesis of this great trek and its inspiring causes, is to be followed by no such recession – it is a permanent
change of habit. If these migrants are here in the Norih meeting an industrial necessity as they are doing in St. Louis, their chila:ren ought to be properly trained and fitted for life and not allowed to perish in ignorance, disease and crime.
THE NEGRO CHURCH AND THE RESIDENCE QUESTION The Negro Church can do and is doing much to allay friction in the big cities growing out of the purchasing and occupying of homes in the neighborhoods that have been occupied hitherto by white residents. I refer to neighborhoods lying immediately adjacent to colored sections, and in the path of the natural expansion of these sections of colored homes. The Negro pulpit by its counsel and influence is determined to do what it can to reduce irritation and produce interracial neighborliness. We never have had a race riot here in St. Louis, and the Lord helping us, we do not mean to have one. Through the efforts of a splendid group of white men and women in the Interracial Department of the Community Council, in addition to what the Negro church is doing, such an atmosphere of understanding is being generated that when the new rush for homes by Negroes is on, friction may be somewhat allayed, and at least. a group will be ready at hand to pour oil on the troubled waters.
It is the spirit and aim of this interracial group in St. Louis to produce such a healthy public sentiment that residential ownership by colored people may not be abridged or continue a cause of friction in those districts, particularly, lying directly in the path of the normal expansion of Negro neighborhoods, that it may be established that residential blocks and sections should not in a great metropolitan center, be regarded as a limited social circle; neither should there be allowed offensive unneighborly, untidy, noisy conduct without be~ ing corrected; that there shall be carried on an earnest, steady, though tactful process of education to effect these ends without doing violence to the Christian spirit, or to a broad civic democracy or to the rights of individuals of either group to purchase and sell at will, and that the races may see each other clearly as neighbors without misapprehension and fear, with all problems of housing settled on individual, rather than upon race, lines.
THE NEGRO CHURCH A CO-WORKER IN CHRISTIAN WORK We are sometimes tempted to satisfy our consciences by preaching the Gospel to those who may happen to come to our church, contending for denominational standards and looking after our local church and parish needs. But if our sympathies and activities are thus limited in a great city filled with its appealing victims, then such local self-centeredness is a tragedy. The Christ we follow looked after all the people in all their life. He lived and taught and died for all times and races, places and conditions. He was ever making
over anew all unfortunates and handicapped ones, making them units of value in the communities where they had been failures.
To do this Christ bridged all chasms, ignored all traditions, provincialisms and conventions. At Jacob's well He shocked the disciples when He scorned an ancient prejudice against a mongrel race to save a sinful woman and community of that race. What is now greatly needed in these big centers like St. Louis, is the spirit of Jesus in our hearts, and to give and live forth His teachings without reading anything into them-for His words still are spirit and life. Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build, except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh, but he wakes in vain. If we save the city we save the nation, for the nation is fast becoming a collection of big cities. We must all work together, otherwise this work cannot be done.
A crying need in large centers is inter-church, and interdenominational cooperation,both racial and interracial, to save all these submerged multitudes. If we do not reach them with Christ they will reach us in the general wreck and ruin they will cause.
I believe that there is a great Christian movement on in America which will eventually solve what we call the race problem. I refer to the interracial movement which had its origin in the State of Georgia. I believe that, through this movement, God is taking out of every creed, race and section, a people for His name who are going actually to stand for the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man through Jesus Christ the Saviour of us all. God works that way. In the very palace of the king who knew not Joseph, God had in training His prophet who should deliver the seed of Joseph. The frontal attack is apt to fail; you cannot go up to a man and club him out of his prejudices, we must by indirection emancipate him and ..win him. God said to Moses: "What is that in thine hand 7" A rod. "Cast it on the ground." He did so and it became a deadly serpent. Moses fled from it, but God called to him and said, "Take it by the tail"-not by the head. The frontal approach will not do; the fangs and poison are there; but catching it by the tail the serpent became the mighty rod, the rod of God.
This is a situation in America as relates to the races which must be approached with wisdom, prudence and tact, albeit with honesty and courage, for after all the serpent must be taken. This interracial movement is such a method of approach j the chief thing is to help to realize the great purpose of God. The bitter experiences of Egypt were but a brief schooling in the onward sweep of that purpose. Those slaves in Goshen-ignorant, crushed, besotted and disspirited-must be released and trained though many perish in the process, that in turn they may give their quota of kings, prophets, priests and their high service to mankind, yea, and the Redeemer to the world.
Handicaps of the Negro *
BY CHARLES S. JOHNSON T HE Negro question is a state of mind. Lying back of what presents itself as the problem are established beliefs concern- ing Negroes, embedded in the mores, and handed down by tradition from generation to generation. That these beliefs are out of date, incongruous, inconsistent and discredited by science makes not a whit of difference. The institution of slavery was condoned in the minds of the more conscientious by explaining that Negroes liked it; their weaker minds demanded it. Scientists rationalized these very desirable sentiments and settled the matter by "proving" that they were in their rightful station. Dr. Jefferies Wyman, of Harvard, declared that Negroes" afforded the point wher~ man and brute most nearly approached each other." A. H. Keene, anthropologist, gave scientific'explanation of the belief that Negroes and Caucasians belonged to different species. Anxious students deduced arguments from the Bible: Man is made in the image of God, but God not being a Negro as everyone knows, it follows that the Negro is not a man. Thomas Jefferson was satisfied that not a single Negro could be found who was "capable of comprehending the investigations of Euclid."
When Negroes emerged from slavery 98 per cent illiterate, unsettled, unused to freedom, they could easily have given warrant for that belief. But despite the fact that illiteracy has decreased from 98 per cent to 23 per cent, that Keene, Wyman, Tyler and the rest of the old school have been discredited by the more recent students, and that almost any Negro who has been permitted to go to school can "comprehend the investigations of Euclid" the original judgment stands. G. Stanley Hall is saying in 1900 that his development comes to a partial standstill at puberty, Tyler that it halts at twelve, and President Harding in 1921, that racial differences are "fundamental, eternal and inescapable."
Similarly and for the same alleged reason Negroes are believed to be immoral as proved by the mulattoes and unmoral as proved by their assumed inability to comprehend Anglo-Saxon standards of ethics. A learned professor in an Eastern institution settled the matter by declaring that less than two per cent of Negro women were virtuous. Predilection for sex crimes is "proved" by the fact that out of an average of 8,000,000 Negroes, over a period of thirty years, 480 have been lynched for rape! 'rhis thirty-years' record for Negroes about equals the two-year record for white persons indicted for rape in New York City alone.
• From "The WorM Toml)rrow,"
440 Theories of keeping the Negro "in his place" have given occasion for an endless string of other beliefs about him, modified by locality and probably to some extent by degrees of contact, variously expressed but ever present. He is lazy, shiftless and happy-go-lucky, loves watermelon, carries a razor, emits a peculiar odor, "shoots craps," grins instead of smiles, sells his vote for a dollar, shields from the law guilty members of his race, is noisily religious, loves red, dresses flashily, loves gin, and can sing. In the press, the subject Negro is most commonly news when it is sensational-a crime, race riot or "insurrection." On the stage he is presented lying easily, using long words he does not understand, drinking gin, stealing chickens and otherwise living up to the joke book tradition. The popular literature about him appearing in magazines with the largest circulation of any in this country paints the same unvaried pictures. The average white person knows no other Negro.
These are serious handicaps, but they cannot be so easily measured·as certain others growing out of them. The belief in the uneducability of Negroes, or fear of them educated, might be said to register in part in the following facts: Fifty-one per cent of the Negro children between the ages of six and nine, and thirty-two pel' cent of those between ten and fourteen are out of school. For those in school (where separate schools are provided) desiring to complete the standard 8th Grade, on the present arrangement of short terms, short hours and limited curriculum it would take 22 years in Louisiana, 26 years in Alabama and 33 years in South Carolina. For each dollar spent for the education of white children twenty cents is spent for Negroes. Compulsory education was opposed in Mississippi because it meant that Negroes would have to go to school.
In gaining an economic footing there are further handicaps. It is not right for Negroes to hold positions of authority over white men. For that reason 70 per cent of them fill unskilled jobs. They must not expect ever to be foremen, superintendents or owners, but they must be as ambitious, energetic, loyal, efficient and full of initiative as men who have this hope dangling before them.
They are expected to prove their worth by producing great statesmen when they are not allowed to vote or hold responsible office; by developing captains of industry when they are held in menial jobs; by developing great surgeons and scientists when they are kept out of hospitals and laboratories; by producing Napoleons before they can be officers and distinguished soldiers when their regiments are converted into labor battalions.
Children of this generation begin by reading in their fairy stories that black is associated with evil, in their geographies that there are five races of man of whom the Caucasian is superior, in their histories that Negroes were slaves and left no other mentionable contribution to the history of the world; in their science text-
books that the Negro is "prognathous, has a smaller cranial capacity and emits an odor like a goat," all to make up the content of a prejudice in later life for which they can assign no other cause save that of instinct and natural aversion.
Nor can Negroes themselves resist the overwhelming influence of this suggestion of inferiority and incapacity conveyed by every institution and custom of the civilization in which they live. They have in large measure come to look upon themselves in a vague, abstract sort of way as a block to the fulfillment of Anglo-Saxon ideals and civilization. When Negroes themselves refer to the "Negro Problem" they evidence this feeling. Under the pressure of daily slights and rude reminders of their station they have become super-sensitive and suspicious. Natural impulses are balked. Their philosophy is defensive rather than positive. Generation may succeed generation in the Negro world but they must remain the same, living, thinking and acting in the same way, if they are to get along without friction. Molded in the same American institutions with the rest they are expected to have a Negro psychology, to think and react differently to the same stimuli.
After all the burden of the black man is not so much the actual handicaps of which his life is made as the fact that the white world around him thinks itself right in imposing these handicaps. Honest prejudice is difficult to remove, especially when a system of laws and conduct has been worked out on the basis of it.
A Negro View of the Color Problem* BY JESSIE FAUSET BEING "colored," in America at any rate, means: Facing the ordinary difficulties of life, getting education, work, in fine getting a living plus fighting every day against some inhibition of natural liberties.
I am a colored woman, neither white nor black, neither pretty nor ugly, neither specially graceful nor at all deformed. I am fairly well educated, of fair manners and deportment. In brief, the average American done over in brown. In the morning I go to work by means of the subway, which is crowded. Presently somebody gets up. The man standing in front of the vacant place looks around meaning to point it out to a woman. I am the nearest one, "But oh, " says his glance, "you're colored. I'm not expected to give it to you. " And down he plumps.
At noon I go for lunch. But I always go to the same place because I am not sure of my reception in other places. If I go to • From "The World Tomorrow."
A N,EGRO VIEW OF THE COLOR PROBLEM
another place I must fight it through. But usually I am hungry. I want food, not a law-suit.
All of us are passionately interested in the education of our children, our younger brothers and sisters. And just as deliberately, as earnestly as white people discuss tuition, relative ability of professors, expenses, etc., so we in addition discuss the question of prejudice. "Of course he'll meet some. But will they let it interfere with his deserts 1"
I think the thing that irks us most is the teasing uncertainty of it all. Did the man at the box-office give us the seat behind the post on purpose? Is the shop-girl impudent or merely nervous1 Had the position really been filled before we applied for iU What actuates the teacher who tells Alice that the college preparatory course is really very difficult 1 So much is this difference impressed on us, "this for you but that quite Qther thing for me," that finally we come to take all expressions of a white man's justice with a cynical disbelief, our standard of measure being a provident "How does he stand on the color question 7"
We grow up thinking that there are no colored heroes. The foreign student hears of Garibaldi, of Cromwell, of Napoleon, of Marco Bozzaris. But neither he nor we hear of Crispus Attucks. There are no pictures of colored fairies in the story-books or even of colored boys and girls. "Sweetness and light" are of the white world.
Native Africans are" savages" owing their little knowledge of civilization to the kindly European traveler who is represented as half philanthropist, half savant. How much do we learn of indigenous African art, culture, morals? Weare given the impression that we are the last in the scale of all races, that even other dark peoples will have none of us.
More serious still, we are constantly being confronted with a choice between expediency and an intellectual dishonesty. If persisted in it is bound to touch the very core of our racial naturalness. And that is the tendency of the white world to judge us always at our worst and our own realization of that fact.
I have had to leave Philadelphia-the city of my birth and preference, because I was educated to do high school work and it was impossible for a colored woman to get that kind of work in that town.
And so the puzzling, tangling, nerve-wracking consciousness of color envelops and swathes us. Some of us it smothers.
John C. Young of Aden
A. Roman.ce of Medical Missionary Service BY REV. CAMPBELL M. MACLEROY, B.D.
W HEN Ion Keith-Falconer, Professor of Arabic at Cam- bridge University, died of fever, in May, 1887, at Sheikh- Othman, Arabia, at the age of thirty, Professor Thomas M. Lindsay, D.D., the Convener of the Foreign Mission Committee of the Free Chnrch of Scotland, made this powerful appeal: "Shall this Free Chut"ch, to 1vhose service he gave himself, abandon the work he began? God forbid that it should. Who, then, shall follow 'where he led the way, and bear aloft the banner' of Christ which the yotmg leader of the forlorn hope still grasps in his dead hand?"
In response to this challenge, a little company of men and women in succession have kept the flag fiying in that difficult outpost, within sight of the "barren rocks of Aden." To one man of the little band, blessed with a marvellous physique and a spirit that would never yield, it was given, throughout thirty-three years of service, to bnild on the foundation laid by Keith-Falconer. Now he, too, has ceased from labor, and the unfinished task makes its appeal for some one to take up the banner.
John Cameron Young was born in 1859 in England, where his father, a sergeant in the Royal Field Artillery, was stationed at the time. His boyhood and youth were spent near Steps Road, out from Glasgow. On his mother's side, he was a Cameron, and the Celtic strain showed itself in a warmth of feeling and a dauntless courage, which made him a greatheart among men. His contact with military ideals and discipline, through his father's training, left an indelible mark upon his character. He learned very early, also, invaluable lessons in the school of toil. At ten years of age he began to work, and, in due course, became an apprentice joiner in Glasgow. The great decision was made at a meeting in the Royal Arcade Hall, Oowoaddens, and his dedication to the service of Christ brought to a focus all his gifts and energies.
Having mastered his trade, he went to London to get better work, and there, after a meeting in connection with the London Missionary Society, he offered himself as a missionary. He was told that, without education and training, he could not be accepted, and to obtain these no help could be offered. His native grit and firm Christian purpose asserted themselves, and, with a grim determi- IJation, he set himself, like I~ivingstone, to climb the steep heights of learning. He soon entered Glasgow University, walking each morning from his home-a distance of six miles-for the eight 444 o'clock classes. In the long summer vacations, he worked at his trade. Next, he began medical studies, and eked out his living by teaching and by some work in connection with the Inland Reve1Jue Office. Having taken his medical degree, he attended divinity classes at the Glasgow Free Church College, studying under Bruce and Lindsay and Henry Drummond, and proving his power to win the hearts of men and women for Christ.
The man who, in spite of every hindrance, could thus, for al- most ten years, plod his way steadily towards his goal, was plainly being prepared for some big task. When, in 1892, he was ready, it was seen that the task had been prepared for him. He accepted the call to the hardest mission field in the world, the virtually closed land of Arabia, and on Sunday, November 6th, in his home church at Chryston, was ordained.
In his first seven years of work in South Arabia-a long spell in such a climate-he served his missionary apprenticeship. The diffieult language had to be learned; medical and surgical work had to be done in unsuitable premises and sometimes single-handed, ex- eept for the aid of native helpers, one of whom, Salem the dispenser, was with his chief to the last. On Sundays, the Medical Missionary of Sheikh-Othman became the Presbyterian Minister of Aden-the two places are ten miles apart-and this arrangement, which seemed . to add to the burden of the work, proved to be its inspiration. The little Keith-Falconer Memorial Church at Steamer Point became a real spiritual home for not a few of the exiles, and, in its vestry, which was open during the week also, many a young soldier found what he needed most of all-the strength of friendship, human and divine. Dr. Young was proud of his office as Acting Chaplain to the Presbyterian, Wesleyan, and Nonconformist soldiers of the gar- rison, and when a Scottish battalion, with its own chaplain, was in the camp, he would still come to early Parade Service, as if drawn by an irresistible attraction. Among the civil popUlation of Aden, in which Asiatic, European, and African rub shoulders with each other, he won his way increasingly by his manliness, tempered by a tact and courtesy which broke down many a prejudice and won for the missionary doctor the esteem and friendship of all sorts of men. POl' his outstanding services to the populace, especially in seasons of plague and famine, he received two Kaiser-i-Hind medals. He was never too busy-and no one in the whole settlement was busier than he-to show kindness to travelers of whose passing he had heard from home, and for everyone of them the name of Aden will always recall his hearty handshake and generous hospitality.
In South Arabia as a mission field, Young found a barren soil -as far as statistics could show. Open conversions were very few, and there is little wonder if we remember that it means certain per- secution or death to forsake Islam and remain in that land. Sheikh
Salem, the most noted convert, had to suffer great trials, and once Dr. Young had to make a fiying visit to Paris to secure his liberation from unjust imprisonment. But statistics are not the measure of success in God's work, and the healing ministry of those years softened many hearts among Arab tribesmen, and turned foes into friends.
To this beneficent ministry, Dr. Young devoted himself, body and soul, for a whole generation, and when at last his heart's desire and prayer is fulfilled, and" Arabia's desert ranger to Him shall bow the knee," all that the toil and endurance of those years have done in preparation for Ohrist's day will be made plain. To himself this work was as dear as life. After thirty-two years of it, he wrote: "I revel in the work, if I can use such a word to carry my meaning of real elljoyment in helping the suffering humanity that puts itself under our care."
Twice he visited America, wrote his delightful little book, Children of Arabia, besides taking his full share in the visitation of congregations, and speaking at all sorts of meetings which gave an opportunity to advance the cause of Ohrist. In those visits, he strengthened greatly the ties that bound him to his friends, and everywhere he made new friends.
The War wrought many changes in Aden and the interior, of which the most serious for the Mission was the occupation of Sheikh-' Othman, by the Turks, in July, 1915. It was retaken by British troops after eleven days, but, from that time till March, 1921, the hospital was closed, and the poor, suffering people were deprived of their greatest blessing. At the request of the Indian Government, Dr. Young took up the duties of the Port Health Officer for Aden, thus relieving an Indian Medical Service Officer for active service. These duties he discharged till the end of the War, and for some time after. It was characteristic of him that he laid by most of the official salary of those war years, and relieved the Ohurch of any further expense on his account.
Before the veteran left Scotland for the last time, towards the pnd of 1924, it was evident that even his iron strength was beginning to give way under a strain never endured so long by any European. Last January there was an epidemic of influenza and Dr. Young had a severe attack. To recuperate, he decided to visit Adis Abeba, in Abyssinia, about five hundred miles distaut across the Gulf of Aden, and hoped there to see in full operation the hospital, the site of which he had helped the American missionaries to choose. There, out of sight of those grim rocks laved by the Arabian Sea, which had become dear to him, out of sight, too, of the Yemen hills, beckoning ever to the fair regions beyond, on rruesday, }i'ebruary 2d, he fell asleep, and by friendly hands his body was laid to rest in African soil.
Plight of the Assyrian
A Letter from the Rev. E. W. McDowell, D.D., Mosul, Mesopotamia T AST year I made a trip to London and Geneva in behalf of our L Assyrian people. As you know, they were driven out of their homes by the 'rurks and since 1915 have been living in exile. F'or the last three years they have been camping out beside the road only a day or two's march from their beloved hills, in earnest expectation that the Ohristian Powers would be able to secure permission for them to reoccupy their own lands. But the question of the boundary between Irak and Turkey proved to be too difficult to be settled directly and was submitted to the League of Nations for a decision. The Assyrian country lies just along the border in dispute, and it was hoped that it might be possible, when the matter came up before the League, to have it included in Irak. It was the purpose of my visit, to London and Geneva to speak a word in behalf of our people before those in authority. I was received with the utmost courtesy by the Government in London and by prominent members of the League in Geneya. They were sympathetic and assured me of their purpose to do all that lay in their power to secure the return of their lands to the Assyrians.
As you know, the decision has been rendered and Mosul has been confirmed to Irak. But to our great disappointment the boundary has been so run as just to exclude the Assyrian territory, i. e., throwing it on the Turkish side of the border. This means their permanent eviction; the final loss of all their lands and homes. It has been a grievous blow to them. And what cuts them most deeply, even more than the loss of their lands, is the loss of their church buildings. These churches are very old, some of them dating back to the early centuries of the Ohurch. For more than a thousand years there had been continuous Ohristian worship at their altars. Now they must crumble into heaps of ruins and some of them be converted into mosques for Mohammedan worship.
The people themselves are in extreme destitution. Many are living in caves; others are housed among the ruins of deserted villages. They are without land and without homes. Some have located temporarily in Kurdish villages where the rents exacted are exorbitant. This last year was "locust year" and that region was devastated, scarcely anything being harvested. Is it strange that they are saying that both man anQ God have deserted them ~ Old Eshoo, a friend of mine these thirty-five years, called on me the other day. Like a thousand others he has been living on acorns and roots and is half starved. He is a silent old chap and he did not beg; he did not offer one word of complaint concerning hunger and cold.
447
He sat before me, with tears streaming down his wrinkled face, as he said over and over again, "We have sinned; we have sinned." It was his solution of the why and the wherefore of their cumulative troubles.
The friends of these people in England, under the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, are endeavoring to raise a fund of one hundred thousand pounds sterling for their relief, and an English officer of high standing has been sent out to administer the fund. A. very small proportion of it is being used (about ten cents a person per day), to keep them alive until spring, and the bulk of the fund is to be devoted to the permanent settlement of the refugees on the land in Irak. The people themselves beg to be taken out of the country but they have been told that this is impracticable; it must be in Irak. But the British officials here and also the Irak Government have pledged their assistance. Land is to be donated to them "in freehold" and taxes are to be remitted for several years. Steps are being taken to find locations free as possible from malaria; having fertile soil; water for irrigation; pasturage for sheep; and as little exposed as possible to hostile tribesmen. They will have to build their own houses which they will be able to do out of sun-dried brick. The fund will be used to supply farming utensils, oxen, sheep and seed. It is estimated that this can be accomplished on the basis of about 25 pounds sterling to each family. There are in the neighborhood of 5,000 families.
If the people are left as they are, most of them must slowly perish. This will mean that there will be continuous appeals for funds to keep them from starving. It will be an annual problem. If this settlement project can be carried through successfully the people will be able to put in a small crop this spring and by summer time will be eating their own bread. How much more sensible and satisfactory all around! They will be permanently self-supporting and as Christian communities they will be an asset and not a liability.
The effort in England is not as successful as we had hoped and it has become evident that the fund will fall short of com~tion. If America takes hold of it the project will succeed.
The cause of these people appeals to me as being distinctly Christian in the widest sense. It is the cry which the pitifully small remnant of the Church of the East raises to its strong sister Church of the West to preserve it from extinction. It is felt generally that Christianity and Christian civilization have reached a great crisis. Importunate prayer is being urged on all sides that our God will stretch forth His hand to save. It may be tnat God will condition His answer to our prayers on the degree of mercy we exercise toward a sister church now hungry and naked and in prison; strangers in a strange land; and stretching forth their hands in supplication to us.
METHODS
EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, 721 MUHLENBURG BLDG., PHn.AD~pmA, Pol.
INTERCESSORY MISSIONARIES prayer together during the two or A Project for Adult Missio-n Study three weeks of preparation for the Classes· special program.
REPOR.TED BY NELLIE EAB.LES QUIMBY PROGRAM FOR A MEETING TO ENLIST INTERCESSORY MISSIONARIES PURPOSE-To recruit members of the home church as intercessory for. HYMN-"Prayer Is the Soul's Sineign missionaries. cere Desire."
"An intercessory foreign mission· RESPONSIVE READING – Scripture at·y is a laborer who cannot go in per- verses on prayer.
son to the foreign field, but who has The verses may be selected by the leadE'T and typewritten, or mimeographed copies set himself apart to pray for definite distributed. The leaflet, "God's Answers details of the foreign missionary to Our Questions on Prayer," t may be diswork."-Rev. .Alfred E. Street, tributed aud used as a responsive reading. Haman, South China. PRAYER-Thanksgiving and praise METHOD-Explain to the study should form the major part of the class the purpose and plans for en- prayer. Pray also that some of those listing members of the home church present may pledge themselves to beas intercessory foreign missionaries. come intercessory foreign mission- Let the class decide to what group or aries. groups the appeal for intercessory missionaries shall be made-mission- LEADER-Prayer is a fOrele as real ary society, prayer meeting group, as electricity. The practice of prayer adult classes in church school, home is the outstanding challenge to the department, etc. Plan a special pro- Christian Church. Dr. J. Campbell gram which will present the need and White says, "Prayer is the first and opportunity for missionary interces- chief method of solving the missionsors. ary problem. Among all the meth- ods that have been devised, none is Precede the program with two or more practical, more fruitful than three weeks of personal work. Di- this, If we could get a definite group of people at home into the .h~bit of vide the members of your mission supporting by prayer each IUlsslOnar.y study class so that they may work in the thick of the fight, by thlS simple method alone the efficiency of together by twos, and assign them the present missionary force could their quota of individuals of the probably be doubled, without adding group for whom the special program a single new missionary to the force." is to be prepared. They should interest those eonstituting their quota STORY ILLUSTRATION-(All story ilin the proposed program and in the lustrations are to be given by somepossibility of becoming intercessory one other than the leader.) Miss missionaries. Phoebe Emery, an evangelistic mis- sionary in Moradabad, India, writes: Each of the teams of two should pray together daily, and once a week all the workers should meet for ~ project Is based on "Prayer and MIs- t Literature Headquarters, 723 Muhlenberg Building Philadelphia.. Price 1c, 5c a dozen. sions," by Helen Barrett Montg<>mery, and the Another' leaflet which furnishes verses for. a stories and Quotations are taken from this book. re,.,ponsive reading and also blanks tor special PubliShed by the Centra.l Committee for the objects for intercession is "What God. Has. Said United Study of Foreign Mission.. About Prayer," Price 2c, 15c dozen.
4 449
M1sSIO~AltY RllVIE'W O:F TItE 'WOttLD
"We had had a day of remarkable LEADER-" And it shall come to pass sU,ccess in the village work. Every- that, before they call, I will answer; where we went doors flew open and and while they are yet speaking, I people were touched by the Message. will hear."
Several times I said to the native STORY ILLUSTRATION-A Scotch mis- preacher and to the Bible reader, sionary tells of meeting a young girl 'Someone is praying for us today!' in a train as she was returning from They, too, agreed that such remark- a Keswick Conference. She learned able spiritual manifestations could that the girl had been reading abcut be accounted for in no other way. the conference and longed to become "Out of this thought came a poem a missionary intercessor and it was which I scribbled down as we jogged agreed that she should take this mis- along in the ox cart. Weeks later I sionary as her prayer partner. "In had a letter from a lady in America ten minutes we had to part," she whom I had never seen, saying, 'God writes, "but I went back to India has led me to select your name for feeling that I had a missionary col- special prayer, and today my five- league here at home. That was six hour prayer period was given to you.' years ago, and I have never seen that The date, allowing for difference in girl since. But we have been in close time, exactly coincided with the one touch by letter all the time. To be on which 'J wrote the poem. I sent my effectual intercessor, she has read her a copy and she has been my and studied and asked questions till staunch prayer comrade ever since." she knows and understands, to an al- HYMN-" 'Tis Prayer Supports most incredible extent, about my the Soul That's Weak." work and surroundings, my helpers, STORY ILLUSTRATION-After one of and the people I am working among.
the world trips made to study the And I cannot tell you what unspeak- different mission fields and their able help her prayers have brought needs, some one asked Dr, John R. me hundreds of times, how real a Mott, "What is the greatest need of fellow-worker I have felt her to be all our missions today ~ ,, along. I should never think now of He replied: "The greatest need is counting up our staff in that district not more men, not more money. It is without counting her as one. Only more prayer." last week I had a letter from her, in This need is illustrated by the ex- which she tells· me how her life has perience of a missionary in South been quite changed by this mission- Africa. The cast-off wife of a cruel ary service. Her lonely, quiet viI;.
chief came to the compound pleading lage life has been filled and made rich to be taken in. There was no money and large by the spiritual partner- to feed even one more mouth. The ship which is as real to her as it is to missionary and his wife prayed and me. And she tells me, too, that, rose from their knees in peace and through becoming missionary inter- full assurance that the needed funds cessor for me, the missionary cause would be supplied. That very night everywhere has become real and dear at evening prayers a Christian man to her as it never was before."
in Syracuse, New York, was asking H YMN-" Blest Be the Tie That God to direct him in the spending of Binds," the first three stanzas.
thirty dollars that had unexpectedly PRESENTATION OF THE PRAYER PRO- come into his hands. Instantly there JEoT-The leader must put time and came into his heart the conviction prayer upon the preparation of this that he ought to send it to this mis- part of the service. Study thor- sionary in South Africa, who months oughly Chapter VI in "Prayer and before had been a guest in his house. Missions," by Helen Barrett Mont- At the very hour they were praying gomery. Emphasize especially the in Africa, the answer was preparing cultivation of the prayer life (pages in America. 188-195), and definiteness in prayer
BEST
(the first paragraph of page 199), when many missionaries are on fur- and from the last paragraph on page lough every year, it is not unusual for 203 through the first one third of them to go two and two, as did the page 207. :first disciples under the direction of Have simple purpose cards pre.- Jesus, to visit every town in certain pared. While soft music is played localities. Not only in churches but pass these cards with pencils to every also in schools, and before men's and one, urging all to sign who will. women's organizations of various CLOSING PRAYER SERVlCE – An- kinds these team mates speak so that nounce a period of directed silent practically every one may have op- prayer, followed by all singing portunities to hear of their experi- softly as a prayer a suitable hymn. ences, their reports of what has been Have all locate the hymn before the done, and their plans for future prayer so there may be no confusion work.
at the end. Handel's Largo, or other Recently a team composed of not quiet music may be played very softly two but twelve missionaries, repre- during the prayer period. Ask your senting the four foreign fields occu- audience to bow their heads in silent pied by the United Presbyterian communion with God. A minute Church of North America, made a later suggest. a prayer of thanksgiv- tour of two synods including many ing. Don't hurry. Take time to offer cities and towns in Ohio, and some an earnest, sincere prayer yourself, places in the bordering states of In- then you can be certain you are not diana, Michigan, West Virginia, and hurrying your audience. A minute Pennsylvania. 'On Sabbatli days, the later ask for prayers of consecration individuals in the team spoke in dif- to the work of intercessory foreign ferent churches so that every congre- missionaries. gation of this denomination in these Then have some one at your signal synods had the privilege of hearing sing as a solo: a missionary. Special conferences "We love thy name we heed thy rod, were held with pastors and' mission- Thy word our law; 0 graeious Godl ary workers of the churches on week We wait thy will; on thee we call; days. Our light, our life, our love, Our all." Two unusual features presented by H YMN-" Spirit of God! Descend this team, marking an advance in mis- Upon My Heart." sionary methods, are worthy the con- sideration of those who welcome suc- LEADER-Dismiss the meeting with cessful ways of impressing missionthe earnest words: "The harvest in- ary facts. Three of these special prodeed is plenteous, but the laborers are grams were given weekly, on aIterfew: pray ye therefore the Lord of nate evenings, in centrally located the harvest, that he send forth labor- churches with members of several ers into his harvest."
A TOUR OF TWELVE congregations in attendance. The first of the special features was REPORTED BY MRs. JAMES C. LEWIS a presentation of the United Presby- When I was a little girl I heard terian ";Missionary Movie ' '-ten reels that a girlhood friend of my mother's of excellent motion pictures taken in had come home for furlough after Egypt under the personal supervision serving as a missionary in Africa. I of a missionary who was formerly a longed to go to the city, sixteen miles newspaper man. In this particular distant, to see a real, live missionary tour, the "movie" was in charge of and to hear of her wonderful experi- an industrial worker in Nasser, the ences, but I did not get to go. Thirty Sudan.
years ago the visit of one missionary The experiences of missionaries to a town was an event of great im- from the time they sail from the portance. In these modern days homeland are most interestingly de-
picted, especially their, ways of liv- is presented as only those who have ing and working, and their contacts witnessed such experiences, or lived with Eastern peoples. The glamour them with their converts in nonof the Orient holds the observer ob- Christian lands, can portray them livious of time as he views on the most vividly. silver screen the Egyptian and other Eastern people in their costumes, It is not often that a pageant is picturesque or sordid, and notes their presented by those who have first interesting customs, crowded streets, lived their parts. This cast included the Associate Secretary o:f the Board wonderful mosques, primitive meth- of Foreign Missions, the President of ods in rural districts. The beautiful Gordon College at Rawalpindi, India, historical scenes of this romantic who has been in missionary service Land of the Nile have a splendid edu- :for thirty-four years. cational value. In no other way could the people at home obtain a bet- The part of the hero was taken by ter grasp of the work of their church a missionary of Pathankot, a perabroad than by seeing these actual sonal :friend of Khan Chand, who has pictures of missionary buildings and lived among the foothills o:f the Himequipment, students at work, hos- alayas and been in close contact with pitals in operation, and other activi- the Pathans who come down frcm the ties made very real by the familiar mountains into the plains. Another faces of missionaries on the field missionary played -the part of Khan whom they know personally. Chand's mother and directed the en- tire presentation. These motion pictures are, so far as we know, the most extensive under- A representative of the work at taking of this kind released by any Sangla Hill, India, and four missionmission board. Two complete out- aries from Egypt added greatly to the fits are now in operation and it is realism o:f the play. These included planned to continue their presenta- an evangelist from Beni Sue:f, a tions until all the members of this teacher from the boys' scheol at Church in the States have had oppor- Zigazig, a kindergarten teacher from tunity to see them. Alexandria, and a member of the faculty of the Girls' College at Cairo. The second special feature was a pageant. In several respects this From the Sudan, too, came a mispageant is "different." ~he story is sionary engaged in educational work not merely realistic-it is real. It at Doleib Hill, and from Assiut Hoswas lived first. So :force:fully did it pital in Egypt, a dector and his impress the missionary who had part wife. in the experiences, and so graphically did he tell it to others, that a pageant A missionary nurse from Sayo, was chosen as the best form in which Abyssinia with the unusual experito present it to audiences. Real names ence :for a woman o:f trekking across o:f real people are retained in the pa- that country had a background for thetic story of Khan Chand, a wealthy making her message real. young Indian who, as a result of a visit in Rawalpindi City, later became Seldom, if ever, has such a group a Christian and was driven from his of players presented in pageant form home. Members o:f his :father's fam- as gripping a message as the one ily, heartbroken over his disloyalty to given in connection with this tour of their gods, could not forgive him. twelve. When a reconciliation with his wi:fe The entire tour accomplished much. seemed possible, his tragic death in a By visits to the churches, valuable wreck occurred. The closing scene is personal contacts aroused greater misan appeal to carry the Gospel to Khan sionary interest. In the conferences, Chand's people. This affecting story special problems have been heard and helpful solutions offered. The pic- tures gave valuable information in an attractive and impressive way, while
1926J BEST METHODS
the pageant opened the eyes of thou- trepret our religious beliefs to nonsands of people to a new understand- Christian Orientals in terms which ing of what it means to "leave all to they can understand and which will follow Christ." win their sympathetic consideration ¥ Teo many volunteers do not know FOR THE WEEKLY GROUP their English Bibles. They merely hope to some day. They are not yet MEETING able to introduce Jesus intelligently to others and to interpret Christian By MILTON STAUFFER belief_ It is a painful confession and alarming. Why not regard the other Student volunteers and other members of your group as nongroups will welcome these sugges- Christians once each month and "tell tions from the Educational Secretary the story"? 'Vhy not discuss within of the Student Volunteer Movement. the group at least three or four of the most recent books on Christian faith The following suggestions may be and doctrine each year 1 of help to group leaders who find the weekly volunteer group meeting' set- 3. A limited number of well chosen tling into a rut and not creative of books and pamphlets, dealing with mllch inspirational and educational the preparation of volunteers, would benefit. The character of our weekly constitute admirable material for ocmeetings may be an index of hew casional group meetings at a time much real life there is in our indi- when so much emphasis is placed on vidual membership. Beware of stag- quality. As future missionary candination! Someone must think and work and pray for these meetings if dates we can well afford to give the their largest values are to be realized. subject of preparation a large place Have you a purpose for your group T in our weekly meetings. "The For- Does your plan for its meetings ex- eign Missionary," by A. J. Brown, tend over a whole semester T These "An Introduction to Missionary Servweekly meetings offer volunteers the ice, " by G. A. Gollock, the special litlargest single opportunity for mutual erature issued by the Committee on helpfulness.· They should not be Missi('nary Preparation, such pam- " prayer meetings' , or ' ,missionary meetings" as these are generally un- phlets as "The Aim and Motive of derstood, but group meetings in the J,fissionary Service," by Stanley sense. that they are planned with the Jones; "Why Leave non-Christian special needs of local volunteers in America for the Orient" 1 by Dr. mind. Some of the fdlowing sugges- Walter Judd; "The Measure of a tion!:! call for an uninterrupted series Modern Missionary," by W. N. of weekly meetings, some for one Wysham; "Not Leaders but Saints meeting monthly, while others are re- and Servants," byJ. C. Winslow; sponsible of realization within the "Preparation for Missionary Servlimits of a single hour. ice, " by Paul W. Harrison, and" The 1. One meeting each month might Christian Enterprise Abroad" sugbe given over to an informal discus- gest the wealth of material at the dis~ sion of the devotional side of our posal of your group. Why not order religious life. some of these books and pamphlets immediately from headquarters 7 2. Many groups may feel the need of greater emphasis on "the things 4. A short but uninterrupted ser~ most surely believed among us. ' , One ies of meetings each semester in which meeting each month is not too much the group engages in an intensive for volunteers to devote to matters of study of some great mission field or Christian faith and doctrine. Have some special type of missionary servwe sufficient reason, not to mention ice, may also be features in any proexperience, behind our religious con- gram extending over a semester. Of victions T Are we preparing to in- the material orie might use for such a
sCehriiens~"' 'Looking Toward a Christian tion, should be urged to do so, in or- and "Missions and World der to familiarize the volunteers with Problems" are discussion courses spe- the changing aspects of missionary cially prepared this year for student service in many sections of the still groups. ' 'The Christ of the Indian relatively non-Christian world.
MRoosald~"m by Stanley Jones; "The 7. Each semester's program might World in Revolution," by well include occasional meetings in which volunteers will be reminded of W. Wilson Cash; "The Task in Ja- their individual responsibilities as ex- pressed in the fourfold purpose of the pan, " by Reischauer; "New Day.s in Movement. These meetings will also furnish an opportunity to consider to- Latin America, " by W. E. Browmng; gether the history, principles and activities of the Movement, as well as "The Future of Africa," by Donald Fraser and b"yThHeenWryayHoofdgthkeinG, o~orde Physician,"
books which offer interesting readmg and which would furnish admirable matters of more personal interest to subjects for weekly discussions. "The individual volunteers. Gospel and the Plow," br Sam Higginbottom, is an interestmg accou-r:t 8. At regular intervals the weekly of the Allababad Agricultural InstI- meeting might be given over to intute which undertakes to bring the tensive Bible study. As volunteers we Gospel to needy millions of Indi~ by could concentrate with great profit teaching them how to draw a httle on the missionary purpose of God as farther away from the starvation revealed in the Bible. The most reline. cent help for such a study will be found in Hugh Martin's" The King- 5. It would be fine if each semester dom Without Frontiers," Lapham's the group could give several meetings "The Bible as Missions Handbook," to a review of more technical books and Dr. Gilkey's "Jesus and Our on missions such as the "Report of the Educational Commission to East Generation. " You may not agree Africa" the report of the Confer- with the author at every point, neverences held by Dr. Mott in India and theless in his general presentation he the Near East, now published under is accurate and inspiring. the title, "The Moslem World To- 9. Some groups might welcome a. day," or the" The Report of the Conference on Christian Work in Latin series of meetings on "Non-Christian America," now published in two ':'01- practices and relationships in Amerumes and quite readable, or the Chma ica" or "areas of life and thought in Mission Year Book for 1925, published in Shanghai, or the Year Book this country which are still nODon Christian Missions in Japan. If Christian." We need frank consideraJlY large number ill the group hap- ation of these subjects because these pen to be interested in one country are the things which militate against above another why not subscribe to the effective witness of American misthe chief missionary pUblication from sionaries abroad. What is Jesus' way t:Q.at country? of life for Americans and how can we make the total impact of our life 6. The occasional use of foreign and thought upon the rest of the sintugdencats~piufsense,cesissaryhefraormtilyneirgebcboomr– world consistently and effectively mended. These students should be encouraged to speak f~~nkly on the Christian' peculiar needs of theIr homelands, 10. 'Occasionally one may secure and iif qualified to interpret the char- variety in the program by devoting a meeting or two to current events acter and longings of the indigenous which have a direct bearing on mis- sionary activities, especially such churches abroad especially with ref- events abroad as present dimlcuIties and challenges to indigenous Chris- erence to future missionary coopera- tianity.
BEST
11. The presentation of recent facts of the Movement, the relation of the regarding the progress of Christian- Christian life to the missionary ity in other lands in the form of a spirit, the Union Conference, summer world survey stressing the growing possibilities for home missionary extriumphs and magnitude of Christ's perience, the realization of our four- Kingdom, always results in new in- fold purpose through our identifying terest and enthusiasm among volun- ourselves with the religious organizateers. It gives them material for their tions of our campus. deputation work, and enables them to interpret intelligently and sympathet- 16. "And when the Day of Penteically the Christian missionary enter- cost was fully come they were all with prise as it is today. Without this one accord in one place." Every livprogressive interpretation, the edu- ing volunteer group will insist on setcational work of missions in Ameri- ting apart at least one weekly meetcan churches is bound to suffer and ing each month primarily and solely the policy of the American Church for united prayer. To the extent that sure to lag behind the accepted pro- group intercession for foreign misgram of indigenous churches abroad. sions receives secondary emphasis, missionary enthusiasm and spiritual 12. No semester's program of meet- victories "take the air." ings will meet the need without a generous place for biographies. "One A RADIO PROGRAM: burning heart sets another on fire." If our volunteers are not burning it REPORTED BY MARrON KING ~OMPSON, is because of the company they keep. Why not let such biographies as IJynchburg, Va. "Henry Martyn: Confessor of the Faith " and "Robert Moffat, One of Several months ago we wrote to the God's' Gardeners, " rekindle the fiame? three missionaries supported by our Loyola's charge to his companions congregation, telling them we were was "Go and set the world on fire." planning a radio program and asking Someone has suggested that each local them to write what they would like to group provide itself with a circulat- say to our Sunday-school if they were ing library of great missionary biog- broadcasting.
raphies. After the several months required for the passage of letters, we received 13. If the group is large enough or their messages and arranged our if enough interested students can be radio program for the Sunday-school. added for the purpose, why not tackle A radio was placed in front for the occasion. a missionary play? A woman and two men stood be- 14. For two or three meetings in hind· a curtain with a megaphone each semester the volunteers of any through which they gave the message. group might be ~sked to represent .the Of course we had some static and different countrIes of South AmerIca, other realistic necessities. In the Africa, the Orient or the Moslem front of OUr room there is a large map world. The leaders would then sug- of the world with electric light bulbs gest two or three problems related.to placed to represent the location of our missions and common to all countrIes missionaries. While the letters were represented. In the discussion that being read the lights shone' at the follows each volunteer would be ex- place at which the missionaries were pected to express the views of the working. country he represents. The fourth member of this school 15. Occasional meetings might be to go as a missionary will likely sail devoted to such general subjects of during the year. She also will be supprimary interest to volunteers as ported by the school. "The Evangelization of the World in this Generation," the declaration card
Woman's Home Mission
EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, 156 FIFTH AVENUE', NEW YORK A NEW VENTURE devotional part of each Institute, By GERTRUDE CoDY WHEATON prayers and Bible readings suggested The tollowlng article on the way the Women's in the book. This was followed by a short talk on the value and need of p"i,P:.rtOh~~~ o~J~cret(>[~:~ ~~r.,~~~ot o~le~h; such a book. Two other women pre- sented the book, "On Earth Peace," study books, SePtenlb~r 21-30, 1925 will prove to which was added the outline study, =:::: t'!:ae:J!i.,;,t!':nd J:i.~'!::~!~~!y t~r o~;~. "The Search for Peace," these books .. ~~~:r ~ lg~ ~~dr~~~:d (~r~"ll I:l:~=:~:'~ Building, Clev.,Iand, Ohio.
The church women of Cleveland supplementing each other and to- feel the need, yearly, for some sort of gether making an excellent study interdenominational presentation of course, Two women, one who had the current study books, for an en- traveled in South America and one thusiastic conference on "How to who was born there of missionary Use, What to Use and When to Use" parents, presented the three books, these splendid books. The chairman "Looking Ahead with Latin Amer- of our women's department, Mrs. Dan ica" "New Days in Latin America "
Bradley, asked Mrs. Gertrude Oody and "Makers of South America:"
Wheaton to be program chairman and More than one woman had to be to arrange for their presentation at prepared on each book as the Insti- the usual Fall Institute of Missions. tutes were on consecutive days and A new plan presented itself to the one woman could not give eight sue.
committee, namely, to have the books cessive days. Two women who knew taught entirely by lay-women of our the problems of our young people own city, none of whom were to re- talked about ways of getting the ceive any remuneraticm. We were at- "'teen age" interested in missions.
tempting to disprove that a prophet The home mission study book had is without honor in his own city. That the distinction of having the one man IS very difficult because there is a speaker of the entire program, Mr.
charm and advertising power about Prucha of The Federated Churches the expert from another city. staff, who knows our immigrant prob- There were eight one-day regional lem of Cleveland and the Slavic prob- meetings of the Institute held in eight lem in general, spoke at several meet- widely separated churches, taking in ings. At others, we had "Peasant each of the main districts. The results Pioneers" presented by book reviews.
were satisfactory enough to make us Added to these deeper presentations feel that many cities could' do the we had "Slovak Susan" in costume same thing. Forty women were. lined borrowed from one of our own. Slovak .up for the program: some presided, women, speaking for the needs of the some reviewed the various books, some Slavic women right. here in our own .gave dramatic presentations, some city. The monologue by Mrs. Kretsch- gave demonstrations of how to inter- mann, in Best Methods, August,1925, est children or young people in mis- MISSIONARY REVIEW, was used as a sions. Two had charge of exhibits. basis for Slovak Susan 'spIca for co- One woman spoke on each of the fol- operation on the part of missionary- lowing subjects: "Prayer and Mis- spirited women in her behalf.
sions," "South America, " "The The best part of the program to Slav," "Peace." Four women were many was the demonstration, "How .prepared on Mrs. Montgomery's book, to Teach Missions to Primary and "Prayer and Missions," using for the Junior Children in the Church School 4!i6 or Mission Band." DGlls and pic- equipped with a dining room to aetures, maps and articles of various comodate at least one hundred women kinds were used with the stories in for the noon luncheon. A committee simple and appealing ways so as to on places and hospitality was necesteach through the eyes as well as sary. The twenty or more churches in through the ears. Many people are the various districts were invited by ,realizing that an effective way to in- the president of the entertaining terest the world in missions is to be- church and the whole missionary sogin with the child. 'l'he women were ciety acted as hostesses. To one Innot ashamed to confess that they en- stitute a large delegation of colored joyed the children's program for women came from several churches. themselves apart from their interest The prominent missionary women who in learning how to teach chilcken. were hostesses deliberatelv sat with some of this group at IUli.ch so that The study books for Juniors were exhibited and a graphic explanation was they would be sure to feel entirely made as to why they are of value and welcome. for what special groups they are One woman remarked, ' , You are adapted. Another part of our programs was wasting your energy in putting on called "Missionary Hymns: New these very difficult programs. Our Uses for Added Inspiration." Here Boards write us letters telling us what were suggested and outlined the books to use and how to use them. stories of hymns and their authors, Why should you women think you followed by the singing of these must go to all this hard work T" The hymns and the suggested use of slides program chairman replied, "Do you with other hymns. An inspiring pro- think that letters can do what pergram of worship and praise was in sonalities standing right up in front of women can do Y A letter can't have this way demonstrated for a pleasant missionary night or entertainment. a bright, interested face, a pleasing voice full of enthusiasm, eyes which At each church, the Central Pub- say, 'I love this great cause of mislishing Co. of Cleveland put up a sions, come let's work a little harder table of study books, old and new, for together for Christ's Kingdom.' " sale, and other helpful missionary literature, plays, leaflets, magazines. The results were that most of these women who taught the books were Ji'or, as the leader said, "How can we lined up on our Cleveland Lay-Womenthuse others unless. we know, and en's Christian Service Speakers B.urhow can we kng·w unless we study for eau, and in five weeks fifty calls have ourselves T No missionaries or speakers can pour into our minds enough c,ome to the Bureau and many calls knowledge to make the kind of en-' have gone directly to the speakers thusiasm which stirs others." . Be- themselves, so that there need be no sides the books, there were charming speakerless meeting in our city posters by Miss Maude Bradley of through lack of capable lay_women Providence, Rhode Island, and Mrs. Mary Telford of Dayton, Ohio. No speakers. Institute of Missions is complete with- Another result has been that one .
out some illustrations to show the group of women in a very prominent church folks how to advertise. church decided that they, too, would study missions. There had never been In a city of over a miIliGn people a group studying by themselves in that church. As they purchased their it is hard to determine where to take eight One – Day – Demonstrating – Mis- books they said, "This is the result of seeing these other women so intersions-Institutes. Since this was all ested. It comes out of your Instiunder The Federated Churches we tute.' , We know there are great orehad to be SThre to use churches of a variety of denominations. Next, the suIts we cannot measure but we feel sure that we are working hand-in churches must be easily accessible, and hand with Ghrist. "My Father works
and I work" is a good motto for these 5. Missions presented from the pulpit and lay-women who are trying to spur on in Sunday school.
our Cleveland women to greater study Total points, 5. Highest possible score 50 and better programs. Local church points……. Score •. .'.•. : Ministry PAR STANDARD 1. Resident pastor in the community or For a Rural Church area, giving full time to one church or two or more yoked churches. '
Physical Equipment 2. ~he c~urch, or churches, helping finan- 1. Comfortable II!'d attractive parsonage, CIally ill matter of pastor's membership mod~rn .eonvelllences, rent free. in 80me form of Annuity Fund.
2. AudItonum adequate to Beat maximum Total points, 2. Highest possible score, 20. Local church points……. Score ….• ,.. a. attendance at regular service. Organ and piano. Program 4. ~od l:>mps, acetylene, electric lighting, if possIble. 1. Systematic attempts to serve over as 5. Parking space or horse-sheds. ~rge an a:eR of the countryside as pos- 6. Properties kept in good repair and in slble, meetmg every need, condition and good order, inside and out. opportunity revealed by a careful study Total points, 6. Highest possible score, 60. of the same. Local church points……. Score …… . 2. Definite plan and program setting goals for year's work adopted annually by Finance church offi.cers and caotntgernetgioantiondf and held steadily before the 1. Church budget, including both local ex- penses a:ad be~evolences, adopted annually church. by congregatIon. a. Assumption of responsibility for some 2. ~ery Member Canvass for weekly offer- part of the church program (i. e., regu- mg, made annually on basis of budget; all church members, attendants and un- lar stated service) by at least twenty- attached persons solicited; envelope sys- tem used. five per cent of church members.
a. Bu~get of bene~olences meeting denomi- 4. Regular system of farm-stead visitation nll,tlqllal apportIonment or a -minimum SUm equll,! to one third o'f expense budget. participated iii by both pastor and peo- 4. All current hills paid monthly, and an ple. ~rr~gement a~ the bank whereby min- Ister s salary 18 placed to his credit on 5. Systematic evangelism of the educa- the first day of every month. 5. Systematic plan of payments, on prin- tional sort reaching entire area served cipal and interest of any church indebt- edlllllls, with additional provision for any and every resident therein. yearly refunds due Church Building So- ciety. 6. Definite effort to interest various age 6. Properties adequately Insured. and sex groups in religious, social and Total points, 6. Highest possible seore, 60. LoeaJ church points……. Soore ….•.. recreational activities. 7. Established goal for yearly Increase ia membership.
S. Service rendered to all oceupational classes and all racial elements not other- wise provided for.
9. Community service a definite part of church work. _ 10. Yearly systematic survey and mapping of area served, with view to a constant MeeUngs adaptation of the church program to 1. At least one service of worship and Sun- changing lleeds and opportunities as day school each Sabbath. they may arise; 2. Some form of occasional or week-night Total points, If). Highest possible seare, 100. service. Local church points……. Score..•….
Total points, 2. Hignest possible score, 20. Cooperation :ye>eaJ church points ……………. _ LoeaJ church score •••….•.••…..•• Cooperation with: 1. Local or near-by churches. Religious and Missionary Education 11. State and county interdenominational re- 1.. An every-Sunday Church School with an ligious agencies.
average attendance of two thirds of its 3. Local community organizations. 4. ~unty, state and _national welfare agen- membership. ClBS. 2. Efficient Rome Department and Cradle 5. Local and county agricultural agencies. a. Roll. made for enlistment and train- 6. Denominational boards. Provision Total points, 6. Highest possible score, 60. Ing of leaders for church and Sunday Local church points……. Score .•..•..
school work. 8U11T1mary 4. Definite and regular attempts to bring Total points, 37. Highest possible score, 370. Local church points……. Score••..••• p.uPils Into church membership with spe- cific prepara.tory instruetion.
Woman's Foreign Mission
EDITED BY MISS ELLA D. MACLAURIN, 25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY AN INTRODUCTION TO MRS. CHIU, tional and welfare work among the OF SHANGHAI workers in different places; the Y. W. C. A. has been doing work It is with special pleasure that we along the line of creating public opin- ion and studying the conditions of laintroduce to our readers Mrs. W. T. bol'; and the Church definitely adopted a labor standard in May, Zung Chiu, of Shanghai, China. She 1922, at the National Christian Con- ferenc-e. is a graduate of a mission school and Then what are the actual condiof Smith College (1919) in America. tions in both the old and modern in- dustrial places 7 It will take pages to She also studied in England, was a delegate to the international labor conference at Geneva and is now an officer on the staff of the National Committee and the National Chris- tian Council of China. This splendid article from the pen of this brilliant young woman will be read with keen interest. E. D. MACL.
THE INDUSTRIAL SITUATION IN CHINA By W. T. ZUNG Omu, Shanghai, China Not until very recent years have people taken any interest in the wel- fare of the workers. The products of Chinese handicraft have been ad- mired and treasured far and wide, for centuries. But how many people have ever troubled themselves with the conditions under which those beautiful silks, tapestries, carvings, linens, potteries and so forth are made Y Likewise for more than thirty years since the ihtrQd.uction of rna· chinery into China noboay seemed to be concerned with the multitude of MRS. W. T. ZUNO eHIU (ZUNO WEll 'rSUNO) evils in connection with modern industry such as child and woman lao write about the apprenticeship system bor, long hours, unhealthy conditions alone. Suffice it to say that save for or low wages. We might sa.Y that very exceptional instances in all the some people, either Cb,ristians or non. work-places, new or old, these condi- Christians did appear to take interest tions are nearly identical, namely, in the poor people by doing excellent long working hours, no rest day, low wages, child labor, unhealthful condicharity work but few have ever tried tions, and no chance of development. to seek the roots of poverty, misery, Perhaps one can understand better if and wretchedness. Among these few some of the tenp.s are accompanied with a few words of explanation. are the Y. M. C. A.., Y. W. C. A. and They are as follows: the Christian Chureh whieh find their expression in various ways. The Y. M. C. A. through its social and L Lottg working hours.
industrial workers is doing educa- Fourloon or sixteen hours in old work 459
shops per day with few holidays during the Nations so she is not excluded from Chinese New Year and one or two big fes- partaking in the International Labor tivals. Organization activities. In March, 1923, the Chinese Government issued Twelve hours in mills where two shifts a set of factory regulations but up to are worked with two days' rest per month. this time they are not yet enforced. Fourteen or sixteen hours in silk filatures China is also not uninfluenced by the wh~re there is one shift. ideas of human value and equality of Fourteen, sixteen, or eighteen hours in opportunity for every human being, mines with or without weekly rest day. so we find the rapid growth of a labor 2,. Low wages. movement-a consciousness among labor. In spite of the fact that there Dollars and cents will not mean much to is no sanction for labor to associate, those who do not know the money value and unions of all kinds are found in this the prices of food in China. A silk woman country, headed by people who are worker testified before the Child Labor Com· mission in Shanghai in 1923 that thirty·six usually known either as "rotten years ago when she was seven years old she politicians" or "radically-minded began to work ill a silk filature as stirrer of cocoons in the boiling basin. She got youths. " 15 cents a day then. The little workers doing As the Church has just begun to the same process now get 18 or 20 cents a day. The reelers at that time received as a take interest in the labor conditions daily wage, 30 cents and the reelers today there is plenty of reason to say that get 37 or 38 cents a day. A picul of rice the Church as a whole has not yet thirty-six years ago cost $2.50 and today awakened to the vitalness of the ques- $13.00 (dollllrs and cents here are in Mex., tion. There is plenty of reason too ahout half the gold value). Prices of other for anti-Christians to say that the kinds of food have gone up at the same Christian Church is allied with caprate as rice; 80 has rent. italism and imperialism. There are already instances where labor groups 3. Chad labor. refuse to cooperate with the Christian social workers. They seem to have It is a very common sight to see young very little faith in the Christian tots of five, even four, or six work in both Church. We have to recognize this the cotton and silk factories. When parents' wages are low, habies have to earn fact–that there are very few Chris" money to buy· rice. tian leaders in China, missionaries or non-missionaries, who can pretend to 1I, Unhealthful conditions. understand what the labor movement In old work-shops it is fairly customary means. for employees to sleep in the places where they-work in the day time. In modern fac· The Church has done her part in tories practically no attention is given to medicine; education, and bringing th~ comfort of the workers. Many eat their meals while they work. Ventilation, tern· the Christian message to the thouperature, first aid are in most eases unheard sands of Chinese people in the past. of luxuries. The cotton mills in the North China is progressing despite the fact have adopted the dormitory system. The little workers share beds with eacK other- that she is handicapped b:f all kinds that is to say, when the night shift works, of internal and external disturbanCleS. the day shift crawls into the beds just left If we wish to see the Church in China by the former. The housing conditions in as the leading spirit in all phases of the mill districts· in Shanghai are just ap- life, the Church should cultivate herpalling. Dozens of people are often found self in knowing and understanding to be curling up in one room. These people more fully the needs of the people. are exposed to all kinds of diseases all the The Church should consider it h1lr year round. duty to find means to help remove the causes of social unrest. Until then With conditions .as aforesaid, who the Church will be looked upon as can wonder that so-called agitators something that helps to maintain the could find reasons for agitation Y On present social order which is beneficial the top of all that there is the foreign capital which creates misunderstand- to the favored few. ing by adopting the contract system. Through the barriers of language, lack of sympathy, and racial prejudices, the rank and file are suffering greatly.
Cb.j.~1!- is II. member of the League of
fROM
AFRICA which meant some hours of weary I'urity Work in Cairo trudging. On this occasion we did so much appreciate the calm fortitude ARTHUR T. UPSON writes in that Pastor Sadek showed when so Blessed be Egypt of the purity many insulting remarks were poured movement which was started during upon him. the World War and which "has never stopped, although it has now taken "Another God-given opportunity the form of distribution among Egyp- has been that in the Moslem private tian students and others rather than school. Here between forty and fifty among B<ritish soldiers, the latter hav- Moslem boys have had a Scripture ing had to be dropped from sheer lack lesson each morning in Arabic before of time. Any Thursday the faithful their English lesson. Sometimes there four may btl seen distributing in the has been opposition from the bigger bad quarter of Cairo, and the usual boys, specially when emphasis hasnumber of tracts distributed any eve- been laid on the Lordship of Christ. ning is about one thousand. We have At times one has been asked, 'What very often patrolled the distribution about our prophet Y' or one has heard. in the neighborhood and watched the during the lesson a whisper, 'Empty men coming away after receiving the words. ' Some of the bigger boys leaflets, but we have never seen as have called to see me, and we have many as one per cent torn up. As one thus got into more personal touch small illustration of observable result with them."
-a government official wrote to us from the Delta sending a Christmas Sudanese Sunday-Schools poem for insertion in Al-Bareed. THE successful work which is be- When we inquired how he came to do ing done by the United Presbytethis, the answer was given by Sheikh rian missionaries among the people of Iskandar, 'Oh, this is one of our the Shilluk tribe at Doleib Hill in the friends that we fished out from the Sudan is described as follows by Rev. bad houses through the tracts that we Stephen Trowbridge, secretary for were distributing; he is now a re- Egypt of the World's Sunday-School formed man and regularly reading Association: "Mrs. Oyler concen- Al-Bareed.' " trated especially upon developing a training class for Sabbath school Sowing Seed in Suez teachers. This was started in March, REV. H. E. Jones, of the Egypt 1925. She proposed to the class to General Mission, writes from make the effort to secure an attend- Suez: "On one occasion Pastor ance of 100 in Sabbath school. That Sadek and I got into the hands of seemed then the most that could be some fanatical men, who seized all our hoped for. But the members of this literature and took us by force to the training class have gone out into the Omdeh (the headman of the district). villages, and with earnest, quiet en- He threatened to bring us before the thusiasm have taught the life of authorities in Suez unless we signed Christ and the dramatic stories from an agreement not to distribute litera- the book of Acts. The training class ture in h.is district. We refused to do has now grown to 60, the station Sab- so, and he, reconsidering his threat, bath school to 167, and the number eventually allowed us to return home, attending the village Sabbath schools 461
to 1,350. A year ago there were no village idol j but they listened to the village classes. Tbe use of large col- Gospel, and asked the Christians to ored pictures in teaching has raised stay witb them a few days, and then an interesting problem. The Shilluks to return to teach them on Sundays.
very naturally suppose that Joseph, After a few weeks practically the Moses, Jesus, and Paul were black. whole village decided to become The Shilluks, with native dignity, re- Christian, and they had a public gard the black race as superior. Is it burning of idols. Just after this a best to dispense with the pictures and tree fell across the pathway leading let these tribesmen form their own to the place where the village idol had impressions" , stood, and this was taken by the peo- ple as a sign of approval from God Yoruba Chriatiana Loyal that the idol had been destroyed.
THE persecution of Christians is They are now building a churcn and by no means a thing of the past in teacher's house, and twenty-five chilthe Yoruba country of West Africa. dren are attending school.
For instance, twelve men living at an outstation of the Church Missionary Courtho118e Dedicated with Prayer T Society in the Benin district were HE chief, who is president of the native court of Owo, in the Yoruba fined £5 eacb in the native court for disobeying Ii summons to beathen sac- Country of West Africa, is a Chris- rifice. In that district it is the cus- tian. At the opening of the new tom when the priest requires a sacri- courthouse recently by the Resident fice, to put a staff or other emblem in of the Ondo Province, the chief said or near a house. The owner of the that the building would not be used house must go at once to those in until the African pastor and the mis- cbarge of the idol worsbip, taking an sionary of the Church Missionary So- offering of a goat or some other ani- ciety had had a special service of maL In this case the staff was put in prayer in it. A. day was appointed the church; and because the Chris- for this service, which was attended, tians removed it and brought no of- at the president's invitation, by all the fering to the priest, they were fined chiefs and court memoors, many of by the heathen chiefs. In another whom are Moslems or pagans.
part of the district some converts were fined for planting yams, etc., on Union in Central Africa tbeir farms before the day arranged THE Presbyterian Church of Cenfor holding the festival of the Orisa- tral Africa, recently formed by oko, a pagan rite.-The Christian the union of the Church of Scotland, (London). United Free Church, and Dutch Re- Whole Heathen Village Won formed Church in that region, is to be further strengthened by the inclu- THE Rev. W. J. Payne, working sion of the two German Missions-the for the Church Missionary Society Moravian, and the Berlin Missionary in Benin City, in the Benin Province Society-that have now returned to of Nigeria, writes that the 'work at their former fields of labor. "This,"
Ewonika, a new outstation sixteen says The Indw,n Standard, "is good miles away, is remarkable for its news on two grounds. It shows that rapid growth. Only last April there the process of reconciliation has not was not a single Christian in the vil- been confined to the efforts of states- lage. A special evangelistic effort men at Geneva or Locarno but has throughout the district was made dur- found practical illustration in the ing Passion Week, and some Chris- mission fields of Christendom. It is tians from Benin City went to also another proof that the distinc- Ewonika. The people had just been tions of Lutheran and Calvinists are celebrating the annual festival of the breaking down in the common effort
kEWS FROM MANY
to build up the Kingdom of Jesus 'heathen' in Turkey. They do not Christ both abroad and at home." force proselyting on those who are unwilling. They do not proselyte THE NEAR EAST among the Muslims at all, and where Protesting the LaU8aJ1l1e Treaty they do they are tactful. They are APROTEST, signed by 110 bishops even broad-minded about the right to of the Protestant Episcopal proselyte. They do not force their Church, against the ratification of the way into hl{uses of worship to preach their own doctrines without regard to pending Lausanne treaty with Turkey the religious sensibilities of others.
was sent to the U. S. Senate early in They do not ride rough-shod over the April. At about the same time 109 feelings of those countries in which American residents of Constantinople petitioned the same body asking favor- they are guests. Where they are able action. The signers in Constanti- bigoted they have learned not to nople include the president, vice- voice their bigotry, and many have been broadened out of their bigotry. president and eighteen teachers of the In Turkey you will not hear mission- Constantinople College for Women, representatives of the mission boards, aries gloat over their exploits, as I Near East Relief, the Y. M. C. A., and have heard missionaries in China the principal American business boast of their invasion of the native firms there. These petitioners say village of Confucius over the objecthat the terms of this treaty are in tions and pleas of his descendants."
some respects more favorable than those included in the treaties already Present Activity in Turkey· T concluded between Turkey and sev- HE American Board has now over a hundred missionaries at work in eral of the European powers. The Living Church, supporting the action its Turkey Mission and while there of the bishops, contends that the for- are serious restrictions, especially in mer treaty with Turkey, which pro- educational work, much is being done tected American interests better than both educationally and medically, and does the Lausanne one, has not been through personal friendship with the abrogated by war as was the case people in the mission stations. There with the treaties between the Euro- is a growing demand for the Chris- pean Powers and Turkey, and de- tian Scriptures in Turkish.
clares that "those senators who are The present period is characterized leading the fight against ratification by great literary activity. The daily have the moral sentiment of the as well as the periodical press dis- American people behind them. " The opponents of the treaty also charge cusses religious questions with great that 100,000 Christian women and freedom. Mohammedan literature girls are today kept in worse than outside Turkey is engaged in defend- ing Mohammedanism or attacking slavery in the Moslem harems and Christianity, whereas in Turkey there that the Kemal Pasha regime is re- is a large amount of criticism of Issponsible. lam itself by Turkish writers who de- Moslem Praises Ml..ionaries sire to see their religion brought into closer contact with the actual life of THE methods of Christian mission- the present day. Books are being aries in Turkey have evidently translated which deal in a friendly commended themselves to a writer in way with some aspects of Christianity.
a Mohammedan newspaper published Along with the incoming of general in English in South Africa, The Mos- disbelief in any religion there is a lem Outlook, who says: "Why are desire on the part of the more seri- the missionaries so rimch more liberal ously minded to find a way to make and tolerant in Turkey than in China, religion a moral and social force in for example f They do not cry the daily life of the Turkish people.
At present direct religious teach- cieties-in the south, the Arabian Mission; in the north, the United ing in the schools and colleges is for- Mission. At the south, the trend seems to be to strengthen the medical bidden, but the prohibition does not department; at the north the educa- tional, though this latter is shadowed apply to ethical and social teaching at present by the unwillingness of the local authorities to allow "Bible nor to the actual practice of religion study" to be made compulsory in th~ mission schools. But everywhere the in the lives of the missionary and opportunity and the promise makes an insistent call for devouter, fully other teachers. The desire of the equipped "evangelists" to minister to and foster the awakening con- Turks to achieve a real independence sciousness in Islam of an unsatisfied spiritual craving for better things. in all departments of life is one with New Plans in Bahrein which we should sympathize and ARECENT letter from Paul Harshould be willing to help in every way rison, M.D., says: "We are plan- ning a little advance work here at we can. L. G. M. Bahrein for this year, an effort to harness the reputation of the hospital Leader. Needed in Pel'llia to the evangelistic enterprise. Weare hoping to hold an afternoon clinic in JOHN R. VORIS wcrites in The Con- one or two of the outlying villages, tinent of the Presbytecrian Mis- stay on for an evening mejUs (recepsion in Persia: "One could wish tion) of guests, and finish up with a that the Mission might be able to or- Christian service. The new Women's ganize and finance industrial and ag- Hospital is taking shape rapidly as a ricultural work. The mission schools substantial and beautiful thing, an are training intellectual leaders, but objectification of a dream of years." not industrial, commercial or farm leaders. This must come eventually. School for Boy. in Aden In a small way the Near East Relief orphanage schools are giving indus- REV. CARL J. RASMUSSEN, of trial training, but there is here no ag- the Danish Church Mission, ricultural training, as in the Cauca- which works in Aden in close cooperasus. Industrial and £arm projects, tion with the mission of the Fcree however, require leaders trained along Church. of Scotland, writes: "In our these lines. As Persia begins to mission school all seats are engaged emerge from the realm of individual- and we could without doubt get many istic into organized industry, and more students if we had more ample from the stage of peasant farming to accommodation and a better equipped that of modern agriculture (a long teaching staff. Our work is carried and slow process) thecre will be on in a rented building where we can needed youth who can lead in these have about ninety students. It is conoccupations. And as the country be- ducted on the same principles as the gins to have some gleam of commu- Government '8 educational work. Relinity service, with nurses and social gion as a subject is not included in the workers, there must be some training curriculum, hut we have Bible reading along social lines." and prayers every day. It has been most inspiring to watch its effect upon In Irak and Arabia the students' minds. Those who in the beginning looked angry when we AMISSIONARY at Baghdad re- began the Bible lesson and often put ports that never in his long experience has he known so many Moslems coming for conversation on religious topics, with a sincere desire to know more about the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. On the other hand there is a rapidly rising tide of materialism that is causing devout Moslems much disquiet. This field from Mosul on down to Muscat is fairly well organized by the two so-
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
their fingers in their ears to prevent campaign story, hymn and Golden any new idea interfering with their Text. Then of the Christians who train of thought are now unwilling to actually gave up a day or days'
leave the schools without prayers. chances of coolie work and went to The ones who at first would not touch other villages along with the workers the Bible will now read it and openly to help in the preaching, there were ask questions regarding it." over 250. The importance of this type of willing Christian service can- INDIA, SIAM AND MALAYSIA not be over-emphasized, for it is in Remarriage of Hindu Widows . this wise that India must be evangel- T HIS question is being approached ized. It is the witness of the Chris- from various angles beside the tian laymen and women which induces Christian one. The January REVIEW so many of their heathen brethren and called attention to the activities of a sisters to give up their names as desociety which concerns itself with siring to know more of this matter; hence a record of 2,500 inquirers. widows of high caste only. Recent Probably the most interesting feature pronouncements by Gandhi on the subject are being widely quoted. He in the reports of these 490 meetings holds that no girl should be married held during the two weeks was the inbefore she !las completed her fifteenth creasing demands made by caste peoyear (it will 'be remembered that a ple for more preaching among them.
bill raising the age of consent to fif- Ever so many definite invitations to teen was defeated in the Legislative come and present their message were Assembly last year); that all widows made by these classes to our poor outless than fifteen years of age should caste pastors and workers."
remarry; that girls married at fifteen and widowed within a year the,reafter The Gospel for All Groups •. !
A should be encouraged to marry again, METHODIST worker in the Pun- jab writes in The Indian Witand that the relatives of widows should treat them with the utmost ness: ' 'Practically all our Christians kindness and make arrangements for are from the outeastes; but there is a their education. "The spirit of these readiness on the part of all castes and rules is to be followed, not the letter," he says. "Hindu society will not classes to hear the Good News, in spite easily accept these changes. But of the fact that we are preaching just that whieh will erase all caste distincthese parents who feel the necessity tion. In one village we held a servof acting according to these rules, ice for a community of Chuhras (outmust try to introduce these reforms, castes) who were inquirers. Afterand should not be afraid of being put wards, a g:roup of Moslems came over out of caste." and said it was not right that we Witness of Indian Laymen should preach just to the outcastes, but that we should preach to them ASPECIAL evangelistic campaign too. After this service, some high- conducted by Canadian Baptists caste Sikhs came along and requested at Vuyyuru, Madras Presidency, is a service in their quarter. In another described as follows by Rev. A. Gor- village we came upon a group of don: "The two-weeks' effort was con- wealthy Jats (farmers). We asked ducted at the end of November when if we might preach to them. Forth- the weather was settled, the moon with they took us over to their gurd.
shining and the people free from labor wllJI"a (a building much like a church prior to the commencement of harvest. and used as their place of worship), The period of p;reparation had been brought out a rope bed for us to sit carried out most heartily at most of on, and a big carpet for themselves.
the villages, as is evidenced by the About forty of them sat down and fact that 2,171 Christians learned the listened while the 'Old Story' was 5
told, then asked some questions and nath Chattopadhya, a versatile listened some more until an hour and scholar, she had a rich ~aining. Afa half had passed. Yes, indeed, In- ter spending some time in Girton dia is wide open to the Gospel, and College, Cambridge, England, she remany of us feel that a movement on turned to India and plunged ardently the part of the upper classes has be- into zenana reforms, and the Moslem gun. We must not slacken, but re- Nizam supported her efforts. .After double our efforts to be found faith- marriage she withdrew from these acful in this time of opportunity." tivities for a time to educate her sons and write poetry, but presently re- Versatile Indian Preaehers sumed her pioneer work with re- doubled zeal. When Gandhi rose to THE Indian clergyman at Narowal, leadership in the years before the in the Punjab, the Rev. Barakat war Mrs. Naidu eagerly acknowledged Ullah, sends to the Church Mission- him. It is certain that in Mrs. Naidu ary Society some interesting details the Swarajists have chosen a dyof his work among the depressed namic ngure that will appeal to the classes in the district. Over 200 vil- imagination of India '8 masses. lage congregations round about Narowal are distributed among fifteen Pioneering in Assam preachers, whose work is to conduct services, teach people, examine them A MERICAN Baptist missionaries in the elements of the Christian faith, 1".. are at work in little-known Asbuild up their church life, superin- sam, and one of them w,rites as foltend the work, act as judges to settle lows of a tribe called the Rengmas: their disputes, and help them when "No missionary had ever given any of maltreated by their non-Christian his time to them, nor any European masters. In one village Mr. Ullah learned their difficult language but found that the Christians had chal- the spirit of God came upon a young lenged the local mottlvi (Mohamme- man named Viliezhn. While in Kodan teacher) to hold discussions with hiII!a as a civil policeman he was led their padre sahib (Christian minis- to accept Christ by another policeman ter) . The challenge had been ac- who was an earnest Christian. He cepted, the moulvi .appeared on the obtained leave twice to go to his own scene, but at the last moment had de- tribe, to whom he now felt impelled cided not to hold any discussion. In to carry the story of salvation. Great another village Moslems and Chris- crowds came to hear his strange mestians decided to discover the true re- sage. Soon he came back to report· ligion by throwing the Koran and the that sixty had become candidates for New Testament into the watel' and baptism. After three years there are then following the book which did not now 200 baptized Christians, and a sink! nominal Christian community of 500. Three more of this tribe have caught Mrs. Naidn, S….arajist the fire and are teaching and preach- ing. Their children are bright-eyed T HE election of Mrs. Sarojini and eager to learn, and Viliezhn has Naidu, a Hindu poetess, to suc- worked hard with the missionary to ceed Gandhi as President of the In- get out a little hymn book with Scripdian National Congress was an- ture readings. It is the first book nounced in the April REVIEW, as an ever published in that dialect." event of great signincance for India. The following facts in her life story Britons and Bur:mese Slave. are, therefore, of interest: Born in 1870 at Hyderabad, the capital of the T HE proposed expedition to the powerful M;ohammedan Ni$m, she wilds of Burma, to be conducted came. of· a distinguished Brahmin by government officials with the pur- ~!I-mily. From her father, Dr. Agor- pose of stamping out both slavery and
NEWS FROM MANY L,ANDS
huma.n sacrifice, was announced in made by motor. There are there the February REVIEW. A wireless fourteen families, all of whom are formessage to the New York Times April mer inmates of the asylum~ It is 29th told of the return of the expedi- worthy of mention that these lepers tion, headed by Deputy Commissioner have maintained their Christian serv- J. T. O. Barnard, of the Burma ices, have sent in theiiI' contributions Frontier Service. It had been stated and have added to their numbers.
that the slaves would be bought for The Chiengmai lepers have just sent about $30 apiece, but the report says down an elder to give them encourage- that 3,445 had been set free for 19,- ment and instruction.
000 rupees, which would make the price about $1.80. Commissioner CHINA Barnard reports that there was no To Limit Missionaries limit to the gratitude and joy of the I N a recent discussion of the number Kachins who were emancipated of missionaries needed in China through the act of the" Great White the Chinese Recorder (interdenomi- Chief," Sir Harcourt Butler, Gov- national journal published at ShangernOr of Burma. Thirty-four villages hai) as quoted in The Christian Cenagreed to give up human sacrifices. tury, holds that the national Church Others suggested that if the Govern- should have the final word as to the ment would .provide the victims for holding a final sacrifice the practice number of missionaries to be emwould be stopped. ployed in each field. Says the Re- corder: "The missionary body is still Siam.ese Christian. Lepers growing numerically. The original sending impulse is still operating.
THE deeply religious atmosphere And yet during the last five or more of the leper asylum conducted by years we have heard £requent refer- American Presbyterian missionaries ence to the wisdom of reducing the in Chiengmai, Siam, is one of the number of missionaries and have characteristics of the institution sometimes been asked how we think which has often been noted. 'The this could be done. We have no anlatest report from Chiengmai throws swer. This conference, however, sugfurther light on this subject. Prac- gested to the National Christian tically every leper in the asylum is a Council to take steps to study the need Christian and it is only a ma.tter of for missionaries in: China. This is time before they express their desire important. For a I steadily-rising to join the church. This is brought number of missionaries tends to conabout by constant teaching on the part tinue the emphasis upon the foreignof the leper elders who make it their ization of Christian work in China. business to teach all newcomers. Thaw With the best of motives it takes con- Chapel, which was dedicated January siderable time for foreign mission- 11, 1925, is the gift of Mrs. Mary C. aries to become 'indigenous.' Many Thaw, of Pittsburgh. It forms the never do. The decision as to the numcentral edifice of the asylum, and is ber of missionaries, who 'still have a the center of the Christian life of the large place in China,' is left to the people. It represents an answer to Chinese Church. The central task and tbe prayers of the leper people of ten aim of Christian work in China is years ago and only a small number of now to support the progil"am of the the original group remain to enjoy Chinese Church."
worshiping in their new chapel. This year sixty-three lepers were received Anti-Christian. Agitation T into full communion. This number HE Rhenish Mission reports that in spite of Bolshevism and antiincludes five lepers il"eceived from Ta Pee village some forty kilos south of Christian movements the Gospel is the city. The trip to Ta Pee was finding an open door in China. So
far there have been more baptisms of formed the band. Each morning we converts than for many years. The gathered in the church for a prayer meeting, and then went forth in pro. Rhenish missionaries have decided to cession through the streets-working continue their schools under the con- to plan, so as to cover as much ground ditions laid down by the Chinese as possible during the week. Our pro. Ministerium. Although these condi- cession was headed by two church tions make the study of religion op- members carrying the Bible poster tional, they can continue religious in- pasted on cloth in banner form. Then struction in Bible classes, Sunday- came five Christian 'sandwich board I schools and in various forms of reli- men carrying blackboards on which gious meetings. something new was written every day: e. g. one day we had (1) 'What- The following details in the Damsk ever is this T' (2)' What concern is Missio11hlad relate to the attacks on this of mine?' (3)' You cannot do Christianity in the press. Out of without it.' (4)' It is the great sal. ninety-five anti-Christian articles in vation.' (5)' How will you escape Chinese papers if you neglect so great salvation T' Then came the boys carrying the flags 36 attacked mission schools, of the evangelistic band. I took my place in the center of the procession 34 Christianity in general, with an accordion and as we went along the streets singing hymns and 11 Christians, choruses the people flocked to the doors just in time to be tackled by 5 ', the Christian Church, the tract distributers and colporteurs who were bringing up the rear of the 5 preachers, procession. The houses of Christians and inquirers and any favorable open 2 G'hristian literature, spaces were made use of for preaching stands and in this way thousands 1 the Bible, heard the Gospel daily."
1 " .Tesns Christ. Real Religion in Saigon New Na.me for Canton College AREPRESENTATIVE of the Christian and Missionary Alli. ASSEMBLYMAN F. TRUBEE ance in French Indo-China tells of an Annamese young man, assistant sta· .t. DAVISON, a trustee of Canton tion master in the Saigon rai1road de- pot, who was converted and who, after Christian College, incorporated un- living a consistent Christian life and der the laws of the State of New York, bearing faithful witness for several announced April 15th that the Board months, was taken ill and died. On of Regents had granted his petition his deathbed the young man called toto change the name of the college to gether the members of his family and Linghan University. The purpose is testified to the power of Christ to save to give the institution its Chinese from the sting of death. As a result equivalent and to denote the expan- practically his whole household acsion fifom college to university. In cepted Christ and the village was twenty years Linghan University has opened to the gospel message. Some time later a man was inquiring for grown to have 1,200 students, with a the home of this young man and College of Arts and Sciences, a Col- asked, ' 'Where is the house of the lege of Agriculture, a Department of young man who used to be the assist- Sericulture, a Department of Busi- ant station master at Saigon but who ness Administration and a Department of Education. The campus covers 350 acres and has fifty-two buildings. Three fourths of the annual budget comes fifom Chinese sources.
Street E:"a.ngelism in Szechwan DURING the Chinese New Year holiday 'Rev. T. Darlington, of the China Inland Mission, Wanshien, Szechwan Province, conducted a week of open-air evangelism. He says: "Thirty-six men and ten schoolbQYs
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
died last December ~ " The people America is not the only country in did not know, but after explanation which military training in schools and col· said, "Oh, you mean the young man leges is becoming a vital issue; the youth who had religion T He lived over the world over are revolting against it. there. " His neighbors had forgotten 'l'he Japanese youth are no exception to this that he had been assistant station world current, as they are also human and master, although he had held this po· object to wasting time in training for war. sition with a good salary for sev&al While their freedom of expression is very years, but they remembered him as well ban'daged with laws and customs, they the young man who "had religion," do not hesitate in demanding their right to though he had been a Christian only do their own reading and to think their own a few months. thoughts. . . . It is becoming clear that Chinese Christian Giving such requirements as these can not remam indefinitely in force without strong student T HE Chinese Church is giving of protest. The news from Japan, even during her new riches, says Rev. Wilmot the past several months alone, continuously D. Boone, of Tsinanfu, Shantung province, in a measure that American and increasingly told of student agitations Christians have not yet equaled: against tllCse measures. "The total budget of the Presbyterian China Missions is over $1,250,000. Influence of Modern Buddhism If salaries of foreign workers acre excluded, the Chinese are now paying THE thought life of Japan today is approximately sixty per cent of the compared by Rev. Robert S. Spenc08t-a different story from the day ccaetr~, writin g in The Christian Advowhen the only gifts were curses and to a sea lashed by winds. He orphans the only students. Our largest and smallest native contributions says: "To the careful student, not came to me upon the same day. The non-Christian but philanthropic wife the least significant thing about this of our tuchun or military governor sent a real windfall amounting to state of flux is the way in which any $49. In the local currency this is equivalent to 19,300 coppers. The commanding voice, no matter how companion gift was just two of the same copper coins-' two mites,' 'all empty Or strange its message, receives her living'-for this came from a blind Chinese woman who heard an attention and following, and modern appeal to a wealthi& neighbor and borrowed this little sum (half an Buddhism," Mr. Spencer says, "is American cent) from another of the four familieS in the little three- m'aking a strong effort to capture the roomed court where she lived, so that she too might give." enlighteued thinking of the country.
JAPAN.KOREA Christian missions in Japan face to- Students Against Militarl.Snt day, not a Buddhism which sends out T HE statement that Japanese stu- its priests to stone the missionary on dents are protesting against military training in schools and colleges evangelistic service, as my childhood was made in the March REVIEW. An article in the bulletin published by memory records, but a Buddhism the Japanese Student Christian As- which has laid hold of 'the edged sociation in America gives expression to this protest. It says: . tools of civilization,' as the Japanese phrase has it, and is eagerly inviting the missionary to meet it on intellect- ual grounds. Absolute idealism, the latent pantheism of the Western philosophical world, has been taken into the Buddhist grasp, its terms translated into Japanese thought, and thus Buddhism in Japan is bringing to its own support the thought of Western lands. And on the basis of such i.ntellectual appeal, Budclhism is car,rying the battle into Christian trenches. "
Superstition and Suicide I N THE old Japanese calendar, says a writer in the Missirmary Herald, 'the years are' named in ac- cordance· with' a scheme goverhed by
two systems. Certain combinations in this way T Have you ever read the in the names of years that are thus Christian Bible Y If you would read brought about are considered un- just one page of that Book you would lucky, and girls born at a certain one no longer go around saying such of these have the reputation of foolish and untrue things." The eloslaughtering three husbands before quent bystander was overcome with settling down to a peaceful life with amazement and the crowd was ima fourth. The year 1906 was of this pressed by the earnestness of the unlucky character, and girls born young student.-The Continent. then are now of an age when they would naturally think of marriage. Veteran Korean Christians Young men hesitate about becoming their victims, and their old-fashioned SAW SANG YUN, the first Korean parents are still more solicitous lest converted to Protestant Christheir sons should be -entrapped into tianity, is still living an honored marriage with girls now twenty Christian life in a small village thirty years old. Care must be taken against miles from Haiju. As picturesque deception on the part of the go- and as honored a Christian as Saw betweens, who arrange the marriages. Sang Yun is his younger brother, Grief over' the breaking off of en- Saw Kyeng Cho, now pastor emeritus gagements when the truth has been of the first Protestant Christian discovered, or the feeling of disgrace church ever built in Korea. TheSe at being unable to get a husband, has men have together served Christ for been the cause, it is said, of many more than a century in Korea as repsuicides. resentatives of the P,resbyterian Church. But they are honored by An Unexpected Defender Christians of every denomination. Fifty-two years ago, when Saw Sang ASTUDENT in Meiji Gakuin, Yun was traveling as a merchant in Tokyo, Japan, had been im- China, he was treated in a mission pressed unconsciously by the Chris- hospital and there became a Christian influence under which he had tian. When he came home with a been living at the school, but he had supply of Christian books, the police not professed Christianity and did caught him and all but beat him to not realize his loyalty to it until he death. A friend on the police force heard it attacked. He was walking secured his trelease on conditIon that through the city park one day when he get rid of his books. This he did he heard a man by the roadside by hiding them for future r.eference. preaching Christianity. He stopped Although it was nine years after this to listen to the sermon. Suddenly before the treaty between the United one of the bystanders took exception States and Korea permitte<;l missionto the statements of the preacher and aries to come. it was only three years began to harangue the crowd, say- after its signing that the church was ing that they should not believe what built in the native village of Mr. Saw. they had just heard about Christian- Meanwhile his brother had embraced ity, that it was not a good religion for the new faith. Japanese people and was merely the religious ideas of foreigners. The Koreans Sacrifice for Schools student, who had not been long acquainted with Christianity himself, T HIRTY day schools in the Pyengrecognized this as foolish talk and was yang District, Korea, have been indignant as he saw the influence cut off the Methodist mission budget which this bystander was having with by reason of the "cut in appropriathe crowd_ He stepped forward and tions" two years in succession. So to said, "What do you know about this keep the school open and alive pupils Christianity which you are attacking and parents in Nonghung formed a "Chicken-Growing Association."
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Each member makes an offering of a denominations has helped to quicken chicken a year for school support. the interest in the problem of reli- Chickens cost in Korea sixty cents gious education. The last Sundayeach, or twice the day wage of an school census revealed that fifty-eight ordinary workman. The non-Chris- per cent of the boys and girls of the tians of Kowanne omitted their an- Dominion attended Sunday-schools. nual sacrifice, sold the animals and Owing to the sparsely settled condifood, and gave to the Methodist mis- tion of many parts of New Zealand, sion to prevent closing the day school there are hundre~s of very small in that community. In a third com- schools and consequently difficulty is munity a "prayer and fasting band" experienced in adequately supervishas been organized. Each Satu.rday ing them. In many cases there is only evening the members pray for the one teacher and the children gather mission school and omit supper. from several miles around to one There are forty-five members each homestead to learn together the contributingt ten cents (the value of stories of the Bible and to be taught the meal) for the continuance of the in the way of righteousness. RecogschooL nizing that the training of the Sun- day-school teacher is a matter of su- Outcast Brings Ba.ck Blcssing preme importance, much attention has been given to this aspect of the work T HREE years ago the people in a during recent years. – American certain Korean village told the Friend. parents of a fifteen-year-old boy who had developed leprosy that he must Filipino Youth Movement leave the village. He refused at first to go, and they tried to drown him T HE fact that a real, vital, growing and threatened him with a knife. He Student Youth Movement is presfound his way to the leper hospital in ent in the Islands cannot be doubted, Taiku, seventy-five miles away, and according to a writer in the News after treatment for nearly three years Sheet of the World's Student Chriswas discharged as cured. A.. G. tian Federation, who says: "There Fletcher, M.D., Presbyterian mission- is a general striving after certain ary in charge, writes: ideals. There is a certain spirit of dissatisfaction with the bases, con- La.st month the hospital evangelist cepts, and methods of all phases of preached in this boy's heathen village and, human activity-of education, reliwith the lad's cooperation. won many con- gion, society, etc., and a united effort verts. A new church was started consisting for better conditions. There is an of eighteen men, mostly young, modernly obvious, concentrated 'movement' on educated and very enthusiastic. Three years the part of students for better. and ago these villagers, thinking to protect their more satis:factmy things everywhere. own lives, urged the parents to cast out These things which have been gradutheir leper son. Little did they dream that ally developing in the past few years the outcast would some day return, and still have recently found certain forms of less could they have known he would come expression and organization. As a with a cleansed body, no longer a menace to whole, the ideals of the Philippine their lives but a witness for Him who came Youth Movement are one with those "that they might have life and might have of other lands as expressed in the Fedit more abundantly!" eration: (1) the abolition of war; (2) the abolition of race hatreds and ISLANDS OF THE SEA prejudices; (3) Ohristian interna- tionalism; (4) Christian basis of in- NcW' Zealand's Sunda.y-Schools dustry; (5) Christian unity. With such worthy and noble ideals ;Lnd ob- S UNDA.Y-SCHOOL work in New jectives, students of the Islands in . Zealand has made distinct and gratifying progress during the last few years. The extension of the work done by the existing Sunday-school unions and the establishing of young people's depa.rtments by the various
different schools, colleges,~and univer- (2) its Prudential Committee to be sities feel united in one movement so increased from twelve to thirty-six, that it may be truly said that ther~ is not less than one third of whom a real movement of, by, and for, the should be women; and elected sev- Christian youth of the land for the enty-five women as members of the triumph of Christian principles in the Board and twelve women as well as Islands." twelve men to the Prudential Com- mittee. Sub-committees were ap- New Hebrides "Talking" pointed, and steps taken generally to- A MISSIONARY in the New ward completing as soon as possible Hebrides, quoted in the Moody Institute Monthly, tells how the na- the unification, administratively, of tive Christians carry their testimony the American Board and the three aggressively into the enemy's camp. Woman's Boards. In due time Natives love a big "talk." Often women officers will be elected to the after a big church meeting the men executive staff of the Board, and all gather outside and exhort and ha- the foreign missionary work of the . rangue by the hour. Such meetings Congregational churches will f1l:nction have been held at various centers on as one. the fringes of heathen districts and have afforded an opportunity for both Na.tional Y. W. c. A. Convention Christians and heathens to show reason for their adherence to their re- T HIS gathering, held in Milwaukee, spective beliefs. That the heathen Wis., April 21st to 27th, was not consented to appear at all was in it- only thoroughly repJ'esentative of the self a concession, and almost invari- Association movement, but was also ably the bulk of the "talking" came attended by official delegates from from the Christian party. At one numerous other organizations. The meeting a mim who had been a leader convention passed with only one disamong the heathen, and whose name senting vote a resolution opposing any was one to conjure with, challenged action to weaken the Eighteenth anyone to say when and where he Amendment, and pledging hearty cohad said certain things abusive of operation, not only for the enforce- "the worship." This indicated the ment of law, but for the building of beginning of a change. Gradually he an intelligent public sentiment for became more friendly to the Chris- law observance. The action most tian party, and finally he took a defi- hotly debated by the convention, but nite stand, publicly acknowledging which was passed by a vote of 1,174 his change of mind and telling the to 199, was the optional membership heathen present that if they would plan, which permits others than only give proper heed to the Word members of evangelical Christian they too would change their minds. churches to become full voting mem- bers of the Association. NORTH AMERICA Presbyterian-Reformed Merger A. B. C. F. M. Reorganization By FORMAL action at Atlantic F OLLOWING the recommendations City March 3rd the General of the meeting of the National Council of the Presbyterian and Re- Congregational Council held in Wash- formed Churches in America was ington recently, the American Board united with the American Section of of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- the Alliance of Reformed Churches sions at its meeting March 16th, Throughout the World Holding the amended its by-laws so as to allow Presbyterian System. While these (1) its membership-at-large to be in- two bodies differed somewhat in concreased from 150 to 225, not less than stituency and in scope, their purone third of whom should be women; poses were in many particulars simi- lar. The Canadian Church was not
connected with the Council, as it is gelical Denominations voted in 1922 with the Alliance, but the two organi- to disband and to merge their com- zations otherwise represented practi- bined forces into the International cally the same group of denomina- Council of Religious Education, of tions, and many of the delegates which new organization this was the served in both. It was proposed at first convention. Richmond in 1925, when the two organizations met at the same time, that School Bag Gospel League there should be a merger, and the plan prepared by a committee then T HIS organization, established in authorized was adopted at Atlantic 192~, whose activities have been City. Besides its maintenance of referred to in the REVIEW in the past, standing committees on foreign and now reports work in 181 centers in home missions, work on the continent thirty-four states. The card signed of Europe, Christian education and by the children who join the League literature, ministerial pensions and reads as follows: church history, which bring these I hereby apply for membership in The subjects before the Alliance for dis- School Bag Gospel League. I promise to cussion, the organization will have carry in my school bag and read through the power, "in connection with home Gospel according to John. When finished, I missions, evangelism, work among agree to pass on the Gospel of s,t. John to colored people, church erection, Sab- some boy or girl, thereby securing a new bath schools, publications, education, member; I further agree to notify the ministerial relief and comity," to es- League, which promises to send me a seetablish and appoint administrative ond Gospel~ when that is finished, I am to agencies to "maintain and conduct get the third Gospd, then the fourth. When the work representative of anyone or I finish the last Gospel, the L€ague will give more of the causes mentioned, as con- me a New Testament as a prize for my sented to by the several supreme ju- reading through the four Gospels. dicatories concerned." Striking spiritual results in the lives of many child;ren and in their homes have been reported as resulting from this plan.
"Building Christian Citizenship" Keswick Colony T HIS was the announced theme of SUCH sacred associations gather the convention of the Interna- around the name of Keswick, tional Council of Religious Education, England, that it may surprise some attended by about five thousand peo- to learn that the United States has a ple in Birmingham, Ala., April 12th Keswick, too-a colony near Laketo 19th. Addresses were delivered wood, N. J., and founded twenty-four by outstanding leaders, including years ago by Wm. Raws of Philadel- President Coolidge, and conferences phia. Himself a reformed drunkard, were held on such subjects as chil- Mr. Raws had established a large resdren's work, church and Sunday- cue home and two missions in the school pUblicity, leadership training city, but felt the need of a place where and fine arts in religion. There was his converts could be out of reach of also a conference of denominational their old temptations. With no editors. At other sessions the execu- funds, but with great faith in God, tive committee submitted its ,report, he got hold of a 500-acre plot of land, the program of the International on which he built up Keswick Colony, Council of Religious Education was which during its quarter century of presented by the general secretary service has cared for more than 5,000 and staff, and reports were submitted men, including many doctors, lawyers, by the lesson committee and the com- ministers, priests, professors and memittee on education. The Interna- chanics of all kinds, and has pointed tional Sunday-School Association and them to the One who alone could meet the Sunday-School Council of Evan- their need. Many of these men have
found the Colony a refuge, and a "Mexicans used to be thought ot as gateway to a new life. All over this confined to the Southwest, but today country men are thanking God for they are going into Michigan beet Keswick and the freedom they found areas by companies as large as 6,000 there. The place stands for regenera- -such as invaded the Saginaw distion, not reformation. Since the trict over a year ago. There are death of Mr. Raws, friends have re- more than 13,000 in the steel district modeled one of the buildings so as to around Pittsburgh. They are tound make it a rest home for missionaries by thousands in Gary, Indiana; Joland other Christian workers, and ar- iet, Illinois;, 10,000 are in Chicago, rangements have been made with the and in proportionate numbers in "Council of the Victorious Life Tes- other communities of the Central timony" which point to a develop- West. Coming as they do from the ment Ot at least a portion of the prop- lowest class in Mexico, they bring erty as a summer conterence center. with them a heritage of more than 400 years of peonage, with its igno- Progress in Interracial Work rance, superstition, illiteracy and sus- picion. Equipped only to adopt the Ar THE seventh annual meeting Ot questionable social and recreational the Oommission on Interracial phases Ot the average community, Oooperation, held at Tuskegee Insti- they present a real problem as neightute April 8th-10th, sixty members ot bors and potential citizens. The the Oommission and staff were pres- Presbyterian Board of National Misent trom all parts of the South, be- sions is meeting their needs with a side more than a hundred visitors. program of evangelism, education and Among the number were many well- social service which, in its wisdom and known ministers, educators, business scope, appeals to industrial leaders in and protessionaI men, Y. M. O. A. almost every instance where work is secretaries and leaders Ot women "s established. religious and civic organizations. The reports trom the field dealt with the Japanese In LOR Angeles ''Y'' tollowing lines of successtul interracial effort: Assistance rendered in T HE directors of the Los Angeles hundreds ot colored school projects; Y. M. C. A. have contributed to health campaigns conducted; clinics better race relations by providing for and hospitals established; sewer, a Japanese department in one of the street paving, water, lights and other city branches. This is the result of public improvements secured for Ne- an experiment which has been congro sections in a number of cities; ducted quietly for the past year, durlibrary tacilities, rest rooms, parks, ing which trom fifty to seventy-five playgrounds and pools provided; ap- Japanese have been members ot the pointment of Negro probation officers, branch and have participated in its the furnishing ot legal aid, and the activities. There are three other inclusion ot colored welfare agencies coast cities which conduct special in community chests. The Commis- Japanese Y. M. C. A. branches, to sion was especiallly gratified with the which no white members are adwide-spread anti-lynching compaign. mitted. But the Los Angeles action for the first time admits Japanese to Our MeJdean Im,Dligrants membership in an established branch under the control ot a special Japa- AGREAT tide ot Mexican immigra- nese committee. "The Japanese of tion is spreading all over this Los Angeles," says The Christian country into the industrial regions of Century, "have responded to this acthe interior. Paul H. Buchholz tion both financially and emotionally writes ot it in Women and Missions: to an astonishing degree. "
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
LATIN AMERICA Union. Aside from the capital city, The Y. M. C. A. in Mexico San Juan, and the second largest city, DR. ANDRES OSUNA, Commis- Ponce, which are common territory, sioner of Education for sixteen the island has been allocated in ex- clusive areas to the different denomiyears in the State of Coahuila, and nations and there is no overlapping vice-president of the National Coun- or competition. A union evangelical cil of the Y. M. C. A. in Mexico, theological seminary and a union .stated during a recent visit to the evangelical board of publication are United States that the general Asso- maintained. ciation program is teaching coopera- tion. The Y. M. C. A., in training the people socially, recreationally and Church and State in Chile A hygienically, is of material help alsoN ARTICLE in El Heraldo (Jris- tiano, published in Santiago, along general educational lines. It has the good will of the Government and says: "The Roman Catholic Church government officials. That the people, in ChlIe is now separated from the too, are impressed by its program is State. The wound which this has demonstrated by the fact that it is caused is enormous, notwithstanding governed and financed almost en- the palliatives administered in the th:ely by Mexicans. In a campaign shape of some millions of dollars held last October in Mexico City to which the Church will receive from raise 500,000 pesos ($250,000) for the the State through the coming five Y. M. C. A., the Government gave years. The heads of the Church pre- 100,000 pesos. About ninety-live per tend to be satisfied with the new cent of the members there are Catho- state of things, from fear of g,reater lics, and although the Archbishop losses, and also because they expect called upon an Catholics to leave it, to reap benefits that do not appear on only nine or ten obeyed him. the surface. The separation of church and state in Chile is a triumph Church Union in Porto Rico for the Protestant cause. It is the THE foundations for an indigenoue fruit of the seed that has been sown church in Porto Rico are being in past years. The idea of religious laid these days. Congregational and liberty was made the battle cry of United Brethren forces are leading political parties opposed to the R.. and the early cooperation of the C. Church, but although they fought Christian Church is expected. The on purely political grounds they name proposed is the United Evan- were made the instruments in God's gelical Church of Porto Rico. These hands to prepare a way for the Gosthree bodies, with their thirty-live pel. " The writer goes on to show churches, lifty-one additional preach- that the Church of Rome, which for ing places, and 3,093 communicant motives of self-interest, apparently members, represent one fifth of the bows her head to the storm, at the Protestant life on the island. The in- same time in ways far more difficult vitation is extended to the other de- to combat, is reaching out after her nominations ;represented on the island old temporal power.
to join in the United Church, and the affiliation of some or most of these Forest Indians of the Amazon T eventually is anticipated. Seven de- HE Christian and Missionary Al- liance reports the establishment of nominations, Northern Baptists, Dis- ciples, Methodist Episcopalians and a. pioneer station among one of the Northern Presbyterians, Congrega- largest of these tribes, the Campa, tionalists, United Brethren, and who dwell in northern Peru on a Christian, have from the beginning great plateau of fine pasture land at conducted their work under a comity an elevation of about 4,000 feet. Thus ag,reement called the Evangelical far they have been able to resist all
the efforts of the white man to pene- formers and opposed to the Word of God." trate their country. They are fine Gospel OlUllpaigns in GIa_ow specimens of physical fitness, unusu- I N THE account given in the Deally intelligent, and, while savagely cember REVIEW of the meeting at- tended by three thousand people jealous of liberty, are kindly disposed which was held in Glasgow to com- memorate the fiftieth anniversary of to those who show themselves the visit of Dwight L. Moody to that city, it was stated that many fruits friendly. The party of four young of Mr. Moody's work are still evident. Charles Inglis, writing in the London men now studying Spanish in Peru, Christia,n, of meetings which he has been conducting ;recently, says: is preparing for the establishing of a Glasgow is, perhaps, one of the greatest station on the borders of this Campa and most fruitfu} centers for aggressive gospel work in the whole of Great Britain, territory. A site has been secured and this may be attributed largely to the enduring infiuence of the campaigns confrom the Government where formerly ducted there by Mr. Moody. In the Tent Ralls belollging to the Glasgow United a Roman Catholic station was built, Evangelistic Association, some fifteen thou- sand men, women and children are brought which was burned to the ground in under the sound of the Gospel each week; and scarcely a meeting passes without souls 1912 because around it gathered the being turned to the Lord and born again of the Spirit. A remarkable feature was witbrutal rubber hunters who oppressed nessed in the processions of believers, hun· dreds strong, that sang through the streets,. the Indians. This station at Cahua- thus bringing the meetings to the notice of many by whom they would otherwise have panas on the Pichis River is in the been neglected.
heart of the jungle, and the mission- No Religious Liberty in Spain aries will need to clear the ltahnedi~ erect A TRIBUTE to the high character their house" and provide own of Spanish Protestants was paid in the May RE~IEW. The fonowing living after the manner of tIle early quotation from Evangetical Christen- dom indicates some of the difficulties American pioneers. under which they are laboring: EUROPE It is generally believed by those who are not in contact with facts that Spain today British Evangelicals Aroused enjoys religious liberty. Since the begin· ning of the Dictatorship, obstacles have been AMOVEMENT has been on foot to placed in the path of the reformers. It is secure cooperation between the unwise to publish details other than those Evangelicals in the Church of Eng- which have been noted in the Spanish press. land and Free Churchmen respecting The constitutional guarantees have been the position of Protestantism, espe- suspended, and the articles which bear on cially in regard to P,rayer-Book Re- the liberty of meetings, the freedom of the vision. Under the auspices of the press and of public speech, and others which World's Evangelical Alliance, a affect Ervangelicals, are not in operation. The meeting along the lines of the one last Governor of the province of Soria imposed year is to be held June 1st in Albert a heavy fine on two Evangelicals for sing· Hall. London. The Free Church of ing hymns and the Evangelical press was Scotland states the purpose of this forbidden by the Censor to draw attention meeting to be "That London and the to the fact and discuss its importance. The country may witness the resolute de- two men condemned sung the hymns within termination of the churches of the their own home. In Alicante the usua} pro· Reformation by all means in their cession of children with their banner and a power to oppose the insidious as well band was prohibited, and in Soller a burnas open assaults on gospel truth and ing of Protestant books publicly took place. liberty established at the Reformation. " Its announcement continues: "It is necessary to be prepared to contest in Parliament any measure of the National Church Assembly which, under cover of Prayer-Book revision, may seek to introduce into our national worship a counter-Reformation, or the sanction of mediaoval doctrines and practices repUdiated by the Re-
books mentioned in these columns will be forwarded by us on receipt of price.-
THE REVIEW.
Modern Missions in Chile and Brazil. Chile and the g,reat Protestant states- W. Reginald' Wheeler, Robert Gardner man of Brazil, Erasmo Braga. McGregor, Maria McIlvaine Gillmore, Glimpses of the Montevideo Confer- Ann Townsend Reid and Robert E. Speer. ence are given, with its epoch- lUus. and maps. xviii, 434 pp. $2.50. making meetings. Even those not in- Philadelphia. 1926.
Secretary Wheeler's collaborateurs terested in evangelistic and educain this portly volume are members of a commission appointed by the Board tional work will be impressed by the of Foreign Missions of the Presby- business-like presentation of facts and terian Church in the U. S. A. to visit the countries described. The tour was the prophetic view of missionaries as accomplished in 1924-25 and hence they make their sane appeal for enthis is an up-to-date report of what keen observers and devoted friends largement. The volume is a conglomof missions found in these two great erate, full of fun and the delights of Latin-American Republics. Like its predecessors, the volume travel, inspiring to the Christian who contains vivid accounts of the coun- is moved by progress in the Latintries traversed and of the stations visited. There is the added inspira- American branch of the Kingdom of tion resulting from the special meetings held and the introduction to God, sobering because of the plain leading workers as they meet in conference and are seen at work. No facts which face the Church and efforts carried on by the Northern Piresbyterian Church in those coun- threaten serious loss unless early retries escapes the searching eye of the enforcements and increasing funds Commission, so that we outsiders also see their visions. Clear maps and are placed in the fields. The main rewell-chosen pictures show us the route of the Commission and the mis- sults of the books are summarized in sion sites and scenes visited. The most remote station at which the trav- the chapter upon "Impressions of South America and the Mission Work There." Its personal effect should be what one sentence in that chapter states: "We are going home to be a company of advocates of South Amer- ica. . . . Let us go home to summon our Churches to respond to the call we have heard set forth with such urgency and friendship and good will." A book that accomplishes this is well worth reading. H. P. B.
elers called was Cuyaba, in far West- The Moslem World of Today. Edited with a foreword and closing chapter by John R. ern Brazil near the Bolivian border. Mott. 42() pp. $2.60. New York. 1925. Going up interior rivers, accompanied by countless mosquitos and other un- mentionable "small cattle," with This is a readable presentation of only one sheet on your bed and no the important papers (twenty-two in chair for anyone, are details which number), that leading workers among suggest hundreds of other accidentals Moslems read at " Conferences of mentioned. In a word, the reading Christian 1Workers Among Moslems,"
public is the victim of a plot to make in 1924, held at Jerusalem, Constan- it impossible to be ignorant of South tine, Helwan, Brnmana and Baghdad.
American travel and society, not for- Some of the papers are products of getting such fine specimens as the old- wide studies and experiences of spe- est living convert to Protestantism in cialists. Previous conferences do not 477
compare with these either in com- turesque and convincing way base prehensiveness, in the value of the ad- upon it arguments for a a new for- dresses, or in the grasp of actual ward movement, to win the Moslem present-day situations with their op- world to .Jesus Christ.' H. P. B.
portunity and obligations. No paper The Bible: Its Christ and Modernism. in this entire volume is prosy or lack- T. J. Me Crossan. 208 pp. $1.50. New ing in interest. Brilliant and forceful York. 1925.
writers, like Basil Mathews, Canon This volume presents the extreme Gairdner, and our Lady of the Algerian slums, Lilias Trotter; Islamic conservative position with numeNUS specialists, like Professors Margoliouth, and Snouck Hurgronje; and references to the Scriptures and the the J."ising luminary of Cairo, Profes- proof text method. sor Jeffrey, speak from accurate studies; platform advocates of the The five divisions are: "Why We missionary cause, like Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer, "the rhetorical apostle of Know the Bible Is Inspired"; "Why Moslem Missions," as the late Profes- Christ Ought to Be Our Highest and sor Dr. Warneck once characterized him, speak from intimate contact Final Authority on Every Subject with sympathizing fellow workers; three other Moslem women workers, Upon Which He Declared Himself"; "Six Great Teachings Which Modern- ists Deny"; "Five Reasons Mod- ernists Dare to Criticize the Bible"; "How the Bible Estimates Modern- ists. " J. F. R.
all of them most helpfully contribute The Xey To Faith. Michael O. Gershenson. to a wonderful program. Translated by Herman Frank. 156 pp.
Even the well-informed readers who $1.50. New York. 1925.
may know much concerning Moslem The subject is alluring, but the work, will be surprised at many of treatment is disappointing. The the facts given, especially those relating to Moslem modernity and the re- author is a Russian scholar, versed in cent forward movements in Islam, educational, social and even religious literary criticism and modern philos- -facts that are most interesting and prophetic. Surely these conferences ophy, who, in the closing years of his came "to the Kingdom for such a life has attempted to give a J."ealistic time as this," and all who desire ammunition for agitation and the en- study of Old Testament religion. He largement or promotion of work among Moslems will find here the am- offers no proofs for his views, and munition and the inspiring generals seems to know nothing of exegesis. of the coming campaign. There are here many topics dealt Instead of using the Bible as the with that give information not com- basis for his conceptions, he reverses monly known. But perhaps the two chapters more convincing and path- the process. The author pictures God pointing than any others are the two closing ones, Dr. Robert E. Speer's as passionate and impetuous, yet in "The Issue Between Islam and sore need of man whom He fears because of man's freedom of will.
The struggle between humanity and deity is bitter and jealous on both sides and morality is created when myths give way to codes of religion.
Only pronounced "modernists" will commend such a book. J. F. R.
Christianity," and Dr. .John R. Mott's Quiet Talks on the Crisis and After. S. D. Gordon. 224 pp. $1'.25. New York. "The Outlook in the Moslem World." 1926. The latter gives a nine-fold program, "with reasons annexed." It is greatly This latest volume in the series of to be desired that every pastor who , 'quiet talks" is in a new vein and would be intelligent on a missionary deals with prophecy, particularly as religion which numbers nearly a to a present and future crisis in the quarter of a billion should read this world. The somewhat picturesque vovolume carefully, and then in a pic- cabulary which has been a marked characteristic of Mr. Gordon's writ- that our Lord's birth took place in August B. C. 5 and His crucifurion on ings is much less evident and this is Friday, April 17, 2.9 A. D. He takes the temptation as a spiritual experian advantage in the present case. ence, accepts the superhuman expla- nation o.f the miracles, believes in The first half of the volume is a the physical resurrectio.n and in the reality o.f the ascension. In some of review of the great crises narrated in his interpretations and conclusions, we cannot follow the author, but his Scripture, the Eden crisis, the Flood views are clear and deserve a careful study. crisis, etc. These are treated in a Soonderbal Powar. K. Storrie. 12mo. single chapter under many sub-head- l11} pp. 3s. Glasgow. 1925.
ings in a way to suggest Papini's ar- The father o.f Soonderbai Powar was of the Mahratta caste and became rangement of New Testament ma- a Christian through attending a Bible class conducted by Dr. Murray terial. The remaining half of the Mitchell at Wilson College, Bombay. His daughter was born in 1856 and book is made up of a striking analysis died in 1921 after being in Christian work for forty-five years. She of present-day cond-itions, religious, taiIght her sisters in the zenanas, was a friend of Pandita Ramabai and essocial, moral, educational, commer- tablished a combined Christian train- ing home, Bible college and orphancial, etc., all foreshado.wing a great age that was greatly blessed. Three times she visited England and was reconsummation in the coming King- ceived with honor. The sto.ry of her life is full of evidence o.f the power of dom. The array of facts presented is God and the need fo.r Christ in India, but it is not told with any literary startling and o.f compelling interest. skill.
While some will feel that the picture Jesus and Our Generation. ,Charles Whitney Gilkey. With author's prefaee is o.verdrawn in certain particulars, and account of Barrows Lectureship Fou.ndation. Svo. ISO pp. $2.00. Chiit will be difficult, nevertheless, to. es- cago. 1925.
cape the author's general conclusion. The Barrows Lectures in India, in- terrupted by the World War, were The book will be read with profit, for resumed November, 1924, to Febru- ary, 1925, in a course given by Dr. it strikes a clear and positive note on Gilkey in Bombay, Lucknow, Lahore, Calcutta, Rangoon, Madras, and the subject of the great essential doc- Ceylon. 'l'he audiences were chiefly university students, a majority of trines of Scripture, a fact which will them non-Christians. Strikingly dif- ferent in matter and manner are reassure those who have been dis- these lectures from the ea.rlier courses of Dr. Barrows, Dr. Fairbairn, and turbed by certain ambiguous state- Dr. Charles Cuthbert Hall. They are perhaps better adapted to the modern ments in one or two of Mr. Gordon's student temper. In the Western world, and probably also in the East, earlier volumes. H. R. M. students are not ready to give a pa- Our Lord's Earthly Life. David Smith. Svo. 494 pp. $3.00. New York. 1926.
Lives of Christ are so numerous and written from so many angles that the publication of a new biography is justified only by some new light or peculiar excellence. The justification of this· life, by the professor of New Testament Criticism in the Presbyterian College of Belfast, keland, seems to be in the combination of devout faith, Biblical knowledge, scholarly viewpoint and good sense. Dr. Smith believes in the Bible as, on the whole, a reliable record of facts; he is loyal to. Jesus as So.n of Man, Son of God and Saviour; his purpose is to present a simple, full and reliable life of. Christ during His earthly years. There are other "lives" as good, but none of the noncritical and non-technical are more comprehensive in use of Biblical material. The arrangement is simple and chronological. Dr. Smith holds tient hearing for any message not ex- the establishment of' schools, hospitals pressed in simple terms. '£he East and dormitories. Silliman is unique has never lost its taste for metaphys- in its approach and is known through- ics and its capacity for meditation, out the length and breadth of the but the younger generation every- Islands. The Silliman spirit and where is practical. Dr. Gilkey is Silliman boys are known everywhere aware of this, and shapes his mes- and many former students have come sage accordingly. Eminently practi- to the United States for advanced cal, yet not devoid of elements of study. The best work is in the kindly mysticism, are the author's discus- Christian service rendered wherever sion of "Jesus and Our Generation," they go and in whatever profession " Jesus' Way of Life," "Jesus' Life or occupation they take up.
with God," "Jesus and the Mysteries "Making a Nation," gives a brief of Life and Death," "The Lordship and fascinating picture of present of Jesus," and "Jesus and the Fu- conditions. In the wonderful changes ture. " The author believes and de- which have taken place during the clares the substance and summary of past quarter century, much credit his lectures may be stated in the con- must be given to the American ofcluding words of Albert Schweitzer's ficials, but "unless there had been "The Quest of the Historical Jesus" : real ability, desire for enlightenment , 'He comes to us as one unknown, without and push in the people themselves, a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those men who knew Him not. He there would have been no progress." speaks to us the same words: 'Follow thou Dr. Hibbard feels there is, unfortume! ' and sets us to the tasks which He has nately, a growing distrust between to fulfil for our time. He commauds. And the two nations. It is due to the to those who obey Him, whether they be Filipinos, to the American business wise or simple, He will reveal Him.self in men in the Island, and to the misthe toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which sions that some definite goal be fixed they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall toward which all could work harlearn in their own experience who He is." moniously together. C. C. A. It is clearly shown that the mission Making a Nation. D. S. Hibbard. 127 work has not been proselyting from pp. 50 cents. New York. 1926. the old Catholic Church. An atfempt Few men ·in the Philippines are has been made to educate and train bette,r fitted to speak of the Filipino for life, and to offer a remedy for people, their customs, their accom- sin, superstition and unbelief. The plishments and their aspirations, than message has gone deep and many is Dr. Hibbard, President of Silli- Christian heroes and martyrs bear man Institute, of Dumaguete, and witness to the Power of the Word of one of the first missionaries to go out God. Some thrilling stories are told to the Philippines. He early turned of faithfulness in times of' great his attention to Christian education stress. Christian statesmen are found and his institution, which began as a in all branches of the Government grammar school, is now of full Col- helping to bring the New Day.
lege Grade and duly authorized by Such an one is Senator Camilo Osias, the Government to grant the same de- formerly President of the National gree as that offered by the College of University. His ClaIiber may be seen Liberal Arts of the University of the in this quotation from one of' his ad- Philippines. dresses: "Perchance the great and The book shows what has been ac- distinct contribution of weaker na- complished by Presbyterian mission- tions may lie just in this, that in the aries to bring the influence of the definition of international philosophy Christian Gospel to the aid of Fili. they, more than the others, the smaller pinos. They have done this by nations more than the bigger ones, preaching, teaching and healing; by may be the instruments of Divine
for the teaching of the Demon Possession and Allied
John L. NeYius. 8 YO. 518 pp. $2.50. wisdom of peace and the criminality New York. 1925.
of war, peace as an attribute both Demon possession, or spiritism, is by no means an out-of-date subject. human and divine, and war as a In Asia and Africa evil spirits are still worshipped; in America and grievous wrong alld an enormous Europe, the spirits of the departed are still invoked. There is always an crime." H. F. interest in the occult and the spirit world. Dr. Nevius was a student of Life and Letters of St. Paul. Dada James religion, a student of science and a Burrell. 12mo. .)2 i pp. 1925. student of men. Therefore, he was interested in men's belief in spirits, St. Paul is a fruitful topic for good or evil. He made a thorough study, and the aged but virile author studY of the subject, conducted a of these popular studies knows how very' wide correspondence and wrote to draw many practical lessons from down the results of his studies. He the apostle's life. Young teachers and does not give his definite conclusion, preachers will find these studies ex- but he relates his own experienees in ceedingly fruitful. China as well as those of other mis- sionaries in India, .Japan and else- A Parent's Guide to Children's Reading. where. Then he studies the various Mary Graham Bonner. J2mo. 161 pp. theories and explanations~patho $1.75 net. ~ew York. 1926. logical, psychological, superstitious and biblical-·but fails to reach any The proper guidance of children's very clear cut conclusions. The reading is one of the most important author rather presents facts and testiresponsibilities of a parent or teacher, monies and allows readers to reach ibsnt~xicneetdhiensgelydadyisffoicfutlrt.ashTyhfeictEiodni,toirt their own conclusions. It is still one of the Childl-en's Book Department of the b~st books on the subject of of the Literary Digest, who is also the spiritism. author of a number of volumes of "Bedtime Stories" has here rendered Missionary Art Blotters. Five Series. 25 a real service to parents of children cents a set. $2.00 ten sets. For sale by up to sixteen years of age. Her suggestions comprise not merely a list of Mrs. T. J. Howells, 324 Spencer Avenue. recommended books, new and old, but include brief descriptions of the books Carrick, Pittsburgh, Pa. mentioned. They are classified under imaginative tales, history and his- "l.'hese attraetive missionary blotters torical romances, nature books, are edueational, artistic and useful. poetry, religion and general fiction. Tlte sets dffive, each in an envelope, The list of Bible and religious books contain pictures and quotations se· is weakest, though it contains a few lected to impress missionary ideas on Bible story books. Some volumes the minds of children and adults. recommended, like those of Van Loon, One series is on "The World's Chilare neither reliable nor truly educative. With such a wealth of religious 8d.1r0enns.,"" another on "Prayer and Misliterature for children, there is need for a guide and a great opportunity ExpOSition .01 the Epistles to Timothy. for real service. Miss Mary Stewart's W. E. Vine. 114 pages. 2. net. Glas· Bible stories, Foster's, Hurlburt's, gow. 1925. Dean Hodge's and others should have a place. There are also religious These notes-the basis of a series books of fiction, biography and mis- of lectures given at St. Andrews Consions that will delight and help to vention.in July, 1923, are suggestive educate any child or youth. rather than exhaustive. They would form an excellent guide for a series of There is an index to about 400 prayer meeting studies, or Bible class authors and over 700 books-also discussions, on the character, testiblank pages for additions. mony, and care of the local church. There is a; full outline of each epistle.
I DO NOT MISS THESE
I On the Mission Study Topics For 1926-1927 in Coming Issues of THE MISSIONARY l@V~ THE CHURCH AND RURAL COMMUNITIES Changes in the Last Twenty-Five Years 'arren H. Vilson Director of Tml" and C01/lit,,)' Department, Presby/oria" Church, U. S. A.
The Soil and Spirituality John Scott King Presbytcriall Church, Little Britain, New York The Country Church, and Cooperating Agencies Marjorie Patten Illstitute of Social alld Religious Research Agricultural Missions and the Rural Church Artley B. Parson National COllncil, ProtNtallt Episcopal Church The Real Job'of the Rural Church John McDowell Secretor)" Board of Natiollal Missiolls, Presb)'terian Church, U. S. A, Need for Pioneering in Rural Districts Ralph S. Adams Rural Field Worker, Refo1'111 ed Church ill the Ullited States Best Type of Pastor for Country Churches C. N. McConnell Board of Home 111iss;0}ls, ,lIethndiSI Episcopal Chllrelt Union or Denominational Churches-Which? Elizabeth Hooker Illstitute of Social aad Religious Research Some Successful Rural Churches Malcolm Dana Director of Rural U7nrk. COllpregational HOllie .~Jissioll Societ)'
Religious Education in Country Communities W. A, Squires Board of Christiall Educotiall, Presbyterian Church, U. S, A.
Best Books on Rural Church Problems Edmund deS. Brunner Town and Coulltry Surveys. Illstitllte of Social aud Religious Research CHRIST AND THE MOSLEM WORLD A View of the Moslem World Today Samuel M. Zwemer Editor of the MOSLEM WORLD alld gCllcral1l1issiollory to Alos/ems Changes in Moslem Life and Faith James L. Barton Allthor of "A Christian Approach to Islam"; Secretar}' of tlte Americ01I Board Some Present-Day Problems and Hindrances G. H. Naish COUllcil of Christiall Missiolls ill the Near East A Descendant of Mohammed Converted to Christ A Persian Missionary A l'cmarkable accollllt of the recellt com'ersioll of a ,Hoslem mullah Some Results of Union Mission'·Work in Mesopotamia James Cantine Missionar), of tire Reformed Chllrch ill America to Bagdad The Influence of the West on Moslem Life and Thought Basil Mathews World's Alfiallcc of the Youllg Men's Cl,,-istiOlI Association, GClleva Results of Apostasy in Islam E. ~lorris Wherry Formerl), ll1issionary to India Send in Your Subscription NOW TO THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City 25 cents a copy $20.00 a hundred copies $Z.50 a Year
The Missionary Review of the World — May 1926
CLASSES AT DR. PYE'S YU TAO HO SUMMER CONFERENCE FOR
PERSONALS REV. EUGENE SIrocK, D.D., secretary of Linens the Church Missionary Society from 1873 to for the Summer Home 1906, celebrated his niuetieth birthday on THOSE wise hostesses February 26th. who purchase their household linens at Mc- " DR. IDA BElLE LIilWIB", daughter of the Cutcheon's are assured of the finest quality obtainlate Bishop Lewis, is the new president of able by ''The Linen Store's" Hwa·nan Union Olllege, Foochow, Chiua. seventy-year-old standardof excellence. """ The always appropriate REV. JI>NATHAN GoFORTH left Toronto in Damask Table Cloth may be had in handsome designs February, in response to a cablegram from to fit any size or shape of Marshal Feng, askiug him to serve as chief table. chaplain in the ,chinese national army. For those who prefer " REV. PAUL KAN"AMORI", sometimes called Fancy Linen Sets for the informal functions of sum- "the Moody of Japan," is at present visit· mer there is an endless vari- ety to choose from, and ing the United States. towels, sheets .and pillow ~ cases are here in profusion. LIEUTENANT .CoM"MI"SSIONEIt GUNPEI YAM' – Wriu!or New Catalog No. 20 . AMUlW, the newly appoiuted head of the Salvation Army 1n Japan, has recently arrived in New York from London on his way to Tokyo. Lt. Yamamuro is the son of extrem.ely poor Japanese parents who were followers of Confucins. He became a Christian iu his student days, later a memo ber of the Salvatioll Army and officer in 1895 and has rendered remarkable service to Christ for the past thirty years.
" MRS. JOHN H. "FINLEY" has been elected first vice-president of the National Board of Y. W. C. A. of which Mrs. Robert E. Speer is president and Mrs. John D. Rocke- feller, .Jr., second vice-president.
OBITUARY DR. JOHN Y. AITCHISON, for some years General Director of tbe Board of Promotion of the Northern Baptist Convention, and former Secretary of the American Bap- tist Home Missionary Society, died suddenly in Chicago on March 15th.
MRs. E. M. ""* with her late WHERltY, who husband spent forty-six years in the Pun· jab, India, as missionaries of the Presbyte- rian Church, U. S. A., died in Ohio on January 28th.
PROI!'ElBSOR A. B*. D"RAY", of the American University of Beirut, was murdered on· March 3rd by an insane Armenian servant.
* .. * DIt. JOHANNJilB LEPSIUS, formerly director of the Deutsche Orient Mission and one of the 4elegates from Germany to the Edin· burgl;" Conferenee iu 1910, died on ~arch_ 29th at Potsdam, Germany, iu his _sixty· eighth year. * if * Mas. WILLIAM WALLACE, for thirty years a missionary with her husband in Mexico, Mc-Cutcheon's died from an electric shock while visiting at Palo Alto, Califoi'nia, on Mareh 26th. ~ FIFTH AVENUE *** FORTY-NINTH ST.
REV. F. H. SIllNPl', the President of the . NEW YORK ,._ Christian and Missionary AJlian~.e of New York, died of pneumonia at Tenafly, New Jer~ey, on Nov. 25, 1925.
Please …..lltiOll TUE l>I,BSION41IY Rl:VlIIW OJ' THII WORLll III ••ltlDr to advertise… THE MISSIONARY Review of the World DELAVAN L PIERSON. EJI'ttr CONTENTS FOR MAY. 1926 Page FRONTISPIECE ………………………. WATTS O. PVE AT WOR.!( IN CHINA EDITORIALS …………………………………………………….. 325 CONSTRUCTIVE :E'ORCES IN CHINA AMERICA'S VARIED RELIGIOUS BELIEFS A MEDICAL MISSIONS CONFEltENCE THE MISSION STUDY BOOKS FOR 1926· FAMINE AMONG KOREAN CHRISTIANS 1927 DR. WATTS O. PYE OF CHINA …………………… CORNEI.JUS H. PATTON 333 The story of the remarkable work of an unusual missionary pioneer in the in- terior of China.
THE AWAKENING OF BUDDHISM AND SOME OF 'THE R-ESULTS ….
. .. .. …. …….. ….•… …. .. .. .. ….. … … …… . ….. .I,EWIS HODOUS 339 Interesting facts in regard to the new stirring.• among follower.• of Buddha in Japan and China, a new movement that is a mixture of B1,dilhism, Christianity and other religious ideas.
THE OLD WATCHMAN OF SUEZ …………………………. H. E. JONES 344 THE BASIS FOR THE HOME MISSION APPEAL •……….. JAY S. STOWELL 345 A very striking paper showing the nhange in the purpose and plan, of home mis' sions in America and the facts on which appeals should! be based today.
AT THE OLD CROSSING-A HOME MISSION INCIDENT …………. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MURDOOH MAOKINNON 354 'A; very innproosWe story of the. expeTienlJ<' of a pastor and searetary on theil' vis'it to an old farmer and his wife in Canada.
}'IFTY YEARS om PROGRESS IN MEXICO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JOHN HOWLAND 357 Some of the outstanding facts showing what ha.. bee·n aCMmplished in material, eduoaNpnal, political and religious advancement during the past half·century.
l!'ROM SAILOR TO SWEDISH EVANGELIST …………………,cOE HAYNE 360 The 'interesting story of the conversion and subsequen.t work in Sweden of one of the great religious forces in that country.
A PIC'l'URE OF THE PYENGYANG MISSION …………….. C. L. PHILLIPS 363 BEST METHODS FOR SUMMER PROGRAMS ….. EDITEI> BY MRS. E. C. CRoNK 368 WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULL}<,TIN ….. EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN 376 WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BTJLT.ETIN .. , . EDITED BY EI,LA D. MACLAURIN 379 NEWS FROM: MANY LANDS ……………………………………… 382 'THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY 398 TERMS: $2.50 a year. ($2.00 in clubs of five.) Foreign postage, 50 cents. Single copies, 25 cents. Published mc.nthly. Oopyrighted, 192,6, by MISSIONARY REVIJo:W PUBLISRlNG C-·>.IPANY, INC. All rights reserved.
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Robert E.. Spt:er, President Wm. I. Chamberlain, Vice-President Delavan L. Pierson, Secretary Walter McDougall, Treasurer Publication office, 3d & Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. Editorial and Business Office, [56 Fifth Avenue, 25C a copy $2.50 a year New Y(]rk City ~tered as second-class matter at the Post Offic;:et Harrisburg, Pa., under Act of March 3, 1879_ NEW BOOKS A Bird'a-Eye View oC Latin America. A Significant World Dominion Survey Series. 6a.
World Dominion Press. London. 1926.
China-An Analysis. Frank J. Goodnow. Testimony 288 pp. $2.00. John Hopkins Press. Baltimore. 1926. concerning Churches of lJistinotion in Town and ANNUITIES Country. Edmund deS. Brunner. 198 pp. $1.50. George H. Doran Co. After careful investigation a New York. 1923. generous donor recently gave one of our Mission Boards Mary Dobson, Musician, Writer and Mis- $228,000, all his property, on sionary. Una M. Saunders. 184 pp. the Annuity Plan. Why not A. & C. Bllwk, Ltd., Londc)U; Maemillan investigate for yourself the se- Co., New York. 1926. curity of these ANNUITY AGREEMENTS and the many Ethics of Opium. Ellem N. LaMotte. 204 advantages of the Plan. pp. $1.75. Century Co. New (York. 1924. Write to W. J. Elliott, Treasurer. Boud of Home Mis_ Education in the Native Church. Roland Allen. 26 pp. 6£1. World Dominion sions and Church Extension of the Methodist Episco_ Press. London. pal Church. 1701 Arch Street, Philadelphia. Pa.
Fundamental Christianity. Francis L. Morris W. Ehnea, Treasurer. Board 01 Foreign Patton. 330 pp. $2.25. Macmillan Co. Mi.sions of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 150 New York. 1926. Fifth Avenue. New York. N. Y.
A Gold Dollar. Joseph M. Dnff. 138 pp. $1.25. Fleming H. .Revell Co. New York. 1926.
Indigenous Ideals in Practice: A Survey of the E:Vangelistic and Church Work in District of Siaochang. 6a. World Do- minion Press. London. 1926.
Insul1nde: A Survey of the Dutch East Indies. 6a. World Dominion Press.
London.
Missions and World Problems: A Syllabus I Modern Education of Questions for Use by Discussion Classes. 135 pp. 75 cents. Association in Korea Press. New York. 1925. By lrIaking a Nation. D. S. Hibbard. 127 pp_ 50 cents. Board oreign Missions., HORACE H. UNDERWOOD, Ph.D. Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., 156 Fifth Avenue. New York. 1926. Professor in Chosen Christian Col/ege Seoul, Korea The Moslem World in Revolution. W. Wilson Cash. 160 pp. 28. Edinburgh A study of the history and present condi- House Press. London. 1926. tion of education in Korea from 1885 to 1925. The only book of its kind. The work Our Lord's Earthly Life. David Smith. of the missions, of the native Koreans and 494 pp. $3.00. George H. Doran Co. of the Japanese GOvernment are dealt with New York. in detail. The statistical tables are graphi- o the Deep, Deep Love of lesus, and 'Other I cally presented through 42 charts and the Sacred Poems. S. Trevor Francls. 125 varying phases of education are illustrated pp. 3s 6<:1. Pickering & Inglis. Glas- by over 60 pictures and maps. gow. $4.00 Putting on Immortality. Clarence E. Macartney. 189 pp. $1.50. Fleming H. On saJe Presbyterian Book Store, Revell. New York. 1926. 156 Fifth Avenue, N. Y. City Progressive Christianity. Wm. A. Vroo- man. 368 pp. $2.50. Macmillan Co. and New York. 1926. International Press, Quiet Talks on the Crisis and After. S. D. 106 Seventh Avenue, N. Y. City Gordon. 224 pp. $1.25. Fleming H. Revell. New York. 1926.
Spring1leld Churoh Survey. H. Paul Doug- H. H. Underwood, lass. 374 pp. $4.00. George II. Doran Room 914, 156 Fifth Avenue, N. Y. City Co. New York. 1926.
(Continued 0'11 page 400.) Please mentJon THB MISSIO.NABY REVIEW OF THE WORLD 1n writing to advertisers. . PASTORS Outside the entrance to one of tbe tW() c,onvcrted flour mnls which serve as conCerence build- ings, seven mileB from Fencbow.
DR. WATTS O. PYE ADDRESSING A LARGE CONGREGATION AT A CELEBRATION IN FENCHOW IN NOVEMBER. 1921. (See arllele 0.. flage !SS)
MlS'SIONARY
~ VOL. MAY, 1926 NUMBER XLIX FIVE CONSTRUCTIVE FORCES IN CHINA N EWSPAPER dispatches do not tell the whole story of pres- ent conditions and conflicting forces in China. While there are battles and riots, robbers and bandits, strikes and anti- Christian demonstrations, there are more powerful and constructive forces quietly at work that will yet be victorious. Physical forces may make more noise and receive more attention in the public press, but the spiritual forces have been proved infinitely more powerful and more enduring.
In China, as in other lands, there are at work today the dynamic powers of God's truth and love set free and exemplified in Jesus Christ and His followers. These are operating not only in the lives and teachings of the missionaries of Christ, but also in the Chinese Christians. They are a force to be reckoned with, as has been proved in the student associations where they have prevented anti-Christian demonstrations; and in government circles where they have stood for freedom, justice and good will.
One of the positive constructive forces that is unknown or overiooked by many in America and England is the Ohinese Home Misl'Iionary Society, a nation-wide, interdenominational movement of the Chinese Church. It was organized in 1918, beginning with a small committee of seven Ohinese members, and has grown to a society with a membership of thirteen thousand Chinese Ohristians, twenty foreign missionaries acting as advisory members. The society' is almost entirely supported by the free-will offering of the native Christians. The effect of this movement upon the Ohinese Ohurch is remarkable. Seventy-four auxiliaries are now scattered all over the country representing Christians of all denominations.
At present the Society has two missions: one of them in southwest China in the province of Yunnan and the other in northeast Manchuria. Two stations in Yunnan have six Chinese missionary 325
families at work and seven stations in Manchuria are manned with seven workers. It is hoped that soon a new station will be added to the Yunnan field and a missionary will be sent to outer Mongolia.
Dr. C. Y. Cheng, President of the Society, last year made a trip to the Yunnan field to study the situation there. When he arrived in Tsuyung almost immediately the head magistrate called and expressed his desire to have missionaries sent to his district to heal the sick, enlighten the ignorant and save the spiritually lost. The head of the seven other public institutions in the city, representing the total force of the place, also welcomed Dr. Cheng and urged him to make plans as speedily as possible to occupy the district of Tsuyung, actually offering the Society large buildings free of charge. This is remarkable especially in view of the present anti-Christian movement which is prevailing throughout the land.
"In order to accept the challenging opportunity which is so full of promise," writes Rey. C. K. Lee, the executive secretary of the Home Missionary Society, "at the sixth annual meeting, it was decided to call a National Missionary Convention jn Peking the latter part of June, 1926. It is hoped that from 250 to 300 Chinese delegates from all parts of the country will spend a week together for the consideration of the problem of the missionary enterprise of the Chinese Church and a Committee on Arrangements has been appointed. Through this convention it is hoped that the missionary interest of the Chinese Church may be more thoroughly roused up, the existing missionary activities may be greatly strengthened, and the unification of the various missionary bodies may be more speedily realized."
This is the first convention of its kind ever held in China by the Chinese Church, and Christians in all lands are urged to join in prayer that wisdom may be given the leaders and that the Chinese Church may be fully missionary in spirit and Christian in practice so that it may be healthy and strong in performing its spiritual task.
A MEDICAL MISSIONS CONFERENCE T HIS conference, held in Baltimore in March, was another effective piece of interdenominational cooperation-the first of its kind. Among the eighty-seven who registered were doctors and nurses from the field, Board secretaries, doctors from the United States, and medical students, and a few lay friends. It was suggested that a medical missionary auxiliary association be organized for promoting contact between medical missionaries and the profession in America and on the field and bringing to the aid of medical missions the latent potentialities of the profession whether technical, personal or financial.
The Committee on Findings reported the following convictions that were approved by the conference:
EDITORIAL OOMMENTS
The Aim of Medical jJf.issions: 1. Generically the aim of medical missions is an integral part of the aim common to all forms of missionary work, that is, to lead people to Christ and to organize them into churches and train them to self- propagation, self-support, self-government and social service.
2. Specifically the aim is- (a) The relief of suffering. ,(b) Training a national Christian profession. (c) Removal of superstition regarding causes of disease. (d) Preventive medicine-public health. (e) To do these things in the name and spirit of Christ so as to strengthen the evangelistic work.
Distribution of Medical Missionaries: 1. We warmly endorse the projected survey of medical missionary work of India now being initiated by the National Christian Council of India, believing that it may be fruitful of great good for the mission- ary enterprise.
2. We recognize the fact that the China Medical Association is a com- pact, competent organization and we suggest that Boards and Missions should recognize and consult them in all general matters dealing with medical policy in China, and we endorse the request of the Association that Mission Boards before opening new medical work in China should advise with the authorized representatives of the China Medical Asso- ciation.
3. We hope that in the near future medical associations will be formed in areas where they do not now exist, which will be available for consultation with Missions and Boards.
4. The Conference hopes that a comprehensive study of the medical needs and problems of South America may be made as a basis for the formu- lation of a sound policy and the development of a suitable program.
S. Significant changes in the distribution of medical missionaries have occurred in the past quarter of a century. The greatest numerical advance has been in China and India, and the greatest single advance in China. The greatest shift in personnel has been the increasing proportion of nurses. In proportion to the total of men being sent out, the percentage of women physicians is not being maintained. The increase of native physicians attached to the Mission staff has increased from 229 in 1916 to 612 in 1925. In 1903 the total number of missionaries for Latin America, Africa, the Pacific Islands and Asia was 14,470, of whom 700 were medical, or one doctor to every 20% missionaries. In 1925 for these general areas there were 27,872 missionaries, of whom 1,]39 were physicians, or one physician to every 241;2 missionaries.
Problem Arising from Changing Conditions in Mission Lands: We advise that wherever possible private practitioners and government physicians of the right type, nationals of the countries in which mission medical institutions are established, be encouraged and invited to asso- ciate themselves as colleagues (on an honorary basis) in the mission hospitals and dispensaries.
"A1edical Education: We reemphasize the position that medical education is preeminently the field for cooperative interdenominaticmal work, since we believe that a
high grade medical educational institution is too large a task for any one denomination to undertake.
Health of Missionaries<: 1. We commend for further study the problem of providing a small sanitarium in Japan for missionaries in the Far East and request that the Boards consult the China Medical Association on the matter.
2. The Conference notes with appreciation the excellent work now being done by a number of mission boards in the maintenance of health of the missionary staff. Progress has been particularly gratifying in the excellent system of examinations and physical preparation for candidates which is in effect for the great majority of newly ap- pointed missionaries. We refer to: • (a) Examination that is complete according to the best modern methods of clinical diagnosis, and is made by a specially quali- fied examiner selected by the mission Board. (b) Typhoid-paratyphoid triple inoculation completed shortly be- fore sailing, and repeated every two years. (c) Small-pox vaccination. (d) Prophylactic dental care.
(e) Initiation of definite plans on the field for annual physical . examinations.
We believe further progress is needed in: (a) Psychic studies of candidates to learn trends and attitudes in order to lessen the liealth casualties due to the neuroses.
(b) Extension of typhoid preventive inoculation to all going to the field over the age of 2 or 3 years.
(c) Diphtheria immunization for all children. (d) Review of health papers submitted by candidates, by a special central medical examiner for the Board concerned. (e) Use as largely as possible of uniform health blanks by the various Boards so that the accumulation of records may serve better the purposes of future study. (f) The adoption of a practical system of continuous health rec- ord for each missionary. (g) An effective plan for health study and treatment of fur- loughed missionaries. In this connection we advise: (1) Complete examination of every member of the fur- loughed missionary family during the first month in the homeland, and preferably at the port of ar- rival.
(2) Specific recommendation to the missionary by the central medical advisor for correction of the defects noted.
(3) Refusal to approve return sailing plans until assur- ance is in the hands of the Board administrators that health is adequate to resume work on the for- eign field. This final clearance would involve a re- examination at the close of the furlough period, and also small-pox vaccination and typhoid inoculation.
3. We advise the adoption and enforcement by the Boards of rules for protective screening against flies and mosquitoes in all places where these pests threaten health. 4. We commend the plan of medical examinations now being effectively carried out by the Student Volunteer Movement.
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
p. We urge increasing cooperation between the various mission Boards and agencies in the health care of candidates and missionaries. 6. We recommend to the Committee of Reference and Counsel that they secure the cooperation of some proper agency to undertake for us and with us a study that will give us the facts on which to base future health procedures; and also to the end that we may perfect a satis- factory uniform system of vital records. 7. We recognize that the frequency and length of the furlough period in the homeland are important factors in the health of the mission- aries and we commend this matter to the Boards for their study.
Public HeaUh: 1. Public Health work and preventive medicine should receive increasing attention and support from mission Boards and medical workers in all fields, but particularly in those centers ripe for cooperative effort with national leaders in government and business.
2. We heartily endorse a systematic mission school health program which includes entrance, physical examinations and periodic examinations throughout the course with appropriate follow-up treatment, in addi- tion to the careful teaching and practice of hygiene and sanitation in the school.
Miscellaneous: We recommend that a conference on medical missions be held approxi- mately once a year if advisable and possible. We recommend to Boards careful study of the advisability of more ade- quate grants in aid for medical student volunteers.
One of the chief desires of the Conference was that such gatherings should be continued as annual affairs. The Conference was planned by the Oommittee of Reference and Counsel of the Foreign Missions Conference and was presided over by Dr. John Wood, Secretary of the Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
FAMINE AMONG KOREAN CHRJSTIANS RECENT reports from the flooded famine area in Korea show a need for continued help, though the relief distributed by the missionaries has kept thousands alive through the winter months. Contributions have come from the native churches and the local community of business and consular people, in addition to gifts from America. The flood extended for forty miles along the River Han, east and west of Seoul, the capital. Extra heavy rains occurred on both branches of the Han and peak floods synchronized in the lower river so that the river villages on both banks, including several populous suburbs of Seoul, were inundated. The water in places rose thirty to forty feet in a few hours-ten feet above any previous recorded highwater mark. Water flowed over the tracks on the railroad bridges and the railway yards and shops were under water.
Many of the villages along the river plain are built upon artifieial mounds a few feet higher than normal high water and, last
July, when the water came up to their houses and continued to rise, the villagers climbed upon their roofs to await the subsidence of the flood. Those not rescued by boats were washed away and hundreds perished. One grandmother of eighty-seven was washed away to sea on the roof of her home but was rescued. .All that remained to show the site of one village was the iron stove of the church. Others whose homes were built on hillsides when overtaken by the flood "took one another by the wrist and fled," leaving all their possessions engulfed in the muddy maw of the river. The Christian churches in this district were numerous and the suffering among Christians is intense.
The Government was quick to answer the need and private relief was poured out; so that the survivors were provided with temporary shelter and food. The Government grant for rebuilding homes destroyed was twenty· eight yen (about $13.00) per household, but as winter came on opportunity for occasional work ceased and food was hard to get. Many people, whose homes were untouched by the rising flood, lost their only means of sustenance when their crops were wiped out by the flood.
The missionaries, more conversant with the situation than the officials, have not relaxed their effort for relief, but have done all they could to keep life and heart in the stricken people. The Seoul Woman's Club, composed of about one hundred Western women, business, consular and missionary, began to provide bedding and warmer clothing for those most in need. They were assisted by many groups of native women and provided for over three thousand families. Gifts of material and money from .America were utilized in this task and when at the New Year's time the government aid Jargely ceased, the Club shouldered the added burden of feeding those still dependent on outside help. During January and February they aided some 400 families in twelve villages, more than 2,000 per- Hons being supplied the necessary moiety of food-a daily ration of half a pint of millet per adult. With this a mush was made and eked out with cabbage leaves-an occasional turnip or the wild greens gathered from the hills-they made out to live through the winter months. The cost per day, per adult has averaged 3.2 sen or about a cent and a half.
One who has visited the homes of these needy ones, often only a dugout with a thatch roof over it, writes: "I want to testify to the quiet patience of people who, while actually starving, have put the best face on their circumstances, and have, in almost every case, never whimpered."
As a result of the efforts put forth in ameliorating the hardships of the past months there has been evidenced a more receptive mind toward the Gospel of Christ on the part of villages and villagers formerly hostile. Now workers are besought to come out and teach
EDITORIAL OOMMENTS
them Christianity. Decisions for Christ have been reported in many places and again it has been proven that the spirit of service, Christ's Spirit in action, is the all-conquering argument-unanswerable.
Until the crops of the new year are ready to harvest, there will be months requiring larger supplies of nourishment for the days of labor in the fields, planting, weeding and cultivating those crops which shall end the period of relief. Some funds have been contributed for seed to replace that laid by last year but long since eaten up in these days of dire need. There is also need of replacing tools and implements of labor lost when homes, furniture and cattleall was washed away in the swirling currents of the devouring river.* E. H. M.
AMERICA'S VARIED RELIGIOUS BELIEFS I F AMERICA Were as remarkable for the quality of the religions faith and life of her people as she is for the diversity of it, there would be more encouragement to believe in the speedy improvement of our national life. Unfortunately, the listing of forty-seven million people in the membership of various churches is only a nominal connection with many. Of this number, about thirty million are enrolled in one hundred and fifty different Protestant denominations and probably at least forty millions, or nearly one third of the population, have no vital connection with any part of Christ's Church. These include Jews, Spiritualists, Buddhists, Moslems, and many other non-Christian sects.
The Christian Herald prints Dr. H. K. Carroll's statistics which show a gain in all religious bodies during the year of 807,256, or about thirty per cent more than the year before and the largest in several years.
According to the census, the Roman Catholics in the United States number 16,156,914, the Methodist Episcopal churches come next with 4,516,806 members. The Jewish congregations report 357,- 135, chiefly heads of families, Mormons number 625,160, Spiritualists 75,000. As usual Christian Scientists refuse to give any reports. No gains are given for Buddhists, Swedenborgians, Communists, Jews, Reformed Episcopal, Ethical Culture, Unitarians or Universalists. The largest increase reported is among Methodists. Catholics are credited with a gain of 203,990 during the year. The Methodists, including the South and North divisions and other variations, have a total membership of 8,920,190, and their gains of 220,183 were the largest recorded for any family group: The figures are set forth in a series of census tables, which • Contributions for Korea Flood Reltef may be sent either tbrough Russell Carter Or LUcY Lepper, ASSociate Treasurers of the Board of Foreign ~issions. 156 Fifth Avenue, New York, or if desired, directly to Mrs. A. I. LudloW', Severanoe HOspItal. Seoul. Korea.
differ in their manner of grouping allied sects. One of these is as follows: Denominations Members Gains Denominations Members Gains Adventists (5 bodies) 149,092 4,925 Evangelistic Assns. (15 Assemblies of God ", .. , 50,386 24,614 bodies) .." , …. , … , ' 13,933 Baptists (14 bodies) …. 8,397,914 104,396 Evangelical Protestant ., 17,962 Brethren (Dunkards) (4 Evangelical Synod N. A.. 305',620 1,557 bodies) ………….. 1'50',160 6,273 Free Christ, Zion (Col.), 6,225 Brethren (Plymouth) (6 Friends (4 bodies) … ,' 115,528 549 bodies) ………….. 13,244 Jewish Congregations .,' 357,135 Brethren (River) (3 Latter-Day Sts. (2 bodies) 625,160 1,416 bodies '………….. . 5,019 277 Lutheran (18 bodies) … ,2,546,127 42,485 Buddhist Japanese Temple 5,639 Catholic Apostolic (2 Scand'n Evan. (3 bodies) 42,758 bodies) …………. . 2,768 Mennonites (12 bodies) . , 85,639 ••. , , Catholic Eastern Ortho- Methodists (151 bodies), , 8,920,190 220,183 Moravians (2 bodies) .,. 27,804 1,00'2 dox (9 bodies) ……. 729,630 2,980 Non·sectarian Bible Faith 6,281 542 Catholic, Western (3 Pentecostal Churches (3 61,520 25,719 bodies) …………. 16,156,914 203,990 bodies) ………….. ]8,641 8,319 Christadelphians …….. 3,988 28 Presbyterians (9 bodies), 2,561,986 3,442 Christian Church ……. 116,469 7,969 Protestant Episcopal .. ,' 1,164,911 400 97 Christian Union …….. 17,800 300 Reformed (3 bodies) .. ,' 540,987 Church of Christ Scientist 800 Church of GO'd and Sts. of Reformed Episcopal .. '. 8,622 18,360 Salvation Army …… ,. 74,416 6,853 Christ (Col.) ..•….. 3,311 American Rescue Workers 6,946 Church of Gud (Winebren- 28,484 Schwenfelders ,.,' ….. , 1,536 ner) ………… ,". Chs. of God, Gen. As- 21,076 1,519 Social Brethren …… ,. 1,800 sembly .,., …… ,.'. 5,000 1,350 Society for, Ethical Cul- Chs. Living God (Col.) (2 6,529 3 59,767 ture …. , ",." … ' ,', 3,000 bodies) ., …….. ,.,. 4,625 New Jerusalem (2 bodies) 1,784 Spiritualists .',',',.,'" 75,000 Church of Nazarene …. 9(}7,583 28,588 Temple Society ,", .. ". 260 Communistic Chs. (2 bodies) … ,………. Unitarians .,", ….. ", 58,024 Congregational Churches. United B ret h r en (2 Discip. of Christ (2 bodies) . , , , , …. , . " 411,956 Universalists .,', …. ,.. 59,650 Independent COngrega- tions … ,,"', ….. ,' 48,673 bodies ………… '" 1,759,399 90,493 Grand total in J9025, .46,883,756 807,256 Evangelical Church .. ,', 202,992 3,090 Grand total in 1924. .46,076,000 621,630 :MISSION STUDY BOOKS FOR 1926-27 T HE Missionary Education Movement, with the Council of Women for Home Missions and the Central Committee for the United Study of Foreign Missions, have announced the publication of a large amount of material on the mission study topics of the coming year.
The foreign mission theme is "'l'he Moslem WorId " and on this there are maps, four books for seniors, four for intermediates (with a game and a cut-out sheet), three for juniors and a painting book; one for primary, one for beginners and two series of picture sheets.
The home mission topic is "The Church and Rural Life" and the books include three for adults, one for intermediates, two and a picture sheet for juniors, one book, some picture stories and a picture for primary, one book of methods and two dramas.
Send for a circular to the Missionary Education Movement, 150 Fifth Avenue.
Watts O. Pye of
The Passing ofa Missionary Statesman and Pioneer BY THE REV. CORNELIUS H . PATTON, D.D., BOSTON, MASS. Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions A TALL, rugged figure, with a gravely smiling face, a man of the Abraham Lincoln type, attempting the impossible task of describing within fifteen minutes a policy of evangelization in northwestern China, which had marked him as one of the great missionaries of modern times– that is the picture Rev. Watts O. Pye presented to that vast audience in the Washington Audi- torium at the International Mis- sionary Convention in January, 1925. Probably few who listened recall his appearance or even took serious note of what he said.
That is the fate of many a mis- sionary when conventions are depended upon to give publicity to his work.
A month later Dr. Pye was addressing banquets of prominent business men in such centers as New York, Boston, and Chicago, everywhere making a profound impression. No missionary of the American Board has ever WATTS ORSON PYE produced the same effect and Born 1878; went to ChIna 1907; dIed In China 1926. men were talking about it weeks after the event. Such expressions as these came to the Board rooms: "That man Pye is an eye-opener. " "Pye's speech was worth $10,000 to the Ameriean Board." "He converted all our delegation to an enthusiastic belief in foreign missions. ' , "I never realized before that missions were so practical." ."You ought to keep that man going up and down among the churches for several years."
Alas! In spite of his rugged appearanlle, Dr.Pye was a man of frail health. A weakness of the heart of long standing even then placed a limit upon his activities while on furlough. Upon the doctor's advice only two months could be dev9ted to such work.
333
TENCHOW 5TAT]ON NORTH CHINA MISSleN MONGOCIA 5H/ 51 Last November Dr. Pye was back in China-at Fenchow in Shensi province-and immediately he became immersed in the multifarious problems and tasks of the station and of the vast field reaching to the northern boundary of the neighboring province of Shensi and even into Mongolia. It was his custom to rise at four in the morning and to work until midnight. Like the apostle of old, he was burdened by "the care of all the churches." The strain was too great. Early in December came a sharp attack of pleurisy, followed by heart complications-a serious case from the start. There was no lack of medical attention in the hospital at Fenchow, one of the best in China, and every remedy known to medical science was available there in far-away Shansi. Human skill did its best, but the worn-out body failed to respond, and on January 9th Dr. Pye passed peacefully away. The cabled news came as a shock to the thousands in America who had listened to his voice and had looked into that strong, spiritual face.
In so far as Dr. Pye's successful achievements may be traced to correctness of policy, what is popularly known as statesmanship, we are of the opinion that Dr. Pye should be credited with missionary genius of a high order. With all the powers of his being, he believed in native leadership and responsibility. He had the courage of his convictions and he never followed any other theory. He did not wait for the Chinese to suggest it; he began by pushing them into positions of responsibility and power. In no other way, he felt, could the vast regions be given the message of Christ; in no other way could the people be made to realize that Christianity is not a foreign religion. Like the Master, he spent a large part of his time in training leaders. A year before his death, it was stated by a prominent missionary of another Board that Fenchow was better supplied with Chinese leaders in every department of work than any other mission station in China.
DR. WATTS O. PYE OF CHINA
Dr. Pye not only believed in native leadership, but he believed in a witnessing church. "Every church member a witness" was the basil> on which he organized the more than two hundred Chinese churches in his field. He cautioned pastors against doing all the personal work incident to bringing men to Ohrist. "That," he insisted, "in the main is the task of the members of the church. Your responsibility is to see that your members are willing and trained for this work." When he occupied the northern half of Shensi, he located his churches about thirty miles apart so that each church might work through a radius t>f fifteen miles as an exclusive field. The rapid spread of Ohristianity in that region during the past few years attests the wisdom of this plan.
Dr. Pye went straight for the influential men in the cities he attempted-that is, he instructed his pastors so to do. His plan was to interest at the outset the leading citrzens who had a reputa· tion for honesty and truth, men who were living according to the light they 4ad. He reminded his pastors that "God hath not left Himself witheut witness." As a rule, these men were led easily to a confession of Christ as the One they had been feeling after for many years. When such a group had been formed and instructed in the rudiments of the faith, and had opened a "Gospel Hall," Dr. Pye would appear on the scene-never until then-and with consummate skill he would use his influence and prestige for reaching officials and others of prominence. As a result of this policy his churches would be accredited to the community from the start, and within a short space of time would ordinarily become self-supporting.
A FAIR AT THE AMERICAN BOARD OUTSTATION. CHEN CHUAN PU, SHENSI This fair is held every five days. At such small cities , Mr: Pye was often heard speaking to great crowds- of Chinese who came in from the country to attend the fair.
Dr. Pye considered evangelism and social service to be integral parts of the Gospel of love. He refused to recognize the distinction. which so often prevails, and which to an unfortunate extent in Amer~ ica has placed the preachers in one camp and the settlement workers in another. Dr. Pye believed in the Parable of the Good Samaritan as well as in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Every church a center of education, of friendly help, and of uplift for the entire community, was his ideal in every place. In the country districts he made much of agriculture and he had elaborated important plans for improving the crops. One day when visiting a county-seat called Fu Ku, Dr. Pye found awaiting him an audience of five thousand men, including the county magistrate and all the officials. They presented a petition for him to locate a church in every important place in their county. When the missionary inquired why they were so keen for the church, they gave five thoroughly Chinese reasons. They insisted that they must have the church: (1) To put down banditry. (2) To build good roads. (3) To deliver their women from foot-binding. (4) To uphold the offi,cials in the enforcement of law. (5) To educate the masses in democracy.
Dr. Pye did not lose such an opportunity. He told them that the church undoubtedly could help them in all those ways, but that its primary purpose was to set them right and to keep them right with God. Dr. Pye was very careful about his plans. He never rushed into a new region without thinking through his proposition. When a generous supporter in America, a business man of New England, whose consecrated dollars became a large factor in the work, offered him a thousand dollars a year for a period of ten years for new work in Shensi, Dr. Pye spent six arduous months surveying the field. He mapped the entire area up to the Chinese Wall, listing the walled cities, estimating their population, locating the iron and coal deposits, figuring the.i1'outes of future railroads, and gathering a fund of information which indicated the developments of a long future. He selected five walled cities for the opening campaign, and into them he sent ten carefully prepared pastors, two by two, in apostolic fashion. The story of that attempt is as fascinating as any romance; but its details must be omitted here. Suffice it to say that by the time the ten years had elapsed, in a section of Shensi where hitherto not a Christian could be found, there were a hundred and sixty churches, two hundred preaching places, and a body of disciples running close to 8,000 and rapidly expanding. For a detailed description of how these results were secured one should read Dr. Pve's article in the China Mission Year Book of 1919, entitled "How Christianity Was Introduced to a Community in NorthwestChina." In the opinion of the writerihis' remarkable piece of work is to be
11126] DR. WAT'I'S O. PYE OF CHINA
accounted for on three grounds: a field providentially prepared for the Christian message, a missionary of apostolic passion and power, a man in America willing to pay the bills.
Dr. Pye was as successful in building strong institutions as he was in the pushing of work in the field. In 1907, he was sent to Fen- chow, a station that had been utterly destroyed by the Boxers.
He was the first missionary to settle there after the storm of martyrdom had passed. Today in the city of Fenchow and its sub- urbs there stand four churches (one an edifice seating a thousand, AN OUTSTATION CHURCH and crowded to the doors, at every This church. ' 60×30 ft.• built largely accord- service) a high school for boys a ing to Ingh Chinese style and architecture, was.. sch'ool for gl.l"ls, two pn.ma'ry erected by fund. raised by th. c()ngregation schoo1s, a kI' ndergarten, aBl'bel ltoelt.
training school for workers, a civic social center, a superb hospital for men and women, and six residences for missionaries.
Back of the methods was the man, and back of the man was the Spirit of God. WaUs Pye was a man of deep spirituality, and hence of unsparing devotion. He had the Divine urge. His soul was aflame with God. Modern in his views, as one would expect of a graquate of Carleton College and of Oberlin Seminary, trained by men like President King and Professor Bosworth, he. never obtruded his views and he cer- tainly did not wear a theological chip on his shoulder. He was a very winsome and tolerant man. He won your confidence with a smile. I have heard it stated that during student days he persuaded no less than thirteen others to volunteer. It was just so with the Chinese: they were THE FENCHOW CHURCH eager to do what he wanted to Used since 1924 eapeclally tor atudenta.
do. He had a quietly compelling personality. A power was his to transplant his belief, his enthusiasm, his courage, into others. Those 2
three hundred Chinese pastors and workers were, in a way, reproductions of Pye. Some may say too much so. But he could and did say with St. Paul, "Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ." Those letters of his, written in Chinese, sent every two weeks to his workers, some of them in far away and lonely places, away from their families, facing terrific problems-they too remind one of St. Paul. To a large extent he held his pastors by means of these letters.
Then once a year he brought them all together for a three-weeks' conference at a beautiful place near Fenchow. What a time was that! It gave them knowledge, good fellowship, and spiritual cheer. Dr. Pye planned for these conferences far ahead and so famous did they become that prominent missionaries from all over China ac- DR. PYE WAITING FOR THE FERRY BOAT ACROSS THE YELLOW R~VER Note the book. He always carried books with him when on tour and it was by reading in such odd moments that he became familiar. Dot only with devotional and religious Hleratur•• but also with history, science, etc.
cepted the invitation to come as speakers or leaders in Bible study and prayer. Equally effective, but in a different way, were his letters to his supporters and would-be supporters at home. A letter from Pye,became an event in the life of the recipient.
So thJ~ glorious missionary has gone! How can we account for such!d'os's! Who will fill his place? We must leave it all to God. Human speculation utterly fails. Already letters are coming, telling of the profound impression his death has made upon the Chinese and of their appreciation of Dr. Pye as an unusual man. One letter from a Chinese leader says: "How great his love, service and sacrifice are! Noway to measure them. 'Ve can just say, 'He loved and died for us.' " They are also saying, ' ,We must make good his loss; we must carryon as he would have us do."
K . L. REICHELT, HIS SON, AND KWANTU, A BUDDHIST
The Awakening of Buddhism and Some of the Results BY REV. LEWIS HODOUS, D.D., HAR,TFORD, CONN. Kennedy School of Missions BUDDHISM in different lands has responded to the ideas and methods of the new age. In Japan Buddhism has made long strides since 1889 when religious toleration was granted. Before this, a literary revival laid the foundations of the Buddhist advance. Twenty years ago there were many monasteries in Japan with roofs falling in and the decrepitude of old age manifest in all the appointments. Today such a monastery is a rare sight. Prac- 339
tically everyone of the sects is adjusting itself to modern conditions. Buddhists send their choice young men abroad to be educated. They have built Buddhist schools and universities. At present there are eleven such universities with over one thousand students.
This educational work of the Buddhists has given them an intelligent leadership. New methods are being introduced, including some adopted from those employed by Christians. Services on Sunday, the Sunday-school, the use of Christian tunes, the establishment of the Young Men's Buddhist Association, and social service are widely adopted. A selection of Buddhist sutras is bound in one volume resembling the Bible.
In 1916 the Buddhists of Japan organrzed an association for the protection and promotion of the interests of Buddhism. An association has also been organized which includes Japan, Korea, China, Mongolia, and Tibet. Chinese Buddhist monks have been invited as lecturers to the Buddhist monks of Japan and Formosa.
Buddhism has not confined its attention to the home field. In 1897 the Hongwanji sect started its mission to the Hawaiian Islands. Today it has a large central temple surrounded by educational institutions in Honolulu with 26 meeting places. In the Hawaiian Islands it has thirty-three branch stations. In the Japanese vernacular schools in the Hawaiian Islands, most of them conducted by Buddhists, there are over 20,250 boys and girls.
BUDDHISM IN CHINA The Buddhist revival in China has made considerable headway. In 1893 Dharmapala, returning from the Congress of Religions in Ohicago, stopped in Ohina with the purpose of arousing Chinese Buddhists to revive Buddhism in India. He prepared an address in which he urged the Chinese Buddhists to start missionary work in India, re-translate the Chinese sutras into Indian dialects and make preparations to spread Buddhism throughout the world.
Today the stirrings of new life are evident and the Buddhists have been repairing and rebuilding monasteries long in ruins. This is especially the case in the provinces of Kiangsu and Chekiang and the large cities.
The Buddhist publishing houses of Shanghai, Hangchow, Nanking, Peking, Yangchow, and Changchow have been busy printing Buddhist books. Buddhist bookshops dealing only in Buddhist books have been opened in the large cities. Several monthly magazines are now published. During the last few years numerous lectures on Buddhism have been delivered in all parts of China. Numerous societies for the study and spread of Buddhism have been formed and several schools for the training of leaders have been established. Men who have received their training in Buddhist schools in J apau are bringing new life into the Buddhism of China.
THE AWAKENING OF BUDDHISM AND SOME OF THE RESULTS
The Buddhists are taking an interest in social service. They have established orphanages and schools. They have done a little work in connection with the Red Oross. They have done preaching and held services for the dead in prisons and distributed quantities of Buddhist sutms. Recently a World Buddhist Association was nrgani'zed. One meeting was held in Ohina and one in Japan.
There is no question that this revival is one of the by-products of the impact of Western civiliza- _ _ _ _(_."_·_"_-·_)_—=ft=–..:::it~;:::ti tion and is the indirect result of (_._-._J OhrisFan missions.
, NTJW METHODS OF ApPROACH :these stirrings of new life amqhg the Buddhists have sug- gested great possibilities to a number of missionaries. Among these is Rev. K. L. Reichelt, professor in the Lutheran Theological School at Shekow who has been in China since 1903 and is the trans- lator of several books used in the theological schools of Ohina. He interested !himself in Buddhism, and gradually through his associa- tion with monks, he came to the conclusion that our method of ap- fj&:;!~;::~~::: proach to Buddhists was not giving us any results. In fact, it was creating a spirit of misunderstand- THE "NEW BUDDffiSM" PUBLISHED ing and opposition among them. AT NINGPO He tried another method. Instead of pointing out the weakness of Buddhism he laid stress on the positive side. He realized that there was a good deal in Buddhism on which Ohristianity might build. To him Buddhism was not entirely a departure from the light. that lighteth every man. Buddhism in the Mahayana system developed a high idea of a saviour, a paradise, called the" Pure Land," salvation by faith, the unity of all life, the power of love to all beings and other noble ideas. He felt that Christianity could use these and by this approach to the monks in several years he made a large number of friends among them. He is well known as a Ohristian missionary in the monasteries of the Yangtze valley. His influence among the monks not only produced friendship, but he was able to direct a few toward the great Friend and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
When the small group of Buddhist friends realized the Ohristian life they at once wanted to extend the blessing which they found to others. Accordingly they decided to form a Ohristian brotherhood
among the Buddhists of China. In order to make real to themselves this new life and its implications they have made various rules for themselves and the future brotherhood. Among these are four vows which each convert is to take upon himself : "1. I promise before the Almighty and Omniscient God, that I of my whole heart surrender myself to the true Trinity, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I will of my whole heart have faith in Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world who gives completion to the profoundest and best objects of the Higher Buddhism. I will live in this faith now and ever after.
"2. I promise solemnly before God wit.h my whole heart to devote myself to the study of the true doctrine and break wholly with the evil manners of the world and show forth in my public and private life that I am truly united with Christ.
"3. I promise that I in every respect will try to so educate myself that I can be of use in the work of God on earth. I will with undivided heart devote myself to the great work: to lead my brethren in the Buddhist Association forward to the understanding of Christ as the only One who gives completion to the highest and profoundest ideas of Higher Buddhism.
"4. I promise that until my last hour I will so work that out from our Christian Brotherhood may grow forth a strong Church of Christ among the Buddhists. I will not permit any evil thing to grow in my heart, which could split the Brotherhood, but always try to promote the progress of every member in the knowledge of the holy obligations laid down in these vows and our constitution."
For the extension of such a brotherhood Mr. Reichelt planned a central institute to resemble a Buddhist monastery in its architecture and organization, also with certain neutral customs observed by Buddhists. The Institute is now in rented quarters near an East Gate in Nanking. On the hills, two li outside of the Northeast Gate of Nanking, a site has been purchased. It overlooks the Yangtze River and is opposite Purple Mountain. Here a small building was Ilrected last year. On this site will be built the permanent home of the Institute which will be known as "The Brotherhood of Religious Friends of the Mountain of the Great Luminous Wind."
The Institute will include a hostel for traveling monks who may stay as long as they work in harmony with the ideals and rules of the schools. From these visitors are drawn the students in the schools and recruits and workers for the Christian churches.
The preaching hall for the teaching of religion will contain a hall of meditation where the members may spend quiet hours of meditation and communion with God.
Any successful work for Buddhist monks must provide a means of livelihood as the monk is helpless when he breaks away from the Buddhist monastery. The layman suspects him and his former brother spurns him. The Institute furnishes employment to tide the monk over until he can find something to do.
The Brotherhood gives full liberty to all its members to marry and to conduct their life as seems best in accordance with Christian principles.
1926J THE AWAKENING 01!' BUDDHISM AND SOME OF THE RESULTS
The policy and plan of the institute are as follows: 1. The es.tablishment of a Central Institute for work among the 400,000 BuddhISt monks, and the large number of devoted lay Buddhists with a view to lead them into the Christian Church.
2. The Institute will have five depart- ments; (a) Evangelistic, by means of Bible classes to prepare the visitors for church membership. j(iJ (b) Educational, the establish- ~] ment of a taining school .*.- it for qualified monks for the 1; purpose of fitting them for —…~ various forms of Christian -"l"!' service in the Institute, its i.1 branches and the Church .in China. 41 (c) Medical, to establish a hos- pital for disabled monks, and as a place of training for monks who have de- cided to become nurses.
(d) Literary, to produce liter- ature essential to the work. "THE SOUND OF THE SEATIDE"
(e) Hospitality, to receive and Goye:"':.~d~:t Sraan~:l.ne. Title written by the entertain for study and worship monks from all parts of China.
3. The establishment of branches of the Institute in various parts of China.
4. The Institute will cooperate with the churches of China.
Foreign Btaff: One Director. One Business Manager. One Educationist. One foreign Physician. One foreign-trained male Nurse.
Chinese Staff: One Pastor. One Evangelist. Four Teachers also for literary work. One Chinese Manager. A Staff of Assistants. One Chinese Physician.
The Institute enjoys the sympathetic cooperation of the churches of China. The Lutheran Church of China has not only approved the unde.rtaking, but is backing it financially. The success of the work has been remarkable. In 1924, about 850 monks visited the institution. In the school, 20 students have been enrolled.
The enterprise is one of the most significant developments in missionary work. This significance consists not merely in the purpose of employing the spiritual heritage of Buddhism, but in the fact that the approach is not made primarily by the inculcation of doctrine, or by social service, but through worship and mysticism.
The Old Watchman of Suez* BY H. E. JONES, EGYPT GENERAL MISSION, SUEZ O LD Ibrahim is eighty years of age. For the last four years, he had been night-watchman at the oil refinery. He used frequently to come to the book room, and we had some long talks together. He would often bring some of his "holy" books to read to me, but I was not allowed to touch them lest I should deiile them. I asked if he would like to have a Gospel to read, but he always refused.
One day he called in great distress for he had been discharged from his work. He was found asleep while on duty, and, said he, "They discharged me for sleeping ten minutes in four years!" This was a great trial to poor old Ibrahim, as, at his age, it was impossible to get work. He thought he could do very well if he had a small shop and sold charcoal, but where was the money to stock his shop 1 He suggested I should lend him two pounds and every Sunday morning he would wait until 1 came out of church and then put in my hand the profits of the week and thereby soon payoff the money he had borrowed.
"Well, Ibrahim," I said, "I am very sorry, but I never lend money so I am afraid I cannot help you in that way." The poor old man went away very sorrowful, but at that time was willing to take a tract that I offered him. This was a little colloquialtraet, "Consider the lilies of the field." A few days after he came back much happier, and said he had been able to stock his shop with charcoal. "And how did you manage that?" I asked. "'Veil," said he, "when the charcoal merchant saw me with that little tract, he asked to read it, and, having done so, he said, 'If that is what you read I can trust you,' and so he let me have enough eharcoal to start my business."
From that time, old Ibrahim was getting more interested and more willing to listen to the Gospel. One morning, quite early, the bell of the book room was rung, and on opening the door there was old Ibrahim. He walked in, and, as soon as he had sat down, said: "Sir! I want to ask you a question: how long have you been working for the Lord?" I told him I had been working for the Lord thirty years. Then he asked, "Have you ever seen the Lord 1" "No," I answered, "I have never seen Him." "Then," said he, "I have, and that's my luck, for last night I had a dream; standing by me was someone most beautiful to look upon; He was so beautiful that I turned my head and was ashamed to look upon his face. I said, 'Who are you l' and he replied, 'I am the Lord,' and oh! sir, when He said that, then I knew that all you have been telling me was true and I must believe. There were three others standing by, and they must have been His disciples." From that day old Ibrahim could say, "I am in Christ and Christ is in me."
Our prayer for old Ibrahim is that "he may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length, and depth and height, and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge."
• From "Egypt General News.'"
Basis for the Home Mission Appeal-
BY. JAY S. STOWELL, LYNBROOK, N. Y.
Publicity Secretary of the Methodist Episcopal Board of Home Missions T HE home mission publicist is today beset with many meta- phorical devils. One perennially whispers in his ear, "You must write or deliver such interesting home mission stuff that even a blind man will be forced to read it or a deaf man to listen to it. " The twin brother of that particular devil shouts in the other ('ar, "Whatever else you do, tell only those things which will bring in the shekels." All the while, however, the home' mission promoter knows that certain things have happened and are continuing to happen all about him, over which he has no control, but which have a very direct bearing upon his own task. A brass band can break up even a prayer meeting and the sliding of quicksand will wreck the strongest s.tructure.
The world has moved fast and far in recent decades. Foundation conceptions for a generation considered impregnable are today being boldly questioned. The World War, the spread of the ideas of Christianity itself, and enlarging conceptions of" democracy," "selfdetermination" and the like have stirred the thinking of mankind, while modern industrial developments have greatlyt modified and, in some cases, entirely revolutionized living conditions. So rapid and so radical have been these changes on foreign fieldsl that foreign mission boards are being forced to rethink their problems and to seek new sanctions for their tasks.
With such a radical upheaval on a world scale now in process, it would be too much to expect that home mission agencies should escape similar compulsions; in fact the pressure is already upon us. Never was it more important for home mission leaders to think clearly and to proceed humbly but boldly. It is a good time to glimpse some of the newer factors! in our situation-to pause and consider whether we have a home mission appeal, what it is, and whether we are presenting it in an effective and, not least important, in a Christian manner.
Home missions are today under criticism and even suspicion in many quarters. We may take the foolish ostrich method of hiding our heads in the sand' and declaring that there is no criticism or that there is no truth in it, or we may face it frankly, try to discover the facts, and attemptJ vigorously to remedy any evils that exist. The latter: method is the only wise one.
The most valuable asset of home mission boards today is the confidence of the churches which they represent. Doubtless ltome * From a paper read before the joint session of the Home Mis~tonts Council and the Council ot Women tor HOOle Missions, St. LolliS, Missouri, Jan. 23, 1926, 345
missions have always had their critics, but probably never before have the very motives of home mission agencies been brought into question more openly and the wisdom of methods of home mission administration been so sharply questioned as during the past two years. Because this unprecedentedly critical attitude and direct attack has been quite largely outside of the churches and has not been blatant within our own organizations we have sometimes been inclined to underestimate its importance. It has had an insidious and far-reaching effect, however, and there can be little doubt that it has directly and indirectly diverted large sums from home mission treasuries and has weakened our appea1 to our respective constituencies. In the long run the home mission enterprise will win or lose on its merits, but advertising is also a factor in the situation of too great importance to be disregarded. Home mission agencies have perhaps the finest record of service, both as to the extent and nature of work done, of any philanthropic agencies in the United States today. We admit that we have made mistakes and are still making mistakes in home mission policy and expenditures. That is a very real embarrassment to our publicity program.
Most of our home mission money may be spent in ways hardly open to fair criticism, but a reputation constructed upon such a foundation is insecure. The man who gets drunk but once a year may feel very virtuous, but that one day's spree will ruin the reputa- tion of 364 days of sober conduct. We should not rest easy until we have a record which will bear inspection clear through to the end in our church and community work and certainly not less in what we call our mission school work.
Many errors grow out of the simple fact that, owing to present methods of procedure, we rarely seem able to look at the home mission task in a given community, or a given region, in a statesmanlike way. Instead, we sit down in a dozen different denominational home mission offices and think of our particular relationship to the field in question without knowledge of what is going on in other similar groups with reference to the same field. We have not begun to realize the possibilities for improving our work by the simple procedure of planning our work together. There are also types of home mission work which can best be administered jointly. We have made some progress in joint planning, notably in Porto Rico and the Dominican Republic, in work at Indian Government Schools, in some cities, in a few states like Montana, and in some other fields. As yet, however, we have merely touched the fringes of the situation. Until we arrive at a place where every important appropriation for buildings or maintenance in every community in the United States is reviewed by all the agencies concerned with that field and is thought of as part of a unified program for that community and until we have eliminated aU duplicatory or competitive expending
THE BASIS FOR THE HOME MISSION APPEAL
of home mission funds, we shall be open to just censure. Many of us believe in the possibility of an effective League of Nations made up of groups whose interests are more or less selfish. How much easier is it to believe in an effective league of home mission agencies made up of people who have named the name and are seeking to show the spirit of Jesus Christ. Until we arrive at the place where all our home mission activities are controlled primarily by allegiance to Jesus Christ and secondarily by denominational considerations, rather than the other way around, your publicity representatives will be in a continuous state of embarrassment and the cause will suffer.
Overlapping is not however the only sin with which we have been charged. We have been accused of raising money for one purpose and spending it for another. Probably there is no illegal use of designated funds, but doubtless we have played up certain picturesque home mission fields out of proportion to the actual amount of money expended upon them. Certainly we must apply far n;tore :r:igid tests to all of our home mission pUb-licity and educational material today than we have in the past. The following facts will serve as an illustration. Fifteen years ago we made an appeal for the 50,000 Indians in the United States for whom no home mission agency was so much as attempting to provide a religious ministry. Although since that time several hundred million dollars have been deposited in home mission treasuries and duly expended, we find that there are still in the United States 50,000 Indians for whom no home mission agency is so much as attempting to provide a religious min·· istry. Do we seriously intend to provide for those 50,000 Indians 7 If not, is it a legitimate procedure to continue to exploit the fact stated as an argument for home mission support 7 If we really intended to reach 50,000 Indians, is the task beyond the means or resources of home mission agencies f We should base our appeal for support upon the record of our present work and our actual program for the future.
This leads us to discuss the second factor in the present situation, namely, a rapidly rising tide of racial and group consciousness, a growing impatience with any suggestion of inferiority or superiority and an awakened conscience on the part of earnest Christians relative to the Christian way of life in race relationships.
In recent years home mission literature of a promotional and educational sort has given much attention to what have been known as the "backward groups" in our national life. Volumes have been written about the American Indian and pictures show him in fantastic regalia until the average American child could no more think of an Indian without feathers than he could think of rain without water. In like manner we have dwelt upon the log cabins of the people who chance to reside in our eastern mountains, and upon the one-room shacks of the Negroes of the South. The stock in trade
of the home mission publicist has been that we have 300,000 Indians in the United States; 11,000,000 Negroes; 3,000,000 mountaineers; 300,000 Mormons, and 36,000,000 people of foreign birth or parent- age. We have rung the changes upon these facts until the suggestion of anyone of the groups mentioned immediately calls to mind a cer- tain type which our literature has helped to create. The mountaineer must of necessity be a log-cabin dweller, the Indian a fantastic per- son of movie characteristics, and the foreign-born a "problem."
Is this presentation fair~ Is it Ohristian 1 Oan we continue along the old lines without endangering the entire future of our pro- gram?
On foreign mission fields we see today peoples whom we have been accustomed to think of as neglected and submerged groups are beginning to assert themselves rather vigorously. The Ohinese, for example, may need our religion and our particular type of culture, but they seem inclined to say that they will not accept them, if they are to be imposed upon them and if accepting them means that they must lose their self-respect in the bargain. What is happenmg on the foreign mission field is happening also in the United States. The unfortunately-labeled "backward groups" are tremendously sensi- tive about what is said of them in print. Pictures used in publicity work and phrases which seemed harmless have brought forth a storm of protest. Negroes do not care to have the impression continued that 11,000,000 ragged Negroes live in one-room cabins on a hand-tomouth plane of existence. It is not true; there are thousands of them that have ample incomes, comfortable homes, bath tubs, and college educations.
Facts are changing, but, more important than that, new declarations of independence are being written, this time by the Negroes themselves and they are helping ns to see that home mission publicity must meet other requirements than that of part-truth. Nor is the mountaineer inclined to remain happy under similar exploitation. I rode past the home of one such mountaineer recently. He is one of the 3,000,000 of whom we talk, yet he was living upon a farm recently purchased for $50,000 in payment for which he had drawn a $50,000 check. Over large areas good roads and countless coal and other industrial developments have radically changed living conditions and attitudes toward life, throughout the mountain regions. Many mountain dwellers are still living in log cabins, but even the cabin dweller cares little for our assistance, if, in exchange for it, his hard circumstances must be exploited throughout the land. An old mountaineer said recently to a traveler about to take, without permission, a picture of his cabin, "No, no, friend, you can't do that. You can't make fun of us just because we're living hard." Even the Mexicans, our newest arrivals, feel the sting of shame and their leaders have pleaded with tears in their eyes that we shall not exploit their poverty and their need throughout the land.
THE BASIS FOR THE HOME MISSION
Surely an important part of our home mission task has to do with the development of personality and the establishment of atti- tudes of kindness, good will, and respect for the other fellow and his point of view. We are under obligation, therefore, continually to study our methods of home mission promotion to see whether they are in line with our central Christian purpose. Can we afford to go on with a propaganda based on group consciousness and group dif- ferencel;l, thus tending to perpetuate those differences and keep alive friction and ill will, while we claim at the same time that we are work- ing to break down differences and to create an America which is a unit and to build a spiritual community where the accidents of race or social groupings do not countf While we cannot ignore in matters of home mission policy deep-seated sociological differences, there is reason to believe that these are fewer and of far less importance than we have sometimes imagined. The fact is that what we can do for the Indian of Oklahoma, the Negro of Mississippi, the cabin- dweller of the Southern mountains, the Mexican of California, the Italian of New York, the Ozech of Chicago, or the descendants of the Pilgrims on the stony farms of New England is pretty much of a piece, and the question which is forcing itself upon our attention is whether we can further our task and really express the spirit of Jesus Christ better by emphasizing the physical peculiarities of indi- viduals and environment, or the vital task which we are trying to perform. Can we then afford to raise home mission money at the price of the self-respect of those whom it is supposed to benefiU Starvation both physical and spiritual is still preferred by sensitive souls to being listed as a charity case or having one's need exploited before the public, and we may well thank God that it is so. Can we flot afford to sacrifice something of the picturesque if necessary for the sake of being Christian ~ We cannot use the pictures which we have used in the past nor make the statements which we have made, and, now that our con- sciences are aroused, we would not wish to do so. Surely we would not wish to give such undue attention to groups or individuals as will seem unkind, do moral harm or create unfortunate mental atti- tudes. We would not wish to use statements which would tend to humiliate or decrease the self-respect of the people concerned, or to use statements and stories which tend to perpetuate unnecessary so- cial groupings, or to create irritation between groups.
Is there not reason to believe that we shall succeed best by stress- ing in our publicity and in our policies the spiritual nature of our task and by minimizing the physical peculiarities of a few groups?
Is it not time for us to examine our statements with the old-fashioned test recorded in our school readers: "Is it true; is it kind; is it necessary?" .
The third factor in the present situation is the radical change during the past fifteen years in the" immigration problem. " Fifteen
years ago we were confronting an enormous influx of laborers from 80uthern and southeastern Europe. A million newcomers a year, was a situation to conjure with. We talked freely about the foreigner and his family, about the immigration problem and about "Americanization." In the name of the latter we did some very crude and very unwise things. In 1914, however, this stream of immigration was suddenly cut off at its source and the tide began to turn the other way. Following the war we reversed the historic policy of more than a century and closed our open door to European immigration. So far as we can now see it will remain closed for many years if not permanently. The smaller number of European immigrants now coming to us are of a different type and lose themselves more readily in the complex of our national life. Last year, for example, more Italian laborers left this country than came into it.
As a result of the causes mentioned our so-called "foreignspeaking" colonies in our great cities are made up chiefly of people who have been in America from twelve to thirty years, and of their <.>hildren and their children's children. In view of these facts is it wise, for example, to continue our emphasis upon the fact that one third of our population is of foreign birth or parentage and therefore represents a home mission field 1 To be sure many of that particular group are outside of the evangelical churches, but other members of it are serving as pastors of some of our biggest churches, home missionaries, home mission board secretaries, bishops, editors of church papers, employees of mission offices, and in multitudes of other professions and callings. Hundreds of thousands of them, at least, are members of our American Protestant churches. To continue to speak and think of our foreign-language group as a unit is not only not according to the facts, but it also tends to hinder the very process which we are trying to promote, namely, the incorporation of these newcomers as an integral part of our national life. There are increasing signs that a growing impatience is being felt, particularly on the part of the second and third generations, when we insist upon emphasizing their racial extraction rather than thinking of them as fellow Americans. Not long ago a so-called "Bohemian" settlement was inclined to resent the sending of a well-educated, and otherwise acceptable, preacher of Bohemian parentage to their community on the ground that they were Americans and not Bohemians, and that the selection of that particular worker for their field was an affront to them. In another church it became necessary to change the name of the organization because the younger generation refused to belong to a church with a foreign name. These people do not wish to be exploited in home mission propaganda even though they may be sympathetic with our purposes and aims.
A fourth factor in the present situation is an unprecedented period of national prosperity. "Home Mission" regions which can
THE BASIS FOR THE HOME MISSION APPE'AL
be identified by the poverty of the people who live in them are getting fewer and fewer. vVe can not build our home mission program of the future on the appeal of sympathy for people who live in log cabins. Uncle Sam's family is moving out of the cabin as rapidly as possible hut its spiritual need continues. A home mission program founded upon the assumption that certain groups in the United States are foreordained to permanent poverty and certain other groups to af- fiuence is on a precarious footing. Mr. Samuel Crowther, after ex- tended studies in every part of the country, says: "There is" (in the United States) "no poverty other than voluntary or due to acci- dents or disease and that is negligible. Weare, excepting in a few sections, solidly prosperous, with a buying power beyond compre- hension. " We cannot build our home mission program upon a basis . of sympathy for poverty-stricken groups in our national life. Theo- retically, at least, home missions is no more concerned with poverty than with wealth. Its concern is with spiritual and moral values. New York is the richest city in the United States yet it is avowedly our greatest home mission field. The sympathy plank in our plat- form is bound to prove less than adequate, not only in New York, but in nearly every other field. The ideal Christian attitude is not one of sympathy for the downtrodden, but rather of fellowship with the uplifted. Sympathy for the unfortunate is doubtless commendable when such sympathy is necessary, but it is repugnant to many sensi- tive souls and it very easily shades off into an unchristian "supe- riority" complex which is today one of the chief curses of the world. '1'he fact is that our home mission responsibility bids fair to continue long after bath tubs and Ford cars have been universally distributed.
A. fifth factor in the present situation, with which the home mis- sion pUblicist must deal but which we can only mention here, is a marked change in our religious thinking. The appeals which were effective when home missionaries went out to fight the devil single- handed in frontier towns and save hardened sinners from a bottom- less pit are not so effective today. Our work must be justified in the moral and spiritual values which it creates here and now.
A. sixth factor which has grown out of practical experience is an amazing new emphasis upon the importance of work with young people. Our emphasis has swung from adult evangelism to the im- portance of Christian nurture for the rising generation. Right here we believe is to be found both our future success and the appeal upon which we can base our program for the years to come.
We are convinced that home missions has a great future, greater than anything the past has witnessed or even dreamed, and a com- pelling appeal. That appeal is one for adequate religious oppor- tunities for the rising generation, quite regardless of whether the members of that generation are red, black, y!'lllow, brown, or white; whether they are tall or short, fat or slim, long-haired or bobbed; whether they live in log cabins or in six-room houses. It is the ap-
peal to make America Christian by raising up a generation of Christian youth.
The fundamental task of home mission boards is we believe an educational task-educational evangelism, if you choose to call it so, but because the educable years are the years of youth our home mission task is essentially and must always be a task with the rising generation. We may have to spend some time and energy to keep our adults as good as they now are, but to attempt to make America Ohristian by centering our attention upon work with adults is a hopeless task. The sooner we face that indisputable fact and take its implication seriously the sooner shall we set ourselves in the way of real achievement. Already the greatest boards of Christian nurture in the United States are our home mission boards, and that new conception of the home mission task is manifesting itself in the new. types of buildings which we are erecting, in the enlarged staffs of workers which we are employing for individual churches, in the sort of training which is more and more being demanded of home mission workers, in the new type of program in our city churches, in the employment of rural directors of religious education, and in the amazing growth of daily vacation church schools and week-day religious instruction under home mission auspices.
Our chief task is to make available for all communities the opportunities in religious training now available for the young people of our more favored places. The fact is that, so far as we know, there is no other way and has been no other way since the beginning of the Christian era to make Christians except by the education process. It took years of education to pave the way for the first convert on the foreign mission field and, within recent years, we have seen earnest, consecrated missionaries turn away tens of thousands of applicants eagel' to be baptized as Christians and always there is the one reason, "Because we have no one to teach the people."
There are millions of boys and girls in our great cities and in our sparsely settled rural regions growing up with no religious training and millions of others whose opportunities for Christian nurture are very inadequate and inferior. In general it is the supreme business of home mission agencies, to meet that need. When we have made available for every boy and girl in America the opportunities which some boys and girls are now enjoying, and not until then, may we retire. If the foregoing interpretation is correct there is everything to be gained by acknowledging that fact and shaping the organi·zation of our home mission boards to that end. In some cases it will involve far closer relationships with, if not actual unification with, denominational boards of Sunday-schools or boards of education and in some cases it will call for an entire reshaping of departments within home mission boards. A combination of the educational leadership now available in our Sunday-school and church school boards with
THE BASIS FOR THE HOME MISSION APPEAL
the financial resources of our home mission boards would enable us to make an almost irresistible impact upon our task.
Our appeal is an evangelistic appeal, the evangelism of youth and through the educational process. That means a spiritual appeal, for education is not concerned with complexions, skin textures, the contour of noses, the shape of skulls, or the slant of eyes; it is concerned with the things of the mind and the heart.
If I were to define the aim of home missions I would say that it is to contribute its part toward winning individuals to Jesus Christ and toward the complete Christianization of America by helping to build up and make permanent and self-supporting in neglected or under-privileged communities as good religious leadership and as adequate religious facilities and opportunities, particularly for the rising generation, as are now available in our more favored communities. The first responsibility of home missions, however, is to develop the spiritual and economic resources of the community for the support of its own adequate religious institutions and programs of work. At that point we have often failed.
There is reason to believe that home mission churches, home mission schools, and home mission agencies of every sort are suffering because we have made so little effort to define our aims, to standardize the qualifications for home mission service, and to standardize the process by which we are trying to realize our slogan of "America for Christ." Surely we have learned some things by experience and we could make some progress in standardizing home mission ideals and methods if we undertook to do so.
Any attempt to apply seriously the conception of home missions foluggested in this paper would involve at least some of the following elements: (a) Cooperative, interdenominational planning for all communities in which work is undertaken or carried on.
Cb) Cooperative interdenominational administration of certain types of work.
(c) Closer affiliation with or union with denominational and interde- nominational agencies for religious education.
Cd) Employment of many community teachers of religion in addition to, or in some cases, in place of preachers.
(.,) Investment of church extension funds only in buildings making ade- quate provision for Il program of religious nurture for youth.
Cf) An organization of home mission agencies so far as possible along functional lines.
(g) More attention given to the development of the financial and per- sonal resources of the community than to the securing of outside financial assistance for the community.
(h) More attention to communities now nominally "self-supporting" re- ligiously, but in which the religious ministry is of a very inferior type. '
(i) More effort to get local churches to extend their ministry to needy groups of every sort in their respective communities.
3
(j) In general higher salaries for better trained workers. (k) Possibly it would lead ultimately to the abandonment of the term "missionary" which often places an unfortunate stigma upon our work. Even so-called "backward" groups are becoming impatient with being" missionized." The adoption of some term such as "Na- tional Board," "National Board lor Christian Service," or "National Service Board" would tend to relieve us of some embarrassment and also free us for becoming genuine leaders in a national program of religious service. (1) A frank recognition of the fact that the hope of building a Chris- tian America lies with the rising generation.
Our home mission publicity is so closely associated with matters of home mission policy that we can hardly discuss the one without the other. The future of home missions depends largely upon the clear heads and the honest hearts of its leaders. Our home mission appeal can be permanently effective in proportion to the wisdom with which our program is laid out, and the worthiness of the policies which control it.
At the Old Crossing-A Home Mission Incident BY THE REV. MURDOCH MACKINNON, D.D., TORONTO, CANADA Minister of the Runnymede United Church "THERE is a farmer living sixteen miles north of here, a good friend of mine and devoted to the Church, but he has had a hard time of it with crop failures and other disappointments, and I question if he can do anything to justify our going so far."
Carmichael knew every settler for miles around and looked in on them whenever he could, but he did not want to waste his time or that of the Moderator of the General Assembly in a vain quest for subscriptions. The Moderator had been assigned the herculean task of raising a million dollars as a Century Fund. He too, wanted to save time, but his heart turned in the direction of the farmer, who was at once a friend of the minister and of the church.
"Carmichael, we'11 go out and see them anyway. The trail is good and your ponies are in fine fettle. "
Dr. Robert Campbell was a big man-physically, and big in human sympathy and in his vision of the opportunities of the Church. When the agent of the Century Fund arrived at the farmhouse, Mr. Tate was out in the field, but his wife was at home and invited them to dinner. The greeting she gave "our own Carmichael" as she called him, and her welcome to the Moderator, was in itself sufficient reward for the two-hour trip. The modest house had been built when lumber was scarce and money scarcer. Twenty-five years ago the
AT THE OLD OROSSING-A HOME MISSION INCIDiENl'
Western farmers had not learned the art of raising bountiful haryests on dry farming principles, for the secret of the conservation of moisture still lay hidden in Nature's recesses. All this and more was evident from the appearance of the Tate farm.
When Mr. Tate arrived his welcome was no less cordial than that of his wife. "1 wanted to tell you about the Century Fund and the endowments," said Dr. Campbell. "-What is it forf"_ Mr. Tate interjected. "Oh, it's for our mission work, for our colleges where we train our ministry, for our benevolent funds, and other worthy objects. " "I'll have to talk it over with mother," replied the farmer, as Dr. Campbell threatened to expound the mysteries of endowments and the possibilities and prospects of the Century Fund.
The afternoon was precious to the farmer for every day meant an opportunity of cheating the early autumn frost of its spoil. But it was not a matter of time with William Tate this day. To the kitchen he went to talk over the matter of "The Century Fund" in their own direct way.
"Let me see the subscription paper," he ventured, as he returned to the sitting room.
"Oh, Mr. Tate, we must leave that until after dinner when 1 can explain fully to you this great movement. 1 want to tell you about the great importance of our home mission work and the doors that are beginning to open in heathen lands."
"Yes, but mother and 1 have talked this over and 1 would like to see the paper." He took the subscription paper and wrote: NAME ADDRESS AMOUNT "William Tate" "Hungry Hollow" "$500.00"
The Rev. John Carmichael, who knew the circumstances, could not believe his eyes. Dr. Campbell was thunderstruck. The whole place, farm, buildings and stock, did not look to be worth five hundred dollars. The agent of the Century Fund spoke: "You must tell me the story of this subscription. I had no thought of so magnificent a gift."
"We'll tell you," Mr. Tate acquiesced, with a slight touch of pathos, mingled with an unconscious sense of triumph in what they had been able to do. "It was like this," he began. "-We came here eighteen years ago last August with the first C. P. R. passenger train. We took up .Iani'! on the banks of the Wascana Creek. The trees and water, what there is of them, we liked because the place reminded us of home. We had no neighbors for miles around, times were hard and away from our old friends we were very lonely at first. But when our little daughter came we were a happy pair. She was great company for us both and we loved her so. When she was six years old, she took
ill one day, and we sat up with her for a few nights. That was eight years ago on the 10th of April. Late one night a knock came to the door. It was the missionary who had seen the light in the window and came to inquire how we were. Finding we had sickness he remained all week, helping to nurse our little girl. He brought the water, cut the wood, and kept the fire going. He looked after the barn and helped mother about the kitchen. He did not leave us until Sunday morning about two o'clock when he started for his seventynine-mile drive to keep his three preaching appointments. At four o 'clock on Monday morning he was back again and stayed all that week until she died. There was a little lumber in the building out there and he took charge and did everything."
Straightening himself with an effort the father looked wistfully out of the window. "Do you see that little cross out in the field there T She is buried there. He made that cross with his own hands. After that he came to see us every week. Five hundred dollars! Five thousand if we had it, for it was the missionary who came to us in our hour of need. But for him God only knows what would have become of us I"
Family worship over, Dr. Oampbell and the Rev. John Oarmichael departed. They left the Tate home with a new estimate of the missionary and his place, with a fresh enthusiasm for the great work of the Ohurch, and with a deeper appreciation of the deprivations and tragedies incident to the task of building up a new civilization upon the virgin soil of the great western plain. A light that never was on sea or land illumined them. "Five hundred dollars! five thousand if we had it." The words reverberated through the chambers of generous and grateful hearts as they sped over Wascana Oreek, up the slopes of Hungry Hollow, on past the Old Orossing, on over the winding Indian trail, on to their next appointment.
AMERICA'S PROVIDENTIAL PREPARATION n .AMERIOA has enjoyed a providential preparation for exerting a Ohristian, world-wide, gentle, but predominating iniluence. It was well born in poverty and in the right zone for rugged growth. Its inheritance and environment have attracted many people of ambition and achievement from all over the world. ,{lmerica had a new and strong start in life. Its driving power must be Ohris-·" tian. In it, the ideal man of world-wide vision and sympathy can be developed. America has had plenty of room in which to develop a national laboratory. Its experim!3nt of life in the open air of freedom has attracted many millions of men wearied of natural oppression and of religious despotism. America is the crucible in which many national strains are being mixed. Let the dross be cast aside so that the new amalgam may be formed for the making of the world's best leaders!
Years of Progress in Mexico *
BY REV. JOHN HOWLAND, D.D., MEXICO CIT'Y President of the Union Theological Seminary in Mexico I T IS more than half a century since evangelical missions def- initely began work in Mexico. Many are the changes that have taken place in that time. Although some may be simply coinci- dent with the implantation of the Gospel, the study is suggestive.
Politically, the first thirty years and more of the half century were passed under the "benign despotism" of President Diaz. Then followed ten years of revolution, with its kaleidoscopic changes of rulers and political platforms. Finally, a president succeeded in completing his term and the office was peacefully transferred to his successor, thus making a new epoch in Mexican history. As the political orga;nization has acquired stability and strength, it has shown a progressive purpose and an increasingly ample vision. Economy in administration is saving millions annually: roads are being constructed and improved; education pushed forward in every way; the small owner of land encouraged and helped to independence; and the principles and practice of real democracy constantly developed.
In education greater progress has been made than in any other department. Many "model" school buildings have replaced rented quarters that were wholly unsuited to the purpose; a stadium has been constructed in the capital, which is in almost constant use and competes with the near-by bull-ring; free public libraries have been opened in many parts of the city of Mexico and throughout the country; large editions of classical works, including the Protestant version of the Gospels, have been published by the Department and sold at a nominal price and given to schools and libraries; groups of "educational missionaries" have been sent to all parts of the country, and thousands of volunteer teaches have been enrolled to teach the rudiments to groups of children and adults among the rural population. While private schools, and especially those of a religious character, are not encouraged on account of the very general distrust of the teaching under Roman Catholic influence, a very striking testimony to the value of the work of the evangelical mission schools has been given by the way in which the product of these schools has been utilized in all departments of public service, and very especially in the Department of Education. Lectures, posters, screen exhibits, leaflets, school instruction, night classes for study and industrial training, and broadcasted instruction are some of the methods employed for the education of the people. Fifty years ago there were few newspapers of real value in the whole country, and what there • Condensed from The MisSti!onary Herald} Boston) Jan., 1926.
357
were depended largely on subsidies from the Government. Now the newsstands offer a large variety of publications of positive value, and several of the dailies are well up to the times in every way.
For centuries, the work of the country was done by the peon, who was practically a serf. His usual wage was twenty-five cents per day. Now the minimum is about a peso, and skilled labor receives from three to ten or more pesos per day. There is a court of arbitration, open to all, for the settlement of disputes about wages and labor. The unions have become very strong, and largely control all matters of wages and the employment and discharge of workmen. An interesting movement has taken place in the purchase of lots and the building of homes.
The retirement from the country of many of the old families, and the loss of prestige of others by the destruction of their property during the revolution, together with the economic and intellectual progress of the working classes, are elements that have contributed to the breaking down of the former social barriers. In the old days, the poor man would walk in the street with his hat in his hand, not thinking it his right to join his superior on the sidewalk. Now, it is each for himself, and if there is any aggressive assertion of rights, it is likely to be by the workman and his family.
The success of the revolution brought into the highest positions those who had enjoyed little social culture, but they and their families quickly adjusted themselves to the new conditions and former social distinctions became impossible. Public playgrounds, athletics, domestic science, and hygiene are producing a new race, more vigorous, better balanced, and with saner aspirations, that are making new and social conditions.
In former days there were few, if any seats in the Roman Catholic churches, the worshipers kneeling or standing during the services; now, even the small churches are supplied with pews. It was quite unusual to have sermons, except for especial festivities; but now, sermons and talks are usual, and many of them are essentially evangelical and inspirational instead of consisting mainly of diatribes against Protestants lmd Masons. The revolution caused a large number of priests to flee to the United States, where many of them learned new methods of activity and organization; so that the Roman Church is much more efficiently managed than before. The moral and intellectual character of the parish priests is also notably improved. The epoch of brutal persecution of Protestants is passing, though some still suffer, even unto death, for their faith, and stones are frequently thrown during services in as large and cultured a city as Guadalajara.
The evangelical Church has not had a great increase in numbers, but its position in society has changed very markedly. As officialdom always determines the status of society, the introduction of so
FIFTY YEARS OF PRQGRESS IN MEXICO
many evangelicals to office makes it necessary for them to be received into many circles where they were formerly debarred. To be known as a Protestant is now hardly a hindrance to social position in the Jarger cities, instead of causing absolute ostracism, as in the days gone by. In the mission schools, and in study in the United States, leaders have been developed that are proving their ability to carry large responsibilities. The churches are now exclusively in charge of Mexican pastors, many of whom successfully carry out a very large and varied program of activities.
The economic condition of the evangelicals has risen in a notable degree. It is not unusual in the capital, to see automobiles waiting at the doors of the evangelical churches, while their owners take part in the services. A number of churches are fully self-supporting, meeting a large budget and helping the feebler churches.
The new generation of ministers are better prepared, more efficient, and far less sectarian than those who were trained in the denominationitl seminaries or only in the school of experience. A union evangelical paper and Sunday-school literature are published by the Union Press, which also prints tracts and books. There is a National Committee on Cooperation which meets monthly for the consideration'of the common problems of all the societies; a National Sundayschool Association; a Federation of Young People's Societies, now called "Leagues of Christian E:ndeavor"; and there are many other union organizations and efforts.
The natural resources of Mexico make certain her development and will eventually assure her economic stability. Her strong selfconsciousness will enable her to evade external pressure and maintain her independence.
Political changes will take place, with possible experiments in radicalism, or even the temporary dominance of reaction; but the net result will surely be towards a truer democracy.
Reaction against Romanism has caused the Government to favor unbelief. The new order of things was begun by leaders whose thought had been shaped by French positivism; but the new generation of thinkers and writers have shown the futility of positivism, and have sounded a note that is more clearly evangelical. Labor is largely opposed to Rome, and still fails to discriminate between papacy and real Christianity; but it is restless in its uncertainty and seeks the truth that alone can give abiding satisfaction.
Evangelical Christianity has not yet found its final adjustments; but it has the vitality that assures its permanence and growth. There will be attempts in the line of unification and nationalization. Time will show whether the first of these can be attained or will content itself with federation. Nationalization will come, and perhaps speedily, aided by the statutory limitations that were intended for the Church of Rome.
Sailor to Swedish
A. Story of How the Mariners' Te1nple in New York Became the Mother of Swedish Baptist Churches BY REV. OOE HAYNE, NEW YORK I N APRIL, 1844, Gustavus Schroeder, a Swedish sailor from Gothenburg, drifted into a Methodist meeting house in New Orleans with his friend Paul Bruere, and was converted. In later years, when referring to this event, he said: "I have ever loved my Methodist brethren for their zeal in winning souls, and particularly mine."
.After a voyage to an English port, Schroeder returned to New York and with his room-mate attended a service at the Baptist Seamen's Bethel where the latter was a member. On November 3, 1844, in the East River, near what is now called CorIear's Hook Park, he was baptized by Rev. Ira R. Steward, pastor of the Baptist Seamen's Bethel, and became a member of his church which was at that time worshipping in a hall on the corner of Catherine and Cherry streets. This church is now internationally known as The Mariners' Temple. The old building, one of the places of historic interest in the downtown section of New York, may crumble into dust but tIle work that it has helped to build up will not die.
In 1845 Schroeder was offered a chief officer's place on board a Chilean bark and upon his arrival at Valparaiso he was put in charge of a new vessel. Thus in six months he was advanced from before the mast to a captain's position.
When Schroeder became a Christian he knew of no other Swedish Baptist in the world, although there might have been Swedish members in English-speaking Baptist churches in England or .America. Today Swedish Baptists can report 60,530 members in their churches in Sweden and 31,000 in .America. In addition there are thousands of them in English-speaking churches throughout .America. It was Captain Schroeder who helped forward the early struggle for religious liberty in Sweden and so was instrumental in establishing the Baptist Churches there.
.After having made several coasting trips from New York, Captain Schroeder returned to his birthplace, Gothenburg, Sweden, in June,1845. Here he met F. O. Nelson, a sailor missionary, who was supported by the American Seamen's Friend Society. On the following Sunday, Nelson was invited to preach in Schroeder's home, three miles from the city, where his mother and sister and several friends and neighbors met together. After the meeting, Schroeder made known the doctrines and practices of Baptists, so that it was 360 there, in his childhood home, that the Baptist doctrines were first made known in Sweden.
Then he went to Stockholm and met other Christians to whom he related the story of his conversion and baptism. As a result of Pas- tor Nelson's activities in Gothenburg he was arrested and tried be- fore the High Court at Jonkoping. A sentence of banishment was passed on him, and when he appealed to King Oscar I, he was told that royal clemency could be granted only on condition that he promise "not to preach the Gospel of the Son of God." As he would not surrender this privilege he and his wife departed from Gothen- burg on July 4,1851, amid the farewells of a company of weeping Christians. Going to Denmark, he became pastor of a little church in Copenhagen. 'While laboring there, Nelson baptized A. Wiberg, an eminent minister and teacher of the Lutheran State Church of Sweden, who .had also been ban- ished from his native land because of his religious beliefs. Wiberg went to America where he was ordained by the Mariners' Church, which engaged him as a colporteur and missionary among the Swedes, Danes and Norwegians. He be- CAPT. G. W. SCHROEDER came, in consequence, the first Bap- Born April 9. 1821, a.t tbe Navy Yard ot tist home missionary among these nationalities in the Eastern States. ~::~l~~~i':,":'; o:'i:i~;~Ii 2,Ef~1~~d into "life The persecution of dissenters continued in Sweden so that in 1853 about thirty Baptists asked Nelson to go with them to America.
Upon their arrival in the new world, they were kindly received by the Mariners' Church and were assisted to continue their journey to Minnesota where, as Schroeder has chronicled, "Nelson organized and became pastor of several churches. " At Bordeaux, in May, 1861, Captain Schroeder sold his vessel for her Chilean owners and proceeded with his wife and daughter to Stockholm. He found the Baptists holding services in an obscure place for fear of arrest and at hours other than the regular time for the services of the State Church. The persecutions and discomforts to which evangelical Christians had been subjected during the decade 1850-1860 had led to the flight of thousands of Swedes to America. The fearless master of ships was aroused by the injustices to
which evangelicals were subjected and journeyed to Gothenburg to see how his brethren fared. Soon after his arrival at Gothenburg, he attended the funeral of a little nephew and was told by two priests of the Lutheran Church that the "heretic," Nelson, who had been permitted to return to Sweden, was holding meetings in out-of-theway places so as to avoid the vigilance of the authorities. Again the spirit of the crusaders found an echo in the captain's heart and he determined to give up his life upon the sea and remain in Sweden to assist his brethren. Meeting Pastor Nelson later, he told him that he had made up his mind to build a house in a prominent place in Gothenburg, and in the front part of this house, which was to be his home, he would build a hall for worship, where all passers-by could see it.
Providentially, he found a vacant corner lot on one side of the Alameda, a public promenade. This lot he bought for $1,350 and soon "beg'an the erectio1l of a two-story house in which was a hall for worship, capable of seating about two hundred. While the building was in process many speculations were made as to the purpose of such a hall, some saying that it was for the Catholics, others for Mormons, and others, for the Baptists. Finally a large sign-board was made, extending the entire length of the house, containing the words "Baptist Meeting Hall" in large letters. Pastor Nelson begged the Captain, in view of the possible consequences, not to put it up, but Captain Schroeder replied "I have put my hand to the plough, and ahead it must go."
"Well," said Pastor Nelson, "God's will be done." Captain Schroeder tells the story of what followed: On the eighth of December, 1861, the hall was ;ready. Advertisements had heen put in the papers, among the church notices, making known that preaching would be held in the Baptist Hall, forenoon and evening. In the forenoon it was during the time of the High Mass of the State Chl1fch. Only once before had such a thing occurred. and the result was a fine.
That afternoon Nelson spoke on the following subject: "The Baptists, What Are They, and What Do They Want?"
There was present a priest who, I observed, when Nelson read the articles of faith, took notes. After the service I gave him a copy in print, telling him he would have it so much more complete.
In the evening the hall was full of people, but only fifteen or sixteen were Baptists, six of whom had, on the fourth of August, been organized into a church in my rooms. That was and is the First Baptist Church of Gothenburg, now numbering from five to six hundred members, worshipping in a fine building called the "Tabernacle," costing about twenty-five thousand dollars, ten thousand of which was given by Americans …
Nelson and I, by the demands of the Bishop, were first cited to appear at the Police Court. Nelson's crime consisted in the charge of preaching the Gospel of the Son of God; mine in allowing such preaching in my house. Both charges, of course, were served up in legal phraseology. The judge, however, after hearing us, referred the case to the City Court. On account of Nelson's former punishments, that Court acquitted him, but contrary to
A PICTURE OF THE PYENGYANG MISSION
law, sentenced me to a fine of twenty-six dollars. This amount, by costs of appeals to the higher and highest courts, became doubled. But the popular cry of shame and disgrace to the country on account of that trial was such that they never troubled us any more. We could meet when we pleased, advertise the meetings, and do everything in accordance with God 's Word as we thought best, "none to molest us, or make us afraid." All these blessings and exemptions from persecutions, which others suffered in other places, were certainly worth fifty dollars, when five thousand had been spent in building the house, which was a free home to the Baptist Church fcrom 1861 to 1875, when a much bigger hall was required.
Space does not allow the telling of other chapters in the history of religious liberty in Sweden which have to do with the work of the colporteur-missionaries of the American Baptist Publication Society in Sweden and of their persecutions while endeavoring to disseminate the Gospel through the printed page. The work has, however, grown to large proportions and today not only do all churches and denominations enjoy full liberty of conscience in Sweden, but the Baptists of the world have been royally welcomed in the capital of the country.
A Picture of the Pyengyang Mission * BY REV. C. L. PHILLIPS, PYENGYANG, KOREA PYENGYANG (Korea), or Heijo (Chosen), as the Japanese call it. is on the beaten path: which those have made in this twentieth century, who are going up and down and to and fro, on the whole earth. Even those who travel in the air, the human migrants from far-off nations in Europe and South America, find the extensive aviation field inPyengyang a good landing plac.e in their patient attempts to fly around the globe. Pyengyang is an ancient burg that was on the map when Solomon was visited by the Queen of Sheba, yet today it is fast becoming a new and prominent city in a new world.
Riding on the street cars and walking on the streets of this newly awakened city, we daily find the greater part of the population of 100,000 souls who have made Pyengyang what it is. You will meet on these streets four different kinds of people. The Koreans come first in numbers and in round numbers there are ninety thousand Koreans in the city. Then there are at least ten thousand Japanese, largely engaged in merchandise, in teaching, and in the government offices. Many of these Japanese are very agreeable and some have studied abroad. Others are graduates of universities in Japan, principals of schools, the Japanese governor and mayor and other representatives of the official class. There are also about a thousand Chinese. We could not keep house without them-shrewd mer- ·From The Korea Mission Field.
chants helping to clothe the city, thrifty gardeners who feed the people, and, most indispensable of all, efficient bricklayers. Last of all comes the foreign missionary community. Since the summer of ]890, when Rev. S. A. Moffett first came to Pyengyang, Presbyterians of America have been sending representatives to this ancient city until there is here the largest Presbyterian mission station of the world, with about fifty men and women, and a property that covers about 100 acres. Compared with the rest of the population, the foreign missionary community is very smaH, but we dare say that the presence of this little colony of Christian men and women has been during the past quarter century, and still is, the outstanding influence that has been shaping the trend of thought and action of this whole city.
The greatest claim to our notice of all things in this city of Pyengyang is the sure forward movement of the Church of Jesus Ohrist. Thirty-five years ago it was not here, yet today more people in this city talk about the Ohristian Ohurch than they; do of any other suoject. One out of every ten persons in the city is a Christian. More people go to church than gather in any other one kind of place.
The activities of the missionaries may be divided into seven groups. These are: 1. Preaching the Gospel. 2. Teaching the Word. 3. Training the youth. 4. Healing the sick. 5. Lifting up the fallen. 6. Encouraging to work. 7. Introducing good literature. There are no specialists among the fifty missionaries in Pyengyang but in a course of a day or a week each missionary lends a hand in most of these activities.
PREACHING THE GOSPEL 1. Preaching the Gospel is the one all absorbing question, the one driving motive of the missionaries of Pyengyang. Whether doctor or preacher, nurse or teacher, the dominant idea of these fifty men and women is to tell the story of .Jesus and His love. Pyengyang station is first of all an evangelistic station. The biggest idea of all in every form of service is to bring to Jesus Christ the Koreans who do not know Him. The Korean Christians far surpass their teachers in enthusiasm for personal evangelism. Well-organized preaching campaigns are organized by the Koreans themselves. The Gospel has been preached, first by the missionaries and then by the Koreans, within the past twenty-five years so effectively that, in the city of Pyengyang aloile, fifteen Presbyterian churches have been organized, most of them entirely self-supporting, many of them churches with well-paid pastors and with congregations numbering far above five hundred. A little farther in the country where the Ohristian influence of Pyengyang- has gone, within a radius of twenty-five miles you find today one hundred and twenty Presbyterian churches in which the Gospel of Ohrist is faithfully preached every Sunday and midweek prayer-meeting is held. Farther out in the
territory for the evangelization of which this Pyengyang station has been responsible, you find over 600 organized churches and Christian groups scattered around on fertile plains and in deep recesses of the rugged mountains.
How has this been accomplished V Only a few examples can be given to show how the Gospel has been preached. Nearly every Korean Christian believes himself a preacher. Many Christians, when they meet in church services or in Bible conferences, contribute "days of preaching." For example a man will stand up in church and say: "This year I will give ten days to the Lord, in which I will do nothing else but pray and preach. " Add up these individual preaching day offerings and in the past twenty years in the Pyengyang field alone the total days of preaching would reach into several hundred years of preaching. That is how within such a short time so much has been accomplished in preaching the Gospel.
Every church also either has a missionary society of its own or belongs to a district society. From these organizations go out paid workers to preach the Gospel. Not only in the churches, but outside as well, these missionary societies are formed. Last year students of the Boys' Academy sent preachers to the Island of Quelpart, and the boys also began to preach near at home. Within two miles of the school they started a little Sunday-school where as yet no church had been built. By the preaching efforts of these students a new church is being established in that very spot this year. Members of the Alumni Association of the Union Christian College have started a city mission for the purpose of preaching the Gospel to the factory workers of the city. On the other hand the Christian laborers of Pyengyang have organized a missionary society of their own, and with a yearly budget of two thousand dollars they have sent out preachers into the country, and during the past year they have been able to establish two or three new churches.
A large part of the missionaries' time in Pyengyang is spent in teaching God's Word. From the very beginning these men and women have stood four square on the Scriptures. Doubts and controversies regarding the Word of God have never yet entered into the conversations of the fifty missionaries of this station. They know from personal experience that the Word is the one necessary spiritual food for the child of God, and therefore they have put forth their best efforts to teach this Word to the men and women of this part of Korea.
Here is the Pyengyang Bible teaching program in which the missionaries have an active part.
(1) In the Sunday-school. The name of Sunday-school in Pyengyang is practically a new name given to an old organization. These 600 churches and groups scattered around in this Pyengyang field have always had Sunday-school but it has not been so called. Since
the church began the entire morning has always been devoted to the study of the Bible. Men met together, then the women gathered in classes, and then wriggling boys and girls filled up the churches on Sunday morning. In those days they never called this a Sundaysehool. It was then just "Sulngkyung Kong Pu," which being put into good English means "Working at the Bible." These schools are now well organized, and the missionaries have been able to teach Koreans a great deal about the principles of teaching and the proper conduct of the Sunday-school. During the past year much of the time of many of our missionaries has gone into teaching in Sundayschool conventions, holding Bible study normal classes and teaching Raturday afternoon preparatory classes.
BIBLE CLASS AND BIBLE INSTITUTES (2) Bible Class. Outside of the Sunday-school nearly every church of any size devotes one week each year, oftentimes two weeks, one in the summer and one in the winter, when the whole church gathers together for Bible study. In the direct conduct of these classes the missionaries do not have a very large part. The ladies of the station last year held eighteen classes for women in the country and the men attended some twenty classes in the country. The missionary's time is spent largely in the training of native teachers who go back to their local districts to hold Bible classes. The missionary ladies of Pyengyang have a system of Bible training that is not merely a model but a well working machine that produces resnlts. For example during the past year they persuaded 1,510 Korean women, leaders in church activity, to gather in five different periods of the year for Bible training classes in Pyengyang. At these times the missionary ladies met personally all this little army of Korean women workers and gave them new help and inspiration in the teaching of the Word of God. As a result of these classes this year one hundred and forty-nine selected and specially trained Korean women were sent out into the country districts, where they held two hundred and thirty-eight Bible classes for women with a total attendance of 9,146.
(3) Then there are the Bible In.stitute.s, one for women and one for men. In the midst of the mission componnd there is a spacious Women's Building, recitation hall and dormitories. A visitor to Pyengyang will find something going on in this building at almost any season of the year. Besides the training classes mentioned for women at five different times during the year, in this building is conducted a Bible institute for Korean women where this year ninetytwo women were enrolled, studying over a course of two and a half months for five years, preparing to become Bible teachers and leaders in the work of the salvation of Korean women. Seventeen of these women were graduated last June. Not content with this work
A PICTURE OF THE PYENGYANG MISSWN
of training the women, and in order to satisfy the ever growing desire of the Korean women for further study of the Bible, and for more complete preparation in Christian work, the ladies of the Korea mission have established in Pyengyang a women's Higher Bible school, a graduate school where last year twenty-two women have been in study, preparing to take their places in higher service in the church. To help meet these ambitions of the Korean women thirteen missionary ladies of Pyengyang have devoted much of their efforts in these two schools.
The Bible Institute for men, in which six missionary men give their time for a week in the winter, is also a popular place for Bible study. It draws in the young men, mostly of the farmer class, men who have neither the time, nor education, nor the ability to prepare for the Gospel ministry and yet who have a desire to serve the Lord while they till their fields. This year one hundred of these men gathered in Pyengyang for their leisure time in December and January and seven men having completed the course of a total of nine months, were graduated last year.
(4) The Theological Seminary of Pyengyang is playing a great part, not only in the work in Pyengyang but in all Korea. As this seminary is a union institution of the four Presbyterian missions in Korea, whiJ~h assign their own quota of teachers, only three members of thC" Pyengyang station are assigned to give their full time to teaching the one hundred young Korean men studying in the seminary. At the commencement last winter twenty-six men were graduated from this institution and sent out to be ordained as ministers of the Korean Presbyterian Church.
(5) Then there is the Bible Correspondence .Course. Not content with the wonderful system of Bible study in the Sunday-school and in the local churches and Bible institutes and theological seminary, one of the veterans of the station has decided that he would use the government mails and take the Bible study into the Korean homes. This correspondence began on a small scale but has now extended over a large part ·of Korea. The method of Bible study is very simple 130 that the course is popular, even with women in the country. This year 2,597 Korean men and women enrolled in this course and are reading the Bible over and over again to seek out and put in their own writing, the answers to the many questions given to them.
SOME. KOREAN PROVERBS One hand finds it hard to applaud. The man with the dry throat should dig the well. Even death cannot be avoided. Why tremble at smaller things 1 Life is a season of exile; death is going home. I'd like to strike the rat, but fear to break the dishes.
BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, 721 MUHLENBURG BLDG., PHILADELPHIA, P A
MISSIONARY PLANS AND PLATFORMS FOR SUMMER DAYS Not retreat but advance. Not abdication but occupation. Not repetition but variation. Not closed doors but open opportunity. The call of the days of summer to missionary leadership is unmistakable for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. In omniscience and with omnipotence God gave us a world with a variety program. After Winter and Spring, Summer and Fall. After arbutus and violets, roses and chrysanthemums. Slowly our churches are learning that changing plans and programs may greet the changing seasons without involving the orthodoxy of the faith. We cannot turn a key and lock the door of our responsibility during the days of summer.
SUMMER WORK OF CITY the shores of a New Hampshire lake.
CHURCHES Dr. Alexander Mann, the rector, thus Through the Commission on the described the unique featu,re of this Church and Social Service of the camp: " We have the upper floor of Federal Council, Helen Ward Tippy, the old Glover House at Marblehead, Secretary of Community Relations, a very large room, with kitchenette made a study of the summer work and bath. The room has accommodaof various churches by sending out tions for four cots, and various women questionnaires, visiting communities of our parish, who are engaged in and interviewing pastors and other some business or profession, go down officials. The results of the investi- with a party of tW() or three others gations made by Miss Tippy and by for week-ends, or sometimes for a other leaders are_ full of suggestions week- or ten days. They have the for summer platforms and plans. use of the room free and get their own They are based largely on a study of meals. In this way a great many work done in 1922. people have summer vacations who would otherwise be without them." Summer Campa The Brick Presbyterian Church in An increasing number of churches New York maintains during the are establishing and maintaining summer a large house and annex on summer camps. In many instances the mountain in St. Cloud, New there are full-time privileges in these Jersey. A charge of $1.75 a day or camps for boys and girls who can $10.00 a week is made for room and enjoy them, and also special arrange- board. For the most part the life is ments for those who can be there for very quiet, for all the girls need rest, week-ends only. but there are tennis and croquet with Trinity Church, Boston, maintains wonderful opportunities for hikes a summer camp for boys and girls on and picnics.
368
BEST M]<~THODS
The Summer Camp of St. George's some of the camps is a study course Episcopal Church, New York, faces or discussion gro,up. In some camps the ocean at Rockaway Park, Long the presence of a missionary guest Island. Its equipment includes a who arranges hikes, with informal large central building with do,rmi- discussions, has been stimulating. In to,ries and a pavilio,n for mo,thers and others the association of boys and children, a week-end cottage, three girls of different countries has tiny bungalows fo,r light ho,usekeep- brought about a practical forum on ing, and a tent fo,r small boys. The internatio,nal friendship. Interesting central building acco,mmodates sixty missionary biography provided for at o,ne time. Each gro,UP remains fo,r rainy-day reading has helped to twelve days. There is no, regular widen the ho,rizon o,f campers. charge but each mother is expected to, make a gift o,f at least $2.00 and Daily Vacation Bible Sohoob each child at least $1.00. The weekend cottage accommodates thirty girls In bo,th urban and rural communieach week. The bungalo,ws are held ties the Daily Vacation Bible School fo,r the yo,ung couples of the parish. has been an important facto,r in meet- No, regular charge is made fo,r them ing the oPPo,rtunity o,f the summer but the o,ccupants usually give five, days. In the programs o,f tho,usands ten or twenty dollars a week fo,r the o,f churches, the schoo,ls no,w have an maintenance o,f the camp. established pla.ce. They provide o,P- po,rtunity for missio,nary education Thro,ugh the activities o,f this camp as well as fo,r missionary service. abo,ut 5,000 perso,ns have o,utings o,f Co,nsecutive days of study of missiona day to a season. There are no, or- ary cou~, or o,f the development o,f ganized amusements. That the city projects, far exceed the weekly o,r the dwellers are satisfied to, revel in the monthly missio,nlLl'Y meeting in furdelights o,f outdoOi'S is shown by the nishing oppo,rtunity for missio,nary reply of one little girl when her educatio,n. mo,ther proPo,sed to, take her' to, a mo,ving picture: " I can go, to, a The Daily Vacation Bible School mo,vie any day in to,wn. I'd rather o,f the Italian Mission in Bo,ston has watch the ocean while I have a acco,mplished much in helping to chance. " make better Americans. One hun- dred and fifty children attend the City missio,nary so,cieties of various schooL They elect their o,fficers once deno,minations are maintaining sum- a week and pay all their emplo,yees in mer camps fo,r their churches. The bo,gus mo,ney. There is a mayo,r, bank Co,ngregational Society of Boston has president, chief o,f po,lice with two, a camp which is open on alternating assistants, street cleaning department two-week periods to boys o,f 11 to 18 (which helps the janito,r), store for a mo,nth and then to girls o,f 12 keeper, and judge (who is o,ne o,f the to, 18 for the follo,wing month. Ap- wo,rkers.) Altho,ugh the o,fficers are plicatio,ns are accepted in the o,rder elected by the children, no,minatio,ns o,f receipt up to, the camp capacity. are made by the wo,rkers. The city is renamed every summer. The pro- The Episco,pal City Missio,n Society gram includes Bible wo,rk, manual of Bo,sto,n maintains a Mothers' Rest training and recreational activities. o,n Revere Beach. During one sum- Tho,se who, attend the Bible session mer a thousand mothers and children are admitted to the facto,ries and o,f the city enjo,yed its bright bed- sho,ps (manual training) where they rooms, broad piazzas, and large din- receive 30 cents an hour pay in bogus ing ro,o,m. This so,ciety also, pro,vided money. All those who, Co,mmit missix city play rooms for five weeks demeano,rs are tried by the Co,urt, and with an average o,f 700 children if fo,und guilty, are fined. Fines are daily. also levied for contempt o,f Co,urt.
A valuable educational feature of 4
Once a week the children receive pulpit with daily summer services at their pay checks which have to be 2 P. M., at the corner of 29th Street properly oodorsed and cashed at the and Fifth Avenue, with preaching bank. Once a week the store is open planned especially for the lunch-time and those who have the most money throngs.
are admitted first. During August, St. Paul's Episcopal Church of 150 of the neediest children (not nec- Boston holds a porch service at night essarily the same who have been at- for the passers-by on the street, foltending the Daily Vacation Bible lowed by the regular service in the auditorium. School) are taken to a camp where the same kind of program is carried In Lansing, Michigan, six downon. A medical examination is re- town churches combined in a Sunday quired for admittance and a charge evening community service on the of $8.00 is made for the month. The capitol lawn. church has four workers on its paid An important development of restaff-an Italian minister, whose wife cent years has been the city-wide speaks Italian, Italian visitor, a open-air meetings in Detroit, orstudent, and a woman worker. The ganized by the Detroit Council of rest is done thNugh volunteers. Churches. The city was divid~d into Special Attra.etiolUl for Summer Day. nine districts with a system of open- The Brick Presbyterian Church, air meetings in each of them. Special Rochester, New York, brings a series attention was given to foreign-speakof noted speakers for its summer eve- ing districts, and to the distribution ning services. The director of church of gospels of St. John and of pamactivities says "We have these big phlets. Meetings were held in Grand Circus Park every noon, where thoumen not for ourselves alone, but for sands of working men and the the city as welL" This church main- unemployed were reached. Careful tains a well-rounded summer pro- attention was given to personal congram of social, educational and ferences and to the follow up. recreational activities'-with Sunday school, Daily Vacation Bible School, The Trail of the AutomobUe summer camp, gymnasium, swimming pool, bowling and billiards. Auto-tourists' camps present a new problem and a new opportunity. St. Bartholomew's, New York, has Alert leadership will answer the mesa full choir during the entire summer sage of opportunity with special inand opens its pews to all comers. vitations to tourists to attend church and Sunday-school services. Daily Way.ide Pulpits In former days street preaching Yacation Bible Schools may be opened was not in good and regular standing for the children of the auto camps in orthodox church circles, notwith- with provision for supervised play.
standing the fact that our Lord A Year-Round Program of Sernce HilllBelf and His early disciples used every opportunity to preach and There is little gain if our churches teach along the way. are kept open during the days of Today preachers of the most con- summer simply in order that we may servative and liturgical denomina- have grounds for boasting an un- tions are recognizing the value and· broken record. Henry Sloane Coffin the opportunity of the wayside pul- says, "No factory concerns itself pit, and are teaching thousands of chiefly with keeping its machinery people who have never heard a voice going, but with producing goods that from within the chancel of the are wanted. No church represents church. the Son of Man which does not in- The Marble Collegiate Church in variably think of itself as not to be downtown New York has a wayside ministered unto, but to minister."
1926J BEST METHODS
This cool, shady porch in New England olTered an invitin~ location for working out "Friend- ship Center In ChIna." in an outdoor IDlssionary society.
AN OPEN AIR MISSIONARY the study of China, using "Fl'icnd- ship Center in China," by Miss SOCIETY Stooker and Miss Hill, in the winter REPORTED BY VER.A WARES when they met once a week after school. There seemed to be no place Winter days have many missionary in the church where the mission stahandicaps. There al'e the lirnitat·io·n.s tion, which was a part of the project, of time and space, of lessons and could be built and left in safety; the furna ces. Sum.mer days are l.ong, and leader was afraid the project would all outdoors is O"urs. School j'ooms are closed and we are independent of become tiresome if drawn out over furnace heat. Summer is a wonder- too long a space of time, and thereful time for boys and girls to work fore it was decided to wait till school out missi.onary projects. was out and have the meetings more often on the front porch. A front pO"l'ch, a group of eager boys and gil"ls, an interested, capable The plan worked splendidly. Not leader and "}i"'iendship Center in all of the members were able to come China"· demonstrated this possihility of an ope'l1r-air missionary society. but others came so that the total en- rollrnent was 18-11 girls and 7 boys. The Light Bearers Society, a group of juniors, gathered on the leader's 'l'he porch was large enough for a front porch last summer four morn- rude table to be constructed, a yard ings a week, from 9-11 0 'clock, for wide and twelve feet long, on 'which four weeks. The society had started to build "FJ'iendship Center." As the station was built in seetions, the … HFrien.dshi-p Center in CJl1Lina/' is a mi88ion- the hoole. The buUdin.Q8 are made from dil- f er ent sized boxos , paintc/% with ordinary house ary project worked out and writte1l by Miss paint and sprinkled with ~an.d. Wh en dry, (1001'S and windo-ws are stenCiled on with bnuh. Wtlhelmina StoQker, a 1JrOfeS8or in the AubHffl School of ReUgwu. Education. anti Mi•• Hill, and ink. The roofs ma,!! be made from t(;rapa student at tlte SChooL. ( 50c from a n y Board.) pin,g or detail paper, colored with crayon to l ook like tiles and adj u.sted to the buildings The project is based on the experie nces oj a w'Uh pins. doctor and his family who go a8 nl.is.rionaries There aTe three main scctions to the 8tation to Ch·ina. It starts 'Ik'1th their departure frmn – the mission compound, country section and tl merioo and foUow8 them arro,88 the Pa.cijf,c to city .'tection. The mi9sion comp01,na i.ncludca their new home in China. The station is called the boys' and girls ) sc:hoor., with hOB'p-ital,8, ('Friendsh,ip Center." ChCl4J'c l and aU the bttild.ingg which would be S1tug6atWns for the 'Project are carefully and !1Jlly .qi'lJen in. the little book IfFriena.ship Oenter founa 0" a typical statum. A t th e left is the in ChiIUt.'u It i.8 a weU balanced. program 01 country section. where the boys' Bchool has it"
worsh"P, instruction, recreation and seT-vice. lwact ice 8'Choot, Purple Mountain . where re- Throuph r eading.. instruction. and 1n,(lst 0/ aU forestation has been started, fields , eto. On through d.-amatizat-ion antt actual builtlmIJ of the right is the cit'll section surrounded by the Friendship Center, the children are led to a. h igh city 10all with wl:ndin.r! entrance 80 that genUine inte.rest in and knowledge of, China nO evt;l spirits W'i.LL get in. Here also 13 a and the life 01 a missionary. 80me1Qhat detailed reprotluction of a tll"""" Chlne.e home. L!. laruo sheet of patterna for the roof. bridges) waU" and other objects} acco~anv
THE MODEL OF A FRIENDSHIP CENTER IN CHlNA County Section. BoyS School.
table served as a work table till the learned were printed on large sheets last section was ready. 'l'he lawn of wrapping paper and tacked on the made a lovely play ground. A door side of the house. The children took opened from the porch into the parlor part by selecting or reading the where there was a piano, so that the children could sit on the porch and Scripture, or both, Or all reading restill have the piano accompaniment. sponsively, and by selecting the When chairs were scarce the steps songs. They were asked to write and railing came in handy. The rail- prayers at home and read them. The ing also served as work table. youngest member, under Junior age, was the first to bring one. Some- As this was a regular organization times, a special feature in the form with officers, though that was not of a beautiful poem brought by the part of the suggested project, the sec- children or leader added to the joy retary kept the attendance record, of the worship service. the treasurer received and crecorded the offering; the president was one The notebook work consisted of I)f the most interested and felt his scripture passages, songs, poems and responsibility, presiding at many of the meetings. The program in gen- interesting facts about China. eral was as follows: Chinese games found in "Children T. Worship. at Play in Many Lands," were played 1. Song. 2. Scripture. as well as some games of our own 3. Prayer. land. 4. Offering. The stories came from many II. Note Book Work. sources but were all Chinese. The III. Games. leader told most of them but some- IV. Story. times one of the children brought a V. Hand Work. book Or magazine to read from. A particularly good story appeared in In the worship service several mis- St. Nicholas for January, 1925, ensionary songs were used. The wor- titled "My House-Boat 'l'rip in ship services prepared by Miss Eliza- China." Another feature of the story beth Colson, (now published in book period was the Chinese Theatre. A form, Hymn Stories for JunioJ'S, Pil- lovely one is described by :Miss Lois grim Press) built around such songs Lyon in the Pilgrim Elementary as "The King of Love lfy Shepherd Teacher, for 'February, 1925, but the Is, "worked in splendidly. The songs one which the society made was not so and sometimes the Scripture to be elaborate. It was made from a I.a.rge corrugated board bread box with one
BFST METHODS
CONSTRUCTED BY A GROUP OF BOYS AND GIRLS Hospitals. Girls' School. Practice Schoo1. City Section.
side cut out, leaving only a border tern by means of a string and staple. around, for the front. The opposite Many of the children read both books side Or back, was cut in the form of and asked for others. two' doors high enough to admit the dolls and a cut-out strip joined them Besides building "Friendship Censo that the sticks on which the dolls tel'," the children made paper bookwere mounted could be moved from lets depicting scenes from Chinese side to side. The setting was very life and several posters, one of which simple, consisting chiefly of lanterns, was "Products of China." The servand a table on which the ancestral ice work for others was done outside tablet was placed. The figures cut of t.he regular sessions. Several beaufrom the sheet in the Pilgrim Ele- tiful scrap books which members mentary :l'eacher were pasted on made were brought, as well as books cardboard, colored, cut out and at- and other articles which they thought tached to the ends of long sticks small children might like. These were about the size of a pencil. The boys put in the Friendship Box and sent were interested in figuring out how to the school for Chinese children in to fix a curtain which could be raised Oakland, California. The children and lowered. All thought it quite a had been interested in the school treat to be allowed to operate the through stories, a snapshot of two of dolls while the leader read the stories the children, pictures from missionfrom Miss Lyon's article. ary magazines and by hearing a friend tell of her visit to a mission The hand work was the building of school in California. "Friendship Center." This gave expression to what the children were The project did not follow along learning about the Chinese and the the lines outlined in the book many work of the mis.<;ionaries. times but many interesting incidents happened. At the first meeting when When the study of China was first the idea was proposed to the children, begun, two Junior study books, the president of the society said that "Chinese Lanterns" and "The Hon- he was going to be a doctor when he orable Crimson Tree" were passed grew up, so everyone thought it around to be read. As soon as a child would be the proper thing to have read one of these books, he wrote his the doctor named after him. Therename on one side of a small red card- fore, the doctor '8 part seemed to be board lantern and the name of the his by right. He said he .was not book on the other side. This was going to be a missionary doctor hung on a large red cardboard lan-
though. Before the project was fin- that this had been one of the most ished he had changed his mind. interesting and worthwhile meetings, though only four were present. The It was discovered that one of the president, the doctor, said that he members had learned to count t() ten had had a better time than going to in Chinese. Therefore, it was thought the movies and one of the girls said proper for him to take the part of she wanted to stay all night. the Chinese student who was named Mr. Wong. Another interesting scene was when the boat landed at Shanghai. The The pastor of the church attended balcony in the main Sunday-school the first meeting and added interest- room made a lovely deck from which ing facts about life on an ocean liner. the passengers could look down on the harbor where a small boat waited The children seemed so eager to to take them ashore. The small boat act out the dinner seene where the was one of the boys sitting on a roller captain was at the head of the table skate on which he could glide around and introduced the guests, that the very nicely and only a little imaginaleader gave them pieces of chocolate tion was needed to see him as a small to serve to make it a little more real. sampan propelled by a long bamboo pole. From the shore they went by One of the most interesting scenes barrow to the city where they was that of the Sundav service on boarded the train for Nanking. Here shipboard. 'When the' leader told they visited the compound where the about the manner of holding services doctor and his family were to be staon shipboard and suggested they plan tioned. Later a poster was made ena service, the idea met with approval. titled, "Our Trip to China." She suggested that they probably could not have a sermon but could Sometimes a special meeting interplan something to take the place of rupted the project. In Februa,ry the it. Here the president again was leader was away but her helper, the ready with an idea. His father had mother of one of the boys and anbeen a pastor but was then in another other friend helped with a Valentine line of work. He said, "0, yes, we party. In April the society went on can have a sermon and I will preach a hike to the woods. it." The other children agreed that he could. So that is just what he The children never seemed to tire did. It worked out very well for as of building "Friendship. Center," he was taking the part of the mis- (unless it was when a large number sionary it would be natural that he of roofs were to be made or a Ion/! should be asked to speak at the serv- stretch of wall was to be set up) and ice. Others helped with other part~ loved to watch it grow. of the service. The pulpit in the Sunday-school room was used to lend A cinder traek was fixed on the a churchly air and though the audi- athletic field for the boys' school ence was very small, the doctor did while a small slide made of paper was not seem to mind. He had chosen much admired for the girls' playthe parable of the sower and had his ground. notes prepared. A country fair is held every year It was thought that the missionary in the town where this projeet was children would probably have stOtl'ies worked out. The suggestion on the on Sunday afternoon, so the leader part of the leader that "Friendship told them about Dr. Peter Parker. Center" be exhibited at the fair was Then the children cut out the figures met by the heartiest response. By from "The Chinese Twins, Trave- having a few extra sessions it was logue, " while the leader read one of finished in time. With fear and the stories. It is sometimes felt that trembling, it was moved in sections, there has to be a large ~roup to make with heavy corrugated eardboard unsuch a program worth while. All felt derneath, on a truck to the fair
BEST METHODS
ground. When it was finally set up to try alone, it can be done. It is in a corner of the large hall with the worth the time and effort. posters on the wall behind it, the books, scrapbooks and pictures on a The children will come to this kind small table at one side, it presented of mission study. When the leader one of the most interesting exhibits first told of the plan to have the soat the fair. One or two children were ciety meet four mornings a week, one delegated to stay near by each morn- of the boys said he wished it could be ing and afternoon of the fair, so that seven. When children are as eager they might explain it to any who as this, one person in every church seemed interested. Though some ought to be found who would give visitors reported that the attendants the time and effort necessary to furwere missing, the call of the outside thering such a plan. attractions probably proving too strong, others reported that the one PRACTICAL PLANS FROM FOUR in charge was able to explain the whole layout. The offering at an interdenomina- tional meeting in Tekamah, Nebraska, An interesting side-light was was used to place subscriptions to the thrown on the effect on the children MISSIONARY REVIEW and Everyland by the mother of the p;resident. He in the public library. has a brother five or six years older. One night :when the two boys had A Washington church is promoting gone up stairs, the mother heard the missionary reading by giving to every older boy say, "What is it you are one who attends the mid-week prayer talking about T What is a compound service a book to be read, and reanyhow?" "Why, don't you know turned the next week. what a compound is?" answered the president contemptuously. Then he Members of four churches in New proceeded to explain what he meant, Concord, 'Ohio, studied "Prayer and and brought his brother over to see Missions." An enrollment of about the exhibit when it was almost com- sixty was divided into six groups. A pleted. leader was appointed for each group. Copies of the Intelligence Test sug- Older people were also enlightened gested in the booklet "How to Use by visiting" Friendship Center." A Prayer and Missions" were given the lady who is interested in such things leaders who passed them on to memremarked, "I don't believe that I bers of their groups. In addition to realized before what a mission com- indicating the true and false state- ments and filling in the missing pound really is." words, members starred the para- graphs from which statements were· "So "Friendship Center" served taken.
more than one purpose-the building A missionary society in Carthage, of it made the study of China and Ill., varied the routine of the "usual the life of a missiona;ry more real to meeting" with an April Hunting the children and kept them interested Pa,rty. The idea of the hunt began in study; seeing it when completed, with invitations which gave the street made the meaning of missionary work and number but not the name of the clearer to the grown-ups. hostess. There was an African Hunt in the program with a number of Often the objection to trying a short talks on Africa illustrated by plan of this sort is a lack of leaders. crayon sketches. After an Easter egg Though the leader of this project had hunt, a tiny nest with a silver quarter a helper at the church part of the for a nest egg suggested the purpose time, she had no helper during the for which it was designed. fOl1r weeks the society met on the porch. One would have been a help but if one person is interested enough
Woman's Home Mission
EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK SCHOOLS OF MISSIONS Schools of Missions and the Council.
By Mas. PHILIP M. RoSSMAN Methods periods with discussions w.e.re used for.p.resenting inh terd'enom- The Council is very happy to add matlOnal actIvities, and t e discusto its list of affiliated Schools of Mis- sions showed the keen interest of the sions the one which was started at women along the line of "working Mills College, Oakland, California, in together. " Every school visited June, 1925. This is primarily a wanted' methods for increasing at- school for young women though no tendance. To supply this informa- one is debarred because of age. The tion the publicity plans for the registration was 416, fully 80 per Northfield Home Mission Conference, cent being young women who took 1926, prepared by Mrs. Virgil B.
keen interest in the study of the mis- Sease, have been adapted for general sion study books of the year and in use.
the discussions on Law Enforcement, World Peace and Organization of A. To reach general public.
Press articles for newspapers, church Women in the Churches. The school papers, magazines.
was uuder the efficient leadership of Fir8t article to be of general informa- Mrs. Paul Raymond, assisted by Mrs. tion, giving (a) aims of school, (b) dates, John Ferguson, Mrs. Lena Leonard (e) who is invited, (d) how to secure fur- ther information.
Fisher and Mrs. Jeanette Wallace Second article to contain as full a pro- Emrich, who taught classes and led gram as possible several weeks prior to ses- discussion groups. sion of school.
A meeting of unusual significance B. To reach leaders in women's work and . Asbury pastors. and importance was h eld 1. Letter of personal type-mimeo- III Park, New Jersey, May 6-11, 1925, graphed-brief-telling hoW a school of being attended by leaders of Schools missions develops leaders, who should atof Missions and by denominational tend the school, and how to secure further .h . information. Aim should be to get such leaders interested III t e presentatIOn a letter into every congregation in territ,ory of present-day problems which are of of school.
sufficient importance to be hrought 2. Posters for display in churches.
before Schools of Missions and Sum- Posters Dlay be made by camp girls or mer Conferences. The questions of young women's department.
O. To reach women and girls attending paramount interest were those relat- denominational conferences.
jng to War and Peace, Standards of 1. Flyer containing general information.
Success and Profit Motives, Race Re- 2. Five-minute talks by girls who have lations and Women in Industry. The been there. meetings were all of the discussion 3. Ten-minute presentation by camp girls.
D. To help Camps or Young Women's method variety based on the above Vepart'lMnt secure delegates.
topics and including the general sub- 1. Leallet containing: ject of conference methodology. So a. Suggestions for rallies, suppers or successful was the conference a sim- luncheons. illlJr one is planned for May 5-9, 1926. girbls. . Suggestions for two minute talks by -, Your chairman was privileged in c. Suggestions for "skit" on camp life.
attending the schools at Oklahoma d. Playlet" A Day at – – . " City, Oklahoma; Boulder, Califor- This Jeall,et should be of permanent value_ nia, andMt. Hermon, California, re- 2. Booklet of Camp Songs. ceiving everywhere a most cordial E. To reach members of previous schools. welcome and an assurance of a desire Government postal cards giving dates, outstanding features of program and for closer contacts between the speakers.
376 F. To furnish information to prospeots Houston, Texas-First week in Oct.- and inquirers. Mrs. .1. H. Petitfils, 4318 Mt. Vernon, Houston, Texas. 1. FIyer same as 1 under C. 3. Camp or Young Women's Department Illinois-Missouri (Greenvi!le, Jl!.)–.Tune flyers. 14 to 1S-Mrs. J. D. Bragg, 638 Oakwood G. For those who register. Ave., Webster Groves, Mo. Fnll program mailed in advance of open- ing of school so courses may be selected in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin–.Tune 28 to consultation with home leaders. July 5-Mrs. F. E. Clendenen, 300 S. Taylor Ave., Oak Park, Ill. The following interesting items have been gleaned from the reports Mills CoUege, Oakland, Cali/orni&-June of the affiliated Schools of Missions: 22 to 29-Mrs. Paul Raymond, 90 Santa Monica Way, San Fr!Uleiseo, California. Lake Geneva and Winona Lake have been the first of the schools af- Minnesota (Minneapolis-St. PaulY-May filiated with the Council to institute 24 to 28-MrB. George E. Young, 3021 Park a system of credits for work done. Ave., Minneapolis, Minn.
St. Petersburg led in registration Mt. Hermon, Californ4a–July 3 to 10and in the number of states included Mrs. O. W. Brimstad, 2929 Lincoln Way, in the registration. S!Ul Francisco, California.
More attention to spiritual ele- Yountaim. Lake Park, Maryland-July 26 ments in program. to August I-Miss Susan C. Lodge, 1720 Arch St., Philadelphia, Pa. Increased emphasis on W 0 rid Peace. New Orleans, Louisiana-Nov. 8 to 12– Mrs. D. Beach Carre, 44 Andubon Bonle· Increase in discussion groups and vard, New Orleans, La. forums. Northfield, East Northfield, Massachu.~ctts Increase in daily bulletins. -July 6 to 13-Mrs. Charles E. Blake, 7 Increase in numbers of schools pre- Angell Court, Providence, R. I. senting activities of Council of Women for Home Missions and Federa- Oklahoma City, Oklahomar-June …… . tion of Woman's Boards of Foreign –Mrs. Joseph Deupree, 1609 West 19th St., Missions. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Increase in number of offerings for interdenominational objects. St. Petersburg, Florida–First week in Decrease in dramatics and pag- Feb. 1927-Mrs. J. W. Appley, 236 7th eants. Ave., So., St. Petersburg, Florida. Decrease in presentation of Law Enftllrcement. Southern California (Los Angeles)-May Nearly all schools now have three 31 to June 4–Mrs. H. W. Crabbe, 1135 W. departments, in many cases using the 30th 8t., Los Angeles, California. children of the community for graded work. Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pennsyl- vania-June 28 to July 6-Mary C. Pea· cock, Torresdale, Pa.
Winona Lake, Indiana–.June 19 to 26– Mrs. F. E. Clendenen, 300 S. Taylor Ave., Oak Park, Ill.
Home Mi••ions Institute .conducted by the Couneil Chautauqua, New York-Aug. 14 to 20- Mrs. Johu Ferguson, 156 Fifth Ave., N. Y.
ORIENTALS IN AMERICA SCHOOLS OF MISSIONS By GEORGE L. CAJ)Y Affiliated with It is a matter of regret that greater progress has not been made in the Council of Women for Home Missions further unifying of the Oriental work on the Pacifie Coast and the hopes Bethesda, Ohio-July 12 to 16-Mary I. that we have held out for a numbel" Scott, 310 Tomlinson Ave., Moundsville, W. of years that we should put an end Va. to unfortunate and expensive compe- tition in San Francis(lO have not been Boulder, Co!orado–.Tune 15 to 24–Mrs. fulfilled. Perhaps we expected the Frank I. Smith, 515 E. 11th Ave., Denver, millenium too soon, but vested inter- Colo. ests have proven too strong. While the Protestant forees continue to Dallas, Texas—flept. 26 to Oct. 1-Mrs. carry (In in their old divided way and, John Hanna, 319 Euclid Ave., Dallas, (In the whole, with less and less ef- Texas.
Dallas, Texas (Negro)-Sept. 26 to Oct. l;.-.Mrs. 0. R. Boswell, 1719 Allen St., Dallas, Texas.
De Land, Fla.-Jan. 30 to Feb. 4–Mrs. R. W. Thiot, 114 E. Michigan Ave., DE) Land, Fla.
ficiency, the CathQlic MissiQn has in- can nQ lQnger hope tQ Christianize creased in PQwer and influence under the wQrld while it is unwilling itself a united and strQng cQntrol. 1 few to fQllow Christ in international and years ago it was weak and without a racial relatiQns. The Chinese students future, and today it is by far the in the University Qf CalifQrnia widely strQngest, best managed and best circulated a pamphlet thrQughQut the financed Chinese missiQn in San Chinese communities warning them FranciscQ. It has a graded day schQol against the three menaces threatening with an enrollment of about three China-militarism, industrialism and hundred pupils. Long ago, Count Christianity. We muSt Christianize Cavour said of the CathQlic Church, America to Christianize the world.
"It never forgets anything and never And at this point we meet the chal- learns anything," but it WQuld seem lenge to. Christianity and to America that that is much more applicable to and world peace in the strained rela- P,rQtestantism in its work among the tions between Japan and America Orientals. brought on by an inexcusable and un- The young people '8 work is a bright Christian immigration law.
spot. The building formerly occu- A new Oriental problem is £acing pied by the United Christian Mission- us. After the restriction of Japanese ary Society and turned over to these labQr into the United States was en- Chinese youths, has continued tQ be a acted, the plantatiQn Qwners Qf center of influence. Last summer a Hawaii began tQ import the Filipinos.
Daily Vacation Bible School was in- There are prQbably 25,000 Qf these in stituted and attended by over three the islands at present. Lately they hundred pupils. A daily Chinese lan- have begun to CQme over to the main- guage school with eighty in attend- land. How many have thus passed ance is also being conducted by the on East we cannot determine but al- devoted young people. ready cQIQnies of considerable size The Presbyterian Board has just have organized themselves on the Pa- dedicated a large building costing cific CQast. They are very prQud and $100,000 for the Chinese Qrphan and refuse tQ be classed with the Japa- half-Qrphan girls. A fine, new Chi- nese. We are told that abQut Qne nese church is being dedicated in hundred are now employed by the Mexicali, just across the border. It Pennsylvania RailrQad as attendants was started as a CongregatiQnal mis- in their finest club cars. They' are sion under the American Board and very clQsely organized intQ lodges.
then cQntinued by the Presbyterians. A recent invitation sent Qut fQr the Now, by agreement, the MethQdists celebration of Rizal Day at Salina, have taken it Olver with the heartiest California, had running dQwn the cooperation by all the denQminatiQns. side the names of eleven lodges and Of special significance was the nine other FilipinQ assQciatiQns and Conference held at J Qhns Hopkins churches. Rizal Day is what our University Qn the Relation of Amer- Fourth of July is to us, fQr Rizal is ica to China. This relation of the the martyr who gave his life for Fili- Orient to the whQle white world has pino freedQm in the Spanish regime been brought to the fore by the re- just befQre American occupation.
volt of Chinese students against the They are intensely patriQtic and all intolerable conditions imposed Qn of them practically are out for Fili- China by the so-called Christian na- pino independence.
tions. Here is a vivid illustratiQn Qf The Methodists are conducting six the grQwing fact that Qur whQle for- Filipino missiQns in California, two eign missiQnary enterprise will SQQn in WashingtQn and eleven in Hawaii.
be brought to naught unless we can The Presbyterians have one in Brook- Christianize America and the other lyn and the Congregationalists have nations of Chri~t~nd9m, Christendom Qne in California, nine in Hawaii.
Woman's Foreign Mission
EDITED BY MISS ELLA D. MACLAURIN, 25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY CHINA AND WORLD PEACE all these years she hasn't even a re- ADDRESS BY MRS. CHARLEE KIRKLAND Roys public in name." If one wishes to be At the Annual Meeting of the Federation scornful about official corruption, of Women's Boards, January 11, 1926. banditry, lawlessness, why trouble to Shortly after the Locarno Confer- look at distant China when one has ence, Ambassador Houghton said: the records on the rront pages or our "The little town of ;Locarno has made own daily newspapers? the world a sweeter, kindlier place in which to live. The war came to an There is the attitude of supercilious end nearly seven years ago but peace superiority. Foreign students in our in any true sense did not follow. land sense this instantly and resent Now we may say it has come. Men it hotly. Let us missionary women squarely face the question: Is our may go their ways with quiet minds. presentation of missions wholly free We may even contemplate the future from encouraging this attitude? Do with confidence." we talk of mission work in the terms of charity of a superior people to an Back of Locarno and the blessed re- inferior one f In a large international sults or that comerence lay certain gathering not long ago, there was much, discussion about the superiorattitudes or mind-the will to peace, ity complex, and then the entire the determination to understand the group rose and fervently sang" From viewpoint or other nations, the pur- Greenland's Icy Mountains." Will pose to cooperate in building up a you some time take that hymn and read it over and see i:f in it there is right world order. not an air or superiority which should One half of the human ramily live rorever rule out parts of it from any missionary meeting? in the Orient. In considering world peace, it is well, therefore, to turn our thoughts to China. Since attitudes of mind are of such prime importance, let us examine the way some people Finally, there is the attitude of the habitually think of China. Ohristian internationalist, who, look- First of all there is the closed atti- ing at China, sees a grcat people try- tude of mind which says, "I read in ing worthily to take her place in the the newspapers all I can find about family or nations. Looking below China but it is just a kaleidoscopic the surface this group appreciates series of skirmishes or military lead- something of the colossal difficulties ers of unpronounceable names in of welding into a unity the diver- places all or which sound alike. It gent elements of China, and believes is useless to try to understand the in the high destiny and intrinsic situation. " From this group the worth of this great people. It is phrases "The Chinese Puzzle," and this group which today is asking: "The Inscrutable Oriental" are "What is the present situation in often heard. They lack the courage China '" . . . . of the colored clergyman, who at- At the outset one is conrronted with tempted to "unscrew the inscru- the unmistakable certainty that totable. " There is the attitude of impatient day we deal with a new China. It is not the China or Boxer years nor yet scorn which says, "Look at China's the China of ten years ago. There are internal disorders, at her futile at- certain essentially new elements in tempt to establish a republic. After the present situation.
379
CHARACTERISTICS OF NEW CHINA They saw no possible relationship What then are the characteristics between education and service. Toof this new China 1 The China of a day we face a student body not indiffew years ago was so indifferent to ferent but keenly alert, hotly resentpolitical happenings that as one trav- ful of the< treatment China has reeled through villages only a few miles ceived from certain Western powers from Peking, months after the over- and determined that China shall herethrow of the Manchu dynasty, one after take her rightful place as a sovround even educated people who had ereign people.
not so much as heard of the establish- At the time of Japan's twenty-one ment of the republic. That indiffer- demands, the students' patriotism reent China is gone and if we reel that vealed itself in fiery oratory and demwe are today dealing with a country onstrations. In this present period which, after the present outburst, they are expressing their patriotism will revert to type, will again become in a definite program of educational the indifferent China, we are, I be- reform, with the purpose of welding lieve, utterly misreading the signs the country together and fitting it of the times. In the China of ·for- for a creditable national role. The mer years nothing approaching na- students have established night tional unity of sentiment was evident. schools, teaching the simplified alpha- The common people cared only that bet, printing textbooks and magathey be allowed to pursue their own zines in the vernacular, and thus peaceful way of life. Even the old democratizing the language. Conanti-foreign sentiment never suc- scious of China '8 high rate of illiterceeded in gripping China as a whole. acy (8Q%) the students have thus The newly aroused spirit of patriot- put their finger on its cause, namely, ism has, however, laid hold on the the difficulty of mastering the writallegiance of the nation and to an ten language which, up to this time, unbelievable degree has welded it has been that of the early classics.
into one articulate demand for justice By teaching the One Thousand Foun- and faIr treatment. In the most dation Character System, a merciful remote parts of the country the peo- substitute for the thirty to forty ple have been stirred by the cry or the thousand characters formerly neces- students to right the wrongs inflicted sary for reading the classics, and by on China by Western powers. On no dealing with the ages between twelve issue in all their long years of history and twenty-one, the students aim have the Chinese people as a whole definitely" at a literate China in our been so united, so well-informed, so generation." Twenty provinces have deeply stirred, as they today are in already been organized in this amazregard to their sovereign rights in ing educational venture. North and relation to other nations. To those South unite in the effort. Public lecwho have known China best in the tures in connection with this educapast, the birth of a unified, construc- tional program, given in cities and tive patriotism is of profound signifi- remote villages, have built up a pubcance. Without question it was that lic opinion hitherto wholly lacking. most highly sensitized group, the iModern methods of communication, students, who developed in people, the telegraph, post, and railroad, have so long supine, a national ambition. made possible the rapid spread of Weare dealing in the second place ideas and have helped produce na- with an entirely new student body. tional solidarity. Public opinion is In former years it was practically im- indeed the most potent factor in the possible to arouse in the students any present situation. It might be called social passion or patriotic fervor. As the real government of China today.
a class they cultivated their minds for Standing out therefore with unmis- the sake of cultivating their minds. takable< clearness in the picture of
WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN
present-day China is this twice-born the development of an extensive student class, inspired by a sense of educational syst~m. China's determimoral responsibility for social and nation to remove the disgrace of corpolitical reform. That class, w;hich rupt courts and obsolete laws is from time immemorial was set apart amply revealed in the fact that since by its exclusive pride and indifference 1914 a commission has worked uninto China's needs, is now gratuitously terruptedly on the colossal task of serving in free dispensaries, teaching bringing the laws of China into agreein night schools and giving itself to ment with the practices and laws of bettering the conditions of the work- other countries. . . . . ing man. Freed at last from age-long inhibitions of tradition, they are It is, however, in the field of educaidentifying themselves with labor tion that China's most conspicuous and demanding that their country de- achievement is to be seen. .Abolishvelop her industry on the principles ing the system by which memorizing of justice to the common working the classics was a necessary step to man. .Amazing significance of the official appointment, and eliminating handwriting on the Great Wall! the ancient examination system, were the first steps in building up a mod- In the third place, the industrial ern system of education. Through situation has brought about a new all the political upheaval, the one decondition in China. The introduction partment of government which has of modern industrialism is slowly functioned uninterruptedly is the changing the' entire social fabric of Educational Bureau. So thorough that land. Twenty years ago the in- has been its work that today there are dustrial life centered in villages-no institutions from kindergartens to foreign factories or mills were to be colleges and universities, technical seen. Today certain sections of China schools, provision for foreign study, resemble Fall River or Manchester. popular education, public lectures, Large factories are owned by West- libraries, museums and exhibits as the erners employing Chinese laborers. fruit 0'£ the untiring efforts of this Any dispute, therefore, between em- bureau. ployer and employee becomes at once an international question. Figures are more convincing than ~eneralizations. In 1912, China had We face, therefore, three unique 57,267 government schools, enrolling elements in the China situation: a 1,626,529 students. In 1923, there recently aroused national spirit, a were 178,972 schools and 6,818,486 new idealism on the part of the stu- students. With every condition of dents, a modern system of industrial- government such as to retard educaism. We of the West, who are given tional advance, and with hopelessly to exhorting China to set her house inadequate funds, China has built up in order, should be on our guard lest so great a system! we fail to appreciate how much she has accomplished in the face of in- This then is the China with which credible handicaps. No one who studies the situation can doubt that the world today has to deal: a new China is conscious of her national China in which the Spirit of God has weakness and has made a conspicu- been working, stirring the students ous beginning of essential reforms to an idealism not known before; a along three main lines. Let us not be China which potentially may be one so blinded by China's failure in the of the great. gift-bearers to the family of nations. Surely .America of all the realm of government that we fail to peoples on the earth, with her rich see her definite achievements in non- traditions of friendliness in the past, political fields during the past dec- should be among the first to walk ade: in judicial reform, in foreign with China along the pathway of helpful cooperation in the building trade, in her postal system, and in up of a right world order.
FROM ,MANYLANDS
INDIA, MALAYSIA AND SIAM thought." The resolutions passed in- New Opinm Policy in India cluded the following: A N ADDRESS on opium legisla- "This Convention is of opinion tion delivered by Lord Reading that the prohibition of alooholic just before he retired as Viceroy of liquor is not only in consonance with India, marks a long step towards the the sentiments of the people of India, position consistently upheld by the but also imperative for their social American delegation to the Opium well-being and for the promoti<m of Conference at Geneva. The Viceroy their economic efficiency. The Conrecommended "such measures as may vention, therefore, urges the Governbe required to prevent completely, ment of India and the local governwithin five years from the present ments to accept the total prohibition date, the smuggling of opium from of alcoholic liquor as the gual of their constituting a serious obstacle to the excise policy. . . . The introduction effective .!!upp.ression of the use of of local option laws is in the opinion prepared opium, " and continued: of this Convention the best means of " AI> a result we have come to the con- ascertaining the wishes of the people clusion that, in order at once to fulfil in this matter. _ .. This Convention our international obligations in the calls on the leaders of the various largest measure, and so to obVIate the communities to take immediate steps complications that may arise from the for an effective organization of pubdelicate and invidious task of attempt- lic opinion throughout the country ing to sit in judgment on the internal in support of the prohibition of policy of other governments, it is de- liquor. "
sirable that we should declare publicly Memorials to Dr. J. C. R. E ….ing our intention to .reduce progressively the exports of opium from India so WHILE the graduates of Forman as to extinguish them altogether College themselves constitute his within a definite period-except as finest possible memorial, it is natural that special efforts should be made at regards exports of opium for strictly this time to perpetuate the name of medical purposes. . . . We further this great missionary educator and propose to discontinue altogether the statesman. Word comes from India system of auction sales of opium in that the Indian Christians are raising India." a fund in India to rebuild the Pres- India Demands Prohibition byterian Church at Lahore. The pastor of this church is a graduate of THE Prohibition League of India the College and one of the leading was organized at a conference held ministers of the Protestant churches in Delhi late in January. The plans of North India. His congJ'egation for this conference were announced in now is too large for the old building the October REVIEW as indicative of and energetic steps are being taken to the strong and rapioly growing pro- raise a large fund for a new and hibition sentiment, and one feature of much-needed building which will ade- the gathering which is emphasized in quately represent the Presbyterian the reports was that the 1,500 dele- Church, which is the pioneer church gates represented "all religious com- of the Punjab. The non-Christian munities and every shade of political public of North India, under the 382 leadership of Abdul Qadir, the Min- it; "We have made the Indian fesister for Education in the Punjab and tival our model. This is a cheerful President of the Forman College occasion, partly religious, but mainly Graduates' Association, is raising an- social, when large crowds gather. A other fund to establish scholarships suitable center is fixed and the people for poor and brilliant students in con- from fifty or more congregations asnection with the Punjab University. semble for two days. Each village In addition to these two funds, it is brings some animal, usually a sheep planned to raise in the United States or -a'I goat, as its thank-offering for the Ewing Memorial Library Fund of the year, .and individuals offer volun- $50,000, for a building in Forman tary gifts ih money or kind. All are College bearing Dr. Ewing's name. received and blessed and then sold. The Board of Foreign Missions of the Great crowds gather, and Christians Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. also come in large nuinbers. The has expressed its approval of this festival is not specially religious, but undertaking. there is a good opportunity for preaching and teaching. These occa- The Church of England in India sions are helpful in many ways and that, as opportunities for generosity, AT THE second meeting of the All- they are on the right lines, is proved 1: India Provincial Council of the by the ever-growing gifts. "
Church of England in India, Burma Slavery Abolished in BurDla and Ceylon held in Calcutta the bishops of all the. thirteen dioceses of the AN ASSOCIATED Press item late province were present as well as .tl. in March reported official advices seventy-four clerical and lay representatives. The main topic discussed received in London from Rangoon to was the proposed dissolution of the the effect that slavery had at last been legal union between the Church of suppressed in Burma. All slaves in England and the Church of England the Hukawng Valley, to the number in India. The principle of disestab- of 3,487, have been released as a relishment was already accepted by the sult of representations made to the previous Council which met in 1922 Naga chiefs by J. T. O. Barnard, and it was again reaffirmed in this Deputy Commissioner of the Burma Council when a formal resolution to Frontier Service, wlW headed a govthat effect was carried with only two ernment [larty on a visit to that terridissentients. It is an interesting tory a few months ago. Sir Harproof of the spirit of the gathering court Butler, Governor of Burma, that the dioceses of Travancore and who visited the Hukawng Valley a Dornakal which are almost entirely year ago with an escort of 110 mili- Indian sent up resolutions to safe- tary police and opened negotiations guard the position and privileges of for the freeing of slaves, said he bethe European minority of the Church. lieved slavery, as well as head-hunt- ing, still existed in remote parts of Dnyanodarya comments; Burma, but the time soon would come when these abominable practices We believe that when this measure be- would be blotted out completely. Uncomes law it will help not only in the In- til recently the Naga tribes have been dianization of Christianity but in banishing in the habit of kidnapping annually that raeialism from India which is the nega- about fifty boys and girls from Assam. tion of everything Jesus was or said or did. When interviewed by Sir Harcourt Butler last year the chiefs defended Christian Indian Festival the practices of slavery and human sacrifice and refused to "discontinue THE London Missionary Society them. The Governor, however, called has for years in its Telugu field in a durbar, at which he announced the South India followed a plan that appeals greatly to village folk and brings in large and steadily increasing gifts. Rev. J. Macnair writes of
British Government was determined readily agreed, "We are more forto see slavery ended. tunate because we have fathers and mothers and they have not." When Siam Cordial to Christians they voted whether or not to send their money to the orphans even the ON THE occasion of the death of tiniest hand was raised, so thirty- Rama VI, King of Siam, which five cents was added to the fund. was referred to in the February RE- VIEW, a Christian memorial service Bibles for Protection was held in Chiengmai church, which was attended by Siamese officials from APRESBYTERIAN missionary in the Viceroy down to government Shantung Province writes: ',A clerks. At the close of an address re- soldier friend of Pastor Wei, Ankiu viewing the progress of the nation City, in going around the country under Rama VI, delivered by the Rev. looking for robbers, reported seeing Ban Chong Bansiddhi, the officials many Bibles and hymn books placed expressed hearty appreciation. The in conspicuous places in many homes. reading of Scripture and prayers He was surprised that so many were were listened to attentively, and the Christians and asked about them. old prince of Chiengmai remarked None of these people were on any that the only fault of the service was church roll and what is more they its brevity. The sympathetic attitude could not and did not use these books, of the late king toward missionary except to try to create a good impresschools is typical, says The Continent, sion so that the soldiers would not "of the sincere recognition of Chris- search their homes, for Christians tian missions among leading Siamese. have a reputation for being good citi- The opportunities for service in Siam zens. This incident shows that peohave never been greater than at the ple no longer despise the Christian present time, for missionaries are wel- religion and are even willing to be come to extend their work in every known as having a connection with part of the country if only they had the church if only for the sake of prothe workers to make this possible." tection. "
CHINA A Million Testaments Waated "Golden Rule Sunday" GEORGE T. B. DAVIS, of the Pocket Testament League, with THE girls in a Bible class in Hang- headquarters at Il9 S. 4th St., Phila- chow, China, attended by Y. W. delphia, is conducting a special cam- C. A. students, only one of whom is paign for" a nation-wide distribution Christian, and some of whom had of the Word of God in the hour of never seen a Bible before coming to crisis in China." The American, the Y. W. C. A., are beginning to British and Scottish Bible societies think in world fellowshi{! terms. are cooperating with the League in Their Chines-e teacher, Miss Yui, pre- its plan to present a million copies sented to them the origin and pur- of the New Testament to those who pose of "Golden Rule Sunday." will agree to read and carry them. Pictures were shown of Near East The missionaries have already applied conditions, and as a result of this for nearly 700,000 copies for careful glimpse of need abroad, $19 was and prayerful distribution in their given by these girls. The children in districts. A missionary in the provthe Hangchow Sunday-school were ince of Szechwan in applying for told about Near East children by 2,000 or nwre of the Testaments for their Chinese leader, who asked them, distribution by four missionaries in "Who do you think are better off, four counties says: "I can imagine they or we?" These children are no movement which would be likely to poor children and used to a diet of have such far-reaching .results in the rice and vegetables with perhaps meat present day of urgent crises. and unor Dsh once a week. The children
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
paralleled opportunity in all parts of structed and of great benefit to the China." Approximately $150,000 is community. He immediately in- needed to cover the cost of the cam- quired if any members of the family paign, including the printing and dis- remained. Upon his inqui,ry he found tribution of the Testaments. Each there was a boy of sixteen. After con- . fifteen cents places a neat cloth-l:found sultation the boy was promised an copy of the New Testament in the interest of 40,000 cash annually on hands of a Chinese. the 200,000 cash his father had ex- pend'ed on the bridge, to pay for the Bolshevik Activities in China boy's food, clothing and tuition while in our mission school. Besides I Na book entitled" In the Heart of the official promised him five acres of Asia, " recently published by land for the boy's later use. The boy Lieut.-Col. P. T. Etherton, formerly thanked the official for his kindness Consul-General and political resident and went horne rejoicing." in Yarkland, there is a graphic ac- count of the widespread activities of Chinese Surgeon Honored those engaged in Bolshevik propa- ganda, which is quoted by eMma's ALEXANDER PAUL, secretary of MiUions. They have established ft the United Christian Missionary schools at Tashkent, where they train Society (Disciples), writes after a re- specially selected men from the vari- cent visit to Luchowfu, Anhwei Prov- ous tribes and races of Asia, who are ince; " We have two or three splen- then sent out as agents. In addition didly trained Chinese doctors who are they have specially equipped trains well prepared to carryon their share fitted wi.th cinema apparatus, which of the work. This is especially true are used on the Central Asian and of Dr. Chen who is not only a remark- Siberian Railways for the purpose of able surgeon, but an outstanding disseminating their doctrine. Christian man. He had been to Pe- king for six months' post-graduate In South China their influence is work in the Peking Union Medical particularly strong. Here they have College. We were at Luchowfu when seized public funds and confiscated he returned, and were struck with the public property to finance the Soviet wonderful reception which was ac- revolution. Farms and city property corded him by the people of the city. have been sold to pay the Red Army, The city elders spread a great feast and it is reported that the ordinary for him the day after he got back and taxes have in some areas been col- seemed to be very sincere in their lected up to the end of 1929. Mis- welcome to one who, as they put it, sionary operations in certain parts of had done more than any other man Kwangtung Province have become al- for the welfare of the people in most impossible, and missionary prop- Luchowfu and district. The hospital erty has been seized. buildings are in fine condition."
A Christian Bridge Builder Foochow's Interest in Lepers REV. OTTO BRASKAMP, Pres- ONE interesting result of the pres- byterian missionary in Ichowfu, ent world tour of W. M. Dan- Shantung Province, relates this un- ner, of the American Mission to usual incident: "A veteran Chinese Lepers is the organization of an aux- Christian who lived near a river ex- iliary in Foochow, China. tremely difficult to cross, sold his small tract of land for 200,000 cash, in Mr. Danner spent ten days in order to build a bridge for Christians Foochow in February. His coming to cross to attend Sunday and mid- made a much larger place for leper week services. After his death our work. Mr. Danner held many im- county official heard of the charitable portant conferences with the civil deed and went out to investigate the governor of the province, foreign bridge. He found it was well con- S
missionaries, Chinese pastors and JAPAN-KOREA other leading Chinese citizens. The Japanese Idea. of Greatne.. governor, who is much beloved by Foochow people generally, has long W HOM would Japanese boys pick been interested in the welfare of the as the "three men who have exlepers. But his efforts and those of the C. M. S. and American Methodist erted the greatest influence in the missionaries have been altogether inadequate. Mr. Danner's vivid pres· world?" That question went out to €ntation of the service given to lepers a goodly number of students in misby governments and communities in other parts of the world made a pro- sion and other schools in Japan and found impression on Christian and other leadership in Foochow. As a the following ten names received the climax to a series of meetings there came the decision to e>rganize the highest vote: Foochow Auxiliary, the chief purpose of which will be to generate intelli- Christ '" .400 Kaiser Wilhelm II.. 71 gent public interest in the leprosy Buddha … 249 Thomas Edison …. 64 problem and in the methods of deal- Confuciu~ .. 185 ing with it. Napoleon .. 96 Edward .Jenner ….. 5,0 Meiji Tenno 81 Stevenson (inventor) 41 A. Lincoln ……… ,40 Students from mission schools voted for religious leaders, scholars, phi- losophers and reformers. Students in other schools thought first of sci- entists, inventors, discoverers, mili- tary leaders. Both groups put about the same estimate on· statesmen.
Selling Scriptures in Tibet Prohibition in Japan REFERENOE was made in the MORE than two hundred official October REVIEW to the colportage delegates were ;registered in adwork done on the Tibetan border by vance for the Sixth Annual National Rev. J. H. Edgar, F. R. G. S., to Convention of the Temperance League whom, accorc;ling to a secretary of the of Japan. The program of the con- British and Foreign Bible Society, vention listed over thirty propositions "the palm for really heroic work in to be considered by the delegates, the the wide dissemination of the Scrip- chief of which were the following: tures must be given." Mr. Edgar (1) The adoption of prohibition as writes of a visit to Litang, the highest a political issue. (2) The possible city in the world: "On our arrival formation of a "dry" party and the in Litang we took up our abode in one election of "dry" members to the of the hovels and began operations Diet under universal suffrage. (3) immediately, Crook treating diseases, The election of "dry" candidates in and the writer supplying literature to local assemblies as a first step in po- Tibetans at an unprecedented pace. litical reform. (4) Means for the He also accompanied his sales with a crystallization and more effective orrehearsal of the old, old story of man, ganization of the growing temperance his Maker, and the world Saviour. and prohibition sentiment throughout During our stay we also visited the the country. (5) Cooperation with lamasery and encircling settlements and development of the student proon the same errand; and finally gal- hibition movement. (6) A more adeloped far and wide over the plain, vis- quate p;rogram for scientific temperiting lamaseries and nomadic camps. ance education. (7) More effective The plain was considered to be especi- enforcement of the Juvenile Prohibially unsafe; so the official kindly ac- tion Law. (8) Proposals for advance companied us with a powerful body- legislation in the next session of the guard. In many ways this was an Diet. It is anticipated that the examazing trip. In any case, 3,844 tension of suffrage in Japan will hooks and 14,000 tracts went into the greatly aid the dry cause.-American hands of lamas, brigands, and ordi- Friend. nary Tibetans."
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Union S. S. Monthly for Japan our Mission had done for her people.
THE Sunday-sehool work in Japan Our public meetings were numerous. .1 has developed at such a rapid rate Schools, clubs, churches and other that by last year, in addition to the civic and religious organizations of uniform and graded lessons there both Japanese and foreigners welwere four denominational magazines comed the opportunity to inf()tm for teachers and officers. It was evi- themselves regarding the lepers of dent to many leaders that this was Japan and of the world. A day of unnecessary duplication of effort. prayer for lepers has been proposed The Congregational Board of Relig- in Japan." The five government leper hospitals of Japan, as well· as ious Education was the first to respond to the suggestion to join with several Christian hospitals, were vis- ited by Mr. and Mrs. Danner. the National Sunday School Associa- tion in the publication of one maga- "Mott Conference" in Seoul zine and call it The Sunday Sohool. The first number under this consoli- JAPAN was the first stopping place dation was on its way from the of Dr. and Mrs. John R. Mott on their present Pacific Basin tour, and printer to the Sunday-school office in it is reported that delegations, of- Tokyo at the time of the earthquake ficial and otherwise, met him as he ~nd before reaching there, the man landed, the freedom not only of the drawing the hand cart had to flee for cities but of the Empire was bestowed his life and the 2,000 copies were left upon him, and every possible recogand were burned in the street. Since nition was accorded him. While in then the Methodist Church has also Korea he conducted in Seoul a congiven up its own magazine to join the ference of sixty Christian leaders, other forces in The Sunday School. representing all denominations. Al- The result is a good magazine of fred W. Wasson writes in The Korea ninety pages edited on a high stand- Mission Field that, in response to Dr. ard with most of the best talent in the Mott's question, "What problelIlB <lOuntry behind it. Only one denomi- confront you in Korea on which you nation in Japan continues to publish would like to have brought to bear its own Sunday-school monthly. the experience of the Christians of Japanese Attitude to Lepers the world r " the following seven SECRETARY DANNER, of the points were most emphasized by the American Mission to Lepers, Koreans: writes of his recent visit to Japan: "Throughout the Empire we found 1. Better living conditions for the Korean the public sentiment toward leprosy people.
2. Salvation of the young people of the Church.
greatly changed for the better since 3. A better understanding and closer co· our last visit eight years ago. The operation between missionaries and Korean Japanese word for leper literallv meallis 'Heaven-cursed sick people;' workers. 4. A broader program and simplified methods of church work.
but there is a tendency to outgrow 5. A union of the Christian forces in this superstitious attitude and to re- Korea. gard lepers as like other sick people to whom we owe a debt of sympathy. ,6. A clear statement of essential Chris~ tianity. 7. Removal of the handicap which evils in . . . The Princess Higashi Fushimi, nominally Christian lands place upon ,Chris· widow of the Emperor's nephew, in- tianity.
vited us to call at her palace. The tady-in-Waiting, Madame Ora, and Korean Men's Bible Class T Admiral Kawashima attended her HE ,zeal of Korean Christians as Bible students has been shown in When she received us at the interview.
The Princess asked us most intelligent many ways. A further illustration is questions, and thanked us for what given by Rev. W. B. Harrison, a
Southern Presbyterian missionary in a Wellington newspaper suggests that Kunsan, who writes of a ten days' the movement needs sympathetic and Bible class for men: "There were patient handling by the churches con- about three hundred in attendance, cerned.
and there would have been more but fOJ." the snow storm that continued for New Basel Mission in Borneo several days at the opening and made AN OPEN door has been entered by traveling very difficult. Some of the 1'1 the Basel Mission in Borneo. In men waded through twenty miles of deep snow in the face of a biting wind the southwestern part of their mission in order to attend the class. The men field the,re is a region known as Kota boarded themselves. The mlSSlOn Waringin, where in July, 1925, Misfurnished rooms, light, fuel and cook- siona.ry Henking ba.ptjzed 105 pering utensils. sons in one day. This miracle of conversion, which so far is unprece- " There were seven grades with dented in Borneo, dates back to 1915 three hours of daily study each, one when a school was opened in Nanga- Sunday-school period and two devo- bulik. Several other schools followed tional periods for the whole body. and the teachers were mostly Chris- The spLrit of the class was good, as tians from Kuala Kapuas. A few shown especially by the attendance at years ago a Dutch official brought the six 0 'clock morning prayer meet- several boys from Kota Waringin to ing, when notwithstanding the dark- Kuala Kapuas and sent them to ness, the snow and their light cloth- school. They were instructed and ing, about three hundred were usu- baptized and will soon receive posi- ally present. tions as teachers in their own home.
Thrvugh them, however, the knowl- ISLANDS OF THE SEA edge of the Gospel had come to Kota CODlposite Maori Church Waringin. As early as 1916 the peo- F OR a number of years missionary ple from there clamored for a mis- work has been carried on, chiefly sionary. They repeated their request by Anglicans and English Methodists, in 1923 and finally in 1924 they preamong the Maoris, the aboriginal peo- sented it in person. That year a native evangelist, Willy Adam, waf! ple of New Zealand. There is now a Maori Church, in which, it is stated, sent there and he began to travel 20,000 out of the total Maori popula- through the land. The rest is the tion of 54,000 have already enrolled. history of his work. "Thus," say 1<~or a long time past Ratana, the the missionaries, "the harvest ripened in Kota Waringin without our Maori leader, had been urged by knowledge' and without the activity chiefs to place himself at the head of of an European missionary, all an independent Maori Church move- through the wonderful providence of ment, and after having visited the God." Wembley Exhibition and (on the way home), various parts of the Far ADlong the Bataks of Sumatra East, he agreed. The Maori move- I ment is interdenominational, in the N SUMATRA on the island of Samosir, where the Rhenish :M:issense that members are not called upon to break with the mission sian has three main stations, heathen- churches, but it is organized, and ism is still very powerfuL There are preachers are appointed under the about 10,000 ChriSitians in a total name of " apostles. " The 20,000 population of 80,000. The mountain members comprise some 13,000 Angli- called Pusukbuhit opposite Panguru- .eans, 4,000 Roman Catholics, 1,400 ran is the chief intrenchment and Methodists, over 1,000 Mormons, and center of worship of animism. But a number belonging to the Ringata many non-Christians feel that it is (or old native church). A writer in only a question of time when they
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
will enter the Christian Church. In pressions in more modern terms.
Samosir there were many baptisms of Each of these commissions will con- converts during the past year and sist of students with the advisory help there are others under instruction. of an expert in the particular field In Pangururan the great obstacle is which the commission is to consider.
the smoking of opium, and gambling also attracts many victims. On the Sesquicentennial and Religion whole, the missionaries ;report that the MAYOR KENDRICK, of Philawork on Samosir is steadily progress- delphia, is planning for a coning. The latest statistics include the gress of religion as a part of the celefollowing figures for this mission: bration in that city this summer of Total number of native Christians for the 150th anniversary of the signing 1924, 216,588; baptisms in 1925, of the Declaration of Independence. 1,654; baptisms of children among In announcing it he said: "Religious the non-Christians, 1,265; number of freedom was one of the fundamental schools, 433, in which there are 24,- principles announced by the signers 475 pupils. In these the schools of the Declaration of Independence, maintained by the Government and and no celebration of that event the natives are not counted. There would be complete without an approis also a seminary for teachers, an priate recognition of this fundamenindustrial school, two Dutch-Inland tal basis of human liberty. It is, schools, a furniture factory, a smithy therefore, proposed that there shall and a printery. be held during the celebration of the NORTH AMERICA Sesquicentennial in Philadelphia, in the summer of 1926, a world con- Evanston Conference Aftermath gress of religion, to emphasize again THE Continuation Committee of the fact which was so indelibly the Evanston interdenominational stamped upon the minds and constudent conference held a meeting sciences of the members of the first early in March, at which five commis- Continental Congress that no endursions were agreed upon. One will ing basis for civilization can be laid start an investigation of the educa- which does not guarantee to the intional processes od' the Church, par- dividual members of society the right to worship God in their own way." ticula,rly as those processes relate to the broadcasting to students of information regarding the activity of the A New Type of Imllligrant T Christian Church as a constructive HE thousands of young college men who each year work under agency in the present social order.
Another commission is to study and the Industrial Department of the help to launch certain projects relat- Y. M. C. A. to interpret America to ing to church cooperation. Various the immigrant and to help promote inter-church young people projects a better unde,rstanding between him which have already been begun will and the people among whom he is liv- be cleared through this commission. ing, are now meeting a new type of A fourth commission is to begin an European, according to an article in immediate investigation of the reli- The Interpreter. This publication, gious leadership in student communi- an organ of the Foreign Language ties with particular reference to the Information Service, points to the in- methods by which the Church is en- fiux of people of the middle classes, deavo;ring to reach undergraauates. forced to leave their own lands under A fifth commission, which has al- pressure of economic conditions, and ready begun its work, is to study often compelled to abandon their pro- something of the current religious fessions and enter American indus- terminology in an effort to help bring trial life. One of these, a Hungarian about the rephrasing of religious ex- author, whose pen could not earn him
a living in an English-speaking coun- more than for the immediately pretry, is now working in a glass factory, ceding year. The secretary's report the article states. .An Austrian phy- shows that 4,180,000 pages of tracts sician, socially prominent in his home were also printed during the year. city before the war, has taken a job The Association's missionary departas a bus-boy in a lunchroom, and a ment stressed work for the spiritually former professor in a Russian univer- neglected in nearly a thousand jails, sity is making $150 a month as a prisons, and other penal institutions, teller in a New York bank. These and also among the homesteaders people, "men with distinguished ca- and pioneers in the out-of-the-way reers behind them, but aliens to the places, especially in the Rocky Mounlanguage of the country, its institu- tain states and provinces. tions, and ways of life," find the problem of adjustment even keener Ohurch Women and Race Question than did their predecessors, most of whom were manual workers. They SOUTHERN efforts for the betteroffer a new problem to those who are ment of race relations have been trying to promote friendship and good carried on chiefly along geographical will for America among new arrivals lines. The subject was, however, from other shores. given a prominent place at the annual meeting held in Raleigh, N. C., early Protestant Episcopal Out in March of the Woman's Missionary Council of the M. E. Church, South. F.AJLuRE of various dioceses The report of the Council's Race Re- throughout the country to raise lations Commission brought out the the full amount of the quotas as- fact that a standard interracial prosigned to them at the General Con- gram has been formulated, providing vention of the Protestant Episcopal for committees on this subject in all Church at New Orleans last October the local auxiliaries, which number forced a cut of $200,400 in proposed about 6 000 and have a total memberexpenditures when the National ship oI" 250,000 wom_en. The objec- Council met February 25th to balance tives of these committees are: (1) A the 1926 budget. The ,reduction will better knowledge of the achievements necessitate the curtailment of activi- and possibilities of Negroes, as a ties in foreign and domestic missions, basis of appreciation and respect; at headquarters, along educational (2) First·hand study of the condilines and among the cooperating tions which hinder the progress and agencies. The total subscriptions happiness of colored people; (3) The from dioceses were $3,074,502 which acceptance of definite responsibility is nevertheless $50,000 more than has for these conditions; and (4) A probeen given in any previous year. gram of cooperation for their im- Part of the deficit will be made up by provement. Reports indicated that interest on securities owned by the hundreds of local groups of women Council and by unexpended balances. are at work along these lines.
!foody Oolportage Library Self-Help for Indian Boys THE channels through which the REV. HENRY ROE CLOUD, Yale consecrated personality of Dwight graduate and notable leader L. Moody is still influencing lives are among his own people, is principal of too many to count. One of these is the American Indian Institute, at the Bible Institute Colportage Asso- :Wichita, Kansas. He reports that ciation of Chicago, which recently during the first few years of its exstated in its annual report that in the istence the energies of the school have past fiscal year it had sent out 170,- been chiefly absorbed in getting the 403 copies of the Moody Colportage proper start, in the acquisition of 180 Library. This is about 5,000 copies acres of fine farm land adjacent to
926] NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
the city, and in erecting a few build- Southern Presbyterian Church: First, ings to tryout the experiment of In- "these schools are an excellent means dian education along self-help lines. of approach to the people and of He says: "The Indian boy pays as he commending the Evangelical Church goes. If he has no money, as is the to whole communities, because the actual case with most of them, our missionary teacher acquires a stand- 'work-hour system' affords him a ing and an influence otherwise diffisplendid opportunity to work it out. cult to acquire. The Mexican people Our experiment has proved success- respect the teacher of their cilildren. ful. The Institute is sound finan- The educated person, whether doctor, cially and must now expand. It has mechanic, nurse, or teacher, is highly exceedingly meager equipment. With honored, even where the masses of the additional equipment, endowment people are themselves unlettered. and maintenance funds, the present Second, the mission schools are ready enrollment of forty boys can easily instruments for the training of the jump to one hundred and fifty. My Christian community. No church one great hobby in iife is to help In- anywhere in the world can thrive, or dian boys into Christian American citizens. Let them join what church even survive, without the wise, weBthey will. The secret of racial uplift is our giving back to that race its balanced and consecrated Christian own youth trained for proper and layman. Finally, with the growing noble leadership." spirit of nationalism in the churches, there is no larger work that the mis- LATIN AMERICA sionary force can now do, than that of searching out and preparing young Methodists and Mexican Law men and women .for the place of leadership in the growing national T HE Mexico Annual Conference of church. Our schools are these train- the Methodist Episcopal Church ing places." met in the city of Pueblo while "the secular crusade" described in the A Guatemalan Boy's Witness April REVIEW was at its height. Rev. Ralph E. Diffendorfer, D.D., of the MISS L. BARROWS, of the Cen- Board of Foreign Missions, attended tral American Mission, writes this conference with Bishop Geoil'ge from Guatemala: "I have received a A. Miller, I resident bishop in Mexico letter from one of the boys of the City. He says: "The Conference school, telling of the opportunity he elected one of its own members, Rev. had on returning home this year, to V. D. Baez, a Mexican, from Mexico give the Gospel to his grandfather, City, as its presiding officer, the who is one of the 'pillars' in the bishop and myself taking no official Catholic Church in his town. The part in the proceedings of the entire old man listened and asked many week. The Conference was conducted questions and the boy said that with efficiently by Mexicans in fine spirit, the help of the Lord he was able to the business was transacted with dis- answer his Questions in a way that patch, and the appointments were seemed to satisfy the old man and he ,read by the, presiding Mexican officer. invited him to come to his house and This only illustrates the spirit of all talk it Over. The grandfather had the evangelical workers in Mexico." not spoken to him before for two years, because he had come to our Why Mission Schools in Mexico 7 school in San Antonio. This boy has seen his mother, two brothers and a SOME of the reasons why educa- married sister accept the Gospel by tional missions are needed in means of his testimony in the home Mexico, in spite of the interest which by word and life and now we are the Calles Government is taking in praying that the old grandfather may the matter of education, are suggested enter the fold before it is too late." as follows by W. A. Ross, of the
Latin American Feminism words, so they were brought back, and great was the rejoicing in that J UAN ORTS GONZALEZ writes in home. Others who have been told World Neighbors of the great op- that the Bible misrepresents the story portunity which lies before the of the mother of Jesus are surprised Christian women of North America when the colporteur reads to them in their possible influence in Latin the first chapter of Luke, and they American countries. He says: "A buy the Book to read more. new era for womanhood is dawning in Spain and also in Latin America. The Union Ohurch of Rio "Vhether it is to be for good or ill depends largely upon the leadership of DIRE CTLY responsible for seven that movement. A great majority of hundred Americans and Britishthe educated have lost all faith in re- ers in a foreign land, the Union ligion.If the feminist movement Church of Rio de J anei;ro finds its gains impetus (and everything points work one of difficulty and yet of opto that), and if women get more edu- portunity. It is, first, concerned cation but also lose faith in religion, with individual lives. The new enit will be a great calamity for Latin vironment, the lack of traditional America. If we succeed in permeat- home restraints, differing standards ing that feminist movement for of morality, the legality of gambling greater independence, greater free- devices, and plentiful supplies of indom and culture for womanhood with toxicants at low prices subject the Christianity; then the future of Latin moral stamina of the individual to a America will be brighter and more real strain. .All too frequently both hopeful." Mr. Gonzalez refers to men and women hreak under it and various mission schools in which fall away from the standards of their women are being trained for leader· former lives. Second, the Union ship, and says that the Y. W. C. A. Church, with a membership drawn "everywhere in Latin America is from seventeen denominations, is a awakening deep interest and influ- demonstration of Christian unity. encing many women members belong- Third, the Union Church is the logiing to the middle and higher classes cal point of contact for the colonist of society." and the native work. The foreign resident whose life cont,radicts the Fear of the Bible Overcome spirit of Christian teachings is a seri- ous obstacle to evangelical work. THE ,representative of the British Many of the colonists may be led to and Foreign Bible Society in an active interest in the Christian Brazil writes of how the priests prej- enterprise in Brazil and will be able udice the people against the Bible be- to interpret it rightly to the people fore they see it. Sometimes they say at home. that it is an immoral book, not fit to be received into any decent family. EUROPE One colporteur had an experience of this at the farmhouse of a widow of A Living.tone Memorial whom he asked lodging for the night. Before retiring to rest he asked per· T HE house in Blantyre, Scotland, mission to read from the New Testa- in which David Livingstone spent ment. The poor woman was in a his early years is in danger of being dilemma: she must either obey the demolished. It is in the midst of a priest or offend her guest. She com- slum area and has been condemned, promised by sending the children out and as soon as accommodation can be of the room, and then the colporteur built for the present occupants it will began to read. He had ;read only a be, unless saved, razed to the ground. few words when the woman stopped " Scotchmen," says the L. M. S. him and said that she wanted her Chronicle, "are too proud of Livingchildren to hear these beautiful stone to let this happen, hence a move- ment has been started which aims
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
at purchasing and restoring the p,rop- these organizations are almost in deerty and establishing either in the spair as they face the demands that building or near it a museum in which come to them from many sides. The it is hoped to gather the Livingstone Moravians, relying only upon the relics. " Among those who are taking generous offer of 30,000 marks anan active interest in the plan are Rev. nually from sister missions, have John White, D.D., Moderator of the ventured to take back the Nyasa mis- Church of Scotland; Rev. .T. 1. Mac- sion offered by the Free Church of nair, Chairman of the Congregational Scotland. The Berlin Mission has Union of Scotland; Dr. Donald taken back its Nyasa mission and is Fraser, and Rev. W. B. Stevenson, now negotiating for the return of the ,Convenor of the Foreign Missions Bena and Hehe missions, has ex- Committee of the Church of Scotland. tended its South China work in view of favorable offers and will not be 'Tribute to Spa.nish Protesta.nts able to avoid an active resumption of the South African Swasiland Mis- MISS ALICE BUSHEE, who has sion. The Basel Mission has gem;r- spent fifteen ye,ars as a Congre- ously offered to assume the entire misgational missiona.ry in Spain, writes sion of the Rhenish Society in of the Protestants there: "They are Borneo. Now they are compelled to ;scattered throughout Spain, some- resume in rapid succession their old times only a family or two in a vil- work in North Borneo, on the island lage or town,. and in order to obtain of Hong Kong, in Malabar, in the a certain solidarity, a Federation of now English part of the former Camall the Protestant churches has been eroon Colony and along the Gold formed, with a secretary in Madrid, Coast. who may be able to see the Secretary of State on questions that arise in "A Robert College for Bulgaria" various parts of the country. In spite {If difficulties they are and have been THIS phrase has long been used to a group of people of high ideals, with express the ideal of thoughtful a religion that is alive and that means Bulgarians, many of them Robert so much that for its sake they would College alumni, who realize that leadbear insult and persecution. Their ership based on character is the sustandards of morality are high. The preme need of their country. With Protestants also set an example of the the King and the Government value of education. The young men friendly, even to the extent of offerattend the institutes (for the B.A. ing a fine tract of land, with promidegree) and also the universities, and, nent families eager to send their sons {)wing to the system of competitive and daughters, with able and conseexaminations in the country, are now crated teachers ready to be sent out, taking their places as professors in nothing but lack of money has stood these same institutions." in the way of the enterprise, The success of the campaign for the col- Status of German MissioDS leges of the Near East nets a tidy sum for Bulgaria, so far as running ex- DR. JULIUS RICHTER states in penses, are concerned; from another the Neue Allgemeine Mission- quarter an endowment fairly adezeitschrift that in 1924 3,500,000 quate is in sight. On the strength of marks were raised in Germany for this situation, the American ,'Board missions. This is only about one has decided to move its academy for third of the amount needed in the boys, maintained for fifty years at years before the World War. The Samakov, to Sofia, the capital, and to hope that the stress of the times raise it to college grade. To this will would bring about a merger of the be joined the school for girls now at various German missionary societies Samakov. The election of Professor has not been fulfilled, and some of
Floyd H. Black, of Robert College, to in turn lead the class. Even on a the presidency of the ,reorganized rainy day the class is not forgotten. Sofia schools was i10ted in the April On one rainy day when you would not have expected a single woman to REVIEW. trudge through the mud and rain, knowing that they have no changes AFRICA of clothing, there were seventeen present. In the Bible school the Missions in the Barbary States women's class is taught by one of the Abyssinian women. With a very REV. FRANCIS C. BR.ADING, quiet dignity she leads the others into who spent a number of years in one of the little classrooms in the North Africa among Mohammedans church. On Saturday evenings she more than twenty-five years ago, 'has very faithfully attends the teachers' recently visited his old field, of which meeting with the men teachers of the he writes; ".A third of a century ago school. This same woman has been one could almost count the number of chosen to go out .into the neighboring missionaries on one hand, but today villages to teach groups of women." there are nearly eighty workers-belonging to the North Africa Mission, Transformation in Nigeria Algiers Mission Band, the Brethren, the Spanish Mission, the London TEN years ago, Enugwu, now the Jews Society, the British and Foreign Bible Society, and the American . center of the coal-mining district Methodists, This is significant of the of Nigeria, was practically uninhabincrease of missionary effort through- ited, and lay in the temitory of most out the Barbary States, Morocco, Al- primitive and savage tribes. Today geria and Tunisia. During my two it is a rapidly-growing, up-to-date months' visit I naturally did not have town with some thousands of inhabittime to visit all the stations, but I ants, European and African. When was privileged to go to about fifteen Rev. 1. Ejindu, an Ibo clergyman of them, and everywhere found a connected with the Church Missionhopefulness among the workers which ary Society, was sent to open work at was cheering and quite different from this place in 1916, he found a people the old days. At Tozeur, one of the whose barbarities almost passed belargest and the most beautiful of the lief. Cannibalism was common. In oases of the Sahara, the Algiers Mis- a single month in 1917 three people sion Band has a station held now by who lived in one house were stolen, a only two ladies; it is the outpost of man and his wife were kidnapped on the Gospel from the North African the ,road, and the servant of the govside, and nothing else in the way of ernment doctor was abducted, none missionary work can be met with until of them ever to be heard of again. the Niger is reached. Earnest prayer There was no welcome for Ejindu, should be made on behalf of these and he had the greatest difficulty in lonely workers in the desert." finding any place in which to live. Several attempts were made to poison Earnest Abyssinian Women him and eight times during 1919 his property was stolen. Now there are ARECENT visitor to Sayo, Abys- in the district some seventy churches, sinia, was greatly impressed by forty schools, and eighty to ninety the work that is being done among teachers, entirely supported by the the women by the mission of the people themselves. United Presbyterian Churcn. She says; "Four days a week the women A Self-Propagating Church gather, just after the noon hour, for their Bible class. An interesting THE missionary in an African par. group it was which gathered on the ish like that of the American verandah of one of the busy mission- Board at Bailundo, West Africa, beary homes, for the missionary wives
1926J NEWE FROM MANY LANDS
comes almost like a bishop in that he prayer, yet many of them come again directs and oversees many phases Df and again. Surely it is the Gospel wDrk over a large area. "Last that is drawing them. Like all other month," writes Rev. W. C. Bell, boys, they are full of fun and mis- "marked just forty-four years since chief, and sometimes are difficult to the first missionaries arrived at Bail- control. Yet there are times when undo and the self-same anniversary there is perfect stillness, and we feel day I had the privilege of recDrding they are taking in the mf)ssage. Pray the one hundredth outstation belong- for them." ing to this parish. The encouraging fact of it all is that over half of this Heart of Africa Mission Divided number have been begun within the last five years. The mission has al- OWING to disagreement with the ways stood for the self-propagating Field Overseer on policies of adidea for church extension and so, ministration, the American Executive though in some ways we have not been Council of the Heart of Africa Mis- 'spectacularly' successful in making sion has separated from the British a great show, yet the yeast has been Committee and will conduct work in working quietly and the Church has a separate field in the Belgian Congo, been growing in a self-reliant way manned by American missionaries from power from within. The se1£- and financed and controlled from sacrificing work of our catechists is America. The World-Wide Evangelia marvel to many and yet that very zation Crusade was founded in Engself-denial and putting 'first things land by Mr. C. T. Studd who is the first' is a key to the present success Field Overseer of the Mission. The Df the work. The many years of right Dfficers of the American Council are foundatiDn building are now bound Dr. Geo. McNeely, Ckairmanj Miss to, show in the results we are likely to C. J. Brandon, Secretary, and Dr. witness within the next twenty-five GeDrge H. Dowkontt, Treasurer, 113 years. " Fulton Street, New York.
MoslelIl Boys Hear the Gospel New Stations in Mendiland A SIMPLE service held every eve- THE United Methodist Church ning at Tel-el-Kebir, Lower Missionary Society of England an- Egypt, is, described as follDws by Miss nounces that three Mendi chiefdoms 1. Ash: "Some nights we may get in Sierra Leone have been assigned some thirty or forty boys, another for its occupation by the United night just a few girls and women. Christian Council, that its super- Several nights we had so many big intendent in the field, Rev. W. S. boys, and even men, that we had to Micklethwaite, has interviewed the keep the girls and small boys away. three" Paramount Chiefs" and found Moonlight nights we get big crowds, them favorable to the establishment dark nights fewer, and Dlder ones of missionary work among their peocome. Then once in a way, like last ple, and that the home committee has night, nobody comes, but this does not sanctioned the planting of missions happen often. It is a mixed congre- in each of the three new chiefdoms, gation, but when we remember that Bonga, Jaiama and Wunde. The exonly two or three are Copts, and all tension thus commenced will need to the others are Moslems, we are glad be maintained with vigDr. The comto be able to tell them of Jesus and mittee is therefore anxious to secure His love. What is it that brings these immediately two ministers for West big lads after working in the fields Africa, one to devote himself to, the from daylight till sunset ? We do not training of native agents and the offer any attractions or give any other to superintend the work of the cards. Just a hymn, short talk, and whole district. The new stations will be planted in virgin soil, and the
Gospel will be preached to those who to stress vocational training. Not will hear it for the first time. New more than five per cent of the or- buildings are already being erected. phanage children have been selected Indians in South Africa for advanced training, but the gen- eral program of the organization has THE proposal in the Union of been directed to serve the children South Africa either to deport the en masse, and to equip them for efwhole Indian community about 160,- ficient self-support and usefulness in QOO or to deny it the rights of citizen- the social and economic life of the ship and of trade was referred to in country. The Near East Relief trade the February REVIEW, which quoted schools are training 6,213 boys and Bishop Fisher, of the Methodist girls for leadership in c,rafts. But of Episcopal Church. A later summary the young people, former orphanage of an article by Bishop Fisher points wards who have been able to continue out the elements of racial prejudice in schools and to take special train- and economic competition which ing, 2:7 are now 'employed as governenter into the problem, and the spe- ment teachers in Armenia and 25 in cial difficulty which arises from the Greece, and 114 girls have taken fact that approximately two thirds of courses in nurses' training schools. the present Indian population of the Union of South Africa is native-born, "Servants of Syria." Organize some families going back as far as W three generations of native-born resi-HEN the Week of Prayer special meetings were held at the Lebdence in South Africa. A deputation was sent by the Government of India , anon Boys' School, Suk-el-Gharb, to collect information in South Af- Syria, under the leadership of Rev. rica, and a deputation of South Afri- George H. Scherer, Field Secretary of can Indians went to India to enlist the World's Sunday School Associasupport and sympathy the,re. A tion, the general theme was, "Getting meeting of protest held in Calcutta Clean and Keeping Clean." The topin February was presided over by ics considered were; " A Clean Bishop Westcott, of the Anglican School, " " Clean Words, " " Clean Church, who is chairman of the Na- Hands," "Clean Hearts," "Help tional Christian Council of India, Make Syria Clean. " About two Burma and Ceylon, and who defi- weeks after these meetings were connitely placed himself among those cluded, the boys were invited to take who consider that the enactment of the following pledge; "I promise the legislation proposed will be a vio· that, whatever be my profession, I lation of the Gandhi-Smuts agree- will dedicate myself to the service of Syria." Under the leadership of a ment. fine Moslem boy, an organization was THE NEAR EAST effected called "Servants of Syria." Training a Nation's Leaders These boys plan to attack intemper- NEAR EAST RELIEF, from being ance, gambling and social immoJ:"ality. a refugee feeding and rescue or- Most of these boys are in the Sun- ganization has become a great school day-school connected with the Boys'
and home system, with today 7,000 School at Suk-el-Gharb, though such children who receive their food and membership is entirely voluntary.
training but live at home, and 20,000 Mr. Scherer states that some of the who are wholly dependent upon the village children also attend the Suk- organization for their education and el-Gharb Sunday-school, and, as an life. Educational efforts of the past activity of the students, Sunday- in the Near East have produced an schools are conducted by the older aristocracy of learning which has not boys in five villages near-oy every penetrated the sub-strata of society. Sunday afternoon. The enrollment It is the policy of Near East Relief in these outside schools is about 250.
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
New King of the Hedjaz duced to 50,000. For many centuries cut off from the rest of Christendom, THE successive victoir~es !n ~he they fought against Islam and main- Hedjaz of the WahabI chIeftam, tained their Christian faith. Ibn Saoud, were described in the February REVIEW. Word has since GENERAL come that he has been formally proclaimed King of the Hedjaz as well Y. M. C. A. World-Wide Assets as of Nejd, and is now in complete control of all northern and central THE net property and endowment Arabia, with well-defined frontiers holdings of the Young Men's agreed upon with Iraq and with the Christian Aissociation throughout the British mandatory power in Trans- world amount to $193,236,000, ac- Jordania. A letter which appeared cording to the annual statement of in a Cairo newspaper and was quoted the World's Committee at Geneva, in the New York Times indicated one Switzedand. Of the total holdings practical way in whi<;h ibn Saoud is approximately eighty per cent is in using his power; namely, in forbid- the United States. The figures show ding the exploitati9n of pilgrims to that exclusive of American work Mecca. This letter states that Ibn abroad, which is counted in the world Saoud has reduced the fare both by total, the property and funds of the camel and automobile from Jiddah to Y. M. C. A. in this country alone Mecca from $100 to $2.50 and is tak- amount to more than $154,542,000. ing gireat pains to make the pilgrim- At the beginning of 1926 there were age safe and inexpensive. 7,382 officers employed in the fifty- two countries in which the Associa- Help for Assyrian Christians tion operated. Of these 5,026 were employed by the American Associa- THE sending by the Protestant tion. Episcopal Church of two missionaries to Mosul, "to save the remnant Roman Catholic Medical Missionaries of the Assyrian race and church, " was reported in the September, 1925, RE- V ARIOUS forms of missionary ac- VIEW. Word now comes that they tivity on the part of the Roman have opened a school of two hundred Catholic Church, such as the opening boys and girls, and have begun the of a university in Peking, China, have education of a few young men for the been reported recently in the REVIEW. ministry. As in the East the priests Word now comes that a new organihold the highest places in public re- zation, "The Society of Medical Misgard, they are also the first who suf- sionaries," opened its first house in fer during persecutions. Most of the Washington, D. C., September 30, Assyrian priests were killed during 1925. A Catholic weekly says of it: the war, and for nearly ten years there have been no candidates to fill The work to which the noble women who their places. Once this church had compose it are devoting themselves is not an 230 bishops in Persia. Now there is innovation. Monasteries and convents for not even a priest to bury the d~ad or centuries were centers of nursing and heal· baptize the children of 10,000 Chris- ing. Upon the foreign mission field, which tians in Urumia, Persia. For nearly is more particularly aimed at by the new ten years the Assyrians have been liv- society, tbere is not the least doubt that the ing near the ruins of the ancient city pioneers of the cross were also pioneers of of Nineveh, driven from their homes the hygiene and remedial agencies which by the Turks. Once a great nation are the common inheritance of civilization. which ruled in the Neair East, and The five laywomen who are its nucleus are five centuries ago the strongest all trained specialists-doctors, nurses, den· Church in the world, they are now re- tists and pharmacists-and will not enter their chosen field until a fnrther period of intensive training haa been undergone under the direction of tbeir head and founder, In. Anna Genge!, a pioneer in medica! mis· sionary work in India and the East.
MXSmONARY
Any books mentioned in these columns will be forwarded by us on receipt of price.- T'HE REVIEW.
Life of David Brainerd. Edited and was the result. Weare still reading Abridged by Rev. Homer Hodge. 8 vo. 200 pages, with frontispiece and picture the experiences of this wonderful soul of Brainerd's grave at Northampton, Mass. New York. 1925. Price $1.50. in communion with God. Prayer is the power behind all successful mis- The diary of David Brainerd as ar- sionaryendeavor. M. T. S.
ranged by "Jonathan Edwards is the accidental Interpretations of the Far Eastern Problem. H. G. W. Woodhead, basis of this little book which puts the C. B. E., Editor, Pekin and Tientsm great facts of Brainerd's life in a T;mes H. K. Norton, American publicist, and Julean Arnold, U. S. Commercial convenient form for many who would Attache in China. 246 pp. $2.00. Chi- .I cago. 1925. not read the ext ended Journa s. The record gives a remarkable in- centive to prayer in connection with Oriental Interpretations of the Far Eastern missions. David Brainerd succeeded Problem. Count Michimasa Soyeshima, in establishing four great centers of House.of Peers of Japan, and Dr. P. W. Christian influence am.ong the In- Kno, President, Southwestern University, dians: Kimnaumeek, Albany Co., China. 213 pp. $2.00. Chicago. 1925.
New York; Forks of the Delaware, These two illuminating volumes in Pennsylvania; Crosweeksung, New should be read in the order named.
Jersey; and at Crambury, New The Norman Wait Harris Lectures, Jersey. In each of these places he given each summer at the University built himself a house and established of Chicago, look to the" promotion of a body of Christian Indians. In ad- a better understanding on the part of dition he labored among the Indians American citizens of other peoples along the Susquehanna River, in New of the world, thus establishing a basis York, and Pennsylvania, and in Con- for improved international relations . necticut. His interest led to large and a more enlightened world-order." gifts for the support of the work. The two books are the lectures for the All was accomplished through prayer. summer of 1925. The aim is most He usually preached through an in- praiseworthy, the main topic most terpreter and never enjoyed physical timely, while it is difficult to see where health, yet in answer to prayer he the foundation could have found was given strength to ride on horse- lecturers more capable of bringing" inback hundreds of miles through the timate information on the subject.
forests and his preaching was honored Japan comes in for consideration, of God to the salvation of multitudes. but China is almost always the center Twenty-nine years measured the of the stage. Russia, Japan, Amer- earthly life of this man who has con- ica, Britain, Europe and the world tributed more to the modern mission- in genera}. to-day, as concerned with ary movement than any other Ameri- China, are under review. can missionary. His journals were Julean Arnold's concise chapter on read by William Carey and helped China's Economic Resources should to send him to India. They were read be read first to see China's splendid, by Robert McCheyne and helped to yet slumbering, economic powers.
mould the remarkable missionary to Woodhead's four chapters should the Jews. Henry Martyn also fed the come next, as he reviews China's fire of his missionary zeal at the same rather pathetic attempts at establish- source and his wonderful ministry to ing a republic, her present disorder India with its culmination in Persia and the dangers attending the sud- 398
1926J THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY
den waiving by Western nations of turer would say m defense of his their extraterritorial rights. Then should follow Norton's brief outline country's policy. J. L. S. of Russian subtlety in her far eastern diplomacy and her present aims Between Black and White. Hemy Hugh in Northern Manchuria and outer Proctor. 12mo. 189 pp. Bostou. 1925. Mongolia. "From the backwoods of Tennessee To stop with the first volume would to the temple at Jerusalem," is Docbe to hear the case of the plaintiff tor Proctor's summing up of his and refuse a hearing to the defendant. eventful life. He is now pastor of a Count Soyeshima has naturally some- Brooklyn Congregational church: and thing to say about Japanese and reveals the eager spirit of a Negro Ame,rican relations: Japan is poor youth struggling for an education and seeking peace, war with America and the longings of a race that has is impossible despite the jingoes of come up out of the injustices of the both countries, and Japanese exclu- centuries. His references to men and sion will be settled when the best women who have helped his people in public opinion in America secures their upward climbing reflect the the power. Regarding China, the appreciation of one who has felt, but Twenty-one Demands are admitted as is willing to forget, the sting of opa wrong, and a sad diplomatic blun- pression by white people and of bitder. The only semi-apology is that ter misunderstanding on the part of Japan was following European ex- his racial brothers. With good cheer ample. he has shared the burden of his peo- ple and with patience sought to lift The surprise of the series to some the load, accepting a willing part in will be Dr. 'Kuo's skilful handling of movements to create interracial goodthe problems of his country. He will. Not all of the pages are autofrankly admits the present squalor biographical. Six of the sixteen but pleads for time among so many chapters contain the author's views millions. He is fearful of Britain in on the Negro's contribution to re- Tibet, Japan in Manchuria and is on ligious thinking and living and to his guard regarding Russia in Mon- sacred music and on the Negro's sogolia, but feels that foreign relations cial outlook in the South and North. are improving in each case. Regard- "Between Black and White" will be ing customs autonomy he pleads a creditable addition to the mission- China's sovereign rights, and for ary section of any library. c. H. shelving extraterritoriality shows how China has codified her criminal law India in 1924·1925. Professor L. F. Rush· and reformed her courts. brook Wlilliams. 8 vo. 435 pp. Index, Maps and Charts. $1.00. British Library Commenting in closing on the pres- of Information. 44 Whitehall Street, ent Anti-Christian Educational Move- New York. 1926. ment, he would incline to make "religious teaching and worship volun- India is a continent in numbers and tary" and believes the movement "is in variety of population. The land, not as serious as it appears." As to people, resources, customs and probmissionary work in general he makes lems form a fascinating and a vast the emphatic assertion, "In spite of subject for study. Dr. Rushbrook the existence of anti-religious move- "Villiams, Director of Public Informaments, and despite the mistakes made tion for India, has prepared this by Christian missions, one is led to extensive material for the information say in all fairness that their work, of the British Parliament and has taken as a whole, constitutes one of made it accessible to others interested, the important factors in the develop- with maps, diagrams and statistics. ment of a new China." External and internal relations; eco- nomic, political and social problems; One wonders what a Russian lec- and a study of the reforms suggested, make up the subject matter of the students. The final conclusion of the volume. Much light is thrown on the author is that, judged by Mohammed's Gandhi movement, on the Mohamme- teaching as to the character of God, dan situation in relation to the Gov- the doctrine of sin and of salvation ernment and on the causes for the from sin, Islam does not show evidence p;resent political and economic unrest. of being from God or a revelation of Naturally, little is said of religion and God. less of Christian missions. The report says, however: "The educa- NEW BOOKS tional work of Christian missionary societies … is beyond all p r a i s e. (Contin1led from Page 323.J Schools in large numbers for the education of depressed classes have been Central American Indians and the Bible. founded and a body of public opin- W. .F'. Jordan. 88 pp. $1.00. Fleming ion is gradually arising which rec- H. Revell. New York. 1926. ognizes that these unfortunates have a claim to be treated as human beings. The Cost of a New World. Kenneth Mac- Already some impression is being lennan. English Edition. 185 pp. 2s, 6d. created upon the stout wall of ortho- Livingstone Press. London. 1926. dox opinion. Last year, a body so representative of Hinduism as the The Redemption Reciter, By Pickering. Hindu Maha Sabha passed a resolution removing from the untouchables 104 pp. 3s. Pickering & Inglis. Glasthe ban in regard to schools, public gow. wells, meeting places and temples: More important still, there are signifi- The Task of the Christian Church: A cant indications in many parts of the World Survey. Thomas Cochrane, Editor. country that class consciousness: is World Dominion Press. London. 192'6. slowly awakening among the untouch- Modern Missions in Chile and Brazil. ables. " W. R. Wheeler. R. G. McGregor, M. Mel. Gillmore, A. T. Reid, and R. E. Speer. The Sources of Islam. John Blair. 12 mo. 430 pp. $2.50. Westminster Press. 189 pp. 48 net. Christian Literature So- Philadelphia. 1926. ciety, London. 1925. AmerlcMl Relations with China, R<lport of There is much ignorance among Gmference held at Johns Hopkins Uni- Christians as to the claims, the facts and the effects of Islam. Interest in versity, September, 1925. 184 pp. $1.50. the subject has been growing since the John. Hopkins Press. Baltimore. 1926_ war, but unchangeable Islam has also been changing in practice. Present Situation In China and Its Sign!1.- cance for Christian Missions. 40 pp. Mr. Blair, who has become acquainted with Mohammedanism in the 25 cents. Committee of Reference and East, shows wide and careful reading. Counsel. New York. 1925. He distinguishes clearly between what is good and true in Islam and what Addresses for Women Workers. Mrs. harmful and false. To understand George H. Morrison. 212 pp. $2.00. this religion, one must understand its antecedents and sources. He must George IL Doran Co. New York. 1926. realize the reforms that Mohammed instituted and the relation to the Jew- Evangelistic Sermons. J. C. Massee. 182 ish and Christian Prophets. The pp. $1.50. Fleming H. Revell Co. New teachings and practice of this religion York. 1926. of over 200,000,000 people are. set forth here concisely and clearly, but Outline for the Study of Dervishism. Prein a way that makes the volume a pared by George Swan. Pamphlet. 50 valuable aid to missionaries and other cents or 28. Nile Mission Press. Cairo. 1925.
Year Book of Prayer for Missions, 1926: Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. 25 cents. Philadelphia Office, Board of For- eign Missions of Presbyterian Church in U. S. A., Witherspoon Building, Phila· delphia.
Jewish Confessors of the Faith. Henry Einspruch. 35 pp. .Jewish Missions Oom- mittee of United Lutheran Church of America. Baltimore. 1925.
The Beast, :Modernism, and the Evangelical Faith. Francis Asa Wright. 311 pp.
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Do Fundamentalists Play Fair' Wm. Mentzel Forrest. 117 pp. $1.00. Mac- millan Co. New York. 1926.
(Concluded on third oove>:.) SEMINARY FOUNDATION A Retrospect and a Forecast: Fifty Years of Missionary Work in South Africa. Theological Seminary 1875-1925. Edgar H. Brookes. lIlus. School of Religious Education Map. 23 pp. 9d. :fission Suisse Ro· Kennedy School of Missions lllande. Lausanne, France, 1925.
W. DOUGLAS MACKENZIE, President Francis Balfour of Basutoland: Evangelist A UNIVERSITY or religio.)Jl. Three separate and Bishop. Bishop Montgomery. Fore- word by the Archbishop of Capetown. :3chools of Chri.stiaa truining grouped on one 1IIus. 104 Pl'. Is 6d. Society for the (ampllB. The Theological Seruinary trains for Propagation of the Gospel.' London. the ministry; the 8('hool of Missions for the 1925. foreign field; the Scbool of Religious Education for the lay worker and tea·;h~r and [or social The Truth About the Chinese Republic. service. Courses in any of the three schools H. W. G. Woodhead. 287 Pl'. 15s. are open to all students. Thus opportunity is Hurst & Blackett. London. 1926. offered fOT full-rounded religioua education. China and the West: A Sketch of Their Hartford Seminary FOUCl.thl tiOll is located in Intercourse. W. E. Soothill. ~fap. 2]6 the center of the intellectual and cultural life Pl'. lOs 6d. Oxford University Press. of New England, half way between Boston and London. 1925. Xew York. The Passing of the. Dragon. J. C. Keyte. A series of handsome and well-appointed Illus. $3.00. Edward Evans. Shanghai. buildings makes its campus one of the most 1925. beautiful in its section of the country. The Cfii:'ie Memorial Library containing 125.000 Papua of Today: An Australian Colony in volumes is for the use' of the three schools. the Making. Sir Hubert Murray. IIIus. This is one of the richest theological libraries Maps. 324 Pl'. 2]8. King. London. in the country. The faculty is (:omposed of 27 1926. scholarly men and women with vitalized persona!ities who have attained diE'itinction in their Women in Ancient India: Moral and Litrespective fields. erary Studies. Clarisse Bader. 356 pp. lOs 6d. Kegan Paul. London. 192.5. Hartford Seminary Foundation Women of Bengal: A Study of the Par- Hartford. Conn. danasins of Calcutta. lIilargaret M. Ur· quhart. IIIus. 165 Pl'. Rs. 2. 8. WANTED: Association Press. ,Calcutta: 5s. Student Christian Movement. London. 1925. OLD REVIEWS The Depressed Classes and Christianity. P. O. Philip. 52 pp. 4 as. Christian Literature Society. Mac1ras. 1925.
In the Heart of Asia. P. T. Etherton. 305 Pl'. 1'68. Constable. London. 1926.
Copies of Life in the French Congo. Gabrielle M. Vassal. Illns. 192 pp. 128 6d. Fisher Unwin. London. 1925.
Village Schools in India: An Investiga· tlon with Suggestions. Mason Olcott. Foreword by D. J. Fleming. Illns. Rs 2. Association Press. Calcutta. 1925.
Prior to 1890 (1878 to 1890) The Apostle of the Marshes: A Story of Shomolekae. J. Tom Brown. 109 Pl'. 2s 6d. R. T. S. London. 1925.
ALSO COPIES OF The Origin of Islam in Its Christian En- vironment: The Gunning Lectures De- February 1901 and February 1903 livered in Edinburgh University. 1925.
THE NEW YORK PURUe URRARY Richard Bell. 232 pp. lOs 6a. Mac- will pay for these copies millan. London. 1926. to complete their files A Handbook of Early Muhammadan Tra- Communic:ale with the Periodical Department dition: Alphabetically Arranged. A. J. Wensinek. 200 Pl'. 2.68. Brill, Leyden: Luzac, London. 1926.
Healing of the Nations: Studies In Some International Aspects of Social Prob- lems. Archibald Chisholm. 155 Pl'. 4.0. Student Christian Movement. London. 1925.
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AT THE HARDWAR MEI.A, INDIA •••••• · •..••.•••..••..•••. EMMA MORlIla 253 EzveriencBs of a woman miBsionary and her helpers at one of the great re· }~'::i~t:ti~~~8 ~e~~i~,,:h~t.tictm8eJ ties totalling $5,500,000. CLOSING LICENSED OPIUM SHOPS IN The larger the business CEYLON …………•………• the greater your security. · . MARY AND MARGARET W. LEITCH 256 Write for full information to A WOMAN'S ADVENTURES ON THE M. W. Ehnea, Treasurer, Board 01 Foreign WILD AFGHAN FRONTIER … ',' . · ……… EMMA )3EI.LE D. PIERSON 256 Mi..ions 01 the Methodist Episcopal Church, 150 Filth Avenue, New York., N. Y., or The story of the rescue Of Miss Ellis by Mr8. Starr in a wild ride among W. J. Elliott, Treasurer, Board 01 Home Mi•• hostile tribes across the northwest sion. and Church Extension 01 the Methodist Episco- border of India. pal Church, 170 I Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa. RETURNS ON A MISSIONARY'S INVEST- "The Friend MENT •••… ELIZABE·Xll McCAULEY 268 THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE ON MOSLEMS …. SA}<[UEL M. ZWEMER 270 A powerful add,.eS8 on what the pri.nt- ing and distribution 01 the Bible mean to the mi.'f8io'(w'ry in Moslem landB.
MiSSIONARY EDUCATION. AND THE HOME BASE •• JAMES CANNON, 3RD 274 THE CHALLENGE OF SOUTH AMERICA • " •••.•….•••• MRS. S. G. INMAN 279 SALVAGING HUMAN DRIFTNOOD ••••• • .•••• ',' .•••••• JAMES H. FERRISS 282 AFRICAN HABITATIONS OF CRUELTY · . . . • • • • . . . . . . . . WILLIAM C. BELL 284 of Missions" SPIRITUAL AWAKENING IN HUNGARY • •••••••.••••• ALE:!UNDER HAIlBANYI 281 BEST METHODS IN EDUCATION AND . PUBLICITY …..•••….••••• " . • ••••. EDITED BY MRS. Jll. C. CRONK 289 A Sound Gospel and Mis- WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN '" • EDITED RY ELLA D. MAcLAURIN 295 sionary Monthly. Tells of WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLETIN .. the Triumphs of the Gos- • •• EDITED BY FLOUNCE E. QUINLAN 298 pel in Russia and Eastern NEWS FROM MANY LANDS ………•.• 301 Europe THEl MISSIONARY LIBRARY .•.•..•••• 318 WILLIAM FETLER, Editor TERMS.-$2.50 a year. ($2.00 In clubB ot g5e·~eJ~rel&;U£?I~h"!.i" ~o~~l:: ,Si!o~~rf:~f:d: 19215, by MISSIONAllY RlIVIEW PURLIBIDNO COM- PANY, INC. All rights reserved.
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The Unfinished Task of Foreign Missions By Robert E. Speer No man living is better fitted for the task than Dr. Speer-few, if any men, quite so well. He addresses himself to his subject in a spirit of hopefulness. which ten years of world-travail and the resultant adverse vicissitudes to which the missionary cause has been subject, has failed to quench.
Dr. Speer surveys the field, analyses the difficulties, indicates the lines of approach and seeks to confirm the hope of the final triumph. In aspects not a few, this is the most important missionary document which has appeared in years.
James Sprunt Lectures, 1926, $2.75 AUGUST K. REfSCHAUER, D.D.
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MlS'SIONARY
EVIEW'
VOL. APRIL, 1926 NUMBER XLIX ~OUR 'l'HE SECULAR CRUSADE IN MEXICO MUCH publicity has recently been given in the press dispatches to the alleged expulsion of all foreign Protestant and Roman Catholic teachers and preachers from Mexico, the confiscation of church property and the entire secularization of all religious sehools. Many of these dispatches have been inaccurate and others have misinterpreted the situation. The Government of Mexico is not conducting an anti-religious crusade, but is endeavoring to secularize her schools and to nationalize her churches so as to free her people from the abuses that have grown up under the domination of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Mexican Constitution of 1917 decrees that "religious institutions known as churches, irrespective of creed, shall in no case hold or administer real property or loans made on such real property. . . . All such real property or loans shall rest in the nation." Anyone familiar with the history of Mexico and the conflict between the State and the Roman Catholic Church will have some sympathy with the efforts of the Government to control church property so that the Roman Catholic Church may not longer abuse its wealth and power.
This article in the Constitution was designed to correct the evils that had grown up through the accumulated riches of the Roman Catholic Church and was not aimed at Protestant churches or missions which, for the most part, are poor and not ambitious for wealth. At the same time, Americans recogni'ze the principle that no distinction should be made between churches on account of creed. The mission boards consider that their church property (Temp los) belongs to the Mexican nation. In most cases, the titles to Protestant school property are vested in the Boards at home, or in corporations on the field.
The Mexican Constitution also provides that no religious teaching shall be permitted in primary private schools during school 245
hours and that no religious services shall be held in any school buildings during school hours. These regulations were inserted to prevent the Roman Catholic Church from using their schools for religious and political propaganda. The State is not unfriendly to Protestant mission schools or churches and recognizes the great value of their work. It is interesting to note that Senor Moises Saenz, formerly the Director of the National Preparatory Schools, and now First Assistant in the Department of Education, is a graduate of the Coyoacan Preparatory School in Mexico (a Presbyterian institution), and of Lafayette College in the United States. The present Minister of Foreign Affairs in Mexico is also a graduate of a Protestant school and President Calles has sent two wards of his to an American Protestant mission school in Mexico.
While the Archbishop of Mexico, the Knights of Columbus and other Roman Catholic organizations have protested against the provisions of the Mexican Constitution and against their enforcement, the Protestant missionaries and their representatives at home have made no protest but stand ready to cooperate with the Government and to obey the laws. A cablegram from Mexico announces that "no evangelical missionaries have been expelled and no Protestant mission schools have been closed." One missionary in Piedras Negros was asked to leave, evidently on account of special local conditions, but was later invited to return by the Federal Government.
Protestant Mission Boards have always opposed American intervention in Mexico and would resent the endeavor of any forces favoring such intervention to identify these Boards with such a demand. At a recent meeting of representatives of these Boards to consider this guestion, the following resolutions were adopted: This Conference recommends to the various boards of Missions having work in Mexico that they make no representation at this time as to the status of the foreign missionaries in Mexico to the governments of Mexico and the United States.
We feel it to be highly important that all foreign missionaries in Mexico observe the spirit of the organic law regarding the exercise of ministerial functions, and that in all concrete situations they should exercise much prudence. We express the hope that these missionaries may discover ways and means by which, within the constitutional provisions, they may be able to continue forwarding the interests of the Evangelical Movement in Mexico.
The features of the Mexican Constitution which provide for the larger direction of religious movements by Mexicans themselves have been well known for some time and Protestant missionary organizations in the United States have been urging their missionaries and their members to live within the Mexican Constitution.
President Calles himself has explained the status of foreign missionaries in Mexico in a special dispatch published in The New Yark Warld, February 25, 1926. This, in part, reads as follows:
1926J EDITORIAL COMMENTS
Paragraph 8 of Article 130 of the Mexican Constitution states: "To exercise in the United States of Mexico the ministry of any cult it is necessary to be a Mexican by birth." The foreign priests whose presence in Mexico is no longer being tolerated had been flouting this constitutional provision with full consciousness of their misdoing. "On various occasions they had received warnings from the Department of the Interior to cease exercising their ministry and dedicate themselves to some other activity if they were desirous of remaining in this country. Without paying any attention to these notifications the priests to whom I refer continued exercising their ministry in violation of artiele 130 of the Constitution. In addition almost all of them were violating article 3, which provides in paragraph 2 that 'no religious corporation or minister of any cult will be permitted to establish or super- intend primary schools …… "
For this reason-and without such measure signifying religious persecu- tion for any church and even less indicating a sentiment of animosity toward any foreigner-a Government which is desirous of complying with its constitu- tional obligations would have no other course than to oblige the constant violators of its fundamental law to leave the country. In contrast with the attitude of the expelled priests there have been numerous ministers of other cults who have obeyed the constitutional provisions. They have dedicated themselves to other legal activities, such as teaching secondary schools or to orienting or superintending suitable activities of their church, but without exercising their offices in ritualistic acts and leaving to Mexican ministers the performance of the strictly confessional work of their religion. These min- isters have not and will not be molested ….. .
Another instance of distortion of the facts during these days has been the declaration that numerous private schools in Mexico have been eIosed. What has in reality occurred is that upon the discovery of convents whose existence is not authorized by the laws in force there have been found annexed primary schools, contrary to the provisions of Article III of the Constitution. These schools have not been closed but obliged to adjust their status to the aforesaid provisions.
Even if the recent public display of disobedience and opposition to the fundamental laws of the country by the head of the Mexican Catholic Church had not been made this Government, in complying with its duty to observe and cause to be observed the Constitution of the country, would have pro- ceeded in the manner that it has if these concrete cases had come to its attention….. .
With regard to the future the attitude of the Government of Mexico toward the Catholic priests or the ministers of any other cult cannot be different for American citizens from that adopted for those of other na- tionalities. But it is neeessary to say that the violations of the law by American citizens in this il'espect are not so numerous as those of the nationals of other countries. Almost without exception the American ministers of con· fessional churches which are not Catholic adjust themselves while residing in Mexico to what the law demands. For this reason they are not molested, thus bringing about the development and prosperity of their churches through the work of Mexican ministers and living tranquilly and respected among us by merely performing acts of religion.
It may readily be seen that the banishment of foreign evangelical _teachers and preachers from Mexico would be a calamity from which the country might not recover. At last reports, there were nineteen American and one British Protestant missionary societies working in Mexico, supporting two hundred and eighty missionaries in sixty-
seven resident stations. They have organized two hundred and seventy-two churches and are carrying on work at two hundred and seventy-eight other regular preaching stations. These missions conduct one hundred and eighty-four schools-mostly of the elementary grade, but including seventeen high and middle schools, six for teacher training and industrial work and five theological and Bible training schools. These mission schools have over twelve thousand seven hundred pupils under instruction.
It should be borne in mind that less than six per cent of the popu·· lation of Mexico are under instruction and that a few years ago, illiteracy was eighty per cent. Conditions have improved, but still more than fifty per cent of the population over twelve years of age are illiterate. Evidently Mexico cannot afford to banish any trained Christian teachers, to close any effective schools or to deprive her people of opportunities for the best type of secular and religious education. There is reason, however, to be patient with Mexico, while we disparage all attempts of selfish capitalists or other to awaken distrust and incite to unfriendly action. Evangelical missionaries and others interested in the Mexicans may do much to cultivate the friendship of Mexicans in the United States and to cooperate with Mexican authorities in enforcing the laws of the land and in teaching the people to understand and obey the laws of God.
FEAR AND OPPORTUNITY IN THE PHILIPPINES O NE may leave a false impression by telling isolated truths. There may not be a single error of fact in the text of Miss Catherine Mayo's recent volume on the Philippine Islands ("Isles of Fear"), yet the hook misrepresents the Philippines as a whole. The same method might be used by a Filipino, if he selected his facts, to prove that the United States is unfit to govern the Philippines. One could think of the forty chapters for such a work in ten minutes-Lynching, Teapot Dome, Ludlow Massacre, Divorce, Ku Klux Klan, Ja'zz, Mormonism, Rum Runners, Drug-traffic-finish your ovm list. Miss Mayo has become the Upton Sinclair of the Philippines. After ten years of intimate contact with Filipinos from one end of the Islands to the other I find less economic fear in these Islands than in the United States. It is here; in some regions it is serious; but to give the impression that it is worse than economic fear in the United States is to misrepresent the facts.
Her attack on mestizos is unfair. The mixture of Filipino blood with Spaniards, Chinese, and Americans has been and will continue to be a blessing to this race. Miss Mayo caught some unfavorable aspects of a cross-section of the mestizo but she was oblivious to the vast improvement which is going on in their business methods. The business competition of foreigners, Chinese, American, and British, is exceedingly difficult for them to meet, with their inadequate knowl- .
1926J EDITORIAL COlYnIEN'l'S 24~
edge of the modern methods. Yet they are the only Filipinos who have any chance of achieving economic independence for the Islands.
The agitation for independence was very strong two years ago but it has almost died out for the present. Filipinos are equally confident that America intends to give them independence and that it will not give them independence during this administration. A good many students and workmen express the opinion that it is better not to have independence just yet; some think economic independence should precede political independence. There is better feeling now than for at least five years. At the same time it would be se1£- delusion to suppose that the United States can permanently maintaill her present status.
What of the future of Protestantism in the Philippines ~ In the early days it held an amazingly strategic position because of the anger that Filipinos felt toward the friars. This antipathy has largely disappeared for the reason that the Spanish friars have either died out or have left the country and have been replaced with better men. Protestantism has been of inestimable service in forcing the Roman Catholic Church to clean house, but this house-cleaning makes the task of capturing the Islands for evangelical Christianity much more difficult than it was twenty years ago. 'rhe Protestant Ohurch did not then realize its opportunity.
The Roman Catholic Church has now set out to capture the educational system, to control the teachers in the public schools. Through a Roman Oatholic matron they have practically exclusive entree in the girls' dormitory of the Government Normal School. They are agitating for compulsory religious education in the public schools and are spending millions in buildings for private schools and colleges. The Jesuit Ateneo has forty highly educated American professors and is regarded by many people as having the best faculty in the Philippines. There are numerous other smaller Roman Oatholic educational institutions.
Meanwhile the Presbyterians have Silliman Institute, with some eight hundred students; the Baptists have Oentral Philippine College with about three hundred students, and five missions together conduct Union Theological Seminary with about three hundred high school, college and seminary students. All of these institutions and several smaller ones are in desperate need of money. The Union Theological Seminary is insistent upon receiving permission to conduct a fouryear college course, but the Mission Boards in America have not granted this permission because of the fear they have of future costs. Hence Manila, the great educational center of the Philippines, has no representative evangelical college.
American Protestant Missions must find the resources for meeting an ever-enlarging opportunity. The announced policy of the Government is to withdraw insular funds from secondary education,
concentrating upon primary and industrial education. The secondary schools are to be left more and more to private enterprise. If Prot- estant Christians fail to provide this they must not expect to win the Philippines.
The Protestant churches are growing at a healthy rate. The second generation of young people who were born and bred in evangelical families are wonderful revelations of what the Protestant Filipino is going to be. They have character, independence of thought, and passion to serve their country and the world. If all could become as they are, the future would be glorious.
The Filipinos have a growing sense of responsibility for their backward kinsmen on the mountains of Luzon and Mindanao. Nearly.
every communion has organized a domestic missionary society to support Filipino missionaries. Plans are now under way for an island-wide United Missionary Society. F. c. L • . A NEW PROGRAM FOR LATIN AMERICA A T THE Congress on Christian Work in South America, held in Montevideo last April, some of the leading South Americans said to the North American leaders: "You North Americans make great efforts to build up commercial relations with us. Give us, also, of your rich experience in education, social betterment, ethics and soul culture. ' , This challenge should be brought home to the Christian people of the United States. After careful study and further consultation with representative South American interests, it was decided to adopt a program where North America might make a contribution in educational work for community betterment, public hygiene and Christian literature. The Montevideo Congress asked that the Committee on Cooperation in Latin America locate an expert in public health in South America, who could help the churches, schools, health centers and hospitals of the evangelical forces, and advise with community agencies, semi-public institutions and government officials about the practical ways of improving health, which has come to be one of the subjects of largest interest in South America.
Similarly, the Congress asked that a secretary for social service be provided to lead the evangelical forces in the more rapid development of community programs that will seek to make Christianity more effective in every department of the people's life. The missionaries are being called upon to help the various new social movements so rapidly developing in South America, such as the temperance movement, the new student organizations, the women's societies, charity organizations, child welfare movements, all of which are in need of friendly assistance. Earnest men and women in South Amer-
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
ica ask for the help of some competent Christian leader from North .America who understands these questions.
The Indians of South America offer one of the largest challenges to Christianity and its educational program found anywhere in the world. There are some ten million Indians in South America, who are still living largely in their primitive conditions, without the advantages of Christian civilization. The Congress registered its strong conviction of the necessity of a much enlarged program among the Indians who, so far, have hardly been touched by missionary agencies. An Indian Commission, representing all of the mission boards concerned, proposes to encourage individual boards to do special work among the Indians and to organize a union program for the Indians.
NEW DAYS IN PERSIA FOR hm days receBtly, the city of Urumia was decorated and rugs hung from brick-arched gateways of the two-story mud walls that are the avenues of the city. In rows of chairs were seated men invited to hear speeches and poems and military music and to see drilling and fire works. The new ruler has not yet been crowned as he wishes this to take place in the presence of special envoys from other nations to acclaim him and bring gifts.
In this new day, the Christian work for Moslems has been hav- ing a great impulse. In Tabriz, this winter, a sayyid, (descendent of Mohammed) has been confessing openly in the streets and markets his belief in Christ as the only Saviour of the world. He expects death at the hands of the Moslems sooner or later, but is losing no time in proclaiming Jesus. According to Moslem law, a sayyid is immune from death sentence, but a mob might not stop at legal technicalities. Many are ready to follow this Christian sayyid's leadership, saying that they have been Christians secretly before and are now willing to avow it. Recently I attended a service in Turkish when a strong sermon was preached to the Moslems on "Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life." The new ruler has pro- claimed equal rights for all Persian citizens and if he would proclaim religious liberty, it would make a new Persia indeed!
When Rev. Benjamin W. Labaree was killed, the fines showed that a Christian's life was worth only thirty dollars for a man and only fifteen dollars for a woman. A Moslem man's life, on the contrary, was valued at one thousand dollars. When the United States demanded $60,000 indemnity for the life of Mr. Labaree, the Persians opened their eyes-and paid the money. Last winter when a. Christian woman was shot by a robber, the man was hanged by the army officials though he was a Moslem. We can see that law and order are being established. MRS. J. P. COOHRA:N".
DIs'rRESS IN SYRIA CONSTANT fighting goes on about Damascus and now that Armenian roughs have been looting and robbing' in the Moslem quarter, there arc ugly threats of a Moslem rising against Christians in retaliation. The devoted missionaries remain at their posts, though bullets frequently enter the hospital of the ]<Jdillburgh Medical :Iissioll, aud a shot came through the 'wall in H British Syria 1fission school room, passing through the hair of 011e girl aud between the heads of two others.
'}'11e great numbers of l'efngees in Beirut, Zahleh, Sidell, :Mabati'zeh and elsewhere present a most difficult problem.
'L'11ousands of the people died of starvation and many 'who survived were left destitute by the great war. 'l'housallds of Armenialls found their way to Syria where they have been liviug in a pitiable condition in large camps under canvas or ill wooden shelters. Large numbers of children, both Syrian and Armenian, are being cared for in orphanages. The new troubles of 1925 rendered many others homeless and have added to the problem.
In Damascus and in many villages in different parts of Syria there has been great destruction of property, and people have fled for safety to areas which are so far untouched by the war. This has affected rich and poor alike, and many who had been in a comfortable position are now reduced to a state of homeless poverty; their houses are wrecked and their belongings gone. If the refugees could find work they 'would soon recover but the present crisis has accentuated the unemployment problem.
To help in this distress the Beirut Relief Committee was formed in November, 1925, by American, British and Danish missionaries and relief workers and has eollected from its own community and from others the sum of 4,000 dollars which is being used to give food, medical relief, clothing and shelter to women and children who were absolutely homeless. OUler societies and priVate gifts have helped greatly to alleviate the distress; about 75,000 dollars has been sent from Syrians and Armenians now living outside the Ncar }jast; but all that has been dOlle is quite inadequate even to clothe and feed in the simplest manner those who have suffered. In Beirut alone some 700-1000 men require work to support themselves and their families, not to mention hundreds of widows and fatherless children. In Damascus, Sidon and Zahleh districts there are thousands of refugees and destitute people. Seed wheat has been given by the government but in some districts the usual winter sowing has not been done owing to the disturbed conditions so that 1926 will have no harvest for many who depend on agrienltnral work.
It is hoped that friends in other lands will help the people of Syria in this time of trouble. The Beirut Relief Committee will use all gifts as speedily, eeonomically and wisely as possible.
AT A BATHING GHA1' DUR1NG 'l'HE MELA IN
At the Hardwar Mela, In India BY EMMA MORRIS, LUDHIAXA, PANJAB JIissionary of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. 1892 My Bible women and I went to sell gospels at the twelfth year Mela where pilgrims were expected from all over North India. Preparations on a big scale had been made by the railway company for the transportation of large crowds, by the sanitary commissioner for the health of the city and for supplies of pure water, and by the Police Department for the handling of the crowds. Rival sects of "holy men" had determined to have a fight to recover an ensign lost in a previous Mela, while the police were even more determined that there should be no fight. Temporary bridges had been thrown across the Ganges so that the crowds of bathers might bathe, pass across in procession, down the river, back by another bridge, and then back to their homes.
Our party of fom' arrived two weeks before the big day. For weeks before this every train had brought hundreds of pilgrims. 'rry to imagine a far background of hills, a near background of stately buildings, some coming down to the water's edge and others for a half mile or so facing on a wide stone pavement. You see groups of bathers at the water's edge, venders of sweets, cigarettes, charms, tin cans in which to carry away Ganges water, gay cloth, beads, all the various gew-gaws of a fair. You see also the fakir on his bed of spikes; the man with his foot over his shoulder; a cripple with two tiny shriveled arms; a dwarf cow; a cow with various ad· ditional members; to each, occasional passersby throw offerings.
253
But the main interest of the scene is in the life and color and variety of the crowd. Fine Punjabis with their pretty women-folk; Bengali women to whom we could have sold, if we had provided our- selves with Bengali gospels; many Gujratis, few of whom could read; Sindhis, Kashmiris, Nepalis, Tibetans-all mingling, passing, in the ceaseless procession. Had it been only a fair, it would have been an almost unmitigated delight to watch the crowds. But the tragedy of the thought that these crowds were depending on this for salvation, gave au indescribable pathos to the whole scene.
At the end of the long walk was the Har-ki-pa1'ri, a sacred staircase where bathing is consid- ered the most efficacious. In the pool among the bathers are men constantly on the lookout for the offerings thrown into the water.
The passageways to this staircase are very narrow, and here a wom- an slipped and fell and before the onrush from behind could be stopped twenty-two had bee n crushed to death.
:F'rom the Har-ki-pauri for miles out through the hills runs a road bordering the river. This, too, was alive with pilgrims to various shrines. Along this were shops, fakirs, holy men sitting un- BIBLE WOMEN SEEKING 'nIEIR INDIAN der the blazing sun with four huge fires burning around, or lyiug SISTERS on a bed of heated bricks. Everywhere there were holy men, naked, ash-covered, with long matted snaky locks and hideous faces. The theory is that perfect holiness consists in absolute disregard of the body. Cleanliness, clothing and such things minister to the body; and therefore must be avoided. How different from the Christian idea that the body is a temple of God's Spirit!
There were other pilgrims whose garb showed as much variety as that of a peacock. Huge head-dresses wonderfully adorned, garments of chiffon, of skins, of silk patchwork, fur-lined, fur trimmed; peacock feathers, necklaces of beads, of bones, of seeds; wooden sandals, high-heeled silk or satin shoes; an infinite variety.
Probably the saffron colored robe was most continuously seen, as it indicates the mendicant devotee.
In and out through this crowd we moved distributing literature.
Most knew we were Christians. The Arya Samaj and the Dev Samaj, (reformed religious sects) were also giving away their literature free
AT THE HARDWAR MELA, IN INDIA
and the former opposed us openly. In one or two cases of insult our Christians showed well how Christ can gi'fe patience. A fakir who was ill and had listened very earnestly refused medicine, but said, "Only pray for me to your Lord Jesus Christ." There was no public preaching, but to many a small group the Gospel of Jesus Christ was proclaimed in this one of the most sacred of Hindu pilgrimage places at one of their greatest Melas.
THREE DAYS IN A CHOLERA CAMP Then one of my Bible women came down with cholera. There were fifty of us encamped in one small enclosure. It did not seem right to expose the others for one minute longer than necessary, so HINDU FAKIRS (RELIGIOUS MENDICANTS) AT A FESTIVAL SEASON IN INDIA our patient was removed to the cholera camp and the government disinfectors were called. The compound was well disinfected, and every precaution taken to protect the others of the party so that tliere were no further cases.
The young Hindu doctor was very kind and gave the saline injection which is counted as the surest remedy. The second day and night passed and our patient was gaining. We were at one end of a long thatched shed and another similar one faced us one hundred yards or more away, filled with patients, mostly ill with cholera. Volunteer nurses from the Society of Servants of India helped in the care of the patients.
The third day brought a great influx of patients, so great tlJat there was not room for them under the sheds. Many died almost as soon as they came in, and the living, the dying and the dead lay together. Helpers had hardly time to eat or drink, and yet the
ghastly processiol1 poured in and out, the living from one side, the dead from the other. There were no beds, not even straw mats, SO they lay in the dirt. Those conscious enough cried out for water, or moaned in their agony.
As my mind became relieved from the burden of my own Bible woman, I became more conscious of the woes of others, and went into the sheds to give a word of cheer and what other help I could. At first I hesitated to offer them water, lest they should be angry that I had made them lose their caste, but only one or two refused to take from me milk or medicine or barley water.
All the time the Mela was going on in undiminished splendor. One procession passed in sight of the cholera camp. Twelve elephants with gorgeous trappings, silver howdahs, accompanied by gay horsemen, and bands of music and banners, escorted by government mounted police, passed to the bathing place. Many praises were heard from the lips of the common crowd for Government's arrange-· ments for their comfort and safety. But many would have preferred the old freedom and discomforts and perils, in order that they might carry out their purposes of hatred and revenge.
The experience was one never to be forgotten. All honor to the men and women who take such duties in cholera camps as part of their regular life, performing loathsome services quietly and faith- fully without blare of trumpets.
Closing Licensed Opium Shops in Ceylon BY MARY AND MARGARET W. LE'ITCH, CLAREMONT, CAI-,IFOR:,IA ["ormerly Missionaries in Ceylon; Joint AuthoTs with Dr. and Mrs. Wilbur F. Crafts of "Illtoxieallts and Drugs in All Lands"
W HE'N we were missionaries in Ceylon in the year 1894 we . became deeply impressed with the evils of the opium traffic there. We therefore inaugurated a movement for the closing of the opium shops in Ceylon. We first visited the five great opiuIDshops in Colombo where we saw men, women and children of all classes and races buying opium. Large balls were senCinto the interior of the island to be sold at retail or given to persons Who would acquire the opium habit. Some of the opium smokers were reduced to skeletons. The shop keeper asked what we were doing there and we told him that we wished to close every opium shop on the island. As we left a number of the wretched victims followed us and in agonizing cries said: "Close the opium shops, if we could not get opium we would not want it."
In our effort to close the opium shops we enlisted the help of Mr. John Ferguson, Editor of the Ceylon Observer, and of the Protestant missionaries working on the island. We also visited the leading natives of the different races and religions and enlisted their
CLOSING LIOENSED OPIUM SHOPS IN CEYLON
help. The largest public hall in Colombo was rented for an indignation meeting of which Mr. Ferguson was tIle Chairman. Missionaries and natives-Buddhists, Mohammedans, Hindus and Parseesuttered their indignant protests against this traffic which had been thrust on them by the Government for the sake of a revenue. At the close of the meeting an Anti-Opium Committee was formed, and a resolution, protesting against the opium traffic on the island and asking for the suppression of that traffic, was adopted. It was printed in three languages and sent to the leaders of the different races and religions all around the island. As a result the subject of the licensed opium shops was discussed by the leading papers, at public gatherings and in the homes of the people. Twenty-seven thousand signatures were secured to the petition.
The petition was presented to the Legislative Council of Ceylon and later to the British Parliament. The agitation was continued by that committee until every licensed opium shop on the island was closed, and opium was sold only in government dispensaries to registered habitual consumers. As a result tens of thousands of persons have been saved from the great temptation of the opium shops in Ceylon.
If the same methods were carried out in India today, in the different provinces, we believe that every licensed opium shop in the eight provinces in India might be closed.
How THE MISSIONARIES COULD HELP According to the statistics of 1921, there were in India 4,899 'missionaries including married women, and 743,010 Protestant Christian communicants in the native churches. If these missionaries, and this large body of native Christians, who form the greatest moral force in India, would give their fullest help to the leaders of the various races in India who so earnestly desire the abolition of the opium traffic, they could roll up a monster petition in each province which would compel the attention of the British.
Such a petition, widely signed by taxpayers, and by the educated classes would convince the Provincial Legislature of each province as to the wishes of the people on this matter.
The opium traffic is an obstacle in the way of Christian progress in India, and is a blot on the Christian character of the British in the minds of the leaders of all races and religions. The opium evil has become a world menace and if it is to be controlled, the over production of opium in India must come to an end.
2
A Woman's Adventures on the
Afghan Frontier- BY EMMA BELLE D. PIERS/ON, MONTCLAI:R, N. d.
.1 "~E this rupee toward a revolver for the intrepid mis- ~~~~ary's outfit" said an English army officer back in the '60 's when asked to contribute something to send a Chris- tian missionary to India's wild, northwestern Afghan frontier. That missionary was Thomas Russel Wade, the father of the heroine of this adventure. The wild, fanatical tribes of Afridis, unnamed in geographies and almost unknown to the world, were the people to whom he and the doctors and nurses in the little hospital at the foot of the Khyber Pass began to minister lovingly over half a century ago.
To this same hospital at Peshawar Miss Lillian Wade came in 1913, thoroughly equipped with medical and Biblical training to work as a missionary nursing sister. Not long after her arrival on the field she married the young surgeon in charge of the hospital-Dr. Vernon Harold Starr. Then followed two years of happy active service with skilled hands and warm hearts. They were two years of close contact with natives of Chinese and Russian Turkestan, Bokhara, Kabul and Afghanistan and with the Pathans of the forbidden land of Tirah, among whom the young missionaries had cast their lot.
Tirah, where live the interwarring tribes of the Afridis, is isolated both by nature and by the will of the people who have no desire for things modern. They are without navigable rivers, without railways or even roads except where the English have penetrated a few miles. They have no schools except those of the Mohammedan mullahs for teaching the Koran. There are no hospitals in Tirah. Indeed, so fundamentally is might right among the Pathans that mercy is a despised trait and theft is a profession practiced by great and small. All go armed-and the poorly escorted traveler is Allah's gift to the fortunate highway man. . To possess cattle and camels, and to be an accurate shot are the two ambitions of the Pathan youth, and to exact the "BadIa" or blood revenge for an injury is considered his most serious obligation. The people have no desire for education, no desire for a unified national life, no desire for intercourse with the neighboring powers. Although the British claim a form of over-lordship, there are no British police beyond the frontier. All political contacts must come through the tribal" jirgas" or Council of Elders who may be bought or flattered or coaxed into line but • The photographs and facts In this story are taken from Mrs. Starr's boos, "Tales of Tlrah and Lesser Tibet" (Ge<>rge H. D<>ran Co,).
258 will never submit to a command by an outsider. In each community the mullah is the most influential man. His curse is feared; his favor is sought. His person and his house, in a way, are sacred and a mullah, loyal to the British Government, constitutes the most substantial hold Britain has over these fierce peoples.
Dr. and Mrs. Starr gave themselves to the services of these people, learning Pushtu, their difficult language, healing their bodies and enlightening their minds. They reached out from the vantage ground of the British Church Missionary Society and hospital at Peshawar to the neighboring people. Then suddenly occured a horrible tragedy, directly traceable to the Badla doctrine so deeply entrenched in the Pathan life. A Pathan lad having heard the Gospel while a patient in the Peshawar hospital, became an earnest inquirer.
R H STATlI7E MILES o 5 /,0 ,,.< ~ , I, , !, , MAP OF THE RESCUE _-DVENTURE.
His fanatical Moslem father killed the boy, and then to "take the exchange" for his son's life, came at night to the doctor's window as though seeking help. The missionary, supposing it to be an urgent call, went out quickly and received a cruel stab from which he died two hours later. The young widow left India and for three years plunged into war work in the Indian military hospital near Cairo. After the armistice, with the spirit of the martyr Stephen and Stephen's Master, she applied to be sent back to the dark and desperate people, her husband's murderers. There she hoped to show to them the way of Christian revenge-Christ's more excellent way of the" BadIa." In the fall of 1920 she returned to Peshawar, and began with new zeal to make contacts with the needy people beyond the iron hills beyond which no Englishman may ever pass. In her diary Mrs. Starr describes the Pathans as tall and lithe with long aquiline features and a hawk-like expression of the eyes-which are
keen, hard and vigilant. Three years of sympathetic contact with these masterless, lawless people, were a preparation for an adventure which stands unique even in the annals of frontier missions.
One April morning in 1923, while going her rounds in the mission hospital, Mrs. Starr received a summons from the Chief Commissioner, Sir John Maffey, to come at once. to the Government House. There she found the British official greatly perplexed and disturbed over the murder of an English officer's wife, and the kidnapping of their young daughter. The tragedy had occurred four days before at Kohat, a frontier town forty miles distant, and the criminals had escaped with the young woman across the border into the wilds of Tirah. Her abductor, a man named Ajab, was already under indictment for a previous murder. Any show of force might mean the girl's instant death and an effort to follow and rescue her would lead to her being spirited away into the more inaccessible parts of their mountain fastnesses.
Addressing Mrs. Starr, Sir John Maffey said: "Would you be willing to go over the border alone to find Miss Ellis if possible and to stay with her until a rescue party could reach her?" It was a hazardous undertaking and without any assurance of success, but the danger of the task was no deterrent to Mrs. Starr. She unhesitatingly consented and within an hour had learned all she could of the routes. By night-fall her preparations had been made and early in the morning Sir John motored with her to Kohat, the scene of the tragedy. From there they looked down upon the village where Ajab and his men had been humiliated a few weeks before after a murder and the theft of three hundred rifles from the British arsenal. When caught by the British police, they had dressed as women and had tried to hide the stolen rifles in their full skirts but had been discovered. To carry through a crime cleverly means honor, but to be humiliated by a failure is a disgrace that no Afridi can bear. The taunts of the women led Ajab and his brother Shahzada to plan and to carry out this further outrage, that their "faces might be saved" in the councils of their tribe.
On two frontier heights stood British forts from which lookouts would continually scour the country, watching for signals from the searching party.. Mrs. Starr's personal escorts were three Mohammedans-one an Afridi with six names, the Indian personal assistant to the Chief Commissioner. The Rissaldar, as he was called, was· an ex-officer of the Guides, a man well used to hill climbing, an expert horseman, and loyal to Sir John Maffey. The second escort was the son of Garborgha, the most loyal and influential old mullah in the country. He had publicly "three times cursed" the men who had done the dastardly deed. The third member of the party was a young Pathan-a hospital dresser-who would act as personal servant to Mrs. Starr. At the border, the British escort left the searching party
A WOMAN'S ADVENTURES ON THE WILD AFGHAN FRONTIER
as they passed over, beyond the Samana range, into the heart of Tirah.
It was a strange sight to see on horseback the one lone English woman in Afridi dress, accompanied by an important mullah re· served and digniiied, a Mohammedan official guide, an<;l a medical neophyte, attended by forty fully armed, rough-bearded men on foot.
These were the friendly "jirga" or council of the tribe through whose possessions the searchers were travelling. Five times a day the company stopped for ablutions and prayers but not onee for wa- ter or food between sunrise and sunset, for it was the month of Ramadan. Five times the entire personnel of the "jirga" was changed as they reached the border of a new district. Onlv the consciousness of a great God and a great task upheld Mrs. Starr. Her prayer was that no indisC're- tions on her part might offend, and no false rumors might discourage her Mohammedan escorts for, from a human standpoint, success depended upon the continuance of their friendliness and zeal.
The enforced fasts during the day made the journey hard for the men, and the feasting far into the night cut short their rest. Where- ever they halted at sun down, the LILLIAN WADE STARR villagers pulled out rope bedsteads into the roadways for them to rest upon and showed Mrs. Starr signs of friendliness in their own queer ways. The men tied lambs to her bedstead and then silently slaughtered them as a sign that they were gifts to the travelers. The women, kindly curious, watched every motion made by the English woman and then took her into their 3ourtyard and, as a sign of approval, massaged her limbs and brought her a bowl of goat's milk and native goulash and bread. Late into the night they sat around the fire talking Pushtu in an in- timate way that was making friends for the English King and for the great King of kings as well. Although only a few miles from the border, not one of the women had ever seen an English face. They were full of questions.
"This Miss Ellis-she is your sister? No f Your relative ? No 1 You have never seen her! Then why go to so much trouble to find her' Did you come willingly or did the great English Government send you T" The answers may have permitted a little shaft of light to penetrate their minds, a little consciousness of a selflessness so
utterly strange to them. As a sign of extreme friendliness and sym- pathy, the women spat vigorously into the fire and invited Mrs. Starr to do the same. Then they left her for the night while they busied themselves preparing the second meal before the sun should rise. The voices of the men kept up all night as the discussion of the "jirga" in endless palaver waxed hot or earnest. Meanwhile Mrs. Starr lay and thought out what she would say if called upon to ad- dress the excited" jirga. "
The next chapters in the adventure reveal wonderful coin- cidences like those in the story of Peter and Cornelius. In a marvelous way the three factors operating in the expedition dovetailed in time and program.
With only the slenderest conjecture to go upon, Mrs. Starr and her party decided to head for a town in Tirah known as Khanki Bazar, for in it dwelt two well-known brigands, friends of Ajab and his brother Shahzada. Their home would be a natural hiding place far the English woman. The rescuing party knew nothing of any efforts being put forth other than their own. They did not know that after their departure Sir John Maffey had dispatched a leading tribesman to raise an Afridi army of those that resented the actions of Ajab. This army was to circle around the Khanki valley and fight the brigands if they attempted to flee into Afghanistan with their captive. They did not know that, at his suggestion, Kuli Khan, the loyal assistant political agent of the Kurram Valley had undertaken a pilgdmage to Khanki Bazar as a pious Mohammedan visiting the sacred shrine. It was a perilous thing, for he was known to be in the employ of the British, but he took with him a headman and a minor mullah, distantly related to a powerful mullah.
Although this party had started from Kohat two days later than Mrs. Starr, by climbing difficult hills and crossing difficult valleys they reached Khanki Bazar a day ahead of the English lady and her party. Mingling with the pilgrims at the shrine, quietly listening in the mosque, Kuli Khan learned that Miss Ellis was in the home of the brigand outside of Khanki Bazar and was held there with the full knowledge and consent of the local mullah. He sought a private interview with this mullah and a rather unsatisfactory talk lasting from 11 P. M. to 2 A. M. netted him only the mullah's consent to send for the kidnappers the next morning for questioning. At nine 0 'clock they came, impersonating injured innocence, and another palaver took place in which at last Kuli Khan, appealing to the cupidity and the pride of the kidnappers, drew forth the truth. In a boastful speech, they admitted that Miss Ellis was in the tower of Mir their friend the Jawaki raider. "But," they added, "the news has filtered through that the English will punish those who hide as well as those who abducted their country
A WOMAN'S ADVENTURES ON THE WILD AFGHAN FRONTIER
woman. Therefore the men of Tirah have threatened to burn our homes and sow our land with salt if we bring any trouble upon the sacred shrine of Khanki Bazar." So KuIi Khan learned that they were planning to move Miss Ellis into Afghanistan, beyond the reach of political pressure. There they expected to secrete her for months until the British would accept almost any terms for her release. This was the move most feared by Kuli Khan, but be hid his emotions and laughed at them as idiots. "Did they expect that an English wom- an could live a month under those conditions, and what profit would there be in a dead 'Ferenghi' 1,,* "No," said Kuli Khan, "you are trifling· with me, for surely you have no such course in mind; it is beneath your intelligence.
Now tell me the true terms on which you will release the girl."
In reply they asked for pay- ment of an exorbitant ransom, the release of criminal friends, the cancelling of pre v i 0 u s indict- ments, and full pardon for this of- fense. In true Eastern fashion, they began a process of bargain- ing which lasted far into the after- noon. Nothing came of it, and KuIi Khan, dispatching a word of cheer and some comforts to Miss Ellis by Mullah Mahmud's serv- ant, went once more to the shrine to think, to listen, and to plan.
The brigands were so inflated with their success, that they had MRS. STARR IN AFRlDI COSTUME several times remarked, "We are determined to do a thing that will startle the world, and revenge ourselves upon the Ferenghi, who humiliated us before our women folk."
Kuli Khan decided that he must work on the mullah at once and persuade him to bring Miss Ellis to his home and keep her there under his protection. This he was doing with a fair amouut of success when, suddenly, breathless messengers arrived with the • A term ()f C()ntemllt for the English.
astounding news that" a large party of government officials accompanied by the son of the great Mullah Karborgha, and an IDnglish lady doctor were approaching from the south!" The news lost nothing in the telling and in great dismay Mullah Mahmud sent word to his servants to turn them back at all hazards. He wrote a threatening letter which was handed to the Rissaldar just as the party was entering the town. Only Kuli Khan's presence and arguments kept the mullah from ordering his young men to fire on the party at sight. He showed him the blot it would be upon his holy shrine, and he pressed the advantage he had gained, saying: "Why fuss over one more English woman in your domain, since one is already here and the sanctity of your shrine is desecrated as much by her presence as it will be by another? Do you think the son of the great mullah would be accompanying them if the rest of the party were not good Mohammedans 1 You have nothing to gain by siding with murderers against the English."
So Mrs. Starr and her party reached Khanki Bazar, and by the unfriendly tenor of the note from the mullah knew for a certainty that Miss Ellis was captive there. The hand of God had been "ith them. They had not followed one false rumor nor turned one mile aside from their path. The reception in the town was unfriendly when it became known that the mullah was not receiving them, but God raised up a friend in a retired major of the 46th Punjabi Regiment who had built himself a home on a high cliff above the Mullah Mahmud's house. This major received the weary tra-velers and sent a note to the mullah reminding him that his house was the higher, and also that the prophet forbade firing upon a woman. At the same time he sent all his women folk to a place of safety and prepared for an attack if the mullah resented his receiving the English woman. Mrs. Starr was put in the strong tower-of solid masonry without windows-a veritable prison, where all through the night she could hear above her the regular stealthy footsteps of barefooted guards, keeping a constant lookout.
The jirga that met at Mullah Mahmud's house that evening was composed of the tribal khans or elders who had marched beside Mrs. Starr's horse, the murderers and their accomplices, the mullah, and Kuli Khan the mullah's guest. The discussions were hot and the senior khans of the jirga had much to tell of the strange uFerenghi" woman who talked their language and ate as one of them. "Now we know," said they, "why the English rule Hindustan. It is because their women are as men. Even the great mullah who walked so silent at the head of the party and to whom so much reverence was given acknowledges this."
Mullah Mahmud, thoroughly discomfited by all that had happened, and blaming the abductors of Miss Ellis for bringing this trouble upon him, was finally persuaded by Kuli Khan that much
A WOMAN'S ADVENTURES ON THE WILD AFGHAN FRONTIER
honor might accrue to him if he would secure the release of Miss Ellis from further danger. Finally at midnight Mullah Mahmud sent Ajab and his brother and three powerful sheiks with peremp- tory orders to bring their captive immediately to his house that she might be under the protection of the shrine. They were obliged to obey. By the messengers Kuli Khan sent an encouraging note to Miss Ellis to say that the move was toward release, and that an English "memsahib" had come safely through to join her. Mrs. Starr longed to fly to the captive girl but the Mullah Mahmud was surly and it was necessary to use the utmost diplomacy.
On the following day, at the time of the second prayer hour, Mrs. Starr was led to the mullah's house and into a windowless tower where, in the shadow, she saw Miss Ellis lying on a bed. She was weary but uninjured, brave and hopeful, with eight days of horrible nightmare behind her.
The three bandits, her abductors, sat guarding her and the three rescuers-the Rissaldar, Kuli Khan and the hospital helpersat opposite, watching their every move.
The rescuers were too many miles from the border to use the signals agreed upon, but Mrs. Starr wrote every important detail and sent it by swift messenger to the waiting English Commissioner at Kohat. From there the news was flashed around the world.
The two murderers sat at her side in silence, watching intently. Another jirga was called, to conclude a definite bargain for the release. When the men left the room for their council, the two women were at last left alone with an opportunity for intimate fellowship in prayer and thanksgiving. It was the Sabbath day-a prayer day throughout the Christian Church, and the consciousness of the ascending prayers of friends all over the world encouraged these two women in their windowless prison. The courtyard was deserted and sleepy, the household noises were stilled, the air of the mid-afternoon was lying heavy and hot. Suddenly, without warning, the four members of the gang, fully armed and excited, burst into the room!
"You must write a letter at once," said the leader to Mrs. Starr. "An Afridi army has come up from the Khyber direction and will fire our houses! Write now and stop it!"
The third rescuing party had arrived at the opportune moment. Mrs. Starr, who had risen with great dignity when the men came in, said, "I will neither write nor speak with you inside our room which you have entered unannounced. Step outside with me into the courtyard." Wondering as she went out whether this was all a ruse and what it could mean for their safety, she said, "What does a woman know about armies ¥ I came here only to look after the girl." "She does not need you. She is not ill, " growled the leader. "That is for me to say," returned Mrs. Starr calmly_
"You! Who are you! You can do nothing! What authority have you T The authority is mine!" he shouted.
The tone was angry. There was some reason for this that Mrs. Starr could not penetrate. She replied with a quiet command that he was not to speak to her in that way, and beckoned a messenger to go and bring the Rissaldar as quickly as possible. The men, excitedly talking all at once, refused to come out of the room, and Mrs. Starr refused to go inside. At last three came out, leaving the least important one with Miss Ellis. Shahzada closed and barred the door. Mrs. Starr quickly opened it and, standing in the door- way, talked with the excited men in Pushtu, every once in a while throwing a reassuring sentence in English over her shoulder to Miss Ellis.
"You are the cause of all this trouble. Why are you hereT You shall not go back to her. We will separate you," said the angry men.
Just lit this point a man rushed into the courtyard calling, "It is too late! Fighting has begun!" Shahzada, shaking with wrath yelled, "Our houses are burned-our women are killed! Y au are the cause!" The khans, released from the jirga, heard the commotion and came running to the court yard and to the room of the women. The four kidnappers angrily accused the men of Khanki Bazar of treachery, in bringing the girl to Mullah Mahmud's house so that the Afridi army might burn their homes and maltreat their families.
The three plans of rescue were coinciding in their climax just at the right moment. The khans took the excited men into another room to face the Mullah Mahmud, while the Rissaldar told of the outrage to the mullah's hospitality committed when the men forced entrance into the women's room-women guests of the mullah!
Foiled, entrapped and humiliated, the leader of the four lost all self-control and angrily called down curses upon the head of the holy mullah-the keeper of the sacred shrine I The khans stood around terrified, expecting him to be struck down by a bolt from heaven. Mullah Mahmud, infuriated, returned a torrent of abuse, laying upon Ajab, Shahzada, Gul Akbar and Mir a passionate and blasting curse with all the secret accompaniments known only to a learned mullah. The stricken men cringed before him and, removing their turbans, laid them at his feet begging forgiveness and the revocation of the awful curse.
In this humbled condition, the Rissaldar offered the minimum terms of release that the British Government had decided upon. Without more ado the abductors accepted them, and the Rissaldar sent word to the Afridi army to stop all hostilities, but to keep together as a force to be called upon if needed as an escort.
Miss Ellis could not leave the town till the exchange prisoners
A WOMAN'S ADVENTURES ON THE WILD AFGHAN FRONTIER
arrived, so that Mrs. Starr made those days of freedom among the people count for God. Sick folk thronged her, and she ministered to them. Case!! needing surgical treatment slie urged to come to Peshawar hospital, and told of the wonderful cures she had seen there. Even the rheumatic ankles of the mullah came under her care, and she helped six women and several children of his house·· hold. A ten rupee note passed from the mullah to Mrs. Starr to buy medicines for her hospital, and a cordial invitation was given to her to come again with a full supply of medicines for a longer MRS. STARR (STANDING) AND MISS ELLIS (SEATED) IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE RESCUE stay in the country. She told him that many would gladly come into their land and bring them all sorts of blessings, if their treachery and war-like ways did not keep their country closed. He replied: "Every other Englishman has entered the country either as a prisoner or a soldier. You only have entered it as a friend-a guest."
At last the women and their escort were free to start homeward. As the little company was leaving, a beautiful Pathan necklace of Turkish gold coin was handed to Miss Ellis-a gift from the mullah. Out of respect to the shrine which they had to pass, they went on foot out of the village, while the people gathered on the roofs of the houses or stood in the doors of their little huts and shouted, "Come again some time I"
As they neared home and turned the last corner on the lower
slopes of the hills, Sir John Maffey, the Chief Commissioner, met them, and all traveled on foot the last mile into Shinawari Fort where Major Ellis was waiting to receive his daughter.
Mrs. Starr returned to her hospital at Peshawar to take up the routine as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Soon more patients from the interior began to come asking, "Is this the place of the woman who went to Tirah T" Big, strong klansmen visited the hospital to see their friends and relatives and to see the nurse who had ventured into the forbidden land. "We would have protected you if we had known you were going in," they said. One Afridi woman patient pressed upon Mrs. Starr her wedding garments and jewels, that she might be photographed in the garb of an Afridi woman-whose sister they felt she now was.
Many beneficial political changes have been successfully launched since the release of Miss Ellis. A jirga of mammoth size, addressed by the High Commissioner, has signed agreements such as had never before been broached. But the farthest effects of the episode are not political but are in the personal, the intimate, the heart-life of the people. An old Afridi woman said to Mrs. Starr on her return ~o Peshawar: "Whell:l have you been these absent days, 0 Mem SahiM" "In Tirah, 0 Mother," Mrs. Starr replied. "Is it true1" she questioned. "I had heard so. Now you are truly one of us-for none but Afridis walk abroad in Tirah."
Returns on a Missionary's Investment "IBY ELIZABETH McCAULEY, LUTHERAN :MISSION, GUNTUR, INDIA T SEEMS to me YOu missionaries have the most hopeless work in the world," said an English lady to me not long ago. "Yet you never seem depressed. What is it that makes you so happy!"
The answer was short and simple: "The work is not ours but God's."
In addition to the chief joy of working with a divine Partner in giving the Good News to people and showing them the very best way to live, there are countless human joys every day that help to make up the great "hundred-fold" promised by our Master. Imagine yourself experiencing some of these.
Letters from two of last year's training students express loving appreciation for the blessings of the school and hostel. In far away villages they are seeking to tell the Good Tidings and to live out what they learned while in training.
A small brown figure comes to your door before daylight one morning with a little home-made birthday card on which little
1926J RETURNS ON A MISSIONARIY'S INVESTM'ENT
Yosepu has laboriously printed in red and black ink: "Happy Birthday." Money wouldn't buy that card!
A police constable, who has just lost his wife, comes to talk with you of the virtues of the dear departed one. He knows that you, too, loved her and wants to hear you say over and over what a good woman she was.
A bright letter from a bright young girl, now attending the Woman's Christian College, Madras, tells you all about her studies, friends and teachers in the College. She is confident of your interest and sympathy.
Two Bible women come from a distant village to tell of God's dealings in the lives of the women in the homes where they teach and of twenty-one high-caste people baptized recently as a result of the Gospel message in their village.
When you go to Madras on business, one of the former orphan boys, now a member of the Madras Police Force, meets you at the station and insists on doing everything he can for you throughout the day. In the evening before your train leaves he brings his little wife, of whom he is very proud, and you three sit at one of the station cafe tables while he treats you to tinned biscuits and" sorda. "
A young Christian teacher tells you that he has received his first salary of $10 a month and has set aside one tenth of it for the Lord'.s work. He asks to help support one of the orphan boys and goes away with face beaming as he contemplates the pleasure of caring for one of Jesus' little ones.
One morning you find on your desk a little wooden easel on which is a fearful picture of the Resurrection. One of the carpenter boys tells you: "I did it myself, Amma. See how nicely I colored the picture with colored crayons." The pleasure of his face and voice is worth traveling far to see and hear.
On Sabbath night, after church, one of the teachers comes as usual for prayer for the boys. You kneel together before the Throne and you hear him pour out his heart for one of the boys who is wayward, for another who is lying at death's door with fever; for r~azar who has gone to school in another village. He praises God for rain for the garden, for little Gideon's recovery from illness, for the helpfulness of Arthur and Ratnam, for the simple faith of the "Little Lights, " for the turning from sin of some of the big boys. You thank God that the boys are in the care of a big brother who thinks of their every need and loves them.
"Why are we missionaries happy¥" There are a thousand reasons. In the face of such countless opportunities for helpfulness, with such boundless scope for helpfulness and pleasure-giving, the Christian who would not be happy must be an incurable pessimist! The sunshine of God's presence fills our lives and we see His smile in the happy eyes of His children who come to our door.
Influence of the Bible on Moslems·
BY THE RiEV. S. M. ZWEMER, D.D., CAIRO, EGYPT Editor of The Moslem Worla T HE general advance which has been possible in the great Mo- hammedan world within the last three decades has been pre- pared for by the work of the Bible Society. In fact, most of the revolutionary changes, economic, social, moral and spiritual, which we are now witnessing in the world of Islam are due directly or indirectly to the influence of this great Book. The translators, the publishers and the colporteurs of the Bible have been the pioneers for all missionary work among the Mohammedans. Where missionaries have never been, the agents of the Bible Society have already prepared many a heart among Mohammedans to receive with sympathy the message of Jesus Christ.
In 1914, Mr. Hooper, the agent of the British and Foreign Society, and I sailed down the Red Sea. We tried to land at Yembo but the people said: "This is holy ground, and no Christian is allowed to land at Yembo." One man stepped out from the crowd and said: "Yes, they shall land, because I am their friend." "Who are youf" I asked. "My name is Mohammed," he replied. We followed him to his house, and, after he had showed us hospitality in true Arabian fashion, he said, "Do not call me Mohammed, but by my new name, Gurgis (George)." "How can your name be George.' You were born here in Yembo, " we said. "Yes, and my father's name was Mohammed." Then he took down from a shelf a copy of the New Testament and turned to the last chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel and read: "Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. " He said, "I baptized myself Gurgis." Thus a Mohammedan inquirer proved his faith by his works and announced his own baptismal name in that lonely port on the West Arabian coast. The circulation of the Scriptures has done three things in the great Mohammedan world. In the first place, it has created a new mental attitude in an Arabic-steeped Mohammedan world. All their prayers, all their sacred ritual have been in the Arabic tongue, but the circulation of the Bible has produced a new mental attitude and the Mohammedans are now translating their Koran. That world is no longer speaking the one language and reading one book, but is polyglot, and in every great Mohammedan language you .can now • From an address at the British and Foreign Bible SOciety'. annual meeting, London, May, 1925.
270 purchase the Bible, the whole Word of God, in the language understood by the people.
An Arab who came to see us in Baghdad was discussing the difference between the Koran and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Finally I said: "Will you express the difference that you have found between the two books f "
Hesitating for a moment, he replied: "The Koran resembles one of those costly vessels that come to us from Persia filled with rose-water and carefully sealed, for which you pay a high price in MOSLEM SEEKERS AFTER GOD – AWAITING THE LIGHT the market. The Bible resembles the Euphrates and the Tigris coming down from Aleppo and pouring out life for the whole of Mesopotamia."
A NEW MORAL SENSE Not only has the Bible created a new mental attitude, but it has created a new moral sense among M.ohammedans. The old ideas no longer satisfy when you circulate the Scriptures. This book produces moral bankruptcy in the heart of every man who reads it and .sees himself in its light. When Moslems see themselves in the mirror of the Bible they can no longer accept the ideals of the Koran. Ellraq, a Mohammedan paper published in Baghdad, two years ago at Christmas contained this editorial: "On the morning of December 25th, nineteen hundred and twenty-three years ago, the ray that leads to the right path appeared in Bethlehem as a
bright star, and His light spread over the East and the West. On this day was born the Image of Love and the Great ChUd. He spent the days calling people to the Truth and guiding them in the right path. He sheltered the sheep against the wolves. He was pure of heart and His hidden thoughts were clear. He was humble like a blessed ear full of wheat grains, and that in an age when error had a universal rule and when the wolves longed to enslave others. All His life Jesus was loved by the pure and good. He was only shunned by the arrogant and the proud. Neither the greatness of the Cresars nor the sophistry of the priests could turn Him away from His holy purpose, for how can perishable greatness and apostate priesthood wrestle with immortal glory f ' , On my recent visit to India I found that the Mohammedan press was freely quoting from the Scriptures. In their own propagandist literature the arena once was the Koran and tradition. They have now chosen as their arena of conflict against Christianity the New Testament itself. We are glad to accept this ground because the Word of God is sharper than any Damascene blade and defends itself.
HerE) are some questions asked me by young Mohammedans in crowded meetings in Madras, Hyderabad, Bombay and Lahore.
"One of the principal claims which Christians advance as to the personality of Jesus is that He was the Son of God. Can these claims be sustained from Mark 10:18; Luke 18:6; Matthew 19:17; John 14:12, and John 20: 177"
"Did Jesus ever dream of making Himself pass for an incarnation of God? Please give me evidence from the three Synoptic Gospels."
"What inference would you draw from verses expressing that Jesus was God and His dying ejaculation' See Matthew 27: 46; Mark 15: 34."
"Do Mark and John together give a record of the birth and early life of Jesus' If not, why noU"
"How is it that Matthew's Gospel does not record anything regarding the activities of Jesus after His return from Egypt f"
This whole series of questions proves that they were not only familiar with the Scriptures, but that they were studying the Bible for the evidence that the Bible affords of the mission and the work of Jesus Christ.
In the third place, throughout the whole Mohammedan world the circulation of the Scriptures is producing a new spiritual hunger for the living Christ. Everywhere doors once sealed and barred have been laid open. Everywhere missionaries speak of a new day of opportunity.
Some years ago I visited the old mosque of Santa Sophia in Constantinople. Its magnificent dome has as an adornment one of the great texts of the Koran written in beautiful Arabesque. The words, high above the heads of all the worshippers, are these: "God is the light of the Heavens and of the Earth. His light is as of a lamp in a 'fIIiche, kindled from the blessed olive tree, neither of the East nor of the West. Light upon light, glory upon glory: God is light."
THE INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE ON
When I entered Santa Sophia I saw the inscription and, with my pockets full of literature, mostly the gospels, in Arabic, I paused to read it. As I expected, one of the Mohamm.edan worshippers said: "Can you read Arabic¥" "Yes," I said: "to read that is comparatively easy, but to understand it is not so easy."
"Can you explain it 7" he asked. "I should like to try," I answered. "Let us be seated." We sat down in the mosque of Santa Sophia and a small company gathered round. Then I opened my pocket Testament, gave away copies of the Gospels and read from the eighth chapter of John: "Jesus said: I am the light of the world j he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." In that mosque those Moslems gladly accepted the gospels and listened to the interpretation of God as the Light, and the Light Incarnate and the Light through His Holy Spirit, and there was nothing to hinder or make afraid. I visited an old sheikh in charge of the mosque of Omar in J erusalem. Mter we had seen the tomb of Othman we sat in his study, and I asked him: "Have you a Bible1" From a niche he brought forth a Bible with the imprint of the British and Foreign Bible Society on it, and there we sat and studied that book. He, the man who guards the mosque of Omar, is seeking the light that never shone on sea or land, but that floods the face of Jesus Christ. It was my great privilege for a number of years to venture to carry the Gospel of Jesus into the Azhar University at Cairo. In past years I went very often with great difficulty, but during recent years it has been my privilege personally to give to more than 150 students at EI Azhar University a copy of St. Matthew's Gospel, inscribing it as a gift, and to be taken home by them to their homes. We have had prayer with some of the professors in their library, and on the occasion of my last visit they requested that the agent of the American Bible Society, who accompanied me, should send twelve copies of the whole Bible in Arabic to be used by them personally.. Even the boys of the streets are beginning to r~ad the Bible in Cairo I It was a cold day in November. I left my boarding-house to go to the American Mission, and early iIi- the morning at half-past seven, there sat three street urchins, huddled together with a robe over them as protection against the rain. I thought they were gambling or smoking, so I stopped to speak with them. When I lifted their garment the middle boy was just reading: "And God said to Abraham: Get thee out of thy country. " "What are you doing here7" I asked.
"Hassan reads to us from the book he bought at the depot of the British and Foreign Bible Society."
The Bible Societies in a real sense are like John the Baptist, preparing the way of God.
I
Education and the Home
BY JAMES CANNON 3RD, DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA. Professor of Missions in Duke University O NE of the chief features in the history of Ohristian missions during the past one hundred and twenty-five years has been the constant broadening of the home base. Possibly missions might have fared better on the whole had their conduct not been set apart as a special Ohristian activity but had been made a part of the regular church program rather than a distinct department. The fact is that during the greatest period of Ohristian missionary expansion special boards, societies, and movements have been relied upon to launch and maintain Christian missions in non-Christian lands. In the beginning of foreign mission work by American churches, an appearance of unity was given when Congregational, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches united in the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, chartered in 1812. This apparent unity seems to have been due largely to the weakness of the participants, for as the work and resources increased each denomination established its own agency. In 1840 there were thirteen separate mission boards in the United States and Canada.
The following table shows the growth in the number of missionary agencies in North America: New Board$ FDNner! 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 to to to to to to to to tD to to Denominational ……. . Non-denominational … . 1819 1829 1839 1849 1859 1869 1879 1889 1899 1909 1918 4 1 G 6 6 9 28 27 35 12 8 1 1 0 0 1 4 1 5 5 14 17 In America the support of missions has moved chiefly along denominationallines, though there are many activities in which interboard cooperation is manifested. Among these may be noticed: 1. Special and Annual Conferences by bodies working in particular fields. For instance, in 1914 a number of boards having work in Mexico united in a division of territory in that country. There have also been special conferences in Africa, China, Japan and other fields.
2. Research. A notable example in this field is the Missionary Research Library in New York City. Various home boards have cooperated in surveys of home problems and foreign boards in surveys of foreign fields. The Institute for Social and Religious Research is doing excellent work. The surveys of Latin America in preparation lor the Panama Conference of 1916 and the recent Montevideo Congress were conducted under the auspices of the Committee on Cooperation in Latin America.
3. Missionary Literature. The Missionary Education Move- 274 ment is a joint enterprise engaged in producing good missionary literature. The Laymen's Missionary Movement printed literature and the Oommittee of Reference and Oounsel of the Foreign Missions Oonference has sponsored several publications. 1'he United Mission Study Oommittee of the Women's Societies has, for the pa!3t twentyfive years, been publishing valuable texts.
4. Education and Home Cultivation. The most notable example is the Missionary Education Movement which conducts conferences for training leaders.
5. United Giving. There have been some simultaneous financial eampaigns, but the most extensive enterprise of this kind undertaken by the Inter-Ohurch WorId Movement did not reach its objective.
6. Recruiting. Through the Student Volunteer Movement and the Board of Missionary Preparation this feature has been successfully handled.
7. Councils and Conferences. Chief of these is the Foreign Missions Oonference of North America, organized in 1893. This body promoted the Ecumenical Missionary Conference in New York in 1900, the Edinburgh Conference of 1910, and the Washington Oonference, 1925. The Home Missions Council, organized in 1908, unifies Home Mission Boards in a similar way, and the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America brings concerted action differently.
Even this array of joint enterprises leaves the great tasks of missions in the hands of the respective denominational agencies. For mission boards, the task of missions, viewed from the angle of the home-base, involves three chief activities-education, recruiting, and finance. In fact, the whole duty of a home-base staff might be said to revolve around the question of Education, for a true educational policy will of itself produce both recruits and financial support.
The recruiting problem is well set forth by C. H. Patton in his book, "The Business of Missions," in which he points out that the effective force of missionaries of American boards in the foreign fields totals approximately 17,000. To maintain this force requires 1,500 new recruits a year, making no allowance for advance. In 1920, 1,732 new workers were sent out, a surplus of 232 over replacements. In 1921, 1,620 were sent out, so a surplus of 120 was recruited. The response to the recruiting appeal in recent years has in the main been greater than to the financial appeals, so that many boards find themselves unable to send out all the new workers available. The Survey of the Year made in 1922 by the editors of the International Review of Missions leads them to state that" All reports agree that the choice young men and women in the churches and colleges are volunteering for foreign service." The same magazine pointed out that American recruits were sufficient to maintain the forces at pre-war levels in all nelds, despite withdrawal of the European workers. There was a falling off in 1917-18, during American participation in the war, but
the level was quickly restored under the post-war forward movements of all denominations. There is, however, always a shortage of adequately trained workers, and the number required adequately to extend Christian work in the world is practically without limit. When the totally unoccupied fields, those only partially occupied, and those lacking properly qualified workers for technical phases of work are added up, it will be seen that the total of recruits needed to evangelize the world is tremendous. At the Edinburgh Conference in 1910, it was said that there are over 120 million souls for whom no plans had been made or even contemplated by any Christian agency.
The amount of money needed is no doubt greater than will ever be supplied, but the churches planted in various mission lands may: rightly be expected to undertake not only their own support, but also a large share in the evangelization of their countrymen.
Some progress has been made in financial support also. 1. During pre-war years Dr. C. H. Patton wrote in the Inter- -national Review of Missions on "Broadening the Home Base: "At the celebration of the centenary in 1912 of the consecration of the first five American missionaries there were 47 denominations doing work abroad with an income of $10,707,711 and $1,898,915 given by native Christians in 1911." In the same magazine it was stated in 1916 that" Gifts to Foreign Missions in the United States and Canada in 1914 were $17,168,611 and rose in 1915 to $18,793,990.83 out of 192 organizations reporting an increase. " 2. During the war period the contributions to missions in England at first fell off, but later greatly increased so that in 1918 the International Review of Missions reported: "The maintenance of missions is to a large extent ensured. • • • On April 17, 1918, out of 15 missionary societies (British) 13 reported an increase larger than that of the previous year and 10 the highest increase on record. " The same situation prevailed in American societies, which made a great effort necessary to replace workers taken by war calls.
3. After the war, in 1920, the income of the societies in the United States and Canada was reported as $40,276,200. Practically every American Protestant denomination was working through some form of "Forward Movement" or "Centenary" program. These campaigns marked a period of educational propaganda followed by a financial drive in which pledges were made for a period of years. In most cases the "askings" were actually pledged in denominational drives, though the Interchurch World Movement appeal for one hundred and fifty-five million dollars in one year, or three hundred and fifty million dollars in five years, failed completely.
4. The post-centenary period has been one when most boards faced difficult situations. In many cases the pledges made under pressure were not paid in full. Boards which anticipated full pay-
1926J MISSIONARY EDUCATION AND THE HOME BASE
ments in their advance appropriations suffered heavily. In other instances the regular income fell off while the special effort was in progress and has never reached its former level. New work was projected on new money and funds for regular support have not been forthcoming. The result has been that while total benevolent gifts in America have greatly increased, most of these increases have not been in the regular missionary incomes. .
A wholesome lesson seems to have been learned. The Forward Movement campaigns, in the main, were based on a financial drive with educational and recruiting adjuncts. The drive was short, intensive, and effective in raising pledges, but its results were not permanent. Oultivation of the home base must emphasize a thorough, well-rounded program of education in the local congregation under trained leadership. Out of this may be expected increased financial offerings and a large number of recruits. The roots must be planted deep so that these twin fruits may appear. Two phases of the problem at once emerge. First, the production of trained leaders to carry out the program, and second, the working out of a detailed plan of aotivity to be put into operation by this trained leadership.
Leadership in missionary education should be looked for from two sources, first, the pastorate, and second, the lay membership of the church. The chief agencies through which these two groups are to be trained are unquestionably the seminary, the college, and in the local church (including here special institutes and schools of missions). In the seminary the future minister is trained, and the best seminaries today provide instruction in missions. This is, or should be, designed to meet the needs of outgoing missionaries and also of home pastors. The need of home pastors for adequate seminary instruction in missions is at least equal to that of the future missionary. The Edinburgh Oonference expressed the view that not over ten per oent of Protestant pastors are really interested in missions and give neoessary emphasis to this phase of their work. The best means of reaching pastors before they begin work is through training prior to entry upon their active ministry. When this has not been done denominational bodies find a great need for the speoial training of pastors through specially prepared literature and in institutes designed to arouse missionary zeal.
Every pastor also needs intelligent lay workers in his congregation. If these are not already available they must be trained within the congregation by processes which will vary according to local conditions. However, denominations have a right tOllook to the colleges which they support and control to do something by way of interesting students in missions. There seems no good reason why missions should not :find a place in the curriculum of· every denominational institution. A survey of the teaching of missions in denominational colleges of the North Central Association shows that about two thirds
of such colleges are now offering the equivalent of one·full year course in "Missions" or "Religions. " In the first two college years, where foundation courses for general culture predominate, courses in missions may not have a place, but in the last two years where courses for life work culture appear, there should be included missions courses that give a world outlook and an appreciation of world problems. Oourses in the History of Religion and in Oomparative Re- ligions furnish a knowledge of religious values desirable as grounds for the appreciation of civilizations other than the Anglo-Saxon and European. These courses should be planned to interest and instruct future lay workers and to give a certain degree of vocational guidance to all students. An overcrowded curriculum, and the difficulty of giving such courses properly, afford obstacles, but these may be overcome. The impressive problem of home cultivation, however, is the planting of missionary training in the life and thought of the typical American congregation. This should be the final goal of all missionary training. Out of the local church come the future college students, the future pastors, the future missionaries. In it remains the rank and file of the church membership whose prayers and consecration and offerings are the support of all missionary activities. Only as the local church becomes missionary will the general denominational body be truly so, and only when all denominations become thoroughly missionary will the entire Church of Christ move forward to win the world for its Lord. If such a program under· an adequately trained college and seminary leadership can be inaugurated in each local congregation and permanently maintained there, the longest step towards adequate cultivation of the home base of missions will have been taken. Out of such a program only can there be expected to grow a stable financial support for an adequate supply of recruits in the cause of missions.
SOME SIAMESE PROVERBS'
1. When a dog bites yon don't bite back. 2. When you enter a city whose inhabitants are cross-eyed, you must become cross- eyed too. 3. Some think they can break a log over their knee. 4. 'Toothless old tigers can often memorize the commandments. 5. Some folks are near salt yet they eat ashes. 6. He fled from the tiger and ran into a crocodile. 7. It is easy to find friends when you are feasting; but difficult when you are dying_ 8. Some people cut a bamboo-joint to make a drinking cup before any water is discovered.
9. When in love even boiled vegetables are sweet; when you hate one even sugar is bitter. 10. He who would eat the cocoanut must crack it first-but not with his teeth_ • From The Siam Outlook_ -Paul A. Ea1cin.
Challenge of South
BY MRS. S. G. INMAN, LEONIA, NEW JERSEY T HE study of Latin America will prove especially interesting and profitable if we keep in mind the romance of the past, the rapidly changing present, and the promising future of our southern neighbors.
The little island of Santo Domingo is the cradle of American history. Here Columbus built the new world's first city, with its beautiful cathedral which is still standing and in which his bones rest today. Here the first American university was established and from here Cortez went to Cuba and organized the expedition that resulted in the conquest of Mexico. From here Pizarro, with a few followers and no equipment worthy of the name, started out to find the fabled "riches of Peru.
Pizarro succeeded in finding gold but in doing so he destroyed one of the world's oldest civilizations. The center of this civilization was Cuzco, where lived the Inca or Emperor who had extended his realm until it included nearly all the west coast of South America. and the Andes highlands. The people were marvelous builders. One looks on the ruins of their great temples and fortresses with amazement and admiration. Where did they get these immense stones Y How did they cut them to fit so closely that one cannot insert a knife blade between the crevices 2 The government of the Incas was paternalistic. Everything centered on the Inca-so that when he was captured by the Spaniards the whole structure fell. The Indians were enslaved and their beautiful forts and temples were destroyed.
The Spaniards also imposed their religion upon the Indiansin form if not in reality. In ancient times these Indians saluted each other with, "Thou shalt work and thou shalt not steal"; now their greeting is "Holy Mary, without sin conceived." The priests from Europe built their churches on top of the destroyed Indian temples, so that the Indians would come there naturally to worship. The Indian gods were rechristened with Bible names. And today the Indians dance the old pagan dances in front of the country churches. In the highlands of Peru I saw Indians, dressed in leopard skins and masks, engage in these ancient dances.
Today Peru is governed by a despot. For example: a prominent young woman, who conducted an industrial school for girls, operated a little printing press on which she printed, for some of the university students, a protest against some government abuses. As a result she was thrown into prison where she endured great hardships for ninety days. Since further work in Peru was impossible, one of the 2m
ladies of our party gave her funds to go to Argentina to open another school. A young manager of a ranch, a friend of a former official whom the President did not like, was falsely accused and imprisoned. The upholstery in his home was ripped up and the plaster torn from the walls, in hope of finding revolutionary literature and, although none was found, he was ordered deported. He had no means of communicating with his family, but an official of the steamship line sent them word and the beautiful young wife had but thirty minutes to pack their clothes and join her husband on the vessel on which we were traveling. She left behind five little children and started out, she knew not whither, for they had no passports.
The only center of liberal thought in Peru is in the university of San Marcos, the oldest university in the new world. Twenty-eight of her professors have been deported. The chair of philosophy is occupied by one of South America's most influential Protestant missionaries. Dr. John Mackay of the Scotch Presbyterian Mission has become the friend of the students and is also director of a large boys' school in Lima. The Methodists have near here a fine girls' school and the only Protestant missionary hospItal in South America.
Chile is often called the Britain of South America. The President is a man of the people, and is fighting for them against the power of the land owners and the Roman Oatholic Ohurch. The people of Chile are alert and the women seem to have more freedom and more chance for seH-expression than in other Latin American countries. The woman's movement is expressed in four powerful women's clubs, representing respectively the aristocracy, the professional woman, the middle-class woman and the working woman. The first is the only one working for votes for women. As it is under the control of the archbishop, the other clubs are afraid of the franchise for women on account of the danger of more active priestly control. The women's clubs in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay are more interested in social betterment, community service, the education of the poor, and child conservation than they are in politics.
The Chilean poetess, Gabriela Mistral, a lovable and spirituaUyminded woman, is a Oatholic, fighting the sins of the Ohurch from within.
The Young Women's Christian Association at Santiago is a university for university women. With the guidance of the secretary the girls conduct the affairs of the Association and raise a large part of the funds. Though mostly Catholic, they have their Bible study classes and last year they selected Fosdick's "Meaning of Prayer" as their study book. When the Association faced financial difficulties, one Roman Catholic girl said: "There seems nothing we can do about it. We must pray for guidance. And let us all knee;} as we pray. It seems so disrespectful to stand."
Another great movement in these· countries is the temperance
THE CHALLENGE OF SOUTH AMERICA 2St
campaign. Like all the forward-looking movements in South America, it has developed within the last ten years. In Chile it has been fostered by the laboring men and in 1923 the Pan-American Conference in Santiago passed a resolution favoring "progressive diminution of the consumption of alcohol." Chile, a great wine-producing country, drawing a rich revenue from the traffic, championed the resolution and, with Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia and other countries, has presented to its congress a project for partial prohibition. A program of compulsory temperance instruction has been adopted in the public schools of practically all the countries represented.
Most interesting of all the great movements of South America is the students' movement. Thousands of students in the universities of Argentina, Chile and Peru and other republics have joined in an "idealistic fraternity" which has been fired by what one of their leaders calls a noble dream of transformation. The movement has decried "parchment scholarship" demanding reorganization of the whole syste,m of higher education-called militaristic, materialistic, aristocratic and ultra-nationalistic. It declares itself in revolt against "the nationalistic sophism that the interests of the nation, right or wrong, are superior to all morality." Awake to the danger of a purely utilitarian education that may Hextinguish the sacred fire of souls," it calls for the cultivation of the spirit. Its further watchwords are peace, brotherhood, humanity, international solidarity and service. The university men of Chile have issued a manifesto declaring they would never take up arms against their Peruvian fellowstudents. In Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Chile the movement has associated itself altruistically with the depressed and laboring classes, bands of students voluntarily conducting night schools for workmen, children, Indians and other neglected illiterates.
There is a great eagerness for education which the Evangelical mission schools are doing much to meet. There is a fine Methodist girls' school in Santiago, also a Union Bible seminary supported by Presbyterians and Methodists. There is a Presbyterian boys' school whose graduates occupy positions of honor and leadership throughout the republic. In Buenos Aires the Methodists and Disciples unite in the" Colegio Americano," whose graduates are received without examination in the National University. Buenos Aires is such a tremendous city that to work there effectively there is need of the same resources and equipment as in New York City.
The Young Women's Christian Associations, bridging as they do the gap between the past and present social conditions, fill a great need and are crowded to the bursting point. The Associations in Rio and Buenos Aires each have over a thousand members and the fouryear-old organization in Montevideo has four hundred members. There has also been steady but slower growth in the churches; the gain of the last ten years being greater than during the fifty years
preceding. One reason for the slow growth of Evangelical Churches ·was given by a great Argentine educationalist who said at the Monte- video Congress: "Our people have seen so much immorality connected with the estab- lished Church, in the life of the clergy, and so much insincerity in prayer, in the Church's attitude toward education, in charity, in the lives of so-called religious people, that I cannot but feel that missionaries are marching under a much discredited banner. Yon come from a land where religious faith may be taken as the mark of Ohristian character. With ns the very opposite is often true. To save itself, morality has had to sever its religious connection and to look for the support of science."
A. lawyer said to one missionary: " Yon are a Protestant' I respect Protestantism but hate Christianity. 1'he former stands for all progressive, educational and social ideas, but Ohristianity [as we know it] is the base, fountain and source of all our ills. "
This is what makes missionary work in Latin America harder than in many other mission fields. The people already know the name of Jesus but He means to them a sorrowful, broken, powerless man, hanging on a cross. We must, show them that Christ is alive and has power to transform their lives and that He is the answer to the spiritual longing in the hearts of the people today.
In Brazil, Protestantism has made greater advances than in other South American countries. In Rio alone there are one hundred Evangelical preach- ing places and a pastors' association has sixty members. The first Presbyterian church has nearly two thousand members and supports eighteen branch Sunday-schools and a number of missionaries. Rio is perhaps the foremost Evangelical center in the Latin world.
The possible future of these Latin American countries staggers the imagination. We receive great quantities of tin from Bolivia, chocolate from Ecuador, rubber and coffee from Brazil, quinine from Peru, nitrate, winter fruits and the world's richest copper from Chile, and the A,rgentine is already one of the world's greatest producers of wheat and beef. South America has untouched mineral resources and great uncultivated plains with room for the surplus populations of the old world. Immigrants are coming over at the rate of a million a year-a tide that must profoundly affect the future.
Within the fringe of culture and progress that marks the coast of South America lies another continent. We could draw a line from north to south four thousand miles long and not touch a single Evangelical mission station. This continent within a continent covers 6,000,000 square miles or four-fifths of the entire area. It constitutes for Evangelical Christianity the largest expanse of unoccupied territory in the world. It contains ten million Indians ranging from the more civilized highland Indians to the head hunters of Ecuador and the wild savages of the Amazon.
Within this great neglected area there are a few bright centers. In Asuncion the Disciples of Christ have a large school to meet one of the greatest opportunities in all South America. In the Ohaco, among the savage Indians, the Church of England, led by Barbrooke Grubb, has one of the most remarkable mission stations in the world-described in Mr. Grubb's thrilling book, "An Unknown People in an Unknown Land." This effectively answers the question, "Are missions worth while?" Neither Catholic nor Protestant has more than touched this almost unknown "continent within a continent." Today we face this great Indian problem without funds and seemingly without hope of starting any large work among them for years to come. What a challenge!
Human
Peter McCarthy and the Morning Star lI1ission BY .TAMES TI. FERRISS, .TOLIET, ILLINOIS PETER McCARTHY inherited some money, a home and other land. Today he has none of these, but is far happier than when . he had them. Perhaps no man is more loved than he for in one year Peter rescued 559 of the jobless; sheltered them 2,479 nights; gave them 5,121 meals, and clothed 1,079 of them. He visited police courts and jails 315 times, and returned to their homes 40 boys and girls who had been received from the friendly police and sheriffs.
Peter prayed with them, paid their railway fares, provided lunches and traveling equipment.
There' is much of this sort of work in Joliet. Many of the churches and other helpful groups are now building or re-building noble struc- tures for future work-educational, social, commercial and religious. The joy of mission rescuers is that felt by men who stand on the brink of a flood giving encouragement and help to the struggling victims.
The Morning Star Mission of Joliet celebrated last year its fifteenth anniversary. Peter McCarthy the superintendent is perhaps the hap- piest person among the 70,000 people of tIle city.
One cold morning recently a man PETER McCARTHY who had no money for a hotel sought shelter at the police station. As Peter came into the station upon his early round, the desk sergeant pointed out the stranger and said, "Maybe this gentleman would like to see you."
"I will be back in a minute or two," said Peter, "and we will go out for breakfast."
"Thank you," said the stranger, "but I am not hungry. I merely came here to get warm. They would not let me stay at the depot."
"Oh, you can't fool me," said Peter. "I have seen hungry men before."
At the restaurant the stranger told of domestic trouble, the de- sertion of his home, and of his wandering. Later at the mission he 28a
knelt for prayer. Under date of Dec. 15, Mr. McCarthy received the following letter from this man, written from Denver: "Dear Mr. McCarthy: To let you know that through constant prayer after leaving you God showed me the way here. I arrived last night. Your few moments' talk with me, and your handling of my case has meant more than I can express. Please pray for me. I will return the money at the first opportunity.
"Sincerely and appreciatively yours, through God I am a Chris- tian. "W. P. HALL."
J. B. Bennitt, though talented and capable, dropped rather low in the list of human occupations. In fact he was a "panhandler," a professional beggar. One night in the noted Jerry McAuley Mission in New York City a man stood and testified to the help he had received from Jesus.
"Be gorra," thought Bennitt, "what does he get for thaU"
Anot:Q.er man aroSe to testify. "Holy smokes I Heis on the pay roll too."
"Still another, and the best of the lot."
When Henry Kratzy, ex-prize fighter, set out to tell the story of his reform, Bennitt received something of a jolt, say'ing to himself, "Me old friend Krutzy I And is he too on the pay roll 1"
Before the service closed, Bennitt himself was upon his knees and gave himself to Christ. A change came over him and now none can doubt his Christian life. He is superintendent of the Union Rescue Mission, 622 Louisiana Avenue, Washington, one of the most famous missions in the land. Bennitt is happily situated in a new building, mission owned.
The Morning Star Mission is unique. Here beds are all freefree as the Gospel! Children come here to receive food and clothing; young travellers are returned home and before leaving receive hand bags and toilet articles, lunch bags, and lunches. A little kindness, a little token, often tames the wild heart more quickly than a sermon or an argument. The surprises at the mission, the joys that bring tears, will never fade from their memory.
"One evening I noticed a stranger near the door," says Peter. "When some one was called for to play the piano, he arose and went to the instrument. K. L. Purdy, the favorite choir leader, picked up his ears for there was a master at the keys playing 'My Mother.' Later the stranger arose and said: 'I thank God for this place and wish there was one in every town. I had a good education. Two of my brothers were educated in Rome. My family disowned me. I don't blame them but thank God that now I am going to die sober.' "
Here is a letter that rings true from one who needs help apparently more than the usual run of mankind:
AFRIOAN HARI'I'ATIONS OF CRUELTY
"FORT PORTER, N. Y., Nov. 1,1924.
"Dear Friends: Just a line this evening in commemoration of the Morning Star Mission. It stands out as a shining star shedding the light of Jesus on the hearts of the poor and destitute. I am serving the nation and its army and I have a large field of labor for the Kingdom of God; for, Brother Pete, men here do not know God. Back in 1914, I first met Mr. McCarthv and my love and frien"dship for him has increased each year. While I was serving a' sentence in the jail in your city he came and asked me to give my heart to God.
r knelt down in the basement back of the boiler, and made the surrender. Give the mission your loyal sup- port and may Grace, Peace and Hope abide wit h you foreyer.
Amen. MORNING STAR MISSION Sincerely in the Lord's wor.k, "HoWARD S. TOMLINSON, Company B. 28, U. S. Infantry."
African Habitations of Cruelty BY W. O. BELL T HE brutality of the raw A.fricannative is something we read about now and then where tlw carnal nature has run wild. One of these cases was brought to my attention a few weeks ago. . .
A woman came with a baby in her arms as she had no doth with which to carry it on her back as is the custom here. About her loins Was a piece of rag about two feet long and eight inches wide. r at once handed her a piece of white cotton. 'l'hen I heard her story.
The woman's name was Chilombo. She had been torn from her husband at a time of war some eight years ago. Two children were captured with her-the youngest a sturdy baby girl whom the mother carried on her back while her little boy ran by her side. The baby was growing and getting heavier so that her captor took his turn in carrying it.
When they arrived in the Bailundo district, the man who had brought the woman and her children from the war as captives delivered the woman to his elder brother, he himself holding claim to the baby on the score of having helped her en route. The boy went with his mother. The woman has had a troublesome existence. Once her new master tried to sell her for three bottles of rum and two more for her baby. For some reason the deal had to be taken back. Her master profited from the sale of foodstuffs from her fields or would send his other wives to help themselves. When her boy, a lad of ten, was quite sick, they bound his legs and buried him before he expired. She says that she heard the screams when he was being put into the hole and she made such a fuss over the matter that her master feared that she would take the case to the Government. He confined her in a. house where she was pinned down to the floor on her back by a plank over six feet long and eight inches wide having a notch fitting over the neck. The ends were securely fastened to uprights so that she could not release herself. Her ankles were in heavy stocks as well. Here she was kept for three weeks, being loosened but once or twice a day to receive a small morsel of food. One can imagine her torture and the filth in which she was forced to lie. "Vhen she promised to not take the matter to the officials she was released.
I flatly refused to credit her story, though by close questioning it seemed true. I sent a trusted elder with her and he came back with the report that her statements were true, while she herself brought the weather beaten plank which had held her so cruelly. She had dragged the plank away where she could hide it, thinking that she might need it for future evidence!
The reason of her having come to me was that she wanted to get the custody of her little girl again. The man who had her said he would release all claims if tho woman would bring him seven and a half bushels of corn. I handed her the equivalent of $6.00 and sent an escort with her. The man who was her captor refused to give up the child as greed caused him to increase his stipulations. The woman returned empty handed feeling much depressed. She has now made a plea direct to the fort and been given a hearing. Her captor has been sent for and before long the mother and daughter may be reunited. In the investigation it came out that this old cruel chief has several sons who are becoming interested in the Word, owing to visits they have made to one of our outstations.
Awakening in
BY REV. ALEX, HARSANYI* OF ASHTABULA, OHIO A Home Missionary for Thirty Years among the Hungarians in the U. S.
T HE Reformed Church of Hungary is one of the largest single Protestant bodies in the whole world. Though the country has been dismembered so that over a million church members, in a thousand congregations, have been attached to Czecho-Slovakia, Roumania or Juglo-Slavia, yet the Reformed Church in Hungary has today almost two million members. It is a mighty church, located in a strategical position. In the Protestant world very little was known of the activities and spiritual life of this great body of Christians. Struggling al· ways for mere existence in a country, where intolerant and aggressive opponents pos- sessed all political power, court influence, and immense wealth, the Reformed Church had little chance for expansion or for tak-· ing part in international church move- ments.
Another obstacle for keeping up con- tact with the Protestant brethren in England, America and other countries comes BISHOP DT~~~~IUS BAL- from the fact that the Hungarian speaks an President of the General Synod Probably of l:be HefoT'med Church of Hunisolated and peculiar language. gary, now in the United States seeking funds for edUcational inthere are no more than a half of a hundred stitutions ot the Church which learned men outside of Hungary, who have lost their funds in the war.
felt the inspiration to study the Hungarian language so as to be able to read the Hungarian church papers and books.
Since Hungary is the border country between Balkan and Oc- cidental civilization, the Reformed Church had a God-given oppor- tunity to evangelize and enlighten the multitudes-who live in spir- itual darkness, oppression and ignorance in southeastern European States. Men with vision and faith started this work some fifty years ago, but in the past the Church never officially interested herself in missionary work in foreign lands. It is different now. Though the war greatly demoralized the administrative and bureaucratic life of the Church, yet she emerged from the great cataclysm with a new sign of life.
Symptoms of a wonderful spiritual awakening manifest them- • Dr. Alex. Harsanyl, senior of Hungarian Protestant ministers in this country. has recently celebrated in his congregation at .Ashtabula, Ohio, the thirtieth anniversary of his ministry in America under tbe Board of Home Missions of tbe Reformed Church in the U. S. He has been for many years the editor of the Hungarian P resbyterian and Reformed Church paper, and also the Director of rel1g1ous literature for the Hungarian Protestants i~ America. He is the author of a dozen or :more religious and temperance books which have gained large circulation among the Magyars.-EDITOR.
287
selves in every phase of the church life in Hungary. Formerly very little attention was paid to the religious and spiritual life of the in- dividual church members, because the ministers were considered as bureaucrats rather than as shepherds of souls. Now pastors of large congregations cheerfully assist members of their own congregations in the organization of sister congregations in the same town. Col- lege and seminary professors are invited on special occasions to, preach in cities where souls are hungry for the Gospel. Great spir- itual conferences both for the ministry and for the laity are held in many of the principal towns. A Student Volunteer Movement, Chris- tian Endeavor Societies, and missionary organizations are active in strengthening the denomination within the land. The Church is not so dependent on the State as formerly. WeaIthy church members are .–.~— realizing more and more their ob- ligations and responsibilities to assist the Church £nancially in fulfilling her mission. Charitable undertakings are started and con- ducted by the Church in the spirit of Christ. A number of new or- phan homes were opened since the close of the great war, and better care is taken of the poor than ever COLLEGE AND SEMINARY AT DEBRECEN before. A deeper Christian fel- One of the oldest institutions of the Re- lowship is binding together memformed Church of Hungary. Originally a btheers coofmtmheurnc.otl.negs.regaItnI. Oconms paan, rdabolyf Roman Cathollc scho()l but became Protestant in the time ()f the Reformati()D, more emphasis is laid on prayer, consecration and inner spiritual life of the individual members of the Church, than there was in for- mer years, when religion was only formalism and traditional custom with many members of the Church, even with those who held the highest positions in the Boards of the denomination. Leaders of the Ohurch have clearer conception of their resp()nsibilities in showing g.ood example to the multitudes, attending faithfully church' services and taking part in the Lord's Supper regularly. A new history of reformation in Hungary is being enacted with wonderful results.
The developing new generation will form a body of more intelligent and more loyal members than were those connected with the Church in the pre·war conditions.
The Reformed Church of Hungary is visibly on the threshold of a regeneration. From a dead church she has become a living body of Christ. It is not the work of men, but of the Holy Spirit. She has gained infinitely more than what she has lost-because she has the gift of the Holy Spirit which will transform the whole Church to a power of God for the salvation of many.
®,,_. .- ® BEST
''ii'iAi'.~ UW" " ow.. "ikrii EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, 721 MUHLENBURG BLDG., PHILADELPHIA, PA.
MISSIONARY MOTHERS' DAY "Mother, dear mother, your many May brings Mother's Day. Why prayers have been heard. Wherever I am, I never forget how much lowe not be ready with a special program to your prayers. The first· dawn of reflection respecting my soul comon missionary mothers on Sunday, or menced with hearing you pray."
some other day, of the first week in Robert Morrison bore testimony: "In my father's house and by my May' Such a program should be of parents' example, I was taught at morning, noon and night to cast my interest to the whole church. The care on God."
Bible lesson on Mary, the mother of From any good life of David Liv- ingstone, get word pictures of the our Lord, or Hannah, who loaned her home at Blantyre with the boy run- ning in from the mill to lay his first ch~ld to the Lord., would be appro- money in his mother's lap. Tell of the family prayer on that last mornpriate. The .story of Monica a mis- ing when David read the 121st Psalm and of the abiding influence of his sionary mother of the early Church, mother in the life of the great mis- sionary explorer. may be adapted from" Brave Adven- Other stories of missionary mothers turers,"* pages 103-104, and given as of early or modern times may be told.
a monologue. The story of the mother If there are any mothers of mission- aries in the community they should be of Bartholomew Ziegenbalg is the special guests.
very beginning of Protestant mis· Various other features will suggest themselves to resourceful leaders. sions. As she was dying, she called ESSENTIAL LINES IN MISSIONARY her children to her bedside. "1 leave EDUCATION you a great treasure, " she said. By MR.s. J. M. STEARNS "You will find it in this book"-as Secretary of Rel'igious and Missionary Edushe handed them her Bible. Largely cation of the United Christian Mission- ary Bor:iety through his mother's influence Bar- Whatever may be the organizatholomew Ziegenbalg became the first tional plans and educational methods used, three general phases in mis- Protestant missionary to India carry- sionary education will predominate.
ing with him his mother's Bible. 1. Informing the church as to hu- man life and its needs, and the William Carey, the scholar and sci- Church and its work everywhere.
entist, looked back to the time bwyhehin~ 2. Teaching the membership about as a little boy, he was allowed the peoples of the world that a spirit mother to fill his room with all the interesting specimens of plant and animal life which he brought in from woods and stream, and counted his mother's sympathetic interest one of his sources of inspiration.
. Durin~ the long winter evenings, In a qUIet Scottish home, a mother talked with her boy about the people who had never heard of God. Years afterward the mother sat alone in that home reading a letter from her son, Robert Moffat, the pioneer mission- ary to Africa: .
_ ~ Published by Central CommIttee tor the of sympathetic brotherhood may de- Umted Study of Foreign MIssions, Weat Medford, Mass. Cloth, 70 cents; paper, 50 cents. velop which will undergird the mis- 289 4
sionary enterprise with prayer, money 8. Stereopticon lectUl'es should be used and life. occasionally; also selected slides for intro- ducing certain missionary themes. 3. Applying the energies of the church in definite Christian service. 9. Pieces of telling missionary literature handed or mailed to non-cooperating mem- Information artl'ests attention and bers often will bring results. awakens interest. Instruction directs the interest toward wise and effective 10. Responsive readings on missionary lines of missionary activity, and fits passages from the Bible, also from compilafor service. tions of missionary items from the fields, can be used to advantage in many meetings Applying the energies of the and assemblies. church in definite Christian service constitutes the expressional side of ll. Short missionary stories, debates, im. the education program, without which personations and dramatic presentations education fails of its purpose. before various classes, assemblies and serv- ices are effective.
12. Occasional dramatic programs before the entire congregation or school can be presented with good results.
Disseminating Mi.l8ionary Informa- Missionary Study and In8truction tion Real knowledge of mission fields and of the missionary enterprise is The bringing of vital, up-to-date, essential to intelligent cooperation in accurate information to the attention the work of the Church at home and of the men of the church, to its young abroad. Missionary instruction for people, and its entire adult member- children and missionary study for ship is an essential phase in mission- mOtl'e mature groups should be careary education. This informational fully planned and thoroughly concampaign should be made immediate, ducted. Such work may be carried intensive, continuous and challenging. forward through the following agen- cies and methods: The following plans for disseminating information are suggested: 1. Mission study classes. 2. Church school of missions. 1. Interesting news items gleaned from 3. Church training night. the daily press, denominational magazines 4. Elective mission study courses for reg· and the MrSSrONAB.Y REVIEW OF i'HE WOR.LD, ular lesson period in Bible-school classes. cUITent magazines, and missionary books should appear in local church papers and 5. Short missionary studies, talks and ilbulletins. lustrated lectures on specific courses as part of the mid-week prayer meeting program. 2. Bulletin boards should carry terse, telling statements. 6. Missio'nary education through pa- geantry and projects in Bible school or 3. Items should be provided for the col- church for regular or special meetings. umns of local newspapers. Usually these, if well chosen, will be welcomed and printed 7. Book reading contests and reading free of cost. courses regularly planned and conducted.
4. Small printed pages of "Missionary 8. Systematic use of missionary publica- Radios," or "News from the Front" may tions. be placed, monthly or quarterly, in church pews. They would be read during the quiet, 9. Hearty -promotion of missionary prowaiting moments as the congregation gath- grams and studies as planned for missioners for worship. ary auxiliaries, young people's societies and other church groups and organizations. 5. Posters, featuring striking bits of in· formation from the nelds, new each week, 10. Study assignments accompanying should appear in the vestibule of the service activities. church. Service Activities 6. Frequent sermons on the mission of the Church, international conditions, needs of Missionary projects and expresvarious nations and races and the progress sional activities should be planned as of Christianity should be presented. the natural, effective and adequate ex- pression of the entire educational pro- 7. Addresses by home and foreign mis· gram. sionaries as often as possible; also by representatives and field workers of the United Christian Missionary Society, shonld be arranged.
BEST METHODS
THE CIRCUIT PLAN FOR STUDY to Galesburg, with an average attend- ance of 93 for the six weeks. Elgin By GEORGE A. HUNTLEY, M.D. came next with an average of 84; Rockford, 68; Ottawa, 54, and Pe- The thought flashed across my mind oria, 48. The interest was well susas an inspiration-why not a group tained and cumulative-a source of of mission study classes conducted on constant encouragement and inspirathe circmit plan, within a geographi- tion to the teacher. cal area and with a peripatetic ONE SUPERINTENDENT'S PLAN teacher! Several state workers with whom I One of the many difficulties which beset the way of missiona;ry education conferred were interested and some in the Sunday-school is the teacher were enthusiastic. Dr. LeGrand, of who has had little missionary educa- Wisconsin, wanted to try the experi- tion and consequently has little interment at once and wrote to headquart- est in missions. Some Sunday-schools ers requesting my services in that have a special week-day mission study state for six weeks for this purpose. class for their teachers each year in Mrs. W. A. Chalmers, of Philadel- which the themes for the year are disphia, took the matter up officially cussed and missionary plans and poliwith the women of Pennsylvania who cies are made for the school as a voted their app;roval unanimously, whole, to be carried out through difbut it fell to the lot of Dr. A. E. ferent departments. Peterson in Illinois to tryout the experiment first. The ideal is a Sunday-school that is missionary through and through-in The textbook chosen was "Prayer all of its rooms, on all of its walls, in and Missions," using "God's Dyna- all of its teachings and all of its mite" as illustrative material. A practices. There are many ways of group of five cities was selected and working toward this ideal. One plan Rev. Charles Carmen, of Galesburg, that has been successful in aNew arranged the local details as follows: Jersey town is reported by Mary E. Ewing in Women amd Missions: Monday was Ottawa night; Tuesday, Peoria ; Wednesday, Galesburg; , 'Three years ago this fall, regular Thursday, Elgin, and Friday, Rock- missionary instruction was started in ford-all in Illinois. Thus I con- our Sunday-school. For two years, ducted the Ottawa class every Mon- the work was carried on in various day night for six weeks, Peoria every ways, none of which was very success- Tuesday night and so on through the ful. Last winter we adopted a new list. plan that seems to have worked.
The pastor or pastors in each city "First of all, the old Sunday-school agreed to sponsor the cause and it is lim-ary room was definitely set aside to the enthusiastic suppOi!:t of these as a missionary room. Slowly but devoted men that the success of these surely we are covering the old shelves classes was largely due. Where more with maps and pictures as we enthan one church existed they com- deavor to create a missionary atmosbined, as, for instance, in Rockford, phere. To this room the classes come where one half of the meetings were for their missionary instructi(}n. held at the First Church and the other Each class in the junior and interhalf at the State Street Church, the mediate departments of the Sundayother side of the city. school comes to the missionary room for three successive Sundays some Some of the churches shifted their time during the year. The regular week night service to the night al- teacher of the class is supposed to atlotted, while others put in the mission tend the missionary class which is in study class as an extra meeting. charge of the special teacher.
There was some rivalry in the groups as to which would have the largest attendance. The honor went
"During the three missionary Sun- them to seats. The master of ceredays, the class simply omits the les- monies, aged nine, announced the prosons in the regular COUJl"Se and re- gram. It consisted of a Chinese play, ceives instruction of another nature. twelve short accounts of Chinese life Last year our plan of teaching was and Chinese music-ruI given by the this: On the :first Sunday, we tried children. After the program the to create an interest in China and the guests were invited to inspect the ex- Chinese people; on the second Sun- hibits. On one table Chinese curios day, we studied the daily life of the were displayed; the children collected people of that country; on the third some of them from the neighbors and Sunday, we considered the needs of the rest were borrowed from the Forthe Chinese people and talked about eign Missions Library in New York. how we could satisfy those needs. The The handwork of the children was assubject matter was adapted to the age sembled on another table in the form of each class. During the class period of a real Chinese village, with a Chriswe did some handwork on 'The Chi- tian school and hospital and a native nese Village Project.' hOWle with three courts as the chief features. On the other table, the chil- "The fifty children who received dren exhibited the scrapbooks, marble the special missionary instruction bags, dressed-dolls and other things have been responsible for many ac- they had made in week-day gathertivities. In September, they carried ings for a Daily Vacation Bible on a missionary poster contest. In School in China. 'The Chinese Eve- October, one of the classes presented ning' helped greatly in the missionary a Chinese play as part of the Rally education of the parents as well -as Day program. In November, some of the children. the children took part in the Thanksgiving program, and made the largest ,'In all this work the aim has been contributions of food and toys in thc two-fold: first, to have the boys and history of the Sunday-school to an girls realize the need of the world for orphanage for the blind. At Christ- Christianity; second, to show them mas time, the splendid program of how to satisfy this need. Because the Board of Foreign Missions was last year's plan seemed to accomplish given by the children who had been this aim more nearly than any other members of the missionary class. In method we have Wled, we hope to foladdition, the Sunday-school gave the low it again." largest offering of the year for missionary work in China. During the WINTER SCHOOLS OF MISSIONS winter months the work continued. Each month some phase of missionary IN FLORIDA work was presented to the entire Sunday-school by the pupils. At For many years summer schools of Easter time, the program provided missions at summer resorts have had by the Board of Foreign Missions was place in the program of missionary presented by the missionary depart- education. Winter schools of mis· ment. sions at winter resorts are of later onglll. They offer opportunity un- "The big missionary event of the paralleled. year was 'The Chinese Evening' given in May. The children made the in- Three outstanding schools were vitations for this affair and distrib- neld in Florida during January, 1926 uted them at the church doors the -at St. Petersburg, DeLand, and Sunday before the great event. The Daytona Beach. The registration at Sunday-school room was decorated St. Petersburg passed the one thouin as Chinese-y a way as possible. sand mark. At the other two schools, Small boys and girls in Chinese cos- the actual J:egistration was not so tumes received the guests and ushered large, but the reach of the influence on the student life of the two cities was beyond estimate, including two
1926J BEST METHODS
meetings at Stetson University, and a rive" and "depart" of railroad series of missionary talks in grammar sohedules are not the last word in and high schools. The high school possibility. Abby G. Willard sug- students enjoyed a map journey gests a possibility independent of through South America, conducted by rails.
a member of the faculty who at- Our churches in Eastern Connecti- tended the Montevideo Conference. cut are scattered, and we have only They revelled in stories of immigrants a few of the larger churches.
and immigration, and entered a con- The only time of year that it is test in an English assignment for the feasible to go "off into the country"
best retelling of a story from the book is in the fall, although better roads "Brave Adventurers" told to them are changing even that condition. We at Chapel. Copies of the book were usually have wonderful weather presented by the schools of missions when, in late September, or early for highest excellence in the various October, we meet on some hilltop. We grades. On Lincoln's birthday, sev- always carry a basket luncheon and eral members of the faculty were the entertaining church provides guests of the Daytona Normal and In- coffee. Our idea is to make as little dustrial Institute and had the oppm'- trouble as possible, and give the tunity of addressing more than four women no excuse for not coming to hundred Negro students who are the meeting.
working hard for an education. The Our last meeting was at Hampton melody of "Swing Low Sweet Char- where there is a cheerful parish house.
iot" and "Standing in the Need of We sat around small tables. This Prayer" will always remain with the "getting together" we consider al- guests of that day, together with the most as important as the program. It strengthening of their own faith by certainly cultivates the cooperative the faith of a woman who began that spirit. Five or six ministers were college with a cash balance of $1.50. there, so there was a fine opportunity At Daytona Beach, members of the to tell the people about the Every- Iaculty spoke in the various Sunday- Member-Canvass plans already being schools, young people's societies and carried out in the state. This year churches of the city. There were teams are going into the states to three supper meetings for the young give information and inspiration.
people and one supper meeting for The chairman of the association of church officers for a discussion of churches had a few minutes to tell of plans for missionary education of the the plans for the week in the associa- entire church. tion.
At two of the schools, the Green At least fourteen churches of our Room Players of Stetson University, Branch were represented at the under the direction of Professor Hampton meeting.
Stover, presented the great religious No one could come by train, as so drama, "Peter the Rock." More few trains stop at Hampton, and than three thousand people attended nearly everyone had to "arrive" and the two presentations which made "depart" by automobile. Two peo- such a profound impression that there ple came a distance of about thirty- was a demand for a dramatic presen- five or forty miles. My own way of tation of equally high grade for next reaching there was by bus to Nor- year. wich, sixteen miles, where a friend WHEN CHURCHES ARE took me on in her car with two SCATTERED others. Five, or six miles up the line, the minister of the Lebanon Church Distanoes are not taken into ac- met us along the "highway" with.an- count in these d..ays as was neoessary other passenger.
in pre-automobil.e d..ays. The "ar- Nineteen went from one church.
So, in many ways, in many places, purposes have a deeper meaning from the work goes on, the workers trying your having given expression to them to adapt methods to changing condi- and they have become a more vital tions. It might be possible for many part of your life.
other rural or suburban communities Publicity should be conducted along to have similar meetings. all possible legitimate avenues. Use If One Meeting is IDlpossible Have the church bulletin for more thought- compelling announcement than the T …. o mere date and place of meeting. Tell " Our children are scattered all who is going to have a special part in over the city, and out through the the program and give some interestsuburbs," moaned a leader. "It is provoking description of the program impossible to get a central meeting." itself. Possibly the" person" or the Sometimes, when one meeting seems "thing" may interest some one whom impossible, two or three or half a you have long wanted to reach. Omit dozen meetings are practicable. A some details to arouse a bit of legitichurch in Georgia has two meetings mate curiosity. of its children's missionary society at the same hour in different sections of Do not hesitate to use daily papers the city.. but be careful not to submit articles of too great length, always keeping It is possible to preserve the in mind the " news element. " A strength of a central organization and write-up of a public meeting must be have it meet in sections. This plan on the editor's desk as soon as the may be used in either city or crural meeting is over. By next week it has churches. One leader or superintend- lost its value as far as the press is ent may have general charge and ar- concerned. range for group meetings wherever a number of children can be gathered Church papers are glad to publish together and group leaders found. outstanding features of missionary Occasional meetings of all the groups activities, for they are recognized as together will add the enthusiasm valuable branches of church work, but which comes through numbers. Many do not feel hurt if everything you leaders, who would be unwilling tc submit is not published, when you take the full responsibility for the think it should be. The editor may entire organization, will do good work have an unusual amount of material on hand and perhaps yours may be all as group leaders. right for some purposes but not just MISSIONARY PUBLICITY what this editor wants. You can easily discover what is good copy by By MRs. OSCAR E. MILES tcrying the method of subtraction. From what you submit, subtract the Publicity Chairman of the Cilncinnati printed article. Do your own cut- Branoh, Womtm'S Missionary Society of M. E. (JIiurch Publicity is one of the greatest as- ting after this and spare the editor! sets of any organization, missionary societies not excepted. If you have Clever :invitations and posters for devised a program for some special special occasions acre a most successful offering or celebration and it has method of publicity and are often a proved successful, let others have the means of enlisting the talent of some benefit of your inspiration. By shar- one hitherto uninterested. One never ing your gifts of brain and heart, knows when the spark of interest mav your own supply is increased immeasurably. By sharing your in- be kindled. The field of publicity is terest and enthusiasm in the cause of missions, your own supply becomes boundless. Many methods may be more firmly fixed. Your aims and tried. Some will prove more effective than others; but if you try some of them you may be surprised at the re- sults.
Woman's Foreign Mission
EDITED BY MISS ELLA D. MACLAURIN, 25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY THE FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S in Relation to World Peace," in BOARDS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS which Mrs. E. C. Cronk, Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt and Mrs. Thomas OF NORTH AMERICA Nicholson were the speakers, brought home to the Conference the fact that THE ANNUAL MEETING-1926 the responsibility of Christians is not The forty four Boards and Societies alone to take the message of salvation of the United States and Canada to individuals, but to Christianize all which compose the Federation, sent human relationships. The Con- delegates to its annual meeting Janu· ference was reminded that the women ary 9th to 12th at Atlantic City just of 2'9 nations have now been given the preceding the Foreign Missions Con· franchise, and that vO'ting women are ference. The delegations included representatives of the Boards from ruling the world whether they knO'W headquarters and local groups from it or not. Peace is an adventure of church societies and city missionary faith. We may have peace if we want federations throughout the country. it. We must demobilize the mind of the WO'rld for war and mobilize for An Enlightened Conscience and a peace. Thus a terrible challenge has New Resolve been given to the Christian Church. A generation of education lies be- The most striking feature of this year's annual meeting was the way in tween declaration of purpose and its which the 300 delegates, not discount- accomplishment. Our method should ing the importance of the work assigned to the fifteen committees but be not revolutionary but evolutionary. without giving long sessions to the cO'nsideration of such details, swiftly We should protest against the miligathered together their collective tarization of youth in our Church and forces to' study certain outstanding other schools, and by every means world questions, and to' determine assist in rearing a generation around what the missionary wO'men O'f NO'rth the world which will "learn war no America could dO' to' answer them. more, " but will learn reliance on Receptivity and response were as- justice, love and mutual respect as a sured at the O'utset, because a quiet basis for a new world order. " Retreat" on the opening Sunday morning prepared those in attendance The following reeommendations through worship, self-examination were adopted: and cO'nsciousness of dependence on God to listen to' the message of the 1. That we promote the study of books conference with unusual acuteness of on peace and international relationspiritual hearing. ships.
Four great international subjects 2. That we seek to create public opinion were presented and each will be re- and to develop a will to peace. membered by the heart-searching on the part of the auditors as well as 3. That we practice international the first-hand knowledge and earnest- friendship. ness of those who spake. 4. That we urge ,christian women to train the boys and girls to a program of peace and world friendship.
5. That we protest against military drill in schools and colleges.
6. That Christian women use the right of suffrage intelligently and faith- fully.
Missions and World Peace The conference voted to add a new The first topic presented for dis- committee to carry out these findings cussion, "The Missionary Enterprise and other projects of an international 295
nature, to be known as the Committee in the face of everyone into whose on International Friendship. eyes I look, there would be no race Present Situation in China, prejudice. "
The present situation in China was The following recommendations analysed by Mrs. Charles Roys, Miss were adopted; Mary Dingman and Dr. A. L. Wam.- shuis. The discussion brought out 1. That Christian women use their in· jjuence to secure: (a) The revision of the Exclusion the following salient elements of the Clauses in the present immigra· situation: The unequal treaties that tion laws ot the United States grant extra-territoriality and tariff and CalUl.da, (b) The passing of naturalization supervision; special privileges to mis- laws based on character and sionaries, ("toleration clauses") ; ability, rather than on race and territorial and commercial exploita- color. tion ; the student movement; the 2. That all missionary literature which tends to foster race prejudice and an development o:f a new national con- attitude of superiority be discarded.
sciousness ; the industrial situation. The MissiO'Yw,ry Enterprise and In- The following recommendations dustrialism as it Affects the W01'k were adopted: for Women and Children 1. 'That Ohristians lead m aSBUmmg a The development o:f industrialism new and sympathetic attitude to- in the Orient was discussed by Miss ward Ohma.
2. That we study new books on this Mary A. Dingman of London, and new situation. Mrs. Edmund J. Lee of China. Miss Dingman outlined the program of 3. That we seek to promote a proper the National Christian Council in its public opinion in regard to revising the unequal treaties.
4. That we recognize and respect the effort to create public opinion to pro- awakening national conscioWiness. duce favorable legislation. The sub- ject of industrial relations was The Missionary Enterprise and Inter- recognized as one of major importance Racia}, Relations In the presentation and discussion to all Mission Boards in this new day of inter"1l'acial relations emphasis of changing emphasis. Has the rested upon the thought that race Church in China clearer vision and prejudice is subtle and sincere heart- more courage than the Church at searching reveals some trace of it in home f We were challenged as we each of us. The prejudiced have been heard of the splendid position taken fed by ideas from unfriendly sources. by the National Christian Council in Christians bear the responsibility of China (May 1922) when it faced and interpreting the various races to our accepted its responsibility to conserve human values in the rapid growth of churches. Responsibility for prejudiced dis- industrialism there. The story of the struggle to translate into action the crimination .against the Orient does determination to protect the little not rest solely upon any state nor upon children under twelve from the dead- ening effects of work carried on the Senate. Everyone here bears some during long hours, and night shifts, blame. Mrs. Eddy brought to her with no regular rest days and conhearers the immigration situation in stant danger from insufficiently connection with Japan, and Mrs. guarded machinery, deeply moved the Conference. Fleming stressed the work of the students in overcoming racial har- riers. From the consideration of these racial questions the problem The Conference was impressed with was pressed home until each delegate facts presented by missionaries en- was testing her own sincerity. Each gaged in mission industries. They was echoing Mrs. Eddy's statement, showed that these industries offer "If I saw the image of Jesus Christ large oPPQrtunities for service for
1.0261 W01M.N'8 FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN
Christ in making easier the approach ference. Students through daily to the people with the Gospel; in im- contacts on the campus are doing proving their economic conditions; in more easily and naturally what the developing the desire for better home older generation has a mental struggle conditions; in expressing the love of to accomplish. If both young and Christ toward those bearing the old can see the face of Jesus Christ burden of poverty. in the face of every living being_they The following recommendations will never be conscious of black, brown or white skin. were adopted: 1. That there be a program of educa- The following recommendations tion to enlighten the Chrietian were adopted: public, especially the church mem- bership at the Home Base as to: 1. That the Federation of Woman '. (a) The far-reaching social changes Boards of Foreign Missions of North due to the impact of modern America commend to the constit· industrialism in the Orient, uencies of the Foreign Mission especially as it ail'ects home life Boards for their ('.areful considera· and the group consciousness of tion the report of the commission on the workers. Foreign Miesions of the Inter· (b) The deplorable conditions, wages denominational Student Conference and hours under which women held at Evanston, Ill., December 29th and children are working. to January 1st, 1926. (c) The need of studying and trans- lating into action -the pronounce- 2. That in view of the interest the ments of our church bodies in youth of our country is taking in relation to these great industrial world problems, the enthusiasm problems. brought to the solution of these problems and the courage with which 2. That we study the way in which the plans are carried out, more young tChristian Church in China has ap' people be placed on Boards and proached the relationship of Chrieti- other agencies of the Church, and be anity and industry. given more definite responsibilities in the local church. 2. That we study the eil'ects of industrial conditions on international Accompanying this forward-look- relationships. ing program was the ever-present business session, for these delegates 4. That mission industries always be were intensely practical. Reports of carried on not for pront, but to serve human needs, to improve living conditions and to develop Chrietian committees included such important life. matters as bringing the Federation up Another new committee was con- to date, the publication of Christian stituted to work on the matter of literature in mission fields, the new mission-operated industries, to be mission study text books, the Womknown as "The Industrial Mission en's Union Colleges in the Orient, Products Committee." conferences and schools of missioM, and the numerous activities of the SARAH S. LYON, Federation.
Exeautive SecretarJI, Foreign D-ivision A unanimous and grateful vote re- of National Board Y. W. C. A.
elected the efficient president and Jnterdenomiaa.tional Student Con- executive secretary, Mrs. E. H. Silver- ferenoe thorn and Miss Ella D. MacLaurin.
A great message of hope came to Next year's conference will have to the Federation from the fair, logical strike a high note indeed, if it is to Christian attitude of our youth as il- equal or exceed that of the meeting lustrated in the Evanston, Ill., Con- just closed.
Woman's Home Mission
EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK HEBREWS ticular, attention should be given to By .TOHN S'rL'ART CoNNING the cultivation of good will toward the From the report at the Committee of the Jewish people. Anti-Semitism should Home Missions Council and Council of Women be rebuked as alien to the spirit of Christ and as unworthy of organizafor Home Missions, Dr. Conning, Ohairman.
During recent years the Jewish tions which stand as exponents of dipress of America has reflected a vine love toward all mankind. It is a troubled state of mind on the part of denial of the Gospel and a well-nigh Jewish leaders in regard to two vital insurmountable obstacle to its tri- matters affecting the life of their peo- umph. pIe. They are disturbed over the The religious condition of the Jews Anti-Semitism which has made its ap- also emphasizes the need and urgency pearance in practically every civilized of providing for them a really conland. They are especially concerned structive and effective Christian minthat this spirit should have manifested istry. Hitherto the Protestant deitself in America which has been for nominations, while recogmzmg a a whole generation a veritable land of special obligation to give the Gospel promise for the oppressed Jews of to the Jews, have not had any well- Eastern Europe. The existence of a defined policy or program which they very active anti-Jewish propaganda has particularly annoyed them. The could follow with assurance. The recent laws restricting immigration work undertaken has been entered and the change of basis for the de. upon hesitatingly and prosecuted nttermination of quotas from the census fully with the result that it has lacked of 1910 to that of 1890 has been in· both permanency and rewarding reo terpreted by them as directed par- suIts. There is one fact of Jewish life in ticularly against Jews. America which necessitates our think- Another matter which has been agi- ing of Christian work for the Jews in terms ot.her than that of a mission tating the Jewish leaders is the rapid in a Ghetto. That fact is this: the spread of irreligion among their peopIe. There are today few observant Ghetto is not characteristic of Jewish Jews. The vast majority are reli. life in the United States. The Jews giously adrift. This abandonment of are everywhere. They are found in the synagogue has been attended with every state and territory. Even in serious moral and spiritual loss. While feverish efforts are being made large cities the vast majority do not to stay the drift, especially along the live in distinctively Jewish communilines of religious education and social ties but in American residential neighfacilities for young people, their suc- borhoods and in proximity to Chriscess is not yet by any means assured. tian churches. This movement of The appeal is racial rather than reo .Tews into the neighborhood of our ligious, and the free atmosphere of churches constitutes a distinct chal. our American life is not conducive to lenge to American Christianity. It is the maintenance of racial distinctions. in itself a test of the most searching This is a time when the Christian kind as to whether the churches of this land are thinking as churches churches of this land should consider should and as to whether they are the Jewish situation seriously and seek ready to respond to an unparalleled to accept the responsibilities and op- opportunity. There is a distinct call portunities which it presents. In par· of God to every church having Jewish 298 neighbors to include them in its min- this it is urged that every church hav- istry. ing Jews in its community include The extent of the opportunity may them in its ministry.
be suggested from the results of a re- cent survey of the Jewish situation in ASIATIO EXOLUSION Philadelphia and in New Jersey by the Board of National Missions of the Declaration by the Executive CommIttee of Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. the Federal Council of the Churches regarding ~ro~ 'i!i:.ti~f ~~~~Sion section of the lmmigra- In Philadelphia there is a Jewish The Asiatic Exclusion section of population of 240,000. There are 88 the Immigration Law of 1924 has Presbyterian churches. Only 13 of created an International situation that causes us grave concern. The .r them were able to say that they had manner of its enactment, the abrupt abrogation of the Gentlemen's Agreepractically no ews near their ment without the conference rechurches. Not one asserted that they quested by Japan, the insistence on a had none. In the case of 15 churches discriminatory law which Asiatics rethe Jewish population varied from 25 sent as humiliating, unjust and unto 80 per cent of the whole. Christian, and the affront to Japan's pre~tige as one of the great and equal In New Jersey the Jewish popula- natIOns of the world, have combined tion in 1918 was estimated, according to wound and grieve a friendly nato the Jewish Year Book at 149,476. tion. At the present time it may be conservatively estimated at 200,000. Not Many expressions of resentment counting foreign language or Negro and of disappointment in the idealcongregations, there are 355 Presby- ism, brotherhood and good will of terian churches in the state. Of these, America have come from India and 187 reported that they had Jews in China, as well as from Japan. While their community. In addition, there Asiatics know and say that nothing were found six communities with a they can do can change the situation population of 500 to 2,000 eighty to or the law, they repeatedly declare ninety per cent Jewish, in which there is no Christian church of any denomi- the.ir trust in the sense of justice nation. which many of them still believe in- heres in the American people and These facts, with variations, repre- their confidence that the American sent the Jewish situation in all the people will ultimately set this matter large cities and in many states. They right. indicate that thousands of churches connected with the various denominations have the opportunity of engag- ing directly in 'work for their Jewish The careful consideration of this neighbors. important and far-reaching problem In an investigation as to the feasi- lea~s us to make the following obserbility and value of this type of ap- vatIons: proach to the Jews, it was learned 1. ~o. Asiatic ~ati?n was or is asking for that there are scores of churches con- the prtVllege of ImmIgration. nected with different denominations which have anywhere from one to 2. It was, and still is possible to assure fifty Jews in their membership. A full protection from all dangers of Asiatic number of churches which have re- labor immigration and at the same time to cently undertaken this work are able give Asiatics complete equality of race to report encouraging results. Ob- treatment. viously we have here at our hand the 3. A fundamental factor in the situation is the recent interpretation of OUr law of naturalization whereby eligibility to citizen· ship has been limited to persons of the possibility of a Christian ministry to whIte race and to persons of African birth the Jews far exceeding in its scope or descent. This law was enacted when and effectiveness anything that has these modern problems were not before the hitherto been attempted. In view of nation. This law debars as unfit for citi- zenship, on the basis of color alone, persons
of aU other races whatever their individual portance of giving these matters character or qualifications. earnest study, to the end that in due time appropriate steps may be taken 4. The immigration law of 1924 provides to reestablish right relations between that on July 1, 1927, a new quota. principle the United States and the peoples of for the regulation of immigration shall come the Orient. into force. If tha.t quota principle were applied to Japanese, Chinese and East In- CHlJRCH BlJILDING dians,. the number of immigrants annually admissible from those countries to the From the report of the Committee of the United States would be I5(}, 100, and 100 H()me Missions Council and Council of Women respectively. for Home Missions, Joseph S. Wise, Chairman.
5. President Coolidge has declared in his During the year 1925 the enormous last message to Congress that "we ought sum of six billions of dollars was exto have no prejudice against an alien be- pended in the United States for the cause he is an alien"; that" the standard erection of new buildings. It was the which we apply to our inhabitants is that greatest building year in our history. of manhood "'; and that" it is fundamental The year 1926 promises to equal, if to our institutions that they seek to guar- not to exceed this record. In view antee to all our inhabitants the right to live of this, it is well to devote some time their own lives under the protection of to the consideration of church buildpublie law," which means "the full right ing. to liberty and equality before the law without distinction of race and creed." Brieks, stone and cement are so in- animate to the many, while to the few, In view of the foregoing facts and only, are these material things enobservations >ye are impelled to record dowed and pUlsating with life in its most animated form. To them, every our convietions: brick and every stone speaks loudly and deeply of the things of God. The 1. That the dictates of humanity and the church building inspires, instructs welfare of the world demand the recogni- and improves mankind. It is not tion by all governments of the brotherhood transitory. It stands for ages, forof man and the inherent right of all nations ever expressing our ideas of God and and races to treatment free from humilia- inspiring multitudes to worshipful tion. reverence. How important it is then that every architectural line or ap- 2. That the United States cannot afford pointment should lend itself in every to over-ride the principle of essential human way to the full development of our equality embedded in the Declaration of spiritual, intellectual, social and physical well being. Independence. 3. That no nation can afford needlessly During the year, as. in the preced- ing ones, many books and pamphlets to flout and wound the feelings of other were published by the Church Buildnations and peoples. ing Boards. In fact, so much litera- ture has been made available within 4. That the maintenance of justice, hu- recent years, as well as offers of servmanity, courtesy and goodwill between the ice and advice by the Boards through peoples of the Far West and the Far East their Architectural Departments and is essential to the permanent peace of the Bureaus, that there should be no ex- Pacific and of the world. cuse for the further ereetion of inade- quate or inelegant buildings. These 5. That we recognize the need of restric- Departments are gradually but surely tion of immigration in order to conserve evolving types of buildings that will American standards of labor and living. ultimately depart from the medieval conception to that of the modern 6. That Asiatics in the United States twentieth century expression of relishould be accorded their rights as human gion in its church architecture. beings, and also their rights to which they are entitled by the letter and the spirit of the treaties under which they came to· the United States.
7. That in the words of former Ambassador Woods, this action of Congress referred to above was an international catastrophe.
S. That we see at present no better solution of the problem than the application to Japan, China and India of the quota law as it comes into force in 1927, which would result in the annual admission of 350 immigrants from these three sBctions of the Orient.
We therefore recommend to all right-thinking and peace-loving citi- zens of the United States the im-
fROM MANY
INDIA, SIAM AND MALAYSIA date went to a C. M. S. lady mission- Progress among Indian Women ary in Calcutta to borrow a Bengali REV. SIMEON CORNELIUS, of Testament. On retUd"Iling the book the Arcot Mission of the Re- the student declared that he had read formed Church in America, who has the whole of it, and had come to the been visiting America, says: "It is conclusion that Jesus was more than encouraging to note the progress our a mere man. He asked for more in- Christian women have made. Ten struction. "
per cent of them, as against one per cent of the Hindu women, are literate, Mus Movement Ne….. Delhi T according to the last census. The per- HE Chamars, a vast group of leather-makers by caste but in fact centage m:ust now be highert We must remember that the Christians chiefly engaged as small land culti- are very poor, and over three fourths vators, are moving en masse from un- of them are of outcaste origin. We der Hinduism and into the Christian have today doctors, college professors, fold throughout the Delhi region of teachers of all grades, preachers and India, according to Bishop John W.
public speakers among women, a Robinson, of the Methodist Episcopal great majority of them being Chris- Church. He reports over 16,000 in- tians. Our municipalities, district quirers, but says: "If some Ameri- and taluq boards, have begun to take can pastor asks why we do not in- in women members, and from our own struct and baptize these inquirers at churches there are four women who once, the answer is that they live in have become members of such perhaps seventy-five dtiIerent vi~ boards. " lages, most of which are miles from the homes of our workers, who have India.n Students and the Bible to cover all these distances by foot; ~~THROUGH the generosity of the and that to instruct men and women British and Foreign Bible So- whose minds have been darkened and dulled by centuries of ignorance and ciety every Freshman in the Ame,rican dense superstition is not, under even most favorable circumstances, the College in Madura, South India, is en- work of a day or a week or a month. titled," says Professor Saunders, "to So it is we shall have to wait a long receive as a gift a beautifully printed time for these groups of inquirers to and bound copy of the New Testa- be received formally mto the Kingment and Psalms. Practically every dom and given in effective measure member of the class wants that book; the enlightment they crave and deand the encouraging thing every year serve from our hands. But the really is, that the non-Christians-Hindu great thing is that we are securing the and Mohammedan alike—are just as entrance we crave among a multieager to get their New Testaments as tudinous class." the Christians. . . .. The English Bible is becoming rather popular among students in India in these days; it is now a compulsory subject Hindu Tribute to Christia.na for all candidates in the preliminary pRESIDING over the All-Hindu and final B.A. examinations of the Mahasabha (Parliament), N. C.
University of Calcutta. One candi- Kalkan, whose epigram about "the 301
British trinity of the Bible, the "Bot- present decision is in consonance with tle and the Bayonet" has been much the policy now laid down by the Durquoted, had this to say of the Indian bar that, in the eye of the law, no in- Christian community: "It must be vidious distinctions are to be perpetusaid to their credit that they are ated between the various sections of showing the least sectarian or propa- Hindus, east or non-caste. gandist spirit, though placed in a peculiar position. For on the one AChrist in a Brahman HODle hand, they are obviously estranged TOUR in South India brought to from the Hindus and the Mohammed- Rev. J. C. Winslow, a S. P. G. ans as Christians, and on the other missionary in Bombay, some remarkhand, they do not share either the able experiences, of one of which he power, the prestige or the political writes: "I stayed with a delightful privileges of the Europeans in the Brahman family in Bellary. I had country. To be stronger in a numeri- not known them before; but a Hindu cal sense would be their natural aspi- swami, with whom I had struck up a ration and yet, I think, they offend very friendly acquaintance a month the least against the other communi- previously, was staying in their house ties by seeking to make converts there- and on his introduction they invited from. Also they might have asked for me t~re. After a meal together we special representation or communal repaired to the part of the house electorates, taking benefit of the pre- where they have prayers, and I found vailing communal mad.ness. But they that they had no idol there, but only a have not done this, and their spokes- number of pictures of Indian saints men always give the first place in with a picture of Christ Himself their hearts to a purely national sen- above them all. We had some Indian timent, trusting absolutely to their hymns, and then they asked me to own sterling work, if any, to secure speak to them all; and in the evening to them the coveted place in the again I spoke to them, and told them Sun." of the Cross; and we conversed into the night, they speaking freely about Caste Reform in Travancore Christ as 'the Lord. ' Only those who know India can realize how impos- THE native state of Travancore, sible it would have been ten years South India, has taken action to ago. " abolish the social restrictions imposed on the depressed classes of Hindu- Indians Read the Gospels ism, and has made a beginning by asserting their right to enter temples, THAT the gospels "are the mostand to use public highways and read books in India today" is the waterways formerly forbidden to opinion of a missionary of the Society them by the laws of caste. Two prom- for the Propagation of the Gospel, inent non-caste Hindus, whose ap- who, in order to support his stateproach to temples is forbidden by ment, tells the following incidents: custom, were charged by the Govern- " A few months ago there came to my ment with having trespassed into the house in a dusty village in North Intemple premises and thereby polluted dia, a Hindu holy man, who produced the deity. Both the accused were, a thumb-marked New Testament in after a protracted inquiry, during Hindi and with sparkling eyes spoke which a number of priests and temple of Jesus, the man who wandered authorities cited chapter and verse in about as he did. 'But,' he said, 'He support of distance pollution, com- went about as a friend, doing good, mitted to the sessions to take their and not as I, who go from shrine to trial, where the judge acquitted them. shrine trying to find God for myself The Travancore Durbar launched this alone. ' On another occasion I was prosecution as a test suit, and the waiting at midnight on the platform
1926J NEWS FROM: MANY LANDS
of a wayside station when a burly preaching on his own part and read- farmer came up and saluted in mili- iness to give from his income for tary style. He said that when in the Christian work make him a pillar in army in Mesopotamia somebody had our work."
given him a copy of the Gospel of St.
Matthew. He produced it, and the CHINA state of the book showed that it had American Missionaries Besieged been read and not been merely carried in the pocket. Said he, 'The hero AGROUP of missionaries in Sinwas a great and good man, such a one yang, Hunan Province, repreas I have never read of before, and senting the Norwegian Lutheran Mis- He has made your nation great. We sion of America, were in great peril, need Him too.' On the hot evenings according to a cablegram received on just before dark, if one goes across February 18th by Secretary of State any of the large pa.rks in the out- Kellogg from the Americ~n Minister skirts of Delhi, one is iikely to meet in Peking. It stated that they were with men reclining on the grass, read- under fire and that Rev. Nils D. Nel- ing the New Testament." son had been killed by a stray bullet.
Mr. and Mrs. Nelson went out to University Religious Lect1U'eship China in 1890 and the latter was THE Senate of the University of among the thirty-one Americans thus Calcutta will proceed in the month besieged. This number included, beof July, 1926, to appoint the Sta- side three Roman Catholics, the folphanos Ghosh Lecturer to deliver a lowing members of the Norwegian course of lectures on Comparative Re- Lutheran Mission: Rev. and Mrs. ligion at the University. The lecture- John Ely, Rev. C. C. Skinsnes, M.D., ship was founded with the object that and wife, Rev. and Mrs. Edward the lecturer should endeavor to show Sovik, Rev. Olaf Asper, Rev. O. Helthat the highest ideal for man lies in lestad, and Misses O. T. Christensen, love and service to his fellow men ac- Mina Hjeldness and Hilda Petterson. cording to the essence of the teaching The cablegram stated: "The siege and life of Christ and that that life will probably continue until the lived under the guidance of this ideal troops within the walls have been constitutes the highest advancement starved out."
of human personality, the acceptance of a particular creed or dogma being Prohibits Anti-Christian Campaign of subordinate importance. The course AN ASSOCIATED Press dispatch of lectures is required to be delivered .tl from Peking (Feb. 28) states that in English and is expected to consist of eight lectures which should be de- one of the recent acts of the Chinese livered not more than twice a week. Cabinet has been the drafting of a mandate dealing with anti-Christian A Burmese Mill Owner activity on the part of certain ele- ments of the population, and ordering THE first convert in the Baptist the civil and military authorities to mission station at Pyirimana, suppress it. The mandate says in Burma, was also the first teacher of part: the station schools. He now owns two saw mills and is one of the most pros- The lWman Catholic and other Chris· perous business men of the town. He tian religions have been allowed in this is also a very enthusiastic evangelistic country in accordance with treaties be· tween China and foreign countries, under worker. Rev. B. C. Case says: "He which they must be duIy protected. After is taking the Lord into partnership in the establishment of the republic freedom his business, to win Christian con- in religious beliefs was specially given. verts through it. Annual evangelistic campaigns at his mills, personal There are reports, however, of anti· Christian propaganda by associations or- ganized for that purpose in various parts
't'ltE M1SS10NARY ltEYIE'W OF THE WORLD
of the country. These are detrimental to living and sharing with his soldiers. the spirit of toleration hitherto existing in China and they must be suppressed. So do the younger officials, squander- ing the nation's resources for per- OAinese General BU7S Biblett sonal gain, whom his intense patriot- ism rebukes." ONE of the largest orders for Chi- nese Bibles and Testaments ever For Manchurian Independence received by the China agency of the American Bible Society was placed … CCORDING to news received in in Shanghai when General Chang f t Moscow and reported in the New Tze-kiang, one of General Feng's York Tinnes, a conference of delegates leading officers, recently purchased from the three Manchurian provinces from the Society's China a~ency assembled in Mukden. on Feb. 16th, eight thousand copies of the ChrIstian on the initiative of Chang Tso-lin, to Scriptures for distribution among the work out a new Manchurian Constiofficers in his army. These Bibles and tution.
Testaments are to be furnished in full The conference considered it unleather and half leather gilt binding, necessary formally to secede from and are to contain at the request of the other portions of the Chinese Re- General Chang a personally inscribed public, but agreed that Manchuria presentati()n statement written by the must continue to be quite autonomous General himself. The cost of the or- until Peking has a strong govern- ment and a properly elected Presider will be about $3,000 gold. dent. The three Manchurian prov- Oritic. of Ma.rshal Feng inces should be united under one REV. CHARLES E. SCOTT, D.D., Manchurian government on a federa- Presbyterian missionary in Tsin- tive basis, with extensive provincial anfu, Shantung Province, and con- self-government, they decided, declart,ributor to the REVIEW, is quoted in ing that Chang Tso-lin should remain the Alliance Weekly as saying: ' ,In at the head of the Manchurian Govthese days in China it is popular to ernment.
'cuss out' General Feng. Unregenerate editors, foreign as well as Chi- Medical Oollege for Women T nese, love to do it. So do envious HE Margaret Williamson Hospital in Shanghai for women and chilgenerals, his rivals. His achievements with his troops, and their personal af- dren, established forty-two years ago fection for and personal loyalty to by the Woman's Union Missionary him-all beyond the realm of their Society, is being conducted now by a self-seeking, sinister attainment- board made up of representatives of make them impotently gnash their the women's boards of the Reformed teeth. So do all who are playing to Church in America, the Southern the anti-foreign spirit, in its 'anti- Methodists and the Northern Bap- American religion' form. So do the tists, in addition to the original so- Manchu princes, who for three cen- ciety. About one thousand babies are turies have been an incubus pressing born in this hospital every year. A the Chinese people, living in luxury medical school for Chinese women has and vicious idleness off their toil and been established, which has already poverty, and whose revenues Feng become an A grade medical college.
has recently cut down. So do the Au .Already the new administration Fu Party, the clique which now is building, with its laboratories and 'the Peking Government,' and which class rooms and a home for seventy is absolutely pro-Japan and its crea- Chinese nurses have been built, land ture. So do the old Mandarin class and a residence for the American who fatten on the disasters of the nurses have been furnished. In the country and who dislike his 'plain nurses' school a Chinese girl may
NEW'S FROM MANY LANDS
enter after passing the required ex- JAPAN-KOREA amination and receive a three years' training as a nurse. When she com- Buddhist Missionary Plans pletes her work in the training school, she is qualified to belong to the BUDDHIST imitation of Christian Nurses' Association of China and in methods along various lines has turn to the International Nurses' As- frequently been referred to in the sociation. The Board has part of the REVIEW. "The Eastern Asia Bud- funds for the children's hospital and dhist Convention," however, held in student dormitory but still lacks Tokyo, Japan, in November, passed money for the maternity hospital, resolutions which carry this imitation surgical and medical wards, equip- farther than it has gone before. One, ment and maintenance. Two hun- for instance, recommended the obdred thousand dollars will be needed servance of the birthday of Buddha for these buildings and equipment "as Christians observe Christmas." with heating and lighting plants. Another urged closer cooperation of all Buddhists throughout the world A WODlen'" Evangelistic Band in order to propagate the true spirit of Gautama Buddha, by which, it was FROM Yungkang, Chekian~ Proy- claimed, the whole world may enjoy ince, A. .H. Barnum wrItes In a serene and solemn state of mind as in Nirvana. F'or .the purpose of at- China's Millions: "Some of our out- taining such an aim, the publication station women came forward with of Buddhist books, magazines and proposals for more definite evangel- pamphlets in several Occidental lanistic work, which we were glad to fur- guages was advocated. The despatchther to the utmost of our power. ing of missionary workers to all parts Their greatest effort was made last of the world was another item of the autumn. First, these earnest women resolution. One measure urged in came to Yungkang and spent two or the discussion of Buddhist educational three days visiting homes in the city, propaganda was the establishment of speaking, preaching, and singing the Buddhist primary schools in Great Gospel, and disposing of gospel por- Britain. tions and tracts. They then had 'I week among the adjacent villages, Factory W Olnen in Japan visiting four or five during the course of a day, sometimes meeting with JAPAN is the only country in the much encouragement, and at other world which has more women than places with hard words. Going out men in textile mills. This state of afearly in the morning, it was generally fairs, like the child labor conditions near sunset when they returned, described in the August REVIEW, retired, but full of joy. Later they had sults from the sudden attempt by Jatheir supper, and afterward we met pan to adopt Western industrialism. for a short time around the Word and Mrs. Margaret Wells Wood, a Y. W. for prayer, and so closed the day. C. A. industrial secretairY, who has Leaving Yungkang they spent a spent two years investigating the somewhat similar ten days around problems of women workers, says that Tangsi and Shansi. This work is one of the worst features of the facpurely voluntary except that they tory life is the dormitory system, by keep the cash for gospel sales, which which the day and night shifts occupy is very small, and I supply the simple the same quarters under sanitary contracts for free distribution. I wish ditions almost unspeakable. The that our men could see their way to average day is between eleven and form a somewhat similar voluntary twelve hours. If the factory is un- €vangfllistic band." usually busy, the hours may be in, creased to fourteen and sixteen, and S that for twenty-nine days a month. Two rest days a month are allowed;
but these may be taken away during the foot of Mt. Fuji last October, the rush season. The average daily about one hundred girls and women wage of women workers in factories met to discuss the policies and plans is forty-nine sen (twenty-four cents) of the Association. The purpose was while that of the men is just double. declared to be (1) to reproduce the Another difficulty in the industrial life and ideals of Jesus Christ in work of Japanese women is their sub· Japan in individuals and in groups; missive natures. They have never ob- (2) to help make friendly and right jected to conditions in their lives all international relations. whether at home, in school or abroad, and so accept them in the industrial The high type of cultured Chrisworld. tian womanhood seen at the conven- tion was a clear evidence of the ef- The W. C. T. U. in Japan fectiveness of Christian missions in Japan. The delegates were strong AT THE thirty-fourth annual meet- women with intelligence, character, purpose and power. Among the 1"1. ing of the "Kyofukai," as the speakers were Miss Michi Kawai, a descendant of forty generations of W. C. T. U. is called in Japan, a re- Shinto priests, a graduate of Bryn port was presented on the campaign Mawr and now leader of the Japanese to send temperance literature to all Y. W. C. A.; Mrs. Hana Ibuka, a of the 25,000 primary schools in J a- graduate of Mt. Holyoke and chairpan, supplies already having been man of the National Committee of the sent to nearly half the number. The Y. W. C. A.; Mrs. Matsu Tsugi, a discussion brought out the fact that graduate of Wellesley and, for some because of drinking habits them· years, principal of Miss Tsuda '8 selves or ignorance of the scientific School in Tokyo; Mrs. Mei, delegate facts about alcohol, or both, many of from the Chinese Association and a the teachers in the primary schools graduate of Columbia University; were incapable of giving scientific and Miss Kim, a delegate from the temperance instruction. This condi- Korean Association. tion, combined with indifference on the part of many officials, resulted in Union Campaign in Seoul lax enforcement of the juvenile Prohibition Law. Resolutions were THIRTY-FOUR churches of all depassed (1) urging members of the nominations combined in a recent Kyofukai to visit the schools in their evangelistic campaign in the city of districts and instruct the teachers, Seoul. Its :first chapter was a week (2) petitioning the Government to of meetings for Christians, conducted limit the amount of soJce produced, by a deeply spiritual Korean pastor. (3) petitioning the Minister of Home This was followed by two weeks of Affairs to enforce the Juvenile Law, evangelistic preaching in the different (4) asking the national headquarters churches and house-to-house personal to send lecturers to the schools, and work throughout the city. Some forty (5) petitioning the Educational De- prominent laymen and pastors were partment to put scientific teaching on selected to bring present-day mesalcohol and tobacco into the readers sages of the power of Jesus Christ to in the primary school. change the lives of all those who will trust Him. These men spoke each :.rapaneae Women'a Conference night during the first week in fifteen churches throughout the city. Each THE progress made in Japan to- speaker had the same subject in all ward Christian ideals, education the churches. For the second week, and freedom of expression has, per· this plan was duplicated in nineteen haps, been exhibited nowhere more others. Members from the thirty-four forcibly than in the First National churches spent each morning in visit- Convention of the Japanese Young Women's Christian Association. At
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
ing the homes in their respective neighbors. In order to reach them neighborhoods, telling the story of with the Book of books, the Society Christ to those who knew Him not, employs its own colporteurs, and supand 559 new members have been se- plies the Scriptures to other Chriscured. The Christian workers in tian organizations who send out col- Seoul have formed a permanent or- porteurs equipped with caravans, ganization which will keep alive the horse-drawn and motor-driven, acideals that prompted this series of cording to the class of the country evangelistic appeals. which they must traverse. These col- porteurs are ardent Christian work- Fruits of Korean EvangeUs:m ers. The navvies' camp, the mining field, the shearing shed, the solitary THE evangelistic fervor of Korean boundary rider, road-mender or Christians is demonstrated in the swagman-the colporteurs visit them following repo.rt from Rev. Floyd E. alL Whether they must work alone, Hamilton, of Pyengyang in the Pres- Or can associate with an occasional byterian Magazine: "The mission- kindred spirit, their ministry with aries are not the only ones who preach the spoken or written Word counts the Gospel; their efforts in evangel- for a great deal." ism are very small indeed when compared to the well-organized cam- Indentured Labor in Fiji paigns of the Koreans themselves; but because the Gospel has been A FIJIAN vernacular paper, Na preached, first by the missionaries and Viti, publishes a Christian nathen by the converts, within the past tive's statement that many Fijians twenty-five years in the city of Pyeng- are now being "signed on" for work yang •alone, fifteen Presbyterian on sugar plantations and in sugar churches have been organized; most mills. The writer says: of them entirely self-supporting, many of them with well-paid pastors, Last year, 1924, we had been protected by and with congregations numbering Our benevolent Empire of Great Britain for far above 500. Go out of the city fifty years. It is about ninety years or within a radius of twenty-five miles more since the Christian religion came to and you will find another group of Fij i. By these two things, the Christian Presbyterian churches numbering 120 religion and the Government, we, the na· in which the Gospel is faithfully tives, have been taught and led upwards, so preached every Sunday and at the that we may attain to an enlightened order midweek meeting. Go farther out of things such as some other lands have still in other territory under the over- reached. It appears that in these days we sight of this station, and scattered are still progressing, and we are about to Over the fertile plain, or hidden in attain to an enlightened order of things. the deep recesses of the rugged moun- We are surprised then, that some of the natains, you will find over 600 churches tives go in large numbers, and submissively, and groups." as indentured labour to various places of employment in Fiji for the smal sum of £20 or £24 a year. When I saw this, I was in· wardly pained, and said to myself, "Alas I It appears that the natives of Fiji are going back to where they used to be before."
ISLANDS OF THE SEA Filipino Y. W. C. A. Pioneer The Bible in the Bush MISS SOLITA GARDUNO jour- neyed from Cavite, Philippine MAJOR c. M. RIXON, of the Sal- Islands to New York City that she vation Army, pays high tribute might take the training to fit her for to the work of the British and For- a secretaryship of the Young Womeign Bible Society among the widely en's Christian Association in Manila. scattered settlers in Australia. He There is no Association in the Philsays in part: "They are not only re- ippines, but Miss Garduno is so conmote from cities and towns, but are vinced of the need of one that she also far removed from their nearest
underwent the hardships and the to 1,118 city, town, rural and student perils of a long journey all alone (an Associations, of which 996 are affiliundertaking for a girl who was never ated. There are 922 branches and out of her own dooryard alone after centers in addition, and 800 regisdark) to carry this message of need tered Girl Reserve clubs. But the to all who may be interested, and to missionary aspect of the work which prepare herself for the work when it is stressed in the call for the Convenis begun. In speaking of the Fili- tion is the fact that the Association pino woman Miss Garduno says; is seeking to help the women and girls of forty-eight foreign countries in- She must have au all-round development; terested in the same pursuits of study she is thinking of a career and wants to and recreation, the same search for stand on her own feet. I know that she will ways of serving others, and the same find her problems solved, and her path made ideals for everyday living. clear, through the friendship and understanding the big sister, the Y. W. C. A., Ohio Wesleyan Missionaries gives to her. That is why I came to the United States-because I know the need of OHIO Wesleyan University, in Delthe girls of my country, and want to help aware, Ohio, has the distinction them. of having given 337 missionaries to the foreign field, of whom 133 have Abuses in New Hebrides been men and 204 women. China has claimed 103 of them; India and CONDITIONS in the New Hebrides Burma have been served by 79; South under the so-called "Condomin- America was serv~d by 34; Africa ium Government," which was de- by 18; Egypt by 1; Europe by 6; scribed in the March, 1925, REVIEW, Java, Malaysia and the Phil.lppines continue to be very serious. The min- by 21; Japan by 30; Korea by 25; utes of the Presbyterian Mission the Near East by 4; Cuba, Mexico Synod call attention to some of these and the Canal Zone by 16. Since as follows: "There is still no IJand Rev. Nathan Sites, of the class of Court, and at present no Joint Court; 1859, arrived in Floochow, China, Septhere have been many cases of grog tember 19, 1861, the college has been sellm,g, notably in Malekula, Ambrim, continuously represented on the mis- Pliaroa.; Epi and Emae, and even in sion field. Vila itself; there have been instances of the irregular recruitment of wom- Atheist Gronp Incorpora.ted en, of high-handed ill-treatment of natives, even to the grabbing of their THE American Association for the cotton, their coconuts, their land, and Advancement of Atheism, after to the burning of a village. The na- failing once, has at length succeeded tives are forbearing and long-suffer- in obtaining a certificate of incorporaing, and do not retaliate, but the fail- tion in New York. The papers reure of the Government to redress ceived the approval of Supreme Court their wrongs is having a disturbing Justice John Ford. Some time beand disheartening effect upon the peo- fore, Justice William H. Mitchell reple. . . . The Synod respectfully fused to incorporate the organization urges the authorities to continue to and ordered the papers impounded press for the redress of these evils." by the County Clerk and not re- turned. After declaring the purpose NORTH AMERICA of the incorporation was to destroy belief in God and attack the Church, Y. W. C. A. Convention the original application for a charter stated that "in prosecuting its work, THE biennal National Convention which shall be purely destructive, the of the Young Women's Christian society shall hold public meetings and Associations of the United States of erect radio stations for the delivery America Will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 21st-27th. There are' 556,000 members of the Association in the United States,' who belong
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
and broadcasting of lectures, debates time to time in the REVIEW. Now a and discussions on the subjects of similar instance is reported from science and religion, publish and dis- Pennsylvania. After an extensive tribute scientific and anti-religious survey of race relations and condiliterature, and conduct a general tions in about ninety communities propaganda against the Church and made for the Department of Public clergy. " The purpose of the associa- Welfare, the Department has taken tion, as now set forth in the certifi- a competent colored woman on its cate, is to "advance atheism." The staff and interracial programs are be- Literary Digest, which gives these ing developed by means of correfacts, quotes a Pittsburgh paper as spondence, public meetings, organizasaying: "The wonder is, that any tion of local interracial committees, group of men could be so fatuous as questionnaires and co nf ere n c e s. to try to take away one of the main Thirty-two interracial meetings covblessings and consolations of virtually ering several sections of the state have an entire nation without offering been arranged and conducted. Interanything as a substitute." racial committees have been set up in Wilkes-Barre, Lancaster, West Ches- Rewards for Negro Achievement ter and elsewhere, which report defi- nite results achieved. The question- THE Har.mon Foundation, whose naires have covered information on interest in the production of re- vital statistics, industry, leisure-time ligious moving pictures was referred activities, education, religious life, to in the December REVIEW, has pro- health, agriculture, race relationships, vided for seven annual awards of etc. The conferences have brought $400 each to Negroes who have won together white and Neg,ro leaders of distinction in literature, music, fine civic, social and religious organizaarts, industry including busine,ss, tio,ns and encouraging results along science including invention, educa- many lines have been secured. tion and religion, and an eighth to the person, white or colored, "who How Monnonism Gains Convert.. has made the greatest contribution toward improving the relations be- THE Utah Gospel Mission makes tween white and Negro peoples in the s e challenging statements: America. " There is also a gold metal "Nineteen hundred ,Vestern Mormon for the first award in each of the emissaries are out spreading this sysseven divisions, and a second award tem; 1,100 working in United States, of one hundred dollars and a bronze and more called fo,r, to 'proselyte' medal; the eighth award will carry from our churches to the evil system. with it five hundred dollars in money Every man expects to go, and many and a gold medal. This announce- girls, finding their own expenses; so ment comes from Dr. George E. the system grows, and from us. Haynes, secretary of tlie Commission About 300 J osephite missio,naries are on Race Relations of the Federal at work, also,·. Thus and by births Council of Churches, to which has Mo,rmonism doubles every twenty-five been committed the executive direc- years. Both kinds (Utah and Josephtion of the awards. There will be ite) make about ten thousand confive judges for each award, three of verts a year, nearly all from former whom will be recognized as outstand- members of Christian churches-just ing in their particular fields. At because we have not kept our memleast one will be a Negro. bers informed."
Interraeial Work in the North The Continent calls for zeal on the part of Presbyterians to, match that THE achievements of the interracial desc.ribed in the following announce- ment: . committees in various states in the South have been referred to from
During the October semi-annual confer· of study, facilities for research work, ence of the Mormon Church held in Salt expense, living conditions, etc., to Lake City a call was sounded by President students in America or coming from Heber .T. Grant for 1,000 volunteers to go Japan by carefully conducted correon a mission for the Mormon Church for spondence or through personal intersix months, entirely at their own expense. views. It aids graduates of colleges Almost as soon as the call was given men and universities in Japan by correlatand women throughout the Mormon area ing Japanese and American institubegan to volunteer. At the lowest possible tions and negotiating for entrance. estimate the mission will cost each of the The Association further helps them, missionaries $1,000 in cola hard cash be- through its nation-wide connections, side the six months' absence on the mission by introducing them to the local J apfield. anese group and American friends. Monthly throughout the academic Our Spanish-Speaking People year it publishes The J a.pa.neS'e Stu- dent BUlletin, and annually the « Di- ACONGRESS on Mexican and rectory of Japanese Students in Spanish-speaking interests in the America." A series of interesting United States is to be held in El pamphlets has been announced for Paso, Texas, in December. 'It grows this year. out of the agitation of many workers who are in close contact with the Canadian Presbyterians Stlll Spanish-speaking people in this country and has also been urged by the T HAT section of the Presbyterian Committee on Cooperation in Latin Church in Canada which last year America. Charles E. Vermilya, sec- refused to enter the union of Presbyretary of the Home Missions Coun- terians, Methodists and Congregacil, is to set up the Congress. Vari- tionalists of the Dominion now has an ous home mission boards are cooperat- estimated membership of 150,000. ing. The aim is to go into the whole This estimate is contained in a statequestion of conditions, opportunities ment made to the religious press by and privileges of these people in Thomas McMillin, chairman of the America, in order that the 'various re- board of administration of "The ligious bodies may provide more in- Presbyterian Church in Canada. " telligently for the service they seek Today this organization, according to to render and also that a better un- Mr. McMillin, comprises eight synods derstanding of the public's responsi- and forty-two presbyteries, represenbility may be had. To this end many tative of every province in the domincivic and industrial organizations ion, and has nearly 1,000 congregaand workers are to be included in the tions. The 980 congregations include Congress. Five commissions are to 793 which voted, prior to June 10, make the preliminary stuay under the 1925, not to enter the United Church heads of Education, Religious, So- of Canada and 183 which have been cial and Economic Conditions, Inter- organized from minority groups in national and Interracial Aspects, and congregations voting for union. The Literature. woman's missionary society of the denomination has six provincial so- Japanese Christian Students cieties, thirty-five presbyterial organ- izations and 1,100 branches. Train- THE Japanese Student Christian ing of the ministry continues at Knox Association, which was an out- College, Toronto, which under the growth of the Student" Volunteer terms of the union continues in pos- Convention in Indianapolis, and some session and under control of the of whose activities were described in Presbyterian Church in Canada (nonthe REVIEW in January and June, concurring) .-The Continent. 1925, is rendering practical service along many lines. It gives information and counsel concerning institutions, entrance requirements, courses
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
"Radiant Light Home" Colon, but says of St. Paul's, a con- THE dedication of Ming Quong gregation of English-speaking Ne- Home for Chinese girls at Oakland groes in Panama City: brough together many Chinese and St. Paul '8 in Panama is away ahead of Americans. Ming Quong Home (ra- them all. Just before Christmas I condiant light), with its new building, is firmed their third class in a year, making a new incarnation of an old work, a hnndred and six candidates, the largest number on record in the district. There Tooker Home, opened by the Presby- are over six hundred in the church schoo! terian Board of Foreign Missions but and about two hundred in the grammar turned over within the last few years school.
to the Board of National Missions. Last year seventy-six Chinese girls phildren'. Week in Merleo T ranging from babyhood to their teens HE Aztecas Social Settlement, carried on by Methodist Episcofound in it a home. At the dedication exercises Miss Julia Morgan, the pal missionaries, ministers to the most architect, presented the building. thickly populated section of Mexico Miss Edna Voss, secretary of the di- City. Ninety thousand are crowded vision of schools and hospitals, ac- into these notorious slums. Its direc- cepted it in behalf of the Board of tor established the first Children's National Missions. A historical Week in Mexico. It is now a great sketch of the work was given by Miss annual event in the churches. Even Donaldina Cameron, known up and the Government has taken kindly to down the Pacific Coast for her work the movement, ordering official post- in rescuing Chinese girls. The dedi- ers picturing a beautiful babe crawl- catory address was made by Rev. Ng ing toward a coffin, with the following Poon Chew, Chinese lecturer and edi- words in flaming crimson: "The tor of national reputation. Mr. Chew death rate of our children is five was himself educated in a Presbyter- times that of New York. The reason ian mission school and married a for- is that Mexican parents do not know mer interpreter at the Tooker Home. how to feed their babes. The De- partment of Public Health is at your LATIN AMERICA service. " The Aztecas Social Settle- Churches in the Canal Zone ment provides lectures by doctors and nurses, clothing demonstrations, "bet- ON SUNDAY, January 24th, the ter babies" contests, and literature. new Union Church at Balboa was dedicated. The church was erected by gifts from many denominations Specialists for South America T under the auspices of the Federal HREE special church leaders of wide experience in various fields Council's Committee on Religious Work on the Canal Zone, but $15,000 of religious and social activity in the is still needed to complete payment United States are to be sent this year on the edifice. A union church at to South America under the auspices.
Cristobal has already been built and of the Committee on Cooperation in paid for. At the dedication service Latin America, to assist South Amer- Rev. David G. Wylie, L.L.D., said: ican evangelical churches in further- "With eighteen Christian commun- ing movements now taking place in ions representea in its membership, the twelve republics of that continent.
and all working in complete har- One will be a specialist in public mony, the Union Church on the Canal health, sanitation and in social serv- Zone is a fine example of Christian ice; the second will be especially unity and union." trained to advise churches and schools The Protestant Episcopal Bishop, in planning their curriculum of relig- Right Rev. J. C. Morris, D.D., writes ious education; the third will be an of the vitality of Christ Church in especially qualified evangelist. to as-
sist the national churches in directing Especial emphasis was placed on a continent-wide evangelistic cam- leadership training, and an outline of paign. The request from South a three years' course was recom- American Protestants for this help-is mended for use in all churches.
one of the significant results of the Great interest was aroused by a splen- Montevideo Conference. The Com- did presentation of the Daily Vaca- mittee is asking the Methodist tion Bible School Movement and in Churches North and South and the view of the enlarging sphere of ac- Presbyterian Church North each to tivity of the Sunday-school Union, furnish one of these workers.-The the by-laws of the organization were Continent. amended so that now one of the aims of the Union is to "promote the in- An Experience in Chile terests of religious education in gen· ~~IN CHILE there are many schools .eral" and a new section was added where the Lord's Prayer is no officially constituting a "Council of longer heard. One night I found my- Religious Education."
self without lodging in a southern 'city and a North American teacher EUROPE took me to her home, a North Ameri- A New "C&.n1bridge Seven"
can schooL The following day, after BISHOP CASSELS is of the first breakfast, which was blessed with one of the "Cambridge Seven," beautiful words revealing inward who went out to China forty years faith, I was invited to common prayer ago, to pass away. He died in Engwith the pupils. The Bible was given land in November. At Cambridge me to select the reading for the day. University the "Seven" idea has re- I chose a psalm of David, the common cently taken on a new lease of life. expression of our faith. I read it, A group of six men and a woman followed by the students, with an student, fiancee of one of fhe men, emotion I have seldom experienced. ·There was the joy of being in a have pledged themselves for work in school wl1ere it is possible to study Nigeria and another group is planevery day the Holy Book, where athe- ning a united work at an Indian setistic effrontery was not able to cast tlement. The missionary spirit in out the Author of Grace, who is su- Cambridge is so alive that the nine perior to all knowledge. ' '-GABRILLA university associations interested in MISTRAL, a Roman Catholic mystic- missions, High Church, Evangelical a crusader for human rights. and Free Church alike, have cooper- ated in a united campaign to stimu- ABradUan S. S. Convention late interest in work overseas. The campaign opened with a wide distri- T THE sixth ntLtional convention bution of a leaflet entitled "On Prej- of the Brazil Sunday·school udice," in which it is stated that "the Union held in Sao Paulo, six states trouble is that an average missionary 'and eight denominations were repre- sermon starts off most people with a sented by 157 delegates. This was a prejudice (but), we feel that a little large number, considering that there more deliberate thought might well ,are only 80,000 Sunday-school.,pupils be used by those who are at Cam- in a population of 32,000,000. All bridge with regard to the motives of the important phases of administra- that body of men and women who tive, promotional and departmental have gone and got eaten by savages .activities came up for discussion, re- or acquired chronic malaria in an at- sulting in a long list of recommenda- tempt to do things which to many .tions which the. Convention adopted .people seem futile." Public meetings 'and passed on to the church and Sun- were held in Guildhall, at which the day-school' workers .of the country. Bishop of Salisbury and. Dr. Harold
NEW'S FROM MANY LANDS
Balme, President of Shantung Chris- Unions; or the medical visits paid by tian University, were speakers. our visiting nurses; and this thing Round table talks were also held with which is so encouraging is that very missionaries now at home on fur- often one can note facts which prove 10ugh. Already there are some two that the spirit of helpfulness and hundred future missionaries in the brotherhood and thus the Christian various Cambridge colleges. The re- spirit is seen developing among the cent campaign is likely materially to adults and children. These signs are increase that total. manifest in the visits made by our young girls to the forlorn in hospitals; Gambling Evil in Scotland a Christmas tree prepared for the ASTATEMENT in a London paper poorest children in a neighborhood by that Glasgow alone spends £10,- a troop of girl guides at their own ex- (lOO,OOO in betting is quoted by the pense; or the children of a Sunday- Record of the United Free Church of school who deny themselves dainties Scotland. The editor says: "It follows that if the people of Glasgow- to send money to foreign missions or and other great cities–could be in- a young people's union that adopts a duced to spend on better housing, re- pupil in Madagascar. I pass over lief of the "necessitous, care of the sick poor, and so forth what they much to conclude that with the dethrowaway on gambling, the squalor, velopment of the spirit of prayer and misery, and general social distress of that of sacrifice appears the surest inwhich we hear so much could be trans- dication that God is at work and that La Mission Populaire continues to be a means of grace in His hands."
formed into a splendid balance on fhe other side. Gambling, even more than Proteotantisln in Italy T drink, is playing moral havoc with HOSE who think of Italians as all being Romanists are reminded by the people of this country. For one home that is pinched and starving L'Era Nuova of the various denomi- through the drinking habits of its nations to be found in Italy, Ameri- head, there must be at least ten thus can and English Methodists, Baptists, affected by his or her gambling. And women and children are infected and Episcopalians, Salvation Army, Peninfatuated by the vice to a far greater tecostals, Seventh Day Adventists, extent than they are by drink. It is and the native Waldensian church, a curse which honeycombs and de- "Chiesa Valdese." This denominamoralizes society from top to bot- tion towers above all the others, and tom." commands the respect of all people in Italy because of its historical back- "Results of MeAll Mission g,round of fearlessness and loyalty, spiritual aristocracy and social de- PRESIDING at the annual meet- mocracy, with which through the ing of the McAll Mission held in centuries, in adversity and presper- Paris, Director Guex said: " One ity, it has held the light of the thing has struck me in reading the re- Gospel. What most impresses the ports, a thing which to some might ap- visitor in Italy is the oneness in pur- pear less important than the fifty-one pose of all the denominations as they converts added in three years to the work together. They know one thing: '8t. Quentin church, and the election the preaching of the Gospel in its as presbyterial counsellor in that purity. All denominations work for {lhurch of a man who, four years ago, one and the same end, the evangeliza- was entirely ignorant of the Gospel; tion of the Italian people. They or even the development of organi- have adopted one hymnal, and have zations of scouts, guides, etc., which one school of theology with professors :are the nurseries for our Christian from all the denominations.
Russia'. Wild Waif. and India,' and told them of Turkey's ACOMMITTEE of inquiry has es- wholesale acceptance of outward timated that the number of home- Western civilization and her indifferless children in Soviet Russja ap- ence to its inward message; while proaches the appalling figure of 300,- India bitterly rejected the outward DOD, exclusive of those in Ukraine, civilization but was accepting the in- White Russia, and the Caucasus. A. ward message of the west-Christ." report issued by the Health Commissar groups the waifs in three cate- On the fourth and last night his message was The Cross. He reports: gories: ' When the invitation to make Christ Lord and Savionr was given at the close, several The first comprises morally defective hundred Copts an(l Moslems responded and children, "of whom unfortunately we have stayed for the after meeting, and two hun· considerably more than is generally sup· dred signed up for the Bible classes, so what will ultimately happen will depend on posed. " These, he says, can only be looked the work done there. after in colonies. The second category con· sists of children still normal, bnt "merely lacking family life and caresses.'" These are to be placed in Soviet homes, or adopted. King Kltama'. Succeuora But the majority of the waifs belong to the WHEN Khama, the Christian king third category, which consists of children on of Bechuanaland, died in 1923, the brink of the abyss into which those of after a long and wise reign, many the first c'tegory have fallen. It is most difficult to deal with these children, and al· doubts were felt as to what direction thongh the authorities have had much ex· would thereafter be taken by his peoperience, it is, he says, mostly experience ple, the Bamangwato. The personal of failure, rather than success. influence of Khama had been incal- Walter Duranty, of the New York culable in its steadying effect, while T'j,mes, writes of these children in he had also sufficient strength of Moscow: character to maintain the integrity Some day when the canons of political of his kingdom against external ag- practicability have given way to a demand gression. His son and successor, for stark trnth there will be written the Sekgoma, a man of altogether differepic of Moscow's homeless children-high. ent mental and moral caliber, died waymen, murderers and dope fiends almost some two months ago. The future before their bones have hardened. Now one can only give scant glimpses of their curious course of events is now even more unlives and obscure deaths. certain, for a Regency has been estab- AFRICA lished, during the minority of Sek- Succeas1ul Evangelism in Cairo goma's infant son. The Regent is Tshkedi, the twenty-one-year-old son L AST autumn, Rev. E. Stanley of Khama, who had three or four Jones, D.D., on his way back to years at the Lovedale Institute, the India held a series of special meet- pioneer educational center for natives ing in Cairo, the results of which sur- of South Africa. He had a first-class prised experienced workers there. reputation there as a real Christian One recognizes the author of "The and a clever and capable man. "The Christ of the Indian Road" in his London Missionary SOciety, whose words: "When I stood before the work began in King Khama's time throngs of students and others that and has been carried on under the faced me night after night, I knew late Chief" welcomes the Regent with my message-A Living Person. My every good wish," says F. H. Haw- audiences were made up of Copts and kins, foreign secretary of the Society.
Moslems, with a sprinkling of Jews and missionaries. Some nights many In the Market Place A were turned away. The first night I SPECIAL feature of the work in North Africa consists in visiting had my audience turning hot and cold as I spoke upon 'The Contrasts the markets, which take place either Between the Revolutions of Turkey weekly or fortnightly in almost every
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
town of importance. As most of the Growth of Kikuyu Church people from the surrounding coun- T HE Foreign Mission Committee try attend, these gatherings afford a of the Church of Scotland has il"esplendid opportunity to reach them cently heard from its mission in with the Scriptures. At one of these Kenya Colony that eight men would fairs, some missionaries stood amid be ready for ordination as native the camels and donkeys, offering the ministers in March or April, 1926. Scriptures. "When the rush hours The significance of this step in the were over and the crowd had thinned, development of the Christian Church a man who had seemed interested in in East Africa is heightened by the our messages," writes a missionary, recommendations of the Mission "took a Gospel of St. Luke in his Council that the native Church should hand and asked a boy who stood near undertake three quarters of the supby to J"ead him something. The child port of the native ministers, leaving only a quarter to be provided from said he could read a little, but was European sources. When it is borne evidently too shy to do so, so I took in mind that the native Church has the book from him and read the par- not been in existence for more than able of the Prodigal Son, accompany- twenty years it will be recognized ing the story with a brief explanation. that to provide three fourths of the 'The words are beautiful, they make salaries of their ministers is to have my heart weep, wait until I bring an- reached a remarkable measure of selfother to hear,' said the man. . . . support. Illiteracy is a great obstacle to colportage work among the natives.
There are no official figures available, A Woman Veteran in Natal but about seventy-five per cent can neither read nor write. It is almost ~~HER royal deeds make her a queen," is the tribute of an asas painful to watch a man who wishes to read but cannot do so, as to watch sociate to Mrs. Mary K. Edwards, mISswnary of the Congregational a dumb man trying to speak." Church among the Zulus for more Training African Leaders than fifty-seven years. She is today in the ninety-sixth year of her age, ONE of the workers in the mission almost totally blind, moving from her carried on by American friends chair only with the aid of crutches. at Kaimosi, Kenya Colony, writes of The devotion to her of Boer and of their normal school: "We have three Britisher and especially of the Zulu months' school and one month's va- is a fitting tribute to a remarkable cation, thus having three terms dur- life given to the people of Africa. In ing a year. The boys are keen to learn that more than a half-century of serv- in most cases. Many of them make ice, which has included only one fur- real sacrifices to come, for they are lough, Mrs. Edwards has been an age to be very helpful at home teacher, principal, agriculturist, hor- and some of their parents raise objec- ticulturist, nurse, doctor, cook, treas- tions. Some of them are married and urer, secretary, educational consult- have to leave their wives at home. ant, matron, and, above all, friend to Seven newly married boys from the the Zulus of Natal. In Inanda Semi- extreme northern part of the Mission nary, which she founded in 1868, and brought their wives with them and to which granddaughters of her first have settled here for three years. pupils are now coming, there are They will be well qualified and have more than two hundred girls enrolled.
a fine opportunity for Christian serv- Thousands of native preachers, teach- ice when they go back to live among ers, and nurses have passed through their people, twenty or thirty miles the institution. More than half the from any white man." women Christian workers of Natal
and more than half the students at one of the missionaries says: "Condithe Normal Training School are Inanda graduates. tions are very bad here just now.
THE NEAR EAST Beirut and Sidon are full of refugees Fruit of Early Seed-Sowing from Damascus, Rashaya and Ju- JOHN R. VORIS, Associate Gen- deidy, the principal towns that have eral Secretary of the Near East Relief in an article in Christian been attacked by the Druses and lVork' on the need for cooperation between American Protestants and bombarded by the French. The peothe indigenous national churches ?f the Near East, speaks of the way III ple have fled, leaving their homes, which the educational work carried on by American missionarie~ of a which have been burned and plungeneration ago has borne frUIt. He says: "In the varied aspects of the dered. Some have saved a few of work of the Near East Reliel: in the different areas where it has been es- their things, others have nothing save tablished,. several thousand of native teachers and other helpers have ren- what they stand in. The French Red dered invaluable assistance during the last decade and from my in- Cross has distributed clothes and quiries last winter in Greece, Syria, and the Caucasus I am satisfied that blankets, and here in Sidon they are more than nine tenths of the whole number had at one time or another giving bread and cooked food to all been under the instruction of American educational missionaries. . . . . who go for it. The Syrians have also Further, the present friendly attitude of the native church clergy, higher come to the fore in giving. Money and lower, and the inclination of the clergy and the educated laity alike has been sent by Syrians in the United to adopt modern working methods of religious nurture and of social serv- States and Brazil, in Egypt and in ice in the local churches, is largely to be accounted for by the fact that they Palestine, and local committees have have watched with their own eyes the sincerity, diligence, and unselfishness been formed to distribute relief." In of those godly Americans who so long dwelt among them. The influence of the devastated region the villages are religious education is retlected in every modernized; and modernizing a pitiful sight, the missionary writes: tendency observable today in these Eastern churches, and that means "The houses are burned and the conthat it is to be seen everywhere." tents robbed and scattered; the peo- Victims of Franco-Druse War ple say they have nothing to go back A CABLEGRAM received in Feb- ruary from Syria by the Presby- to, and many will emigrate as soon as terian Board of Foreign Missions urged that immediate funds be sent they get the chance. The churches in to help C.are for refugees in Beirut and Sidon. A letter received from four of our centers have been dam- a"ed other mission property is de- stroyed, some of the schools are dis- o. r.g.a.n. .izWed~ and the people scattered don't know how it will end. "
A Church Needed in Baghdad REV. JAMES CANTINE, D.D., "founde,r of two missions to Moslems "-the Arabian Mission of the Reformed Church in America and the new mission in Iraq-has been ap- pealing for the remainder of the $10,000 needed to erect a church in Baghdad. He says: "There are four classes whose spiritual interests may be served by such a building. First, there is the Protestant, Arabic-speak- ing congregation, which looks to us for guidance. Then there are the scores of native Christians in govern- ment and civil employ, who have come up from the mission fields of India, and who here have no plilce of refuge from the many and strong tempta- tions assailing th!;lm in, this alien en-
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
vironment. Also, one's heart goes out European, for help has been sent to to that increasing number of young South Africa, suffering £rom drought, people who are coming out from the and to Japan, suffering from earthhome lands, and who do not care for quake. From a relief agency it has the ritual of the Church of England. developed into a cooperative venture Lastly, and perhaps nearest to the of students all over the world. Hence purpose for which the Church has the new name:· International Student sent us out to Mesopotamia, is the Service, Entr' Aide Universitaire, need for a building in this great city Welt-Studentenwerk." The Relief of 200,000 people, which will be a Committee, at which people of fourvisible reminde.r, even to the casual teen nationalities were present, met in passer-by, that the Lord Jesus has a Geneva, and faced the work of the claim upon the faith and service of future. The budget passed was every Moslem." $55,000 for the service program. Ex- cellenz Michaelis, of Germany, made Brotherhood of Baghdad Boys the announcement that the German Wirts'chaftshilfe hopes to contribute REV. Calvin K. Staudt, whose work the equivalent of £2,000 to the budget in the new United Mission in in the course of this year. This shows Iraq was mentioned in the November how the countries to which relief has REVIEW, writes of the organization in been given are now doing their part the boys' school in Baghdad of a so- in meeting the needs of students in ciety which he describes as being" on other lands. the order of a college Y. M. C. A." He says: "Before we organized our Medical Missions to Jews Brotherhood we had a few meetings with the students in which the ideals T HE value of this work is emphaand principles for which our Brother- sized in a paper read by Dr. H. hood stands were fully explained. At Zeckhausen at the International Hethe meeting today twenty-four boys brew Christian Conference in London. boldly stepped out in front of the He said: "There is. not far from other students and signed the pledge, where I live, a Jewish mission dispenpromising, among other things, that sary in which over 7,000 cases were they will cultivate the spirit of treated last year. As a rule, such a brotherhood and, with God's help, place is well furnished with placards will try to live a life pleasing to of Biblical quotations, tracts and re- Christ. Those who came forward ligious papers are readily accepted were Moslems and Christians. They and invitations to religious discourses proceeded to elect officers, choosing as and preaching given, and many Jews president a Protestant, as vice-presi- and Jewesses have heard the Gospel dent a Druse, as secretary a Moslem, through such mediums; they would as treasurer an Armenian Orthodox. otherwise never have come under the I am confident that this society will sound of the Gospel. Many Jews grQW, that many others will take this have been won, and are being won, to solemn pledge and that it will be a Christian teaching because of the mighty force for good in the schooL" kindness shown them by Christian doctors, missionaries and nurses, who GENERAL do the most menial work in a willing and cheerful manner. The Hebrew World. Student Relief Work Christian medical missionary who un~ derstands the Jew speaks his lan- T HIS service carried on by the guage, sympathizes with him, knows . World's Student Christian Fede- how and when to impart the knowlration which began as European Stu- edge of the higher and spiritual life. " dent Relief has ceased to be only
&I ~THE MISSIONARY LmlRAm
'iAiU;~ "0.UVti ..,…… 0 , DUUoooo/&bd .buu The Task in Japan: A Study in Modern " attitude" in missionary work. Yet Missionary Imperatives. August Karl Dr. Reischauer is doubtless right in Reischauer, D.D. 231 pp. $1.50. New bringing missionary candidates for York. 1926. Japan face to face with these features This expanded version of lectures that will make or break their lives as workers there, as in no other misdeli-:ered at Princeton Theol{)gical sion field today. Here is a self- evident proposition which is never- Semlllary and elsewhere is not in- theless not often fully understood and acted upon in Japan: "Christianity tended as a concrete statement of must inculcate a spirit of respect for fa~ts as. to m~ssionary work in Japan. other peoples. If we fail in This then It IS WrItten III the same philooophical it will be more and more difficuit for representatives from our so-called style that makes the author's Christian nations to go as mission- "Studies in Japanese Buddhism" at aries to the proud peoples of the once so philosophically valuable and East. " Once more, we read these words: so somnolent for less thoughtful "It is quite certain that we American rea~ers.,· The author makes a pene- Christi~ns–active, progress'ive, yea, aggresslve as we are-have much to tratlllgly accurate analysis of the real learn from our more quiet, humble and refined brothers of the East." work. of missions, not only in Japan, Yet how large a percentage of our ~apanese missionaries are truly learnbut m other fields where the new mg from their Christian brothers there 1 What is said of Shinto, Bud- ~sychology and .rapidly growing na- dhism and Confucianism as at once helps and hindrances to Christianity tIOnal self-conscIOusness are nourish- t?ere, .w~ll be. va.luable for prospec- tIve mISSIOnarIes m the Far East. ing the New Youth Movement. The heartening words of the final These lectures consider the general s~tting ?f Missions in Japan; the mo- bYes, a:t?1s and the even more impor- tant attItudes of would-be missionary leaders; tthBheeudnidnahdtiiivsgmeenroeaulnisgdiSohCnios~ntfiouns~cilauthndeing with imported ism; the Newer Naturalism dealth with help fully at length for the mis- sionary who deals with Japanese of the student classes. The final theme is "The Status of Christianity in Japan." Dr. Reischauer makes a chapter are also well worth a carestrong plea for the type of mission- ful reading, even though they do ary work which he and other prophets contain such sobering words of truth of the new day regard as necessary as these: if Christianity is to hold the field . ' While the work of missions is still very Writers of the old order would much needed in Japan, this does not mean hardly recognize themselves as read- that the form of missionary activities tinhg P'a?l.lmltisss~iaondaeryin volume in noting "e the chapter upon should be just what it has been in the past. Japanese leaders in particular however much they realize that help 'from the MotlVes, Alms and Attitudes" – and stronger churches of the West is still the first contingent of missionar'ies in J hb h. needed, insist that this bfheoetrwlmpe,esnhaonutdhlde~bimnoivsmesiaoann.ly~l apan w 0 egan t elr work there in cases, take a different that the relationship 1859, if they were still among tuhs~ ary and the native Church be changed so would hardly understand what that the Church and its desires are more author meant by working "with Ja- and more ~entral in the whole movement.
pan," and as to the importance of today Nwohnoussciaonnnaorty hwaosrkanyonplaace pinlanJaepaonf 318 equality ana. as a "fraternal helper" with men and Mr. Davis's story of his own his Japanese colleagues. Nor has that mis- experience in the camp and of Marsionary a very large place who says, "Let shal Feng's achievements is well the Japanese Christians do their work as worth reading. they please and I will do my work as I please. "
Surely a qualified leadership, for- Native Chure.hes in Foreign Fields. By Henry Hosie Rowland. 12mo. 199 pp. eign and indigenous, is needed for the $1.50. New York. 1925.
Japanese task. H. P. B.
In pioneer days, there was little Studies in Japanese Buddhism. August question about the relation of foreign Karl Reischauer. 8vo. 361 pp. $2.50. New York. 1925. missionaries to native churches for This book is undoubtedly the best the churches were few in number, exposition of Japanese Buddhism in the English language. It was orig- widely scattered, largely composed of inally published in 1917 as a series of lectures which are a remarkably able uneducated people in humble circumand thorough study of Buddhism by a missionary to Japan. It shows stances, and with little consciousness wide acquaintance with its history, its doctrines, its .ethics, its influence, and of unity and none of power. Now, its present status. It shows that a Christian missionary can deal with a however, by the blessing of God upon non-Christian religion in an eminently sane and philosophical spirit. the faithful labors of many thousands The volume has proved so acceptable to thoughtful students of the subject of missionaries, churches on the misthat a reprint has become necessary. sion fields have become numerous and A. J. B. influential. Mission schools and col- leges are turning out increasing num- bers of intelligent, highly trained ministers and laymen so that many native churches today have capable leadership. In these circumstances, the relations of missions and churches have naturally and radically changed so that they are no longer those of China's Christian Army. George T. B. superiors and inferiors, but of equals. Davis. 12mo. 136 pp. $1.00 cloth; 50 cents paper. New York. 1925. This book is an interesting and Perhaps the most romantic, dra- thoughtful discussion of this importmatic and ,remarkable story of present-day missionary annals is the story ant modern problem by a Methodist of the Christian Chinese General Feng Yii Shiang and his Christian army. missionary of ten years' experience in It reads like a chapter from the Acts of the Apostles, with repeated pente- northern China. A. J. B. costal experiences and systematic Christian education and service. A The Edu<lation of Negro Ministers. W. A. Chinese army in China today is per- Daniel. 187 pp. $1.50. New York. haps the most difficult place in the 1925. world to practice the teachings of Jesus. General Feng is in a most diffi- Among the many startling things cult position and may yet make a set forth in this volume one fact is blunder that will cause him to lose of great moment-that there is not power and, worse than that, to lose one Negro theological school in all dethe confidence of his :fellow-Chris- nominations that is worthy of being tians and bring discredit on the cause compared to those in which white of Christ. Most of those who know ministers are educated. Even the the marshal personally have, however, schools maintained by the Protestant full confidence in his sincerity and Episcopal, Presbyterian and Metho- Christian purpose. He has had a re- dist Episcopal Churches do not commarkable influence on his officers and pare with standard theological semi- naries for white ministers.
The mass of information here p;re- sented is of great importance for the future development of the Negro min- istry and should arouse the'Church at large to correct the lack of equip- of the United States are only just be- ment and proper teaching force. ginning to send "missioners" to the The data respecting the numerical fields, it is interesting to read that alstatus of the various Negro denomina- ready the American force in China tions is not altogether correct and alone is about two hundred. Protes- tants may derive much instruction much of the material about why stu- from these pages, greatly as we differ dents enter the ministry, the diffi- in many of policies, and in the emculties and the unwillingness of phasis on martyrdom. young women to marry: 'clergymen are common to all races. One who is acquainted with the The author shows care in prepara- work of Roman Catholics is surprised to find only one sentence devoten. to tion of facts, accuracy in jUdging the "brightest page in their story," seen in the Paraguayan "reducmen and things and intelligence in tions," where a body of 564 Jesuits expressing his conclusions. w. A. B.
The VaticlIJJl Mission Exposition. A Win· labored at one time to bring into a dow on the World. John J. Considine, settled life its wandering tribes.
S.T.L. Illustrated. 177 pp. $1.40. New Though visitors "gave the palm for York. 1925. interest to the Africa halls, " less than Probably the most comprehensive a sentence is given to the largest mis- and widely gathered exhibit of arti- sion that the reviewer has ever cles illustrative of Protestant Foreign visited-at MarianhiIl, Natal-where Missions-though not the largest- he found about 300 Trappist Brothers was that collected and displayed in and nuns doing a remarkably varied connection with the Ecumenical Con- piece of work on their 12,OOO-acre ference in 1900. Yet it was a mere property. H. P. B.
bagateJle compared with that brought from all Roman Catholic mission Merry-Go-Round. Margaret T. Applegarth. With decorations by the author. 8 yo. fields as part of the celebration at 295 pp. $1.50 net. Philadelphia. 1925. Rome in 1925. Some four thousand cases were used to send the $2,000,- With her usual ingenuity and 000 worth of exhibits to Rome, and charm in suggesting ways to interest when displayed in the Vatican Gar- and instruct children, Miss Appledens, they required twenty-six halls, garth gives programs and material for built especially for the exposition. forty-five sessions-or five each month Visitors desiring to see the whole col- for junior and intermediate missionlections traversed paths and corridors ary travel meetings.
a mile and a half in length. The programs have a fascination This descriptive volume abounds in because of their originality and, at half-tones which enable the reader to the same time, are informing and visualize the main treasures, while the practical. They deal with American text interprets their source and sig- Indians, Negroes, Japan, Korea, Innificance. Protestants have usually dia, Burma, Africa and Foreigners in stressed statistics, and the late Pro- America. Each session is marked by fessor Gustav Warneck keenly criti- a different dramatic story, with sugcised Catholic Missions because of gestions for costumes for child,ren, their failure to publish such indica- hymns, memory verses and recreation tions of their distribution and success. suggestions and handwork. The While they are not tabulated here at drawings may be used for notebook all, the final fourteen pages are oc- work or for scenery.
cupied with impressive charts of Many Bible schools and junior mis- "The World's Eight Great Mission sion bands will find these programs a.
Fields," in which the leading statisti- remarkable help in interesting Amer- cal items are shown in connection ican boys and girls in other childreIk with outline maps. Though Catholics less favored.
The Missionary Review of the World — March 1926
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Department No. 20 609 FIFTH AVENUE, AT 49TH STREET, NEW YORK HARTFORD Theological Seminary School of Religious Education SEMINARY FOUNDATION Kennedy School of Missions W. DOUGLAS MACKENZIE, President A UNIVERSITY of religion. Three and cultural life of New England, half way between Boston and New York. separate schools of Christian training A series of handsome and well-apgrouped on one campus. The The- pointed buildings makes its campus one of the most beautiful in its section of ological Seminary trains for the minis- the country. The 'Case Memorial Li- brary containing 125,000 volumes is try; the School of Missions for the for the use of the three schools. This is one of the richest theological libraforeign field; the School of Religious ries in the country. The faculty is com- posed of 27 scholarly men and women Education for the lay worker and with vitalized personalities who have attained distinction in their respective teacher and for social service. Courses fields.
in any of the three schools are open to all students. Thus opportunity is offered for full-rounded religious edu- cation. .
Hartford Seminary Foundation is located in the center of the intellectual HARTFORD SEMINARY FOUNDATION, Hartford, Conn.
Please mention THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD in writing to advertisers. THE MISSIONARY Review of the World DELAVAN L. PIERSON. E.tiltor CONTENTS FOR MARCH, 1926 Page }'RONTISPIECE ……………. M,SS,ONARY WORK BY THE WAYSIDE IN MEXICO EDI'L'ORIALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1'65 THE GROWING FOREIGN PROBLEM IN CLOSF.R COOPERATION IN FOREIGN AMERICA MISSIONS HOME MISSION FORCES MEET IN ST. FACTS ABOUT THE PUILIPPINES LOUIS THE UNIT'ED STEWARDSHIP C'OUNClL THE NEW CRUSADE OF YOUTH STATISTICS THE EVANSTON STUDENT CONFERENCE ……………. MRS. E. C. CRONK 173 A graphic picture of what happened at the new "religious declaration of independence" of the Christian students in American unit'Braities.
ARE FOREIGN MISSIONS AT A STANDSTILL' ………. HARRY A. RHODES 179 A missionary to Korea calls attention to some of the present-day criticisms of foreign missions and di.'C'U8SCS the question of advance or retreat.
ANSWERED PRAYER IN BELGIUM ……………… Mlts. RALPH C. NORTON 181 CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR IN MISSION LANDS ………… FRANCIS E. CLARK 182 The honorary president and founder of the United SOoWty of Christian Endeatlor gives evidence from his 10tlII experience and world-wide travel to show the value of Christian Endeavor work in building up mi.•sian churches.
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH AMERIOA ………….. FLORENCE E. SMITH 183 A missionary to Chile describes the great progress made in the last twenty years in combating social evils in South American countrie.•.
'l'HE CHALLENGE OF MEXICAN IMMIGRATION ……… EDWIN R. BROWN 192 A stirring appeal to the Protestant Church of America to give M'exican immi· grants the Gospel of Chr-illt at a timo when they are mo.•t susceptible to its injiuence.
BUILDING A CHURCH OF GOD IN MEXICO …. _………… N. W. TAYLOR 197 The story of how a Mexican who had heard and accepted the Gospel used his injiuence to build up a church in a community of poor Christian Indian .•.
TODAY IN MEXICO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G. B: WINTON 199 A brief word picture of the present sitWltion in 'Mexico as shown by the po- litical. fducational and religious condition•.
WHAT THE .CHINESE THINK OF CHR.ISTIANITY ……….. ARTHUR RUGH 201 Very interesting expressions by Ch~ne8e stUdents and others show'ing Iheir re- action toward Christianity, with their view of it.• failures and pos.•ibiliNes.
'l'HE ANTI-CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT IN CHlNA …………….. . 0. Y. CHENG 204 One of the Chinese secretaries of the Christian Council of China writes a very illuminating article on the extent and influence of tile movement against Christianity, fostered by Chinese students.
PROTESTANT MISSIONS AS SEEN BY A TURK…………………… _.
. …. _…………………… , ……….. QUOTED FROM A TURKISH PAPEIt 207 BEST METHODS SEEN AT EVANSTON …. _…………. MRS. E. C. OR.OOK 209 WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BUL,LE,TIN …… EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN 215 WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLET'lN …. EDITED BY ELLA D. MACLAURIN 218 NEWS FROM MANY LANDS ………………………………………… 221 THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY ………………………………………. 237 TERMS: $2.50 a year. ($2.00 in clubs of five.) Foreign postage, 50 cents. Single copies, 25 cents. Published mr.nthly. Copyrighted, 19216, by MISSJONA&Y REVIEW PUBLISHING CoMPANY, INC. All rights reserved, THill MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, Inc.
Robert E. Speer, PresIdent WillIam I. Chamberl..ln, Vlce-Prelld…t Dela,..,n L. Pierson. Secretary Walter McDouga.lI, Treasurer Pllblle&t1oD om…, 3d A Reily SU., HarrIsburg, PI.. 250. a copy $2.60 a year Edltorl..1 and BUBlne•• Omce. 156 FUtll A…..U., Ne.. York City ••ter04 .. locond-cl… mILtter at tho Post Omce, HarrIsburg, PI." UDder Act of M..rch 3, 187& PERSONALS JUST PUBLISHED E. GRAHAM WILSON, since 1917 executive THE COST OF secretary of the West Side Y. M. C. A., New York City, has been appointed treasurer of A NEW WORLD · . . the Board of National Missions of the Pres- By KENNETH MACLENNAN byterian Church in the U. S. A. Secretary of the Conference of Missionary So- cieties in Great Britain and Ireland; General DR. AND MRS. J. K. GIFFEN, of the United Secretary of the United Couneil for Missionary Presbyterian Church, have completed a quar- Education, London. ter-century of service in the Sudan Mission. A SURVEY OF CURRENT WORLD • ** LIN TIEN Ho has been chosen by Dr. Car- MOVEMENTS AND THE RELEleton Lacy of the American Bible Society as his associate secretary in Shanghai. His VANCY OF JESUS CHRIST TO grandfather, a pirate, was one of the first converts of the Methodist Episcopal ll is- THEM. . sian in Foochow over fifty years ago. "One of the notable books of the season." *** -Public Opiniotl.
DR. JoH'N CoBB WORLEY, organizer of the "At once timely, instructive, and thought- World Friendship Travel Service of the Mis- compelling_" -Church Missionary Review. sionary Education Movement, sailed on December 28th from San Francisco with a "We should like to put his book into the group of travelers interested in seeing Chris- hands of every man and woman in this countian missions at work. Later Dr. Worley try who subscribes to foreign missions." will organize tours for Alaska, Latin America and Asia. -The British Weekly.
•** Price One Dollar DR. SAlI[ HiGIHNBOTTOM, the principal of Published by the Allahahad Agricultural Institute, is now in America to raise money for the Institute. MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT Ove~ $5,o,,oO'O.0(l is definitely pledged or paid, leavmg about $252,00,0.00 to be secured. 150 Fifth Avenue New York City In Cincinnati the Allahabad Higginbottom Association has been formed. Each member of the Association fixes his or her own dues at $1.0Cl, $2.00, $5.,00, $10.00 or $100.,0,0 a year.
The six Missionary Fellowships awarded Life Annuities by Union Theological Seminary, New York, for 1926-27, have been assigned to: Work the Impossible Rev. Paul G. Hayes, S.T.B., Wuhu, China, They provide comfort and evangelistic missionary of the Methodist peace for your old age Episcopal Church; R~v. M. Hunter Harri- They provide security for son, S.T.B., Professor, Jaffna College of the your dear ones American Board, Ceylon; Rev. Emory W. They are safe-sure-de- Lnccock, B.D., Institutional ,Church, Shang- pendable hai, Chilla, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.; Rev. A. W. Wasson, S.T.M., President of the AT THE SAME TIME Vnion Methodist (South) Theological College, Seoul, Korea; Rev. T. Hiraoka, pastor, ~atsuyama City, Japan; Rev. William Sage "'oolworth, Jr., B.D., American Mission, Caesarea, Turkey.
* OBITUARY REV. G. H. BoNDFIELD, D.D., who retired They are your opportunity in 1923, after forty years of missiouary life to do your part for the in China, twenty-eight of which were spent Kingdom now-TODAY! on the staff of the British and Foreign Bible Society, died on November 9th. He is For lull details addres. said to have heen the directing force of the great Union versions of the Bible in Wenli M. W. Ehne., Treasurer, Board 01 Foreign and Mandarin, as well as of many translations and revisions in colloqnial Chinese. Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 150 Filth Avenue, New York, N. Y., or * W. J. Elliott, Treasurer, Board 01 Home Mis. REV. S. J. WmTMEE, who first landed in sions and Church Extension 01 the Methodist Episco. Samoa as a representative of the London pal Church. 1701 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Missionary Society sixty-two years ago, and who gave lessons in Samoan to Robert Louis Stevenson, has recently died in England.
Please mention THE MISSIONARY REVIEW 07 'l'XII WORLD in writing to advertisers. (See article on page 197)
MARCH,1926
XLIX THREE THE GROWING FOREIGN PROBLEM IN AMERICA FORTY-TWO nationalities in a district with a population of . forty thousand were recently discovered by aNew York Oity pastor in a canvass of his parish. A study of the children in the public schools of a Rocky Mountain city disclosed thirty-two nationalities in a population of six thousand. A company of Koreans living in the mountains sent a representative to a pastor in that same community, asking for someone to preach the Gospel to them.
Not only in cities and smaller towns are the foreign-speaking peoples settling in large numbers and showing little evidence of becoming Americanized, but foreign-speaking peoples are settling also in rural communities. Easy transportation permits tradesmen and artisans to live from five to fifteen miles awav from their work so that those who lived in the open country in their native lands, after an experience of congested city life in ….merica, are turning back to the soil in great numbers. To evangelize these scattered groups filtering into rural communities, already occupied by tenant farmers, lays a burden upon our national home missionary societies which, in the next decade, will become exceedingly difficult.
In no section is this tendency more marked than in New England. With the Protestant youth leaving the farms to attend the higher institutions of learning and then going out to seek their fortunes in the cities of the land, and with the well-defined tendency of foreign-speaking groups to settle on these farms, Protestant Ohristianity, in rural New England, faces a new problem. The spiritual conquest of these peoples will tax the resourcefulness and leadership of New England home mission agencies to the utmost during the next one hundred years. Protestant Ohristianity must contend for its verv life in the face of these difficulties and tendencies.
What is true in New England is true in varying degrees in every state. Is it any wonder that a British minister, invited to a Boston pulpit, is said to have declined the call with the facetious remark, 165
that he could not think of accepting a pastorate in such a city because he could not preach the Gospel in six languages. Many firmly believe that the assembling of the nations in America, with the inevitable assimilation of these people in the years that may follow, is the .Divine attempt to create a people in America that may transmit the spiritual gifts of Heaven to the nations of the earth. c. L. W.
HOME MISSION FOROES MEET AT ST. LOUIS F OR the first time the Annual Meeting of the Home Missions Council andCouri.cil of Women for Home Missions met in an , inland city, at St. Louis, Missouri (January 21st to 25th). Most of the joint sessions were open to the public and were well attended by St. Louis church workers-a real evidence of cooperation. One of the interesting features of the conference was the presentation by Dr. H. Paul Douglass of a re-study of certain areas of St. Louis made since his original survey of St. Louis churches. He urged the churches of St. Louis to "make a stand" by "digging in" at their present locations although faced with startling changes in neighborhood conditions. A local committee composed of workers representing the Protestant religious communions in St. Louis invited Dr. Douglass to return to St. Lous four weeks later to present the results of his studies before members of the various boards of citv mission societies. Dr. William P. Shriver recommended a chur~h extension plan that should reflect an intelligent cooperative effort to meet the needs of the people rather than a slavish adherence to sectarian development.
The most important business of the Oonferellce was probably the report of a joint commission of the two Councils and the adoption of a set of principles, subject to the approval of the various constituent Ohurch boards and the Federal Council of Churches as to the future relationships of the Home Missions Council, the Council of Women for Home Missions and the Federal Council of Ohurches. These principles have in view the closer cooperation of the Councils so as to avoid overlapping, promote economy and increase efficiency. The Program Committee of the Conference for the 1927 meeting was ah:;o asked to give major emphasis to the question, "The Future Program and Policy of Home Mission Agencies."
"The Greatness of the Home Missions Task," by Dr. Charles L. 'White of New York, president of the Home Missions Oouncil, "The Need for Greater Oooperation, " by Mrs. John Ferguson of New York, president of the Council of Vomen for Home Missions and" The Essential Factors in the Building of a National Christian Conscience," by Dr. E. Y. Mullins of Louisville, Ky., were the subjects of stirring addresses at the opening session. Evangelism was named as the major imperative of the hour because it ministers to the dynamics
EDITORIAL (JOMMENTS
rather than to the mechanics of government. "The evangelistic preacher," said Dr. Mullins, "will be needed as long as there is a need of the civic and social reformer, the legislator, the judge or the statesman. He releases the slumbering moral and spiritual forces which are expressed in laws and institutions and other practical ways and means for realizing the ends of democracy. Christianity aims to deal with the sources of political action in men's hearts. It leaves men to frame any form of government they choose. Almost any form of government will succeed if men are first made right in heart and conscience. "
Dr. Clayton S. Rice pleaded for a thorough-going Christian program for Utah and the pick of America's trained workers to carry out the program. "Send your best young men to Utah for at least four years," he advised. The world-wide missionary enterprise of the Mormon Church, he said, was an object lesson of personal sacrince for the Christian Church.
Protests against sectarian Indian contract schools, anti-Semitic movements, mistreatment of Orientals and Negroes in America, and recommendations for increased comity among Protestant churches, greater missionary labors among migrant and immigrant peoples, and increased efforts to Christianize Mormonism, were among the resolutions adopted by the Councils in executive sessions.* COE HAYNE.
THE NEW CRUSADE OF YOUTH " AS the Student Interdenominational Conference at Evans- W ton a "flash in the pan," the sputtering of a fuse leading to a powder magazine, or a fire kindled in the hearts of Christian youth that will yet set the Church aflame with new zeal for a more practical and self-sacriiicing Christianity? We hope that it will prove to be the clarion call of the Christian youth of America to a New Crusade to put the program of Christ into practice in the Church and in the world.
The Evanston Convention, which is more fully considered elsewhere in this number, was intended to be a protest against the failure of the Church to unite so as to meet successfully the problems that are preventing a realization of the Kingdom of God on earth. r1'he seven hundred and fifty student delegates, including young men and young women of different races and denominations, did not represent a cross-section of the student body but rather a cross-section of the youth of the Protestant churches of America.
Though these students are still lacking in information and ex- * Officers of the Home Missions .councU for the comIng year are: Dr. Charles L. White. pres- ident; Dr. Charles E. VermUya, executive secretary; Miss Augusta N. Behrens, treasurer; Dr. John McDowell and Dr. George L. Cady. vice-presidents. and Ralph S. Adams, recording secretary.
The CounciJ of Women for Home Missions elected omeera as follows: Mrs. John Ferguson, president; Mrs. Edwin W. Lentz, recording secretary; Mrs. Orrin R. Judd, treasurer; Miss Florence E. Quinlan. executive secretary; Miss G. Evelyn MOorse. assistant treasurer; Miss Laura H. Parker. executive supervisor farm and cannery migrants; associate supervisor Miss Louise F. Shields.
perience and are impatient at restraint and failure, they are on fire with a desire to do something to correct the failures and abuses that they see in the Church and in society. "They have strong convictions on some moral questions and express themselves with unbounded self-assurance, but they manifest a sportsmanlike courage and readiness to take as well as give hard knocks. Above all, they manifest a sincere devotion to Jesus Christ and a desire to put into practice His principles of life as they understand them.
The general argument on which the Evanston Convention seemed to be based was: Conditions in the world are bad-politically, racially, industrially, socially and religiously. The Church of Christ is failing to stand out fearlessly and to unite effectively to remedy the existing evils. There has been too much theological discussion and too little practice of Christ's way of life. The youth have in the past been leaders in revolt against evils that have become entrenched by custom and tradition. The youth of the Church today must lead in a new crusade to outlaw war, racial discrimination, industrial oppression and religious bigotry. Now is the time for youth to unite and to make themselves heard and their influence felt.
These sincere and energetic young people should be sympathetically heard and their cooperation should be welcomed in church and in missionary councils and activities. They seriously approach the study of the problems that have to do with the Church, business and social life and international relations. While they accuse the Church of formalism, selfishness and capitalism, they recognize that the Church of Christ is the body that best represents Him and that should be counted upon to lead in reforms.
What is it that these Christian students ask1 First, that rivalry and division in the Church be abolished and that Christians be united in name, in program and in effort. Second, that theological disputes be discontinued and that emphasis be placed on the practice of the principles of Jesus and the carrying out of His program. They also ask indirectly to be given a place in the church councils and on church boards.
These young people have an ideal but they seem to lack a definite program. At Evanston, they adopted certain findings to express their convictions and appointed a Continuation Committee of twentyfive to plan the next steps. This committee includes some men and women of experience as well as students; ten are students, four represent church boards and six were chosen at large. Among the mem- bers are Mr. R. A. Doan of the Disciples, Mr. Stanley High of the Methodist Episcopal Board, Mr. H. T. Stock of the American Board, Miss Frances Greenough of the Baptist Foreign Mission Society, Rev. Walter W. Van Kirk of the Federal Council of Churches and Miss Florence Tyler of the Women's Colleges of the Orient. There
EnrtoRIAL COMMENTS
is also one Korean student, Mr. George Paik now in the Yale Divinity School.
These students need to become better acquainted with factsnot isolated incidents-but typical facts covering a broad range. 'l'hey need to know more of history and more of the real aims and problems of the Church agencies. They need to profit by the experience of others rather than to wait until they can test their theories only by personal experience. They need, not less enthusiasm, idealism and spirit of adventure, but more discretion, patience and tact in dealing with difficult problems.
The church officials should meet these youthful crusaders in a friendly spirit of sympathy and cooperation. Much may be gained through frank and friendly conference and their best-equipped leaders may well be invited to take positions of responsibility. Criticisms of the Church and its methods should be examined for facts rather than for flaws. If youthful idealism and daring energy are linked to the knowledge, experience and calmer judgment of maturity, the combination may be used greatly to advance the cause of Christ in the world. But the main emphasis must be on loyalty to Jesus Christ and the great dependence must be on the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.
A generation or two ago, young men, stirred by the Spirit of God, came forward to arouse the Church into new activity; as a re- !mIt the Young Men's Christian Association, the Christian Endeavor Movement, and the Student Volunteer Movement were born. These young men sought their commissions from God, not from the Church. They saw a need, studied God's Word, asked guidance of His Spirit and undertook to meet the need without considering any selfish interests. They demonstrated the practical value of their idealism before they asked recognition from the Church. The leaders of the passing generation are always looking for those in the coming generation who have potential qualities of leadership. But these qualifications are not chiefly shown in self-confidence, courage and idealism but rather in the spirit of self-abnegation and a sacrificial devotion to the one great Leader and for the Cause to which He gave His life. "Follow Me," said Jesus; "Learn of Me"; "Be My wit·· nesses"; "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. " When Sadhu Sundar Singh was asked if he had won any followers to his conception of the Christian way of life and service in India, he replied: "No; I have no followers. I myself am a follower."
We have not to ask whether the task is compassable, but only whether it is commanded. If the Master's call be clear, we shall find that, either on the sea like Peter, or through the sea like Israel, we are somehow able to go forward. WESLEY'S WORLD PARISH.
CLOSER COOPERATION IN FOREIGN MISSIONS ASTEP forward in the interests of closer cooperation in the great task of giving the Gospel of Christ to mankind was taken in the recent Foreign Missions Conference of Presbyterian and Reformed Churches, held in Philadelphia (February 9tlt to 11th). The delegates were officially appointed from the five denominations: Presbyterian Church in the U. S., Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. (commonly called Southern and Northern Churches), the Reformed Church in America, the Reformed Church in the United States and the United Presbyterian Chureh. These church bodies have a united membership of nearly three million, the largest being the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. with 1,873,859 members and the smallest the Reformed Church in America with 145,373 members.
The foreign mission boards of these churches conduct work in eighteen different countries and three of the boards work jointly in Mesopotamia. They have resident missionaries in 285 stations, conduct 4,505 schools and colleges and 127 hospitals. Their total church membership in these fields is 3340,623 and they contribute to union work $578,878. They have, on the field, 2,943 missionaries-over half of whom are under the Presbyterian Church, North,-and gave $8,566,886 to foreign missions last year.
The conference stimulated the spirit of fellowship among the leading members of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches and. strengthened the sense of solidarity so as to pave the way for still more active cooperation and possibly for union.
Dr. Robert E. Speer, chairman of the program committee, called attention to the fact that these five branches of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches are already united in spirit of fellowship and cooperation in all of the mission fields where they are working together. There is no disharmony or lack of agreement as to allotments of territory or work and there is close cooperation in union seminaries, hospitals and other institutions. The mission churches founded by these five boards have adopted a common name in each field. The Council of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches in 1918 approved of the plan to carryon their foreign missionary work unitedly. A charter was adopted for union work under one foreign missionary board and was approved by the secretaries and by the constituent bodies. Two of the denominational bodies have not yet finally voted to adopt the plan, on the ground that there is no one authoritative supervising body over all the work and all the workers.
The conference was addressed by leading pastors, secretaries and laymen of the various Ohurches represented; reports were given as to the progress of the work at home and in the various fields and all were in agreement that the problem that confronts the foreign missionary work is the evangelization of the world through the presen-
1926J EDITORIAL COMMENTS
tation of Christ as the Son of God and the Saviour essential to the world.
FACTS ABou'r THE PHILIPPINE'S MUCH partisan propaganda has appeared (in books and peri- odicals) in reference to the Philippines and the readiness of the Filipinos for self-government. Some Americanofficials look upon the people of the Islands as a race of weaklings, incapable of standing alone, incapable morally and mentally of withstanding the temptations and trials of independence. They believe that, without American protection, the Islands would soon become the prey of a stronger and covetous nation. On the other hand, Filipino patriots and their sympathizers believe the Islanders to be as capable of handling their own affairs as are the Siamese and more so than are the people of many Latin American republics.
Without doubt, the Filipinos have made great strides, intellectually, morally, industrially and politically during the past twenty-five years. This has been due to the training given by Christian missionaries and under American educational and political representatives. An interesting letter from a prominent and respected Protestant missionary in Manila gives a clear view of the attitude of many of his colleagues. Rev. F. C. Laubach, the author of "The People of the Philippines" says: "You in America get very few unbiased opinions about the Philippine Islands. There are two large and well-financed sources of propaganda: the Philippine Independence Commission putting as much material into the newspapers as it can to prove that the Philippine Islands are ready for independence, and the Chamber of Commerce which is exploiting the Philippines, endeavoring to prove that the Philippines are not ready for independence, and hoping that they may be able to bring about permanent retention, or at least retention until they have made their money and gone home. Since the American capitalists have a stronger hold on American newspapers they succeed in getting more propaganda iuto the newspapers than the Filipinos get, with the result that the Americau public is more influenced by the propaganda of the American investors than by that of the Philippine Independence Commission."
THE FOURFOLD GOSPEL'S MISSIONARY COMMISSION WHY TO Go-Mat. 28: 12. "All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations."
WHERE TO Go–Mark 16: 16. "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation."
How TO Go–Luke 24: 47. "Thus it is written that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name unto all the nations, beginning at .Jerusalem. "
IN WHAT SPIRIT TO Go–John 20: 21. "Peace be unto you; as the Father hath sent me even so send I you."
S. M. ZWEMER.
UNITED STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL S'fATISTIOS, 1925 This statement contains the answers to questions submitted to the officials of the Communions below. The amount received for benevolences Is "the amount received from living givers for current official budgets of the permanent Boards and Agencies recog· nized by the NatIonal Body." Column "Total Gifts for All Purposes," includes not only contributions for local church expenses and from living gIvers for budget benevolences but it also includes contrilmtions from all other sources. Therefore, it may not be a total of the other columns.
I I 1 0…. >6 i …. ;, I End of Year .s~~ Communion 00'"" 'H " I I tt.1Q311..1 :..!.:'~ I ~ b£ § , ….. Q.) 0- ~.,., I ~ ~ >< ~ 'b",,,0"0 ! ~,,1'iI ~''"";'':0:Q; "~' " 1 "'0_ bO~ Eo< 1 United Presbyterian ………………….. $14.95 $22.141$38.32 $2,521,389.00 $3.733,641.00 $6,461,004.001 168,6381MarCh 31, 1925 2 Presbyterian U. S. (S.) ………………… 8.58 20.55 32.61 3,917 ,661.00 9.393,340.00 14,935,170.00 457,093 March 31, 192.~ 3 Moravian ……………………………. 8.05 14.70122.15 141,923.00 259,831.00 401,754.001 17,632 Dec. 31,1924 4 Reformed in America ………………….. 1 7.37 24.77 36.52 1,071,494.00 3.600.558.00 5,309,673.00 145,373 April 30, 1925 5 Presbyterian U. S. A. (N.) ………….. …. 5.15 22.76 3l.30 9,722,529.00 41,633,438.00 57,241,511.00 1,842185,.901564IMAparriclh 31, 1925 6 Methodist in Canada …………………. 5.00 17.14 22.52 2,092,066.00 7.173,310.00 9,423.702.00 30. 1925 7 Protestant Episcopal……………… …. 4.81 28.79·34.27 5,490,538.00 32.803,278.00 39,047.394.00 1.139.192 Dec. 31, 1924 8 Methodist Episcopal So. ………………. 4.21 7.30, 16.67i 10,406,728.00 18,057,697.00 41,182,778.00 2,470,407 Dec. 31, 19·M 9 United Lutheran …………… ………… 4.10 17.36 21.46' 3,512,337.00 14,859,760.00 18,372,097.00 856,180 1924 10 Lutheran, Except 9, 12 ……………….. 4.01 13.291' 17.51 4,408,822.00 12.960,434.00 16,942,269.00 967,317 1924 11 Evangelical Church …………………… 3.99 8.22' 20.54 836,339.00 1,720,473.00 4,297,792.00 209,238 Aug. 31, 1925 12 Lutheran Synodical Conference………… 3.91 13.43: 16.56: 4,615,949.00 11,160,012.00 15,775,961.00 799,057 19~4 13 Me~hodist Episcopal (N:) ……………… 3.81 19.01124.011' 14,882,746.00 74,342,674.00 93,903,021.00 3,911,046 Oct. 31, 1924 14 Umted Brethren In Chnst ………….. … 3.72 13.52, 17.241 1,437,479.00 6,221,902.00 659,381.00 86,185Isept. 30, 1925 15 Church of Brethren …….. … ……. …… 3.64 11.54' 15.37, 441,348.00 1,398,650.00 1,862,975.00 121, 184 Feb. 28, 1925 16 Cong;eg~tional ……………………… 3.61 22.191' 30.19, 3,169,603.00 19,507,607.00 26,537,007.00 878,995 Dec. 31, 19"24 17 BaptIst III Canada……………………. 3,58 17.45 21.03: 510,305.0() 2,490,694.00 3,000,999.00 142,725 Dec. 31, 1924 18 Baptist, North………………………. 3.56 16.72 23.25: 5,034,601.00 25,627,771.00 32,857,211.00 1,413,0391April 30, 1925 4,730,753.00 19 Refo;rmed. Unite.d States……………… 33..5306.1103..5710l11148..92711 1,218,982.00 15.526,769.00 6,601,231.00 348,0021May 31, 1925 20 DiSCIples of Chnst ……………………. 4,886,075.00 20,619,987.00 1,450,681 June 30, 1925 21 Evangelical Synod……………………. 3.20 20.2.5 25.02 763,127.00 4,882.498.00 5,931,056.00 237,000 Jan. 31, 1925 22 Baptist. South •……………………… 2.75 7.6n 10.44 9,863,153.00 27,496,460.00 37,359,614.00 3,574,5:n April 30, 1925 23 Christian •………….••…•.•…•.•…•.• 2.52 9.71 13.49 245,770.00 957,132.00 1.329.654.00 98,531ISept. 30, 1925 24 FrIends Five Year Meeting………… .. … 2,48 6.10 10.44 210,946.00 527,126.00 888.394.00 85,101MarCh 31. 1925 25 Methodist Protestant…………………. 2.30 13.01 15.33 443,365.00 2.486.688.00 2,930.053.00 188,683 Dec. 31, 1924 – – – – – – – – – . – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -~–I,—–I— $4.17$15.56$21.71$91,845,275.00 $342-'-.5_5_2_.4_9_6._00….!….$'-4_63-'._S_71-'-._67_8_.00~2_2__,00_9 ,_8_0"_,_ _ _ __ Compiled for the United Stewardship Council, HARRY S. MYERS. Secretary, 276 FIfth Avenue, New York City
Evanston Student
BY MRS. E. C. ORONK, PHILADELPHIA, P A.
H ISTORY in the making is difficult of appraisal. There are certain shrinkages and expansions in the measurements of conferences which make a vast deal of difference between the headlines in the daily papers and the permanent records of history.
Even now we are too close to the Interdenominational Student Oonference held in Evanston, Illinois (December 29 to January 1), tv estimate finally its dimen~ions, but there is reason to believe that it will have a place in church histories yet to be written.
The eager reporters whose pencils. were sharpened to the anticipatory point of hope that something would happen, as well as the cautious gallery guests whose defenses were carefully guarded lest something might happen, are alike agreed that something did happen. There were scare headlines in the daily press, but those who watched eagerly for the dawning felt the stirring of new hope as they saw and heard 857 student delegates* earnestly facing the problems and the possibilities of the Church which they unhesitatingly declared to be the best channel for the expression of their ideals, heard them call for "unselfish, intelligent service, steeped in the 'purity of the gospel of Jesus Christ and dedicated to sacrifice." Then weary overburdened leaders dared to hope, and to believe that youth had come to the kingdom for such a time as this.
In tradition and temper the delegates ranged from the most conservative student of the conservative theological seminary to the most radical communist of the state university.
From the gallery, official representatives of denominations and interdenominational agencies watched and listened, in unaccustomed silence. Many among them singlehanded, had set up and conducted conferences, and scarcely one was accustomed to attend any convention which he did not address, yet there was general appreciation of the spirit in which silence was imposed upon the galleries in order that student thinking might become articulate.
If the conference had adjourned at the close of the second day, it would have furnished some startling headlines for the daily press, but no paragraphs for church historians. Such an unusual group, gathered in an unusual way, could not be expected to arrive with findings neatly typed awaiting the signature of the committee. The first task was to "find itself." "Confused and can· servative" were two of the varied assortment of kindly critical .. Registrations represented 192 colleges and other educationa.l institutions. Visitors in the gallery Included 42 college professors; 77 church board secretaries; 70 student pastors; 24 editors of church papers; 50 representatives of interdenominational organizations and movements.
173
adjectives with which Dr. Albert Parker Fitch, (chosen by the students as discussion leader) urged them on to clearer thinking. "Intensely earnest but possessing insufficient information to be effective," was the admission of a student who urged further study of the subjects under discussion. Later sessions showed evidences of clearer and more unified thinking and determination to discover more adequate information.
The findings of the conference deal with the reports of committees on Appreciation of the Church, The Case Against the Church, Christianizing America, (including Christianity and Race, and The Church and Industry), The Church and Foreign Missions, The Church and War, and The Church and Education. Of especial interest to REVIEW readers are the findings on Christianity and Race, and on The Church and Foreign Missions.
FINDINGS ON CHRISTIANITY AND RACE We believe that present relationships between races are inconsistent with the mind and .teachings of Jesus concerning brotherhood; and we, as students, now face a real problem on our own campuses in the relations of the students of the various races and creeds; hence.
We suggest: that we give ourselves to an unbiased study of the races in an effort to find a solid basis for relationships of equality and mutuality and to gain an appreciation of the distinctive contribution and capacity of each race; that Cosmopolitan Clubs and other associations of similar purpose and scope be given all possible moral and material encouragement by the churches the young peoples' societies, and the homes in the communities concerued.
We especially commend the work of The Inter-Racial Council at the Ohio State University and recommend that such agencies be established on every campus, and in every community where there is a mixed population, with the end in view of discovering the causes of racial discrimination and obtaining an attitude of mind which will promote better cooperation and understanding between the races.
We endorse the Dyer anti-lynching bill.
THE CHURCH AND FOREIGN MISSIONS Months in advance of the conference a commission of twenty-five students studied the work of foreign missions, visiting the headquarters of a number of boards and interdenominational agencies. This commission submitted a report which presented the following causes for valid criticism of the missionary enterprise as now conducted: The exploitation by Christian nations of the lands to which they send missionaries.
The lack of appreciation of the culture of other peoples. The feeling of racial superiority. The lack of feeling of real friendship. The attempt to Americanize nationals of other lands, resulting in their deculturization, and failure to develop leadership. The forcing of meaningless Western denominationalism and division on the East.
THE EVANSTON STUDENT CONFERENCE
The reliance on Western government protection and the claiming, for missionaries, rights and privileges not possessed by nationals.
The exaction of indemnities fo.r mission losses.
The creatiDn of false impressio.ns (at home) resulting in pity and condescension, rather than appreciatiDn and true understanding, for the sake of raising money (to. support missiDns).
The unwillingness of American churches to. aid Christian work in the East except as it retains control Df prDperty and activities.
MISSIONARY PROGRAM AND THE STUDENTS The report of the Oommission on Foreign Missions reaffirmed that Ohristianity is unique among religions in the person of Jesus Ohrist and the expression of the character of God in Ohrist; that Ohristianity should make available for all men the power which comes through knowing Him; and that the foreign missionary program is an integral and essential part of the whole Ohristian enterprise. The commission recommended as the objectives of this program: The preaching of the Gospel of Ohrist at home and abroad; willingness' to modify and reinterpret the missionary program in view of changing world conditions; recognition of responsibility to· ward political and economic life, of the place and worth of nationals, and of a unity of purpose behind differing theological opinions.
The place and responsibility of the individual student in this missionary program was recommended as beginning with the develop. ment 'of friendly contacts with foreign students. The report then went on to present the missionary obligation of the student, as a: mem- ber of society, to oppose anti-Ohristian legislation, to combat economic imperialism and exploitation, and to recognize that loyalty to humanity and Ohristian idealism should take precedence in conflict with lesser loyalties. Emphasis was laid on the obligation of students to take their share in the missionary progra.m of their local churches and in the active support of progressive missionary policies through their Boards.
To this report of the Oommittee the conference added the following" findings" : 1. Denominationalism shDuld be absolutely cut Dut of the spirit and method o.f the Christian enterprise abrDad.
2. We must strive for mDre mutuality o.f giving and receiving not Dnly in missio.n wo.rk but also. by means o.f exchange students, prDfessors and Christian WDrkers.
3. Jesus' way of life must replace creedal and legalistic teachings.
4. We must separate Christian missions frDm political influence and Western materialism and we must stand unqualifiedly oPPDsed to commercial exploitations.
5. The missiDnary must WDrk in such a way as to. eliminate the need for his leadership as quickly as possible.
6. We must seek friendship with students frDm other lands.
AN ADDITIONAL STATEMENT Further, the Conference makes the following additions to this statement of principles in the report; 1. The missionary enterprise should become more, responsive to the courage and moral vision of youth and not be bound by the lack of vision in the churches.
2. The mission boards should be more honest with the constituency who are supporting them by explaining the policies fully though they forfeit some financial support.
3. We must seek to avoid fostering by our missions a narrow nationalism. 4. The mission boards should seek to find a way to appoint candidates to country and profession early in their educational career. 5. We must recognize a new frontier, other than geographical, which the evils of new social and economical exploitation have created.
STUDENT CONTINUATION PLANS The adjournment of the conference is not expected to end the matter. The appointment of a continuation committee is one but not the sole continuation guarantee. While no labelled consecration service was held, those who are not deceived by the presence or absence of labels know that during those days scores of students dedicated their lives to finding the truth and proclaiming it.
Are there dangers ahead ~ Wherever there is life there is danger. There is danger of action based on insufficient information; danger of prayerless impatience which refuses to "wait on the Lord"; danger of going far afield in the search for truth and justice; danger of discarding the real values, in the passionate desire to be rid of false trappings. But in none of these paths does the greatest danger lie. The greatest danger of all is that the Church in its boards and committees will fail to see its opportunity in the present student awakening. Evanston invited to its galleries representatives of church boards and committees. They were on the inside when the doors were closed. Will these church boards and inter-church conventions see the opportunity of inviting the students to their" gal- leries"~ Will we see the advantages of bringing youth more intimately into the councils of the Church 1 Will there be a reduction in the average age of boards and committees? The introduction of youth does not necessitate the discard of age, but only the lowering of the average in age and the increasing of the total in efficiency. Age may profit by the eager enthusiasm and adventurous idealism of youth, even as youth may benefit by the experiences, knowledge and calmer judgment of maturity.
"Recall the twenty-one years; give me back all its experiences, its shipwrecks its standings in the face of death surrounded by savages, with spears flying ~bout me, with the club knocking me to the g,round; give it me back, and I will still be a missionary."–JAMES CHALMERS, martyr among the can- nibals of New Guinea.
THE EVANSTON STUDENT OONFERENCE
FROM EVANSTON SPEECHES AND DISCUSSIONS T ODAY Martin Luther is one of the world's immortals. In 1521 he was a "damnable heretic and a dangerous radicaL" .. * * After a great cause has become triumphant crowds can applaud it and always do.
Jesus did not leave a model creed for all of us to sign but He did leave a model prayer for all of us to pray.
When white students make friends with colored students then they will be able to discuss the race problem.
The only value that property has is in its relation to human personality.
The furnace in which" flaming youth" can do its utmost is organized religion-the institution that we Protestants call the Church. No one can deny that the ashes need cleaning out; no one can deny that clinkers sometimes need breaking up by a modern Amos who wields a heavy bar, but just the same the possibilities for fiaming youth that wants to heat .. things up effectively are there. .. ..
Jesus was fundamentally a rebel-a rebel against the false piety which was smooth and unctuous.
A perilous group in the Church is the group that fear.s new ideas.
.. * * The spirit of Christ is the spirit of liberty-the spirit of creation.
If men are free they will make mistakes. True, but if men are slaves they w41 make nothing.
What shall it profit the Church if it gain the whole world and lose its own voice? If it spend its strength in building Gothic arches and have a beautiful place in which w say something, but nothing to say 1 The perpetuity of the Church is not to be made an end in itself.
* '" ..
.. .. If nations are to stop warring let the churches stop competing.
'"
Methods have been changed many times in the history of the Church. Our present methods are no more sacred than those that preceded them.
,. . Christian unity is not an impossibility. Jesus does not ask of us impossibilities. Jesus prayed for unity,..
The Church is the biggest organization in the world today to preserve that for which Christ gave His life.
2
Student
SUGGESTIONS CRITICISMS The Church has had the persistent 'i'he Church has been too satisfied capacity to rediscover Christ. with the "status quo."
*' *' *' * '*' «0 Jesus is the contemporary of each The Church has kept a historical generation. museum rather than a living zoo. «0 '*' *' *' *' *' The personal and the social gospel Our denominationalism is immoral are identicaL ancestor worship of church fathers.
'*' … '" To Jesus the Kingdom of God We generally choose corruption meant everything. rather than crucifixion. * ~ *' * * $ If you have the Word of God, get It is not easier for the average sec- up and give it. retary or bishop to be a Christian *** than for a camel to go through the Be willing to go to smash for the eye of a needle!
program of Jesus. '" «- '"
* * '" "You can not grow in here" has The Church, having cut out mam- been the attitude of the Church to- monism, will find fellowship with ward growing minds.
laborers, outcasts, and youth. * '*' '*'
*** I believe in missionary enterprise "Our Father" should grow to in- not so much to Christianize heathen volve a consciousness of aU mankind. but Christianize Christianity.
*** '" '*' «- Truth must be incarnated. Seek conscious and intelligent re- * * '" bellion against things as they are.
We can not be a Christian Church * • *'
and a pagan government. Christianity is a religion of the *** minority which they have tried to Our goal is a better world here and force upon the majority and thereby now-the Kingdom of God on earth. cor,rupted.
*** We have molded our Christianity The Church of Christ has always been a youth movement. to sanction everything we do. * to * *** We seek not only freedom from Our religion is not teaching repent- creed but freedom to build. ance for the significant sins of West- *** ern life.
We must make it better for people *** not to be born than born feeble- It is the responsibility of youth to minded. give to the Church what no one else *** can give-fearless, honest criticism.
Have a project Christianity. * *' * '" «- «- Some constructive criticism can be An open mind is a wonderful thing done best with an ax.
to let lciooe in the world. Our present method in the Church «- «- «- Can we use the Church Y Can we is no more sacred than each method lL~e Niagara Falls Y which has preceded.
178
Foreign Nlissions at a Standstill?
BY REV. HARRY A. RHODES, D.D., SEOUL, KOREA Professor in Ohosen Christian College T HIS question is written large over the present world situation regarding the progress of missions in foreign lands. Reluc- tantly we must consider the question and hesitate to presume too much, even on our faith. As we glance back over the centuries the progress of the Christian movement looks to have been steady. As a matter of fact, that progress often has been interrupted. Whether or not it will be interrupted during the present decade will be answered differently by different missionary and church leaders. In connection with the question there are certain conditions that ought to be considered.
Economically, at least, and probably for other reasons, the Christian peoples. of Europe are not as able to carryon the missionary propaganda as aggressively as they were before the war. In North America, on the contrary, many are more able but seem to be less willing. Mission boards are carrying on their work under the burden of huge deficits. 'While there is more money and people have employment and more luxuries than ever before, yet the mission work of the Church lags. The missionary zeal seems to be cooling at a time when missionary education has been carried to a high degree of efficiency. More missionaries than ever speak before their home constituencies. The number enrolled in mission study classes grows larger and the output of mission literature is greater. Yet the Church is marking time in the greatest of all causes which can claim its attention.
This seems to show that missionary information and favorable economic conditions are in themselves not sufficient to keep the mission fires burning. We must realize anew the hopeless condition of the world without Christ. If the so-called Christian nations can scarcely be saved, what will become of the others 7 In so far as Christian people share the feeling that the non-Christian religions are good enough for their adherents, we cannot expect the Church to be very zealous in proclaiming Christ and His Gospel as the only Way.
Another condition that militates against progress in missions is that hopes for union and cooperation are not being realized either on the mission field or in the home land. Even in mission lands we must admit that the Church is becoming more and more denominationalized. Union, movements in institutional work are not as popular as they used to be. Controversies in the Church are dividing Christian people into different camps. The result is a decreased emphasis on evangelism. The increases in membership in the home church are not so great; the attention of the Church is centered 179
upon itself, upon things disruptive, and the zeal to bring others into the Kingdom cools. The failure of the Interchurch W orId Movement has left us wondering whether or not the Protestant forces of the Church ever will be able to unite effectively in accomplishing its great task.
This lack of unity and cooperation is further seen in the fact that, after a hundred years of activity in missions, there seems to be less agreement than ever on mission fields as to the basic principles and methods of a missionary science. The general assent to the proposition that the business of the Church is "to preach the Gospel, " "to make Christ known," is rendered meaningless because there is such a divergence of opinion as to just what kinds of missionary work fulfil the conditions of preaching the Gospel.
Such problems as the use of foreign mission funds to support the Church on the mission field, missionary education, the place of social service and industrial training produce many opinions and the result is confusion among the secretaries, among missionaries and among native leaders. These and other forms of missionary work may be made effective if we stress sufficiently the main objective as saving the world through Christ by means of a spiritual dynamic and the revealed Word of God. But too often this objective is lost sight of in the mission machinery that has been set going.
Is missionary work less effective today because it is less direct in its real objective? If so, larger appropriations, more workers, and more varied forms of work will not bring the desired results. A greater unanimity as to basic things among missions working in the same country would be in the interest of progress and would be less confusing to native church leaders.
Again, the situation between nations, between races, and especially between the so-called Christian and the non-Christian nations is such that we cannot be surprised if the Christian movement is checked temporarily. In all the activities of life we are brought into closest contact with each other. Christian peoples are finding it difficult to live at close range, the Christianity they have been preaching at long range. The success of a group of missionaries depends not only upon how well they can practice what they preach but also upon how well it is being practiced by their own nationals in political, commercial, industrial, social, and racial relationships. The argument that "the missionaries are needed at home" has more the appearance of being valid today than ever before. In former years the doors in mission lands were closed because of prejudice based on ignorance; now they are being closed because of prejudice based on knowledge. Christianity is judged by the lives of those who live it and non-Christian peoples are inclined to judge it by the failures of those who profess it and do not live it, and by the actions of llon- Christians who come from the so-called Chr~stian lands.
AN8WERE,D PRAYER IN BELGIUM
Two things should be said in conclusion. One is that the progress of the world-wide Christian movement cannot be stopped. Humanly speaking it might die out as other religions have doue. But Christianity is of divine origin and if our present-day type has become too much adulterated, it will be purified, and the program of Christ in its world-wide implications will then be carried out. If we of this generation should fail it would be the worse for us, but Christ will not be defeated in His purpose of love for the world.
But a temporary halt in the progress of world-wide evangelization need not to be interpreted necessarily as failure. We may have been too insistent on quick results because of the effect it would have on the home church in getting more funds and more workers. With unlimited spiritual forces on our side we can well afford to be patient and stand still for a time if need be, without relaxing one whit in our zeal and determination to press on as soon as possible.
Answered Prayer in Belgium Mrs. Ralph Norton of the Belgian Gospel Mission records, with gratitude, the following explicit answers to prayer in the year 1925: PRAYERS ANSWERS 1. In March-for an evangelist to Providential appearance of Mr. take charge of an important post that Jung, a Swiss pastor. had been made vacant. Mistakes aVQided. Voluntary su- 2. In March-for guidance in re- pervision by a convert, a builder by modelling headquarters building. profession.
3. In March-for superintendent Miss May B. White sent Qut. for girls' dormitory. Recovery of Mr. Norton, Miss 4. In March-restoration of health White, Mrs. Teenwissin, Pierre Van of workers. Steenbergh and others.
5. In March-for a house in St. Suitable building dedicated Decem- Nicholas. ber 6th.
6. In June-for a strong, spiritual Installation of Pastor Mayer of pastor for Antwerp. Holland on November 1st. .
7. In August-For blessing on Gospel motor car loaned and large summer work. results came from the tour in new dis- tricts. 8. For money to purchase two itinerating gospel cars. In NQvember, the two cars under construction. 9. For new car for headquarters to replace the old Hudson. Provided for by spontaneous gift Qf friend in America. 10. For more new workers. Nine have joined the staff and nine 11. For $5,500 a month for mainte- others have begun to prepare in the nance. Training SchoQL 12. For conversions and for streng- Gifts sufficient for every need. thening converts. Hundreds Qf conversiQns and new PQwer evidenced in the Christians.
Endeavor in Mission
BY REV. FRANCIS E. CLARK, D.D., LL.D., BOSTON, MASS.
VERY early in the history of Ohristian Endeavor it came to be a recognized missionary agency in many lands, and its peculiar adaptability to the needs of those just emerging from heathenism was admitted. The societies rapidly grew in numbers and individual strength in all these countries, until now there are over 1,200 societies in Ohina, more than 2,000 in India, some 250 in Japan, some hundreds in the South Sea Islands, and smaller contingents in all the lands to which American or British missionaries have gone.
Some of the most notable conventions in the history of the movement have been held in non-Ohristian lands. But the chief educational and training value of the societies is not found in the conventions, important as they are, but in the quiet, obscure, every-day work of the individual societies, large and small. In these they learn to confess their Master, to pray in public, and to perform any tasks that the Ohurch needs to have done, as do the young people in the home lands. They have also, peculiar opportunities for service which the Endeavorers at home seldom enjoy. In 1896 I happened to be in India when the terrible bubonic plague raged. Bombay was half deserted, and it was said that 400,000 people had fled the city. The surroundings of the railway station were thronged with poor coolies who sometimes waited for days to get a chance to board the fourth-class cars. Noone knew how the plague was carried, until at length it was discovered that fleas carried by rats bore the plague from house to house, and a premium was put upon killing the rats. Whereupon the Endeavorers formed themselves into "Rat Tail Oommittees," for the destruction of the rodents. In order to prove their faithfulness to their duties they had to carry the tails of all the rats they killed, to the government authorities.
Experience has proved that when no church can be formed, or even a Sunday-school, in tiny village communities, little societies of Ohristian Endeavor can be formed. In these, without the aid of a 'missionary or native Ohristian worker, the converts, just out of heathendom, can meet together, talk about Ohristian themes, read the Bible if any of them can read, and pray together. These little group societies serve at least the purpose of a little candle shining in the darkness of non-Ohristian faiths.
The Ohristian fellowship developed by the unions large and small is greatly prized, and is itself a training school in cooperative, unified Ohristianity, while it tends to diminish the sectarian reproach so often thrown at Protestantism, for in these unions all Ameriean and British mission boards are represented save one or two.
182
Movements in South
MISS FLOREl'NOE E. SMITH, SANTIAGO, CHILE Missionary of the Presbyterian Church with U. S. A.
T HE need for a forward social movement has existed for cen- turies in South America, but for centuries the continent it- self did not realize it. When the first Congress on Christian Work in Latin America was held in Panama in 1916, national social forward movements could scarcely have been said to exist. The succeeding decade, however, has seen a widespread awakening of national social conscience. The consideration of these movements had a large place in the Montevideo Congress' last April.
One of the most prolific causes of poverty, illiteracy, illegitmacy, inebriety and all the other offspring of social evil is found in the unequal distribution of land in these great countries of the south. One class has all the land, all the wealth, and all the prestige, while another class has been held since colonial times in a bondage which amounts to slavery. The great haciendas or farms in Chile and Argentine cover thousands of acres and are owned by a comparatively few rich men who live luxuriously in the capital, spending the wealth which flows into their coffers from the labor of the inq'uilinos or peons, who are practically slaves. As Professor Ross says: "From the Rio Grande, all along the West Coast to Cape Horn, free agricultural labor, as we know it, does not exist."
The peon is given a hovel and a small piece of ground to cultivate, but for this privilege he must pay the owner in work. He is paid an infinitesimal sum with which he must buy supplies for his daily needs from his landlord at disproportionate prices. He must also sell his products to the same landlord under similar conditions. As a logical sequence debt follows, with practical slavery. In some countries these debts are transferrable in case of sale, so tha,t the poor peon is tied to the lapd with small hope of escape. In one country the extent of a farm is measured not in acres but in "hands." The owner, however, may dismiss these workmen at his pleasure.
Such a system can exist only where there is widespread ignorance, and it is not to be wondered at that land-owners with no social consciousness should try to maintain the status quo. Schools, newspapers, contacts with the city, lectures or missions-in fact any agency which tends to educate and extend the horizons of this submerged class-do not enter into his program. In Chile there is a law obliging any landowner on whose estate there are twenty children of school age to establish and maintain a school but, like so many other good laws on our statute books, it is a dead letter.
Indications of the dawning of a better day, however, are not 183
lacking. Agitators for equal rights have penetrated even the moun- tain fastnesses of the cordillera, and strikes among the inquilinos in the south of Chile are serving notice to social exploiters that not forever may any portion of mankind be fettered.
The sons and daughters of these laborers do not remain on the farm. They drift to the towns and cities, and as they have had no education and know no trade, they form that shifting population which is always a menace. Even the homes which they establish are transient relationships with first one woman and then another. After a few months or years she is left with her offspring to get a living as best she may, or to form another temporary relationship as convenience dictates. What wonder that beggars abound in our streets, that venereal diseases are gaining a frightful ascendancy and that the infant mortality in these countries is the highest in the worldT Immigration also presents its problems in Latin America. As the older civilizations are closing their doors to the stranger, these countries, rich and broad, afford an attractive future. The United States and Canada are beginning to discriminate, Australia already says "No admittance." Where then shall the excess popUlations of Europe and the Orient go ~ There is only South Africa and South America. In Brazil, Uruguay and Argentine the problem of caring for immigrants is already becoming acute. Brazil has some 50,000 Japanese on her coffee plantations, and more continue to arrive. Peru has thousands of Japanese in her rice and cotton fields, and the mixture of Oriental and Peruvian blood is forming a new race on the ·West Coast. Argentine alone has seen more than 200,000 immigrants arrive in one year. During 1901-1919, she received 1,764,103, the major part coming from Italy, Spain, France and Germany. Between 1906 and 1919, Brazil received 1,915,813 immigrants, principally Portuguese, Spanish and Italian, although there was also a substantial quota of Russians, Germans, Japanese, Turks and Austrians. Today Buenos Aires is a larger Italian city than Rome. Brazil has more than 2,000,000 people of Italian descent, and more than 300,000 of German blood, the latter having congregated mostly in the State of Rio Grande do SuI.'"
As education has gradually permeated all classes of society and a middle class has slowly emerged, bound neither to the soil nor to the reigning oligarchy, many existing conditions have been found intolerable, and almost imperceptibly at first, but none the less surely, these social forward movements have taken shape and gathered momentum until today they are forces to be reckoned with by presidents, parliaments and populace. Let us glance at four which are outstanding.
• "Social Movement. in South America" (page 12).
So.CIAL MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH AMERICA
THE TEMPERANOE MOVEMENT Chile's great central valley may be said to be one continuous vineyard, and this fertile source of income has made her not only one of the chief wine-producing countries of the world, but has given her the sad preeminence of being one of the most drunken.
. Many of the largest vineyards and wine bodegas are said to be owned by the Church. Patriotic citizens have not been slow to perceive where this commerce is leading the nations, and the Tem- perance Movement has therefore been one of the first concerted social efforts, particularly in Chile and Uruguay. In Chile there are four well-established and active organizations, of national initia- tive and membership, which are combating the drink evil with con- siderable success. A" dry zone" has been established in Punta Arenas, Chile's most southerly port, and within the past few weeks another one has been proclaimed in Valparaiso's most notorious red-light district. The Federation of Labor prohibits absolutely the sale of liquors in a.ny of .its centres, and on various occasions men belonging to this body have refused to unload boats bringing in large quantities of liquor. Instruction as to the noxious effects of alcohol is being given in the public schools, and public lectures in theatres and halls.
Experiments are being made to discover other profitable uses to which the land now used for vineyards may be dedicated. In all these efforts, President Alessandri has afforded active cooperation.
In Argentine, the temperance movement began in 1903 with the establishment of the Anti-Alcoholic Argentine League by Dr. Do- mingo Cabred, and in 1916 the People's Anti-Alcoholic League was started by the People's Atheneum. The Government has confined its intervention to a high tariff.
There is reason to hope that Uruguay may be the first South American country to pass an effective dry law. Some of the leaders in this movement are persons of outstanding social prestige, and a Young People's League, composed of both young men and women, is doing active propaganda, not only in the large cities, but all through the republic.
In Peru, a National Temperance Society was formed in 1912, and thanks to its efforts a law was recently passed which prohibits the sale of intoxicants from Saturday to Monday. This Society is responsible for the statement that in Lima there is a saloon for every nineteen families, but a public school for every 1,025! .
In Brazil, in spite of efforts made by prominent Brazilians and others, the temperance movement as yet has not taken root.
The Pan-American Union, at its meeting in Santiago in 1923, made the following recommendations: 1. A system of progressive imposts on the tariff and sale of alcoholic liquors; of hygienic and sanitary measures, fines and penalties tending to restrain fraud in their fabrication and sale.
2. Measures which shall consider the establishment in public school and high schools of obligatory courses in hygiene, physiology and temperance, so illustrated that they shall show graphically the consequences of using alcoholic beverages.
3. A study of the influence of alcohol on nutrition. 4. A restriction in the use of alcoholic liquors through the closing of saloons on feast days, and the prohibition of their sale in the vicinity of' schools, shops and military and naval establishments.
THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT In 1916 there could scarcely be said to exist in South America any feminist movement. The first activities of women were limited to works of benevolence in connection with the Church, which has carried on a large charitable work through its orphanages and asylums. During the war Red Cross activities claimed their attention and developed their initiative; and soon the great infant mortality in all these countries brought forth an effort to counteract it through milk stations, creches, baby campaigns, et.c., which have reached a surprising development in most of the large cities. rrhey do much in the way of alleviation and something in the way of education, but so long as hygienic conditions remain as they are, their work will not diminish in the near future.
One of the first struggles to establish the position of woman outside of the home in South America was in Argentine in 1904, when the authorities refused to admit women to the Medical School of the University. In that year a Feminist Centre was organized by Dr. Elvira Rawson de Dellepiane, where lectures were given on child hygiene to working-women. In 1911 another physician, Dr. •Julieta Lanteri Renshaw, founded a League of Rights for Women and Children, from which organization came the initiative which resulted in the American Child Congress in Buenos Aires in 1913, with later meetings in Montevideo (1919), Rio de Janeiro (1922) and Santiago (1924).
Today all the women's organizations in Argentine, whetber of beneficent, religious or social character, are affiliated in the National Council of Women, which is doing a fine work in the development of the women all over the country. There is also a Mothers' Club which tries to better conditions and educate the mothers in the care of their children. For several years there has been held annually in Buenos Aires a Baby Week under the efficient care of Mrs. Ernest Nelson.
In Chile, women's activities have developed around a cultural basis in four different strata of society: The National Council of Women, which unfortunately in Chile is not a federation but a single organization among professional women; the Club de Senoras (Women's Club) an aristocratic and more or less conservative group under the particular patronage of the Archbishop; the Feminine
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH AMERICA
Civic Party, representing middle-class women; and the Federation of Working-Women, which has its organization devoted to social betterment. It is curious that the conservative group are most vociferous in claiming "votes for Women," but the others see in this a menace of clerical control and are slow to join forces.
The Pan-American Congress, held in Santiago in 1923, presented the following resolutions: Resolved, to Recommend to the Governments of this Continent the revision of their civil legislation with the object of modifying such provisions as do not correspond to the actual cultural conditions of the American woman, and which subject them to unjust inequalities before the law because • of their sex. (Minutes of P. A. Congress, p. 289, Art. 3, Resolutions.) As in Argentine, the struggle for equal rights for women began in Uruguay with the claiming of a doctor's degree by a woman. In 1908 Srta. Paulina Luisi received the first degree given to a woman in her country. She founded, in 1916, a National Council of Women, a federation of all the women's organizations in Uruguay, which is in turn affiliated with the International Council of Women, with headquarters in Holland. Uruguay is the first (and only) South American country to grant divorce, and these laws favor the woman in every instance.
In Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay, feminist movements of various sorts have been inaugurated, but are still in their infancy.
According to Encina, a Chilean author, his countrywomen-and the same would hold true of the women in other parts of the continent -are superior to the men of their class because they have not dissipated their strength in riotous living. The male adolescent begins "seeing life" at fourteen, and by the time he reaches real manhood he is too often diseased and exhausted. The women are naturally intelligent, and when given educational advantages they are often brilliant. Only of recent years is the idea permeating society that woman can do anything but bear children and serve her lord and master in a man-made world. But as will be seen by the foregoing, the bonds are snapping, and South American men will have to look well to their laurels as women invade the professions and begin to interest themselves in politics.
THE ORGANIZED LABOR MOVEMENT Spain stamped upon her colonies in the new world the old belief that three fourths of the world was born to serve the other fourth. The conquistadores called the Indians whom they impressed into their service "pieces" and in the concept of the aristocratic governing classes, "pieces" are still those who toil and serve. Nevertheless it is impossible to sit on the lid of a volcano indefinitely, and in Chile and Uruguay, at least, warning is being served that it is time to get off and hie to a safer place.
Uruguay undoubtedly leads among South American nations in the number of her legislators and public men who study industrial conditions and seek their amelioration. She was among the first to ratify the International Conventions of Labor approved in the Conventions at Washington, Genoa and Geneva respectively. Her first Labor Law (against Accidents) was passed in 1914, and in 1920 an Indemnization Law, applicable to laborers of whatever class, was passed, whose provisions are far more generous than that of any other S. A. country. Uruguay was four years ahead of the United States in adopting the eight-hour working-day, and this law applies not only to industrial workers, but also to employees in trains, street cars, banks, hotels, etc. In 1918 a law was passed mak~g chairs for employees obligatory in shops, offices and factories. In the same year they passed a law controlling night work in bakeries and macaroni and candy factories. In 1919 they passed a Pension Law for the Aged which stands beside the English Law as one of the leading provisions of this sort in the world. In 1920 a law was passed granting a weekly rest-day even to domestics.
In Chile the working-man's pot is boiling furiously and quite frequently it boils over, as is wi.tnessed by the two days' general strike in Santiago the first of November, when for a time it was doubtful whether it would stop at a strike or develop into a real revolution. Communist doctrines have permeated the people to such an extent that a Communist candidate ran for President in the last elections, and the big strike was called because he was defeated. The Federation of Labor was organized in 1909, and represents some 250 trades unions and 300,000 members, comprising 90% of the workers in the eoal mines, 70% of those in the nitrate districts, and 10% of the farm-hands on the big estates in the south. This Federation has a printing-press, a daily paper and one hundred day and night schools.
The situation in Brazil is particularly complicated, owing to the diversity among the working elements and the large percentage of foreigners. In Sao Paulo a third of the population is Italian, and there are some twelve other groups, including Russians, Irish and Japanese. Brazil keeps an open door for the immigrant and tries to provide him work without oppression or hostility. There can scarcely be said to exist as yet in Brazil an organized labor movement.
In Peru there have been many local attempts at organization, but most of them have been tempestuous and short-lived. Factories, railway and maritime men have separate organizations, and latterly a Regional Federation of Indians has been formed, which claims to represent 4,000,000, but not being as yet well-organized, it does little more than complain against abuses, of which in truth there are a plenty.
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH AMERICA
STUDENT MOVEMENTS One of the most interesting social movements in South America, and to a North American mind one of the queerest, is the Student Movement. The first one originated in the University of Oordova, Argentine, and concerned certain university reforms. In these southern universities there is no university life as we understand it, centering about the campus, sports and social gatherings. Teachers are not resident professors, but men who come and go to their classes, and who have almost no real contact with their students. There are no student dormitories nor inter-university matches. The students live where they can and go and come as they like, attending classes when they see fit, and cramming during the last two months of the year to make up for negligence at other times. So instead of having these interests to bind them together, they coneern themselves with the management of their university and political questions of the day. When anything occurs which they do not like, such ati? the removal of a favorite teacher, or the installing of an unpopular one, they make what is known as a "manifestation" of discontent. They refuse to attend classes, and instead march through the streets with banners and mottoes setting forth their complaints and ideas. In Argentine, Peru and Ohile they have acquired such strength that they must be reckoned with. A few years ago, when the Papal Nuncio came to Ohile to collect certain proceeds from the sale of Ohilean properties it was the students who obliged. him to leave without his spoils; and quite recently, in Peru, when' the Peruvian Government wished to dedicate the nation solemnly to the patronage of the Sacred Heart, it was the students, making common cause with the working classes, who obliged it to desist. There is great sympathy between these two somewhat incongruous classes, the students and the laborers. In many places, it is the students who are carrying on night-schools for working-men, doing both the teaching and the bearing of expenses of rents, etc. They sometimes combine forces in strikes and other manifestations to help each attain its ends. For the most part they are irreligious if not actively antireligious. Having seen so many abuses committed in the name of religion, they heartily despise everything which is tinged with ecclesiasticism. But they are the hope of these young nations, and are quick to respond to reality in whatever form.
"VHAT PARTICIPATION IN OR INFLUENCE OVER THESE MOVEMENTS HAS THE EVANGELICAL OHURCH IN SOUTH AMERICA~ This question may be answered by two monosyllables ap-parently contradictory-none and great. Of definite organized participation in these social forward movements, there has been practically none. Every. Evangelical Ohurch is a temperance organization in itself, and all its members (at least in Chile) are total abstainers; but they have
taken no part in the National Temperance Movement. Evangelical laborers belong to their trades-unions, but usually take no active part. Few women in our churches even know of the existence of feminist organizations. The reasons are not far to seek: 1. The Evangelical Church has been born and nourished in en- forced obscurity, owing to the persecution of which she has been the object since her conception-a persecution insidious and tenacious, and none the less real for being oblique.
2. "Not many great, not many noble" are among her members; they are learners rather than leaders.
3. Political conditions are so corrupt and the average new be- liever is still so weak on his legs that he does not covet a struggle. Drinking, vote-selling and other vices abound, and he prefers to keep away from them.
4. Church members have been inclined to consider themselves a privileged group rather than one with social responsibilities.
The Evangelical Church in Brazil is an exception to these con- ditions.. Having long since outgrown the period of persecution, which perhaps was never so fanatical there as in other parts of South America, she has grown constantly in strength and influence, and many of her leaders are men of education, social prestige and in- fluence.
But, contradictory as it may seem, the Evangelical Church in South America, even where it is weakest, has had great influence- ~ none the less great for having been indirect. No group of people in any land can consistently practice and teach sobriety, industry, purity, equality among the sexes and veracity, without exerting an enormous influence.
1. The Evangelical Church in S. A. has stimulated and purified the State Church. Wherever an evangelical chapel or school has been opened in a neglected district, immediately the Catholic Church has hastened toi tend the needs of that district. It has been literallv compelled to put the Bible into the hands of its people, in order t~ compete with what they are pleased to call the "fraudulent Bibles" of the Evangelicals. The Pope has now ordained that the gospels shall be read. It is an open secret that the recent youth movements in the Catholic Church in these countries are copies of the activities of the Young Men and Young Women's Christian Associations, and designed to counteract them. At a notable meeting during the Eucharistic Conference held in Santiago some three years ago, Bishop Edwards, one of Chile's most progressive and honored ecclesiastics, publicly stated that the pure lives of evangelical ministers were a re- proach to Catholic priests.
2. It has permeated all classes of societies through its schools. The graduates of Mackenzie College, Ward Institute, Santiago Col- lege, the Instituto Ingles and many other similar institutions for
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS iN SOUTH AMERICA
young men and women of upper and middle-class families, are known everywhere as "different." When social movements are set on foot, they are ready to lead. It is impossible to estimate the social possi- bilities in the future of the thousands of boys and girls who pass through mission schools of primary and secondary grade all over this continent.
3. It is establishing new forms of conduct. Evangelical work- men and employees are desired and sought out. They do not lose two days to recover from a drunken bout on Sunday. 'J'hey can be trusted. They respect womanhood and follow the single standard of pure living. .
But this is not saying that the Evangelical Church in South America has not a still greater work to do. There is no doubt that it has tended to be too timid and self-centered in the past. It is only now beginning to acquire a national social consciousness. There is a great future before it. South America needs leadership. It is stretching out eager hands toward great human causes. Look at these thousands of students, young, virile, strong to make or mar themselves and the future. Look at her leading intellectuals who have drifted far from any form of religious faith because the old moorings have proved unstable. Look at her hundreds of thousands of working-men and women, clamant for life, for rights, for priv- ileges which are their due, but of which they have been despoiled so long. The State Church, in all these countries, has, to a great extent lost her grip on these elements. They can no longer be coerced-they must be won. They carmot be longer frightened by threats of eternal perdition. They have lived in hell too long to fear anything which they believe to be unreal.
It is a great task: who is sufficient for it 7 Only the Spirit of God and those whom He shall empower.
REV. ALVARO REIS OF BRAZIL BRAZILIAN Protestantism recently suffered a great loss in the death of the Rev. Alvaro Reis who was for twenty-eight years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Rio de Janeiro. He was a man of intense evangelistic fervor, a pulpit orator of the first rank, a religious journalist, and a prolific author. The esteem in which he was held by the public was shown by the secular press for the Rio dailies published long articles, accompanied by his portrait, praising his character in the highest terms.
The fruit of Mr. Reis' labors is shown in the thousands of Brazilians who were won to Christ through his ministry. He also founded a score or more of churches and chapels in Rio and its suburbs. He was a moving spirit in many enterprises, and he was one of the outstanding evangelical Christian leaders in South America.
Challenge of Mexican
BY REV. EDWIN R. BROWN, LOS ANGELES, CALIF()R,NIA The American Baptist Home Mrission Society STRAIGHT into the faces of American Christians is fiung a chal- lenge that cannot be ignored. It is the challenge of Mexican im- migration to the Christian churches in the United States. While American Protestant churches have been very active in sending out missionaries these same churches have viewed with seeming indifference the arrival of immense multitudes of Mexicans who have come within their very doors.
During the past fifteen years of revolution, no less than ji,ve million Mexicans have come into the United States, and of these, some two million have returned to Mexico. Each year now, from fifty to ninety thousand come north across the border so that today there are over three million Mexicans in the United States, scattered from the border northeast to Chicago and beyond. The labor vacuum in the industrial centers of the northeast, caused by the restrictive immigration laws, has sucked the Mexican from the border as it has the Negro from the South. The tip of the wave of Mexican immigration reaches as far north as Detroit and as far east as Pittsburgh. Naturally the points of greatest density are nearest the border where Texas, New Mexico, Ari'zona, and California have immense quotas. Los Angeles, for instance, has 125,000 Mexicans, with 20,000 Mexican children enrolled in the city's public schools.
Here is the amazing spectacle of vast multitudes of unevangelized people living in the very shadows of the most missionary churches of the world. The barriers of language, color, and customs keep them from entering the church doors of their adopted land, but they are basically a religious people, reverent, warm-hearted, eagersouled, and willing to learn. In their own country they have never had the opportunity to advance. The Bible has been denied them and they have been fed instead on fables and superstitions, idle tales and immoral examples.
Now they find themselves in the land of the free, with old inhibitions and limitations suddenly removed, and their minds and hearts and souls open to the impact of the new, the strange, and the different. They present one of the richest missionary opportunities the Christian churches of the United States have ever known. Wonderful harvests can be reaped from the sowing of gospel seed among them. One denomination, for instance, which has merely been playing at evangelizing these Mexicans, with a budget of a paltry $30,000 a year for work among three million people, nevertheless reports a 192
1926J THE CILU,LENGE OF MBxlOAN IMMIGRAT!ON
A MEXICAN PROTESTANT CHURCH IN THE MAKING tenfold increase in membership in seven years, and an increase in – the number of preaching stations from nine to over sixty.
Less helpful propagandists have been more quick to recognize the opportunity. Socialism, the I. W. W. and Communism find a ready soil for their seed among the Mexicans in our country, while atheism and irreligion find eager listeners in these new comers. It is a common thing to hear a soap-box orator speaking in Spanish to the Mexicans on our streets, call the Bible" the most brutalizing, the most degrading, and the most immoral of books," and counselling the Mexican laborers, whose" hands produce all this wealth, to rise up, kill off the rich and take possession of the wealth you have created." Meanwhile the churches of America, if perchance, they have seen these Mexicans at all, have looked upon them with indifference, if not with disdain.
Not only do the rich results of gospel preaching among the Mexicans in our country, and the remarkable opportunity they present, challenge us American Christians, but we must evangelize them if we are to prevent American institutions from falling under the power of an alien hierarchy. In the state of New Mexico, seventy-five percent of the inhabitants are of Mexican blood, and the legislature carries- on its proceedings in both Spanish and English. Money from the state treasury is used to support Catholic schools and other institutions, and Roman nuns in conventional garb teach in the public 3
schools. Throughout the Southwest there are many areas where it cannot be said that the Mexican is a stranger, but rather that the Anglo-Saxon American is the stranger in his own country.
The existence of a very decided "los von Rom" moveI;llent among the Mexicans also presents a thrilling challenge to evangelical churches. For three hundred years the development of the Mexican people was throttled by the hand of Rome. Then came a hundred years of revolution during which the Spanish yoke was first thrown off, and then the power of Rome was broken.
Out of all the disorder there has arisen a new national conscious- ness which within the past few months is seeking to express itself in the organization of an independent religious movement to correct the evils of Romanism, while retaining the papal form of worship and doctrine. A Mexican has been chosen as the patriarchal head of the new church, which calls itself The Mexican Catholic Apostolic Church with the Bible as its rule of faith and practice, and proposes to spend in Mexico for religious education the eighty million pesos a year or,dinarily sent to Rome. The movement has obtained many supporters and is favored by the present government officials. Its leaders are looking for help, and evangelical denominations in the U. S. should send some of their strongest Mexican preachers to guide their countrymen into the full gospel light.
The same causes have made the Mexican immigrants in the United States open to the Gospel as never before. D'eeply and instinctively religious, yet keen in their rebellious criticism of the religion of their fathers, they are first amazed at the outward evidence or the strength of Protestantism in this new land, and then are genuinely eager' to learn the truth of the teaching against which they had been so often warned in their own country by their religious leaders. So as the Bible is placed in their hands, or they are touched by the more or less feeble contacts the evangelical churches have thus far been able to make, they become eager to hear more, and from every city and town in the Southwest come Macedonian cries for help. Every Mexican colony is an open door for the Gospel and a challenge to the evangelical churches. Already, as a result of past seed-sowing, the harvest is ripening faster than we are prepared to care for it, and everywhere there are groups of believers awaiting the coming of a missionary to more fully instruct them in the Gospel of Christ.
But these Mexican immigrants are also a challenge of danger. They are furnishing a very large proportion of the criminals of the Southwest. In a new and strange atmosphere, and confounding liberty with license, and without any restraint from their former religious experiences, it is but a natural consequence that lawbreaking is excessively frequent among them. In' our border states from fifty to ninety per cent of criminals in the jails and penitentiaries are Mexicans. This is a tremendous challenge to American Christianity,
THE CHALLENGE OF MEXICAN IMMIGRATION
for the evangelization of the Mexican is the only way to prevent their committing crimes. Without the moral restraints of evangelical Christianity the Mexican. in our midst is a menace and a liability. But the Mexican converted and living the Christian life is an asset socially, politically, and economically. Even from the standpoint of patriotism we can do no greater service for our country than to evangelize the Mexican immigrants.
The challenge to evangelize these Mexican immigrants is also the challenge of our duty to future generations. The Mexicans are a prolific race, and in the United States under more hygienic conditions and with ready aid from free clinics, infant mortality is gr~atly TYPICAL MEXICAN EVANGELICAL MINISTERS IN THE SOUTHWEST reduced. So while the average American family has about one and a half children, the Mexican family will have anywhere from five to fifteen children. By evangelizing the Mexicans in the States we make possible the training of the rising generation under Christian influences that will help to perpetuate Ohristian institutions and national ideals.
By evangelizing these Mexican immigrants' we also contribute directly to the evangelization of Mexico itself, for many of them return to their own country for visits or permanently. Does the returning Mexican take back to his own country the influences of the highest Protestant culture, or does he return saturated with the immoral ideals of low movies 1 The question challenges the evangelical churches of America.
Christians north of the border need the same missionary zeal
that inspired one Mexican Christian I know. With his daughter, he drove in a Ford one Sunday to a neighboring construction camp on the railroad where there were a number of Mexicans. There he asked the use of a little church not far from the camp, that he might hold a Mexican service. His request was refused by those who had control of the church because there was a rule that no other denomination could use the building except for funerals. The .Mexican brother was not of that communion and returned to the railroad camp thinking that that church was dead enough to hold its own funeral. Undiscouraged, he enlisted the help of some of the men who cleaned out a freight car, arranged boxes for seats and gathered twenty-five Mexican laborers in to hear the Gospel. When the invitation was given, eleven of the Mexicans made public profession of faith in Christ. When the railroad work was finished and the camp broke up, many of these men went back to Mexico, and during the year that followed, six of the eleven wrote to say that they were attending evangelical churches in Mexico.
The Mexican who has returned from the States is a hero in his village. He has been everywhere and seen everything. He no longer believes the tales he has been told about the Protestants, and even becomes a greater authority than the village priest. One young man told me that he had come to the United States seeking gold, but now that he had found Christ he was going back to give to his people that which was better than money. Most of the Mexicans who accept the Gospel are filled with an apostolic missionary zeal, and send letters, tracts and gospels back to Mexico to win friends to Christ.
There is also a challenge to our evangelical churches to use their influence for the betterment of international relations. Those who have seen Americans and,Mexicans united at the feet of the Saviour of the world, fully understand that the most effective way to improve interracial feelings is through the preaching of the Gospel.
How long will American Christians remain indifferent to this striking challenge of the three million Mexicans in our land ~ rrhey present a harvest field white and ready for the reaping-and a few scattered workers with poor equipment like a tiny hand sickle making pretense of gathering in the sheaves r Wtl should get out the checkbook of missionary zeal, and drawing upon the illimitable funds of faith, purchase great harvesters, man them with adequate forces, and send them forth to reap where seed already sown is bringing forth among the Mexicans, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred fold. Suitable tracts in Spanish should be prepared and every worker willing to serve as an unpaid colporteur, in connection with other duties, should be provided with unlimited supplies of tracts, gospels, New Testaments, and Bibles in Spanish. Every Mexican in our land who can read should have an opportunity to study for himself the gospel story of the Christ who died to save the lost.
a Church of God in
BY N. W. TAYLOR, OAXACA, MEXICO T HE morning was bright, the sun shining down from almost a cloudless sky, as we made an early start from home in order to reach our destination before the heat of the day began.
Leaving the train at 'l'lalpan we passed through the village, pick- ing our way through the busy market, for even at this early hour the merchants had their wares spread about the square. In Mexico the law calls for all but provision stores to be closed on Sunday and so the merchants betake them- selves to the streets where they can trade undisturbed. The law is in- tended to protect the employee, not to preserve the Sabbath.
Shortly after leaving the town we entered the lava area. On all sides we could see outcI'oppings of the lava and some distance to one side is an old pyramid about which the molten lava had flowed, rising upwards as though to overwhelm it, but having spent itself, flowed on, leaving a ring around it as an evidellce of its power and volume.
About nine thirty we neared the village of San Andres, with its new church which our congrega- tion is building. There it stood with its white-roofed tower reflect- ing the morning sun, clearly visible gN~1~i>r. ~ ~~6'ERE~1l'~SHAO: DJ~~ for miles around, a silent testi- ~~uR~lkC~Al~!~:Iii'b :JiJ~Dki~ B~0 mony to God. For many years the FOR PICTURE people of this church were, like many other congregations, content t.o go on without making headway. '1'hen came an overwhelming catastrophe which, under the hand of God, "worked together for good." In the revolution the church was destroyed and the people were driven out of the village and scattered far and wide. Returning a few months later they found most of their houses in ruins and the church burned to the ground. Like Nehemiah of old they wept as they looked upon the ruins and were in despair. Then they decided that something must be done and as they planned apparently their vieio!). grew. They were few in number but decided to bllild a church ll7
that would bring glory to God. It must be large enough to accom- modate the increase which they were sure God was going to give. It must be substantially built and fireproof so that . no recurring revolution could destroy it. What an undertaking for a band of twenty to twenty-five Christian Indians! It would cost thousands of pesos and the daily income of most of them is figured in centavos.
They had no outside backing, for not even the mission was asked to help. But God was with them.
The day we visited the church the Sunday-school lesson was on the rebuilding of the temple, and we were told that when they laid the corner stone of their new church, scenes similar to those of Ezra's day accompanied the ceremony.
The young people rejoiced, whilst the· older ones wept. Today the church stands out upon the hillside as a monument to God. Finished ¥ No! But in six years no less than eight thousand pesos ($4,000) have been put into the building materials by these people who have them- selves done the work. When they first discovered how much they must pay for labor, they hired a bricklayer for four days and all the men of the congregation stood around and watched him work. At the end of four days they felt com- petent to continue the work them- selves and so dismissed the man.
A CHURCH OF WHICH ANY COMMUNITY Into the building have gone twenty- five tons of lime and sixteen thou- MIGHT BE PROUD sand brick, all of which had to be carried up the mountain side on mule back. The whole building is constructed of brick and stone and when completed the only wood in it will be for platform, shutters and furniture. With its white-roofed tower this is a building of which any congregation might feel proud. Near the top of the tower have been left some small windows from which at night will shine a white light, to speak to the country-side of "Christ the Light of the world."
At the conclusion of the morning service we went to visit one of the elders who was ill. We had to stoop to enter the door of the adobe hut into which the only light that entered came from holes left under the eaves. 'Vhen our eyes became more accustomed to the darkness we noticed that the walls were unplastered and un- adorned save for several crude plows, which were hung there for safety. On a wooden pallet, wrapped up in several serapes, lay the old
TODAY IN MEXICO
man. His wife sat at his head fanning him to keep away the flies. Very feebly he took our hands and bade us welcome. As we talked about the new church his face lighted up, and although weak in body, yet he showed his strong faith that God will accomplish His purposes through it. He has been the most active worker and the most liberal giver. He might have had as good a house as any in the district but he chose rather to build God's house. As I compared the two the thought came to me, "Without realizing it, he is building a house 'not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.' "
At a recent service nine hundred pesos were pledged by the members, towards the completion of the church. This means real sacrifice on the part of these people.
Pray for the work in Mexico. It is a land of darkness and superstition which can be dispelled only by the Gospel of Christ. As its neighbor, the Christian people of America have a special responsibility towar~s Mexico.
Today in Mexico* BY RE,V. G. B. WINTON, D.l).
Author of "Mexico Today"
M EXICO is one country in which today changes into tomorrow with terrifying swiftness. The constitution of 1917 has orig- . inated more than the usual measure of storm and stress. The effort to codify and enforce that constitution has gone on now during three administrations-those of Carranza, Obregon, and Calles-along with the universal popular upheaval of which it was the symbol and expression. This has profoundly altered the political and economic status of our sister republic and its influence is now reaching out also into the realm of religion.
Touching first the political side-which is of international as well as national significance-.all doubt as to the triumph of those forces which expressed themselves ten years ago, first in armed conflict and later in a new constitution, may as well be finally laid aside. A powerful group in Mexico, few in numbers but wealthy and intelligent, cooperated with equally potent influences in the United States to throw doubt upon the stability of the new order of things-"the revolution" as the Mexicans call it, always in the singular. And it was just that, the rising up of the mass of the Mexican people to assert their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Many of the leaders were inefficient, many unworthy. The people themselves were and are far from ready for the responsibilities entailed by self-government. It was essentially a revolt of the weak against t.he st.rong. Yet despite all theSe handicaps it has proved to be a • Condensed from The Missicnary Voice.
rising tide which nothing could stop. Calles is loyal to the underlying principles of the revolution and is an able administrator.
As to the economic status-some provisions of the new constitution bear hard on vested capital. rrhey have aroused especially the hostility of the oil men and the large landholders. The Mexican Government has proceeded slowly and cautiously. When a statute covering the difficult demands of the organic law is put into force, through court proceedings with due penalties of law, we may expect other loud complainings from those whose interests are involved.
As concerns the religious question, the constitution of 1917 merely retained and clarified the principles embodied in that of 1857. It demands complete separation of Church and state, including the undivided control by the state of public education. It denies to churches the right to hold property in real estate. It prohibits religious ceremonials on the streets, the wearing of distinctive dress, the existence of religious orders, the ministrations of foreign priests. This last,' and some details as to primary education, are added in the new constitution.
If some of these provisions are drastic it must be recalled that the national disease for which they were meant to be,an antidote was a mortal sickness. Nothing short of heroic measures of just this type could have won the continued existence of anything approaching free institutions in the stern days of Gomez Farias and Benito Juarez. These laws are retained by the patriotic leaders of Mexico for reasons that seem to them absolutely final.
Hitherto missionary work has not been hampered by any of these reform laws. The Mexican governments that have upheld them have taken pains to make it known that they were not hostile to the Christian religion. As a matter of fact, Protestant teachings are so harmonious with liberty and Protestants have been so uniformly patriotic that the recent governments have secretly looked upon them as allies in their battle against reaction and privilege.
Ifow that fifty years of labor have resulted in a vigorous native Church, feeling its way toward a state of autonomy, the bearing of the provisions of the constitution in regard to the work of foreign missionaries and the control of church property is up for discussion and adjustment. Mexican churches and their leaders, both lay and clerical, are not exempt from the prevailing spirit of nationalism. They look forward eagerly to the day when they shall be completely independent. With their worthy desire, their cherished ambition, we can all sympathize. The intelligent missionary, in any country, is ever intent on making himself unnecessary.
The transition period is one which calls for mnch wisdom, and even more for a spirit of entire abnegation. Native churches that would be self-directing must also learn to be self-supporting. No church Call be at QUce ip.dependent ap.d dependent.
the Chinese Think of
Exhibits in the Case for and against China's .Attit1~de BY ARTHUR RUGH, SHANGHAI, CHINA International Y. M. C. A.
I s CHINA becoming anti-Christian~ I think not-but she needs to be shown the value of Christianity and is not very greatly im- pressed with present evidence of the power of the Christian religion to change the life of its professed followers.
If a man opens a new store these days in China he calls it "The New Love-Your-Country store." If religion or anything else is to appeal to China now it must show how it will help to make a nation strong. We may be able to prove that the Bible is inspired and the Christian religion is of superhuman origin .but the Chinese patriot does not see what that has to do with tariff autonomy and the rule of the war lords. Consequently he is not interested. China is not just now interested in the philosophy of religion and its literature.
China longs for national power" as blind men long for light." The Chinese are interested in religion only if it shows effectiveness in producing the conditions of national power. As· the Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians: "I will come and find out not what your talk proves but what your power amounts to, for God's sign does not show itself in talk but in power." China is much inclined to follow this Pauline test of religion.
In the case for or against China as becoming anti-Christian, may I submit some evidence: EXHIBIT A From resolutions adopted by the Seventh Annual Convention of the National Student Union, July, 1925.
Since the unequal treaties were signed, Christianity has absorbed millions of Chinese and Missions Schools are established everywhere. In Mission Schools they compel students to accept Christianity and join the church. 'rheir students are not allowed to participate in patriotic movements. They make the students read the hypocritical creeds of "universal love and social service of Jesus" so as to chloroform their thoughts. The Y. M. C. A. and the church with materialistic welfare induce people to accept Christianity. They smuggle ammunition and help stir up internal trouble in the country. The Y. M. C. A. constantly uses athletics and popular education to do evangelistic work so as to smother the political thoughts of the youth.
Student unions everywhere should continuously inform the public of the evils of the Christian Church and of Christian education. We should also explain to the public the insidious plan for cultural invasion employed by the Imperialists.
201
EXHIBIT B Vote taken by a class in a school in Peking, by J. L. Childs: Yes No 1. Religion has outlived its usefulness and should be given up as harmful to society. …………………… 12 23 2. Communism. will solve the economic problems of the world. ………………………………….. 30 11 3. China will be better off if she cultivates the friendship of Russia rather than of other eastern powers. ….. 14 27 4. Interracial ma.rriages are bad and should be avoided. .. 17 24 5. The people of the white race have the greatest capacity for government of any people in the world. ……. 25 17 6. The Chinese people are more intelligent than the people of other nations. ………………. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 10 EXHIBIT C From 170 replies to the qu.estion of a Peking magazine on how to improv.e the Church.
1. Shatter denominationalism. 2. Put the authority on Chinese shoulders. 3. Let the Church promote industry and found savings institutioDl!. 4. Get rid of capitalism. and class distinctions. 5. Use scientific methods in preaching. 6. In evangelism! teach truth bearing on society and the nation. 7. Cooperate with other agencies in social work. 8. Respect foreign missionaries who come to serve; send the arrogant ones home. 9. Make all religious education and service in mission schools elective and voluntary. 10. The church should oppose unequal treaties.
EXHIBIT D Discussion of the Church in China by a group of Chinese students representing six colleges mostly Christian. Date: July 2, 1925, soon after the Shanghai incident of May 30th.
Question: If you were starting a new church in your community, what would it be like 1 Answer: It would be of Chinese architecture, use Chinese music, have a Chinese orchestra, have a regular church service with a short sermon and more time for meditation. Would have day and night schools and lectures on social and political problems.
Question: If a foreign missionary were available to help you in the church, of what help could he be?
Answer: Alter considerable effort-He could give advice and teach English in the night school. He should not hold any office in the church or try to influence its policy.
Question: If the missionary Board offered $2,000 to the church, how could you use it?
Answer: We could not employ the pastor or any teach"r or worker with it without hurting their influence. We should not build the church with it. We could use it for a school building.
WHAT THE CHINESE THINK OF CHRISTIANITY
EXHIBIT E Questions handed in by a medical student at the close of a meet- ing of students in Mukden.
1. Can a scientific man believe in miracles? 2. Is prayer superstitious Y 3. Are the parts of the Bible outside of Jesus' teachings any different from other good literatUJI'e Y 4. What was your motive in coming to China' 5. Should a Christian student lend his bicycle to a friend who can't ride and would break it Y When these questions were answered he said, "I am satisfied with your answers, but the preacher in our town just says: 'If you believe in Jesus, you will go to heaven and if you don't, you will go to hell,' and I didn't see why my intellectual conclusions should settle my eternal future even if they are wrong."
EXHIBIT F From the record of a Bible class in a government college.
1. Three sessions spent on the Sermon on the Mount ending with the question of turning the other cheek.
2. Class broken up by members who forbid any further teaching in their school of the doctrine of love and forgiveness saying that it is a trick of the missionary who is sent out by his government to teach China to be easy and soft so she can be further exploited. What China needs is the will to fight like Turkey.
3. Class resumes work to study the solution of China's problem by force. After three months' study the conclusion is reached that moral character is at the root of every problem. What will remake characterY Education.-A week spent on that solution and given up as inadequate.
4. Class goes back to the Sermon on the Mount and is on the road to :fj.nding a solution when the event of May 30th breaks up the class and closes the school.
EXHIBIT G Interview with a Shantung missionary just in from a two weeks' itinerating trip.
Question: Did you find much anti-foreign feeling' Answer: None whatever. The greatest friendliness every- ,,·here. The only trouble was too many feasts. Question: Were you welcomed as a foreign preacher ¥ Answer: Everywhere. The mayor of one town stopped us as we passed through his town and asked why we went to other towns and never came to preach to them. Question: Did the people seem excited about unequal treaties and extra-territoriality? Answer: They never mentioned the subjects. As far as I could see their chief interests were the price of rice, the danger of war and whether we would open a school or church in their town.
THE VERDICT The Jury decides that it can not reach a final decision because China has not yet decided whether or no she is anti-Christian.
China wants more evidence on the following points: 1. What is a Christian nation? Is it a nation that talks love and the square deal and then grabs as much as its military force makes it possible to graM 2. What is a Christian Chu,rch? Is it an organization of folks to propagate Occidental beliefs and organizations over the world by the aid of the capitalist and the militaristic governments ~ 3. What is a Christian? Is he a man who believes something which he can't understand and is anxious to get you to do the same, or is he a man who is being changed into a character of loving sacri- ficial service by his experience of Christ and who would gladly share this experience with you ~ China wants evidence on these· three points and then she will de- cide. Not one man in fifty in China knows the answer to these three questions, and we in America do not help them much. We have been having such a hard time financially! There are several families in nearly every state in the Union that do not have a car and there are many families that have only one, so that we have had to withdraw much support for the missionaries and the church in China. So China waits for evidence and is perplexed. You can not blame a lay- man for not knowing whether he' is for or against the Einstein theory if he does not know what it is or where it came from. There is no sense in America being greatly wrought up over China's anti-Chris- tian attitude while the average American Christian spends more in a week for gasoline than he spends in a year to help win China for Christ. Whether China goes anti-Christian or 110t is going to be settled not in China but in the wills and purses of the Christians of America. • The Anti-Christian Movement in China ..
BY DR. C. Y. CHENG, SHANGHAI, CHINA Secretary of the China Home Missionary Society F OR nearly two thousand years the birth of Jesus Christ has been a cause for world-wide rejoicing. Both high and low have welcomed His coming. There is, however, an eternal conflict between right and wrong, light and darkness, good and evil. The advent of Jesus was no exception. His coming was welcomed by many but at the same time He was also hated by the ruling class.
China today has a share in celebrating this universal event. NOT is the commemoration of December 25th each Year confinE;ld ;merely • Outline of article appearing in s!",oial Chlna-for-Chrlst Bu.lletin,
'rHE AN'rl-CHRISTIAN MOV8MENT IN CHINA
to Christian Ileople; many non-Christians are aware of the reason for this celebration.
This year those who oppose Christianity are seeking to deliver a special attack on Christians at the Christmas season. The National Student Union has passed resolutions looking to a special Christmas drive against the Christian religion. In one sense this is unfortu- nate, yet it is quite in keeping with the events of the first Christmas time, when Jesus and His parents were obliged to flee for their lives.
The eternal COllflict is still going on and with ever-increasing intensity.
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO AND Now Twenty-five years ago the Ohristian Ohurch in Ohina was faced by a severe Anti-Ohristian Movement. Many Christians lost their lives for their faith. Those who thus suffered included both Ohinese and foreigners. Our hearts are saddened as we recall the dark days of 1900 and the after effect upon the nation.
At the present time the Anti-Ohristian Movement is spreading all over the country. Ohristianity is charged with all sorts of crimes. l:"-nything it does is regarded as harmful to Ohina's best interests. Many are beginning to hate and to despise us and are determined to put an end to Ohristianity.
There is, however, a great difference between these two attacks. 'fhel former was due largely to ignorance of Ohristianity; the latter is based on some knowledge of it. The Boxer outbreak was led by the conservative and ignorant; the present attack by the educated and intelligent classes.
Opposition to Jesus Ohrist is not new. He was opposed by men of his own time. His own life was taken.
Persecution of Ohristians is not new. The history of the Ohristian Ohurch is full of evidences of such conflict.
Oharges brought forward against the Ohristian religion are not new. Many of the charges today are old and in importation from the West.
Ohristians need not be alarmed or dismayed. Many criticize the moon for its defects but the moon shines still.
While some have had their faith weakened and lost their love as a result of the present anti-Christian propaganda yet in the main this propaganda is a blessing in disguise.
It is delivering many of us from self-complaceny in imagining that we have all that is surest and best while others are heading toward destruction and darkness.
It is purifying much of our thinking. There can be no organiza- Eon in the world, not even organized Ohristianity, that is entirely perfect. Hence the Ohristian Ohurch needed a Luther or a Wesley to effect a reformation. The present Anti-Ohristian Movement may be an instrument in the hand of God for the correction of His children.
It is helping us seek the true picture of Jesus Christ in place of one which may have been distorted and defaced by traditions, rituals, dogmatic statements, etc.
CONCENTRATED ATTAOK AND How TO MEET IT The Anti-Christian Movement is not an organization but a movement. It has no one at its head and no organization to direct its work. Its attack on Christianity, therefore, is varied and some- what confusing. Of late it is becoming more definite, concrete and concentrated. Christian education seems to be the central point of attack and Christmas the appointed time.
The attack so far is of an intellectual character, but when the ignorant masses join hands with the educated there is no telling what may happen. Christians are called forth to watch and pray for spir- itual preparedness so as to enable us to stand firm no matter what eventuality overtakes us.
There are at least three classes of people in the Anti-Christian Movement. They need to be met in three different ways. There are those who are prejudiced, who oppose anything Christians do, whether it is good, bad or indifferent. Such persons should simply be ignored. Argument with them can serve no good purpose.
There are those who are misinformed. Many oppose Chris- tianity because of misunderstanding, such as Christianity's seeming connection with foreign political aggression. To such people an ex- planation of the true facts should be patiently given.
There are those who are seeking after truth. Such persons have often laid their finger on the weak spots of the Christian religion. To these friends we should be grateful for helping the Church to turn over a new leaf.
It is not enough to know how to meet the opposition. We must be true to our religious convictions. To a Christian his religion is a matter of life and death importance.
Have faith in God. Christianity is founded on a rock. No 'antireligious storm, however strong, can shake it.
Be true to Christ. Do not desert Him as did His disciples of old at a time when they were needed.
Show forth the spirit of Christ in meeting the opposing foe. Let us strengthen our spiritual life and let the world know how courageous we Christians are. The anti-Christians are active for a destructive purpose; Christians likewise should be active but for a constructive program.
Polycarp, the second-century saint and martyr, before he laid down his life for the sake of his belief, said, "I have served Jesus all these years and He has done me no wrong. I cannot desert Him now."
A distinction should be made between Christianity and Christ i
PROTE8TANT MISSIONS AS SEEN BY A TURK
between the teachings of Jesus and the theology of the Church; between the Head of the religion and its members. It is hardly possible for Christianity to free itself entirely from organization and tradition, but if the spiritual nature of Christianity is always kept as the matter of first importance, its future is exceedingly hopeful.
Christianity is congenial to the people of the Orient; even more so than to the people of the West. Surely it should no longer be regarded as foreign. Jesus has done us no wrong. We must stand by Him to the very last.
SUCCESS IN FAILURE The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in summing up the daring deeds of God's faithful ones in history, pictured the success of their faith in two ways, namely, success in victory and success in defeat. (Success in victory, Hebrews 11: 33-35, Success in defeat, Hebrews 11: 35-38). Yet he regarded both as success. It is the success of the spirit. What is needed today is also this spiritual success.
Jesus said that if He were lifted up he would draw aU men unto Himself. Nearly two thousand years have passed and we have not yet seen the fulfihnent of these words. Why is this 1 Either He is unable to draw or He has not been lifted up. The Church has been busy most of the time. It is very much to be feared that many other things have been lifted up rather than Jesus.
, Jesus is still challenging His people today. China at the present time resembles a house that is tumbling down. It requires that all its citizens should come and lend a helping hand to save the nation from destruction. All are to help, We Christians offer Jesus Christ as our best contribution to the nation's salvation. We must stand firm in the most important and glorious task and see to its successful issue.
Protestant Missions as Seen by a Turk· The following is a translation of portions of an unsigned article of striking interest that recently appeared in the Turkish daily, "DjumhOttriet," of Constantinople.
W E HAVE from the first been suspicious of this benevolent, religious, charitable, rich Christian Society that with such boldness stretches out its hands to the Turks. We are much afraid that while they may give us. one, they will take five from us. rt is more than sixty years since this Society has been establishing, in Constantinople, in Roumeli Hissar and Arnaoutkeuy, and in some of the Anatolian vilayets, branches, each under the name of a school. But since the time and circumstances were not very favorable to a • From The MM8wna.r:JI Hera.l4, Boston (December),
propaganda, their energies, especially among Moslem Turks, were very limited. But now, taking advantage of the opportunity given by the freedom resulting from the separation of religion and govern- ment, these zealous Protestants, like marauders, who make away with goods under cover of a tumult, have got the better of us, and are clinging on like crabs.
First they get people to love them, and then they make them novices in their order. Their schools are each a tekyej there the great needs of Jesus (Hazret-i-Isa) are sung. The persuasive abilities of the members of this Society, both men and women, are so great that, like ants caught in a spider's web, people cannot again be rescued from their hands. The greatest secret of their success is love.
The Protestant Young Christians begin with example and lead up to rule; they go from the concrete to the abstract; and this sort of propaganda is much more fatal. They do not proclaim the principles of Protestantism-nay, they do not even talk about religion; but by their attitude, their actions, their manners, by the compassion they show to animals, by the help they give to the poor, by loving what is good, by mercy to the unfortunate, they try to show the loftiness of their religion. The number of innocent Turkish children eaptured by these charms is constantly increasing, and these children are becoming each an American Protestant-nay more, not only a Protestant, but a missionary.
A religious festival, when it assumes the character of a soiree, pleases everybody. Every year they celebrate the Christmas festival in their schools in such an attractive way, that we have witnessed in Shishli, in some well-known families with which we are well acquainted, a celebration of Christmas in the same way and with the same religious rites as it is celebrated by Christians. Nor is it only in Constantinople. We have heard one of the teachers tell about the Christmas festival as observed in the Brousa American School which has been quietly operating there for thirty or forty years past; and our heart was cut to pieces (parcha parcha oldou). 'rhe celebration described took place two years ago; and doubtless it has been going· on thus year by year from the beginlling.
In the Brousa American School, which has not a single foreign student in it, the Christmas celebration is carried on for the Turkish children. Yet nothing is said about religion-oh, no!
We must awake from our sleep, and we must tell these self-invited guests of ours to desist from this ill-considered ambition of theirs. We are much impressed by the news that they are going to open libraries in ,Anatolia, and start clubs; and it is reported that they are going to send to their own institutions in America ten young Turks. We are afraid they are thus going to hit us with our own weapons. A little sagacity! A little caution!
@ @ ~."w…B.,"E_.S<TNtiM~E'"T"Hb"O..,D-"S,,"'* '
EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, 721 MUHLENBURG BLDG., PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Shall the Church take intD aCCDunt the EvanstDn Student CDnference in planning its methDds 'Of wDrk Y In 'Our satisfactiDn with an unchanging message, shall we 'Overlook the necessity fDr frequent changes in. methDd?
The interpretatiDns 'Of the Evanston CDnference, as Vlewed frDm the flDDr, the gallery and the platform, are filled with suggestiDns as t'O methDds 'Of WDrk, the value 'Of which will be apparent tD thDse WhD read wisely.
A secDnd reading 'Of the practical methDds in the February REVIEW will be suggestive tD leaders. They were written befDre the EvanstDn c'Onference and withDut any reference tD it but in the light 'Of its discussiDns and findings they have new meaning.
SOME STUDENT REAOTIONS the place in sDciety which it is de- manding. AGNES SAILER, The knDwledge 'Of what my 'Own student generatiDn is thinking and (Vassar College, 1926).
feeling was the greatest thing I * ' ' ' "
brDught hDme frDm EvanstDn. I was The value 'Of the Evanston con- profDundly impressed with the energy ference t'O the Church and the world of my fellDw-students in their demand will manifest itself, not tDday nor fDr pDwer and expressiDn. I was alsD tDmorrDW in whirlwind enthusiasm impressed with their lack 'Of kn'Owl- fr'Om the students, but will be seen edge as tD the meaning 'Of religiDn thrDugh a periDd 'Of many years. At and the Church, their lack 'Of CDn- the cDnference the students saw the victiDn 'On religiDus questiDns and pDssibility 'Of having a mDre effective their lack 'Of infDrmatiDn 'On SDcial KingdDm-building Church. They saw issues. The gathering presented, tD 'OPpDrtunities 'Of service within the my mind, a tremendDus challenge tD Church and shDwed little of the spirit the Church to interpret and demDn- 'Of remDving themselves from it.
strate Christianity in terms that shall Out 'Of that cDnference, which rep- appeal tD students. It challenged the resented the spirit 'Of the church-gDing Church tD set abDut rectifying its YDuth of the CDuntry, there came the glaring defects, mDst 'Of all th'Ose aris- dynamic urge fDr unity upDn which ing frDm the disunity 'Of denDmi- a real interdenDminatiDnalism can be natiDnalism, if it would h'Old the built. There came, alsD, a feeling 'Of SuppDrt 'Of its yDunger members. It high regard fDr the Orientals in their certainly challenged the students tD native lands. YDuth, bDth fDreign and unceasing effDrt in self-educatiDn and American, sees the danger 'Of taking scientific study as a necessary pre- the trappings 'Of Western civilizatiDn requisite to their determining the as a part 'Of the missionary enterprise.
value and pDssibilities 'Of the Church, TD the individual student it meant and the relatiDn it shDuld have tD the turning pDint tDward different sDcial mDvements. It 'Opened up fields lines 'Of thDUght, a new emphasis in fDr endless research and it shDwed the reading material, and an interest in fearful danger in mere "yDung the Church as it deals with the perti- blDDd" which has not fitted itself fDr nent prDblems befDre it. The student 209 4
became more than ever convinced that societies in one organization; (3) the Church cannot longer be com- students would like to see missionary placent in a world which is struggling activities dissociated from Western to solve the vital social questions civilization and used as an inter- which confront it. change of Christian ideas between the CECIL HEADRICK, home and foreign "fields. .
(Southwestern College, Winfield, Kansas). The significance for the world lies.
'" " " in the fact that the students accepted The hopeful side of the conference the Church as the social conscience consisted in this, that students not and a crusader who should right all limited by strong denominationalism, social wrongs. DOROTHY DYAR, and believing in an open and frank (Union Theological Seminary, New evolution of the Church, are seeking York).
to aid the Church to find the Christ- I< " …
way solution to the complex problems The mere fact that such an interof today. The dangerous side of the denominational conference could occonference consisted in the fact that cur must win for it a significant place students, with a woeful lack of factual in the history of a social program of knowledge of the history, the pu.rpose, . church cooperation. and the problems of the Church, de- A second genuine contribution was sire to create church unity in outward the reemphasis on the effectiveness of organization before the Church is the educational approach to the great unified in spirit and fellowship and to problems which vex our society today. bring about reforms by resolutions The high point of this conference was and legislation before the individuals found, not in its inspirational in that group are converted disciples speeches nor its beautiful resolutions, but in the determination of those who of Jesus Christ. attended to investigate conscientious- ARTHUR JOHNSON, (President of the Lutheran Stndents As· ly the facts of the questions which sociation of America). perplex us and to bring their findings to the attention of their campuses. '* II< '* The significant things for the stu- Those who attended came to realize dent appeared in the facts that (1) that a :few hundred students meeting they found themselves conservative in over a brief period could, after all, comparison to many of their elders; focus only a comparatively small force (2) they failed to face up to the func- on our social ills. Their agreement tion of the Church, insisting only as to a cooperative, systematic, educaupon action in the fields of war, race tional program through the young and industry; and (3) they found people's division of our churches, their most pressing needs to be tapped a great new reservoir of power knowledge of the facts and experi- in affecting public opinion. On immentation in Christian living. portant subjects it may soon be pos- The significant things for the sible to present a uniform program Church lay in the following: (1) It simultaneously before all the student has not successfully brought its at- groups in America! It is to the task tempts, hopes and activities to the of making such cooperative work attention 01 the students; (2) students possible that the Continuation Comare impatient with denominationalism mittee of the conference is dedicated. and a creedal basis of church member- This group deserves the earnest ship but they insist upon the unique prayers of every thoughtful Chrispersonality of Christ as the center of tian. Protestant union and as the leader- RALPH F. BARTON, (University of Missouri).
ship for solution of individual and '" * * social problems. They are willing to The Interdenominational Student forward church 'Unity by attempting Conference has passed but those who to unite all Christian young people's actively participated in its creative
J926] BEST METHODS
thinking or were in sympathy with criticisms of organized Christianity its spirit feel that something unique in the West and of its missionary came into being and that a spirit was activities throughout the non-christian there which will not die until it has world. Some of these indictments are reached the farthest corners of the vague and unfair, but others hit at earth. the very heart of real weakness and For the first time in the history of bring into question the validity of America Christian students, under Christianity's missionary objective.
their own leaders, came together as The rising generation of church mem~ a group to discuss problems peculiar bers is now demanding that we con- to itself. To students the conference fess and correct every wrong aim, was of value, because it gave that practice, and attitude in our mis- group a consciousness of reaching out sionary programs. Otherwise they into untried fields, of pioneering along cannot, and will not, commit them- rugged ways, and of plunging into selves with enthusiasm to the mis- new depths. sionary cause.
Who can estimate all that the in- How fatal it if. then to try to fluence of this conference will mean educate college students on missions to the Church and to the world? An before we allow ourselves to be earnest group of young men and educated by them on what foreign women have 'been challenged to see students-frequently non-christian the Church anew-in the light of a foreign students-are saying, and on youth movement which is trying to what our own students are thinking bring in a new social order. and saying in reply. They may not There is always the danger that know or appreciate the facts of mis- these students will lose their spirit sions or the tremendous contributions of youth and become bound down by and many commendable features of abstract theories, words, and resolu- present-day missions. Some of their tions. Progress will be made, how- demands for reform may be impracti- ever, as long as students are cable or may be nothing more than experimenting with Jesus' way of life what missionary and native church !ind thus strive to bring in the King- leaders have been struggling to realize dom of God. A. ANN SILVER, for some time. Nevertheless, they .. .. .. (Willamctte University, Salem, Oregon). represent the ideas of the coming generation of Christian church mem- WHAT NON-STUDENT DELEGATES bers and unless we present missions SAW AT EVANSTON so as to enlist their intelligent under- standing and cooperation now, the Those who are planning to present Christian enterprise, both at home and missions to college students from now 'abroad, will soon be paying the cost.
on would better read the Commission The Evanston delegates were not Report and Findings on this subject iconoclasts. While they revealed a emanating from the Evanston Con- restless passion for a fellowship with- ference. You will not find there many in the Church of believers more truly facts for the substance of your mes- committed to Jesus' way of life, as a sage, but you will get a very true matter of fact, they were not as understanding of what Christian stu- sweeping in their criticisms of the dents within the Church are thinking generally accepted interpretations of with reference to the methods and missions as I had expected or hoped.
objectives of Christian missions. How- While the missionary addresses were ever you may account for it, the on- disappointing, the Commission Report coming generation sincerely questions on missions was appreciative, forward the validity and future continuance of looking and in my judgment the finest foreign missions as now conducted. product of the conference. It con- They have been hearing all sorts of tained nothing, however, which better
educated volunteers have not known against the Church and missions, but and said ever since the Indianapolis whenever it seemed that steam was Convention. Fortunately, the new up in the boiler and something couraeducational processes within the Vol- geous was about to be done, some one unteer Movement and the recent arose and either suggested another political developments in China, ac- subject for discussion, so averting a companied by radical changes in mis- blow-up, or opened the safety exhaust sionary policies, have increased the by a perfectly harmless appeal for number of students who will be satis- continued loyalty to the Church as is. fied with nothing less than the most modern interpretations of missions, To the degree that the conference and by this I mean such interpreta- lacked positive spiritual conviction it tions as the indigenous Christian also lacked spiritual unity. On only leaders of so-called mission lands and one or two occasions did it manifest the more sympathetic and prophetic the power of united and sustained missionaries there heartily endorse. thinking. The passion of Paul to share Christ in an individual and At no point in the conference were mystic way found expression in more the majority of student delegates impersonal objective and humanienthusiastic about missions. The tarian concerns. In only one address reason may be traced, I believe, to was it suggested that the solution of their general ignorance of what mis- great economic and social problems sions have accomplished and more might call for courageous facing of especially to the absence of intel- individual problems first and for inlectual conviction of what Christ can dividual economic and social sacrifice mean, both to the individual and to to the point of the Cross. This tendthe world. The Jesus of William ency to look out, never in, to objectify Carey is not the Jesus of this student all their problems, and to limit thinkgeneration. As Dr. Albert Parker ing and proposed action to such Fitch pointed out in his summaries manners as can reasonably be atof the discussions again and again, tempted through the Church, con- "you do not know what you believe," stituted the chief weakness of the The essentials of the Christian faith, conference. the central and unique elements of MILTON STAUFFER, the Christian Gospel, the form and substance of religious experience, in- (Educational Secretary of the Student dividual and social, were either so Volunteer Movement for Foreign Mis· vague as to have little meaning for sions) . these students or so detached from personal experience as to possess little In my opinion the Evanston Conif any motivating power. It was the ference was very significant to the Church, not themselves, and not the students who were there, to the spiritual needs of the world that these Church, if it will answer their chalstudents met to consider. As a result lenge, and to the mission boards if the conference registered an intel- they will examine the report prepared lectual commitment to missions but by these students. not an enthusiastic personal commitment. That one thousand of our college youth gave up a half of their Christ- I must not be misunderstood at this mas vacation in order to evaluate the Church as the agency for bringing in point. The conference delegates never a new world order, was in itself a considered for a moment scrapping demonstration of no small significance. the missionary program of the Church Great earnestness and fearlessness any more than they were willing to characterized their wrestIings with scrap the Church itself. There were these problems. Discussions followed criticisms galore and innumberable platform presentations and occupied flashes of just and unjust indictments half the time. These were always
BEST METHODS
'lpirited and eager. Often a dozen or bent on knowing the truth about the twenty students were on their feet at Church and their duty. one time clamoring for the privileges of the fioor. Every point of view was C. G. HOUNSHELL, represented. (Secretary Board of Mlissions, Methodist The opening session was full of Episcopal Church, South). radical and challenging opinions, but the second and third days brought • *' *' out conservative and loyal expression from the body of this large group. Fi.rst and last and throughout the There was no doubt that the Church sessions, a sincere gratitude for such was the chosen agency in the minds a group. Fearless, honest, seeking of these students to do the work for but one goal, the Jesus Way of Life, bringing in the Kingdom of God. But they revealed a deep reverence and only a united Church could do it! earnestness of search in their devo- tional expression which have some- Their vision for the goal was clean times been dishearteningly absent in and logical, but they realized that the assemblies of their elders. they had little experience or reputation to effect a change from denomina- Secondly, an amazement at their tionalism to. organize unity. How- conservatism. One expected an iconoever, they felt they could make a start clastic outburst. One witnessed a fairwith the young people's organizations minded appraisal of what has been of and so voted that they immediately value in the development of the unite and promote a program which Church, and a determination to build would give them facts and experience on that foundation. The conviction both of which they recognized as be- grew. Not only is the future of the ing inadequate. Church safe in their hands but the past is also secure in their keeping. The Church is very blind if sbe does not follow this conference by a well Thirdly, a wistful seeking for an planned effort to see that the students institution through which to work out get hold of the facts and surveys .Jesus' teachings-individually, sowhich they desire and also the op- cially, nationally and internationally. portunity to "learn by doing, " which These students see the forces of evil might involve having a place in the united. They are convinced that a councils of the Church. Youth at divided Church cannot cope with this Evanston asks, " Is there any real united impact. Denominationalism reason why the Church should be a which is cooperative, which seeks only middle-aged institution run by the to bring its peculiar gifts to the en- richment of the whole, may hold the middle aged for the middle aged?" loyalty of this group for a period of How will the Church answer youth? transition to unity. But divisive, It would be disastrous to foster competitive denominationalism is prejudice, segregation and distrust be- anathema to them. Nothing but a tween youth and age within the united Church can channel their Church when the Church is the one sincere, burning passion to apply organization which can unite all of Christ to the needs of the world. life within its fold. "Mistakes ~ " Yes, there were mis- MRS. D. J. FLEMING, takes. But when was youth-or maturity either for that matter- (Representative of the Federation of ever wholly wise? They acknowl- Women's Boards of Foreign Missions edged and one clearly recognized the of North America). superficiality of much of their think- ing, due to their scattered and often *** misguided minds. They themselves emphasized their need of disciplined The most interesting student con- intelligence. One's optimism is based ference that I have ever seen. It was on the confidence that they will deall life. It was composed of a very velop an intellectual conscience equal fine body of students who seem to be
to their undeniable moral conscience. world when we have a divided Without their idealism and strong Church' How can we perpetuate young life the Church is doomed to provincial church groupings and ex- failure. They offer fresh eyes; an pect to achieve the brotherhood of open mind; and a passionate desire men? With the clarity of vision of to follow Jesus regardless of the those unafraid to assume that Christ cost. meant what He said, and to stake For want of these characteristics, their lives upon it, they call for a certain sections of the Church are united Church in deed and in action.
today perishing. For this young Christ could not tolerate war or any- generation, under God's guidance, thing that might lead to it. They one has no fears. For those in the have courage enough to decla,re their Church, so blind as to shut them out, agreement. Industrial relationships one's heart is sick with apprehension. continually flaunt themselves before MRS. CHARLES K. ROYS, an ineffective Church. These students (Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of are prepared to help the churches to Foreign Missions). bring the spiritual power of God into new helpfulness. *** It would be too tragic if the high Who shall know with wllat high vision of Evanston should be allowed hearts came youth to Evanston in the to die in student hearts. May there closing days. of the old year? No one be a greater readiness on the part of in the gallery who ever stands with age to give youth its share in the great ,reverent soul in the presence of God '8 adventure. Why force them to go it manifestations, could fail to bow as alone-or to travel in just the way be heard the voice of another genera- officials do , Would that the doors tion trying to utter its faith in su- of our churches, and our offices, and preme idealism. most of all our hearts, might be swung wide to allow this band with its new These students do not use the awareness of its ideals to inject fresh phrase that dominated the thinking life in worn channels. Take them inof the older groups in other days. to the reverend councils. Give them Not once did one hear of "the evan- tasks that will demand their utmost. gelization of the world in this genera- Satisfy their longing not only for tion. " But they are all on fire to more knowledge but for a real share make Jesus' way of life completely in the task. They would like to paint effective in modern society. There is for you the picture of the Christ they no less of real religious purpose, see and the God they love but it may whether mystical or practical or a be in colors that shock middle-aged combination of the two. They are sensibilities. not so much talking about saving souls as they are struggling to ex- If the sacred places of the Church press the conviction that those who are covered with the dust of long bear the name should really live the decayed ideas, let these eager students life. This is not quite the emphasis bring the wind of their high ideals of the social gospel, ably interpreted and see whether the appearance of by Dr. Rauschenbusch, but more the sanctity may be improved. Let us living contact of Jesus in the lives not force a man-made mold on youth. and affairs of men. This involves less Catch the contagion of its enthusiasm dogma in the Church and more loyalty for Christ '8 ideals and let them use to Jesus. new tools if they will in building the Church and in making the world the To the students, secta.rian dif- Kingdom of God. ferences, denominational lines, petty jealousies and rivalries between LESLIE B. Moss, church bodies, distrust and sllspicion, are all unworthy the spirit of the (Associate Secretary Foreign ]I.{issions Conference of North America). Christ. How can we hope for a united
Woman's Home Mission
EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUtNLAN, 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK MILLSTONES posture is retained quite steadily from (Continued from February issue) twelve to fifteen hours a day, six or seven days a week, for three to six Fann Work weeks, depending on the acreage worked." A survey of the sugar beet fields of Colorado, Nebraska, Michigan, No part of the United States seems Kansas and Wisconsin showed hun- to be without child workers. In three dreds of children at work for long valleys of Washington and Oregon, hours, at thinning, topping, hoeing fruit and hops claim 1803 children and weeding. In one valley there under sixteen. The work is not very were 955 working children under six- hard, but the hours are long-ten teen, 303 of them from five to nine ho111's or more a day for many of years of age. (These were some of them. In one valley the children, who the children under ten, not counted in live there the year around, did not the census.) In another state there lose much school, for school ter:r:ls were 1,358 chIldren from five to SIX- were adjusted to the harvest. ChIlteen at this work. dren in the other two valleys, how- ever suffered a serious loss because Imagine any six-year-old whom you of the change in school terms and know working twelve hours a day. because of their migrations. That is what happens in the beet waCnadleifroinrgnia~hitoldor, enhas(vathrioouussalnydsestoi-f fields. The survey showed that some mated from 5,000 to 20,000), many go· of them averaged even thirteen or ing from crop to crop for nine months fourteen hours while one such baby of the year.. One eleven-year-old boy worked a fifteen-hour day for twenty- said that he had picked "grapefruit, four days. Some children even grapes, oranges, lemons, figs and younger and hundreds just a little olives" and was then "in cotton." older were doing the same kind of work. Besides these crops, work is done in prunes, hops, rice, apricots, almonds, It is done out-of-doors, but never- peaches, beans, rhubarb, potatoes, .theless many of the conditions of cherries, peas, asparagus, tomatoes, work have ~ bad effect on tbe chil- pears, apples, citrus, walnuts and dren. These a.re particularly pressure of work, hours, postures, physical beets. hazards and weather conditions. One "What is the matter?" inquired a little boy described the position for thinning and weeding as "jes' like visitor who saw a sleeping lad moving a dog." An official report says: "All his hands ceaselessly across the sheet, the weight .of the fore part of the body picking at it. The boy's mother anrests on the wrists and palms of the swered, "He does that sometimes hands. We saw wrists that were swol- when he's asleep. He thinks he is len and lame, hands that were sore, picking prunes. " cracked and full of dirt, and knees that were sore, cracked and calloused. Too Much "Vacation"
The face is necessarily very close to Families move from crop to crop the ground, and in many instances by every sort of conveyance. They becomes badlv burned about the fore- may camp in a wagon, in a tent, in head and eyes from the heat and light one of the numerous auto camps, or reflected from the ground. . " One in a truck-their only home, perhaps, thing must not be lost sight or-this for nine months of the year. How can 2Hi
these children ever get to school? The Des Moines, a survey showed that State of California is trying to help 837'0 of the boys had two living parthe situation by a new school law, but ents, and in some cases the parents did it is difficult. Schools have "crop Dot even know the boy was selling. vacation. " The school year may b~ Reports from surveys of street trades gin on August first and five weeks in Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, later be closed for prune picking. In Mobile, Toledo, St. Louis, Chicago, grape districts the closing will come Des Moines and Dallas reveal cona few weeks later. Consequently, as ditions of bad health, gambling, lack families move from crop to crop, the of schooling, thievery, juvenile dechildren go from vacation to vacation. linquency, crooked spines from heavy Sometimes when there is a school in loads, chronic over-fatigue from long session the children are not very wel- hours. A study of one city showed come. Imagine twenty to seventy that these boys, with their late and children of all ages, most of them re- long hours, had three times as much tarded in their studies, suddenly heart trouble as other boys, twice as dumped into a smoothly running much throat trouble, more than twice school, to stay a few weeks and then as much flat foot, and more of other move on. physical defects.
In Virginia we find children work- Not only physically, but morally ing on truck farms. They are em- street trades seem to be dangerous. ployed chiefly in harvesting but som~ In one city there were twenty-three help in preparation of the soil, plant- men employing boys in street trades. ing and cultivating. A twelve-year- Thirteen of these men had extensive old whose day was typical for thesr. criminal records. Statistics show that children plowed ten hours-from a large per cent of children in reform seven to noon, from one to six. One schools come from street trades. For quarter OIf the children who were instance, in forty-six reformatories of harvesting strawberries, beans and New York and Pennsylvania this peas were under ten years of age. amounted to anywhere from 63~1r, to Four fiftbs of them were under four- 777'0 of the inmates. teen. A quarter of the children missed over half of the school term. What 01' It?
Truck farms and small fruit keep These are a few of the facts of the children busy in Maryland, Pennsyl- way American children are working, vania, Delaware and New Jersey, too. not in one state or one section, but Most of them work ten hours or more throughout the United States. Over a day. The United States Children's a million children from ten to fifteen Bureau has studied similar work in years old are engaged in gainful oc- North Dakota, Michigan and else- cupations, plus many under ten, and where-finding much the same con- others who were not counted in the dition everywhere. census. Why do we allow this to go on7 Street Trades Children's Code CommissioIL~, No one knows how many children school laws, mothers' pensions, regaare working at street trades in the lation of work in local communities, United States-not the boys who own state child labor laws, a national child their own paper routes, but the wan- labor law-all have been suggested dering youngsters you can see on as helps in freeing the children from many city streets until late in the today's bondage of toil. Do you know night-bootblacks, newsboys, messen- the laws of your own State relatin6' ger boys, beggars, sellers of chewing to child labor' The Children's B11reau gum, pencils and so on. A newsboy is of the United States Department of proverbially supporting a widowed Labor, Washington, D. C. will send mother, but investigations reveal that this information on request. this is not true in many cases. In
WOMAN '8 HOME MISSION BULLETIN
We can find the facts, study pro- mean working for better child labor posed remedies, and help to put prae- or school attendance laws and adetical measures in operation. Facts quate provision for their enforcement. may be secured from loeal officials, It may involve the establishment of a and from state departments of labor, education and health, as well as from system of State aid for dependent the Children's Bureau at Washing- children to make it possible for them ton. to stay in school. It is likely to re- "There are no labor problems quire careful scrutiny of various canhere," said a group of women in a didates for election. And whatever small town. Whereupon one woman else we do, we can let other people proceeded to find out how true that know the facts and we can help creat.e statement was–and from week to the public opinion that will aboli<ili week surprising facts which she dis- child labor from the United States. covered appeared in church calendars and other places. Would people be Occupations of Children, 1920 CeJUlUIJ surprised to know that in your community there are-boys and girls em- Children Children ployed ~ Are they in occupations 10-15 10-13 which offer advancement or in "blind ye3.rs of age, years of age. alley" jobs f At what age do the chil- inclusive inclusive dren leave school? At what school grade T Must they have certificates to Agriculture, forestry, go to work? Do they have health ex- and animal hus· aminations Y What kind of citizens are you send- bandry ……… . 647,30'9 328,958 ing to other states? What kind are Extraction of minerthey sending to you 1 A set of stand- als . _.. _…… __ . 7,191 ards carefully worked out by people 647 who have been stUdying the needs of children has been published by the Manufacturing an d United States Children '8 Bureau. mechanical indus- Some of these are: tries ………. . 185,337 9,473 At least nine months of school attendance annually for children from seven to six· Transportation …. _ 18,912 1,899 teen. Trade ………… . 63,368 17,213 Age minimum of sixteen except for certain occupations in vacation periods. Public Service (not Prohibition of employment of minors in elsewhere classi- dangerous, unhelllthful or hazardous oc· cupations, or at work which will retard fied) ……….. . 1,130 153 their proper physical and moral develop· ment. Professional service. 3,465 621 Physical examination showing a child to be Domestic and per- of normal development and physically fit for the work at which he is to be em- sonal service ….. 54,00'6 12,172 ployed. Clerical occupations. 80',140' 6,927 Minors not to be employed over eight honrs a day or forty-four hours a week. Total ……… 1,0'60,858 378,0'63 No night work for minors. Prevalence of Child Labor, 1920 Census Cblldren 10 to 15 years of age in- clusive. engae::ed in Divisions of United States gainful occuoa.tions New England ……….. 59,239 Middle Atlantic ……… 131,541 East North Central ….. l()D,8D1 West North Central …. _ 57,90'6 South Atlantic ………. 273,981 East South Centl·al ….•. 221,342 West South Central …… 184,267 Mountain . _…… ___ . _. . 15,612 Pacific … _. __ . . . . . . . . . . 16,169 .A'sk the Children's Bureau to send United States …… _. . . . 1,0'60',858 you the whole set of Minimum Stand- Wh..t Will You Do About It?
ards for Children Entering Employ- "The children pass through the period of childhood but once, and ment and compare conditions in your their needs cannot be met with ten years hence. Next year it will be anlocality with these standards. . other group of children. There is an immediacy about a child welfare pro- It will not make much difference gram that exists with reference to no to the children that we know facts: otber. "-Grace Abbott.
unless we do something. This may EDITED BY MISS ELLA D. MACLAURIN, 25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY A TRADITION TO BE ESTAB- profit of about $4 a month in respect LISHED of each child. These children are fre- Compiled from Many Sources by quently most miserably housed and fed. They receive no money and JEAN GRIGSBY PAXTON When the history of the Christian their conditions of life are practically Church in China is written one of the those of slavery." most significant and dramatic chapters will undoubtedly be that which , 'Cotton Mills. Young children, describes the industrial situation and who are supposed to be working, but the way in which the Church, in the who have been overcome by fatigue beginning of its history as a national or who have taken advantage of the body, set itself to change these con- absence of adequate supervision, lie ditions. In sober earnest this young asleep in every corner, some in the Church faced the facts, disheartening open, others hidden in baskets under as they wer,e, recognized its responsi- a covering of raw cotton. The disbility for changing conditions and set cipline appears to be lax, and those in to work steadily and patiently but charge seem to wink at much that with high courage upon the task. goes on in this respect. The Commis- sion noticed that on its advent a And this task was no small one. warning whistle was given and many An adequate description of the in- of the children were awakened by dustrial world of China in the year their immediate neighbours and hur- 1922, or 1926 for that matter, can not ried back to the machines. The conbe given here. The one really official tract system of employment above dedocument on the subject ever pub- scribed is common.
lished, dealing however with only one "Silk Filatures. Nearly all the em- phase, that of child labor in the Inter- ployees in the silk filatures are women national Settlement of Shanghai, has and young girls. Generally speaking, been called hy a seasoned observer of one child is employed for every two labor conditions, the most melancholy adults. The children brush the cosocial document of history. The fol- coons and prepare them for the lowing brief ",,-uotations will serve to reelers by removing the waste and' so show why this ,report makes melan- exposing the silk thread. This opercholy reading: ation is performed over basins con- taining nearly boiling water with "The average earnings of a young which the fingers of the children frechild are unusually not more than quently and necessarily come in contwenty silver cents a day. The con- tact, thereby becoming roughened and tract system of employment is com- unsightly. mon. Under this system the native contractor supplies the requisite "Match Factories. Certain operalabour and is paid on production.
This system is obviously open to tions, such as boxing the matches and grave abuse. The Commission heard making up parcels of boxes, can be evidence to the effect that in some in- and are performed by quite young stances contractors obtain young chil- children. As little as nine copper dren from the country districts, pay- cents is sometimes paid to a child for ing the parents $2 a month for the a day's work. Members of the Com- services of each child. By employing mission visited one factory of consid- such children in the mills and fac- crable size. Young children, 8er- tories the contractor is aole to make a tainly not more than five years of 218 age, were to be seen working with al- parts of China, and of the slow formost incredible rapidity." mation of the public opinion which will have to be created before these Set side by side with the above par- can be changed. The Chinese people like concrete and practical things. agraphs one from another report, this On the other hand, their social unit for thousands of years has been the time a published trade report: family, not the community, and this has formed a deep racial instinct not , 'The profits of the fac- to 'interfere' in matters of public concern. The awakening of the social tory again surpassed $1,000,000. For conscience in this country will thus have both its helps and its handicaps. the past two years it has been running night and day, with scarcely any "In spite of a century or so of sointermission. The working hours are cial reform in the West, we who are from 5: 30 a. m., to 5: 30 p. m. and foreign also bring certain handicaps to this situation in China. It is not from 5: 30 p. m. to 5: 30 a. m. re- always clear how far the Church pectively. No meals are supplied by should consider its responsibility in the factory. It will be seen that the economic or political issues to extend. company is in an exceptionally favor- There is also no established tradition on the part of the mission boards for able position. With the raw product sending experienced social workers to at their doors, an abundant and ab- the Orient on the same scale as those surdly cheap labor supply to draw on, sent for education, medicine and evanand no vexatious factory laws to ob- gelism. To help to change this tradiserve, it is not surprising that their tion is one of the most fascinating problems of the Industrial Commitannual profits. should have exceeded tee of the National Christian Council their total capital on at least three for China. occasions. " "While this educational process To change such conditions was the goes on in many cities and schools throughout China, one special issue job the Church set for itself. What has been lifted to prominence, for has been done~ A little leaflet called friends in many countries to watch. "Threads," the story of the indus- , No child labor' was taken as the most trial work which the Young Women's appealing and definite of the stand- Christian Association of China has ards adopted by the National Chris- tian Conference, to be put into effect. done or has participated in, gives a The International Settlement of part at least of the answer to that Shanghai itself was chosen as the best question: laboratory for this experiment, since the condition of China's own govern- "Most of the Christian agencies in ment made it impossible to try to en- force Peking's p,rovisional labor China are united in a National Chris- standards in Chinese territory. tian Council which in a good many "The Shanghai Municipal Council realms is able to act for the Protes- was found to be willing to form a tant Church as a whole. commission to consider how child labor could gradually be reduced in "At the great National Christian the Settlement. Dame Adelaide An- derson, for many years Chief Lady Conference first called in Shanghai, Factory Inspector for the British May, 1922, the Church went on rec- Government, came to China for ten montbs to contribut~ of her technical ord as opposed to child labor, and believing in the necessity of one day's rest in seven and of provision for the health and safety of industrial workers. Considering that this con- ference in a sense marked the begin- ning of the Chinese Christian Church, this was rather an astonishing sevenleague step to take at the beginning.
"Ever since these great new subjects were hrought before the Church at the Conference of 192121, this Industrial Committee has been at work along the lines of research and study of industrial conditions in many
skill and ripe human wisdom to this JAPAN commission. A carefully chosen group of Chinese and foreign men Miss Y. Yumada, secretary of the Society and women worked hard for a year for the Harmonization of Labor and Capand then brought in a report (the re- ital. port refer,red to above) which if accepted would gradually raise the Women's Federation, the Peace Society, working age to twelve years, achieve the W. C. T. U., and the Shanghailanders' a gradual reduction of the shockingly Association of Tokyo. long working hours, and provide for inspection. The recommendations Mr. Bunji SUBuki, president of the Genwere mild in themselves, but so much eral Federation of Labor in Japan. better than existing conditions that they were all that could be asked for President and Mrs. Y. Sakamoto, Japa- nese people of Tung Wen College, Shanghai. at first." No small result of this work was INDIA the way in which for the first time the Mr. N. M. Joshi of the Servants of India eyes of the world were turned upon Society. labor conditions in China. To quote again from "Threads": '''l'he civi- Tata Sons of Bombay, the largest emlized world: will no longer endure that ployer of labor in India. our comfort and possessions should be built upon the bodies of little chil- FRANCE dren. The word that poured in to Shanghai during the spring campaign The French National Council of Women, of 1925 from backers all around the French Women's Alliance, and French world was nothing short of amazing. Young Women's Christian Assoelation. It :forms so large a part of the weaving which is irresistibly bringing the The French Women's Union for the count,ries together in a common con- League of Nations. cern for those who work by hand. that a roll-call of these names should be M. Justin Godert, and M. George Scelles, Minister and Secretary of the Department given: of Labor.
GREAT BRITAIN M. P. Appell, of the University. of Paris. Dr. P. Armand-DelilIe, of the Interna- The Manchester (England) Chamber of tional Association for Child Welfare. Commerce. M. Wilfred Monod for the Faculty of Protestant Theology. The British Section of the Women's In- M. Paul Fuzier for the Protestant Comternational Lea!!ue. mittee on Friendly Relations with Strangers. M. Emile Borel, ex-minister of finance. The Continuation Committee of the great M. Max Lazard, of the Labor Party. En",lish Christian ()mference, "Copec." M. Fontaine, president of the Administra- tive Council of the International Labor The National Y. W. C. A. of Great Brit- Bureau in Geneva. ain, and the World's Committee of the same organization. Early in the summer it was stated in Parliament that the British Gov- AUSTRALIA ernment had been keenly interested in the attempt to regulate industrial Mr. W. M. Hughes, ex-Prime Minister of conditions in Shanghai: and officials Au<tralia. of the Government of the United States turned to the report of this The Chamber of Commeree of Wellington, Child Labor Commission :fQr authen- New Zealand. tic information regarding the indus- trial conditions that are a part of the THE UNITED STATES international situation that came to a crisis during the past summer. The National Y. W. C. A. Miss Marv Anilerson, director of the The major question for the churches W'omen 's Bu~eau of the government Del'Mt- of the United States which are coment of 'Ulbor. operating in the great Christian Miss Graee Abbott, heai! of the Children's movement of China is whether they Bureau of the Department of Labor. are facing all of the implications of such a relationship and are prepared CZEOHO-SI,OV iK1A to accept their share in the respon- ~ibility for conditions in China and "fiss Alice Masaryk, daugltter of the pres· the United States that are binding i~ont of Czecho-fllovAkia. men, women and littlp children upon the wheel of the machine. The National Y. W. C. A. in Prague.
FROM MANY
NORTH AMERICA nett, chairman, Mrs. Katherine Silver- The Knighthood of Youth thorn and Mrs. John Ferguson, vice- chairmen, will report at the opening THIS has been organized by the Na- session Sunday afternoon. Christian tional Child Welfare Association women must face the present situato help meet the increase of lawless- tion with a sense of g,rave responsiness among school children of school bility. It is not a question of law age in this country. It is to be under based on the 18th Amendment alone the direction of Charles M. De Forest, but a question of reverence for all and its aims are thus described: law without which this Democracy is not safe and is without power to aid Our public school authorities are frankly the world. Further information may admitting that their curriculum does not ,be obtained from the chairman of the make provision for direct training of char- Washington Committee, Mrs. Wm. L. acter, and it is' plain that parents need help Darby, Washington Hotel, Washingin this direction. The Knighthood of Youth ton, D. C. supplements the efforts of parents and teachers in the home and the school. It New York City operates entirely through existing agencies, furnishing them with methods and materials which have been tried and proven to be successful. The cardinal principle of the Knighthood of Y,outh is the development of NEW YORK is America's largest, individual character through the practice of wealthiest, busiest and most fordaily exercises which form habits of honesty, eign city and its greatest foreign misc~urage, purity, thrift, loyalty, helpfulness sion field. The average population is and other virtues. It is intended primarily 17,841 a square mile, that of London for children between seven and eleven whose is 10,789 a square mile. Out of a work is checked by parent or teacher, a daily total population of 5,500,000 in greatrecord being kept of success or failure, the er New York nearly 2,000,000 are reward of degrees of Knighthood being foreign born, 2,250,000 have one or given for standards attained. This move- both parents foreign born, only 1,- ment is being extended to the remotest, 000,000 are of native born parents. In humblest home in the mountain or on the other words about 76.4 per cent of farm as well as in the city-all it requires the popUlation is foreign or of foreign is a child, and a parent or teacher to help direct the young knight in his quest for character.
born parentage. There nre 136,000 Women'. Law Enforeement Conven- English in the city; 584,000 Germans, tion more than the popUlation of Dresden; THE Woman's National Commit- more Austrians than in any city of tee for Law Enforcement has Austria, save Vienna; more Hungaricalled a Convention in Washington, ans than in any Hungarian city ex- D. C., April 11th-13th in the Hall of cept Budapest; more Norwegians than Nations, Washington Hotel. Nine in Stavanger, the fourth largest city commissions of women representing of Norway, and more Swedes than in various organizations and sections of Nor,rkoping, the fourth largest city of the country will present reports and Sweden; 56,000 Roumanians; 23,000 resolutions on the Legal, Political, Greeks; more Italians than in any Educational, Social, Patriotic and city of Italy, including Rome; 14,000 Religious aspects of Law Observance Spanish; 48,000 French; 200 unclas- and Enforcement. The Commis..<;ion . sified nationalities-Danes, Holland- of Church women, Mrs. Fred S. Ben- ers, Belgians, and others. It has twice 221
as many Irish as in Dublin; 250,000 part of this distribution was free and more Russians than in Leningrad; the remaining copies sold at cost or and there are more Jews than there less. Over 58,000 volumes were diswere in Palestine in the reign of King tributed to immigrants arriving at Solomon. Ellis Island and 120,000 to sailors and seamen from all parts of the world. Moody Bible Institute The missionaries of the Society visited the hospitals, the prisons and the in- THIS school in Chicago, which not stitutions for the poor and helpless. only carries on the work but also There were foreign-speaking workers perpetuates the name of its honored who carried the Scriptures to the founder, Dwight L. Moody, has sent Italians, Greeks, Germans, Russians, more than 1,300 students as mission- Scandinavians, and those of many aries into foreign fields alone, since it other nationalities. During the year was organized. Last year it sent out the Society published or obtained sixty. Under fifty-seven societies and from printing presses in Europe gosboards 959 graduates of the Institute pel portions in large type in two lanare now at work in thirty-seven mis- guages, printed in parallel columns. sion fields. At present the student The Society now has sixteen foreign body includes representatives of every languages thus published parallel state in the Union and twenty-six for- with the English. Recently the Goseign countries. There have been as pel of John in Esthonian-English was many as twenty-two denominations published, being the first time in hisrepresented in a single year. The In- tory that any part of the· Bible has stitute has three distinct branches, been printed in Esthonian and Engwith a dean at the head of each-the lish in parallel columns. day school, with an enrolment last year of oyer 1,000; the evening school, Demand for BraUle Bibles with 700 students, and a correspondence school with an enrolment of 7,200. THE American Bible Society re- ports an incident which illustrates To Train City Miosionaries the importance of the special work which it is doing in supplying Bibles GARRETT Biblical Institute, Chi- for blind readers. A blind man in cago, will inaugurate a new de- Kansas had a New Testament in partment next year by setting up a American Braille to give away, and training department for men who will through the Ziegler Magazine for the devote their lives to city missionary blind, recently, he offered it to any work. Rev. F. O. Beck and Rev. Erik blind person who would pay for the L. Sonderby will d1rect this depart- transportation. Responses came from ment. Mr. Beck was the promoter of thirty-four individuals from thirteen the recent religious and social survey states eagerly offering to do this. A of St. I~ouis. The funds for the new family of three blind sisters received department will be provided by the the books. The thirty-three other aphome missions society of the denomi- plicants were sorely disappointed. nation, the Chicago home missionary To supply these thirty-four New Tessociety and the institute. taments would cost $1,190. The New Testament in American Braille takes The New York Bible Society five volumes averaging $7 each. Many requests come for the Serip- THE report of the General Secre- tures in American Braille, though tary Rev. George William Carter, for the past five years this system has D.D., at the annual meeting showed not been taught in the schools; Rethe largest distribution of the Scrip- vis'ed Braille supplanting it. And tures ever made by the New York Bi- yet, here were thirty-four adults, sixble Society. During the year 1925, teen men, and eighteen women, un- 958,461 copies of the Scriptures in 67 languages were circulated. A large
1!t26J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
supplied with the New Testament, of Harlem's biggest needs was a sort and all eagerly appealing for it. of thought stabilizer-a place where its different groups could come, ex- Y. M. C. A. and the Churches change ideas, and give vent to their suppressed feelings and desires-and A MOVEMENT to promote cooper- the North Harlem Community Forum ation between the Young Men's was formed, which 'has been held C h r is t ian Association and the weekly in the auditorium of the Pubchurches is being fostered through lic Library. It is a member of the the Counselling Commission of the Open Forum National Council and Protestant Churches of the United has been represented at its annual States of America. This Commission meeting at Chautauqua, New York. is composed of representatives of The National Council, with headquareighteen Protestant communions, who .ters in Boston, Mass., has, on the are to confer at least once a year with strength of the accomplishments of Association leaders on problems of re- the Harlem Forum, openly endorsed lationship which are national in scope the Forum movement among. colored and which pertain to all denomina- people and urges that in every Negro tions. The National Council of the community open forums be estab- Y. M. C. A. has established a Depll!rt- lished as a means of furthering better ment of Relations with Church and understanding between the races. Interchurch' Bodies, of which Dr. David G. Latshaw is the secretary. No Race Problem Here Dr. John R. Mott said at the recent meeting of the Commission: ' , The SCHOOLS of the Hampton-Tuskebetter blending of the forces of our gee type, after half a century, are great communions with those of this showing marvelous results. Brunschild of the Churches, the Y. M. C. wick County, Virginia, once one of A., is of very great importance, so the most backward and unprogressive that, as a result of our united impact sections of the "black belt" of that upon the great areas of need and op- state, in which the Negroes were in portunity among the young men and large majority, is an example. Two boys of our nation and of the coun- white newspapers of that section, both tries with which we are cooperating, with strong Southern sympathies, rewe may achieve a larger result for cently discussed the result of these Christ and the Church and for their educational' institutions. The Petersprog,ress in the world." burg Index-Appeal says: "The Ne- groes of 'New Brunswick, in matters The Negro Forum Movement of thrift, low criminal record, owner- ship of land and ability to command H ARLEM, a district of New York respect and good will of their neigh- which covers an area of less than bors, stand second to none. The low one square mile, represents the largest clriminal expense, despite the fact that aggregation of Negroes in America- the county had the greatest prepona city within a city, as cosmopolitan derance of Negro over white populaand varied in its composition as the tion of any in the state and the furgreat city itself. Persons of color ther fact that the county jail has stood from France, Germany, India, Africa, empty for six months at a time, are Australia, and all other pa,rts of the cumulative evidence of the wonderworld, even Black Jews direct from ful material and social progress in Palestine, contribute to this city of this county." The Brunswick Ga- 150,000 souls. There are as many dif- zette says: "There is no race problem ferent schools of thought, and every in our county. The colored people shade of opinion is represented. and white people of this county live on terms of mutual respect and co- Five years ago Miss Julia Lathers, operation. The report of the auditor an enthusiast of the Ford Hall Forum in Boston, conceived the idea that one
of public accounts shows the splendid an experiment, the simplest meal in material progress made. This is a the middle of the morning, oatmeal wonderful record for a people who a and milk, or bread and cocoa. They few years back were mostly renters were going' to try it for three months and tenants. "-United Presbyterian. and judge the effect, but at the end of a month the children were found to LATIN AMERICA have gained in weight fmm that simple fare, and the teacher reported Guatemala Girls' School an incredible impmvement in their work. One small boy begged to come THE Guatemala Mission of the to school on Saturday. "Do you like Presbyterian Church conducts in school so much 1" "No" he said Quezaltenango a school for girls which honestly, "but I want my 'breakfast.'; is greatly in need of funds for a new The missionary found that in this building. ., The school is a potent child's home there were nine chilmeans of evangelization. Not a year dren, and all the food they had in a passes that important results are not day was coffee and a banana or a obtained through the conversion of sweet potato. pupils who came prejudiced against us. Our schools are first and fore- Bolivia'. Real Need most evangelistic. But the fine results are not limited year by year to REV. and Mrs. H. S. Hillyer, Cadevotional life and Biblical knowl- nadian Baptist missionaries in edge, but are so patent in the best Bolivia, write as follows of their probcultural work as well, that the school lems: "The Bolivian is thoroughly has accredited itself immensely in accustomed to hypocrisy in religion. public opinion. This is why the quar- It is as natural to him as the air he ters hitherto used are becoming breathes. When a baptized believer crowded to suffocation, and why so slips back into his' old life, he and all many of the best families, including his neighbors think that nothing una Minister of Education, send their usual has. happened. The problem we children to our school by preference. face is-how to make the church mem- The school is a demonstrated success, bers realize and feel deeply that the not an untried hypothesis. It has reputation and future of evangelical proved what a good evangelical school work in Bolivia lies largely with them. can do. The Mission sees it. The In Bolivia I feel that I must see a Government sees it. The public sees man practically every day for a year it, and we all are waiting for it to before I begin to think about baptizhave a better chance to do its best." ing him. At home we ask ourselves the question: 'Does the candidate un- Porto Rican Children derstand what baptism means Y' In Bolivia we ask: 'Does the candidate A FTER four hundred years of the fully understand that it means to live Spanish regime in Porto Rico, daily for years the Christian life?' ninety-seven per cent of the people of Our progress in Bolivia does not dethat island were illiterate. Twenty- pend upon baptisms but upon real one years of the American regime re- conversions. " duced this to sixty-five per cent. The Government, the missions, and Ma- East Indians in Guiana sonic orders are realizing the need and increasing the schools. The pov- REV. J. B. Cropper, D.D., now reperty of the people is a drawback. For resenting the new United Church example, one of the teachers found of Canada, began work in 1896 among that the children could work only an the 25,000 East Indians in British hour or two in the morning before Guiana, which he speaks of as the they became listless. Members of the only representative of the British American Protestant Episcopal con- Empire on the South American congregation in San Juan provided, as
NEWS FROM: MANY LANDS
tinent. He writes: "The progress to accommodate a children's congre- of the work, considering the many gation of approximately 500. With set-backs it has had, has under God's the exception of the minister, Rev. C.
blessing been satisfactory. There are G. Hutchison, the organization of the over sixty points at which groups of church will be composed entirely of Christians have been organized and boys and girls. The roof has been regular Sabbath services are con- painted to represent an eastern night ducted. Upwards of thirty elemen- sky, with twinkling golden stars, and tary schools have been established, of famous artists have contributed pic- which twenty-five are recognized by tures which will be hung on the walls.
the Government and receive mainte- The children will elect their own nance grants. A high school for boys church officers. As most of them will another for girls and a training home come from homes of the poor, a spe- for girls have also been established. cial envelope has been devised, in The two former are, like the majority which those who feel that they are un- of the elementary schools, recognized able to give money are asked to en- and aided by the Government." close a note of thanks for some bene- fit or joy received during the week.
CarajBII Indians in Brazil A day nursery will be conducted and STARTING out from the mission it is hoped to add a playground and station of the Evangelical Union welfare center. About £60,000 haa of South America at Goyaz, Brazil, been expended on the enterprise.
Rev. Mr. Wilding recently visited a tribe of Indians called Carajas, whom Jews and Christians Confer O he describes as naked and painted VER a thousand people applied'. for tickets for a conference of: savages. He says: "The Indians gave us a great welcome, the chief Jews and Christians held recently at bringing all his family to spend a day the Wesleyan Church, ¥anchester with us. Our gramophone was a Square, London, to discuss the sub- great surprise and pleasure to them jects "The Contribution of Religion all, only I did wish they could have to the Improvement of Race Rela- understood the hymns which were be- tions," "Native Races, a Sacred ing played. We long for the day Trust," and "Anti-Semitism." The when they shall know Him, whom to afternoon conference, referring to re- know is life eternal. As the time ligion and race problems in China, went on the Indians came from day Africa and India, was full of interest, to day to help us with the work of and provoked a considerable number making a clearing and soon many of short speeches by members of the trees were felled and building was be- audience. An underlying thought gun. A Roman Catholic priest vis- seemed to be present in the minds of ited us shortly after our a,rrival and everyone, namely the belief in man '8 endeavored to turn the Indians reasonableness and desire for right- against us. His attempt was not suc- eousness, no matter to what religion, cessful, however, as the Indians main- race or color he may belong. The eve- tained that we were their friends." ning session on Anti-Semitism was opened by a challenging address by EUROPE Dr. Montefiore, followed by a state- AChildren's Cllurch in London ment of the Christian point of view.
There was no lack of frankness on CHURCH planned exclusively either side, and in the speeches that for children is being completed followed every shade of opinion was in London by the West Ham Central expressed, including that of a Russian Mission, one of the most successful Jewish convert in the Anglican priest- Baptist enterprises in that city. An hood, a Zionist, and a Hungarian old tabernacle is being transformed Jew.
S
English Youth and Temperance ant, pure, attractive portrait of the synoptic gospels is unknown; very THERE has been organized in Eng- few French people have ever contem- plated it. In some quarters the his- . . land a "Young Methodist Temper- torical existence of Jesus is doubted :ance Campaign," in which the Meth- -more often it is practically igodist youth are asked to accept re- nored." sponsibility for the fight against the drink evil as a definite part of their Jewish Converts in Poland Christian service. Meetings are be- MAX SPALENICE writes to the ing organized throughout the United J ewish Missionary Herald from Kingdom. Young men and women Cracow that another Hebrew Chriswill preside; one speaker will show tian in Poland has been led to offer the evil of drink and another will ap- himself for preparation for Christian peal to the young folks between fif- work in the future. "The life," he teen and thirty to arm for the de- says, "of a truly converted young cisive fight "in this generation. " Jew here is by no means an easy one. The proposition is clinched by the Day after day he has to meet relatives signing of the following "obliga- and friends who think it their duty to tion" : draw him back to Judaism. Offers of help and alternate threats of perse- . By the help of God, I enter now into the cution are continually held out to make him renounce his Christian twofofd Obligation of Abstinence and Serv- faith. They consider it a meritorious ice. . deed to 'reclaim' such a convert to his former Jewish persuasion. 'I I will abstain from the use of alcoholic would give the world,' one Jew said, 'if I could win him back to our (Jewbeverages, that body, mind and soul may ish) religion.' 'This man is a per- fect mystery' another Jew said, 'to serve Christ's Kingdom at their highest. go about telling his people about Christ without fearing the conse- I will serve as I have opportunity, study- quences to himself and to his nearest relations.' " ing to make my service effective, and I will Bibles Again for Russia set Temperance Reform in the forefront of I T HAS been extremely difficult, if .my claim and duty as a citizen. Amen. not impossible, for the last four or five years to get Bibles into Russia. "Why should not the' Youth Move- A few shipments for which permis- sion was secured by Russians from ment of America,' if it is looking their Government have been admitfor a task, try its hand at this re- ted. All others have been stopped, form Y How could they help their whether sent by way of the Black Sea, country as well Y" comments The the Caucasus, China or the Pacific Christian Advocate. ports. Permission, however, now has been granted to print considerable Religious Needs of France editions at the government printing offices in Moscow and Leningrad. WRITING on the problem of evan- 'rhere are no plates at hand from gelization in France, Pastor Con- which to print these Scriptures and nier says: "The French nation does the changes in spelling required by not know the Bible. By law all re- the action of the Government would ligious instruction has been banished make old plates valueless, if availfrom the state schools. The Catholic able. The American Bible Society Church has thus in her hands almost the entire charge of the religious education oil the children of the country. They learn a catechism, but nothing from the Bible or the gospels. The New Testament is almost unknown in France. The French people do not know the Person of Jesus. Since they do not read the gospels, they only know the remote picture, often conventional and far too dogmatically expressed, which is given in the catechism, or by the preaching and art of the Catholic Church. But the radi-
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
has offered to pay the cost of making education for girls as well as boys, a new set of plates, amounting to and the abolition of polygamy. In $10,000 or $15,000. The version is to 1922 the members of this Committee be the same and the general appear- succeeded in obtaining a law raising ance of the book will be the same as the marriageable age for girls to sixthe earlier editions. teen. They are advocating greater freedom of association for young men AFRICA and women before marriage.
Moslem Heresy Trial The College at Achimota THE controversy st,irred up in REFERENCE has been made in Cairo by the trial for heresy of a the REVIEW to the new Prince of professor in Al Azhar, the great Mo- Wales College at Achimota, on the hammedan university, was reported Gold Coast, and to Dr. J. K. Aggrey, in the November REVIEW. It will be the distinguished African member of remembered that Sheikh Ali Abdel the Phelps-Stokes Commission, who had written a book entitled "Islam is to be a member of its faculty. In and the Basis of Government," in a recent address in London, Dr. Agwhich he argued for the use of pro- grey outlined as follows some of the gressive Islamic principles as against plans for the institution: a literal appl~cation of the temporal ideas of Mahomet's day, including a With some fifty teachers selected from the divorce of civil and religious author- five continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, ity. This brought consternation to America, and Australia, and with accommothe legalists, with the resultant de- dation for about eight hundred students, it mand for his dismissaL The Minister will be the aim of Achimota to correct the of Justice, however, refused to re- mistakes which have been made in the edumove him from AI Azhar, and his cational systems of Africa. It will take the own resignation was thereupon de- African boy and girl at the age of six and manded. Now word comes that two carry them through the kindergarten to the progressive members of the Egyptian university courses. It will give to the Africabinet have resigned as a protest can, not only professional training, but also against the enforced resignation of technical courses that will teach both boys the Minister of Justice. Thus inde- and girls the dignity of labor. The imporpendence of thought is increasing tance of the Gold Coast Government's exeven in the strongholds of Islam. periment at Achimota is that it will retain and improve the best things in Airica and Women's Movement in Egypt couple them with the best things Western. The pupils in this government COllege will A GREAT change is taking place be trained to be Christian citizens. in woman's position in the public life of Egypt. She is now taking An "Ekitelo" in the Congo part, in every phase of Egyptian life, and it is no unusual occurrence for THIS is the name given by the peoleading Egyptian newspapers to de- ple, says a missionary of the Disvote space to the feminine question. ciples Church in the Congo, to a gath- It is not uncommon to see unveiled ering of evangelists and teachers from Egyptian women with male members thirty-nine outstations and the candiof their families in the hotels of Eng- dates for baptism. She describes the land and Europe. The Church Mis- latest of these occasions as follows: sionary Review, London, tells of a "The Ekitelo opened with a song and women's committee that has been prayer-service and then the handformed in Egypt by prominent Egyp- shaking began. Many of those prestian ladies who take a leading part in ent had never before shaken the hand both political and social movements. of a white person and naturally they Their program includes equality be- desired that privilege. Then followed tween men and women, compulsory a week of school, the evangelists and teachers receiving special training for their work, and those to be baptized meeting daily for Christian teaching.
There was also a school for women life, for real good literature. Your and .girls each afternoon. Imagine Society has already given two magthe joy of the Sunday communion nificent things to the Uganda Mission. service where 227 were partaking for We have received, first of all, "The the :first time and dedicating their Pilgrim's Progress." All through lives to Christian living; here where Uganda you will find that" The Pil- Christian living means a complete grim's Progress" is one of the most change in all the old ways of living treasured possessions of that country. and thinking." The other book that the Religious Tract Society has given to Uganda is Moslem Lea.rners in Nigeria the hymn book. It did touch my heart when I heard these black sub- MR. AND Mrs. Merryweather of jects singing: the Sudan Interior Mission send an appeal for prayer for the Moslems Jesus loves me, this I know of Northern Nigeria, a mission field made especially difficult by the cli- For the Bible tells me so. mate, as well as by Moslem hostility. They write: "Splendid missionaries You get to know the languages of of the C. M. S. and other societies the peoples of Central Africa, but you have labored here and gone. Good serve a long time before you meet the work has been done, the major por- word which means 'Love.' The only tion of the Scriptures translated and way in which we can interpret love other books to hand; and yet there to them is by actions. ' , prevails almost complete indifference to all. The most ho·peful feature lies Mo:ffat's House Preserved in there being a desire on the part of many to hear the Word of God. We I T IS proposed to put the historic have had an average attendance of buildings at Kuruman, which eighteen Moslems every Sunday for served for fifty years as the home of years, who apparently love it. The Robert Moffat during his period of Spirit of God has blessed it to their devoted service to Africa, in such orconviction, and shown them their need der and repair as will enable African of the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet the missionaries to go there for short pefear of man holds them from surren- ;riods of rest. It was here that Livingder, and a public confession. Our stone met and fell in love with Mary head rnallam (Moslem priest) once Moffat. It is felt that Moffat's memsaid to us: 'In my heart I know in ory will be fittingly perpetuated if it whom I believe, but the moment I is made possible for the Kuruman confess I know they will get me out house to be utilized in future as the of the way by poisoning.' This ex- Moffat Rest House. plains why there are so few converts. " THE NEAR EAST Books for Central Africa. A New Calendar for Turkey VEN. Archdeacon Lloyd, speaking EACH month seems to bring a re- at the annual meeting of the Re- port of some new step in the modligious Tract Society, told of meeting ernization of Turkey. The latest is in a railway train a young Baganda, the passage by the Angora Governwho spent the day reading a book by ment of a law requiring the use of the Charles Garvice, which he said was "International Calendair" for all about "how English people make civic purposes (though the religious love. " The Archdeacon continued: calendar remains unchanged.) This adds 582 years to the old-style date "A tremendous demand is :coming and makes the current year 1926, in- stead of 1344. The Turkish year, as from Central Africa, where I have is generally known, is dated from the ~e!lll,stationed for thirty years of my Hegira, the flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina.
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
"It will be interesting," comments versity training which will enable The ChristiJan Advocate, "to see them to serve theM- country more effiwhether official Turkish documents ciently. Now he wishes to send ten will be dated Anno Domini, in the students to the American University year of Our Lord. But whether they of Beirut on condition that they resay so or not, they will be dated from ceive scholarships while there. In his the Christian era. Such a change of letter Efraim Twoldo Medhen appeals mental attitude as this reform indi- to President Dodge as follows: "Will cates is almost incomprehensible, in you not allow Abyssinia to partake view of the history that lies back of together with other Eastern countries the two calendars." of the enlightenment which the Uni- versity is giving? Let me hope that Work for Turkish Women you will consider this appeal and will help me in my efforts. " MOUTIE SABRI, a former student at the Constantinople Woman's The Bible in the Holy Land College who has been directress of the Girls' Normal School in Stamboul for I T IS now.sixty-six years since a the past two years, has been sent to Bible depot was opened by the England by the Turkish Government British and Foreign Bible Society in to study kindergarten methods. On a small room in Jerusalem. Rarely her return she is to organize and can the shop be entered today withsuperintend kindergartens throughout out finding some would-be purchasers Turkey. The demand for college examining the books. F'requently the, graduates as teachers is so great in place is a perfect Babel of tongues, for' 'l'urkey at present that many grad- its thirty thousand volumes are uates of the Constantinople Woman's printed in nearly if not quite forty College who are married are teaching different languages. The shop is no part time in the schools, as they feel longer a small room, and at present that they should do their part in fur- a fine building on an excellent and thering the movement for education eligible site is in process of erection. which is sweeping the country. Bed- '1'he circulation of the Scriptures last rie Veyssi Chukri of the class of 1917, year amounted to 18,085 copies. The who has since studied medicine in colporteur is a Christian Arab, Habib Germany, has just been called back Khouri, who has many interesting exfrom Paris by the Government and periences. In Bethlehem he went to given the position of examining phy- the shop of a carpenter, who, when he' sician at one of the largest Turkish stated that he had the Holy Book that orphanages. told the story of "the maiden's son of Bethlehem," made a purchase, and Abyssinian Appeal to Beirut at once began to read. Among others who came in at the time was a little PRESIDENT Bayard Dodge of the boy, who said to the colporteur, "You' American University of Beirut has please come to my house with me, for received a request from Efraim Twol- my mother has much money, and she do Medhen, an alumnus of the Uni- will surely buy a book." On ar,rival versity, who is now Vice-Administra- at the house, the woman welcomed the tor of the Teferi Makonnen School, colporteur and purchased copies for Addis ~baba, .A!byssinia, requesting herself and several others. scholarships for ten young men from that country. His Imperial Highness Persian Bible Conference Ras Teferi, heir apparent to the throne of Abyssinia, built and main- AN all-Persian interchurch' Bible' tains this school. Prince Ras Teferi conference, held in Haniadan, thE) has been sending young men to the first of its kind, is described by Miss United States, to different countries Florence E. Murray as having been." in Europe and to Egypt to secure uni- remarkable in many ways. First, the
personnel: in addition to the voting the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. delegates there were many others who A. One of the party writes of these attended the meetings, contributing villages: "They lie many miles from from their rich experience to the clis- the beaten path. They are almost incussion of the many problems. Some accessible. In some of the villagel'l. had come out of Islam over forty white faces had never been seen, and years ago and some were new to the the first night drove many of the peofaith. Tabriz was represented by a ple into hiding. Usually we could perchurch member just returned from a suade them that we were harmlesl'l. year at Princeton, and Urumia by a and could get an audience for the gos- Syrian now living in Hamadan. pel message. But often the women There were converts from Islam and would remain where they could see Judaism, together. with Armenians, and not be seen. In one village an Syrians and Americans. Another old woman asked what we put on our notable feature was that most of the faces to make them white. Sixty of work was done by the Christian na- these villages ,reached with the Word tionals; only three missionaries sat of Life–only sixty-and almost two among the twenty-four voting dele- hundred in which the Gospel has gates. Unity was the keynote in dis- never been preached are still waiting cussion and prayer-the unity found -waiting for us!" only in Christ. Christ in a Hindu Temple Moslem Converts in Persia A STEREOPTICON lecture on the THE Bishop in Persia (Dr. Linton) life of Chril'l.t was delivered re- writes to the Church Missionary cently under unusual conditions in Society reporting the baptism of Madras City. The missionary entered seventeen adult converts from Islam, a community in the city where the sixteen of them on one day. This con- lecture was expected, but no hall was stitutes a fresh record in the Mission. available and the only open space The Bishop says that the answers of suitable was in front of a small Hindu the candidates to his questions were temple. He asked permission of the most cheering. For instance, one temple attendant who gladly gave it, woman 'whose husband is a very and when the screen was set up in the bigoted Moslem was asked whether entrance of the temple it was found she realized that she would have to that the small light burning before confess Christ before her husband. the idol made just enough of a glow She said: "I have not waited for on the screen behind which it was, to baptism to do that!" One man who render the pictures indistinct. Again was asked what bad things he saw in he referred to the attendant, who very Islam to make him want to leave it, kindly extinguished the flickering replied: "It was not because of any light before his god so that people badness or goodness in Islam. I saw might see more clearly the life and the Lord. He pulled me out of the character of Jesus Christ. The picfire, .and sent me to Isfahan to learn tures were very successful and the of Him." Asked how he knew it was audience was much impressed by the the Lord, he said: "If you had seen gospel story. Him as I saw Him, you would have no doubt that it was He." Bible Class of Hindu Men INDIA AND CEYLON THIS past year Bible classes in the Ewing Christian College in Alla- Unreached Villages in India habad, India, have been grouped so that Christians, Moslems and Hindus A PARTY of three missionaries and should be segregated. Furthermore, five Indian associates visited Hindus who come from other than about sixty remote villages in a sec- mission schools are to be taught seption of the Western India Mission of
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
arately. "Such a class" writes one slave-owners to set free their slaves, a of the missionary staff, "have I- response which indeed is so satisfacsixty-three men. Row after row, ex- tory that it is hoped that at an early tending to the walls of a large room, date slavery in Nepal will be comgreets me daily. They all have Eng- pletely abolished. The work involved lish testaments, and I have given in compensating the owners is provthem Luke's Gospel (which we ing heavier than had been anticipated. study), in the vernacular. I suppose In his great speech announcing his there are still those who feel that edu- determination to secure the total abolcational work is not evangelistic. ition of slavery, which the Mahara,ja They might discover that they are in made in November of last year, he error, could they but present the stated: "I have .already dedicated a Evangel to that class." sum of fourteen lakhs of rupees for the work, and I shall do my best to Outcastes in Dornakal secure as much more as will be neces- sary." THIS diocese in southern India, fa- mous in missionary annals because The sum already spent in compenof its Indian bishop, Azariah, is doing sation is fifty lakhs of rupees, or about a great work among Indian "un- $1,650,000, the major part of which touchables, " described as follows by was a personal gift of His Highness, Bishop Whitehead, formerly of Madras: ' 'We see a strong Christian Church and School in Ceylon Church of 120,000 members drawn almost exclusively from the dutcastes, ONE factor in the life of the Ceylon increasing at the rate of 12,000 a Mission of the American Board, year, with over 1,000 primary schools, which is of especial importance, is the thirteen boarding-schools, two high increasing number of Tamil Chrisschools, and one college, educating in tians, fruit of the mission work, conall over 24,000 outcaste Christian pu- nected with the churches, who are pils and staffed by over 1,000 teachers, showing loyal interest in the Chrisc all raised up from the outcastes. And tian movement, taking active part this large progressive church is min- therein themselves and giving promistered to and governed by about ise of increasing leadership, as the eighty ordained priests and deacons, years go by. The fruit of the hundrawn from the outcastes, parochial, dred years of mission work in .Jaffua district, and diocesan councils, main- is plentiful and rewarding. Jaffna ly composed of Indian members College was never in more vigorous or drawn from the same community, the fruitful life than today, with its large whole presided over by an Indian student body of six hundred, with Bishop." many new buildings or refitted build- ings which Principal Bicknell has se- Abolition of Slavery in Nepal cured, and with its direct relation to the eight high schools scattered over THE remarkable action taken by Jafl'na which are tributaries to the the Maharaja of Nepal, a native college. The monthly magazine pubstate on the Indian frontier, in pro- lished by the college shows the loyal claiming freedom for the more than regard had for it by the students and 50,000 slaves in his kingdom was re- the "old boys "-a spirit such as is ported in the July, 1925, REVIEW, felt in college circles in America. and has been widelv commented on The girls' school at Uduvil is doing as elsewhere. The grea:t task of putting fine a work in its way for the young this proclamation into effect is well women, and also has a body of gradon its way to completion. The Ma- uates who, as wives and mothers in a haraja announces that he is receiving multitude of homes and as teachers in an encouraging response to the ap- village schools throughout Jaffna, peal which he made to the 15,000 help to spread its fame.
CHINA Christian, Dr. Paul Fugh, of Oregon The Church and Its Money University, Yale and Cornell.
T HE views of a Chinese Christian worker in Shensi Province, a grad- Chinese Bible Encyclopaedia uate of St. John's College, Shanghai, THE publication of "The Bible Enon the present anti-Christian move- cyclopaedia for the Chinese ment in China are quoted in The Mis- Church, " which has been prepared sion Fiel(!/" a Church of England pa- under the direction of Rev. Henry M. per. The Chinese are against the Woods, D.D., is announced in The Christian Chinese Church, he de- Christian Observer. Most of the maclares, because, instead of being inde- terial for it was translated by perpendent, it accepts .money from for- mission of the respective publisher~ eigners. He pleads, therefore, that of conservative Bible dictionaries and self-support should be thorough, and encyclopaedias in the English lanthat a new system should be adopted guage; some notable articles were which should abandon the Western prepared by scholars in China, Amerplan of building useless "cathedrals ica and other countries; and to these and costly churches," saying: latter, credit has been given in the in- dex section of the work. A large part We sbould do far better to spend our of the material was translated from money on rebuilding our factories on hy- the International Standard Bible Engienic principles, building good houses to be cyclopaedia, published some years ago let at a low rental to the laboring classes, by the Howard-Scverance Company. teaching them habits of cleanliness, etc. We read in the anti·Christian diatribes against An Ex_Convict Preacher Christianity that it is the forerunner of im· perialism, the herald of capitalism, and the I MPRISONED in Peking on charge despoiler of the nation's spirit. Now if the of embezzling his employers' Church in China would follow out the plan funds, Paul Wang first heard of I have suggested, and take nothing from Christ when he received a testament foreign funds for salaries, make no appeal from George T. B. Davis of the Pocket for SUbscriptions, and abstain from erecting great buildings and buying land, rumors would cease, doubts and suspicions would be set at rest.
Rural Paper for Chinese Testament League, who was distribu- ting them in all the prisons in the AN additional result of the mass city. Wang soon was converted and education movement in China is baptized, and upon his release he ad- the output of helpful literature based opted the garment of a priest to indi- on the one thousand characters. As cate that he had abandoned secular soon as the one·time illiterate finishes interests. He secured a wheelbarrow his four-months' course he can read and a stock of books and took to the books on health, agriculture, history, .road, preaching as he went. He had t.ravel, t;ivics, Christianity and other reached Paotingfu when the fighting lines. "One hour a day for four then going on made further travel in- months has opened to him the door to advisable, so he set to work to support East and West, earth and heaven, and himself with his hands. Six days he has given him means of endless self- labors at making tin water kettles and improvement." Rev. Hugh Hubbard, on Sunday he shuts up shop and goes missionary of the American Board at out pre.aching. Recently he went to Paotingfu, has started a rural paper Peking at his own expense to solicit called The Farmer, which aims at his funds from wealthy relatives for uplift. Afforestation, seed-selection, building an addition to the village pest-eradication, hygiene, citizenship, chapel property. But his eyes are news, songs,. games are the part of turned toward the far places and as the new life it brings every ten days, soon as conditions permit he wants to at a cost of eight cents per year. It work his way west, where preachers is edited by a fine young Chinese are few.-The Continent.
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Chinese Boy Teaehers come with contrition and tears that THE Methodist Episcopal Church they could not spe~k. Miss Wang was has twenty-six missionaries at very quiet and beautiful as she diwork in the city of Chungking, in the rected the meeting. Then came our far-away, picturesque province of preaching service. After the sermon Szechwan. There is a thriving insti- I asked Miss Wang to speak a few tutional church, where preaching minutes to the girls and ask them to services or lectures draw crowds for stand for Christ and to join the five evenings of every week. A night Church."
school, instruction in health and sanitation, mothers' classes, and other Japanese Christians in Dairen U forms of education are going on. In NDER the direction of Dr. Frank Herron Smith, in charge of the and around the city this little band of missionaries operate eighteen lower work of the Methodist Episcopal primary schools, with one thousand Church among the Japanese in Korea pupils. The Chungking higher pri- and in Manchuria, a new church mary school gives instruction to more building is to be erected in Dairen, than one hundred bright little Chi- Manchuria, as soon as funds are avail- nese. The Chungking mission high able. There are, 70,000 Japanese school holds one hundred and sixty laboring in this new port city of the more young' people of Szechwan. Orient. There is a nucleus of 125 And a group of thirty boys, them- Japanese members of this church and selves in the high school, moved by they are giving largely of their means the missionary spirit that pervades towards its erection. According to the place, have organized classes for Dr. Smith, these Japanese Christians, children of the very poor. Almost with ,their comparatively meager ninety per cent of the graduates of wages, give more for the support and the Chungking mission high school spread of Christian teaching than do have taken up some form of Chris- church members of the United States.
tian service .under the direction of the Last year the thirty members of the missionaries. Chemulpo Church gave an average of $88.50 each, while the giving of the Chinese Woman Evangelist full and preparatory members of the MISS Wang" a Chinese Christian church averaged $51 each. The young woman, recently con- church members in a still poorer comducted meetings among the girls of munity gave $33 each. The Japanese the McTyeire School in Shanghai. pastor at Chemulpo receives only $35 Rev. J. H. Berckman, of the M. E. per month.
Church South, writes: "Everyone is thrilled with the meeting which Miss Colportage in Manchuria T Wang conducted. She has had a won- HE National Bible Society of Scotland reports the successful derful experience herself, tilled with difficulties and persecution, and com- tour of a Japanese colporteur na,med ing from a wealthy family was able Maruyama among his countrymen in to understand the many experiences Manchuria, of whom there are said to of the students of McTyeire. She be 150,000. He made his headquar- spoke in Mandarin and so I did not ters at the Y. M. C. A. building, in understand her, but some of the Dairen, and inserted in two Man- teachers told me that she convinced churian daily newspapers a notice to the girls of their sins. On Easter the effect that he had been sent by the morning, during the Sunday-school Bible House in Kobe, for the purpose hour Miss Wang held a testimony of selling copies of the Holy Scrip- meeting and I arrived in time to see tures, which he was able to supply in different girls stand up to testify and Japanese, English, German, French, confess their sins who were so over- Russian, Korean, Chinese, Latin,
Greek, Hebrew, and Esperanto. The this latest meeting of the Synod to South Manchurian Railway granted have all such doubt absolutely re- Mr. Maruyama a second-class pass, moved. We foreign missionaries have with free transportation of all the a place as I special members,' as they books he had with him. He was well are called here, something like 'correceived wherever he went, visiting responding members' in our home churches, custom houses, banks, in- Synod. The way is open, however, surance offices, foundries, oil and for a missionary to become a full sugar factories, mines, temples, and member of the Japan Synod by transshrines, hospitals and schools. ferring his membership as a minister from the Church in the United States JAPAN-KOREA to the Church in Japan. In the mat- ter of self-support the Church of Militarism in Japanese Schools Christ in Japan has progressed not as far as in that of self-government, but REV. Otis Cary, D.D., whose opin- still in the former also she is making ion on anything in Japan carries steady progress. All the so-called weight, reports that there as in Amer- 'organized churches' are entirely selfica students are objecting to required supporting, and beyond that they conmilitary training. "The Educational tribute more or less to the spread of Department has lately ordered that the Gospel in Japan proper and in army ex-officers shall be assigned to her dependencies. " the schools. Students of Waseda University were refused permission to AProhibition in Japan hold a meeting for protest against the MONTHLY magazine published system; but a few days later they by the W. C. T. U. of Japan, were allowed to have one for lectures called Fujin Shimpo (Woman's Progon I Criticism of Imperialism.' The ress), draws attention to the growing officials of the Tokyo Imperial Uni- force of prohibition sen tim e n t versity are reported to be greatly ex- throughout the country. University cited over what may be the effect of students have organized themselves a meeting that the students of the So- into Anti-liquor Federations and emciological Department h a v e an- ba.rked on campaigns for a dry Japan. nounced for I Criticism of Military At the inauguration of one such cam- Education. ' In certain Christian paign, Mr. Kazutaka Ito, director of schools students are expressing oppo- the Tokyo Y. M. C. A., discussed the sition to the system. The newspapers new demands for sobriety which had are discussing the matter, most 'of resulted from the growing emphasis them being against requiring stu- upon amateur and professional athdents to drill, but some say that such letics. "Alcohol and physical efficirequirements in American schools ency," he said, "do not go together. show that progressive nations find The two prohibition countries, Finthem necessary. Thus in this as in land and the United States, led in the other things our example is used to recent Olympic games, and if Japan justify militarism." wants to hold her own among the na- tions, she must give up sake." Mr. A Self-Governing Church Inouye, a prominent social welfare worker, is quoted as saying, "Na- A MEETING in Tokyo of the tional realization that prohibition is "Church of Christ in Japan"- needed is behind the enthusiasm with the organization in connection with which all shades and varieties of prowhich all the Presbyterian and Re- hibition movements are supported by formed Missions in Japan are work- the Government and virtually all soing-is described by Rev. A. Oltmans, cial welfare organizations in this D.D., who says: "If anyone were in country. The prohibition movement doubt as to whether the Church of Christ in Japan is really self-governing or not, he needed but to attend
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
is no longer the monopoly of religious country, it is becoming fashionable to workers, because intelligent people wear a cross. The wearers are almost everywhere have begun to manifest all young. Men will :fix the symbol to particular interest in the advance of their watch-chain or sometimes hide the movement." it in their pockets attached to a cord. Women wear it iii many ways. The Social Evil in Japan Student Marriage Problems COMMENTING on the campaign for social purity now in progress F E. C. WILLIAMS writes in The in Japan, the Indwn Witness, pub- • Korea Mission Field of a student lished in Lucknow, goes on to say: conference at which the subject of di- ,'Of all the great nations none has vorce was discussed from a Christian hitherto been so indifferent to the so- standpoint, and goes on to give the cial evil as the Japanese. Prostitu- following facts about the 144 boys in tion has been recognized as an avenue his own school. Eighty of them were of employment open to girls of poor married, and their average age at but respectable families through marriage was fifteen years. Their which they can not only earn a living eighty wives were classified according for themselves but provide for their to their education: None at all thirtyparents or solve a financial difficulty two (cannot even read Korean script), for the family. It has been a business knowledge of Korean script thirtytransaction and Japanese mothers two, Chinese letters ten, attending or have sold their daughters into houses graduated from primary school eight, of ill fame with no sense of shame. and none who were attending or are Girls who have willingly complied graduates of high school. The last with their parents' desires in this boy married was the only one who matter have been applauded. Con- had married a graduate of a pritact with the rest of the world has, mary school. He concludes: however, effected a change. New ideals have been absorbed and adhe- Surely one way to make for fewer dision to the League of Nations has re- vorces and happier marriages is to close the sulted in the official raising of the intellectual chasm betweeu the young men question of abolishing the system and their wives. This cau be done in several which has hitherto been protected by ways: later marriages where the young man the law." and young woman will have more to say re- garding the engagement, better facilities Japanese Wearing Crones for the instructiou of those who are now married, aud a different attitude on the part A LADY who has worked for of the parents. Pray aud work for better twenty years under the Church educated wives in Korea. Missionary Society in Japan, referring to the increasing influence of Student Service in Korea Christianity in that country, writes that after the earthquake of Septem- LAST year, at a student conference ber, 1923, it was not only easy to in Seoul, a young man volunbuild churches, it was also easy to teered to go back to his home and sell Bibles. Even second-hand New start a vacation Bible school. He had Testaments sent up from the country no money, but the pastor of the districts sold like hot cakes at night church in his home town, anxious to after meetings in the church in the encourage his spirit, gave him per- Fukugawa slums. She goes on to say mission to state his plans at the that the sale of Bibles and New Tes- church service. He was so much in taments inecreases yearly. That the earnest that the members that very New Testament is the best selling morning raised about $8.00 and gave book in Japan may seem strange; him the use of the church building for but, stranger still for a non-Christian the school. Here are the results: sixty children were kept busy at use- ful work and interesting games for six weeks. Fifty children learned to
read and write; they had never had elder pastors and deacons. You are such an opportunity before, for they never wise until you are old in Sawere too poor even to buy a pencil. moa." Many children learned to know Jesus as a friend, and have since that time Audralian Ohurch Union Plans become regular Sunday-school members. This is only an example of what FOLLOWING the example of their many students are doing in Korea for fellow-Christians in Canada, Presthe furtherance of God's Kingdom. byterians, Methodists and Congrega- tionalists in Australia have been ISLANDS OF THE SEA considering a plan of union on a de- fined basis of doctrine and polity. Filipino Lepers' Prayer List Though this plan has recently been defeated, the Australian Christian MRS. Frederick Jansen, American World states that the discussions have Presbyterian missionary in the been carried on in "an admirable Philippines, told at the annual meet- spirit of brotherliness" and aning of the American Mission to nounces that a standing committee Lepers of a prayer list made out by has been appointed for the purpose the Christians in the leper colony at of investigating "the origin and his- Culion. One would expect this list to tory of the doctrines, practices and consist of those among their own num- institutions of the Christian comber who especially need the prayers munions represented at the conferof Christians in this country, but in– ence. " Among other matters dealt stead it contains the names of those with by the Melbourne Conference in other lands for whom they are were the question of Sunday observpraying, and they ask Mrs. Jansen to ance, also the Church's attitude tosend the names of people she meets ward the marriage laws. here who especially need prayers. Some of the names listed are Marshal GENERAL Feng of China, Dr. McKean, the missionary from Siam who has visited ADlerican Mission to Lepers them, and the Shanghai Christians. AT THE annual meeting of this or- SaDloan Church Organization ganization, whose work is known all over the world, it was stated that THE London Missionary Society the economical management of funds has been at work for a century in makes it possible for the Mission to Samoa. Alexander Hough, in a ,recent own and manage, in conjunction with address before the Congregational the British Society, seventy hospitals Union in England, said of the present and asylums, besides aiding in special status of the Church there: "Samoa ways many others. The receipts for is nominally Christian. Every vil- the year 1925 were $169,729, a gain lage has its pastor, and every church of $23,000 over those of 1924. Dr. H. is self-supporting. Sometimes the A. Lichtwardt, of the American Pressupport seems very small: but each byterian Hospital in Meshed, Persia, village provides a house, food, and a told about a group of 120 lepers who plantation of coconuts. At the end live in extreme poverty and neglect of the year the village gives the pas- about two miles from his hospital, tor a gift in money. The Samoan whom he wishes to help with weekly group of ten islands is divided into medical treatments. These lepers seven districts, each of which is com- lack the initiative to come two miles plete in itself and is divided into to the hospital for treatment, so he smaller sub-districts. One of the fea- proposes, with financial help from the tures of the Samoan Church is the Mission to Lepers, to go to them, with Native Advisory Council composed of both medicine and the comfort of Christian teaching.
Unfinished Task of Foreign Missions. One lecture is devoted to the pres-
Robert E. Speer. 8vo. 351 pp. $2.75. ent economic and religious conditions New York. 1926. in India-their changes, difficulties, These lectures, deliveJ'ed in Janu- problems and outlook. What will be ary in Richmond, Virginia, and pub- the result of the Gandhi movement Y lished the same month in New York, What is the future before the outgive a very clear, up-to-date view of castes~ What influence is the Chris- the Christian missionary task in Asia tian Church in India exerting on· the and South America from an intelli- national li:feY What is to be the fu- gent, evangelical viewpoint. The ture of Hinduism and other religions world has been changing in the past of India ~ century and Dr. Speer shows that Buddhism is considered especially P,rotestant missionary methods have as found in Siam and the influence of also changed, though the motive and Christ is shown in personal testi- purpose remain true to those enun- monies of former Buddhists who have ciated by Christ and His apostles. come to know Him as their divine The non-Christian world has been Lord and ever present and powerful permeated with Christian influence Saviour.
and in many lands national churches Islam, the most determined oppo- have grown strong, but Dr. Speer nent of Christianity, is pictured as shows why the foreign missionary seen in Persia where there is an open task is still far from completed. The door to the Gospel and where Christ first lecture deals with the missionary has won many true followers. It is enterprise as an obligation resting on stimulating and encouraging to read all Christians and one in which we the testimonies of a number of con- have the assurance of victory. In verts from Islam who tell of their ex- spite of the prevailing unrest, con- periences in their old faith and in the Hicts, selfishness and sin, there is new. An evangelist who was edu- abundant reason for faith in the final cated in Urumia and has been preach- successful outcome. This lecture ing in Persia for a quarter of a cen- alone makes the book worthy of a tury, describes the remarkable change thoughtful reading and re-reading. that is taking place in Persian Mo- It contains not the author's opinion hammedans-even among the ecclesi- only but also the views of Asiatics astics.
who express the convictiop that the South America is given a full chap- Gospel of Christ is worthy of suprem- ter of fifty pages, filled with facts and acy and that Christ is conquering. testimonies gathered by the author in Dr. Speer draws largely from his his recent visit when attending the own observations and contacts made Montevideo Congress. The educa- during his recent tour through Asi- tional, social and religious progress atic countries and he describes some are clearly set forth. The evidence of the changes that have taken place produced on the attitude of the peo- since he made a similar tour twenty- pIe toward religion is especially five years ago. The material ~nd eco- worthy of notice, as is the report on nomic improvements, the progress in "The Evangelical Movement in South political self-government and the in- America. "
creased advantages are especially no- The "Unfinished Task" and "The ticeable. Here, too, some remarkable World's Need," in the two final chap- testimonies are quoted from Asiatics. ters; reveal the reason for continued 237
and increased effort on the part of quate religious experience and clear Christians at home to establish a convictions for a teacher of religion.
strong, Christian Church with edu- The chapters on the pupil point out cated evangelical leaders in all non- the great opportunity for molding the Christian lands. The most intelligent future generation; discuss the laws Christian leaders themselves in these of development, the characteristics of lands appeal for an increase rather various ages (very briefly), the gen- than for a diminution of missionary eral laws of instruction, mental tests, effort. The unfinished task is evan- the awakening of interest and the gelistic and educational, and is seen guidance of the imagination, emo- in the unoccupied territory in many tions and will or power of choice.
lands, as well as in the unreached The aim of teaching is shown to be classes, and in the need for Christ to the proper development of this power permeate all departments of life and of choice in following the true Way thought. of Life.
These lectures broaden one's hori- Parents and teachers at home and zon, add to knowledge, deepen sym- abroad will find it worth while to pathy, strengthen faith, and intensify study with Miss Slattery.
missionary zeal. What to Teach and How to Reaoh the You Can Learn to Teach. Margaret Slat- Young. George Goodman. 12mo. 246 tery. 12md. 223 pp. $1.35. Boston. pp. 3s net. 1925.
1925. Workers among young people will If you are a young teacher, inexpe- find here much of value on the prep- rienced 01' planning to teach, you will aration of addresses, the art of public- like this book. Miss Slattery is an ex- speaking, story telling, the use of perienced teacher of teachers and illustrations, and subjects for re- knows how to express technical prin- ligious addresses.
ciples in. language that novices will Directory of Protestant Missions in China. understand. She is intensely practi- Edited for the National Christian Coun· cal and draws on her wide experience eil. 451 pp. $3.00. Kwang Hsueh Pub. for a wealth of illustrative material. .co. Shanghai. 1925.
In this volume, which displaces her Like former editions, this Directory earlier "Talks with Teacher Training contains a list of the missions and mis- Classes, ' , she first discusses the sionaries of all Protestant societies working in China. They are classiteacher and then the pupil, unfolding fied under societies, by provinces and the pdnciples and aims especially of stations and alphabetically by name. religious teaching. There is compar- This compilation has involved an imatively little on method, oL.tside of mense amount of labor and its inforsome suggestions as to the project mation is of great value for reference. method of learning by doing. Questions for study and discussion follow Christian Work in South America. The Official Report of the Montevideo Coneach chapter and there is a rather in- gress. Editorial Committee, Robert E. adequate list of books for additional Speer, S. G. Inman anil Frank K. Sanders. study. 2 volumes. 12mo. 494 and 473 pp.
In the chapters on the teacher, Miss Slattery encourages every normal per- $4.00 net. New York. 1925.
son with the thought that he or she For those interested in the progress can learn to teach. The characteris- and problems of missionary work in tics of a teacher, the will to teach, the the southern continent, these volumes use of emotions, the development of furnish a mine of information and powers of observation, of memory and much of inspiration. They contain a reason, of imagination and religious full report of the Montevideo Con- experience are all dealt with help- gress, which was significant for the fully. Even more might be said large place given to the views of in regard to the necessity for ade- South Americans themselves in the reports of Commissions and in the dis- ing that of the Christian Jew, Catholic cussions. Sacramentarian, East and West, and The reports prepared in advance, the Protestant views, from the Refor- by special experts, and the discussions mation to the present day. His thesis based on them deal with the unoccu- is that salvation is the progressive ful- pied fields, the Indian population, fillment of personality. In developing education, evangelism, social move- it b.e considers its bearing on sin, for- ments and health. There are also (in giveness, the atonement, the world to Volume II) special reports on the come, and the significance of Jesus'
evangelical movement, the situation personality. The fact that the book in different countries and the attitude is a recasting of one's thinking puts of the people toward the evangelical a burden on the writer to generate a Church. The problems, policies and new and enthusia8tic spirit for the future program for Christian work carrying out of his evangelistic pur- deal with the Church and the com- pose-in which respect he fails.
munity, religious education, litera- J. F. R.
ture, the relation between native and A Daughter of the Samurai. Etsu Inagaki. Sugimoto. 8vo. 314 pp. $3.00. New foreign workers, cooperation and York. 1925. unity.
These two volumes are a vast store- This fascinating biogmphy is at house of facts that will repay careful the same time a most interesting book study. on Japan. .After a careful reading we Holy Places and Precious Promises. L. R. do not see where criticism could be Scarborough. 179 pp. $1.60. New York. fairly offered. The life story of this 1924. daughter of the Samurai begins with The president and professor of her childhood home and experiences, goes on through her young womanevangelism in the Southwestern Bap- hood, her conversion to Christianity, tist Theological Seminary gives here her coming to America, her marriage a record of sacred associations formed to a Japanese who was already in this country, the birth of two children, on a trip through Palestine in 1923. the death of her husband, and her The combination of impressions and varied experiences and observations in America, where she is now Instruccomments on scripture passages does tor in Japanese Language and His- tory in Columbia University, New not give much that is new, yet the York. This delightful book takes us book is of earnest devotional char- straight to the heart of the Japanese and makes vivid their lives, their moacter. The writer says: "My purpose tives, their manners and customs, their patriotism and their religion. is to lead you from the places dear to Of course all Japanese homes and all Christian hearts to the dearer and women are not like those described in this book, but neither are all Amermore precious doctrines gathering about these places." He takes the reader from Bethlehem to Nazareth, the Horns of Hattin, Capernaum, Gethsemane, Calvary, Joseph's Tomb, and Olivet. J. F. R.
Christian Salvation. George Cross. $2.50. ican homes and worn e n ideal.
254 pages. ,Chicago. 1925. Madame Sugimoto is a high type of This work opens' a1 an unusually the intelligent and cultured women of able and stimulating study of salva- Japan. In this time of prevalent in- tion. It offers a fresh treatment of ternational prejudices and suspicions, old theological ideas, putting its it is good to read a book like this with formulre in new terms in a way that its gracious account of the develop- quickens the reader's mind and often ment of a character which would challenges to deeper thinking. Dr_ justly be considered beautiful and Cross examines critically the various winning in any land. The English Christian theories of salvation, includ- style is so fine that the reader marvels that it could have been acquired by imals, utensils, implements and other one who had to learn our language objects associated with Bible times. after arriving at young womanhood. .Any discriminating student will find As a gift book f(} a young lady, this here a wealth of information but· volume could not easily be surpassed. many Bible scholars will dissent from some of the positions taken. A. J. B.
The New Standard Dible Diotionary. The Aim of Jesus Christ. A Critical In- quiry for the General Reader. William Edited by Melanchthon W. JaeobuB, D.D., Prof. Edward E. Nourse and Dr. Andrew }'orbes Cooley. 211 pp. $2.00. New C. Zenos. Maps and Illustrations. Quar- York. 1925, to. 989 pp. $7.50 cloth; $8.50 buckram; Professor Cooley, instructor in $12.5(}, three quarters morocco. Thumb Philosophy in Columbia, seeks to show index 75 cents extra. New York and the purpose of Jesus in His life and London. 1926. work for the benefit of the non-tech- nical reader. The book is written en- .A scholarly, informing and evan- tirely from the modernist point of view. Scientific positivism the author ~ooaelluicealtoBaibnlye Dictionary is of immense calls it. The ethical aim is to recon- Bible student, lea,rned or struct Jesus' objective and so throw light on present-day problems, espeunlearned. The editors of this new cially those relating to the issues of civilization, the Church, its mission volume are well known for their in- and duty. While well written it is doubtful if the interpretation of telligent scholarship and Christian scripture passages will be accepted by any but pronounced modernists. faith. Their work includes brief, but J. F. R. helpful, information on points of his- tory, geography, biography, arche- ology and social life in Bible lands as well as facts relating to books of the Bible. doctrines, s~cts and religious problems. The volume is not ultra- conservative, or ultra-liberal, but seeks to present the views of reverent Psychology and The Church. By Various students who accept many of the con- Writers. 203 pp. $1.50. New York.
clusions of the so-called "higher crit- 1925.
ics," especially on Old Testament Pastors of churches and Bible questions. The story of Creation, for teachers will find it helpful to read instance, is considered as containing two different accounts by separate and re-read this book. Each of the authors and as not in harmony with five chapters is an essay on some well modern science. The idea of the nat- defined phase of the general theme; "The Psychological Standpoint and ural evolution of religious ideas pre- its Limitations;" "The Progress and vails throughout the treatment of Old Testament subjects. The Book of Present Position of the Study of Psy- Deuteronomy is taken to be of late chology; " "T h e Psychology of authorship and found in the temple Prayer and Religious Experience;" in the reign of Josiah. The Book of "The Psychology of Moral Develop- Daniel is placed in the Maccabean pe- ment ;" "The Psychology of Spir- riod and is not considered historical; itual Healing." Jonah is taken as a parable. The This science is producing much that is helpful in the way of new methods, Gospel of John is accepted as authen- and is putting new instruments into tic and the work of the Apostle. The the hands of men by which they may vu-gin birth of Jesus and His deity influence their fellow beings. The and resurrection are alS(} strongly up- essay on prayer, and the chapter on held. spiritual healing are particularly This dictionary is a handy one-vol- well written. The balanced judg- ume work of reference and contains a ment of the writers is to be com- number of good maps and many illus- mended. J. F. R.
trations of monuments, buildings, an- (Continued on 3d cover.)
MISSIONARY LIBRARY Chinese Heroes in Legend and
William Munn. 94 pp. Is, 6d. Chnrch (Continued) Missionary Soeiety. London. 1926.
Christian World :Builders. Erwin Shaver. New Standard Bible Dictionary. Illus· 58 pp. Chicago. 1925. trated. 989 pp. $7.50. Funk & Wagnalls Co. N ew York. 1926,. Christian Young People and World Friend- ship. Erwin Shaver. 58 pp. Chicago. Bethesda. Anonymous. 299 pp. $2.00. 1925. Stratford Co. ·Boston. 1926.
These pamphlets suggest an excel- Christianity and Divorce. Frank H. Nor· lent plan for the project method in cross. 42 pp. 50 cents. Stratford Co. young people's groups. There is a Boston. 1926. lack of specific data and some instances of how such methods have The Bible as Missionary HandbOOk. Henry worked out in actual practice would strengthen the impact of this little A. Laphnm. 129 pp. 48 Ga. Heffer. manual. Source material is given, and some references are furnished. Cambridge, England. 1925.
J. F. R. What is Faith1 J. Gresham Machen. 251 pp. $1.75. Macmillan Co. New York. Reality in Worship. Willard L. Sperry. 1925. 346 pp. ~i2,.50. Ne'" York. 1925. The Task in Japan. August Kttrl Reis· Services of public worship may be chauer. 231' pp. $1.50. Fleming H. greatly improyed by the suggestions Revell 00. New York. 1926. in this book. Such chapters as "Reality in Worship" and "Worship as The Quest for God in China. F. W; S. Art and Science" will be very re- O'Neill. 264 pp. $2.50. George H. warding to the thoughtful pastor, Doran Co. New York. 1926. though one may not agree with all Dr. Sperry's judgments. He notes The Spirit-Ridden Konde. A R~cord of with concern the constant emphasis Twenty·four Years' Residence among on the scientific approach to Chris- These Shy Inhabitants of the Lake Nyasa tianity and feels that the preacher Region. D. R. Mackenzie. Illustrated. needs more of the artist's view of Map. 318 Pl'. 218. Seeley, Service Co. life. He makes a plea for the objec- London. ID25. tive rather than the purely subjective view, and suggests forms and liturgies South Africa: People, Places and Problems. to help the worshipper. J. F. R. W. H. Dawson. illustrated. 460 pp. 168. Longmans. London. 1925. NEW BOOKS Oriental Missions in British Columbia. N. The Unfinished Task of Foreign Missions. Lascelles Ward and H. A. Hellaby. Illus· R<lbert E. Speer. 348 pp. $2.75. Flem· trated. 128 Pl'. 38. Society for the ing H. Revell Co. New York. 1926. Propagation of the Gospel. London. 1925.
The Cost of a New World. Kenneth The Jew and Jesus. W. J. Conper. 24 pp. Maclennan. 185 pp. $1.00. Missionary 6d. United Free Church of Scotland. Education Movement. New York. 1926. Edinburgh and Glasgow. 1925.
How Shall Country Youth :Be Served r H. The Encyclopredia of Islam. Edited by M. Th. Houtsma, A. J. Wensinck, T'. W. Paul Douglass. 259 pp. $2.5.0. George Arnold, H. Basset and A. Shaade. 769· H. Doran Co. New York. 1926. 832 pp. 58. Bri!1 in Leyden and Luzac in London. 1925. Life Story of Alice Culler Cobb. Mary CuI· ler White. 240 pp. $1.50. Fleming H. A Concise Dictionary of Eastern Religion: Revell Co. New York. 1925. Being the Index Volume to The Sacred Books of the Ea8t. Edited by M. Winter- Diagnosing the Rural Church. C. Luther lIit.. 21s. Milfol·d. London. 1925. Fry. 234 pp. $1.50. George H. Doran Co. New York. 1924. The Quest for God in China. F. W. S.
A Survey of the Missionary Occupation of O'Neill. 272 pr. 7s 6d. Allen& Unwin. Egypt. With a special section on Cairo, by S. M. Zwemer. H. E. Philips. Charts. LOll<lon. 1925. Diagrams. Map. 20 pp. Nile Mission Press. Cairo, Egypt. 1924. Chinese Ancestor Worship: A Study of its Meaning ani! its Relations with Chris- tianity. James Thayer Addison. Intra· duction by Dr. Hawks Pott. 85 pp. 30 ~ents. Chung Hna Sheng Kung Hui. Tokyo, Japan. 1925.
Ventures in Inter-American Friendship. Samuel Guy Inman. 143 Pl'. 50 cents. Missionary Education Movement. New York. 1925.
is what leading students everywhere
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The Missionary Review of the World — February 1926
MISSIONARY
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Generosity A Captivating Story of India· :'Without Hardship Red· You can give all you have and have an income as Blossoms large, or possibly larger, ISABEL BROWN ROSE than you now enjoy~ In- CI."I would say that it is refresh. vestigate the ANNUITY ingto read a book of an undis. PLAN and learn how. guised missionary flavor, a story at that, in fact a novel, which is Write 10 so human, so convincing as this .in . its appeal;. but which lives , Morn.. W. Ehnea, TreasUrer, Board of Foreign instead of preaching."
Mi..ioD! of the Methodist EpitcopaJ Church.. 15<1, •••Caroline Atwater Mason Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y., or .. . Cloth, $1.75, W. J. Elliott, Tre..urer, Board of Home Mis. FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY .ioD! and Chureh Exu,nsion of the MethodiSt Episco_ pal Churoh, 170l' Arch Street, Philadelphia. Pa. New York. 158 Fifth Ave.' .. Chicago. 17;N. Wab"h A"'1- Review of the World DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Eclilor CONTENTS FOR FEBRUARY, 1926 Page FRONTISPIECE …….. SirGNS OF' THE OLD AND THE NEW LIn IN EASTER.N PAPUA THE NEW CRISIS IN CHINA MISSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PROE'ESSOR Hu SHIH 85 A contribution from a mon-Christian Chinese professor in the National University 'in Peking sent by .Rev. John ,C. Griffith, a missionary of Changte.
HINDRANCES TO CHRISTIANlTY IN CHINA _, . . . . . . . . . . . . JAMES L. ST'EWART 88 A very illuminating disuussWn of the hindrances met by messengers of Christ in China, contributed by the vice-president of the West China Union University of Chengtu, anq, author of " The Lal1,ghing Buddha."
CHRISTIANITY THROUGH THE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE …….. _…. . . .. _. _………………. ' ……. , ……. _…….. WILLIAM P. SHRIVER 95 A disuussWn of ways in which Christian neighborhood houses are helping to pre- sent Christ and the Christian Way of Life to communities-especially if!, 7:arge' eities.
SIXTY YEARS IN CHINA ……………………………. HENRY .T. CoWELL 102 The story of the China Inland 'Mission and its great contribution to the evan- gelization of Chinese, especially through pioneer work in the interior.
FUNG HIN LIU OF CANTON …….. _……… _… _.. _……. WILMA DUNTZE 108 The story of a Chinese girl, a pioneer in Ch1'istian education for Chinese women, ana, for a time, a teaoher in Canton Ch'Mstian College.
MISSIONARY WORK IN PAPUA, NEW GUINEA ……… _.. W. E. BROMILOW III A story of the remarkable progress made by the Methodist missionaries of Australia in the evangelization of the savages of New Guinea.
AN APOSTLE TO THE SLUMS OF JAPAN •………………. HELEN TOPP1lm lU The work of Toyohiko Kagawa, the notable Japanese Christian, author and evan- geli8t.
BEST METHODS FOR SEOURING MISSIONARY LEADERS …………. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _……. _….. EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRoNK WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLETIN …… EDITED BY FLoR.ENCE E. QUlN"LAN 134 WOMA.N;'S FORE!IGN MISSION BULLETIN .•.. EDITED BY ELI.A. D. MAOLAURIN 137 THE NEWS FROM MANY LANDS …………………………………… 140 THE MISSIONARlY LIBRARY …•……………………….•…………. 157 TERMS: $2.50 a year. ($2.00 in clubs of five.) Foreign postage, 50, ceIlts. Single copies, 25 cents. Published mr,nthly. Copyrighted, 1926, by MrSSloN.MW REVIEW POBLISElNG COMPANY, INC. All rights reserved.
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Robert E. Speer, President Wllliam I. Chamberlain, Vice-President PUbIlcatl!e!:,~~~ ~d ~e~'R'f ~~;~~~~rl.bUrg. Editorial :.~t~u:r:e''::'''~~,Tri;atW!'Ith Avenue, Pa. 260. .. copy $2.60 a year New York· City !Untered .. ,"""ond-class matter at the Post omoe, ,Harrisburg, Pa., under Act or March a, 18711 PERSONALS . . . place, died in Paoning on November 8th.
FRED B. SMITH has been appointed ehair. His death marks the first break in "the man of the Executive Committee of the Cambridge Seven.' J World Alliance for International Friendship DR. WATTS O. PYE, one of tbe outstand· . . through the Churches. ing and mOBt successful missionaries of the American Board in China, died suddenly of MRS. JEA.NNETTE W. EMRICH, for many heart disease in Fenchow, Shansi Province, China, on January 10th. He was born in years a missionary in Turkey, has became a Faribanlt, Minnesota, in 1878 and went to ShanBi in 1907. Dr. Pye trained more than secretary of the Federal Council Commis· three thousand Chinese teachers. The story sion on International .Justice and Goodwill. of his life and work will appear in a later number of the REVIEW. •** * • .. REV. JA.MES H. SPEER, D.D., has beeh ap· pointed by tbe General Council of the Pres. MRS. HENRIETTA T. ROBINSON, widow of byterian Ch urch in the U. S. A. secretary Bishop John E. Robinson of the Methodist of its promotion wOI·k. Episcopal Church, died in Bangalore, India, on December 12th. MRS. ELLA A. BOOLE, for fifteen years DR. RUSSELL H. CONWELL, Baptist head of the W. C. T. U. in New York State, preacher, popular lecturer, founder and president of Temple University, died De· has been elected President of the National cember 6th at the age of eighty·two.
W. C. T. U. *** ** HEV. HOWARD B. DINWIDDIE of Phil- adelphia, field secretary of the Gospel Pio· MISS AMY BLANCHE GREE."1E is now see· neer Agency, promoter of the Victorious Life Conferences, and associated with the retary of the Fellowship for a Christian Christian and Missionary Alliance, died of typhoid fever at Aijal, North East India, Social Order. .. * • On December 28th. Mr. Dinwiddie had re- cently returned from a missionary exploring REV. ROBERT H. GLOVER, of the Moody toUT in South America and had gone to India in the interests of the Pioneer Mis- Bible Institute, is now visiting Central sion Agency and the Christian and Mission- ary Alliance. America, as one of a commission of three appointed at the request of the Council of the Central American Mission.
* .. * OBITUARY BISHOP W. W. CASSELS of West China, the celebration of whose fortieth anniver. sary as a missionary in China recently took May we find tablets of the Pentateuch 1 STUPENDOUS discoveries are opening up in impossible that actual tablets of the Pentathe Holy Land since the World War ex- teuch may be found there.
pelled the Tnrk and a Christian nation was The town has been undisturbed since given control. Professor Melvin Grove Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it 2500 years Kyle, Archeological Editor of The Sunday ago. Remembering that the critics say that School Times, sails this month for an expe- Deuteronomy was not writtcn nntil Josiah's dition to Kirjath-Sepher. a city between Hebron and Beersheba. which flourished time, eight or nine centuries later than when Joshua led the Children of Israel into Moses, it wOl'ld be a bombshell in the camp or the Higher Criticism if any portions of Canaan. Dr. Kyle has had his eye on that city for more than thirty years, for it is not the Pentateuch, dating from Moses' Own day, were found.
,-i~>J> (JuueJ every week) ","
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EVANGELIST OF THE KWATO MISSION, PIlEACHING 'rlIj;) OLD LIFE IN WIDeR ENEMIES WERE EATEN AND THE SKULLS WEltE KEPT AS TROPHIES SIGNS OF THE OLD AND THE NEW LIFE IN EASTERNPAPUA
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EVIEW' ORID VOL. FEBRUARY, 1926 NUMBER XLIX TWO The New Crisis in China Missions From a recent article by Professor Hu Shih, Ph.D. of the Chinese National University in Peking showing the point of view of an educated non-Christian Chinese SENT BY REV. .JOHN C. GRIFFiTH, CHANGTE, HONAN, OHINA Honan Mission of the United Church of Canada T HE difficulties which confronted missionary work in China twenty-five years ago have almost entirely disappeared, but there are now new obstacles which are not easily overcome. The first obstacle is the new nationalistic feeling. After the Boxer movement of 1900 many Chinese came to realize that such blind and ignorant reaction is futile. During the first decade of the twentieth century they were non-resistant to foreigners. They lived in constant fear of foreign intervention and the partition of. the country. Though humiliated they remained quiet and patient, not daring to take any positive action.
During the last ten years, however, conditions have altered. The revolution of 1911 and the establishment of the Republic encouraged the Chinese people and awakened in them a consciousness of their nationality. The European war disclosed the true note of Western civilization. The Russian revolution and the fall of Germany and Austria have helped to develop a new spirit in the Chinese. Their fear of Western nations has gradually disappeared. Their nationalistic reaction includes the following aims: 1. The abolition of existing customs regulations, and the development of Chinese industry and commerce.
2. The abolition of Consular jurisdiction, and the trial by Chinese courts of foreigners guilty of crime.
.3. Chinese control of all education.
4: The prohibition of religious propaganda by foreigners.
5. The cancelling 0.£ all special privileges granted to foreigners in China, including extraterritoriality, foreign concessions, and the withdrawal of foreign armies and navies from China. .
85
Dr. Hu Shih concludes this point by saying: "Why is objection taken to religious and educational activities by foreigners 1 It is due to a belief that these are a means of 'cultural imperialism'; that religion is an agent of Imperialism, used to hypnotize people in other lands; and that the Church is the vanguard of Imperialism abroad……. The Boxers were easily put down because theirs was a superstitious and undirected movement, but it would be impossible for any military force to check the present Nationalist movement, because it is deeply rooted in the minds of the members of a great nation. Twenty-five years ago missionaries survived the Boxer crisis. How will they meet the new crisis that faces them nowT"
The second obstacle is the new RationaUsm. "Twenty-five years ago the chief enemy of mission work was ignorance and superstition. Today it is educated rationalism. The Chinese no longer fear lest missionaries boil our eyes to make medicine. We have gradually come to know the principles and the creeds of Christianity, and there are among us people who question its fundamental principles. Some of us ask whether God and the soul do really exist. Since the introduction into China of the modern scientific thought of the West our own philosophy of naturalism has revived. These are two important factors that have produced the new naturalistic movement of today. This attitude is based upon the following convictions: 1. '1'hat the universe with its movements and changes is self-existent, and that there is no necessity to assume a supernatural god or creator.
2. That the cruelty and waste in the struggle for existence among living beings makes it impossible to believe in the existence of a kind and loving God.
3. That human beings are but members of the animal world and that after death their bodies decay. This is but part of the fact of nature and we 'should not be disturbed by it. We should do all we can to build our paradise in this world and not to seek for a heaven after death.
"The fundamental attitude of the new rationalism is critical. It desires doubt before belief. It faces each assertion with the demand for a proof. Although only a small minority of the Chinese people accept the new rationalism its influence and power should not be despised. The Chinese are not a very religious people. Ancient Taoism and the rationalism of the Sung and Ming dynasties were both strongly naturalistic. When Naturalism comes to China from the West it finds a fertile soil and is likely to bear much fruit. In view of this demand for proof, not only the new forms of Taoism face criticism and attack, but also the creeds of Christianity. The missionaries overcame the crisis that arose from the attack of the Boxers twenty-five years ago. How will they face the new crisis~ Will they quietly decline the conflict or will they face it bravely?"
The third obstacle is weakness within the missionary body. To quote again: "Fifty or sixty years ago it was a difficult and dangerous thing for a '~an to be a missionary in China; communica-
THE NEW CRISIS IN CllNA MISSIONS
tions were poor; the language was'difficult; life in the interior among hostile and ignorant people had its risks and there was danger of loss of life. As a result, those who came as missionaries at that time had two marked characteristics. They possessed an extraordinary religious faith and a very strong spirit of self-sacrifice. Without the former they would not have cared to come to China. Without the latter they would not have dared to come. Those who came at that time gave up ease and comfort. Through a process of natural selection they were men of unusual personality. Before the achievements of men like Matteo Ricci, Robert Morrison and others we cannot but bare our heads in silent respect.
"Today conditions are different. Communication is easy. Protection is secured. The customs of the Chinese have changed j life is more comfortable. New missionaries have books to explain the customs of the Chinese people. They have language schools in which to study the language. They are no longer in danger of life. They are assured of comfortable salaries…… .
"Since life has become easier and more comfortable all kinds of people are coming to China as missionaries. At the present time it is not necessary for them to pass the same strict selective process as did the missionaries of several decades ago. Some come to China as teachers who cannot earn a living at home. Some come for recreation, some to have a good time, some to secure Chinese curios. It is not necessary to have a strong Christian faith, or courage, or self-sacrifice. Many members of the missionary body indeed are most admirable persons j but I fear that missionaries today are not selected with the same care as are the managers of the Oil and the Tobacco Companies. Many missionaries are not qualified for their task and are not needed in China. Christian missionaries in the past faced and overcame many difficulties and dangers. How will they face the three which I have mentioned 1"
NEW CHINA IN THE MAKING
to Christianity In
B:Y REV. J. L. STEWART, D.D., CHENGTU, WEST CHINA Vice-President of West China Union University, Editor of the West China Jiissionary News, and Author of "Th~ Laughing Buddha"
W ERE it wise to do so, one might simply tabulate a long list of hindrances to Christianity in China. Or we might take a single deep-seated antagonist such as the ancient philosophy of the Yin and Yang, a discussion of which would require long pages. Let us rather take a cross section of Chinese society, leaving details to volumes already written upon such subjects.
It is customary, according to the ancient Chinese system of classification, to divide all society into four great classes: scholars, farmers, workmen, merchants. A more fantastic yet faithful classification would be to divide all into Bees, Bears, Drones, and Buzzards.
The Bees are the great toiling masses of the people, including farmers, merchants, and workmen. These are the industrial heart of the nation. From the far north by the Amoor to the far south in Annam, from the great port of Canton in the east to the great plain of Chengtu in the west, up and down over watershed and river, are scattered these hives of industry. They are not simple homes for a husband, wife and a few children. They are rather social settlements for a clan, sons and daughters-in-law:, grandsons and granddaughters-in-Iaw, and their children, uncles, aunts, and cousins -and over all some aged great grandfather or great grandmother who is patriarch in chief, the queen bee of the hive.
Each hive is a world in itself. It asks little of the rest of humanity save to be let alone, with the great exception that it wants wives for its sons from other households. The secret of its existence will be found upon investigation to be a small thin board upon which are written the name and dates of birth and death of departed parents. It is the ancestral tablet of tIre clan, and symbol of all their striving. According to the belief of each member of that small colony all the ancestors now are dependent upon the efforts of the present generation for their support in the land of shades. That alone when pondered might keep each restlessly active, but to this is added the thought that some day, soon or late, he too shall shufHe off this mortal coil and must then be dependent upon his sons' sonsl for his support. Should then this line of descent ever cease, only a struggling, starving eternity awaits him. Who can face such a prospect with indifference' The thought appalls each. The paramount aim must be posterity. But for posterity to prosper there must also be property. These two, posterity and property, then are the purposes in life for each small colony. For it the workers come and go, may even wander far to east and west; but they never forget 88 the small tablet and the old home. Thither flow their fondest hopes and their funds, thither their corpses are carried over land and sea for burial, and thither their children will come, bearirig sacrifices for their support in the land of shades.
What is the Christian missionary to do in the presence of such a problem as that ¥ If he could assure the people that if they would but be believers in the true God their business would undoubtedly prosper, their crops would be abundant, their flocks would multiply, grubs would not destroy their vegetables, nor disease their cattle and children, above all could he assure them that sons would be born in ever-increasing numbers, then he would be eagerly heard and be given that warmth of w:elcome which the East can extend. Their own gods promise them all these things. . Why should they change for an unknown, untested, foreign god1 Their fathers before them followed along these lines and the family has at least continued to exist, if not flourish, until today. Would these ancestors ever forgive them,·would they ever forgive themselves, if now they should take this venture and risk and perhaps lose all~ More preposterous still, this foreign religion actually demands that the worship and support of these ancestors be given up. 'What blasphemy! What unnatural doctrine contrary to the very nature of things I What terror to those passing away today should such a teaching succeed some future day! Is it wonder then in the face of this, that as yet Christianity has won no great victories among the farmers, the merchants, the workmen of the land ¥ Ancestor worship is a great and a grim adversary.
Under the BeMs may be included the students, gentry and officials. They differ from the former class in knowledge, power, purpose, organization. They form the educated head of the natio~. This in itself is power. Furthermore, membership in it is necessary for eligibility to official position with all its emoluments, honors and opportunities. It is the dream of each member of this class to see himself someday a magistrate, a prefect, a governor-general, or some other of the ten thousand times ten thousand officials invented to give the indigent relative and friend a livelihood. Naturally this class produces nothing. They hover about the hives. These they give what measure of protection from others they must to keep the hives at peace. But at bottom the chief purpose of the protection is that more honey may be had for themselves. The hives are their legitimate prey. "Keep the bees busy and beneath your power. Squeeze all the honey you can by every scheme you can. Do it quickly before another ousts you." These seem to be the injunctions which the century-old system has instilled. It is true that there .are some, men of real patriotism and self-sacrifice. But they are the exception, not the rule; and even they are. ofttimes powerless in the presence of such a system. To get government position means
honor, power, wealth; which in turn means property and posterity. What is their attitude when the appeal of Christianity is pre- sentedT Here again are antagonisms: intellectual, moral, social, political.
Intellectually it is true that there is a great revolution going on. Let no one minimize its meaning. It is one of the great and effectual doors now open, and we must enter wit.h all earnestness, with all wisdom. Young men are eagerly seeking and securing at least a smatt.ering of the sciences. They are also studying Western law, history, social systems. But the general tendency at t.his stage, here as elseWhere, is to break wit.h old canons and moral sanctions before newer and better can be bestowed. Thus to ridicule all religion and talk patronizingly of the falsity of all fait.hs, to dispense with all morality, is popular with the majority of the youth of college and middle school age. Some, especially returned students from Japan, favor Christianity. Unfortunately, a study of recellt events would force the conclusion that this attitude has been more commonly a matter of political policy than of conscience. Their morals when they sit in the seats of the mighty have brought small credit either to themselves or to the Christian cause.
The great majority of this class cannot but be, consciously or unconsciously, Confucian to the core. Each has repeated whole books in boyhood even before he knew the sense of a single sentence. Since then he has memorized essays, commentaries, principles. He is steeped, saturated with its system and sayings. He cannot get away from it because he cannot get away from himself. It has moreover come to him with the authority of antiquity: it has guided his fatherland throughout long centuries while as yet the West was savage and pagan; it has stood the test of time. Why cast it aside for a newer, later system, which though it may help others, may not be adapted to the masses of the Middle Kingdom T Then, too, Confucius refused to discuss things pertaining to gods. Was he not right T The god myths of Taoism and Buddhism are but old fables fit only for grandmothers. And Christianity also pins its faith to t.he gods. Why believe new superstitions any more t.han the old? Thus is his intellect saturated and circumscribed.
So too, his moral ideals present their antagonisms. Though theoretically the ethics of the East also point out the dangers of certain vices, still the scholar, the gentleman, the official, may within reasonable limits relax with impunity. He may drink. Indeed no hospitality is complete without it i' and now especially for,eign wines and whiskeys are the proper thing. He may' smoke. Formerly this included opium. Now that must be done secretly. However, the cigarette has become an almost equal curse. He may gamble. The idle, subtle, sedentary pastime with its passion for unearned profits appeals to tens of thousands. Fat.her and sons, women and girls
1926J HINDRANCES T'O CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA
are at it, always at it, in private home, in barracks, in the back rooms of public buildings. The republic, if anything, is worse than the old empire in this. He may lie. Who would be so stupid as to speak the truth, or especially be encumbered and embarrassed by it, when a glib fabrication ",ill answer1 And who will reprove him? His friends, even his father, would upbraid him as a stupid dolt should he speak the truth when a lie might save the situation. He may, provided he can afford it, have concubines; indeed if his true wife gives him no son, it is his duty to take this or other means, such as adoption, to secure offspring. Does not the classical dictum declare, " There are three ways of being unfilial. 'ro be sonless is the worst"? That sets the moral sanction. It requires only sensuality to suggest extravagant multiplications.
Politically, he may sell justice, take bribes, work out ingenious schemes of squeeze. Little legitimate salary goes with public positions. In fact it is hopelessly and acknowledgedly inadequate. Add to this that large sums have probably been given to secure the post, arid that the nominal salary is filched by fines from higher circles; and what is to be done save to squeeze honey from the hives 7 Probably stronger still, is the social bond. First, family ties in the Orient are fixed, tenacious. The ordinary church member, as we shall see, is usually of low social position. To associate with such would be for the scholar loss of caste. Possibly most tenacious of all are the political aspirations. To be an official, to hold a place in the great government system, is the restless ruling passion in each breast. But to secure such is a matter of endless adjusting of pressures, political pull, face, all of which spells social standing. To be a Christian is to cut one's self off from a circle of friends, to abandon probable prestige, to sign one's political death Warrant. For a flaring, fitful day during the Revolution, the Christian was, it is true, much in eVidence and in power. But the reaction has all but utterly ousted him.
Against all these intellectual, moral, and social defects, Christianity utters her steadfast and strenuous protest. But it is not easy to win men even in Europe and America from these ,political appeals, social ties, saturations of doctrine, lusts of life. Would a Chinese teacher calling upon us to obey in the name of Confucius win many of our university students, government officials, or men of higher culture' Somewhat similar is the difficulty for the missionary. The foreigner finds the subject of religion avoided if possible. If the topic is intruded, he is listened to courteously and agreed with, for that is due a guest. But secretly the matter il'> often one for levity, ridicule, scoffing. It is admitted that the Westerner has learned many things about the manipulation of materials. Indeed he is quite ingenious when it comes to making machines ; and his scientific discoveries are eagerly to be found out and filched. But when it comes
to his ethical and especially his religious theories, then Confucius, not Christ, is still the teacher. Yes, among these intellectual classes of the nation there are many and mighty adversaries.
There are still the Drones and the Buzzards, two other dass~s of society among China's millions. They are the "sluff-off" from the workers and the rulers. Of the Drones some are poor students, both financially and intellectually, who can :find neither hope nor market for their semi-scholarship. Some are small merchants whose business has failed. Some are simple workmen looking for a job.
These are largely weak, yet not wholly worthless. Indeed some are quite worthy. Of these the Church has many. Into their discour- aged, despairing souls she brings a new hope, a new joy, a new courage; and saves them to themselves, to society, to the Kingdom of God.
And last there are the Buzzards, who are the outcasts because of moral, social, and political unfitness. They comprise professional gamblers, robbers, procurers, bullies, numberless rowdies, and the general riff:raff of society. One of the strange social phenomena in this land of contrasts is that these outcasts are thoroughly organized.
There are countless secret societies each with its rules and regula- tions and sinister motives. But all are insignificant as compared with a great and an ancient organization known as the Ko Lao Whei or the Pao Ko, that is the "Long-Gowned Elder-Brotherhood."
Courtesy has sometimes called them the Chinese Masons. That may somewhat express their secrecy and strength; but it is a sad mis- understanding of their aims and morals. Briefly, they are organized opposition to all order. They have their lodges, "horse-heads,"
upon every street of the cities and small district of the countryside.
Members are known as "third" or "fifth" or "fiftieth" brother according to the seniority, and the Master of the lodge as the Chief.
Then they are divided according to social status into "Dirty Water"
and "Clean Water" members. The former are the lower strata of outcasts, and do the "dirty" work. The latter include the man higher up, even at times prominent gentry, and officials who are ex- pected to help when the "dirty" element get into trouble. Thus organized they often control whole neighborhoods, counties, cities, and effectually offset even the highest officials. Thus China has a constant Camorra, a Black Hand big, bold, and powerful. A strong official may stop its excesses for a time; but when a weakling ar- rives then all the subtilities and brazen badness are let loose. Respect- able families are blackmailed, some of the well-to-do are seized as "fat pigs" for ransom, open robberies are the rille, and an awful vengeance is meted out upon any who have formerly dared to inform against them. .
Strange to say, it is this class most of all which has taken the Kingdom of Heaven by violence. How has it happened1 After
1926J HIJI<""DRANCES TO CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA
the Boxer convulsion of 1900, it immediately became evident that the foreigner had power. Had not Western troops seized the nation's capital and the very "old Buddha," the ~Jmpress Dowager, been forced to flee¥ Naturally the officials in the years following made a complete change of front. Formerly scornful, overbearing to the foreigner, they suddenly became fawning, subservient. The missionary, despite his protests, was treated with official honors. Indeed it was freely rumored that the nation was to be "divided as a TEACHING CHINESE GIRLS TO PLAY AND GROW STRONG melon" and the missionaries were to be the respective national officials. Naturally none were more quick to see this turn in the tide than the underworld. Taking advantage of the Gospel's free invitation to all they came by herds of scores and hundreds-more accurately perhaps, by whole lodges-into our churches. Skilled in aU the -subtilities of dissembling, they deceived the very elect. ,They attended services, repeated prayers, 'sang hymns, subscribed funds, donated buildings, made long heart-breaking confessions, exhorted others with extravagant unction. This was during the missionary's presence. During his absence-for owing to the widely scattered
nature of the movement in cities, towns and villages, the few workers could pay visits scarce more than once or twice a year-these vagabonds used the chapels for their lodge headquarters. There they gambled, smoked opium, gathered the goods from robber raids, plotted in general against society. No official dared to enter these sacred precincts. At times enraged citizens pelted the plague spots down or smashed the doors and furniture to pieces. When the missionary came the "faithful" gathered around to pour out piteous tales of "persecution for righteousness' sake" of which this destruction of property was but a paltry example. Naturally the foreigner went to the official to claim protection for his flock. The official conspicuously complied. Then these buzzards of society were ready for other depredations.
Is it wonder that the foreigner was fast becoming a being accursed, that the name of Christ and the Christian became a thing of stench, and self-respecting citizens of the toiler and ruler classes held aloof from the Church as from a plague zone' But many of the worst of these vagabonds have left us today. And even among them the Gospel has in conspicuous cases cut its way through to the quick, and turned some arch leaders of evil into active evangelists. But we still have many districts where the old miasma is felt, a!J.d where far and wide their mark of the beast brands and belies our effort. Their friends, their sons, their proteges form too often the asset out of which the coming Kingdom must be formed. Up to the present, at any rate here in West China, this movement of China's underworld into our churches has been an appalling, an awful adversary.
It is not mine to give the other side of the picture. There are "great and effectual doors" opening. But the side I have sought to paint is also a tremendous fact. A few shouting, surface-skimming doctrinaires could start a republic, in name; but they could not so readily revolutionize these mind-bound millions, or even themselves. The call today is the call again for more men and better men to face these stupendous and subtle forces arrayed against us.
a As a great and good Bishop has said of missionaries-" If poor man or no man is the option, then send us none." The challenge is for the choicest, cleanest, clearest of the Christian Church. We need men and women who will investigate, missionaries of vision, of valor, of virility. Then slowly but surely victory will be, must be, with Jesus Christ, the Captain of our Salvation.
THE CRISIS AND THE CHURCH IN CHINA The Boxer outbreak of 1900 wa~ more terrible iu certain of its aspects than the Hprfeesoenf tthceriCsilsnlnbeuset it was pro!:>ably n?t. so full of su~tle temptations to .the spiritual Church as IS the CrISIS of today, may cause a senous cleavage wblCh between the missionary body and the Chinese Church, which may be turned aside from its main. mission. .
The burden should be laid upon our .ltearts so that we feel the urgency of the problem and neeessity of intercession to God for China.
A KINDERGARTEN CIRCLE AT CHR.ISTOPHER HOUSE
Christianity Through the Neighborhood House I BY REV, WILLIAM P. SHRIVER, NEW YORK ~~ H. AVE no doubt," I inquired of the director of the Music Department of the Neighborhood House, as we looked out from the window on the drab surroundings of an immigrant quarter in Chicago, "that these foreign people respond to the ap- peal of music?"
"Music is a thing that no Neighborhood House should get along without," she replied in a glow of enthusiasm. "Foreign peoples comt;l to us from a hand-made country and we dump them down into the backyards of our machine-made country. We have an opportunity to bring a little joy to these people, Those of us who live in Neighborhood Houses know how little of the beauty of the seasons .we see, All time is just the same, excepting that one season is hot and another cold. We must instil something into their hearts to help to do away with the grimness of their outside surroundings."
"And they are themselves musical f" I asked. 95
"I was talking the other day to our barber who lives next door and is a Croatian," she continued. "He said he could remember back in his school days in Croatia how they were taught songs by rote. No music has ever been written for those songs. How hungry he gets for those folk songs that he used to hear so many years ago. This same man has a collection of Croatian folk songs that are very valuable. We have some songs on our programs that the children sang to me and that were sung to them by their mothers."
"And so through the music department of your Neighborhood House you are giving these neighbors of yours a chance to contribute something to America 1" I inquired. "That seems to me to be the right notion of Americanization."
"You cannot transplant a plant successfully into another climate without giving it some of the elements of its own environment," was :her answer. "You cannot plant violets in the desert without giving them water and shade. So with our foreign people. .You cannot bring them into this country and expect them to grow into well-rounded American citizens without carefully nourishing some of the traits that were their heart and soul in the old country. Some of these traits you would not want to nourish. We do not care to have them continue to feed coffee to their babies or to sleep between unhealthy feather beds. We do not ask them to wear their foreign clothes in this country. We requfre them to learn the American language and drop as much as possible of their foreign language. But music is different. In the old country there was no gathering of any kind without folk songs and folk dances. The folk music of foreign peoples is the most beautiful of any music."
"And how do you carryon work in the Neighborhood House1 What is your programY"
"You will be surprised," she replied, "to learn that the boys of the neighborhood furnish us with one of our largest and most interested groups. Most people think boys are interested only in games, baseball, basketball and the gym. We have thirty-two boys enrolled in a Boys' Chorus. At first we must go through certain bits of fun before we can get settled down. Generally we "swap stories" and some of them are good ones, I can tell you. On Tuesdays and Fridays we have a Junior Choir. There are forty-two members in this Choir and it does more work for oUI: House than any other organization. On Tuesdays we b,.ave a woman's chorus. They sing only Bohemian songs. Tuesday night we have a harmonica club. On Wednesdays we have our intermediate chorus and folk- dancing class. Wednesdays also, there are violin pupils. Thursdays there are piano lessons. Piano lessons are given, however, every day in the week. We have a.la~ge piano class, nfty-two students. Friday at seven 0 'clock we have orchestra practice. Saturday is our
CHlUSTIANITY THROUGH THE NEIGHBORllOOD ROUSE
THE DODGE COMMUNITY: HOUSE, DETROIT, MICIE!,
big teaching day. On Sundays we have our regular church service with our Junior Choir always there."
From this brief conversation I gathered something of the spirit, purpose, and method of the Neighborhood House. The understand· ing sympathy and enthusiasm of my friend were contagious. She was a real neighbor, to begin with, along with the ten or more other young American men and women who made up the staff. While not blind to the sordidness of much of the life about them, they cherished a faith that these New Americans would make good if only they were given a chance. The Neighborhood House was there for that purpose.
THREE I.AINES OF ApPROACH In their aroused interest in the recent immigrants in America, the churches and National Mission agencies have resorted to three main lines of approach. The first is the very obvious foreign-language church, with the leadership of a racial and foreign-speaking pastor. These churches have carried on the traditional church program. Thl') foreign-language churches have met largest success among Italians and the least success among the Slavic peoples, notably the Poles.
The second. line of approach has been through English-speaking churches with institutional equipment, a service chiefly for children, but by no means to be discounted; in the long run, where carried on with Christian sympathy and understanding, it may prove the most effective means. we have of relating our recent immigrants to the Evangelical Ohristian Church.
The third approach has been through the Ohristian Oommunity Center or Neighborhood House. The Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society of the Northern Baptist Ohurch and the National Mission agencies of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. have developed this line of approach more largely than any of the other denominations. The Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian Church has recently published a Survey of "Thirty Neigh. borhood Houses," the most thorough-going study so far made of this type of service. That the movement is still a current one is indicated in the fact that of the thirty Neighborhood Houses included in the Survey, eight have been; established in the last five years, and one of these with an expediture of $150,000 for its property and building.
THE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE The Neighborhood House as a more or less unique form of institutionalized Ohristianity. has been inspired by a number of con· verging factors. In the foreground is the thoroughly commendable purpose of our American Christian churches to ·do something to meet the immediate and critical needs of our congested city and
CHRISTIANITY THROUGH 'PHE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE
Act•Iv•it•ies ThirD' Presbyterian Neighborhood Houses 1924- – 1925 .
Activities Houses Girls elubs SO 2 Boys elubs 29 3 Athletics or Gym. 22 4- D.V.B.S. 22 5 Sunday Schools 2.1 6 Domestic Science, 2.1 1 WomenS Groups 20 8 Kindergartens 18 9 Library 17 10. Music Instruction 17 11 Religious Services 16 12 Mens Groups 16 13 Primary Groups 14 14- Srory Hour 12 15 P1a..ygrounds 9 16 Mixed elubs 9 17 Christian Endeavor 9 IS FolkflSocial Dancing 8 19 English (6 eivics 8 The bars indicate the – 23 elinics number of Neighborhood 20 Industrial Art 7 Houses out of the thirty studie(l which carried on 21 Art Classes 6 the activities listed. – 26 FIIfI!itn l.an~ge Classes 3 22 Dramatics 6 5 – 27 D~ Nursery 3 24 Public Bath 4 25 .Movies :~Iar 4
industrial neighborhoods, and without first concern as to what such service may result in by way of converts or recruits to the Christian Church. Furthermore, the Neighborhood Houses in nearly all cases are located in polyglot communities. A Christian Community House in an iron mining town in Michigan reports thirty-nine nationalities enrolled in its activities. Even where there are five or six races in a neighborhood, it is clear that any effort to minister to so many foreign-language groups would be attended by great difficulty. Aside from this matter of language, most of these recent immigrants maintain at least a nominal loyalty to Old World faiths, Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, and Orthodox, with their highly vivid and picturesque services. Our American Protestantism is not at the outset easily understood nor acceptable to such immigrants. It is as foreign to them as their Old World religions would be to us. Meanwhile there is all the obvious need of these foreign neighborhoods, where the streets swarm with children, and where in the homes of the workers each new day brings some new problem of adjustment to this strange and hustling world of industrial America. The churches could not be true to the spirit of Christ and turn away from such human and social need. The Neighborhood House has furnished a ready and practical answer. It has unquestionably demonstrated its effectiveness as a form of Christian service.
RELIGIOUS NEEDS MET But the Neighborhood Houses are not unmindful of the religious needs of their foreign neighbors. With but few exceptions they provide Christian teaching in Sunday-schools, Daily Vacation Bible Schools, week-day religious education, or other groups. In a number of Neighborhood Houses small but active church organizations have developed. The survey of thirty Neighborhood Houses under Presbyterian auspices discovers, however, that "the emphasis is on the development of individual and community Christian ideals, standards, and character, rather than the development of ecclesiasticalorganizations." As one worker put it, and the Neighborhood House in a Slavic community in Milwaukee of which she is director happily incarnates her notion, "the Neighborhood House exists to demonstrate the power and beauty of practical Christianity. America and Christain America are very different. The Neighborhood House aims to interpret Christian America to the neighborhood and the neighborhood to Christian America. Christian America will be caught rather than taught." The Neighborhood House would appear to be a fresh and unconventional expression of the Christian life and purpose called out by the unique conditions and deep human and social need of our polyglot communities. It is an outreached hand of the Church, not a substitute for it.
The program of the Neighborhood House in contrast with that
CHRISTIANITY TH,ROUGH THE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE
of the Church is marked in its emphasis upon the group as the unit of interest rather than the mass gathering. In this it is on very excellent educational ground. A church puts in the very foreground of its program preaching and the service of worship. The size of the congregation is a measure of success. The Neighborhood Houses begin with smaller units, a boys' club, a group of little children of pre-school age, a girls' cooking class, a chorus, a class in English and civics. The survey of "Thirty Neighborhood Houses," listed one thousand stated groups in the winter programs of the thirty centers. The frequency of occurrence and types of such stated group activities appear in the accompanying graph. It makes clear at a glance just what the Neighborhood Houses are about.
While designed for an inclusive service to the whole community, the Neighborhood Houses have registered largest success with the children and young people. They have not been notably successful in reaching the adult immigrant. Among approximately a thousand stated group activities in thirty Neighborhood Houses, only one hundred and forty were specifically for adult groups, though adults participated in other groups in which all ages are included, such as lectures and entertainments. The reason for this failure to reach the adult immigrant is undoubtedly to be found in the fact that the staff workers in most instances command only the English language. Miss Christine Wilson, in her Survey of Presbyterian Neighborhood Houses comments, in this connection-" not enough time and thought have been given to planning activities which are suited to 'grown up' interests. There has been too little utilization of the immigrants' background as a starting point.' I There is much interested discussion as to the effect the restriction of European immigration will have on both the foreign-language church and the Neighborhood House. It is believed that with the retarding of immigration the process of assimilation will be speeded up. With their native American and English-speaking leadership, and their wholesome contact with the youth of our foreign communities, the Neighborhood Houses are in an advantaged position for a timely service. They have, however, as well as the social settlements, to reckon with the constantly increasing and comprehensive service programs of our municipalities in the fields of education, health, and recreation. But the essence of the Christian religion, as of the truest Americanism, is best understood when incarnate, when it "dwells among us." Perhaps this is the significant contribution of the Neighborhood House, after all-that of genuinely American and Christian neighbors.
Years in
The Diamond Jubilee of the China Inland Mission BY lIENRY J. COWELL, LONDON, ENGLAND T HE name "China Inland Mission" first came into being in an entry dated 27 June, 1865, in the private diary of a thirty- three-year-old medical man, J. Hudson Taylor: "Opened an account for the China Inland Mission: paid in £10." Two days earlier (Sunday, 25th June) the writer of those few words had wandered out upon the sands at Brighton. He was in agony of spirit, and had been so for some time. After a few years of strenuous service in Shanghai, Ningpo, and elsewhere, he had been invalided home, and told that he must not return to yhina unless he wished to throwaway his life.
Bnt an urgent longing to go back to China took possession of his soul more and more. The call of inland China could not be silenced. The inner conflict could no longer be endured; a decision must be made and before Hudson Taylor left the shore of the boundless ocean on that Sabbath morning the China Inland Missiou had been born in his heart. A new thought came into his soul: "If we are obeying the Lord, the responsibility rests with Him-not with us. " This conviction, born of the Spirit, led to the decision: "At Thy bidding I go forward, leaving results with Thee." On the margiu of his Bible he wrote: "Prayed for twenty-four willing, skilful labourers at Brighton, 25 June, 1865."
Exactly sixty years from the date of that entry, on June 25, 1925, I was present at a thanksgiving and commemoration gathering held upon the sands of Brighton when over 1,100 missionaries were working under this mission. Since the founding of the work, more than 100,000 Chinese have professed their faith in Christ by baptism, while that first £10 has grown into almost three and a half million pounds sterling. Besides the 1,100 missionaries, there are 3,649 Chinese workers. Stations and outstations exceed 2,000 in number, and there are 545 schools (other than Sunday-schools), 712 school teachers, 12 hospitals and 91 dispensaries.
The C. I. M. is an illustration of the oft-repeated experience that when a great pioneer or forward movement is to be done, the Spirit of God calls out one man upon whose heart is laid the "burden" of the work to be accomplished. Hudson Taylor was by no means the type of a man likely to be called to accomplish a mighty work of liberation j but upon his heart was written indelibly the word China. For China he worked and prayed and strove with all his powers so long as those powers remained. His life-story is a 102 great epic-a wonderful example of what it means to "follow the Lord fully."
Hudson Taylor was preeminently a man of prayer and a man of faith. His father, before the child's birth, had been deeply moved by the spiritual needs of China and, being prevented from going out as a missionary, he and his wife definitely prayed that, if a son were born to them, he might dedicate his life to that great land.
The hope treasured in the parents' heart was fulfilled, although the son knew nothing about the parents' desire until he had already seen seven years' service abroad. The lad found Christ (and was found of Him) when seventeen, and very soon the claims of China had be.
gun to come home to his soul. At the age of twenty-one he set sail from Liverpool and after a voyage of over five months, accompanied by great dangers, he landed safely at Shanghai in March, 1854.
The next six and a half years were crowded with many and varied experiences all of which were to teach and to test the young man. In a very practical way he had to learn to "lean hard" upon his Heavenly Father, not only for protection from great dangers but for daily bread. Eventually the incessant physical and mental J. HUDSON TAYLOR strain became more than health Founder of the China. Inland Mission could endure, and in order to save his life, he sailed for England in July, 1860.
When he reached the homeland, physicians told him that a re- turn to the Far East for some years was impossible. He completed his medical studies at the London Hospital, and undertook a re- translation of the New Testament into the Ningpo dialect. On the way home from China he had prayed definitely for at least "five helpers" to labor in Ningpo and the province of Chekiang. In the next few years he had the joy of seeing these "five helpers" go forth upon their great task.
Increasingly there came upon him a feeling of responsibility for "the vast regions of inland China." He approached the leading British missionary societies in regard to the needs of inland China, but was told that their hands were full and their _funds short; more- over, at that time inland China was more or less closed to evangelistic effort. . The consciousness grew upon Hudson Taylor that he was
called to found a new mission. While ready to trust God for himself, he shrank from leadership and held back from assuming responsibility for others. "The feeling of blood-guiltiness became more and more intense," he tells us. "Perishing China so filled my heart that there was no rest by day and little sleep by night." "Finally," he says, "on June 25, 1865, the Lord conquered my unbelief, and I surrendered myself to God for this service. There and then I asked Him for twenty-four fellow-workers-two for each of the eleven inland provinces which were without a missionary and two for Mongolia."
In the next two or three months applications came from more than forty volunteers. It was decided to form a new mission upon a broad interdenominational basis, the work to be evangelistic. On 26 May, 1866, Mr. and Mrs. Hudson Taylor, with sixteen others (besides four young children), embarked on the Lammermt~ir, and arrived at ShliWghai on September 30th. Hangchow, the capital of Chekiang, was selected as the first great city to be occupied. By the close of the year there were four central stations in Chekiang province, and' the following year the number grew to eight.
After five and a half years, Mr. Taylor again returned to the homeland, to face serious problems at the home base, but in October, 1872, he was once more on the field. In spite of almost insurmountable difficulties the workers not only maintained their ground but planned what seemed almost impossible advance. In 1873 eleven new stations and outstations were entered, one of these being Shanghai, which became the Mission's chief business center.
From the b~ginning Mr. Taylor's desire was to depend mainly upon the evangelization of China by Chinese Christians and he prayed for fifty or a hundred additional Chinese evangelists. In 1874, on a voyage up the Yangtze to Hankow and Wuchang, with a view to opening a. new station at Wuchang, Mr. Taylor fell and seriously injured his spine, but with a companion he pressed on to Wuchang, where he saw a worker installed. Two years later China was on the brink of war but the conflict was averted, and fuller freedom was given for carrying forward the work. Four more provinces-Shansi, Shensi, Kansu, and Szechwan-were occupied and at the time of the annual meeting in 1878 not only had all the nine unoccupied provinces been visited but twelve missionaries had already been appointed to four of them. The first issue of China's Millions appeared in July, 1875, and it has been published regularly each month ever since.
In November, 1881, a little band of eight or nine missionaries gathered at Wuchang to confer with Mr. Taylor. In the past they had been very definite in asking God for open doors-which prayer He had answered; now the obvious need was a like definiteness in asking for reinforcements. A careful survey, province by province
SIXTY YEARS IN CHINA
.and station by station, led to the conclusion that if the existing work was to be sustained and new openings developed, forty-two men and twenty-eight women-seventy new workers in all-were required.
They determined, therefore, to pray for seventy additional helpers for the Mission, as well as for large reinforcements for other so- cieties at work in China. So assured were this little company that the matter was of God that ere they separated they held a praise meeting. . Nine new helpers were given in 1882, 18 more in 1883, and 46 in 1884–01' 73 in all. Moreover, the income of the Mission kept pace with the increased number of workers.
In February, 1885, when the Mission had almost completed twenty years of work, "the Cam- bridge Seven" set sail for China- an event which attracted wide- spread attention not only in the British Isles but elsewhere, and which led to marvellous results."
The first break in this Cambridge Band of young university men oc- curred last November, when the Right Rev. W. W. Cassels, who had been set apart as Bishop in West- ern China in October, 1895, was called Home. The present General Director of the Mission, Mr. D. E.
Hoste, is himself one of "the Cam- D. E. H03TE bridge Seven" and the other mem- Director ot the China Inland Mission bers of the Band are all still active in Christian service.
Vhen, at the close of 1881, Mr. 'l'aylor began to pray for sev- enty new workers, there were less than 70 members of the Mission, but in four years there were 177. The work on the field was more thoroughly organized, and at the first meeting (at Anking, in No- vember, 1886) of the newly formed China Council, definite prayer was made for a hundred new workers during the year 1887. "Sure I am," said Mr. Taylor at the annual meeting in London in May, 1887, "that God will answer prayer handsomely." Several hundred candidates applied, and by the close of the year the full hundred extra workers were either in China or were on their way thither.
The following year Mr. Taylor visited Northfield, Massachusetts, and held meetings in other places in the United States and Canada.
By the time he was ready to return to China (in October, 1888) over forty candidates had offered, fourteen of whom sailed from Vancouver with Mr. Taylor. An American Council was formed in the following year.
• See the Story of the Ca.mbridge Seven in the September. 1925, REVIEW.
At a Field Conference held at Shanghai in May, 1890, an appeal was adopted, asking for a thousand new evangelists for China within the five following years. In July of the same year Mr. Taylor sailed for Australia, and with the appeal for a thousand workers still fresh in his mind suggested that Australia and New Zealand might send out a hundred of these. Sixty candidates offered, and eleven sailed for China with Mr. Taylor when he re-embarked in November. In less than nine years the full hundred had sailed for the field from Australia.
When the five years had expired from the time when the Conference at Shanghai asked for a thousand men, it was found that 1,153 new workers had actually arrived in China.
The fourth decade of the Mission (1895-1905) witnessed a very real testing time and a marvellous recovery. Following the defeat of China by Japan in· February, 1895, came the outbreak of serious disturbances in the provinces of Szechwan and Chekiang, and the massacre of C. M. S. missionaries in the province of Fukien. Yet in that same year-1895-more converts were baptized by the C. I. M. than in any previous year.
, The Boxer Riots and massacres of 1900 were the climax of China's anti-foreign policy. When the storm of persecution broke, the C. I. M. had nearly 700 missionaries in the field, most of whom were at inland .stations. It was in the province of Shansi, under the viceroyship of Yu Hsien, that the storm did its worst. Here 113 missionaries and 46 children (64 connected with the C. I. M.) lost their lives. Many Chinese Christians were put to death, while thousands of others lost all their possessions. Nevertheless, in little more than a year from the outbreak of the troubles, missionary work had been resumed in most parts of China.
In June, 1905, at Changsha, Hunan, in the city to whose evangelism he had given so much prayer and effort, Hudson Taylor passed away, forty years from the founding of the C. I. M. Accompanied by his son and daughter-in-law, Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, the veteran had made his way in a kind of triumphal procession to Hunan, and here it was fitting that he should receive his Homecall, from the last province to be opened to the Gospel.
The work of the Mission continued without diminution and the fifth decade saw both mass movements and revival, with considerable consequent growth and development. Several Bible Training Institutes were founded for the better equipment of Chinese pastors and evangelists.
In 1915 the jubilee of the Mission was celebrated with much rejoicing. " The Jubilee Story of the China Inland Mission," prepared by Mr. Marshall Broomhall, tells of the labors of the halfcentury as a "record of God's faithfulness dedicated to the memory of those who laid the foundations and to those who by their gifts
and service are building thereon." Mr. Broomhall calculated that to visit all the central stations alone would require five years, while if the outstations as well were seen, another fifteen years or so would be needed! In fact, the area of the provinces in which the Mission was at work exceeded one and three-quarter million square miles. The money needed to inaugurate and carryon this widespread work for the whole period of fifty years came "in answer to prayer." More than 50,000 converts had been welcomed into church fellowship, and this by no means recorded the full measure of what had been accomplished.
Apart from the English-speaking world, there were in 1915 eleven "Associate Missions" allied to the C. 1. M. These eleven Missions were: The Swedish Mission in China, the Swedish Holiness Union, the Scandinavian Alliance Mission, the Swedish Alliance Mission, the Norwegian Mission in China, the Norwegian Alliance Mission, the German China Alliance, the Liebenzell Mission, the German Women's Missionary Union, the Friedenshort Deaconess Mission, the Finnish Free Church, and the St. Chrischona Pilgrim Mission. The C. 1. M.. is thus not only interdenominational but international. Each of the eleven"Associate Missions" is practically autonomous, with independent financial arrangements, but all have accepted the C. I. M. "Principles and Practice." In 1915 there were 282 workers in China in connection with the" Associate Missions." In the fifty years 1865-1915 the C. I. M.'s total income in Great Britain and Ireland, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and China (without taking into account the amounts raised by the "Associated Missions") exceeded one and three-quarter million pounds sterling (nearly $8,750,000).
The ten years since the jubilee are described by Mr. Marshall Broomhall in a booklet which is entitled" Our Magnificat." "Today," he says, "that little Mission, begun in such weakness, has churches established throughout the length and breadth of China. As we look back upon the sixty years of the Mission's history, it is with the firm conviction that the Mission itself was begotten of God. During the last ten years, in spite of the widespread civil strife and devastating brigandage, wh,ich have made missionary activities both painful and perilous, more than 54,000 persons have confessed their faith in Christ by baptism-a greater number than during the previous half-century. The total income received from the commencement of the work in 1865 is no less than £3,389,189: that is to say, more than £1,400,000 has been received during the last ten years, the years of the Great War and subsequent financial depression. The Mission by its faith has discovered that Who trusts in God's unchanging love· Dwells on the Rock which nought can move. "
Hin Liu of
BY MISS WILMA DUNTZE, JERSEIY CITY, NEW JERSEY W HEN China first came in contact with the Western world, her people were amazed at the progress of J apan-a country no larger than one of her own provinces. The new progressive atmosphere so evident in her neighbor made the Chinese ask the cause. Some believed Japan's new strength was due to Western organization, to literature, and education. The keynote, however, seemed to be freedom not only for the men but for the women also. The seed was sown. vVomen began to seek education and to take a part in public affairs. They have since come into new power.
One of the first institutions to offer opportunities for women was Canton Christian College, which at first had no room for girls. When its Vornen's Department was opened there were needed several educated Chinese women teachers. The first native member of the teaching staff was Miss Fung Hin Liu. Her parents, who were Chris- tians, prayed fervently that God would help their daughter devote her life to the women of China. Baek in the sixties, when the life of a Christian was beset with dan- .'UNG H1N LIU-NOW MRS. C. F. WANG gers, her grandparents accepted Christ. They had five daughters and no sons, a dire calamity in a Chinese family. The neighbors were convinced that the lack of a son was the result of this family's having turned away from their old gods. Without a son there would be no one to worship the family ancestors. While attending Sunday-school Grandmother Liu heard the Plissionary tell of Hannah, who prayed for a son. So greatly was she impressed that she hurried home to tell her husband the wonderful story, and together they prayed to God to send them a son. Vithin two years their son was born and was named "Begotten by Prayer." This young boy was brought up in a Christian atmosphere but was educated in native Chinese schools and later studied medicine under Dr. Kerr. About the time of his father's death Mr. Liu married a bright, capable Christian woman who had studied in missionary schools and who continued to teach until there were seven children in the family. She made all of their clothes and embroidered their shoes…
108 Fung Hin Liu's father, who had come into contact with missionaries and other foreigners and had read much of Western civilization, realized that in the next twenty-five years Ohina's greatest problem would be the education of her women. Contrary to Chinese tradition, when Fung Hin was born neither he nor his wife were disappointed that their first-born should be a daughter; they rather thanked God for His wonderful gift in sending one who could help China's women and they named their daughter "Consecration."
Everything was done to give her as thorough an education as was possible in China. Until she was ten Fung Hin studied with her mother, as she was not well enough to attend school regularly. Her father was quite eager to have her learn English. There was no place where this was taught but Canton Christian College. There was much opposition to admitting girls to the institution but Mr. Liu urged that the college should train them to be the leaders of the women of the future. Finally Fung Hin was allowed to study at Oanton Ohristian College where she was one of the first resident group of seven girls. She had a keen hunger for knowledge and in order to prepare for her future work she was eager for the larger opportunities offered in America.
As the Liu family was large f~nds were. correspondingly small, FUNG fiN LJU'S PARENTS AND SISTERS, WHO WORKED FROM THE FIRST TOWARD . THE GOAL OF BETTER EDUCATION FOR CHINESE GIRLS
but Mr. Liu's determination to help his daughter carry out the hopes they had cherished for so many years made' it possible to face the difficulty. He mortgaged his house to secure funds with which the daughter might begin her studies in America. Fung Hin had not been used to manual working, as in China everything had been done for her, but she knew that she could learn how and for two years she earned her board doing many things which were entirely strange.
At first she attended Wooster University, while she lived a mile away ,on a farm. After two years she turned her eyes longingly toward Wellesley-but her complete capital was $8.00!
"1 was determined not to worry," she remarked. "When 1 came to this country 1 told father 1 did not want him to send me money, for 1 was the oldest of ten and the others should also have an education. 1 could go and work, and I would."
The Wooster girls asked their Chinese classmate to speak at a Y. W. C. A. meeting and her talk aroused the interest of many.
Invitations came to speak in other towns, so that four or five times a week and often three times on 'Sunday for the remainder of the summer attentive audiences listened to the story of this Chinese girl.
During her junior year at Wooster she and nine of her classmates kept house together to reduce expenses to the minimum. But Fung Hin could not keep her thoughts from her dream of going to_ Wel- lesley and she made it a subject of prayer. Through the travelling secretary of the Y. W. C. A. in China Miss" Liu learned that a scholarship waS offered at Wellesley for an Oriental girl and a trip to Lake Geneva to meet the committee resulted in her securing the Helen Gould Scholarship. Through her old teaclier, who had been made Education Commissioner, she secured the remainder of the money required to take the Junior and Senior years at Wellesley.
This experience convinced her clearly that God had heard and an- swered her prayers.
After one year's study at Teachers College, Columbia Univer- sity, Miss Liu returned to her own country as one of the first five women to start systematic higher education for Chinese girls. Though young and inexperienced, she successfully organized the Women's Department of Canton Christian College of whiCh she was the Dean.
In 1925, out of the twenty-six graduates, twelve were women, a c~ss started by Miss Liu. ..
Looking back over the years she spent in America and the many difficulties surmounted, Fung Hin Liu says: "EYerything shows that God answers prayers. My father and mother hoped and prayed that I might help the women of China. Eyerything has worked to this end. It has been ideal that I have had all these struggles. They were part of my education."
Fung Hin Liu is now the wife of Mr. C. F. Wang, a brother of Dr. C. T. Wang, and is living in Mukden, Manchuria.-EDIToR.
– , ~
NON-CHRISTIAN PAPUANS AT ONE OF THE HARVEST DANCES IN KIRIWr.l(A. , "
Missionary Work in Papua, New Guinea BY REV. W. E. BROMILOW, D.D., DOBU, PAPuA. ' • '~• ." ">j '
Chairman of the Papuan District, Australian Methodist ' Missionary Societv "<, "-'..0 F f/1.. i.
T HERE are four different ways of treating the prlrmtJ'J:q~rac. es.. of the world. .
1. The Scientific, or the Way of the Anthropologist and Ethnologist.
2. The Administrative. 3. The Commercial.
4. 'l'he Way of the Missionary.
A fifth way is to leave them alone, which is animp~ssibility; the advance in exploration, the realization of the white man's ,bprden, and most of all the Saviour's commandment will not allow us to leave them to themselves.
I. The Scientific Method In recent years there has been a very considerable advance in scientific research with regard to the native races, and especially the animistic peoples. As one result of ethnological research and comparison of the manners and customs of the various races with those of civilized peoples,it has been stated as an actual fact that in sensory perception, memory, imagination, reasoning, emotion, self-control, the primitive races allowing for their circumstances are equal to the highly civilized peoples. The anthropologist advises that there should be no interference with manners and cus- III
toms, and the result of this keen interest in the characteristics of the uncivilized according to our ideas, is, that there has been very little reference to what was considered the only law for the advance- ment of the human race, "the survival of the'fittest. " One notable exaII!ple of this was seen in the attitude of the Pan-Pacific Congress held in Sydney in August, 1923. Again and again when reference …….~~~–,-~—-~,…..::= was made to Polynesians and Mel- . .Will..'" anesians, the thought was express- ed that all investigation and re- search would be useless unless something could be suggested which would be of service to these backward races and which would prevent their dying out. A special resolution of the Congress, moved by a Doctor of Medicine, recom- mended that a large sum of money should be contributed by the gov- ernments surrounding Oceania for medical service.
For the sake of knowledge, the anthropologist and ethnologist should be encouraged and assisted in every possible way. But that "no native customs should be in- terfered with" cannot be, for with the impact of civilization many of the customs and manners which are indigenous to the animistic races will of necessity be compelled to give way. Recently an address was delivered by Sir J. H. P.
Murray, the Lieutenant-Governor A DOBU WIDOW IN PAPUA of Papua, in which he stated that certain of the customs of the Papuans, for instance, must pass away, and the only way that we can help the people is to give them Christianity. This he said, was.
not a matter of belief in Christianity, but the only thing to do.
Missionaries to do their work well, must be anthropologists.
For a missionary to enter upon his field of work and recklessly strive to uproot all the customs of the people,would be most unwise. While the anthropologist might say that the races in the Pacific wonld evolve to a higher plane if left alone, the missionary practice must be to encourage al!.native customs which are neither evil in them- selves, nor inseparably connected with evil, and strive to uproot only things evil or inseparably coimected with evil. Cannibalism,
MISSIONARY WORK IN PAPUA, 1'<'EW GUINEA
immorality in its various forms, barbarous customs such as burying the surviving infant with its dead mother, the killing of one of twins, cruelty to animals, the drinking of human blood raw-assuredly no good could come out of these and similar practices.
Papua is a fascinating country because of its wonderful variety in fauna, flora, geological conditions, and manners and customs. For instance, in the Methodist sphere of influence, the houses ·at Dobu are built on piles mostly in the shape of a saddle with a high peak at each end; at Kiriwina 100 miles away, the houses are built very close to the ground; at Panmati 100 miles to the south, the houses have the shape of a whale boat turned upside doWll. The canoes CHRISTIAN PAPUANS GIVING A DANCE OF WELCOME again are different and have been adapted to necessity. At Dobu and Kiriwina they are built more for paddling than sailing; they are long and sometimes there are fifteen men with paddles propelling a single canoe. These canoes have a sail triangular in shape, but if the crews wish to beat against a wind they have to remove the mast from the stern to the bows at the end of each task. At Panmati the canoes are built after the shape of a whale boat, the sides being built up by planks tied together and caulked with native material. There is a mast at the center of the canoe and a sail the shape of the figure "8" with a line drawn down each side.
Domestic customs are also different. At Dobu exogamy prevails, and a polygamist's wives have houses and gardens in their own tribe and are not gathered for permanent residence at the husband's '3
village. At Kiriwina the wives gather together at the husband's village, even to the number of seventeen in the case of the leading chief, the houses of the wives forming a semi-circle around his enclosure.
It is gratifying to know that a School of Anthropology is about to be established at the Sydney University, and the appointment of a Professor of Anthropology and Ethnology is being considered and arrangements made for the work of the new school. This school will be of special service to the Government in Papua and the Mandated Territory. Missionary students also may be trained there, and specialized research will be undertaken throughout the Pacific. If Australia can succeed in producing cadets and officers after the plan of the Imperial Service great good will result to th~ Island races. Already a government anthropologist has been appointed in Papua, and Sir Hubert Murray writes: "Incidentally, such an officer will be of assistance in collecting the various objects of interest which are gradually passing out of use in the native villages, but this will not be his chief value. His chief value will be to help us in reconeiling an intelligent, though very backward, race to the inevitable march qr. civilization, and in finding the easiest way for its advance." II. The Administrative Method In many places primitive peoples have been annexed to a European power at their own wish, but in most cases, no consent has been asked. In British New Guinea, or Papua as it is now called, the Queen's sovereignty was finally declared by the first administrator, on Sept, 4, 1888, with the usual formalities, to whom the oath of office· and allegiance was administered by His Excellency Sir Hort Day Bosanquet, G.C,V.O., K.C.B., etc., then in command of H. M. S. Opal, which had been ordered by Admiral Fairfax to transport the Administrator to Port Moresby." Dr. (afterwards Sir) Wm. MacGregor was that administrator. In his introduction to J. H. P. Murray's book on Papua he writes: "Mr. Murray, with characteristic modesty, does not discuss the question of missions in Papua, because he professes to not have sufficient detailed knowledge of their working. I cannot advance that plea. The two finest and best Institutions I left in New Guinea were the Constabulary and village police, and the Missions. The great distinguishing feature of the ~ollr Missions of Papua is the division of the (,.olmtl'Y into fOllr spccified working areas. The fundamental ideas;in that were: to prevent overlapping; and to not confuse the native mind by conflicting doctrine and practice. No attempt at encroachment was ever encouraged or facilitated by the Government, which was, however, always ready to procure land for any new settlement, without regard to Church or seet. To encourage ]1isflioh work in every possible way was considered a sacred duty by the Government. '1'0 not do so, would, indeed, have been a complete departure from the principles upon which Biritish or Engli'sh colonisation first originated.! ]jritish New Guinea was indeed fortunate in her early missionaries. No book
MISBIONARY WORK IN PAPUA, NEW GUINEA
on New Guinea would be complete without the names of such men as the intel- lectual G. W. Lawes, D.D. of Glasgow University, and of the Rev. James Ohalmers, both of the London Missionary Society."
Four years before the arrival of Sir William in 1888 the following terms of proclamation were read by Sir James Erskine and interpreted by James Chalmers: ,,You are placed under the protection of Her Majesty's Government; evil disposed men will not be permitted to occupy your country, to seize your lands, or to take you away from your homes. I have been instructed to sa:v to you that what you have seen done here today is to give you the strongest a~surance of Her Majesty's gracious protection of yon, and to warn bad and evil disposed men that if they attempt to do you harm they will be punished by the officers of the Queen. Your lands will be secured to you; your wives and children will be protected."
These words were translated to the natives wh9 were present, and as other tribes were visited, the proclamation was made known.
" Sir William proceeded at once to introduce a true sense of justice in the punishment of native offenders against the law. He established the system of finding out the real culprit and not punishing a district or even a village in the aggregate. He first segregated the district where the offender lived, then on becoming acquainted with the inhabitants of the district he segregated the village from which the offender came, and then the offender himself. This, of course, was directly opposed to the native system which carried out the law of indiscriminately killing any member of. an offending tribe whether that individual was innocent or not. He established the wise plan of putting the interests of the natives in the forefront, and while" he was always fair to the white man he treated the native as entitled to receive justice and mercy.
When Australia took over British New Guinea from the Home Government in 1906, there were many of the white men who imagined that very stringent rule would be introduced, and that especially the natives would be compelled to work for companies or private individuals at a small wage. When this was suggested, the missionary societies combined in making representations to the Australian Commonwealth, and were gratified to find that all political parties were united in the determination to prevent forced labor of such a kind, and would not allow slavery to be introduced under another name. Since Sir William's time the I..Iieutenant-Governors from his immediate successor Sir George LeHunts have carried out his policy, and the administration of the present Governor, Sir J. H. P. Murray, has been thoroughly approved of by the missionary societies. Laws have been introduced to compel the natives to improve their village life, and a system of taxation has been established to raise means for practical education and medical attention. All the money raised for this tax is being spent on the natives them-· selves, and grants are made to assist the various missionary socie-
ties in technical work and the employment of nurses and doctors, who not only themselves heal the sick, but also train native practitioners and nurses.
With regard to the native policy in general, the Lieutenant- Governor in his "Review of the Australian Administration in Papua from 1907-1920" states: "If the Papuan is (as he has been) confirmed in his title to his land; if he is shown how to make reasonable use of it; if he is taught to read and write; and if, in addition, he has the opportunity of learning a trade, and is shown how to keep his village clean and free from infection-if all this is done for him he will have as good a chance as any native ever had, and Australia will have shown that it is possible to intr.oduce our civilisation among these primitive peoples in such a way that it may endure to their lasting advantage. And if, at the same time, we increase the total agricultural production, as I am convinced we shall do by the adoption of the system of what I have called native plantations, we may rest satisfied in the conviction that Papua, at any rate, has given the world 'that economic contribution' (to quote Alleyne Ireland) 'which it has a right to expect from every territory which nature has endowed with economic resources.'
"However, it is a policy which has tal{en a long time to inaugurate, and will take a much longer time to establish. I do not suppose that those who helpcd to start it will ever see it as a going concern; and it is a policy which may excite bitter opposition, on the pretext that it will discourage the native from working for white men. I have already stated that I do not for a moment believe that this will be the result, and in any ca.<;e it is hardly likely that it will come into full operation in time to affect even the longest-lived of present employers of labor; and, further, I should be sorry to think that life will never hold anything better for the Papuan than to work as a 'signed-on' laborer for a wage of a few pence a day. The objection whieh I have indicated rests, in fact, upon the assumption, long since abandoned in British colonips, that a native popUlation exists solely for the benefit of its white employers. "
III. The Commercial jVIethod We must acknowledge that the advancement of commerce into the far regions carries with it many blessings, and no one would object to such advancement when carried out on proper lines and not for the purpose of exploiting the people in the so-called uncivilized parts of the world. In the Pacific many evil practices have been carried out for the purpose of making money; for instance, the "Oarl" massacre in 1871 was attended with evil results, innocent people losing their lives because of the wrongdoings of others. The Carl was a recruiting ship, and when the captain could not obtain voluntary recruits, he proceeded to use violence. He and the mate of the vessel dressed themselves in what would appear as ecclesiastical garments, one representing the Bishop and the other his curate. By this means they enticed the natives on board, got them down the hold, and cleared away from the Islands. When the natives created a disturbance they were cruelly fired upon, and then the ship was made to appear as if nothing had happened, so that
MISSIONARY WORK IN PAPUA, NEW GUINEA
when the man-o'-war examined the vessel nothing was known of what had been perpetrated. But the results came when Bishop Patteson and his party landed at the same place not knowing what had occurred. They were attacked, and the Bishop and others were killed. The islanders were quite ignorant of any punishment meted out to the brutal kidnappers. A similar occurrence might easily have happened on Dobu Island when we landed there in 1891. A few years before our arrival, a recruiting ship called the Hop efUl passed among the Islands and through the Dobu Straits, recruiting unlawfully, and kidnapping. .rust a short time after we landed, the TWO PAPUAN PASTORS AND T HEIR WIVES warriors of Dobu and Bwaiowa determined to massacre the whole of our mission party in revenge for what had been done by the visiting ship, but one of ·the chiefs advis ed that the plan to massacre us should not be carried out, that it would mean fighting again and again with other white men who would be sure to come in search of those they would kill. They determi.ned then not to kill us but to watch whether we were the right sort of people or not, stealing from us and trying to get all they could out of us in other ways. Fortunately for us we were considered as the right sort, and myself, wife and daughter were adopted into the tribe with due ceremony.
It is a matter for thankfulness that the old days of snatchsnatch and kill-kill boats have passed away, but. still wrongs may be done under the flag of commerce, and the presence and message
of the missionary are a means of assisting the administration to protect the natives from being exploited for purposes of trade. The spirit of many of the prospectors who visit Papua, looking for minerals, and of the planters and others who are engaged in commercial pursuits, is helpful to the development of the native character. But alas, too often commerce is used for the purpose of simply making money out of the native. There is a goodly number of the foreign residents who believe that there can be no success commercially unless local labor is exploited.
We thank God that no revenue is obtained by the Government, nor profit by the hotel-keeper from the sale of intoxicating liquor to the Papuans. While it is to be regretted that there are so many licenses to sell alcoholic drinks to whites, the Territory of Papua 113 to be congratulated on the carrying out of its law of prohibition for the native inhabitants and other colored people. Heavy penalties are inflicted in case of conviction, and very few cases of transgression occur. The penalty is truly a deterrent, but the sentiment of the whole white population is with the prohibitory law. The Papuan also, has no desire for" grog," and uses his own stimulant, viz., the areca nut chewed with lime made from coral, and an astringent creeper. This chewing of the nut is considered to cause warmth as a blanket on a cold night, and certainly has none of the evil consequences which follow the drinking of alcohol.
IV. The Missionary Method First and foremost and always this must be the way of love, and of moral suasion. The whole world needs the message of love, the cultured races are glad to have it; and the animistic peoples need that message more than anything else. Some say that for colored peoples the only treatment should be that which' produces dread of man and terrifying fear of God. .An experience of ten years in Fiji, twenty years in Papua, and sixteen years of active service in Australia has given me unshaken confidence in the power of the love of God in Christ Jesus.
That the true idea of love opens up in the minds of savage cannibals is proved in the case of Gaganumore the Chief of Dobu, and a notorious headhunter, who said good-bye to the missionary when he left Papua not expecting to return, in these words: "I shall not stay to see the ship take you away. I could not bear it. Belore you came to us, Dobu was like hell, but you brought love to us, and now ill going yourself and removing your goods, you cannot take that love away. It will remain with the Sacred Book you have given us."
I shook hands heartily with him. His hands had been covered with blood, and were black in hue, but the black hand did not prevent love passing between us two.
In the year 1889 the attention of the Wesleyan Methodist Church
MISSIONARY WORK IN P APUA, l'<""EW GUINEA
of Australasia was directed to British New Guinea as a sphere for missionary enterprise. The large island shaped like a "huge bird hovering over the north of Australia," was divided among three European powers. Holland had been in possession of the western half of the island since 1828, and the Germans had hoisted their flag in the northeast a short time before the British! Protectorate was proclaimed over the southeastern portion of the island in the year 1884. British New Guinea, which has borne the name of Papua since the direct control of the territory was taken over from the REV. W. E. BROMILOW, D.D., AND ELISSA DUIGU, A NATIVE OF DOBU, PAPUA, TRANSLATING THE SCRIPTURES Home Government by the Commonwealth of Australia in 1906, has been" likened to the bird's tail, and an enormous tail it is." It is 800 miles long, and 200 miles wide near the Dutch boundary, taper- ing off to a small promontory in the east. The area on the main- land and the islands is estimated at 90,540 square miles, and the coastline at 3,664 miles. .
In 1890 the native population,of the territory was estimated at between 400,000 and 500,000. The London Missionary Society first introduced the Gospel amongst this animistic people, when the mis- sionaries MacFarlane and Murray stationed a number of South Sea Island teachers there in the year 1872. The Roman Catholic order of the Sacred Heart followed in 1886, establishing their headquarters at Yule Island. The area to be covered was so large that the London Missionary Society welcomed the proposal that the Anglican
and the Methodist Churches should send Christian workers to the possession.
The Rev. George Brown, secretary of the Australian Methodist Society visited Papua in 1890 at the request of the Lieutenant- Governor, Sir William MacGregor. A conference was held with representatives of the London and Anglican Societies and the boundaries of each society's operations were assigned to prevent overlapping, and to cover as much ground as possible. The area allotted to the Methodists included the twenty miles of coastline on the mainland between East Cape and Cape Ducie, and all the islands in the eastern part of the territory, with the exception of one or two near Samarai, which were retained by the London Missionary Society. Lately the London Missionary Society have exchanged a further ten miles of coastline on the mainland for two other islands.
A large party reached Dobu in June, 1891, in the chartered vessel The Lord of the Isles. We had gathered at Sydney from Australia, New Zealand, and the South Sea Islands, some as reinforcements for the Mission in New Britain (now part of the Mandated Territory of New Guinea), and the others for the New Mission in British New Guinea. The Rev. George Brown, General Secretary of the Methodist Missionary Society of Australia, accompanied the party. He was a missionary genius, brave but not foolhardy, bighearted and ever sympathetic with even the most degraded savage.
On the day of his departure, when the ship was in the offing, an occurrence happened which showed us the attitude of the native population. A Fijian woman died in childbirth from the effects of malaria, and we arranged for the funeral. When the procession wended its way along the sandy beach, under the cocoanut palms, the wizards and witches sat on their haunches with a devilish grin on their faces. After the funeral was over a native who knew some pidgin-English told uS that the sorceress had killed the woman and would cause the death of the whole party. The husband of the woman was our head catechist, and a true missionary. He pleaded not to be sent back to his own home, but to be appointed to a station where he would learn the language and preach the message of love. "Has not my wife died for the New Guineans1 Did not Jesus die for us 1 Shall I not be ready to die for this people 1" So he remained, and was sent with a companion of his own race to a station, where he died in the work saying that messengers had come for him. Nehemiah Sole was one of many who have died for the Papuans.
. As time passed, and the people understood that we were messengers of love and peace, requests came in for missionaries, until, sending the South Sea Islanders two by two under white men who were superintendents of circuits, our supply was soon exhausted,
J MISSIONARY WORK IN PAPUA, NEW GUINEA
and we were compelled to .disappoint many who came from long distances to beg for missionaries.
EMh missionary learned the dialect in his particular sphere of operations and the Gospel was preached in the vernacular. The speech of Dobu was chosen as the literary language of our sphere of influence, it being the widest known of all the many dialects. By the invaluable assistance of the British and Foreign Bible Society the gospels, the whole New '!'estament, and eight books of the Old Testament have been printed in Dobuan, and the complete Old Testament is now being published. These books have been provided for the whole district, the total population of which is 64,000. But wherever necessary single gospels are also being translated and pl'inted in other dialects.
A BCENE A'r THE L[T~'LE METHODIST CHURCH AT TUKOUKWA So the Gospel spread to other islands and peoples and while the first and main object of the Mission was, to use John W esley'S words, to "save souls," by preaching the Word, other necessary developments arose which gave interesting and constant work to missionaries and their wives, missionary sisters, the first two of whom arrived in 1892, lay missionaries, and South Sea Islanders. Nurseries for children saved from burial alive or n eglected or orphan, boarding schools and reformatories, local training institutions, week-day and Sunday-schools were established; the ministry of healing and training in the use of tools were undertaken. The ministry of women has found a large place in missionary activities, and the only martyr to violence was a beautiful Tongan woman, who fell under the knife of an enraged savage one of whose wives had been forcibly taken away during his absence by a man of foreign blood.
The first conversion came through the message of love preached and sung in the vernacular. At the same time this conversion was a miracle in that it was taken out of our hands and wrought by the Spirit of God. For some time previously there had been a spirit of enquiry amongst many of the people, and our hearts were cheered by men and women coming to us with seemingly sincere desire to know" whether these things were so," while on the other hand there was a spirit of opposition which proved to us that the Enemy saw that Dobu was to be wrested from his sway. A gracious influence was often felt in our services and the demeanor of the congregations had greatly improved, but there was one clear and remarkable case of conversion which was really the first-fruits of Dobu unto Christ.
A woman, past middle age, living at a small village called Gaula, or The Cave, because of its situation between two high cliffs, was thought to have died. She was a pleasant woman, was accustomed to visit us often, attended the services regularly, and kept the Sabbath well. On her supposed death, all preparations were made for .the funeral, and Alesana the Samoan teacher was called upon to conduct a service. When he went, he found the people mourning around the body which was dressed up according to the usual custom in the woman's own grass dresses and ornaments. The appearance of the woman impressed him strangely, and he recommended their postponing the burial till next morning. This was consented to, notwithstanding the strong opposition of many of the sorcerers, who protested that it was customary not to delay burial in the case of those of low rank. To the astonishment of everyone after midnight the woman revived. She said nothing, however, until Alesana visited her, and then, in response to his question as to how she was, she said, "I was dead, and my spirit went up to beaven. I met Jesus there. He is so good! I am so bad 1 He told me to return and tell my people that ta,pwaroro (worship) is true. He also said that I was to return because I was not ready, and that the missionary and his wife were to tell me all about it."
Mrs. Bromilow and I visited her at different times, and heard the same story, with the addition that the place was all beautiful. When I saw her she was lying very sick and weak, but spoke very intelligently and clearly. A crowd of natives, with eager, solemn faces, gathered around. After telling me her story, she said, in response to a question: "Yes! Jesus is so good! very good!" And, again, "There is no bonu (a scrofulous sore from which she had suffered) there! no hunger! no sickness!"
"Are you afraid of death now~" "No! No! I want to die now to get to the beautiful city." Knowledge of ·the Papuan character is needed for the full realization of what this meant. Confession of sin was unknown amongst
MISSIONARY WORK IN PAPUA, NEW GUINEA
them: they always said, 'We are not bad, we are good:' have we not given up fighting' Have we not given up cannibalism1" It was a revelation of the Saviour's actual personality that wrought the feeling of sorrow for sin in the heart. The view of Jesus which she had in her trance, filled this woman with the true penitent's thought, "Jesus is so good; I am so bad." Then to have no fear of death was a very strange experience. It is true that occasionally a man or woman will commit suicide in passion. I knew a chief who threw himself down from the top of a cocoanut tree because his young men would not prepare his canoe for a journey. That is one case out of several, but under usual circumstances they are very much afraid of death. This woman's testimony surprised them. The woman was asked whether she would not like to be cured and get better, but she said she wanted to get away to the place where there was no pain. This story, as one would expect, confirmed those who were drawing near the Light and led others to confession of sin.
Three weeks after the trance the woman passed on to the better world—,-the first-fruits of Dobu unto Christ.
Shortly after the woman's death, nve men came to my study one week evening and began to ask questions concerning the conversion that had taken place. They asked me particularly whether I was sure that she had gone to heaven, and when I told them that I was confident that she had passed on into the presence of the Saviour they said: "But she was as bad as we are, and perhaps worse. How then could she go to the place where God is T" I then told them how she had confessed her sins and turned to the Saviour for salvation. The next question asked, illustrates the attitude of the native mind towards the missionary.
"We have heard much concerning Jesus Christ the Son of God, and we would like to know where He is. Is the Church the house of Jesus Christ1 Is this, your house, the house of Jesus Christ'"
"Yes, " I replied. "Then where is He 1 We cannot see Him, we cannot hear Him. Are you Jesus Christ f" I would have liked to have retired to some quiet spot for forty days and forty nights to have been fit to answer the question in the right way. I led them to confess their sins and receive Jesus Christ as their Saviour. My study was consecrated that night by the regeneration of sinful hearts. Shortly after this, at the close of a Sunday morning's service, three little girls came to see me in my house, and asked whethe'r they were too young to go to heaven. My heart was gladdened when I found that they understood what it meant to be converted.
So the work began, and classes were formed to meet after each Sunday morning's service, and the membership of the Church was truly established when after a time of trial these converts were
baptized. From that time to this the Church has increased in numbers, until now we have 96 churches; 200 other preaching places; 67 Papuan pastors; 58 Papuan local preachers; 209 class leaders; 2,169 full members; 1,341 members on trial; 6,363 catechumens; 31,238 attendants on public worship.
There have been, and are, difficulties of no light character in establishing the Gospel amongst the Papuans. It is sad to have to say it, but it is true, that one of the chief hindrances to the spread of the Gospel is the conduct of many of the white residents, who either directly oppose Christian missions, or whose lives are, to say the least, not good, examples to follow. It seems pitiful that we should succeed in making converts, and then as soon as they have a desire to improve their mode of life, to be compelled to hand them over to employers of labor many of whom are so antagonistic to missionary enterprise. The recruiting system under which men and youths" sign on" to planter, or miner, or trader, for from one to three years, away from their own homes, is under most careful supervision by government officers, but it is generally acknowledged to be a nec'essary evil, but an evil whereby natives find work and employers make their various industries pay. But the sooner this system gives way to the employing of free labor, the better it will be for the race. Missionaries agree that if only they had the natives to themselves for sonie years, mission work -would be much easier.
The Rev. F. W. Walker with his Papuan Indnstries Ltd., and the Rev. Charles W . .Abel of the K. E . .A., with his community around Kwato, are to be congratulated on their efforts to lead the people to engage profitably in industries which will benefit the native population directly and give them the opportunity of becoming valuable assets to the community.
In the Methodist Mission the Rev. N. K. Gilmour, the wise and able leader, has succeeded in teaching converts of the mission to understand the sacredness of manual labor, and training them to repair boats, build launches, saw timber, and engage in other practical technical work.
There are difficulties also amongst the natives themselves. For generations they' have lived under the law of custom, and either through fear or inclination, have with persistent obstinacy obeyed such law. When they realized that missionaries had come to live amongst them with a message of peace, they gave up cannibalism, the last case of which occurred when we had been resident a few weeks, and buried the skulls that had adorned their houses, but when the missionary's wife attended the funeral of a woman friend who had died soon after childbirth, they claimed the right to bury the live child with the dead mother, and were only dissuaded from the act by the strong determination of the white woman who was then compelled to adopt the child to save its life. On another occasion the
MISSIONARY WORK IN PAPUA, Nl'JW GUI,,{EA
missionary's wife and a South Sea Island teacher's wife held the fort at an open graveside where a woman was being buried alive, until the missionary came and by strong moral suasion had the woman taken out of the grave and nursed until she was truly dead. Many evil customs have passed away where mission iniluence has been felt.
Even amongst the true converts there is the great difficulty of lack of leadership. Every man thinks himself as good or better than his neighbor, which is true communism. On one occasion I exhorted the native captain of a mission ship, that he should make his crew do more and himself do less, but he said that if he were to talk to them too much they would say, "Is he the only wise man amongst us ? We know as much as he does." The hesitancy of that seacaptain is an illustration of the difficulty there is in persuading even Christian converts to become true leaders.
At this stage of the Mission's operation leaders are being trained, but for some time yet it will be no light task to choose leaders who will take due responsibility amongst this communistic people.
. Thank God encouragements are many, and the time is not far distant when we shall have not only acting catechists as at present, but full catechists and native ministers. lt[any of the people are clever and brave and now lovable, loving and faithful. As a race they are not orators, but some of them after training have become good preachers of the Gospel. A spirit of self-dependence is being generated in the native Church, and the members are themselves taking in hand the ruling of native customs in their own villages. At first generosity was not known amongst them, but lately they have been educated to give in support of their own native pastors, and to contribute to outside interests such as the "Red Cross" and "Children's Relief Funds."
The impact of civilization increases the difficulties of missionary work, but we have faith to believe that the Gospel which has led so many of the Papuans to an experimental knowledge of the salvation of Jesus Christ, will also be the means of uplifting the people as they rise in the scale of civilization.
When we first went to Papua in the year 1891, the people looked upon our message and our living amongst them as something not to be understood; it was as if they were looking into a pall of darkness, but by the preaching of the Gospel and by living the Truth, there came a mist in the place of darkness in which they could see some new form appearing. Out of the mist there came a composite figure made up of the missionary and J eSllS Christ; then by the iniluence of the Holy Spirit the light has broken in and the missionary has been able to retreat behind the Christ, so that it is He whom they see. This is the great object of our:mission work, and is a revelation of the worthwhile work that has been done.
Apostle to the Slums of
The Work of Toyohiko Kagawa, Japanese Social Leader BY MISS HELEN TOPPING, KOBE, JAPAN Y. W. C. A. Secretary T OYOHIKO KAGAWA, of Kobe, is probably the foremost social worker of Japan. When he was a theological student in the Presbyterian seminary, he became possessed of the social passion to serve his fellow men and braved opposition to do the unheard-of thing of going and living in a two-mat house in the slums, with his wife, who was a former factory girl. In twelve years they had created an embryo settlement and had raised the level of life in that slum a perceptible degree. Meanwhile 11r. Kagawa has been writing books-he is a thorough-going expert in sociology-and has put the social message into popular novels. The first, "Over the Dead Line," is a "best seller" among modern Japanese novels; and its sequel is having a similar success. 'rhe reason, he says, is that everywhere the young people are hungry for real Christian love.
The whole life of Kagawa San is lived for the people. Wherever there is human need he fearlessly gives himself. Most of the better folks in Japan are now on his side–princes are his inquirers, counts his converts, thousands of the laborers are his devoted friends and followers. His name is one to conjure with among the common people, as he organizes the farmers for mutual help, or starts a school for laborers-there seems to be no limit to his activities. He is working always at the limit of his strength.
He was still in his teens when he wrote the story of his life, "Crossing the Dead Line." The enormous income it produces is devoted to the support of his settlement, dispensary, medical staff of two doctors and several nurses, and a Sunday-school. Proceeds from sales of his books, though he is still 'a young man, are contributory t<1 the work of carrying on his benevolences.
While Mr. Kagawa is small in stature, his little wiry body is alive with schemes for bettering conditions, plans for housing, plans for free medical care, and extension of evangelistic work. He refused to become the director of the government Social Bureau because in this work he could not preach Christ. He is often called into consultation by capitalists and peers seeking advice on labor and social questions. He is aiding various public movements, speaking to great assemblages all over the Empire, and has given valuable advice on the industrial work of the Y. W. C. A. "-'he present social awakening is leading to a great spiritual revival all over Japan. Pray for Kagawa San, foremost as a social worker, labor leader, novelist and Christian minister.
126
= ", ..__BEST
~ _ aua a•• _ caa EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, 721 MUHLENBURG BLDG., PHILADELPHIA, PA.
CALL JOSHUA O UR responsibility is not covered by the days of our life. We are debtors also to the days after our death. A man's obligation to his post-mortem days is so important that God talked with one man about it. For many years Moses had been in a position of leadership, but God does not count that a man's responsibility ends with two score or even four score years of service. "And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold thy days approach that thou mtts't die: call Joshua." With divine directness the Lord stated the certainty of approaching death. Here was no human weakness that cautiously suggested: "Now, in case anything should happen." There was no evidence of the professional finger of a physician or nurse warning against" undue excitement. " The statement of the Lord was one of simple and certain futurity: "Behold thy days approach that thou must die." Neither was there any avoidance of the delicate subject of succession-" Call Joshua." The matter of supreme importance was not the choice of a suitable epitaph for Moses. The drawing up of specifications for his mausoleum, and the drafting of resolutions of appreciation of his work were not mentioned, nor the selection of hymns to be sung at his funeral. Above everything else' the Lord set the on-going of the work which Moses had begun. When Joshua received his commission from the Lord, Moses was not found wailing because he had been laid on the shelf and his work was not appreciated. Deuteronomy 31: 14 paints a picture wbich sbould be on exhibit throughout the ages. It portrays the cooperation of age and youth in leadership-" And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in tbe tabernacle of the congregation." On the same day Moses wrote a song and taught it to the children of Israel. His song was not of lamentation but of loyalty. To Joshua he gave the personal assurance, "I win be with thee. "
No call is more needed in the missionary leadership of today than the Joshua call. Why should we deal evasively with ourselves V Only short-sighted leadership winces at the inescapable certainty of approaching death. Even for the youngest, the working days are few. At the very beginning of any important work there should be training for the leadership which provides for its continuance. There is no glory to the man whose work falls in crumbling ruins when he leaves it. Age should call youth. Experience should enlist and train inexperience. Together, age and youth should present themselves in the tabernacle for the blessing of the Lord. There is no danger of youth running riot if, when Moses presents himself before the Lord, he calls Joshua to go with him, and if, when Joshua faces his tasks, Moses blesses bim with the assurance, "I will be with thee.", No leader has a right to die until he has called Joshua.
127
A LACK OF PERCEPTION utterance to the conviction that stirred his ~oul concerning the re- Lead~rs of advancing years have sponsibility of Christians to give the Gospel to the whole world, a devoutly difficulty in realizing the correspond- indignant leader called out, " Sit down, young man! When God ing advance ill the veal'S of their pleases to convert the heathen He will do it without your help or mine." juniors. In "Vignettes from Real Antedating this experience by several thousand years was that of another Life" the artist, in portraying a elderly leader who lacked perception of God's call to youth. When the young man as he looks to his friends, Lord called Samuel, Eli instructed him to "lie down again." Three printed under the dimpled features times the call came before Eli "per- ceived that the Lord had called the of a cherub, "As Mother Sees Him child. "
and Always Will." ::Iay no lack of perception on the part oj' adult leadership soothe back In upbraiding a daughter for in- to sleep the children and youth of today who are called of God to do His dependence of thinking and planning, work.
a mother, with apparent sincerity, an- WORKING PLANS nounced to her twenty-four year old daughter, ""When I was your age I :;tayed at home and minded my mother." Now the truth of the matter was that at eighteen that mother was married and at twenty- four she not only attended to the affairs of a household but was train- ing two or three children to "mind" her. .
"Ve continue to ass;ign tasks of "We made excellent plans for a juvenile proportions – mere "busy- Missionary Rally for our young peo- work" in miRRiolLs-to young pe.ople pIe," announced a business man who who are taking important places in was a leader in his AV'OID READY·ro. church, "but they business and professional life.
Recently a young woman was asked WEAR M.ETHODS didn't take hold. It's to be one of a group of girls to pass hard to get anything the offering plates in a convention across with the young folks of today."
bession. She was a dainty little mite who appeared to the bi-focaled eyes Why not plan to give the young of the convention officers to be about folks a part in the plan making 1 sixteen. They had a general impres- 'rhey know the mind of youth and the sion that the passing of that silver best avenues of approach. If you collection plate was the biggest and pool the ages of your committees who most serious work she had ever done, have the young people's work in and hoped that when she was through charge, is an average of thirty-five school she might settle down and take years too low'! This would admit to an active part in the work. As a the committee one member with the matter of fact she was a capable seasoned jndgment of fifty years, an- young woman in her twenties, who other of thirty-five years, and three had already "settled down" in a with the enthusiasm and creative splendid position as director in charge ability of the twenties.
of an important department of her Success does not attend the handing city's largest store. She was handling down of ready-to-wear plans. A $25,000 contracts in the business better method is to cut by good pat- world, but had never faced anything terns and then make plans tsoitouartdieor~ measuring carefully the larger in missionary work than walk- ing the length of the church with a they are expected to fit.
collection plate. Again and again there are banquets More than a hundred years ago for young people with an unbroken when young William Carey, in an line of grey heads at the tables re- ecclesiastical meeting, assayed to give served for officers and speakers. At
BEST METHODS
high schools and colleges young peo- In making up councils and conven- ple are found abundantly capable of tion delegations too little thought is presiding over their own functions. given to including at least Voluntarily they often invite speakers CONVENTION a few young people. AND COUNCIL commI• ttees who have attained grey-haired dis- DELEGATIONS Boards and tinction and at the same time a con- . may be constituted chief- siderable amount of wisdom. As ly of men and women of experience, guests of honor whose counsel is and yet have in their membership a sought they are heard with deep in- sprinkling of youth in line for ex- terest and great profit. .As members perience.
of committees their leadership is The youngest daughter of a farm- prized. While there is reason for er's family consecrated her life in membership on a committee on young service. "How did it happen that people's work for one or more mem- you have so much interest in mis- bers of sixty or fifty or forty years sions ~" asked a friend.
of age, there is no reason why the "When I was a very little girl,"
average age of the committee should she replied, "I used to ride behind be held to sixty or fifty or even forty. my sister on her big horse when she 1£ we would have youth take counsel went to her missionary meetings and with age let us beware lest age fail to T inhaled a great deal of missionary take counsel with youth. atmosphere. "
Read this quotation from a 1925 Young people soon learn to be' letter from a fine young physician: creators as well as inhalers of mis- "We had in the sionary atmosphere if we make room SKILL COY E S hospital for an opera- for them instead of riding off to our THROUGH OBSER- tion yesterday a little councils and conventions and leaving v A T ION FQL- boy with the worst de- them behind.
LOWED BY ACTION formed legs I have In this day of substitutes nothing ever seen. Dr. Blank has yet been found to take the place started in to fix the left leg and when of Mission Stu d Y whether it cIisassi,northae he had made his incision he handed MISSION STUDY form of a me the scalpel and directed me to go CI.ASSESANDDIS- CUSSlON GB.Oups ahead and fix the right leg. The discussion group. In operation consisted of cutting down every church there should be one or to the bone, stripping back the more classes especially for young peo- periosteum, cutting through the big ple. In many of our churches we feel bone of the lower leg, breaking it and that if we can report, "A Mission then breaking the smaller bones, and Study Class," we have reached the then the closing of the wound. I had standard of excellence required by to put ~he bandages and casts on both our organization. Whatever other legs. classes we have there should be at "It was a whale of a responsibility least one study class or discussion and if that lad doesn't get a straight group especially for young people.
pair of legs it isn't going to be my .At the polls it is mentioned with fault. Believe me, I'm watching over blunt interrogation, "How old are him as a farmer watches over his you ~" In the courts watermelon patch!" THE YATTER there are no hidden mys- f bu t 'ill the Here is something worthy of adap- MWEENTFIEOANR TO terl•es age, 0 tation in missionary methods. If a . missionary society we great surgeon can safely hand his fear to speak of age. In scores of scalpel to a young interne to operate churches there is a subconscious rec- on one leg out of two, cannot a mis- ognition of the fact that the majority sionary leader hand the gavel to of the members of the young people's y-outh for at least one meeting out of society have passed the age limit but twelve' it seems a heartless thing to speak of 4
it. In reality it is a more heartless few localities in which there are not thing not to speak of it. One might some representatives of different races think that excommunication from the and peoples. Reading courses may church was being proposed when pro- be followed by studies and friendmotion to the proper age group is ships in real life. "Never," conthe only thing involved. It is more fessed an American student, "have I absurd to fear to make it known that been so charmed as I was by some adults of thirty or thirty-five years stories of India told by a student of of age should not be in the young that land." people's group than to fear to say that intermediates of thirteen should That Indian student'8 Christianity not be in the beginners department. and his interpretation of fine ideal- The integrity of young people's ism as revealed by some of the high points of his story gave new illumigroups should be preserved inviolate. nation to a prosaic lesson which America has dully endeavored to The age grouping now adopted by teach. Not every city or community practically all agencies in the field of religious education is: can have New York's or Philadel- phia's International House, but every Beginners: 3- 4- 5 city and community can foster inter- Primary; 6· 7· 8 national friendship.
Junior: 9-10-11 Intermediate: 12-13-14 Senior: 15-17 PRACTICAL METHODS IN STRENGTHENING INTER- Yo~gPeople: 18-23 NATIONAL FRIENDSHIP By ELMElI THOMPSON Adult: Above 23.
Scientific and educational recogni- tion is given to the fact that at twen- ty-three young people enter the adult A Filipino student, but a few group. At that age in our churches hours in Philadelphia, was introduced theY' should be transferred to adult to a South American at the Interna- organizations. There is need of a tional Students' House. On learning new age grouping and designation in the latter's name Mr. Layidea, de- most of our churches. F'ormerly we lighted at finding a mutual bond of have been accustomed to use the terms friendship, burst out, "'Why, yours junior and senior as they are applied is a ]<-'ilipino name!"
to college courses and not in reference "No," said the South American, to the ages of 9-10-11 and 15-17. with some hauteur, "mine's a Span- Promotion to the adult group does ish name."
not of necessity involve membership " And," chimed in the Foreign Stu- in a society with a membership com- dent Secretary, who had done the posed entirely of advanced age. There introducing, "Mr. Lavidea's name is may be various adult groups-the also Spanish!" .
young matrons may have their own This little incident but obviously meetings, and various other groupings illustrates that "methods of working may be formed as occasion demands. with foreign students" are not so But, as a rule, member~4ip in young important in their technical detail as people's groups ~ould be limited to is the point of view of the w,orker.
eighteen to twenty-three, except in Foreign students are not different the case of official or advisory rela- from other students except that they tionship, unless some other age group- are more strange to their surround- ing is recommended by the denomi- ings than the American students. A nation. homesick freshman from. California It used to be that books afforded may be best fitted to work effectively the only opportunity for young peo- with his brother from Japan if he can INTERNATIONAL pIe of different lands realize brotherhood at the beginning FRIENDSHIPS to leat:n to know each and what mutual humanity demands other. Now there are in that regard, because they both
BEST ME'l'HODS
come at their new surroundings from ments, stereopticon lectures, etc., afa sympathetic point of view. No fords the contact'S we seek. Forums condescension or reasons for patron- where international subjects are izing are due from either. Each has frankly and freely discussed give the a free field to learn with and from opportunity for friendly volcanic the other. With motives of mutual outbursts that relieve the feelings and equality and a spirit of absolute do no damage. The dining room is a interestedness in the other man and his country, should we meet our I N THill RICH ~~ELLOWSHIP OF THE INguests from abroad, eager to learn all TERNATIONAL HOUSE IN PHlhADEoLwe can from them of their people, PH[~ STUDENTS OF ALL THE their point of view and ways of do- WORLD SHAKE HANDS ing things. Oddly enough, it very often happens that the "foreigner" most effective means for forming (we don't like the word) doesn't real- friendly associations. ize either his responsibility or his opportunity to represent his nation Those nations with the most stubefore the American people, giving dents, e. g., China, Japan and Russia, us the education in which we stand give national evenings when the stuin need. Therefore, to draw him out dents may enterta~n their friends . in a wise and helpful self-expression A constant str eam of invitations is in the same ,way of which we work steered in different directions among with the American student is our the foreign student group into prijob. The same methods are effective. vate homes, for 'l'hanksgiving and The International Students' House in Philadelphia is " a great asset" (to use the words of an English student just two weeks in the country), as a center where the men and women from abroad meet each other and make American friends. The regular Priday evening Open House with interesting and profitable entertain- NINE OF THE FIFTY-THREE NATIONALITIES REPRESENTED AT THE INTERNATIONAL HOUSE IN PHlhADELPHIA MEETING TOGETHER
Christmas dinners, and at other times. as adjacent states were yesterday, and The Provost of the university gives American pastors are being advised a Christmas dinner to all the students to be ready to welcome members from unable to go home at that time. The l:<Juropean churches to their folds.
Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Among the best methods of con- has given five annual dinners to the necting up these newcomers to Amer- foreign students in Philadelphia, ex- ica with their own churches are those hibiting the city's good-will and planned and operated by the Home spirit of brotherly love to people of Missions Council and the Council of all nations. This occasion was origi- Women for Home Missions through nated by the International Students' their "Bureau of Reference for Mi- House management. grating People."
IJittle informal Sunday afternoon Instead of waiting until the immi- teas, given by the director and his grants reach America and hoping that wife, convey a sense of "homeness" then they will make themselves known most acceptable to those who have no to the pastors of churches of their other home touch. Sightseeing trips faith, the work of connecting up be- to historic points in the city and to gins in Eur()pe as soon as their pas- industrial plants are often taken. sage is booked. Approximately eight Special occasions are arranged for hundred names of immigrants sailing the unprejudiced discussion of reli- for America are sent every month to gion and the .presentation of the his- pastors of American churches.
toric facts of the Christian religion As a result a glad hand of welcome upon which our faith is based. to the churches of their choice awaits By these and various means is good these strangers at the end of their will disseminated and to judge froID' journey and they find to their amazethe expressions of appreciation by ment tha.t some one knows their foreign students in Philadelphia, by names, how many children they have, those returned to their homelands, and what they hope to do. Best of and by the parents of· those who have all they discover that some one is inbut recently arrived in our midst, we terested in helping them to make a are convinced beYDnd all doubt of the home and friends in the new land. strategic value of a center like the International Students' House, with _ An unusual type or cooperation is its full program, as an important being employed in this comparatively agency for the maintenance and de- new method of work. It begins with velopment of the peace of the world. a special worker at Ellis Island who reaches one hand in the direction of RELATING EUROPEAN IMMI- Europe for information regarding GRANTS TO AMERICAN immigrants who are sailing, and the CHURCHES othcr toward the welfare workers at Ellis Island and the secretaries of the Constantly our attention is called various mission boards in New York to the shrinkage of the world. In who are cooperating. Next in line these days nations as well as states are church federations and church are neighhors. l~ussia and Poland officials in every state in the union are not far from America. In the and pastors and rectors to whom the olden days up-to-date pastors whose names of Protestant immigrants are members were moving to another city sent.
wrote to the pastor of their faith in Now in every state Protestant pas- that city advising him of their com- tors are cooperating heartily in the ing so that a welcome to the fellow- plan, and are reporting their ap- ship of the Church would await them. proval of it as the following e'xtracts Of late the welcoming hands of the from letters, received from pastors Church are stretched further. Euro- to whom names. have been sent, indi- pean countries are as near us today cate:
BEST METHODS
, 'I am impressed with this method of Through this worker of the Church keeping in touch with the new arrivals in many personat services and special our country. I think this family will come comforts were given to lighten the into church life as a resnlt." tedious hours of waiting, and, a sys- tematic effort was made through the "Were surprised and quite pleased to find facilities of the Social Service Dethe church followed them with her motherly partment to locate the fiance and to interest.' , expedite the adjustment of Mary's difficulties. , 'I think this is a fine procedure and I will be very glad to look after any refer· The government telegram to the enees here." fi.ance had failed to reach him because of change of employment and ad- "They seemed very appreciative of the dress. After some persistent tracing, attention and promised to associate them· he was located. He immediately selves with our chnrch work and life." eame to Ellis Island, greatly relieved of a burden of alLxiety. , , These people assured me that they ~reatly appreciated the kindliness and help· Through the assistance of the Ellis fulness of your representatives." Island worker, iVIary was soon able to leave under the proper guardianship. , 'Member of Methodist Church and had The necessary safeguards in agreeletters of introduction to local pastor; gave ment with the government regulations uecessary information to put her in touch for girls coming to America as brides, with him." were promptly complied with. Ac- eordingly she was discharged to the "Catholic family. They appreciated visit. custody of the Social Service worker, He has found a church home in a near·by who took her and her fiance to the Catholic church. We are calling to the at· Court House for their marriage litention of Father Butler (a fine Catholic cense and arranged for a duplicate of man) all we know of this family and asking the license to be filed with the Immihim to cooperate in obtaining him employ· gration officials. The worker also ment. The fact he is a Catholic does not conducted them to the chapel of a prevent-our attempting to secure employment near-by community house where the for him.'"' ceremony was performed by a minis- ter. Their hearts were filled with The experience of one Scotch girl gratitude as the worker bade them shows in a very concrete way the type "Good-bye" on the train. of helpful work being· accomplished: When the young couple reached the She started out from Scotland to new home community in Pennsylmarry a man in the ' ,Promised vania, a- group of friends were wait- ing for them at the station. "We've Land" e..'!:pecting to go with him to been looking for you," they cried. settle in Pennsylvania. When she "We had a telegram that you were was leaving, her minister said, "Las- on your way. Welcome! and hapsie, you must have a letter. It will piness to you!" help you on your way. I have a printed form here of the 'Bureau of The minister of the local church Reference' to churches in the United called upon them in their new home. He had received notice of their ar- States. " rival through the Bureau of Refer- Giving little thought to the letter, ence. In the days that followed, these young people became staunch Mary stowed it away in her purse. members of the church, loyal and de- All went well until she reached Ellis pendable in their support of all its Island. Here there were legal diffi- enterprises. culties delaying her admission. Long weary hours she waited in the deten- Church ties had become "Hands tion rooms, not knowing whether her across the Sea." fiance was coming for her or whether she was to be deported.
But on the second day after Mary's arrival, a Christian social worker at Ellis Island sought her out. The worker had received through the Bureau of Reference a notice in the mail from Mary's minister back in Scotland and from the port chaplain at Liverpool. Mary remembered her own letters. Church greetings and credentials were exchanged.
Woman's Home Mission
EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NF:W YORK CITY MILLSTONES America to protect her children and Excerpts from the leafiet recently published by such a statement as this is made the ~ouncil of Woman for Home Missions. Fed- ., But America has not settled he; eratIOn of Woman's Boards of Foreign Missions, and Young Women's Christian Association.'" own child labor question. Why, , , We like us," said a small boy of therefore, should Christians and Americans preach to us 1" The reflex his family. "We like us" in the of the child labor situation in Amer- United States, too, and we think of ica is thus seen to complicate our forourselves as an nnusually progressive eign mission problems. nation. We believe we have a high standard of living, widespread oppor- We have child labor in every state tunities for education, and a real re- of the United States. Why V In some gard for the future of our citizens. places pe·ople may not care, or they Have we? may care but have no law to help them prevent it. Perhaps there is a law Compare our industrial standards without adequate provision for enwith those of the International Labor forcing it. Some children may be 90nference which met in Washington caught by an inter-state situation m H119. Thirty-nine nations were where even a good state or local law represented there and twelve interna- cannot protect them. Or do we let tional agreements were adopted about child labor continue just because we some of the everyday needs of people do not know much about it T who work. Among other things it was agreed that no children under Canned Childhood fourteen years of age should be employed in an industrial undertaking There is a government study of and no young persons should be em- familie~ w?rking in oyster and shrimp ployed at night. Each nation was left cannenes III the Gulf Coast regionto put these standards in practice for Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida. itself. Have we 1 The study included 544 working chil- dren under sixteen years of age; 332' From people on the mission field were youngsters between six and fourwe hear that we are a cause of stum- teen. There were even two workers bling to other nations, particularly to under six (one four and one five). those of the Orient where modern These children shuck oysters and peel industry is developing so rapidly and or pick shrimp. The work depends on where there is very littl~ public opin- the catch. It begins anywhere from ion demanding laws for the protec- three to seven 0 'clock in the morning. tion of childhood. It ma~ last a few hours, or all day, or on mto the evening. Considering We come into close contact with the way they work, it is not surprising this problem through our foreign mis- to learn that a quarter of the older sion work-in China, for example, ones-those between ten and fifteen where the Church is taking a stand years-are illiterate. for the protection of children in industry. However, in the efforts of The work is wet and dirty. Shells th~ 9hinese Church to create public are sharp, and the shuckers use opmlOn and to change deplorable con- knives, so cuts are frequent. Sheds ditions, it is faced with the failure of are cold, damp and drafty. No seats are provl"ded. The shuckers stand at • Single copie~ free. In bulk for free dis- 0 yst er cars, swaY.Ing back and f orth tribution, $21.25 per 1.000. plus transportation· as they work; bending over farther q$u2.e1s5ts foorr o1rd0e0r," ptoluCs oturnacnisl poofrtWatioomne. n fSoernHd omree: Missions, 156 Fifth Ave., New York City.
134 and farther to reach the oysters as was very busy……. There are tWo they empty the cars. or three thousand boys and girls work- ing in that center." An acid in the head of the shrimp eats into the hands, making the flesh How About Your Communityl raw and sore. Some employers provide alum water in which the workers In one Pennsylvania community can rinse their hands to toughen the over a tenth of all the thirteen-yearskin. old children had commenced regular work. Some of the children come from the North and return in the spring to the Two hundred and forty-five girls Middle Atlantic states where they from thirteen to fifteen years old were work until fall, perhaps in corn, to- employed full-time in clothing and mato and fruit canneries under con- cigar factories. Full-time meant from ditions much the same as those in the nine to ten hours a day for most of oyster canneries of the Gulf. them, but it meant from ten to eleven hours every day for thirty-three of An inquiry in the State of Wash- these young girls. ington showed children under sixteen at work in practically all of the can- Children Under Fourteen neries-chiefly fruit, vegetable and fish. In several canneries girls were The most accurate statistics for the standing on, wet floors; in one, the entire country are the 1920 census water was two inches deep. In most figures. They do not include the chilplaces there was not room enough to dren under ten and they were colpass between the rows of workers. lected at a period of the year when Mill Children the industries employing children "The real tragedy," says a North were not working full time. Even so, Carolina teacher, "is not the child there were counted over 10,000 ten to when it goes to work but this child thirteen-year-oIds at work in factories, ten or fifteen years later, sunken mills, canneries, workshops and minel:1. chested, emaciated, with depleted vi- Many more youngsters of this age tality. " A health officer reports from were engaged in other gainful occupaa survey of one thousand children tions-378,063 to be exact. Picture to that the mill children on reaching the yourself just those in the factories, age when usually put to work "began mines and canneries-a line of 10,000 a decline which continued through the -the oldest thirteen. Is it because entire period of. growth." Picture we do not see these children that we to yourself the conditions under let this go on in America? which many of these children work. "The rooms are of necessity kept hot Fourteen and Over and the air moistened in order that the thread may be pliant; . . . . . . the There are 18.2,408 children fourteen atmosphere is deadening…….. The and fifteen years old working in constant monotonous roar of the ma- mines, manufacturing and mechanical chinery cannot help but have a dele- establishments. There are over 50,000 terious effect on the nerves of the more in other kinds of work. workers, especially the adolescent." Physicians, appointed to formulate A visitor to New England mills de- a code of standards for the Children's scribes one of the best factories he Bureau of the United States Departsaw: "The floor of the great cotton ment of Labor say that no child,ren mill vibrated under my feet…… . under sixteen should enter industry. The weaver beside me, as I stood In scientific terms they say: "Since watching the shuttle shooting back it is recognized that the physiological and forth, was a kid in short pants. and psychological readjustments of He was little. He seemed dull. He pubescence determine a period of gen- eral instal:iility which makes great and special demands upon the vitality of a child, it is of paramount importance
that he should be protected during dust, lint, poisonous fumes, varieties this period from the physical and in temperature and long periods in nervous strain which entrance into cramped positions. Limitation of industry inevitably entails." hours of work and regulation of Accidents and Illne•• health conditions seem to be needs as obvious as that of protection from One thousand one hundred and sh:- dangerous machinery.
teen cases of industrial accidents hap- Home Work pened to children between fourteen and eighteen years of age in Massa- Antoinette goes directly home from (:husetts in one year. Only accidents school and then stands and emwhich caused "disability" of more broiders until late at night. If she than ten days' duration are counted works all the time she is not in school, in this number. In one year, in the she earns about $2.50 a week. She three states of Wiscoll.'lin, Massachu- misses almost every third day of setts and New Jersey there were 7,478 school. The work is hard on her eyes. industrial accidents to young workers Antoinette is too tired to study, too under twenty-one years of age. These tired to play. states were not picked out because they are worse than others but be- Five thousand children in three cause official records were available. cities of Rhode Island were found at These 7,478 ·include in one state, only such home work. They were from accidents which caused disability of five to fifteen years old. Most of over seven days, in the other two them worked after supper. Lighting states, disability of over ten dayq. in many or the homes was very poor. Thirty-eight of these young people The children worked at such things as died; 920 of them were more or less carding snaps, stringing tags, drawcompletely disabled for life. This ing threads on lace, finishing underhappened in one year-in threc wear and jewelry. Among contagious states. And there are forty-eight diseases in homes where work was states. being done-in some cases by the sick themselves-were influenza, pneu- "Because they are too young to ap- monia, mumps, t y P hoi d fever, preciate the risks involved either to measles, Whooping cough, tOMillitis, themselves or others," the United diphtheria, tuberculosis and syphilis. States Children's Bureau tells us. "boys and girls will not observe the In one city of New Jersey ov-;;r precautions necessary for self-pro- 1,000 children between six and fourtection in industries in which there teen were reported doing sweatshop is danger of industrial poisoning or work at home. Some of them were so tired that they fell asleep at their accident due to power-working ma- desks in school. There were many cases of defective eyesight. These chinery. " children worked on nightgowns, bead- Even for children who escape ac- ing, embroidery, infants' wear, dolls. ddent there are dangers in industry flowers. "Many homes were found in the loss of strength and vitality and nnsanitary and persons suffering in inc.reased susceptibility to disease. from communicable diseases were One study reveals the tuberculosis found employed therein." A large death rate for minors of fourteen to amount of the home work was shipped nineteen years to be about twice !l..'l in from other states-New York and high among boys and girls workin~ Pennsylvania. A manufacturer could in the mills of that state as among thereby escape the regulations of his boys and girls not so employed. Chil- own state and not be subject to the dren are not only more prone to acci- penalties of the New Jersey laws. dent than adults are but are more susceptible to industrial poisoning and are affected more severely by rock (Continued in March issue.)
Woman's Foreign Mission
EDITED BY MISS ELLA D. MACLAURIN, 25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY A TOKYO STUDENT AT VASSAR year, I find quite a difference. Two In March, 1923, Miss Eiko Fukui years ago I 'was a shy little stranger, was graduated with highest scholastic over-sensitive to what the people said honors from the Special English and did and over-nervous about what Course of the Woman's Christian I should say and do in this new en- College of Tokyo, Japan. She had vironment. But now I can say heartbeen president of the Literary Society ily that I feel perfectly at home with and of the Young Woman's Christian the people and customs in spite of my Association. ,Vhen she went to Peking still very imperfect knowledge of as a delegate to' the meeting of the English. Though this change came World's Christian Student Federa- to me gradually through various extion she became It friend and a warm periences, I can trace back and point admirer of Chinese students. out several outstanding experiences which have led me to feel so at home Later :Miss Fukui entered Vassar in America. The following are frank College and will soon complete her bits of what I should call-the evolucourse for the B.A. degree. It is the tion of my acquaintance with Amerhope of her Japanese Alma Mater ica. that she will return to the Women's Christian College in rrokyo as direc- On September 19th of 1924 after tor of social and religious activities. the long trip from Japan I came to At her graduation she gave an ad- Vassar College for registration acdress in English in which she said: companied by my only American friend who was my guardian on that We wish to salute you, our gracious Alma journey. I was rather wearied with Mater, and to offer to you our heartiest that long trip, nervous and excited praises for your beauty, which is of youth, with the new environment and worand for your wisdom, which is as wonder- ried about my family whose lives were ful as the ages. At the close of our spring- time, here in yonr presence, we pause to uncertain to me after that great earthgaze into the heart of this mystical flower quake, the news of which reached us of our college life and there to contemplate on the ocean ten days after we left again the lessons which it has bestowed upon Japan. On that same evening of the us. It has shown to us the glorious privi- registration day when that lady, who lege of CUltivating our minds by seeking the was my sole friend in America, left deep places of knowledge. And it has in- me my heart almost ached with lonespired us to sharpen those tools of intel- liness. The vast campus with high lectual curiosity and concentration with which we work. Because of the mysterious heauty of its own life, it has encouraged us buildings and white faces looked constantly to seek to apprehend its Creator strange to me and I experienced real and our Father. As we have witnessed its homesickness for the first time in my eonstant growth, through the working to· life. gether of spiritual forces, it has aroused in us the longing for a similar development The next day was Sunday. Accordwhich can only come by the action of that ing to the old traditions at Vassar divine and life·giving principle of "Service the upper-classmen come to call on an d Sacrifice." the newcomers. Group after group MY EXPERIENCES IN AMERICA of girls streamed into my little, single room. Surrounding me all around, EIKO FrrKm tlley asked me hundreds of questions When I look over these two years of about Japan, while examining with my life in America and compare my- curiosity my fE;atures, my costumes self of the present with that of last and my strange'manners. However.
137
in my attempt to answer them with before, but the greatest and the most my poor, broken English, I forgot wonderful thing to me was that in- the vague loneliness for a while. expressibly warm, lovely atmosphere which pervaded the whole conference. Meanwhile the classes began. The I never saw such a lovely group of rush from one class to another, the girls – so eager, intelligent and frank, hearty discussions in the class- friendly. Among those six hundred es, the heaps of assignments wjhich students from different colleges there were always more than I could finish were about sixty Vassar girls most in a whole evening and the noisy din- of whom I never had had a chance to ing-room with chats, laughter and know well in my busy life of the first slang-all these were too new for me year and among whom I found some to get accustomed to them easily. On real lasting friends. There I felt the the campus and everywhere I was girls treating me not as a curio but greeted with a look of curiosity and associating with me on the common the call of "Hello." I had only a ground of friendship. The most very few experiences of being looked thrilling thing to me was that I could at with contempt as if one were to talk with them perfectly frankly and say-" I see you are one of those J aps express my natural self with no fear from the uncivilized land of the Ris- and no restraint. Thus partly by ing Sun." On the contrary, I was t.his friendship with the girls and invited for supper almost every night partly by the change of my attitude from passive to active, I began to by different 'groups of curious, loving feel at home gradually with America girls and I soon came to have many and love America sincerely. It was a casual acquaintances but no real wonderful sense of comfort which any friends. Always the original national foreigner could experience. I felt trait–reserve–kept me from express- this great joy growing when I visited ing my whole self and the feeling of some homes of my friends after Silver strangeness never left me but came Bay. Wherever I went, I was no back with real force whenever I was more the critical, sensitive, passive treated with too much attention or self but began to be my normal self whenever I received too many invita- enjoying heartily all the new experi- tions for speeches from churches. My ences. I was so happy that my family only impressions about the American could not believe me when I wrote girls were their gaiety and curiosity, such cheerful letters after the Exclu- and { had no time to get to know them sion Bill passed so that my father sent more than this because I was too busy me a cablegram asking me to write with my work and my adjustment to frankly of the attitude of the Amer- the new customs and environment. icans toward me and of some oil' my unpleasant experiences with them. Then a great change came to me dur- This I could not do simply because I ing the following summer. never had a single experience of that kind. I went to Silver Bay for the sum- mer student conference of the Y. W. The climax of my happiness . C. A. partl~' because of my yearning reached me when I spent almost seven for a pure, religious atmosphere after weeks in Ohio with the family of the that busy, strenuous year at Vassar friend of me and my family in Japan. and partly because of my curiosity to There I was treated not merely as a see what it looked like since I had friend but more as a real member of the family, as a real daughter and a heard so much about it. But I never sister. There I could forget entirely dreamed that such a change was com- the difference of nationality and I ing to me. 'fhe beautiful place with experienced the real joy of being per- fectly at home in America. those lovely mountains and the lake, the inspiring speeches, the interesting discussions, the swimming, boating and hiking-aU these were more fas- cinating than I had ever imagined
WOMAN'S "FOREIGN MISSION BULLETJN
When I went back to Vassar the so at home here that I often wonder next fall, the whole world looked dif- why we have wars if we get to know ferent to me from that of last year each other so well as to feel no difand I enjoyed the work and the ference in our contacts with the peofriendship tremendously. Further- ple of other countries. If we students come to America merely to study and more I had all sorts of new experi- go back home without knowing well ences, for example, the " Junior the American people, I think it is a Prom" into which I entered not as a great loss. In this respect I am very spectator but as one of the girls. grateful for my privileges and hope that many other foreign students will Though my life in America is very have the kind of experiences given to short and my experiences are little me during these two years of my life compared with those of some other in America. foreign students, as I look back I think that I have had at least two BOOKS OF INTEREST TO YOU most fortunate experiences as a foreign student. One is my experience "Before the Dawn," by Toyohiko at Silver Bay which gave me a most Kagawa. beautiful and enduring impression of the ideals of America, and the other "The Christ of the Indian Road," is my wonderful privilege of being a by E. Stanley Jones. member of a good family which has made me understand America far "A Daughter of the Samurai," by better than any other thing. I feel Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto.
A CLASS OF CHIN ESE !li1JRSES IN THE HANGOHOW MISSION HOSPITAL
FROM ,MANY
CHINA households were looted nor members Activities of Marshal Feng of their families molested though sev- eral had narrow escapes. Their FENG YU-HSIANG continues to heathen neighbors inquiring the rea- receive attention from both the re- son why they were so calm, gave them ligious and the secular press. The a splendid opportunity for witnessing latter, though sometimes calling him to the keeping power of God. A "the Christian General," classes him Christian widow, who has a small with the other military leaders fight- hosiery business, lives in a part of ing for supremacy, and reported the the city that was badly looted. Sollast of December that he had captured diers entered her shop evidently with Tientsin and appointed one of his offi- the intention of taking what they cers Governor of Chihli Province. wanted. Her young son, also a Chris- With the prospect of his becoming tian and one of our school boys, just the dominant figure in China, The then called out, 'Mother, don't be Christian Century says of him: afraid, God will take care of us.' The soldiers turned and walked out with- He is a complete nation3list, thoroughly out a word, not lifting even one pair skeptical of the intentions of the Western of socks. All the shops around her nations in his country, and at least for the suffered severe loss." time being inclined to seek backing and counsel from Russia. He is a believer in A Magistrate and Foot-Binding discipline, and IS likely to seek to introduce a spartan regime into such civil as well as A CHURCH of England deaconess military departments as may fall under his in Yungtsing, Chihli Province, control. writes of the reforms that are being brought about by a new county magis- A Church of England bishop in trate, who, she says, is one of Marshal North China, wrote of- him in T.he Feng's men and is following his ex- Mission Field: ample. He has had the town streets improved and has opened night He 1" still working hard on his own lines schools for both men and women. at Christianizing his army. .He is now or· "The third great matter," she says, ganizing a training college for chaplains "is foot-binding. The magistrate is who will, I believe, have to qualify in in· trying to enforce it on the women and dustrial work as well as in such knowledge girls; the older women are to unbind of the Bible as he demands, etc., as it is partially and the children wholly. his intention to usc his chaplains largely ;n Inspectors have been appointed to go developing industries for the good of the people. Large numbers of his soldiers are .till being baptized from time to time; opium has been practically banished, or at least driven undergronnd in Kalgan.
Chri.tian Shops Not Looted round to the houses every ten days and see whether the orders are being MANY false reports continue to carried out; they are to measure and come from China but those from keep notes of the size and growth of missionarieE: are generally reliable. each one's foot, and fines are to be American Presbyterian missionaries imposed on the disobedient. So far in Changteh, Hunan Province, write the only poople with unbound feet of of a bandit raid in . one of their out- have been a few Christians or chil- stations: "None the Christian dren who come to the church schools."
140 Overcoming Rural Illiteracy this step in order to escape the impu- tation of being a foreign, not an in- THE fight against illiteracy in digenous church. The council is to China, through the medium of the consist of eighty persons, of whom so-called ' ,thousand character sys- tifteen are to be missionaries. They tem" invented by James Yen, a Chris- request for the present a continuance· tian Chinf'-se educated in the United of foreign financial aid, but without States, is familiar to readers of the foreign control. "We are very much REVIEW. Rev. Hugh Hubbard, of the ashamed that we are unable to pro- American Board Mission at Paoting- vide for the missionaries." fu, has been using the system in a campaign for, rural mass education, Chinese Christian Gentlemen which is described as the first of its kind. He organized his churches for TWO of the early graduates of the putting night schools into hundreds Anglo-Chinese College in Tientsin, of communities. His pastors leaped whose father held at the time of their to the opportunity, the young farmers entering a position second only to the and villagers were keen to .learn, he provincial governor, are now, having furnished $1.00 per school for heat completed their medical studies in and light, he charged only ten cents England, rendering voluntary service for the textbook; incidentally he in the hospital of the London Mistaught the gospels and Christian sionary Society in Tientsin. One of hymns, and he closed his term with the missionaries writes: these results: 5,600 students between nine and fifty-seven years of age When I see these fine Christian gentlemen taught; 800 received diplomas; 400 at work there day after day, I rejoice that volunteer teachers enlisted; a type of the Gollege has had a share in their educacommunity service discovered for the tion . . , Their father, who was the first Church, inexpensive, immensely Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Reworth-while; a basis established for public, has been regular in attendance at teaching Christian truth; a demon- the college chapel on Sunday mornings for stration that illiteracy can be wiped many years. He holds the important posiout. . tion of President of the China International Commission for Famine Relief, and is one Swatow Baptists Independent whose adviee and support are sought for all good causes. One Sunday morning when THE movement, so familiar now in collections were to be made for the relief most mission fields, towards au- of the flood snfferers, he took the opportonomy for the native Church has as- tunity to declare himself a Christian, and sumed a new form in Swatow, South to testify to the help received at the Sun- China. 'rhere the Chinese Baptist day serviees. Convention, with some five thousand church members, has taken matters A Non-Missiona.ry Hospital into its own hands, and declared its independence, having addressed a let- THERE is a town near Ningpo, deter to this effect to the Board of Man- scribed by Miss A. Maddison, of agers of the American Baptist Foreign the Church Missionary Society, where, Mission Society. This communication, for many years, there was strong couched in the friendliest terms, anti-foreign and anti-Christian feelstates that the Chinese churches rec- ing. Two women missionaries, howognize with gratitude all that the ever, did much to break down prejumissionaries have done in the past dice, and a dispensary did still more. sixty to seventy years. Recent move- After a time, the non-Christian gentry ments in China, they say-the anti- of the town opened a hospital, and Christian movement of 1922, the in- installed a fully-qualified, foreigndignation over the recent Shanghai trained, Chinese doctor, and he was a massacres, etc.-have led them to take Christian. . Bible woman, catechist, and missionary were always welcome to preach in the dispensary or visit in the wards, and the doctor himself held a Sunday evening service for
the patients. As a result, there is advice in solving our problems." She now In that town a church in charge continues: "'fhe good reports of the of a Chinese pastor; boys and girls boys and girls who have left us to are being taught in C. M. S. day make their own places in the world, schools; and a catechist and Bible cheer us. Three of the girls are teach- woman are carrying on evangelistic ing in schools for the deaf, and three work. others are teaching embroidery to hearing women. Six girls are happily Aim to Christianize Industry married; one of them to Tsei 'l'ien THE Wusih Technical School was .I<'u, a graduate of this school who started two years ago by the M. E. opened a school for the deaf in Hang- chow. 'fhirteen boys are working in Cburch South, in connection with Shanghai and most of them are sup- porting a family. Others are living Soochow University. The Principal at home, and doing their share of work in the great struggle for daily H. A. Vanderbeek, writes: ' bread.. _… It is especially gratifying "Our double aim is 'Ohristianized In. dustries' and' Christianized Lay Leaders by 1935.' The plan is for a six-year high school course. Duritlg the first three years to be able to report that nearly all of the boys study general subjects and hav~ the pupils, who have been in school mauual training. During the last three long enough to acquire the language they specialize· either in 'Construction: necessary to read the gospel story, where they learn to be builrling superintend- ents, or architectural draftsmen or 'Manu- have accepted Christ as their Savfacturing,' by which the boys'in the rna. chine shops learn to be draftsmen or fore- iour. "
men. The purpose of the school is to try to express the principles or Christianity· "Very Good News" in Cairang M to establish a Christian industry that shall RS. L. :K JACKSON, of the be characterized by the following essentials: Christian and Missionary Alli- A six-day week; no child labor; reasonable working hours; and humane treatment of ance, writes from French Indo-China: workmen. When you note what goes on in "Mr. Jackson has written of the salshops and industries about us, you can real- -<;ation of an idolatrous family in Caiize that we are up against a. pretty stiff rang, whose home resembled a pagoda proposition to adhere to standards of hu-'
maneness and try to compet(1 on- a price because of its many altars and shrines. basis. While the boys take part in the . The old mother had spent around a production work as part of their educational experience, the production department is not thousand piasters in her worship of primarily for their support, but for the sup- Buddha, trying to insure for herself port of the school itself. If we can get a worthy place in the next world. But through the next three years, we will be practically self-supporting." when she heard the story of Jesus she became very ang·ry with Buddha, say- For Deaf Chinese Children ing, {Buddha never did any of these things for me,' and she, with her ALTHOUGH there are now known family, started right in to put every- to be thousands of deaf children thing pertaining to Buddha and the in China, only about one hundred of Devil out of her house! The next them are in school, and forty-six of question was what to do with their these-thirty-two boys and fourteen clean .house' 'fhe preacher was con- girls-are cared for in the "Charles sulted, with the result that a large Rogers Mills Memorial School," con- sign reading Tin-Larn.-h Rat Tot ducted by American Presbyterians at (very good news), was placed over Chefoo. Miss A. E. Garter, the prin- the gate to attract passers-b;y into the cipal,. writes of her chief Chinese as- house. The mission of that sign is a sistant: {' Great praise is due Mrs. story in itself. Suffice it to say that Lan, who has spent fourteen of the people from far and near find their best years of her life in helping to way into that home to ask what the make the school a success. Everyone 'Good News' is about, and are then trusts her and we all go to her for pointed to the Saviour. Later tfuis
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS 1<43
devoted family cleared out their big the American Bible Society, about front room and converted it into a twenty-three years ago, Braille type chapel. In this very room where the was first introduced into Japan. Devil had been worshiped for so Christianity has the honor of intromany years, many souls have found ducing literature among the blind in their way into the Kingdom." Japan. The other thing is the fact that Japanese is one of the first lan- JAPAN-KOREA guages into which the whole Bible has been transliterated into Braille type; Japan Still Unevangelized and is the first F'ar-Eastern language to have the whole Bible in Braille- THE great progress which has been Arabic being the only other Oriental made by Christian missions in language with the whole Braille Bible. Japan as a whole inclines many to overlook such facts as are stated in Chl'istian Higller Education the latest issue of "The Christian Movement in Japan." For instance, REV. A. OLTMANS, D.D., a misthough evangelistic work in Kyoto sionary of the Reformed Church prefecture was begun nearly fifty in America in Japan, writes that in years ago, there are still five towns the sphere of Christian education the with a population of more than 5,000 question becomes more and more urpeople each, and 235 villages of more gent why the Japanese Church conthan 1,000 population each in which ce.rns herself as yet so very little there is no organized Christian work. about this matter, but leaves it still 'rhe industrial group, toiling in some so largely to the missions. "It seems 500 factories, remains almost un- to me," he says, "high time to change touched; the coal mining group, the name of 'mission schools' into where the need, physical, moral and that of 'Christian schools.' Such a spiritual, is very great, is almost en- change of name might probably do tirely neglected. This is true also of something to increase the interest of the fisherman groups. Rural Japan the Japanese churches in higher is still a neglected field. Christian education, as is already so splendidly the case in the work of the Japanese Braille Bible Sunday-schools. A hopeful sign of progress is the passing of a resolution THE Japanese New Testament in at the recent Synod to form a Board type for the bEnd has been avail- of Education in the Church, whose able for a good many years, but a task it shall be to encourage and asgroup of blind Christians in Tokyo sist Christian education and the trainhave long been praying that the Old ing of Christian ministers and evan- Testament might be put into type that gelists. For something like this we they could read. When the work was have for years longingly waited, but begun in August, 1922, they held on the mission field one learns to expraise meetings and prayed God for ercise patience." His best blessing to rest upon the undertaking. By Christmas, 1924, it New Buddhist Magazine was completed, and the blind brethren held a celebration and praise meeting. THE Young Men's Buddhist Asso- Their cups were running over with ciation of Tokyo is now publishing joy, and the Bible Society representa- a magazine entitled Ymmg East. In tives joined them in thanks to God its first number the editor describes for this achievement. It makes a big the mission of young Buddhists; set of books in itself, consisting of thirty-four volumes. There are two What is ollr mission for the NasH To remarkable things in connection with harmonize and bring to mutual understandthe Japanese Braille type Bible. One ing our brothers and sisters of the Asiatie is the fact that with the printing of countries, to make them reeover their lost the Gospel of John in this type by vigor, and to nnite their efforts for the
restoration of the ancient civilization of the When that was reconstructed there Orient, which g'ave birth to great religions, would be work for all. "I told him, " deep philosophies, and noble arts . . . Dr. Gale says, "that the Chinese, mil- What is onr mission for the West~ It need lions of them, cared not a penny about scarcely be said tllat the civilization of the society or its reconstruction, but they West, laying, as it does, too mnch impor- knew how to work and were taking It tance on the material side, is a lame civiliza· daily away from the Korean in his tion. In fact it finds itself at a deadlock own land. Dr. Inouye, former Mintoday. If civilization is really what the ister of Finance, told me the other present civilization of the West represents, day that for government work Japait is a curse instead of a blessing. The nese coolies demanded four sen a day, shortest cut to remedy its shortcomings and Koreans one yen and a half, while make it complete is, in our opinion, to Chinamen took seventy sen and spread to the West the cnlture, philosophy, smiled. Koreans and Japanese struck and faith of Bllddhism. We feel that it is for higher wages still and so we.re our duty to implant in their minds the sloughed off, leaving the Chinamen in spirit of Buddha, whose love extends not command of it all . . . We must be alone to men, but to all living creatures on patient, however, for we are in a conearth. dition today not unlike that of the Norman period in England-an age Courage of Korean Pastors of social and literary confusion."
THE deprivations resulting from Government Grant for Lepers the forty-per-cent cut in the evangelistic budget for Korea of the Meth- THE work of American missionary odist Episcopal Church are being met physicians in caring for lepers in heroically by the native pastors, whose Korea was recently praised highly by salaries before it were only about $20 Governor Sawada of North Kyunga month. Bishop Welch tells of one sang, Korea, at a reception in Taiku district superintendent, who, at the at which were present the Japanese close of a three-days' "retreat" for officials and their wives, General Secp.rayer said to his fellow-workers: retary William· M. Danner of The .• There are days before us when there American lNfission to Lepers, and Dr. will be no grain for the noon meal. and Mrs. A. G. Fletcher, Presbyterian Our children will come home from missionaries. Governor Sawada has school and from play hungry and will been instrumental in securing a govask for their dinner. Let us not look ernment grant of $3,500 a year for sad and tell them that there will be no the leper work cared for by Dr. dinner, because there is no grain in Fletcher in the Leper Mission Hosthe house. Do not let us allow them pital in Taiku. He said: to carry through their lives the remembrance of hunger with no food to We appreciate very much the excellent satisfy. Let us pat them on the head work done here by The Mission to Lepers, and with a smile say, 'You had a late through the loving and untiring efforts of breakfast, and we shall have a good Dr. Fletcher. We are glad to have had BOUP for supper, and it will be early; some ahare in it through the Governor- Take a drink of water and run on!' " General's grant. I "haU have greater sym- pathy with it now since I have learned of The "Norman Period" in Korea its worldwide character.
REV. JAMES S. GALE, D.D., Korean S. S. Convention whose thirty-fouri years of missionary service under the Presbyterian A T the National Sunday-School Board give his words authority, says Convention in Korea, held in that young Korea, reaching out after Octobe.r under the general leadership Vestern civilization, does not realize of Rev. J. G. Holdcroft, D.D., the that the latter demands" hard work" paid enrollment was 1,945 and the and "the actual goods." Recently, actual attendance over 2,200. No less he says, a young man c~er told him than nine churches were required to that his having no work and knowing nothing was the fault of society today.
NEWS FROM MANY LAJ'.j)S
care for the crowds. Even in their native catechists, of which E. G. Noall optimism, and there is an abundance writes: "The three grades have each in Korea, plans were made to enter- a native teacher in charge, the teacher tain only 1,000 and the committee of the final year students being known declared they were" about swamped." as the native head-teacher. For some The treasurer, Rev. Charles Allen months the school was conducted with Clark, D.D., wrote, "It was the great- credit by them when there was no est religious Christian assembly ever white headmaster, and when duties of held in Korea and will do much for a manifold and complex nature con- Sunday-schools throughout the land. " stantly called· the Principal away. Plans were made for regional conven- Such men are invaluable. Between tions in different parts of the country, them they handled about 130 boys. that the influence from the great They are also local preachers and gathering in Seoul might be effective class-leaders, one being a catechist on in all sections. One in Pyengyang trial. ….. As it is impossible to send was to take place from December 29th all of our qualified students to their to January 5th. Among the speakers own villages, it will be seen, therefore, in Seoul were Rev. E. G. Tewksbury, that their future life demands sacriof Shang'hai, and Horace E. Coleman, fice. Yet, while many of our villages of TOKYO, both of whom are field rep- are often unable to receive a visit resentatives of the World's Associa- from a white missionary for many tion in the r~spective countries. months, often for a whole year, the, native minister still' holds the fort.' , h ISLANDS OF THE SEA NORTH AMERICA Girls from Pagan Tribe Chu:rches and World Peace. .' "- – AT Zamboanga, a mission station of the Protestant Episcopal Church THE conference on this subject, in the Philippines, the missionary and held in Washington in December, his wife have taken into their house- was composed of delegates from thirty hold a young girl from the Tirurai denominations. There were also tribe, the first of the tribe to venture groups representing the Federal out of the very primitive conditions Council, the Church Peace Union, and of her pagan home. She has had some other agencies interested in peace schooling, and is to be trained so that propaganda. 'fhe purpose of the conshe may return to her people and pre- ference was (1) to study what are pare them for baptism, teach church the Christian ideals and attitude with school classes, and instruct the women regard to war and peace; (2) to in nursing and the care of children, study what the churches ought to do; matters in which they have only most (3) to plan a nation-wide campaign primitive knowledge. Her name is of education to carry to the churches Augustina Cariaga. A second girl the results of the study of the first from the tribe, Balbina de la Cruz, is two points. It was throughout a study receiving preliminary instruction and conference. There were no set addoing practical work in the hospital, dresses save at the opening session and looking towards a possible course in at the closing session; but for eight the Nurses' Training School, perhaps periods this group of earnest men and to be the first Tirurai nurse. The women met and discussed definite Bishop confirmed Augustina during problems. The findings, embodied in the summer, and received Balbina "A Message to the Churches" confrom the Roman Church. stitute a very suggestive document.
New Britain Teachers Methodist Union Defeated AUSTRAI.JIAN Methodists conduct THE vote of the annual conferences on the island of New Britain, in of the Methodist Episcopal Church, thE'· South Seas, a training school for South, on the adoption of the Plan 5
of Unification, is 4,528 for and 4,108 attention in all parts of the nation, only against. Inasmuch as the legal 'J'he date for the next annual observmajority of three fourths was not ob- 8nce is February 14, 1926. In a countained, the present proposal rails. try where many social and national groups dwell, the problem of applied The Plan was rramed in 1923 by the brotherhood and goodwill cannot be joint commiesion of fifty, with only limited to one or two races. The Inthree dissenting votes, all from the dians, the original Americans, seek Southern group. The Northern Gen- justice at our hands. Through eral Conference in May, 1924, ap- leaders of character and intelligence proved it by a vote of 802 to 13, and largely trained in schools supported the General Conference or the Meth- by the mission funds of the churohes, odist Epi,eopal Church, South, on tbe Negroes are now asking for full July 4, 1924, took similar action by a participation in community and navote of 297 to 75. 'rhe annual North- tionallife, The Japanese and Chinese ern conferences have been voting are demanding that thei.r treatment in upon the plan this year, approving it America be upon the same basis as by overwhelming majorities, The one that of other foreigners. Mexican thing needful to validate the action citizens within our borders are asking and unite the long-severed branches a full chance and a fair understandof Episcopal Methodism was a three- ing and interpretation of themselves fourths vote of the Southern Confer- and their aspirations. ences. This has now definitely failed.
Rival Raptist Mission Board Hampton-Tnskegee Fund THE break which has been develop- T HE $5,000,000 required to be ing inside the Northern Baptist raised or pledged by Dec, 31st in COllVfmtion has reached the point order to meet the conditions under where the' Baptist Bible Union of which George Eastman offered to add North America has organized a for- $2,000,000 more as an endowment eign missionary board of its own. fund for these two institutions was The executive secretary of the union secured three days ahead of time. The is quoted as speaking of the new (,]mirman of the Campaign Committee board as frankly" in opposition to the said: Foreign Mission Society of the Northern Baptist Convention." "Needless 'The reasons given by Mr. Eastman for to say," comments The Christian Cen- his gift have appealed to the publi~ and it tu.ry, "the missionaries sent out will has responded in the shape of more than be pledged to the propagation of an 10,000 sllbs~rirtion3, running from gifts of unhendingly conservative type of doc- $1 each from some of the colored graduates, trine. The first field to he entered, to suhscriptions of $250,000 each from five it is announced, will be Russia." different individuals, topped oft' by a $1,. Christian Work estimates that per- 000,000 gift from John D.' Roe-kefener, Jr., haps three or four hundred of the matching the $1,000,000 pledge with which twelve thousand churches belonging t.he General Educ.ation Board inaugurated to the Northern Bapti.st Convention the c[.mpaign. will support the new Mission Board. The entire South was o.rganized Race Relations Sunday with headquarters in Atlanta. Many well-known Southerners took an active THIS day, proposed by the Federal part in making the campaign a suc- Council of the Churches, was first cess and countless new friends were observed in 1923. The active coopera- made for the cause. The alumni of tion of the Home Mission Boards, the the schools raised more than $200,000. Y. M. C. A. 's, Y. W. C. A. '8 and thousands of local churches has made Seamstress Helps Two Continents the day an event which is receiving M~iliY instances have been told of the way in whieh great blessing has resulted rrom comparatively small
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
sums of money, when these represent or by doing two girls' work during the true devotion and sacrifice. The school term." Christ'ian Century is authority for this latest story; In the tiny village Protest",nt and Greek Churches of Nanton, about 100 miles from Calgary, in the province of Alberta, THE Fed~ral Counci~ of Chu:,ches Canada, a seamstress, by giving up has appomted a speCIal commlttee, headed by Bishop Charles H. Brent, even some of the necessities of life, to plan. a conference between reprenever spending a needless penny, and sentatives of the Greek Orthodox and never taking' a day's holiday, has of the American churches, in some saved $450. This sum she has in- lireek Orthodox land., Such a convested in foreign missions through the ference would discuss social and edu- British and Foreign Bible Society. cational questions, international rela- Two hundred dollars has been used tions, and church matters of a nonto distribute the Gospel according to ecclesiastical nature. So far, in Mark in Braille among the blind of addition to Bishop Brent, the com- mittee indudes Dr. Charles S. Mac- Burma. The rest was used to take a farland, general secretary of the Fedtranslation of the same gospel, just eral Council of Churches, and Dr. completed by workers of the Swedish George R. Montgomery, one of the Evangelical National Society, to 5,000 American advisers on the Near East natives of Somaliland, Africa. The at Versailles, and later secretary of Swedish society was without funds to the Armenia-American Society. publish and distribute the translation -the first part of the Bible to reach Somaliland. Buddhists in California Girls' Delight in Giving LOS ANGEL:ES may now boast the possession of the largest Japanese A TEACHER in one of the Presby- Buddhist temple outside of Japan. It terian schools in the Southern was dedicated in November by Count mountains, Langdon Memorial School, Sonya Atoni, brother-in-law of the at Langdon, Ky., writes: Japanese Emperor, head of one of the "Our chief thrill durin~ the month of largest and most progressive of J apa- November is our anuual thank·offering to nese Buddhist· sects. Count Atoni, the Lord given through our Board of Na· while in Los Angeles, emphasized the tioual Missions. It is a busy time, because common contribution to world peace girls without money must rind ways of earn· which the United States and Japan ing if they art' to give. Oh, for power to can make. He stated that one of the convey to your minds and hearts their ear· purposes of his trip was to encourage nestness, their sacrifices, their enthusiasm, the, sons of Japanese now in this their joy in earning and giving! What country to return to Japan for trainthough they must rise before nve in the ing, in order that they might later act morning, and hasten to work, what though as Buddhist missionaries to America. digging turnips, burying cabbages or raking leaves b~ substituted for Saturday's -Christian Century. hike, and what though the daily recreation hour fOI the whole month be given up, if Christian-Jewish Good Will they may thereby earn money to give! One thing was uppermost in the minds of us all ONE of the newest committees –our gift to the Lord, and so the work con- under the Federal Council Comtinued merrily-tatting, crocheting, ripping, mission on International Justice and mending, sewing, washing, ironing, pressing, Good Will and one that has attracted mouse-catching, nut cracking and coffee a good deal of attention, is that on grinding as well as fine baking and ironing good will between Jews and Chrisfor the community. Finally the day came tians. It is believed that it is the and the offering was found to be over two first time that such a commission has hundred dollars, of which mOre than one been appointed by Christian churches hundred and thirty dollars was the gift of acting together to plan to bring about these penniless girls themselves. We were much touched by the fact that the largest earnerS were six girls who are working their way through school, either by summer work
better relations between the races. history of volunteer service from Yale. The Rev. Alfred Williams Anthony, A whole list of Yale names comes to formerly secretary of the Home Mis- my mind as I write, men who have sions Council, is chairman, and the done yeoman service." Rev. John W. Herring is secretary of the committee. One editor comments LATIN AMERICA on the high type of social leadership which these appointments promise, Mexican Catholic Campaign and continues: A NATIONAL congress of Roman Improvement of t.he relations between Catholics held in the city of Mex- Jews and Gentiles is the more difficult be- ico to organize a youth movement cause the problem is so intangible. Why among Mexican CathoHcs, is reported should thete be any trouble in the first by The Christian Century. The archplace 1 One is apt to exclaim, "The solution bishop has given out a statement to of this problem is simply bringing Chris- the press in which he indicates that tians to act as sllch," and let it go at that. the church will hereafter actively op- But, however large a measure of truth there pose governmental policy in Mexico. may be in such a gf>ueralization, it does not The archbishop says: " The laws come to grips with the problem. Granted which oppose the natural rights of that Gentiles have not lived up to the high- Catholics, those which destroy marest conceptions of Christian conduct, and riage through the medium of divorce, granted that ,ome Jews have given. evidence those which deprive fathers of the of mannerisms that have made social con- right to give their children a Christacts difficult, the resultant irritations-and tian education, those which prevent worse-are so ,real that they need to be freedom of worship, will be opposed faced frankly, analyzed, and dealt with. by the national hierarchy. Methods Mr. Herring brings to his new task the en- similar to those adopted by the thusiasm of one who believes that a liberal cardinals and archbishops of France attitude, in wbatever realm exhibited, will will be followed for this campaign. call forth a liberal l'espome. He is, it is Active propaganda will be carried on by means of pastoral letters, tracts, understood, taking the obvious course of in· and lectures; petitions will be ad- dressed to the chamber of deputies; formal get-togethers between J eWE and Gen. popular ma.nifestations will be organtiles to find 0 lit what the present situation ized; and all possible efforts will be actually is. He has not mapped out any made to convince the executive, feditayd-and·fast com,) of proceilme; he is eral and local authorities of the jusnot the kind of man who will announce tice of a constitutional and legislative panaceas. But if he succeeds in impressing reform. Catholic groups are in procon Christians the existence of this problem, ess of orgauization and a national he will perform a trile service. action against lay legislation will soon begin. " Yale in Labrador The Bible at Work in Mexico E STABJ~ISHMENT of a Yale school in Labrador, at the Gren- T HE Mexico Agency of the Amerfell Mission, has been announced. ican Bible Society was established The institution, founded by gifts of in 1878. For almost fifty years, in Yale students, stands at Northwest the midst of revolution and internal River, the gateway to the interior of strife, and in spite of privation and Labrador. Seventv families now re- persecution, the work of Bible dissiding at that point have no other tribution has gone steadily forward. means of educating their children. The results of this patient, persistent For years Yale men have passed their effort on the part of the faithful colsummers assisting Dr. Grenfell in his porteur are found by missionaries in work among the children and young many unexpected places. A whole men, all of whom, above the age of family appeared at an afternoon servsixteen, earn their livelihood by trapping. Three undergraduates were attached to the Grenfell mission last summer. In a letter to the Yale G;renfell AEsociation, Dr. Grenfell said: "The establishment of a school at Northwest River is the result of a long
i926] NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
ice in a mission church and asked to time or two while he was up there. have the children baptized. No mis- The woman I baptized on Sunday Sionarv had ever visited the little vil- night told me that the priest had lage where they lived, and they had warned the people not to sit in their never attended an evangelistic serv- doors and listen to that fellow up in ice. Through reading in their own the tree or they would be dealt with home- a Bible given forty years before by the church for doing it. It seems to the grandfather of these children, that people are listening to him in the father and mother had become fol- a way to alarm the Romish priest." lowers of Christ and were taking advantage of their first opportunity to Protection for DOD1inicaHs have their children baptized by a Protestant minister. Isolated groups THE policy for the protection of have been discovered never before natives of Santo Domingo adopted visited by missionaries. One of these by the social action department of the had chosen a leader from among their National Catholic Welfare Conferown number and held regular services. ence has been endorsed by the Board Most of the people lived in the moun- of Home Missions and Church Extentains, and some of them had to leave sion of the M. E. Church. Methodist home at daylight to arrive in time for missionary work in Haiti and the Doan evening servicfl.-Missionwry Voice. minican Republic, as well as in Porto Rico, is under the control of this Preaehing from a Treetop Board. In Porto Rico, according to Dr. D. D. Forsyth, secretary of the REV. J. 'r. BUTLER, of the Central Board, the natives have been largely American Mission, writes of a reduced to a condition bordering on native preacher named Jose Esca- peonage at the hands· of American milla: "I found him up in a big tree sugar concerns. If something is not fully sixty feet above the ground done, the same fate threatens the preaching about Zaccheus in the tree. Haitians and Dominicans. The I listened and looked. There he was, Catholic protest, which now will have barefooted and bareheaded, standing behind' it the endorsement of the on two small limbs away up in the Methodists, seeks government action top of the tree. This is his regular to restrain American interests from preaching place. He goes up there thus exploiting the island of Santo every Sunday morning and can be Domingo. heard a mile away. Droves of people pass along the street a short distance Persecution in Brazil from him. He preaches, sings and prays. I hardly knew what I thought THE men's Bible class of Juiz de about this novel way of doing things, Fora, Brazil, is maintaining work but I waited to hear from others as in near-by villages. "One village, to results. On Sunday night I bap- however, suffered violent persecution tized a woman who lives near the tree a few weeks ago when two or three and she testifies that his preaching' persons interested in our work were and praying was used of God to con- attacked by a mob, instigated by the vince her of her need of a SavioTh!'o priest, and one of our men was killed She said that his praying for his and another wounded in the spine, enemies was a new thing to her., On perhaps crippled for life," writes the Monday night I baptized a man and presiding elder, Rev. C. A. Long. his son and a daughter who live a "This was done on the man's own mile or more away from the town. land. The mob said: 'Methodists 'fhey say they can hear him preach- cannot exist ,here; away with them!' ing from where they live. I say 1'he father of the man killed, who is amen, now, to his preaching up in the also grandfather of the man wounded, tree. He said he had been shot at a gave the land and built the church for the Romanists, who have repaid him
in this way Work in this vil- ods of approach to them adopted by lage has been suspended until condi- the different national unions ex- tions are more favorable, but the plained. The Confederation works people interested are coming to Juiz through commissions, each of which de Fora to church and want the work is under the supervision of some one continued. The murderer is at large, national union. One of the finest as- and the inquiry will result in nothing, pects of the movement is the disap- due to Rome's protection." pearance of national animosities. The -Missionary Voice. Confederation Internationale des Etudiants which started as an Allied EUROPE organization has now admitted the British Resolutions on China representatives of all the ex-enemy countries. " T HE resolutions, quoted in the De- cember R];vIEw, which were Continental Jewish Convert..
adopted by representatives of thirty- THE United Free Church of Scotseven American missionary boards on land has a Jewish Mission Committhe present situation in China, have tee, whose last report contains these been followed by this statement issued encouraging statements: "There· are in Great Britain: more conversions to Christianity The British missionary societies wltich among the Jews, proportionately to have work in Ohina have been following their numbers, than there are converrecent events there with close concern. The sions among the heathen as a result standing committee of their conference have of foreign mission effort. In Hungary just sent a letter to the Ohinese Minister in London, in which they state that the soele· alone, since January, 1918, 40,000 ties welcome the action taken by His Ma· Jews have declared themselves Chrisjesty's Government in entering upon a tians. In Budapest over 2,500 Jewish comprehensive revision of the treaties which converts have entered the membership at present regulate the position of foreign.
ers in China. They inform His Excellency of the Presbyterian Church during that the leading British missionarj societies working in China have passed resolutions the past seven years, and half that e",pressing their desire that their futUre number have been received into the legal rights and liberties instead of depend- other Protestant churches of the city.
ing on existing treaties between China and Similar things are taking place in Great Britain, shollld be those freely ac- Czecha-Slovakia, Poland, Ukrainia, corded to them by China as a sovereign power and mutually agreed upon in equal imd other places. There has been an eonference between the Chinese Republic and unusual disappearance of prejudice, Great Britain. and a quite extraordinary response to European Student Confederation the Gospel among the Jews. At all our stations-Glasgow, Prague, Kol- T HE efforts for world peace that ozsvar, Budapest, Constantinople, are being made by the students of Tiberias. Safad-there are numbers Europe are thus: described by Dr. of earnest Christian men and women Stephen P. Duggan: "Since the who were reared -in Jewish homes."
World War there has been founded in practically evel'Y European coun- Czecho-Slovakian s. S. Teachers O try a National Union of Students and VER one hundred students were enrollrd in the school of methods as early as 1922 these national unions were amalgamated into the Confed- for Sunday-school teacher);, held un- eration Internationale des Etudiants. der the auspices of the Sunday-school The Confederation holds a conference Association of Czecho-Slovakia, in in a different country each year, Sazava. All parts of the Czecho-Slo- which is attended by the leading vakian republic were represented by spirits of the national unions. At this the students who attended during the conference the questions that interest eleven days. Thirty-six lectures were students are discussed and the meth- given, on the study of the Bible,
11l26] NEWS l<'ROM MANY LANDS
Palestine, pedagogy, psychology, and of imprisonment or even by exile to methods related to the various depart- Siberia. ments of the Sunday-school. Daily devotional periods were conducted by AFRIOA Rev. A. Novotny, Secretary of the Czecho-Slovakia Sunday-school Asso· Plans for African Education ciation. Phvsical and reereational hours were included. A volley-ball THE Carnegie Foundation has match with the Y. M. C. A. from gIVen $a 1,500 to the Jeanes Fund Prague was won by the Sunday-school for such supervision of little local teachers. A report of the school in a schools in ~~frica as the Fund gives newspaper which seldom prints reli- to Negro country schools in America. gious news stated: James W. C. Dougall, of Scotland, has already gone out to Kenya as the The Sunday-school Association in Czecho- first educational director under the Slovakia is seeking to introduce new methods Fund. In addition, American mis- of religious education into the church edu- sionary and other agencies are send- cational scheme. It was organized in 1921 ing James L. Sibley, who has already and has now more than 10,000 members. done work of the same sort in Neg,ro The leader. of it are convinced that the schools in Alabama, to Liberia to mere religious instruction in public schools study educational conditions there. is not sufficient to develop the spiritual These plans were reported at the Con- forces of children. ference on Africa held in November at the Kennedy School of Missions in Bolshevism and Religion Hartford. Another significant out- come of the conference will probably A NEW illustration of the bitter prove to be an International Bureau attitude of the Soviet Govern- of African Languages and Culture, ment toward religion is to be found in which mission boards of America, in a recent decree, quoted by Evan- Europe and Africa and learned sogelical Christendom, ordering the re- cieties from all parts of the world will moval of books from the libraries that cooperate for the study of 800 African serve the needs of the masses. It is languages and dialects and the prostated "the section on religion must duction of educational literature in contain solely anti-religious litera- them. The Bureau will also serve as ture ; historical and philosophical a clearing bouse for those engaged in books that formed part of this must translation, and help to insure a unibe included in the corresponding sec- form and scientific system in reducing tions.' , unknown languages to writing. The early plans for this bureau were de- The Christian Advocate states that scribed in the May, 1925, REVIEW. the Comsomol, or League of Communist Youth, which is limited to young Earnest African Learners atheists, has 1,200,000 members, a larger number than the combined THE Rev. A. J. Leech, a missionary Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. member- of the Church Missionary Society ship in the United States. A junior at Butere, in the Nyanza Province, order called "Pioneers" consists of Kenya Colony, reports that there has boys and girls of "scout age," the been a ,;teady stream of candidates early teens. These Pioneer groups are for baptism and for the catecbumenate led by members of Comsomol and are during the past year. Their keenness prepared for membership in the senior may be judged by the fact that many order. The whole number of children a lad or young woman residing at a in Russia now receiving any sort of distance of, say, ten miles from the religious instruction in church or mission station will have walked at school is practically negligible. Breach least one hundred miles during the of the law prohibiting religious teach- week, going to and from the instrucing of children under eigbteen years tion classes. Not infrequently they of age is punishable by a long term
are overtaken by heavy rains on their days before District Conference, was long journey homewards in the after- a real test of qualification for work. noon. Not all, of course, come from Forty of our workers took the examr :such distances, but many do; some inations on their scholastic ability in "travel even longer distances, and have mathematics, grammar, reading, spell- :in addition to ford unbridged rivers ing and letter-writing, and on their oat dangerous crossings. The evident knowledge of the Bible and ability to 'Sincerity and diwotion of the candi- conduct a Methodist Episcopal church dates give promise of their futnre service. Several Kru men, educated usefulness in the Church. in our higher schools in Liberia and abroad, gave, valuable service as in- Her "Friend, Jesus" structors and examiners. To have Kru men conducting an Institute MISS E. J. VEAL, a C. M. S. mis- among Kru people on this coast as it sionary in Berega, East Africa, would be done in college circles in the tells of the trust in God of a woman, Ii. S. A. was an inspiration and an very old and nearly blind, who had incentive to our staff of district heen deserted by her relatives and left teachers, which staff each year shows to live quite alone in a tumbledown steady increase in its enrollment of bouse in the forest, where once there better-educated workers." had been a village. She had received Christian teaching from a Bible wom- Methodist Congo Mission an, and her faith in God as her protector and keeper was absolute. When REV. JOHN M. SPRINGER, D.D., asked whether she was not afraid to superintendent of the Congo Mislive alone in that wild place, she re- sion of the M. E. Church, and Mrs. plied: "I am out in the forest; long Springer, were recalled by Bishop grass grows ,right up to my door, and Johnson from South Africa, where wild animals are all round me; but they had heen taking a vacation. Dr. God does not let any come near me, Springer writes: "Though we were nor harm me." She loved the name sad at parting with our Rhodesia of the Lord Jesus, and often said when friends, when our train turned north the Bible woman went to see her: at Bulawayo, we felt a thrill of home- "Ah. you have come to tell me about !,oing. And when we saw the scores my Friend .Jesus. " of smiling faces, white and black, at the station of Elisabethville, we felt Developing Krn Leadership that we were verily back in the midst of our own family. Brother Guptill F OR the first time in its history, ac- kept us going in the mission Ford all cording to Mrs. M. W. Williams, the rest of the day from one meeting of the Methodist Mission in Liberia, to another till our heads swam. The the Kru Coast District Conference, Mission Hall erected for native work held in September, 1925, at Nana Kru in 1917 is entirelv too small for the Mission, r~iberia, elected all its officers present congregation. Indeed, we had from its own native ranks. She' says: it crowded when it was first opened. " The se0retary and his assistant were And I1I)W with a thousand members young Kru men educated at our col- and adherents it is quite inadequate. lege in Monrovia and in high schools We thank God that' the Detroit area down coast. The secretary is in is now providing for the erection of a charge of our Methodist Day School much larger native church and this in Grand Cess; his assistant, of our building can be used for the many school in Newtown-Sasstown. The social and school purposes among treasurer and his assistant were Kru these thousands of natives. Weare preachers, from Kinicadi andWrukre. now stationed at Panda, ninety miles The District Superintendent and his north of Elisabethville, where there wife were the only foreigners present. are about 600 white people and 4,000 The Workers' Institute, held three
~26] NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
natives employed in the various in- a European as their Moderator, while in the dustries. I also have the care of Kam- meetings there has not been a division on bove and several out-stations. I am racial lines. The new Church is still in its lllore than grateful for a Ford car experimental stage, but it seems to the Comthat came as a direct answer to mission to have in it the germ of the safest prayer." solution of a difficult problem. It is inter- esting to note that three of the great mis- Sonth African Indian ProbleDl ;nonary chnrch8s of Nyasaland have united their converts into oue great Native Church BISHOP FREDERICK FISHER, in order to allow them to advance in the direction of control in church matters with- . of the Methodist Episcopal out having to resort to the expedieney of a Church, on his arrival in Bombay secession. after an extensive trip in Australia and South Africa, stated that he had THE NEAR EAST never seen anywhere in the world a race situation more sordid and with Turkey and the Iraq Boundary more possibilities for evil than that which at present exists between the T HE Council of the League of Nacombined English-Dutch "superior tions, at its meeting on December white" minority and the African-In- 16th definitely established the" Brusdian colored majority in South Africa. sels hne" as the northern frontier of IJegislation is pending in the Union of Iraq and the southern frontier of South Africa, which, if passed, will Turkey. The decision, which ends the completely crush the Indian commu- five-year dispute between Turkey and nity resident there, practically forc- Britain as to the sovereignty of the ing it by cconomic and social pressure District of Mosul, is made upon conto leave the country. Mr. C. F. An- dition that Britain renew for twentydrews, independent missionary in In- five years her treaty obligations with dia, and close friend of Mahatma Iraq, which practically make her a Gandhi, has left for South Africa to mandatory power over the Arab State. give moral leadership to the harassed The representatives of Turkey refused lndian community there. to attend the Council meeting and have since declared their unwilling- South African Native Churehes ness to accept the decision. The as- pect of the situation which most A NATIVE Churches Commission, concerns the student of missions is appointed by the Government of probably the report of the special South Africa to investigate the vari- commission on the atrocities comous religious bodies organized by na- mitted bv the Turks. A regiment of tives who had seceded from the bodies Turkish infantry, says the report, actto which they had belonged, has re- ing under orders from the Turkish cently made its report. This holds Government of Angora, sacked vilthat union of the various churches in lag-es, criminally attacked WOmEll and a strong, properly-articulated organi- killed men and children in the part zation is much to be desired, and of the disputed territory which was makes re('ommendations. for govern- held by the Turks. Details of the ment recognition, an advisory board, massacre were obtained by the comand the framing of a few rules to mlSSlOn during an investigation which secessionist~ should conform. carried on among 3,000 Chaldean The report continues: Christians who escaped from the ranks of Christians who were being The most notable move has been made by deported.by the Turks. the United F"ee Church of Scotland, which has formed a separate Native branch of the Near East Colleges Fund Church to be knowu as the Bantu Presbyterian .Church, with a General Assembly of THE recent campaign to raise $2,- its own in which the European missionaries 500,000 for the Near East Colleges arll a minority. It says much for the good -the American University of Beirut, sense of the natives that they have elected Robert College, Constantinople Wom-
an's College, Sofia American Schools Hussein, pressed to abdicate by the and International College of Smyrna people of J eddah, relinquished the -in order to secure the additional throne, having held it for eight years. $625,000 offered by John D. Rocke- The Jeddah notables then selected Ali feller, Jr., has emphasized the interna- as Hussein's successor. tional character of these institutions. Contributions toward the fund have INDIA AND SIAM been received from every State in the Union, from Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, Woman Successor to Gandhi Jamaica, China, Japan, England, France, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria, THE .Indian National Congress, that Turkey, Russia, Egypt, Syria, Pales- great unofficial gathering which tine, Persia, Iraq, Arabia, the Malay settle;; the policy of the nationalistic States, Soudan, Cypress, Hauran, movement in that empire from year Austria and South American coun- to year, is being presided over this tries. Many of these have come f,rom year by a woman, Mrs. Sarojivi graduates of the American University Naidu. Mrs. Naidu, who succeeds of Beirut. The Alumni Association Gandhi in the presidential chair, is has 3,280 members representing many widely known as a poet, and in politics creeds and races in all parts of the she has been able to use her poetic world, and the organized effort which talents to make vivid the causes to they have Put forth for this fund, which she has committed herself, after the manner of "alumni drives" Hindu-Moslem unity in particular. in the United States, has been the first Christian Work comments: "The undertaking of the kind in the East. Communist Internationale has wired The present student body of 1,200 in its sympathies to the Indian National- Beirut represents twenty-nine nation ist party. The Moscow Soviet has alities. lately sent a letter of sympathy and cooperation to the workers of India. Bin Sa.oud's New Victory But no one fears the spread of Bol- shevism in India so long as Mrs. Naidu F IRST Mecca, then Medina, and remains in the presidential chair." now Jeddah have fallen into the hands of Bin Saoud, the Wahabi A Theosophist "Christ" chieftain, whom Dr. Paul Harrison, as readers of "The Arab at Home" THEOSOPHISTS gathered at Adwill remember, speaks of as "my yar, Madras Presidency, during friend. " Word was received in New the latter part of December hailed a York by cable late in December that Hindu named Krishnamurti as "the King Ali of the Hedjaz had sur- second Christ." Seven of his twelve rendered J eddah to the Wahabis "apostles," chosen from" The Order under the command of Bin Saoud. of the Star of the East," were then For many months, in fact since he announced as follows: Mrs. Annie succeeded his father on the throne of Besant; Bishop Charles W. Lead- Hedjaz, King Ali has been engaged in beater, of Australia; ,Jinarhadasa, a a deRperate struggle to put down the Sing-alese Buddhist and a graduate opposition of Bin Saoud, head of the of Cambridg~; the Rev. Oscar Koller- Sultanate of Ne.id. Several days ago strom, a priest of the Liberal Cath- Ali was reported to be planning his olic Church in Australia; George escape from the invested city of J ed- Armidale, an English lecturer and dah. He fled after the Wahabi tribes- educational commissioner in Indore men under Ibn Saoud had captured state; his Hindu wife, Rukmini the city of Medina. The conflict be- Arundale, and Bishop James Ingall tween the Arabian States of Nejd and Wedgwood, a priest of the Liberal Hedjaz began in 1919. When Mecca Catholic Church. These" apostles" fell into the hands of Bin Saoud, King have been appointed "by command of the King," according to Mrs. Annie Besant, who has been training Krish-
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LAJ"'IJS
namurti for years for the role which doctor and the nurses and native as- he is now about to assume. In" The sistants traveled through a territory Christ of the Indian Road," Rev. of some 3,000 square miles where Stanley Jones suggests that the choice 2,000,000 Indians live and gave ad- of this title "the second Christ" is vice, clinical CB>re and instruction in one proof of the influence of Jesus on sanitary methods. Dr. Corpron is not the thought of all India today. only an M.D., having grB>duated from the University of Michigan, but he An Earnest Village Teacher is also an ordained pastor. He has A NEW church organized in a sec- carried on religious services in the tion where, he says, "unmitigated hospital and in the villages visited. heathenism prevailed until about a year ago," is described by Rev. F. W. Redeeming Burmese Slaves A Stait, American -Baptist missionary DISPATCH from London to the New York Times in December in Udayagiri, South India. He writes: "The village is called Nan- stated that at a cost of $100,000 the dipadu and we have a church of forty- Burmese Government hopes to stamp seven members. 'fhe acting pastor is out slavery in Hukawng Valley, in Peter, a government board school Upper Burma, a settlement of people teacher. He is a lower.grade trained of the Mongolian type of many mixed man, but a real power in evangelistic races. The form of Animism followed work. He has led most of his pupils by the people requires occasional hu- to Christ. He has regular services man sacrifices. To stop these abso~ and Sunday-school every Sabbath. It lutely would require a dangerous and is a real spiritual feast to attend one expenslve military expedition, but it of his Sunday services. We try to be is hoped that, as the victims are al- with them on the first Sunday of each ways slaves, the sacrifices will prac- month. Peter and his church mem- ticallv cease if the slaves are emanbers have brought converts from two cipat~d. The people a,re quite will- new villages during the year. God ing to do this at a price, and the grant that many more may be brought British are prepared to pay it.
to the Saviour through their influence. Frontier officers escorted by Bur- Peter has passed out of his school nine mese police have started from the boys who finished the fourth standard civilized regions of Burma to make and led them all to Jesus. It is the their way through the jungle to the first village with such a record." valley, there to buy up the slaves.
I t is recognized that they can be pur- One Doctor, 18,000 Patients chased at about $30 apiece, and the ONE missionary physician aided by Government is willing to pay that for two missionarv nurses and a few them. Half will get their manumis- Indian assistants,' cared for 18,000 sion free, on condition that they stay patients and performed more than on the land, but the remainder will 1,000 operations in a hospital with be expected to refund the ransom by 100 beds and 66 private wards, during instalments.
the past twelve months, according to a report received by the Board of For- Burmese Buddhists Won R eign Missions of the Methodist Epis-EV. V. W. DYER, American Bap- tist missionary in Rangoon, copal Church. This record was made by Dr. Alexander Corpron, Medical ,vrites in M~:,sions: "Outside of the :Superintendent of the Thoburn Mohammedans, the Buddhists of Memorial Hospital, Nadiad, India. Burma, where that religion is found During the year he cared for 16,600 in its purest form, are the hardest to out-patients, 1,216 in-patients and win for Christ. We Baptists have performed 976 major and 177 minor 75,000 members among the Animistic operations. In addition to this, the Karens, who number only about one
million of the population while the :Board might have to make serious cuts in appropriations, they came for- Burmans have ten millions, but after ward ·with splendid voluntarY t>fl'er- ings. In Wai, fifty-four adult 9hyismore than one hundred years we have tians gave with genuine sacri;lice. Sixty-five boys and girls in the Wai only the deplorably small number of Boarding School asked their matron to omit one of the two times a week 4,000 Burmese Christians! A mission- when they were allowed meat at the table und to send its money value to ary of nearly twenty' years' experi- Boston towards lessening the Board's debt. At Vadala the pastor and ence in Burma says: 'I have lived to teachers decided to weed in the cotton fields for an hour or two every aftersee what I never expectd in my life- noon. Their efl'orts did not earn a large sum, but they have to their time, namely-mass evangelism among credit an unusual efl'ort. "Such giv- ing, " comments The Missionary H erthe Burmans. Always before the aid, "if emulated in spirit by the churches of wealthy America, would work of fhese Immanuel Gospel not only clear away all existing de- ficits and debts, but also gladden the Teams of college boys, the Burmans heart of God by an advance of un- precedented dimensions." came out for Christ more or less Liberal Siamese King secretly and one or two at a time.' THE new King of Siam, Praja Dhi- ·The simple fact is that during a year pok, is a younger brother of Rama VI, who died suddenly at Bangkok and a quarter in a dozen campaigns recently. The latter received his edu- cation in England, France and Geramong the Burmese high and gram- many. His prolonged stay in Europe made him a man of real vision. With mar schools there have been more than all his royal tradition he became a democrat, an autocrat with pro- 500 public decisions for Christ as Dounced liberal views. His influence led his father to send dozens of other iSnagviforuormanBudddGhoid~tmBourremtehsaen 300 be- members of the royal family to be homes." educated in England, France, Ger- many, Russia, Belgium, Holland, and Leper Bible Students America. At present probably three hundred royal and princely Siamese THE earnestne.ss of the Christian young men are studying abroad, most lepers in an asylum in Belgaum, of them under assumed names. When South India, is described as follows Rama VI came to the throne, in 1910, by Rev. William C. Irvine: "One he introduced many reforms. He Lord's Day morning, after the meet- started a public school system and ing, I told the Christians that I would founded hospitals. He erected a modtake the subject of the precious blood ern university at Bangkok. He of Christ that afternoon. On regath- created a council for the kingdom. ering I asked them if they had His untimely death is a great blow searched the Scriptures for verses to the cause of liberalism. His brother, a.bout the blood. Smiling faces, sheets Praja Dhip(}k, who succeeds him, likeof paper and open Bibles answered wise received his education in Europe, in the affirmative. One after the other but has not a serious interest in life. they gave out references, which were read in Marathi and Canarese (for both languages have to be .used in o11r meetings), and for the next hour or more I was busy commenting on the verses read. Before the meeting I had looked up all the most important passages bearing on the blood, and had selected at least fifteen. All but one of these passages had been found, and they have no concordance. As I was leaving, these modern Bereans sa.id: 'Give us another subject for another day.' "
Gi£ts of Marathi Christians W HEN word was received by the Marathi Christian leaders in the mission conducted by the American Board in Bombay Presidency that the
MISSJ[ONARY
The ,Christ of the Indian Road. E. Stanley Religions of the Empire. Edited by Wil- Jones. 12 mo. 213 pp. $1.00. New liam Loftus Hare, with an introduction York. ]925. by Sir E. Denison Ross, C.I.E., Ph.D. 519 pp. New York. 1925. From the standpoint of giving inspiration to Christian thought, life The long subtitle explains that the and ,service, this is undoubtedly the volume reports ., a conference on outstanding missionary book of the year. It has in three months called some living religions of the Empire, for four editions. held at the Imperial Institute, Lon- don, September 22 to October 3, Dr. Jones is a well-known mis- 1924, under the auspices of the School sionary of the Methodist Episcopal of Oriental Studies (University of Church in India where he has been working for nearly twenty years. He London) and the Sociological Sohas had remarkable success in evan- cie~y. " This is the latest step in the gelistic work and his own religious ser~es of which the Chicago World's experience and faith are clearly set Fall' Parliament of Religions was the forth and practically demonstrated in ~orerunner. Since then five gatherthis volume in such a way as to be mgs o~ the International Congress of especially stimulating to other Chris- !he HIstory of Religions have still tians the world over. His position is turther extended our pioneering efclearly evangelical and the power of fort. The papers in the present volthe Spirit of God has been wonder- 11me are in most cases by leading repfully experienced in his own life and r~sentatives of the various religions preaching. His address at the Wash- dIscussed. The religions presented ington Foreign Missions Convention are Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, leslast year was most powerful in its ser Indian religions, Taoism, such impression. He might have been elect- modern movements as the Brahma Samaj, Arya Samaj and Bahaiism'
ed a bishop of his Church at the last the primitive religions of East and quadrennial convention if he had not ,Vest Africa, and of the Maoris. Nine refused the honor, chapters deal with as many phases Dr. Jones tells in this volume of con,nected with the psychology and how he came to his own present clear SOCIOlogy of religions and are written conviction as to the missionary's mes- by European specialists. The most sage and compelling motive. Both are iJ?lpressive dJscussion is by Prof. Pat- Christo-centric, with emphasis on the rlCk Geddes, on "Religion on the rJiving Christ, the Eternal Son of C.hart of Life," in which he gives his God. The effective message is a tes- VIew of the social side of the evolution timony as to "Whom" rather than of religion. Another interestinO' paper "what" we believe. Abundant evi- is by the editor, Mr. Hare, o~ "The dence is produced from Dr. Jones' Ideal Man" under differing religions.
experience that Jesus Christ, in Ori- The volume avowedly leaves out of ental garb, is adapted to India's needs the consideration Christianity and and that He draws India to His feet. Judaism. Without controversy, each He is too often obscured by Occi- sp~aker endeavored to present his dental expression and ecclesiastical f81th as found in his own land. The garments of Western manufacture. subject matter is likely to jar upon Every preacher, every missionary, many readers who have been accus- every Christian would be blessed by tomed to discussions of non-Christian thoughtful reading of this volume. faiths by Christian writers, who have 1M
often emphasized the defects rather viewpoint of modern theology, favors than the strong points of such reli- the Scientific-Historical Type which gions. If one wishes to know what is still in the earlier stages of its de- these religions are as seen by their velopment. It is most fully found in votaries, and from a theoretical and the Peking University School of The- scientific viewpoint, this is an excel- ology, the West China Union Univer- lent exhibit well edited. One wishes sity School of Religion, the Shantung that what was attempted in the last Christian University School of The- two chapters, "General Survey" and ology, the St. John's University ., Summing Vp," had been done much School of Theology and the Boone more adequately. H. P. B. University School of Theology.
Chapter III, entitled "A Critique Education of Christian Ministers in China. of Existing Theological Education, An Historical alld Critical Stndy. Samuel with Suggestions for Possible Im- H. Leger, Ph.D. 118 pp. Shanghai, provement," is the most constructive (–'hina. 1925. part of the volume. Section 3 gives the provisional plan for theological This little volume is likely to result education in China, which is the auin more mind illumination and open thor's real objective. The knowledge discussion than any book recently and skill reaui,red in the modern published far China. It arose out of Faculty of Theology are a knowledge a series of classroom discussions in of the Biblc in its contents, literary Union Seminary, under the leadership history, development of thought and of Professor Kilpatrick of Columbia, its original languages; knowledge of which culminated in the consideration the history of Christianity; of the of "How Union Seminary might be history of philosophy to enable stu- Conducted on a Thoroughgoing Proj- dents to do constructive thinking ect Basis," and it was continued by about their own Christian faith; of the author in his work in the Foochow the history, philosophy and psychol- Union Theological Seminary in China. ogy of education, with special refer- It is thus an investigation and an ence to religious education and the application of this method to the psychology of religion; knowledge of training of young Chinese theological the leading ethical ideas and systems students.
The book begins with a comprehen- influential in China and the Occident.
sive, well-documented survey of the with special reference to Chinese and first hundred years of theological Christian views of life; of the history education in China, filling a third of of religiolls, with special reference to the volume. Chapter II presents Chinese religions; ability to conduct three "Types of Theological Educa- a service of worship which will create tion in China and the Presuppositions differences in lite and help men to That Underlie Them," the Practical- feel God's presence; and a knowledge Vocational or Apprenticeship, the of Chinese history and literature, with Classical-Dogmatie and the Scientific- special reference to the literature of Historical Types. The three are each religion and ethics. Personal evan- considered as to location, with the gelism, directing religious education, theories and presumptions back of preaching and lecturing for his sta- each, and with regard to the concep- tion, and its pastoral and administra- tion of human nature and the educa- tive headship are leading features of tive process in general. The author's the successive four years of the stu- characterizations seem to us to be dent life and preparation. Schedules, warranted, but we question the list of supervision, standards, status of particulars Ot assumptions held by all graduates, and most suggestive of all, schools coming under the Classical- the order of study and emphasis of Dogmatic group, as found on pages the four years of seminary life, will 58-59. Dr. Leger, writing from the . prove the most pregnant sections of this thought-provoking and way- educated Negroes of Southeastern Af- pointing volume. H. P. B. rica. H. P. B.
Islam and Africa. An Introduction to the Canadian United Church Monthly. Study of Islam for African Christians. Godfrey Dale. 141 pp. London. 1925. Dr. William T. Gunn, rormerly treasurer of the Canadian Congrega- The Canon of Zanzibar Cathedral, tional Board of Foreign Missions and where once stood the slave-block upon afterwards Home Mission Secretary which Livingstone was told that thou- of the Congregational Union of Cansands of Negroes had been sold into ada is the editor of the new United slavery, presents a handbook written Church Recorrl and, ll'Iissiontl!ry Reto aid in freeing other thousands of view, published under the auspices of black men from the thralldom of the United Church of Canada. Mohammedanism. The first issue was published in This condensed mass of material, September last, an illustrated paper explanatory of Islam, is arranged in of thirty-two pages, containing home orderly sequence for an effective de- and foreign church news and combin- 'fense of Christianity, and for an at- ing the General Board sections of the tack upon the Moslem religion. The Congregational Monthly, the Methadvance of Islam in Africa is con- odist Missionary Outlook and the tinuous and threatening, as the line Presbyterian Rewrd. The paper will creeps farther south each year, and be .informational and inspirational, the Christian' Church should be made tellmg of the needs, the program and aware of its duty in stemming this the progress of the United Church tidal wave. Yet Canon Dale only in- work in Canada-among Indians, cidentally alludes to this aspect of the Enghsh and French-speaking popusituation. The volume is filled with lations, Russians, Chinese, students, facts as to the Prophet himself, the churches and Sunday-schools; also in Koran, the religious rites and life of the foreign fields of Japan, Korea, Moslems, and ends with a number of China, Formosa, India Trinidad suggested replies to Mohammedan ob- British Guinea and West' Africa. ' jections to Christian beliefs. The United Church has nearly five The prospective African missionary thousand missionaries at home and will find this an arsenal containing abroad in 3,490 stations and outall sorts of offensive ammunition, use- stations, and supports 1,317 schools ful for his own intellectual battles and colleges and 87 hospitals. and also likely to stir unfriendliness or hatred in the hearts of Moham- To Be Near Unto God. Abraham Kuyper. medan hearers. From an extended 8vo. 679 pp. $3,00. New York. 1925. tour of Afriea, the present reviewer wonders where, outside of North and 'l'hese are meditations on God and Northeastern Africa among the white spiritual things by the great Dutch Moslems, on Sahara's southern fringe, theologian and former Prime Minister and in such centers as Zanzibar, one of the Netherlands. They contain would find Moslems intelligent enough much light, some warmth, and an to call for such well-tempered weap- abundance of spiritual food. ons. The simple-minded Negro of the Sub-continent, dwelling away from One Thousand New Bible Readings. F. E. the coast in sections where Islam is Marsh. 8vo. 473 pp. 68 net. Glasgow. filtering in, cannot appreciate such 1925. ammunition as is here supplied against Mohammedanism. But the These suggestive studies on scripbook is a valuable collection or anti- tural themes will be especially valu- Mohammedan material for the use or able for Christian workers who wish, both Occidental Christians and of outlines ror themes. There is a great variety of topics, skeletons which need more flesh and life to give them power. Peace on Earth, A Study for Today. Edited bolism of the Revelation is preferred by Rhoda McCulloch and Margaret Burton. wherever possible. The letters to the 144 pp. 30 cents. We.t Medford, Mass. seven churches are regarded as hav- ing a "historic, prophetic, and pro- 1925. gressive" fulfilment. The rider on the white horse (6: 1, 2) is held to be Workers for national and interna- not Christ, but Antichrist. Interest- ing arguments are given to show that tional peace have, in this volume, facts the Antichrist will be a Greek general.
and suggestions that will prove a great c. R. S.
help in their campaign for peace. The Looking Toward a Christian China. A Dis; eussion Oourse by Milton Stauffer. Pam· chapters deal with Missions and Peace, phlet_ 25 eents. Missionary Edneation Movement. New York. 1925. Interracial Cooperation, Causes and Many illuminati.ng quotations from Cure of War, the Christian Way of contemporary literature answering various qnestions make this a valuable Life; Programs and Suggestions ~re help in the study of China 's po~i~ical' and industrial problems and relIgIOUS itnhceluPdeerd~aannednta statement concernmg awakening. The author of "The World Court. It is Christian Occupation of China" in- sures up-to-date and intelligent good crusade material. selections.
Matthew Twenty-Four and the Revelation. Dispatches from Northwest Kansu. By A. An Analysis LHeral Translation and Ex· Mildred Cable and Francesea L. French. position 'of Each. Henry W. Frost, D.D. Illustrations. Pamphlet. 74 pp. Is net. 321 pp. $2.50. New York. 1924. London. 1925.
In this excellent example of the What reports from the battle front are to those at the home base, these interpretation of Scripture by Scrip- short, snappy cha~te:s are .to. those interested in ChrIstIan mISSIOnary ture, the twenty-fourth of Matthew is work in the most northwesterly prov- ince of China, bordering on Tibet and taken as a key to the study of proph- Mongolia. The writers of the dis- patches tell of need, of hardship, of aecsy~raenddeaalst covering the same events conflicts and of conquests. The facts, with in the central chap- incidents and pictures are timely and impressive. ters of Revelation. New Notes for Bible Readings. Compiled The analysis is clear and concise, by S. R. Briggs. 8vo. 228 pp. 38. Glasgow. 1925. and the literal translations from the Twenty-five or more teachers and Greek (following Nestle's text) de- preachers, liKe James H. Brookes, D. L. Moody, Geo. F. Pentecost, W. J. serve careful thought. The rendering Erdman and Major Whittle, con- tribute these Bible readings and outof Rev. 7: 15 reveal the beauty and lines on sacred themes. They are use- ful for many occasions. power of a literal translation from the Tbe Doctrines of' Modernism. Leander B. Greek: "On account of this they are Keyser. Pamphlet. 40' cents. 1925.
in presence of the throne o~ Go~, an.d A professor of theology in Witten- berg College, Ohio, dispassionately minister to him day and mght m hIS and clearly points out some of the weaknesses of the positions of "libinner temple; and the one sitting eral" writers on religious themes.
upon the throne will tabernacle over them."
The author expresses his belief in a partial fulfilment of the prophecy in Matthew 24, at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., and looks for a complete fulfilment still to come. He believes that Christ's coming for his saints will not occur until after the tribulation. Momentary watc~ing for Christ was not for the disciples, nor is it for us but for the believers who shall live 'in the yet future tribulation time. The author presents excellent arguments for the pre-millennial view of our Lord's return which is to be "instantaneous in time and con- tinuous in process" (p. 146).
A literal interpretation of the sym-
The Missionary Review of the World — January 1926
JANUARY, 1926
JANUARy……A Month of Special Values Send for Catalogue T HIS CATALOGUE brings McCutcheon's store to you wher- ever you may live. Good illustrations, concise descriptions and clearly marked prices make it easy to shop from the January Catalog. Damask Table Linens, Fancy Linens, Blankets and Comfortables, Bed Linens, Curtains and D raperies are shown at reduced prices. You "'(ill also find excellent values in Hosiery, Blouses, Dress Fabrics, Corsets, Lingerie, Children's and Juniors' Wear and in Maids' and Nurses' Uniforms.
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llR. CAROL. OUR MISSIONARY AT ELLIS Write to- I SL A,ND. W ITH A SLOVAK MAN AND . A CROTIAN WOMAN W. J. Elliott. Treasurer. Board of Home Mis- sions and Church Extension of the Methodist Episco- pal Chwch. 170 I Arch ::itreet. Philadelphia. P•.• or Morria W. Ebnea, Treasurer. Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 150 Filth Avenue. New 'tork. N . 'to Please mention THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD in writing to jldvertisers. THE 'MISSIONARY Review of the World DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Edllor CONTENTS FOR JANUARY, 1926 Page FRONTISPIECE …. A CHRISTIAN ELDEIl. AND HIS FAMILY AT HOME IN NORTH SIAM EDITORIALS ………………………………………………….•.•… 5 THE REOIPE FOR A HAppy NEW YEAR FAITH, FAITHS AND No FAITH TURKEY, RELIGION AND THE MISSIONARIES Two VEn'ERAN MISSIONARIES TO INDIA OUR NEW FRoNTIERS DONALD FRASER OF NYASALAND CHRISTIANITY AT HOME AND ABROAD ……•. HELEN BARREn'T MONTGOMER.Y 17 A striking contrast between the Christian forces and resources in the United States and those in Japan, China and India.
A JAPANESE TRIBUTE TO OHRIS·TIANITY …………… JurORI SHlMOMURA 20 A rema<rkaqle testimo1l1J from a representat'iv(!" of the ])epart·ment of Education. in Japoo as to the va!ue of Christianity and the work of Christian. missions.
CHRISTIAN MOVEMENTS IN THE NON·CHRISTIAN WORLD .. SHERWooD EDUY 21 A genera! survey of signs of progress in Asia as seen by one who has made many journeys around the world.
'rREATING IMMIGRANTS AS BROTHERS . . • • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . COE HAYNE 25 A description of the humanizing and Christianizing work carried on in Ellis Island by the representatives of the Government and of the Christian churches of America.
PARABLES OF LIFE IN CHRIST ………………..•… SADHU SUNDAR SINGH 31 Striking i!!ustrations from nature and life to illustmte the power of Christ in human life.
MAHATMA GANDHI'S ADDRESS TO MISSIONARIES………………….. 34 A recent address delivered by the well-known Indian leader at a meeting of the National Christian CouncU of India, together with the for"ible reply of the Chairman.
A BANKER'S VERDICT ON CHRIST'IAN MISSIONS . . . . . . . . . . F. W. STEVENS 39 Some cOfIClusions reached by a New York busmess man, never before interested in missions, as a result of his first-hand contacts and investigations in China.
LIFE OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN NORTH SIAM …… HAZEL. E. HANNA 41 Intimate view~ of the life of women and ohildren of the Laos, deslYl"ibing their customs, trawing and characteristics, written by one who has lived and worked among them.
BEST METHODS OF SPECIFIC GIVING ………. EmTED BY Mas. E. C. CRoNK 47 WOMAN'S HOME AND FOR,EIGN'MISSION BULLETINS ..•……….••….• 55 NEWS FROM MANY LANDS •….•••..•..•……..•.•………….•…….. 61 'rHE MISSIONARY LIBRARY ………………………………………… 77 TERMS: $2.50 a year. ($2.00 in clubs of nve.) Foreign postage, 50 cents. Single copies, 25 cents. PLlblished monthly. CDpyrighted, 19216, by MrSSIONA,ltY REv!KW PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. All rights reserved.
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Robert E. Speer, PresIdent WllIlam I. Chamberlain, Vice-President Dela.van L. Pierson, secretary Walter McDouga.ll, Trea.surer Publ1cation omc., 3d &. Reily St•., Harrisburg, Editorial and Business Omee. 156 Firth Avenue. Pa. 260. a copy $2.60 a year New York City Elntared &B second-cla.ss matter at the Post omce. Harrisburg, Pa.• under Act ot March 3. 18'71) PERSONALS YOUR Children DR. J OII,N R. MOTT, General Secretary of What Are They Studying at the International Y. M. C. A. and Chairman ,sU N DA Y-SCHOOL? of the Intel'llational Missionary Council, has left, with Mrs. Mott, on a Pacific Basin tour Are they learning that during which they expect to travel about the Bible is the Word of 45,000 miles. They plan to visit Japan, God, and a trustworthy Korea, China, the Philippines, SUlnatra, guide to eternal life? Are Java, Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii, they being taught that arriving home on June 4, 192'6. I €Sus Christ is the Son of God. and the Saviour of •** the World? Or are their minds being filled with REV. ROCKWELL lliRMON PO'l'Tl'l&, D.D., of the doubts and denials of Hartford, Conn., has been elected President Evolution and Modernof the American Board of Commissioners ism? for Foreign Missions to succeed Dr. E. C. Moore. The new vice·president is Dr. Ken· YON feoclzers OM po,- yon L. Butterfield, formerly of Amherst, hut nOW President of the Michigan Agricultural ents ought to know. Our School. Sunday School publica- tions, written for all de- nominations, are true to tbe Word of God.
EON. YEN Hm C:H'ING, the newly-ap- The "Full Gospel" Line of International Lessons pointed ambassador of China in Great Brit- ain, is the son of a Protestant Episcopal TEACHERS' QUARTERLY An absolutely new publication, prepared with rna exclergyman and was graduated from St. pense spared to make it the very best handbook for John's College, Shanghai, and Yale Univer- Sunday School teachers available. There are five dis- tinct departments. sity. • REv. RoBEB.T LAws, M.D., for fifty years a y~~~~ i!~~~!:;;'~e~1,~I~e~~!J Bib]~ Study missionary of the United Free Church of classes.. Topics are selected, and expositions furnished to cover every phase of Christian experience. ' Scotland in Livingstonia, Africa, has been decorated by KOng George, a Commander of SENIOR QUARTERLY the Order of St. Michael and St. George. Specia 1features are: Lesson Subject, Lesson Text, Lesson in Brief, Lesson Outline~ Lesson Exposition, Lesson Questions, Home Readings, Practical Points.
* INTERMEDIATE QUARTERLY Meets the needs of young people between the~!!S.of BISHOP lL ST. GEORGlll TUOKER, of the Protestant Episcopal diocese of Kyoto, has l:;':~es~~m~lit~~~c;~()~~~blication, with ~al found it necessary, on account of his wife's JUNIOR QUARTERLY health, to give up his work in Japan. te:~~J~~:r~~~~~r It~U~:fa~pl~~~~re~hS~:u~! *** Reading, Memory Passage. Questions, The Lesson Story, Illustra.tions and an Introduction. REv. G. CAMPBELL MORGAN, D.D., enters, on January 1st, on a six months' service a. H~l)'It~e'l~:'!!~~~~Ien?~~n,~'yQuarlerly, special preacher, in the First Presbyterian adapted for home use.
Clmrel1 of Columbus, Ohio. THE ALLIANCE WEEKLY For-adult classes, The Alliance Weekly is an excep- ** tionally' fine Sunday School paper. In addition to 8 REV. SIMEON CoRNELIUS, one of the lead- Lesson };xposition in ea.ch issue, there is an abundance ing Indian preachers in the Arcot Mission, of Bible study material. sermons and missionary South India, is making a tour of the articles.
el1urel1es of the Reformed Ohurch in Amer- THE YOUTH'S COUNSELLOR iea. th~iBilifei~n~u~~I~~~r:Pt~f ::~v e:s:;:~ln~~~: and entertaining. Clean, spiritual stories; live mis- *** helpful Sunday School notes, and in· s ·es. MIss CHENG YOA Hsm, the first Chinese woman to receive the degree of Doctor of J BOYS AND CIRLS r~1 A lively, interesting paper ~ys and girls between Laws from the University of Paris has been 'the ages of ten and fourteen. Bristle~ with Bible stories, appointed a member of the newly-established incidents and applications. lJiusl,aIed.
Law Compilation Bureau in Peking.
JOY BELLS OBITUARY Delights the little primary people. The pictures and simple stories are fine. Issued weekly. REV. CHAUNCY GooDltlCR, D.D., who had just compl~ed sixty years of missionary Picture Lesson Cards service ~.()IUna 'under the American Board, passed to his reward on September 28th at Picture Lesson Rolls the age of ninety. He labored twenty-nine years to complete a mandarin version of the Lesson Leaflets Bible. Write for Free Samples and Price MaS. EUGENE P. DUNLAP, a missionary of Lists of Sunday School Supplies the American Presbyterian Church in Siam for fifty years, entered into rest at Ken- Send/or Our Catalog sington, Pa., on December 1st. The Christian Alliance Publishing Colnpany Boob Bibles Tract. Mottoes Sunday School Supplies 260 We.t 44th Street NEW YORK, N. Y.
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XLIX ONE THE RE'CIPE FOR A HAPPY NEW YEAR T HE NEW YEAR opens with countless new possibilities-for goo~ or for evil. 'fhe past year opened with similar promises and forebodings, some of which have been fulfilled. The disturbances in China, in India, in Egypt and Turkey, in the Balkans, in Russia and America, have been counterbalanced by hopeful signs of progress shown at the 'Vashington Convention, in the Conference on Latin America held at Montevideo, in the agreement to promote European peace reached at Locarno, and in the religious awakenings in various parts of the world.
But past achievements do not give sufficient ground for confidence. The continued unrest in social, industrial and national affairs, the prevalence of crime and immorality, the growing indifference to the laws of God and of man, and the selfishness exhibited by all classes, all these tendencies increase the conviction that a new year is not of any great value unless men and women have a new heart-a new purpose and a new power that come from a new and vital relationship to God. The turning over of a new page will not change a man '8 program. The coming of a new general into power in China will not insure national peace. 'fhe election of a new National Council in India will not give prosperity to the people. The enactment of new laws in Turkey will not establish justice and brotherhood. The signing of new treaties in E:urope will not obliterate suspicion and strife. Something more is needed to put an end to international jealousies, to bring industrial justice, to put down crime and to raise standards of morality and brotherly love.
A NEW YEAJl.! What might it mean if it were marked by new faith'in God, new loyalty to Christ, new love for man, new obedience to the Great Commission to teach and to live Christ among all peoples and in all circumstances. It is a new heart-" a new creation"-that is needed so that "old things will pass away" and "all things will become new." A new year of life and hope and power 5
may begin at any time when men and women surrender to the control of Jesus Christ and begin to live His life among men. This and this alone assures a Happy New Year.
OUR NEW FRONTIERS ..n..tMERICA has ,frontiers of superstition, ignorance, and prejudice. In our cities are solid national colonies differing in no way from areas in Italy, Poland, Greece, Russia and other countries. The language, customs and habits are foreign. There are rural areas where counties are solidly foreign and where the language of the schools is foreign.
Near many cities and towns foreign people are buying cheap land along electric lines and in areas with good roads on which with bicycles, motorcycles, cars, electrics, they go to their work and return. Shortened hours of work allow such men to clear their land, build fences, plant gardens and care for cows and poultry and still by rapid conveyance avoid loss of time. In their cheap, second-hand cars they carry their eggs, milk and vegetables to market and by barter and sale they make ends more than meet and become savers.
To reach these foreign groups permanently, with sure and spiritual results, calls for methods and wisdom of a type not generally shown by churches and their spiritual leaders. And yet non-Christian forces are making their influences felt among these foreigners in the cities, towns and in the open country. Propaganda of dangerous ideas is widespread and these foreign groups are the fertile soil for teachings that are subversive not only of our civilization, 'but of faith in God and in the Way of Life revealed through Jesus Christ.
c. L. w.
TURKEY, RELIGION AND THE MISSIONARIES T URKEY was once the stronghold of Mohammedanism. The Sultan was the Caliph, the acknowledged head of all Islam, which was the state religion. Education was vitally related to the mosque and the Sheikh-ul Islam was appointed by the Sultan. The laws of Mohammed were the laws of the land. Turkey was as truly a Moslem Empire as Italy was a Catholic Empire when the Pope's temporal sway was acknowledged over all the land.
What a change has come over Turkey! Not only has the Sultan been expelled and the caliphate abolished, but the Republic has been made a secular state, with nominal religious liberty. Government and religion have been separated by decree of the State; the office of Sheikh-ul-Islam been abolished so that Islam is not directly represented on the National Council; the mosques are under the Commissioner of Public Instruction and the teaching of religion in public and private schools is forbidden.
EDITORIAL OOM;MEiNTS
In the Turkish schools, this last regulation has not yet been fully enforced. In Christian schools, Moslem students are not allowed by the law to attend chapel exercises or Bible classes. The management of some of these schools has taken the position officially with the Government that they cannot be expected to act as police and drive out any Moslem students who may wish to attend voluntarily. Some actually do attend from choice. In schools where there are Ohristian students, chapel exercises and Bible classes for such are permitted; but the effort is being made to have such classes held outside the regular program of the school. ",Vhere only Moslem students attend, no general chapel exercise or Bible class is permitted.
On the other hand the Turkish University in Constantinople has a course on religion, with a regular Hodja (Moslem religious teacher) in charge. The Government has also made provision for separate religious schools elsewhere through the country, showing that they are not opposed to the teaching of Islam in public and in private, as has been said. Many of the leaders of the present administration are, however, men with no belief in any religion, and deeply religious Moslems accuse the whole Government of being atheistic and antireligious. This accusation is probably too sweeping, but Islam has not now the hold on the Government of Moustafa Kemal Pasha that it used to have.
Agnosticism and even atheism have made great strides among the Turks since the failure of the call to the Jihad, or holy war in 1914. Nevertheless the vast majority of the common people are still deeply religious; and if Turkey is really a republic ruled by the people, there is likely to be a reaction against the growing atheism.
The present situation forms a testing time for Christian missionaries. While the Government has not put an absolute ban on missionary teaching or the preaching of Christianity to Turks, such work can only be done individually and privately, not in schools or churches. The Government contends that in America and in France the schools are completely secularized, so that the same should be true in Turkey. According to law, everyone is free to profess whatever religion he chooses so that Turks may become Christians. In that case, however, they must face opposition, bitter persecution and possibly death at the hands of their families and friends. While the Government does not punish them for professing Christianity, it may accuse them of disloyalty and try to convict them of treason on other grounds. A Turk is not usually persecuted or punished for attending a Christian service; and in spite of the fact that mission schools are known as Christian institutions, Turks not only enroll in them in increasing numbers, but the Government itself places children in mission schools.
As a result of the present governmental restrictions, emphasis must now be oil personal work with individuals. "For this there is
everywhere abundant opportunity," writes a. missionary in Turkey. Most interesting reports come from the Missions, telling of individ- uals seeking private interviews, and delighting in the systematic study of the Bible with missionaries. Several Moslems have already professed their faith in Jesus Ohrist as their personal Saviour. While the number of Turks baptized since the war is small, a large number are genuinely and deeply stirred, and are learning what it means to be a Ohristian. Women missionaries find cordial reception in Turkish homes, and are frequently asked to read and explain the Bible there. There has been no instance thus far of any missionary being obliged to leave the country because of such personal work. Formerly most of the mission work was among Ohristian sects but today practically the only place in Turkey where such work is being carried on is in Oonstantinople. Missionaries work among Turks, with the permission of the Government, in Brousa, Merzifoun, Omsarea, Talas, Smyrna, Tarsus, Adana, Aintab, Marash and Mardin, but the Government understands that they are not in Turkey to give a secUlar education, but to live Ohrist so as to win men to Him.
As the political horizon clears and Turkey feels itself less liable to foreign complications, a greater freedom for religious effort will probably result, especially as Turkey is looking westward and not eastward for its models. It is well worth while to be patient with present restrictions, and be in on hand when the conditions become more favorable. The missionaries should be able to count on the whole-hearted support of the American churches in the present situation.
A REPORT FROM A MISSIONARY "The Turkish Government has adopted a policy of breaking the shackles of Islam and doing away with the religious superstitions which have held the Turkish people in bondage for so many centuries, but does not oppose the worship of God in the mosques or in the Ohristian churches. The Koran is taught as a regular subject in the curriculum of the government schools for from two to four hours a week. Many of the-Turkish leaders are becoming practically atheistic or agnostic, and the atmosphere of the Government may be regarded as one of agnosticism, but the Government has refrained from attacking the right of the individual to worship in any way he chooses.
"Public institutions, such as schools and hospitals, are not allowed to teach religion and many Turks, including government officials, strongly oppose any attempt on the part of the missionaries to interpret Ohristianity to individual Turks. The missionaries are free to live in the country, to visit in the homes of the people, to have the people visit their homes and to carryon any kind of personal conversation. The Government has done nothing to stop the circulation of the Old and New Testaments in the Turkish language and
EDITORIAL OOMMENTS
many Turks accept gladly copies of the Bible and place them in their houses.
"It is still possible to do vital and effective missionary work in Turkey today, as is shown by the fact that so many missionaries, with excellent qualifications for their work, are united in the belief that this is possible. Many of these men have remained in Turkey at great personal sacrifice and in the face of invitations to attractive positions in missionary work in other fields. One refused an invita- tion to the presidency of the American University in Beirut because he is not only firmly convinced of our opportunity to present Jesus Christ in Turkey but is also enthusiastically hopeful about the re- suIts of this presentation. "To one who has lived in Turkey for any length of time with an open mind, the attitude of the Turkish Government towards religious teaching iIi our schools is easily understood. Religion in Turkey has always been a nationalistic affair, and the word' Chris- tianity' bears the connotation of nationalistic groups opposed to the Turkish Government in the past. Mission schools are still regarded with suspicion because in the past they so largely served the Chris- tian minorities. Any attempt to teach religion to Turks in these schools is interpreted as an attempt to re-introduce into Turkey a divisive factor which has been infinitely troublesome in the past. We feel sure that this suspicion is gradually being dispelled and that within a reasonable length of time the Turkish Government will realize that Christian missionaries have no ulterior motives in educational work orin religious teaching. When this time comes we are conndent that we will have a very great opportunity for presenting Jesus Christ to the people of Turkey. .
"The missionaries are not so much troubled aboJlt the restric- tions placed upon our work by the Turkish Government as by the fact that so many Americans, who call themselves Christians, show a most un-Christlike and unforgiving spirit of hatred towards the Turks and use all kinds of false arguments with great insistence for our curtailing or aband,oning missionary work in Turkey."
A LETTER FROM CoNSTANTINOPLE-THE OPPORTUNITY "Islam has not been abandoned as a religion either theoretically or practically by the Turkish government or people. I might add (1) that a complete separation between church and state has not taken place, (2) that Islam as a religion is still taught in many Turkish government schools, and that Christianity as a religion is taught to Christian students in private schools, (3) that the Turkish people as a whole are very far from being practically atheistic or agnostic.
"A determined effort is being made, without immediate success, by the present rulers to free the people from the ecclesiastical and
religious trammels of their Moslem past, in the belief that religion is a private matter, if it indeed has any value at all to modern men and women. The first article of the present Constitution declares Islam to be the religion of the country. The Moslem clergy, though greatly reduced in members, are still supported by the Government. The usual services of scores of mosques in Constantinople and proportionately throughout Asia Minor are maintained, although poorly attended. In some cases services have been suspended. The present School Law provides that the religion of the founder of the school may be taught to members of the same religion who are pupils in the school.
"The present rulers of Turkey as a class seem not to be men· of any religious faith and experience. They are nominally Moslems but Islam is a culture as well as a religion. It is also a social system as well as· a culture. A man does not readily free himself from it by refusing to perform the stated daily prayers, or to keep the regular feasts and fasts, etc. A man may become an agnostic in matters of faith but he still allies himself with his fellow-Moslems in most of the habits of his daily life. No doubt there is a very strong current against religion of any kind among educated Turks, especially among the younger men and women, but influential government officials and others seem to take particular pains to emphasize the fact that religion is a private affair and that anyone is free to profess any religion he chooses when and where he chooses. The acid test of this statement may come sooner than we anticipate.
"All Christian missionary work does not consist in running an institution on conventional missionary lines. A missionary's life speaks so much more effectively for good or for evil than anything he can say, that there would be ample basis for the continuation of missionaries in a country even though no institutional work were permitted. The Government of Turkey has always sought to prevent the teaching or preaching of Christianity to Turks. For some reason or other however they are not now carrying on their crusade in such a way as to prevent (1) the publication of Christian literature and wholesome literature generally in Turkish, (2) personal work on the part of many missionaries, teachers, physicians, nurses, social workers, dealing almost exclusively with Turkish men, women or children, (3) the activity of the Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. in respect to their physical, intellectual and social program, shot through as it is in every part by the spirit of Christ. The Government of Turkey, after placing severe restrictions upon every Christian institution with regard to so-called' Christian propaganda,' nevertheless tolerates Christian missionaries as teachers, physicians, writers, social workers, etc., knowing that they have a reputation for character-building, Christlike influence.
"While Turkish students are not permitted by law to attend
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
Christian services or Bible classes in schools or colleges, some of them do so in spite of the law. So far as it can be prevented no personal Christian work is allowed among Turks but for the last century personal Christian work of the most vital kind has been going on among Turks. Persecutions come and will continue to come. That is the way the religion of Christ has spread throughout the centuries. Turkey is no exception. It would be perfectly possible for a missionary to act in such a way that the Turkish Government would expel him from the country. Few of the 108 American Board missionaries in Turkey are now working among Christian sects and many of us believe that at the present time we are engaging in the most vital missionary work that we have ever done. Just because we suffer under the handicap of not being able to fill the pages of missionary journals at home with stories of what Christ is doing among the Turks, we are frequently supposed to be doing nothing and are threatened with lack of support just when we need support most and when the opportunity for doing what we really came to Turkey to do is greatest iIi. spite of restrictions.
"There is a wonderful opportunity in Turkey today for the Christian missionary if he is willing to accept service on Christ's terms. A virile nation is being reborn. It is shaking off the trammels of the barbarism and formalism of the past more rapidly than the most sanguine missionary ever believed possible. 'We do not see many ripe grains yet but the whole field is getting yellow.' Unprecedented opportunities for friendly contact and personal intercourse with Turks are ours todav. We are face to face with a Moslem people to see what Christ can d~ for them through us. Whether He can use us or not depends more largely on us than on the Turkish Government. We feel, as never before, the necessity of complete surrender to the Spirit of Christ, that we may rise to meet the opportunities He has given us. Will you become an active prayer-partner with us in the Turkey Mission ¥"
"N FAITH, FAITHS AND NO FAITH EVER before, any where in the world, has there been such a Fellowship of Faiths as that recently demonstrated in New York and now developing in Boston and other cities." So reads an announcement of a recent effort to bring together Jews and Christians, Catholics and Protestants, Bahaiists, Buddhists, Confucianists, Ethical Culturists, Hindus, Zoroastrians, Moslems, New Thoughtists and others of any faith or of no faith, all in a common "fellowship" for conference and cooperation. Similar movements have been started in the Congress of Religions and conferences of various faiths in Great Britain and elsewhere. Frequently these have been promoted by those who have no deep conviction as to the
truth of anyone religion but who think that any religion is good and that all are based on the same" spiritual fundamentals."
Is such a "Fellowship of Faiths" likely to be helpful in leading men and women to God ~ Can Moslems, with their exaltation of Mohammed over Christ, and Hindus with their devotion to Krishna and a myriad other deities, Buddhists with their belief in karma and Jews with their rejection of Christ-can all these, by public debates, reach any satisfactory basis of agreement as to the true revelation of God and man's relation to Him?
All religions reveal man's need for God and the search of his soul after God. The diversities of ideas, the differences in method of search and the conflicting conclusions do not, however, offer any hope for true fellowship among earnest seekers after God. Such conferences and unions have in the past resulted only in confusion-a babel. We see no basis of agreement between those who receive and those ",horeject God's revelation of Himself and the Way of Life made known thr.ough His Son Jesus Christ.
The announcement above referred to invites us to attend the discussion of "What Hinduism Means" as explained by ten representatives of ten different religions, including Bahaim, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, New Thought and Ethical Culture. 'l'his is the program set up in a Christian church in New York under avowedly Christian auspices! What can come from such a presentation but a jumble. of ideas, a conflict of statements and opinions, a religious hash made up of various views-true and false, poisonous and wholesome, godly and ungodly 1 The religion of Christ has nothing to fear from a frank and full comparison with other religions but it is difficult to imagine Christ or His apostles setting up in Jerusalem, Antioch, Corinth or Rome a "Fellowship of Faiths" where friends and foes were invited to discuss the merits of their various cults. Such a method develops partisanship through argument. The Christian message is a testimony – a witness to Christ and to what God's revelation of Himself means to one who has experienced new life in Christ. While loyal disciples may appropriately invite those ignoran.t of such reve]ation and e.xperien:ce to investigate freely, and to have their difficulties removed, there can be no real "fellowship" between those who accept and those who reject the Son of God.
The Christian religion welcomes frank, earnest investigation, but loyal Christians have no time to waste in promoting fruitless debates in which adherents of various cults seek to uphold their particular philosophy. Christians should seek to understand the views and obstacles that prevent others from following Jesus Christ but they cannot unite in any" fellowship" that is not in harmony with fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
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TWO VETERAN MISSIONARIES TO INDIA O VER fifty years ago, on October 29, 1874, Robert A. Hume arrived in India to begin his work as a Christian missionary under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. For half a century he has continued his strenuous and manifold work in behalf of the inhabitants of the Deccan and has become widely known and highly honored by the people. Dr. Hume's jubilee last year was worthily celebrated in Ahmednagar where he was acclaimed "its most distinguished citizen and one of India's worthiest sons."
Robert Hume was born of missionary parents on March 18, 1847 in the city of Bombay. At the age or seven he set sail with hiR dying father for the long journey to America via the Cape of Good Hope, the Suez Canal not being opened until fifteen years later. His stricken father passed away and was buried at sea, having com- forted his wife and children with the words: "vVe are not where we ourselves chose to be but where our Heavenlv ]J'ather would have us be." The character of Robert Hume's mother is indicated by her words to him when he was sailing as a missionary twenty years later: "Half my life goes with you to India, but God knows it has been my dream that you should go there."
Dr. Hume has done a remarkable work on religious, philanthropic and national lines. He has many intimate friends in every Indian community and years ago was elected to the National Congress by his "fellow-Indians" as he delights to call them. He has been able to take a great and helpful part in the public movements of the day in India and in recognition of his leadership in famine relief operations the Government conferred on him the Kaiser-i·Hind gold medal for Public Service. One of his latest accomplishments has been the erection of a number of dwellings to improve the housing conditions in the city where he has lived for the past half-century.
Dr. Hume is well known as a notable preacher, editor, author, philanthropist, publicist, theologian and ambassador of Christ to India. On several occasions he has been English editor of the weekly English-Marathi Christian journal, the DnJ/anodaya, and two books on Indian Missions have come from his pen, viz., "Missions from the Modern View," and "An Interpretation of India's Religious History." Perhaps his most distinctive contributiotl t~ IndiaIi. Missions has been his championship of the Indian Church a1ld the support he has given to its leaders.
Dr. Hume's missionary career would have been notable had there been nothing else to his credit beside his more than twenty years' i'nfluence as "guide philosopher and friend" to the Christian poet of Maharastra, the Rev. Narayan Vaman Tilak, and the converted Chitpavan Brahman who in those two decades gave poetry to India.
There are scores of other Indian Christian ministers upon whom Dr. Hume has exerted the same unique influence.
The missionary's sympathy with the Indians and his remarkable adaptability and readiness to meet every possible situation have given him a great place in the hearts of the peasants of the Deccan. He has worked long for church union in India and has been elected first moderator of the United Church of India North, which combines the Congregationalist and Presbyterian Churches of Western India.
JAMES C. R. EWING Another honored veteran missionary, "an ambassador of Christ to India" was the late Sir James Caruthers Rhea Ewing, D.D., LL.D., D.Lit., K.C.I.E., who passed to his reward from his home in Princeton, New Jersey, on August 20th. Dr. Ewing was seventy years of age and had spent forty-three years in India-thirty of them as President of Forman Christian College, Lahore.
Dr. Daniel J. Fleming, formerly of India, writes of some of Dr. Ewing's characteristics that made him a great man, a great Christian and a great missionary. He says: "I name first Dr. Ewing's mastery of the vernacular. From the first moment in India his will was bent to overcome this preliminary condition for witnessing and for oneness with the people. Not every one knew that behind this easy flow of Hindustani in Dr. Ewing's sermons and addresses had been exceptionally faithful application. Dr. Ewing had a democratic freedom from any sense of racial superiority and a frank, natural liking for human folk. In his prime he could have called by name three-fourths of the student body of what is the largest mission institution of college grade in the world. His warm fellowship took in young and old, men and women of the non-Christian community as well as of the Indian Christians, government officials as well as nationals.
"Service disregarding cost to self marked his career in India. Many a day he went about his duties as principal of the college with a splitting headache although he might have been free from that in America. Many a time he would go to class while suffering from fever. For years he definitely faced the possibility of shortening his life by continuing in India in accordance' with God's will as he saw it. There was not one shred of shirking in him, and he held all the college staff up to their best by the example of his own loyalty to duty.
"PHleminent among Dr. Ewing's characteristics was his loyalty, to his Saviour, Jesus Christ. At governor's reception or senate hall he always wore, as was his custom, clerical dress which was symbolic of the unhesitating outspoken way by which he made it plain to all where he himself stood in all moral and religious questions. In a college which in the nature of things was made up largely of non-
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Christian student~ and where the tension between Christian and Hindus or Mohamil.'ledans might easily become disastrbus, he made it perfectly plain to his staff that they should speak unhesitatingly of Jesus Christ. As a good administrator he discouraged any artificial religious excitement, but was quite willing to face the disruption of the college through the Baptism of one who was found in Christ his Saviour. It is not surprising that Dr. Ewing's last words were, 'I know that my Redeemer liveth.'
"Dr. Ewing was a big caliber missionary. Not infrequently did men say that no man in northern India, whether civilian or governor, surpassed Dr. Ewing in widespread and varied influence. Hence it was, that responsibilities came heavily upon him in mission, in college and in university, and in all sorts of public and governmental relations. His honors betoken this. Yet through it all, Dr. Ewing would be the first to say, 'Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.' "
" C DONALD FRASER – "ONE "VHO SMILES WITH ANY ONE" HISEKESEKE," the African nallle given to the Rev. Donald Fraser, D.D., means "one who smiles with any one." After many years in Nyasaland, Dr. Fraser has become Home Organization Secretary of the Foreign Mission Committee of the United Free Church of Scotland. The following address was presented to Dr. Fraser by the African Christians on his departure from the field: "We, as members of the Mombera Native Association, have heard with . deep regret that you have received a eall from the Home Church to leave your post here for ever that you may serve God in another noble work in Scotland. As by God's grace our eyes have been opened, we must frankly say that we have observed the following things in your long and blessed service: .
"1. The people among whom you came were utterly lost, so that their spiritual life was uncared for; but you, with your care for the salvation of souls, proved yourself an earnest follower of Christ's Gospel by preaching and by opening schools in very many villages, so that people in these villages might be redeemed from sin and its consequences. As the result of your preaching and opening of schools there is today many a saved soul. These are the crown of your ceaseless activities.
"2. Your heart, which was full of compassion for the unsaved, was restless and unsatisfied in spite of many conversions, and so you resolved to hold annual conventions for the following reasons: (a) to deepen Christian truths in those already converted;. (b) to bring to the Light those who were still in spiritual darkness. These conventions have been the means of salvation to hundreds of souls in Angoniland.
"3. On the day when you first left Scotland you had only English music in your mind, but, after you lived among the ~goni here, you drew very sweet music out of the native mind by eneouraging us to sing praises to God in purely native tunes, and now Ngoni tunes are sung in many languages in
and outside Ngoniland. OUI" Ngoni and Tumbuka hymn books are rich in native hymns, which today are another means of spreading the Gospel.
"4. As you saw a Christian Church forming in Ngoniland, you resolved to teach the infant Ohurch that a Church that is sympathetic with the unsaved ~s a Church that is blessed and that grows strong within itself, and so you sent teachers to Marambo and Usena to make Christ known to those faraway lands. Glory be to God that you aid not only senu teachers to Marambo, but yourself went there constantly, preaching, teaching, baptizing, celebrating Communions, organizing the Church, opening and inspecting schools . . .
"5. Many of those who had the opportunity of understanding you have found in you a passion for winning souls for Christ. as you have again and again been found pleading with backsliders and infidels to come to Christ. Your study was ever open to those who came to you for spiritual help, and you, in turn, have visited many a hut to teach and plead for Christ in the individual home.
"6. Through God's grace and help your intellectual powers have been a great store out of which new and helpful ideas and plans have come from time to time to feed and nourish the infant Church of the Ngoni., and those who are spiritually minded will never forget you in this.
"7. In 1915 the Ngoni learned something new from you-that you did not come from Scotland simply for the redemption of men's souls, but for the redemption of their bodies as well: We remember when the Boma wished to punish some parts of Ngoniland beeause of the chiefs' unwillingness to lend a hand in the Great War, you were the man who encouraged the Ngoni to go and take their sha.r{l in that ·Wu;.. We must never forget that memorable day when, at your word, hundreds ·of men, .with teachers among them, thronged to the Borna at Mzimba~ offering· themselves for service in the Great War. Chiefs and Indunas have always found in you a great and sympathetic helper in. political matters.
"8. In difficult circumstances, bothspiritnal and physical, you have stood firm in faith and hope for brighter days.· Surely you have proved yourself a real optimist; and your encouragement to us in many dark times has put new life in us. We admit that on the part of the people you came to help there have been ingratitude, disappointment, sin, and apostasies from the Christian faith, but amid all these you have been found faithful to them. Hence, many love you dearly, and call you a father who has begotten them .through forbearance and sympathy."
THE BIBLE HOUSE OF LOS ANGELES* T HIS Bible house, of which Mr. R. D. Smith is the secretary, has for twenty-five years been publishing and distributing a high type of evangelical literature. The workers cooperate heartily with the regular denominational missionary agencies by supplying underscored Spanish New Testaments and other Christian literature, especially for Spanish-speaking peoples in the United States and in all parts of Latin America. Missionaries are most grateful for this help and the blessing of God has abundantly rested on the work.
• An unsympathetic reference to this highly respected evangelical agency was printed by mistake in our November number. This we deeply regret as the work.. has our hearty sympathy,- EDITOR.
at Home and~Abroad-A
Comparison BY MRS. HELEN B.Affi.RETT MONTGOMERY, ROCHESTER, NEW YORK Author of "Prayer and Missions," ete., etc.
O NE cannot comprehend the magnitude of the task confronting the Christian Church in non-Christian lands except by com- paring the Christian forces of those lands with our forces in America. It is difficult enough here, with all advantages of centuries of Christian tradition and Christian institutions. What must it be in lands blighted by superstitions, ignorance and idolatry1 In the United States there were in 1925 more than fifty million communicant members of the Christian Church (Catholic and Prot- estant). This means about one professing Christian to every two members of the population. 'l'here are thirty-three . million Protestants at home, or nearly one Protestant com- municant to every three non-Protes- tants.
In India, on the other hand, the Christian communicants (Catholic and Protestant) numbered about one in everyone hundred of the population.
This is proportionately only about one CHURCH MEMBER RATIO TO pOPu- • •• LATION IN AMERICA fiftieth of the strength of the ChrIstIan Church in America. If there were no more church members in the United States proportionately than there are in India, there would be but a little over 1,000,000 all told (Catholic and Protestant), or less than the Spiritualists count in their membership. If these members were evenly distributed, a city of ten thousand population, where there are now four thousand church members, would have less than one hundred Christians.
In China there are about two and a half million Protestants and Roman Catholics, many of them only nominal Christians. The Prot- estants number about one in eight hundred of the population. If America were no better evangelized, there would be only one Protes- tant Christian in 150,000 in the United States or three thousand Protestant church members in New York City. At this rate, the whole Christian body (Catholic and Protestant) in America would equal the present membership of the Lutheran Churches.
In Japan there are nearly 250,000 nominal Christians (Protes- tants, Roman Catholic and Rlussian Orthodox)-about 155,000 of them being Protestant. This means one professing Christian in less than three hundred of the popUlation. In the same proportion, 17 2
the professing Christians of the United States are, as a body, one hundred times stronger than they are in Japan. The same proportion of Christians to the population as in Japan would mean only 330,000 Christians in America. Evenly distributed, a village of six hundred people would have only two church members and the nominal church members in the United States would be less than the Mormon Church membership. Comparing evangelical Christians, those in possession of the open Bible and best fitted for intelligent evangelism, the thirty-three million Protestant church members of the United States are nearly sixty times as many proportionately as the evangelical Church in India, two hundred and seventy times stronger proportionately than in China, and one hundred and fifty times stronger than in Japan. If the Protestant Church of the United States were no stronger than in China, we would have only 150,000 or about as many as the mem- bership of the Reformed Church in America. In Japan there is one Protestant Church member to every five hundred of the population; in the same proportion, the Protestants in the United States would be no more numerous than the Greek Orthodox or about 200,,000 members. Or on the basis of evangelical Christianity in India, instead of 33,000,000 Protestant Christians in A.merica we would have only about half as many as the present membership of the Northern Baptist Churches. If these were evenly distributed, a city of thirty thousand would contain less than two hundred Protestant church members.
When, to the numerical disparity between the Christian forces of America and those of other lands we add the lack of spiritual training and experience, the contrast becomes even more startling. 'fhe comparatively strong American Church is supplemented by Christian schools, newspapers, books, hospitals, the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Association, and many other institutions. In America there is at least one minister, one teacher, one doctor, one nurse in every five hundred of the population; more than twenty out of everyone hundred of our population are in school,
OHRISTIANITY AT ROME AND ABROAD-A COMPARISON
college or university; books and papers abound; travel is easy; the postal service reaches every corner of the land; railways and good roads bring people together. In China and India, illiteracy is the rule and education the exception; physicians and nurses average less than one to every five hundred thousand. Multitudes in Asia and) Africa are without the possibility of going to school, or of read- ing books and papers. Besides this there is lacking the general back- ground of common traditional knowledge about the all-wise and lov- jng God, the soul and the divine Saviour from sin. The Church in these non-Christian lands is weak, still hardly free from the super- stitions of heathen traditions in the midst of which it lives.
H ow can these Christian allies carryon without ottr aid?
Anyone who studies the present conditions from a Christian viewpoint must be convinced of the absolute necessity of Christianizing the world if there is to be any hope of setting men free from oppression, selfishness and strife. Hence the call comes to Christians in America and Europe in an inescapable challenge. Our allies on Asiatic frontiers must have help if the battle is to be won either here or there. Their battle is our battle and so is their victory, as much as if the conflict were waged in our very neighborhood. The cause is one and we have one Great Commander.
When one considers the effort and the money expended to give the Gospel to the unevangelized in America, we feel ashamed of the failure to do more for those who have not our opportunities and advantages. We are not doing too much at home. There is need here for trained Christian ministers and doctors, for teachers and nurses, but if we need so many in America what about the other millions whom Christ came to save but who have not yet learned of His salvation 1 Here is the failure of our modern Christianity. So long as this failure continues we can have no power for the conquest of our evils at home. A Church that is disobedient to its Lord in this primal obligation-the spread of the Gospel throughout the world-is certain to be a Church shorn of power. We should have at least as many missionaries abroad as in our own land, and we should give at least as much money to evangelize those in Asia and Africa as to maintain the Church in America, where the popUlation is only one eighth that of the unevangelized world. Under the present conditions, how c;l,n we hope that our protestations of loyalty to Christ will be taken seriously!
The men, the money, the earnest effort put into war register our determination to win the conflict. So the men, the money, the prayer and effort put into the effort to win mankind for Christ register our loyalty to Him and our sense of the value of the Gospel. When we give to world evangelism only about $40,000,000 a year, or the price of one ice cream soda and the cost of a moving picture
ticket each week, the taint of unreality must affect all our prayers and our service. Toamusements we give twenty-seven cents out of every dollar spent, while to benevolence and religion we give less than one cent.
To 'attack the tremendous task of world evangelization with courage and intelligence, with determination and with the sacrificial spirit, would transform the life of the Church at home and the spirit that actuates all our endeavors. The great lack is not funds, but fervor; the greatest need is not numbers of workers so much as it is the need for spiritual power, with a deep conviction of the efficacy and supremacy of the Gospel. We need a more whole-hearted loyalty to Jesus Christ, onr Saviour and Lord, and the Saviour of the whole world.
A Japanese Tribute to Christianity .A testimo,ny by Mr, Juwhi Shimomura, the head of the Bureau of Religions of t"c Government Department of Eduoation, in his address before the third general meeting of the National Christian council of Japan, October 9, 19:25. What a marvelous change hall oome in Japan when the governmental representative of the Department of Education oon make such an address!
I AM most thankful to the Christian Council for what it has con- tributed towards the improvement of the spiritual life of the Japanese, for what has been doue for the nation as a whole and for the great success attained in the propagation of the spirit of Ohristianity in more than two hundred cities and towns during last year's nation-wide Evangelistic Campaign. The work that your Council and its cooperating bodies are doing is not limited only to the problem of faith, but they have done and are doing much in charity, rescue work, and educational work. It is an undeniable fact that it was chiefly the example shown by Ohristianity that has stimulated the other religions and has changed the whole religious world of Japan.
One wish I would like to express has to do with the solution of our social problems-chiefly the solution of the problems of capital and labor. From time to time, various ideas have been made public concerning these problems, but they have always emphasized the material side of things: they have mostly had to do with the production and distribution of wealth or with political problems. In my opinion, problems of the mind or heart are the most important. In the solution of social problems right religious knowledge is most eSl;lential. .
The purpose ascribed to education for adults in England is .after all, to give them a true knowledge of Christ and to teach them to be faithful to Him. Influential men of the Church take the lead in this work.. It seems to me that it is this work that makes the English different from any other nation in the way they seek to solve all sorts of problems. The problems which seem very hard may easily be solved if Christian education is given to the youth.
Movements in the N on-
Christian W orId BY GEORGE SHERwOOD EDDY, LL.D., NEW YORK T ORD MORLEY'S description of what is taking place in India L may apply to almost the whole continent of Asia: "We are witnessing a vast and stupendous process parallel to that which took place in Europe from the fifth to the twelfth century, a people in transition; and to guide that transition may well be called a glorious mission."
The leaders of these plastic nations, the leaders of Asia, with over half the human race, are today being educated. Three forces have brought about this great awakening: European trade, Christian missions, and Western education.
Three centuries ago, with the founding of the East India Company in 1600, European trade reached out and entered the East. A little more than a century and a quarter ago, in 1793,. William Carey went out as the first Protestant missionary from Great Britain to northern India; a little less than a century ago Alexander Duff went out and began the great educational crusade in India. Gradually these forces, working through the masses and among the leaders, have wrought tre~endous changes.
Today, we are witnessing a transition so vast that it may well be called the renaissance of Asia. 'fhe intellectual awakening has been greater than the revival in E1.uope five centuries ago.· There are three million pupils in the new school system of China, about seven million pupils are studying modern education in Japan and India has a wonderful system. Japan has become a nation of leaders, with 98 per cent of her children in school, a stupendous feat of education, achieved in a single generation. China by one stroke swept away the system of two thousand years, adopted modern education, turned temples into colleges, and replaced old classic examination halls by modern schools and colleges.
In India, with forty or fifty thousand college and professional students, a million pupils in secondary schools, and seven million in the great educational system, the foundation of society has changed.
There is a thirst for modern education among the masses of Asia; the leaders of half the world are being educated. This is affecting life, bringing about social, political, industrial and religious changes. In our lifetime a change has come by which Japan has passed from mediroval feudalism into modern constitutional government. China has in a day become a republic and is seeking to establish a real democracy. India is throbbing with new national consciousness that is the mainspring of motive and action today~ 21
Among the leading classes this sense of liberty and the rights of the individual is sweeping with force.
The great intellectual and political awakening in Asia is accom- panied by a great economic, industrial, and commercial awakening.
The trade of China has increased sixfold, the trade of India tenfold, Japan twenty-fold. Great cities are bristling with smokestacks like Pittsburgh or Birmingham, with great hydro and electric works and marvelous irrigation systems. The whole of Asia is changing. There is a great social awakening. Structural changes permeate society as the result of this education spreading a new sense of rights of manhood, uplift of womanhood, and the yalue of childhood, the rights of the individual, and a new passion to uplift the lower classes. Caste is doomed in India and the family system of China is changing from communism to individualism, from bondage to liberty. The students and educated leaders are becoming imbued with a new passion for social service, so that almost unconsciously all Asia is pulsing with a new social awakening.
The moral and spiritual awakening is still more marked. The preaching of the Word of God, the healing in the hospitals, the dis- semination of new ideas through colleges and schools are bearing fruit. The great thought of God as the Father, the living 'J1aly God, the value of the individual, the sense of man's brotherhood, the higher Christian morality, and above all the conception of Jesus Christ, are all creating a new moral and spiritual atmosphere far beyond any record of conversion, permeating all the educated classes of Asia. .
Think what a change has taken place in the last century. One hundred years ago there were only about one hundred Protestant foreign missionaries in the world. Today there is an army of thirty thousand, the Bible in over six hundred languages. Then there was not a hospital or medical missionary in Asia; today more than a thousand missionary physicians with their hospitals and dispensaries, carrying healing of body and soul into the homes of rich and poor.
Then there was a little handful of small mission schools, while today there are fifty thousand colleges and schools inl the non-Christian world, training two and a half million future leaders in every de- partment of thought and life for Africa and Asia.
One hundred years ago there was not a :protestant missionary in Korea or Japan, not fifty in China, and but a little handful in India. Today there are three hundred thousand Protestant Chris- tians in Korea, half a million in China, and two and one quarter million in India. There are signs of progress.
Every week thousands of new members are added to the Church of Christ. Thirty years ago Japan was in the midst of her great anti-foreign, anti-Christian reaction; Korea was unknown, and China was gathering for the Boxer uprising when foreigners would be
CHRISTIAN MOVEMENTS IN THE NON·CHRISTIAN WORLD
killed and Christianity stamped out. India was caste-ridden and conservative, and there seemed not a ray of hope in the Near East that the Mohammedan world would ever change. Today the world is broken wide open. Japan is modern and is marked by great for· ward movements in evangelism. Korea has been swept by the power of Christ so that there gather at prayer meetings 30,000 or more every week. The Christian Korean is a witness and the Gospel is still good news in Korea. Evangelistic movements have also swept over India and China, creating a new mental, and moral, and spiritual atmosphere. Brahmins, M.ohammedans, and Buddhists listen to the Christian message. One young Brahmin whose ancestors wrote the philosophy of the Upanishads when ours were savages, a few years ago bitterly hated Christianity and burned down a mission school, beating the missionary with sticks. Then he became interested and bought a copy of the New Testament. He was gripped by the Sermon on the Mount, his heart was melted by Jesus Christ; he was baptized and suffered the loss of all things, but entered the service of Christ and t09k charge of a large district with Indian pastors, catechists, and teachers, with schools and churches, uplifting that great district in Christian civilization. As in ancient Rome, here and there a Tertullian or an Augustine, so one by one among the British Indians are won to Christ and these will be used to win the masses. Thank God there is a Christward movement among the educated classes.
The leading Brahmin of India, knighted by the British Government and made a British judge, has in his bedroom the picture of Ohrist crucified on the Cross, that he may see it night and morning. Every night he reads the Bible, and has read it again and again. His favorite passages are John's Gospel and Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians. E,very morning from six to seven, though not a Christian in name, he spends in meditation and prayer. He draws his inspiration from Jesus Ohrist. He is not baptized, not on the records of the Christian Chnrch but he believes and worships Christ. The ideas that lie at the heart of the Christian Gospel are permeating every department of Hindu thought and society. There are thousands of secret followers of Jesus Christ outside the range of the Christian Church in India.
Twenty-five years ago, in 1900, China had her Boxer uprising, when the Dowager Empress sent out the decree to kill the foreign devils, and thousands of Christians laid down their lives. Today, officials of the government and officers of the army, and leading educators are outstanding Christians. Thousands of students are studying Christianity in Bible classes. A young college president said to Prof. Robertson: "Where do you Christians get your power and hope and comfortf" Professor Robertson answered: "Let me introduce you to my unseen friend, Jesus Christ." That college president joined a Bible class. Later he began to pray and testified that
suddenly it was as if a great light filled his whole soul, as at the is conversion of Saul of Tarsus. He stood before the college trustees and confessed Christ. Now he the head of a modern institution with students from the eighteen provinces. There is a Christward movement among the educated classes as well as among the masses.
Thank God Christ is at work in the length and breadth of Asia, and there is not only an intellectual renaissance but a spiritual and moral reformation, a movement among the masses, a movement among the millions at the base, and among those educated ones at the top, a movement Christward. Here is a great challenge-shall we meetit1 Here in Christian America we spend three times as much, to mention only miserable despicable trifles, for chewing gum, as would give the Gospel to half a world; twelve times as much for soda water; seventeen times as much for candy as for world-wide missions; one hundred times as much for moving pictures; seventy times as much for tobacco. Here is half the world without Christ and we are'laying up a billion dollars a year. They need what we have, and we are playing with it. Two thousand dollars will run a Christian college for a year, not including the missionary's salary. A thousand or twelve hundred will support a missionary. I know a man whose daughter offered to go to the field. He took two tenths of his income to support her; then they took in boarders and gave more; he is now giving six tenths of his income from a slender salary. A teacher in a school, supporting her mother, has her own foreign missionary abroad. Does not this challenge come as a call from God1 If you could see what money will do out on the mission field, I believe you would try to meet this challenge from the masses and from the educated leaders, and that you would try to support a missionary. "Give ye them to eat."
God, our Father, have mercy upon us, that having known Thy Gospel so long and having had it for centuries, wshohl it back in selfish luxury. Open our eyes to see the poverty and the need and the hunger, the great movemeut among the masses, the great movement among the students, the great movement sweeping through these plastic nations of the Asiatic and the non-Ohristian world. Oh God, give us to see, give us to feel,give us to cl;tre, that_ we may rise up as the Church of the Living God, and carry the Gospel to ihese our brothers in other lands, that we may hear the call of our Lord Jesus who died for them as for us.
Dr. Jonathan Goforth once Baid to General Feng, "You are becoming known all o'l'er the .christian world."
"That's my danger, ", the General replied. "The devil will make me a special target for his attacks." "Yes," Dr. Goforth answered, "but there are thousands and tens of thousands who will become intercessors to pray for you." – "That's my salvation," he answered.
CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUND AT ELLIS
Treating Immigrants as Brothers BY (JOE HAYNE, NEW YORK OITY , 8 ONE 0 'CLOCK the door leading from the gr€at porch on the second floor of the Administration Building on Ellis Island, Uncle Sam's chief port of entry for aliens, was unlocked, and down the new, steel, outside stairway ther.e came a stream of people or many races. Some of them for the first time felt beneath their feet the soil of America, the "Promised Land" of the Occident.
Husbands, wives, little children and older boys and girls, bachelors of hoth sexes, widows and widowers, all passed quietly into the sun- light from detention quarters. There was no babble of voices as when school children ate "let out for recess." . These newcomers in a strange land hlld been granted the use' of Ellis Island's playground for an Ilfternoon IlS a part of the new plan for daily recreational ac- tivities fgr men, women and children. They separated into groups, determin;l3d by ties of kinship or cnance acquaintance.. The .aged and the mothers with very little children made their way to benches.
Others lay upon the soft grass from which there arose a fresh, sweet smell. The fleeting fragrance was dimly reminiscent of meadow- lands and village lanes of the lands across the .sea .from which the strangers had come. One man lay flat upon his back and held a baby at arms' length above his face, laughing and rocking the child in his cupped hands. . ….
25
Silent groups stood at oneElnd of the park, their eyes caressing the tall buildings of Manhattan. These were enduring an enforced detention which had not been anticipated. They were tragic figures suspended bet1Veen two worlds, people without a eountry; having broken the old' home ties they were not permitted readily to form new bonds. The strain of waiting and the fear of exclusion moved them deeply. .
Now down the center of the green comes an American, sounding a referee's whistle, soccer ball tucked under his arm. Smiling, he approached a group of young men, with the remark: "How about a game of soccer?"
The immigrants stared at the young American and turned away, but cutting diagonally across the playground he blew his whistle invitingly, halted in front of a tall, red-cheeked, flaxen-haired youth and invited him to join in a game of football.
But the youth shook his head and walked to a high wire fence from which point he could obtain a nearer view of the Battery. Beside him stood a lank Asiatic whose swarthy brow mounted high and broad above blue-black spectacles. On one of the benches sat a huge peasant who stroked the hand of a little old woman upon whose face was a smile that drew a second glance. It wast the banner of courage, lacking in vitality, as though acquired and preserved through many years. Washed ashore upon a mysterious island, the gaunt old couple faced life in a new world, or death in an old, lovers to the end.
In another corner of the field a youug woman social worker tossed a basketball gently into the arms of immigrant women, one after another, who laughingly tossed it back. Soon a semi-circle of women, one with a toddler by her side, were enjoying a game, the point of which was to catch the ball and so keep at the head of the line. A "miss" sent one to the foot as in the spelling test in the oldtime district school.
But some cannot be happy. When a social worker asked an J<Jnglishwoman to join in a game she replied: "Play? How can I play? I have never been kept under guard before. I have always been decent. I am most unhappy. I'll play, but only because you want me to."
A soccer game began when the director kicked the ball toward a youth who had been out the day before. A match was arranged between two teams that included two Scotchmen, one Italian, two Irishmen, three Germans, one Hungarian and one. Jew. It furnished good! sport for the players and for many who looked on in need of some distraction. The gloomy blonde immigrant with the rosy cheeks sat on Ii bench with elbows on his knees, head gripped between his hands. No doubt he would join in the game the next day.
Swings, merry-go-rounds, flying rings and slides were in demand,
TREATING IMMIGRAN'I1S AS BROTHERS
while a young woman from the Ellis Island kindergarten directed games for the younger children.
In permitting religious and social agencies to send representa- tives to Ellis Island the Government has been mindful of the special need of immigrants for friendliness and sympathy by reason of their abnormal mental condition occasioned by their detention. Passes are issued by the Commissioner for a limited number of workers who have been recommended by the General Committee of Immigrant lid representing thirty-three religious and social organizations- Catholic, Jewish and Protestant.* The workers plan their daily pro- gram with the view of meeting the religious, social, educational and recreational needs of these de- tained immigrants.
Manual work has also its place on this program, for acute cases of mental depression are often averted by occupational therapy. The Daug-hters of the American Revolution supplement the work of the General Commit- tee by keeping two large material closets well stocked with cloth, yarn, thread, knitting frames and other equipment. Rug-making, scarf-weaving and bead-work have been introduced. A Hindu boy whose case was on appeal helped to introduce scarf-weav- SIX NATIONALITIES AT EI..I..IS ISLAND ing. Though unable to speak Polish. Russian, Czecho.slovakian, Armenian, German, Scotch English he used a rough pencil sketch to show the D. A. R. representative how to make a hand knitting machine out of a narrow block of wood. Another alien in- vented a way to knit slipover sweaters for little children in need of them. The simple contrivance has kept scores of men busy during • The tollowlng are the thirty-three const1tuent societies com,posing the General Committee of Immigrant AId: The AmerIcan Baptlst Home Mission Society, American Tract Society. The Belgtan Bureau, Board of Domestic Missions of the Reformed Church in America, Board. o( Home Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Congrega.tional Home Missionary Soelety, Tbe Council of Jewish Women, Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, German Society of the City of New York, Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society of America, Holland Immigration Bureau Christian Reformed Church, Home Missions Council Evangelical Denominations. The Immigrants Mission Board of the United Lutheran Church in America. InternaUonal CommUtes of the Young Men'n Christian Association. National Department of Immigration and Foreign Communities Young Women's Cbrlstian Assoclat()n, HaHan Welfare League, Lutheran Immigrant Society. Irish Emigrant Society. Mission of our Lady of the Rosary, National Catholic Welfare Conference. New York Bible Society. New York Protestant Episcopal City Mission Society. Norwegian Lutheran Church of America, Polish National Alliance of the United States, St. Ra.pb",1 Society for Italian Immigrants, The Salvation Army, Swedlsb Evangelical Mission Convent of America. The SWedish Lutheran Immigrant Home, The New York Travelers' AJd Society, Women's American Baptist Home Mission Soolety. Woman's Board 01 Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church, Woma.n's Christian Temp·erance Union, Woman's Home Missionary SOCiety of the MethodlJ>t Episcopal Church.
trying periods of detention. No questions are asked as to what dis- position they make of articles they produce. They may sell them, give them away, or retain them as personal property.
Dress materials are freely distributed to mothers whose mental suffering is alleviated by work. A yard of delicate Persian: lawn with a bit of silk ribbon, to be made into a child's dress, has a tremendously soothing effect upon a panic-stricken mother separated from her sick baby in the hospital. Another great boon is the day nursery con- sisting of three large rooms, one equipped with a modern porcelain bathtub for infants and all well supplied with cribs. Not a few immi- grant mothers gain their first real understanding of sanitation in the care of infants in the Ellis Island nursery.
The kindergarten and day school on the Island are the outcome of the joint endeavor of the immigration officials and the General Committee of Immigrant Aid. Children of many races here turn the hours of profitless monotony into pleasant social, physical and mental activities. ,In the one room available, as many as two hundred chil- dren have been cared for in one day, with classes for pupils ranging from two to seventeen years of age. The principal of the school was born on Ellis Island and therefore has a sympathetic understanding of her task in this child-garden, under conditions that have no pad;llel. She speaks Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese, and is IE!~rn- ing Yiddish. She says: '
"I take some time each day to make the rounds of the dete~tion rooms to see if new children have arrived -on a recently unloaded ship. It is not easy to get them to come to schoo], for they are timid and the parents are more so. The strange. surroundings, the neces- sary physical inspection, the unexpected deportations, with their in- cidental wait here on Ellis Island, combine to frighten these strangers at our port. The fathers and mothers themselves are little more than children and must be coaxed and comforted and persuaded to give their children into our care. "
Religious services are held every week; on Saturday for the Jews and at different hours on Sunday morning for Roman Catholics and Protestants. The General Committee of Immigrant Aid co- operates with the Commissioner to provide speakers and music and also to arrange special programs and gifts for the celebration of Christmas and other holidays. Bibles are distributed among immi· grants as they arrive, 71,027 copies in thirty-four languages having been given the newcomers in 1924. Diglot gospel portions are espe- cially useful for aliens who are eager to learn English and when they find their own language printed in a book parallel with the English version they soon acquire the use of English words. At the same time as their vocabularies grow they learn from the Scriptures the moral standards and ideals on which American society is founded.
This is a great help in the solution of the immigrant problem. Care-
TREATING I¥MIG-RANTSAS
.fully selected religious tracts in many languages are also distributed as is a manual issued by the Daughters of the American Hevolution, which contains the first principles of American citizenship.
Free concerts, one each week throughout the year, with special concerts by other organizations volunteering, are made possible by the cooperating organizations. Violin and vocal solos, orchestral, band and choral music and piano and organ recitals do much to entertain and comfort. A large radio receiving set with amplifiers has neen installed in detention rooms and motion pictures are regularly shown under a liberal arrangemenl with a film company. Recently a machine has been given and is in use by a trained operator every Friday night.
i, . The immigration station on Ellis Island not only affords the Government opportunity to examine alien arrivals but makes possible th~ protection of immigrants from exploitation by unscrupulous persons waiting to prey upon them. The transfer of baggage and the routing of immigrants to their destinations are in harmony with this. policy. Governmelft and social workers act as guides to near-by points and provision is made for the chaperonage of girls coming to in~ended husbands. In the custody of one of the workers of the Social Service Department the intended bride, after securing a license, may have her nuptials performed on the mainland by a minister of her choice or before a magistrate. Relatives and friends of immigrants must furnish satisfactory identification before the authorities will entrust newcomers to their care.
m-. Other forms of helpful servic.e under the supervision of theimmi- gration authorities and the General Committee of Immigrant 4-id
elude the assembling of complete layettes, the distribution of clothes to needy immigrants, library facilities, the social cup ;of tea, the ministrations of the chaplains, and classes in English.
The Social Service Department at Ellis Island is a connecting link between organizations, social workers, friends and relatives of immigrants. The Government has taken into account the value of the friendly contact of each immigrant with an intelligent person speaking his language. In the handling of a single case a worker may be obliged to solicit the help of several outside constructive agencies such as hospitals, settlement houses and societies of foreignborn.
The new quota law has reduced the number of people landed from steamers but has increased the individual immigrant's expectancy of a welcome at the gate.
A drama of progress is being enacted on Ellis Island which should represent a way of life symbolized by the imposing statue dominating New York harbor with her flaming torch. 1'he aim of the system is to produce American citizens, but it is a process often fraught with human anguish. At heart America is just and humane. Commissioner Curran is of the opinion that the Port of Entry should be one of the great humanitarian institutions of America. Why should immigrants dread to enter this great porU When immigrants secure our consular officers' visas they receive an implied invitation to come as far as the door. When they land at Ellis Island or elsewhere they become the wards of the United States, if not in- vited guests.
In his Toronto address, June 27, 1924, Professor Julius Drachsler of the College of the City of New York, declared that "a deep and abiding sense of the inviolability of the immigrant's essential humanity" constitutes the first principle in a policy for the incorpora- tion of newcomers into the life of America. What shall be done for those who are excluded from American society 7 Shall there not be a "deliberate policy of humanization" that will make of the deported immigrant a lifelong booster of America's particular brand of hospi- talityf It should not be possible for him to return to his land of origin to say with more or less truth that there was not sufficient water at times in the dormitory building on Ellis Island for sanitary and drinking purposes. .
Professor Drachsler's idea is at the foundation of Commissioner Curran's desire that a concrete covered way be built to replace the old wooden causeway connecting the main Island with Islands Nos. I and 2 upon which the hospitals are situated. The present structure is a menace and should be replaced.
The transformation of Ellis Island is possible; in its place may develop a powerful agent of human welfare that shall interpret the heart of America to wanderers in search of a better life.
of Life in
BY SADHU SUNDAR SINGH, SIMLA, INDIA I N 1921, there broke out a jungle fire in the Himalayas. While most of the people around were busy in putting it out, I noticed several men standing and looking fixedly into a tree. "What are you looking aU" I asked. They, in reply, pointed to a nest full of young birds on the tree whose branches were already burning.
Above it, a bird was flying wildly about in great distress. They said, " We wish we could save that nest but we cannot go near because of the blazing fire." A few minutes later the nest caught fire and I thought, "Now the mother-bird will flyaway." Instead, to my great astonishment, I saw her fly down and spread her wings over the young ones. In a few minutes, the poor bird was burnt to ashes along with her YOlmgsters. I had never seen anything like it before .
and said to those standing near, "Are we not astonished at this wonderful love ? Think how much more wonderful must be the love of Him who has created such an unselfish love in His creatures.
The same infinite and unselfish love brought Jesus Christ down RECENT PORTRAJT OF SADHU from heaven into this world to be- SUNDAR SINGH come man that, by giving His own life, He might save us who ~ere dying in our sins."
Life is in the blood, and by shedding His blood Christ gives life to us. As serum is'not infrequently injected for the cure of disease, so by His blood Christ saves us from sin's deadly disease and from death.
The whole universe is a body. Every limb is connected with the body. If there is pain in one part the whole body feels it. If serum is injected into any particular part the whole body feels the effect. Though Christ was crucified in Jerusalem-a small spot on this earth -the whole universe feels the effect of His death, and the whole world will continue to participate forever in the benefit of His vicarious sacrifice.
In 1922, when traveling in Palestine with a friend, I was greatly 31
refreshed by drinking the sweet and soothing water of a famous well.
An hour or two later I was again thirsty, and those words of our Lord came forcibly to my mind: "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever ddnketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water !springing up into everlasting life." , (John 3: 13, 14.) I had just drunk of a well that men had dug and was again thirsty. In all humility and thankfulness I can say that during the two decades since I gave my heart to Christ and drank of that water which He gave me, I have never been thirsty because He is; indeed'
the Fountain of Life. . ., Once on a journey in the hills ·of India, I sat down to rest on a.
liock. Below the rock was a bush in which was a nest from which came the cry of the young birds. The 'mother-bird had come with ~ood and as soon as they heard the rustling of her wings they began: to cry out. When the mother had given them food and had flown l:j.way, they ,were quiet again. I examined the nest and found, to my surprise, that they were not old enough to have their eyes open, yet without seeing their .mother they opened their mouths at her ap- proach. They did not say: "Until we shall see our mother or our food, we will not open our mouths, for we do not know if it is our mother or an enemy; or whether she brings food or poison." If they had acted on this principle they would certainly have had no opportunity to eat and to see, for before their eyes were opened they would have died of hunger. They did not doubt their mother's love, but took on faith what she brought. After a few days, when their eyes were open, they were happy in seeing their dear mother and, growing stronger and stronger in her likeness before long, were able to flyaway in the upper air. Are not men, the highest of God's crea- tures, often inferior to these insignificant nestlings, for often we have had doubts about the existence and love of our Heavenly Father. Jesus said, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." (John 20: 29.) Many who never see their own defects and shortcomings are forever looking for faults in others. The eye that sees all external objects sees neither itself nor its defects. Only when we look into a glass does the eye see itself and its defects. By looking into the mirror of God'l Word, and by living in fellowship with the Word made flesh, we can truly know ourselves. Not only will He SllOW us our sin, but He will reveal Himself to us in healing and saving power.; If we turn to Him in obedience and, continuing in prayer, live in His holy fellowship, He will take away our defects and transform us into His glorious image for all eternity. Thus we will share with Him His glory. (John 14:26; 17:24.) , Once in the hills, I saw an ant running about looking for food.
IUound a seed which it touched and at Olic,e went off again. Tthought
PARABLES OF LIFE IN CHRIST
that the seed was bad. But no! soon the ant returned with a number of companions. It had no thought of keeping the food to itself but wished them to share in it. Selfish men may learn a lesson from the ant. Those who have received spiritual blessings from living with God should take His word to those who have not heard of Him, that they also may receive the fellowship and blessings of God with eternal joy.
Until a lump of salt is dissolved it cannot salt a single grain of pulse, and till the sun's heat has melted the snow of the mountains, it cannot flow down and irrigate the sun-dried and thirsty plain. Until the snow is melted it cannot be drawn as water vapor to form clouds from which it can come down as rain to make the parched and thirsty. land green and fruitful. If we are not melted by the rays of the Sun of Righteousness and by the fire of the Holy Spirit, we can neither quench the thirst of any famished soul nor bring him to the Fountain of Life, where he will be satisfied and alive for ever.
May God give us grace to live Christ so that we may be instrumental in bringing others to our Saviour.
Reaching the Moslems in Africa D R. SAMUEL M. ZWm'lfER is busy in Egypt giving lectures . to those preparing to work for Moslems, preaching on week . days and on Sundays at Cairo, Alexandria, Assiut, Ismalia, Benha, Menuf and Old Cairo; giving addresses to audiences of four or five hundred young men at the Y. M. C. A.; and attending committees. Recently he again visited the great Mohammedan University (AI Azhar) and distributed over one hundred and fifty copies of Matthew's Gospel and a dozen Bibles and Testaments. He writes: "I have never before witnessed such accessibility and responsiveness among these students. Weare facing a new day in Egypt. Politically things are in a dreadful tangle" but religiously there is much less opposition or antagonism. The literature of the Nile Mission Press finds eager. purchasers and our circulation is far larger than any year before." In South Africa, on his recent visit, he found that the Moslem menace is real and the problem needs to be laid on the heart of the churches.
In Egypt there is strict government censorship of the press, especially to stop seditious publications. Five copies of every new book must be submitted to the examiners at the Press Bureau. Every press must also submit architect's plans of its works, the excuse being "danger from electricity"; the real reason is that the license to print may be revoked as soon as the Government (or AI-Azhar) is offended. "It therefore," he says, "behooves all to be careful."
3
Gandhi's Address to Missionaries '"
Parts of an address delivered at the CalCi~tta Christian Missionar?JI Conference, July 28, .1925 M y association with Christians-not Christians so called, but real Christians-dates from 1889, or even 1888, when as a lad I found myself in London. That association has grown riper as years have rolled on. In South Africa, where I found my- self in the midst of inhospitable surroundings, I was able to make hundreds of Christian friends, some of them intimate friends. I came in touch with the Director of the South African G.eneral Mis- sion, the late Mr. Spencer Walton, and we had many a conversation on matters of common interest. I came in touch with that great divine, M:t:. Meyer of South Africa, and I attended one of the con· ventions that took place at Wellington.
There was a time even in my life when very sincere and intimate friends of mine, one of them a great and good Quaker, had designs upon me. He thought that I was too good not to become a Christian. .I was sorry to have disappointed him, but I know that he never left off praying for me. I daresay that even now he is praying for me as I know one missionary in South Africa does, because almost every six months he writes to me and asks "How is it with you ~" If it was prayer that they expected me to make, I was able to tell them that every day a heart-felt prayer within the closed doors of my closet went to the Almighty to show me the light and give me the wisdom and courage to follow that light.
In answer to a promise made to one of these earnest Christian friends of mine in 1905, I sought out one of the biggest of Indian Christians-the late Kali Churn Banerjea. I went to him with my mind absolutely open in a receptive mood and I met him also under circumstances which were most effective. I found that there was much in common between Kali Churn Banerjea and myself. His utmost simplicity, his innate humility, his courage, his truthfulness, all these things as a child I had admired and he met me when his wife was on her death-bed. I told Mr. Banerjea, "I have come to you as a seeker, and I have come to you in fulfilment of a sacred promise I have made to some of my dearest Christian friends that I would leave no stone unturned to find the true light." I came away not sorry, not dejected, not disappointed, but in one way I was sorry that that was my last chance. He did not convince me, hel talked to me about the Vedas, he was a learned man, he was saturated with Hindu Law.
–;-a;p()rted in The CMiatian Patriot, India. August 22. 1925.
34 I do not profess Christianity today-and I am here to tell you in all humility that for me Hinduism, as I find it, entirely satisfies my soul, fills my whole being and I find a solace in the Bhagavad- Gita, in the Upanishads, that I miss even in the Sermon on the Mount. Not that I do not prize it as dearly as life itself, not that some of the precious teachings in the Sermon on the Mount have not left a deep impression upon me, but I must confess .to you that when doubt haunts me, when disappointment stares me in the face and all alone I see not one ray of light, I go back to the Bhagavad- Gita. I find a verse here and a verse there and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow, in the midst of overwhelming tragedies-and my life has been full of external tragedies -and if they have left no visible or no indelible scar upon me, I owe it all to the teachings of the Bhagavad-Gita. I have told you this in order to make absolntely clear to you where I stand so that you may have, if you will, a closer hand-grip with me: that here is a man who has approached Christianity with prayerfulness, with all the humility that he was capable of showing and expressing, with all the truth that he could command and with fear of none but God.
I came to another conclusion in my search. Having been a student, I did not stop at studying the Bible and all the commentaries that these great friends of mine had placed in my hands. I said to myself if I was to find satisfaction through reason, I must study the Scriptures of other religions and I pored over the pages of the Koran, I devoured what I could of Zenda Avesta, I tried to understand what I could of Judaism as distinguished from Christianity, and I came to the conclusion that all religions were right, but every one of them was imperfect-imperfect naturally and necessarily so, because those religions, we, with our poor intellects sometimes with poorer hearts, interpret, most often mis-interpret. It was a matter of deep grief to me to see those commentaries, everyone of them, giving me a different interpretation of the same verse. Not that it is a peculiarity wIth Christianity, I know the same thing with reference to the Vedas. I pored over the commentaries of the Zenda Avesta, of the Vedas or the Upanishads, and I found the same bewildering differences, and I said to myself, ' , Not this thing for me. If I want to seek God in this way to the satisfaction of my soul or the intellect I shall fail, but I must wait constantly upon God asking him to guide me." There is a beautiful verse which we sing every day at our little Ashram at Sabarmati, which says, "God helps only when man feels utterly helpless and utterly humble." When I was studying Tamil, I found in that inestimable work by Dr. Pope, a Tamil proverb, which I remember; it simply means this-that God is the help of the helpless. Now, I have given you this story of my own experiences for you to ponder over.
You, the missionaries, come to India thinking that you come to a
land of heathen, of idolaters, of men who do not know the true meaning of religion. One of the greatest of Christian divines, Bishop Heber, allowed himself to write two lines, which have always left a sting upon me, "Where every prospect pleases and only man is vile." I wish he had not written those lines. From my experience of the masses of India-I have gone from one end of India to the other without any prejudice, without any prepossession, in a relentless search after Truth and nothing but the Truth. I have not been able to say that here, in this fair land-watered by the great Ganges, Brahmaputra and Jamuna, man is vile. He is not vile, he is just as much a seeker after God as you and I are, possibly more so. It reminds me of a French book that a French friend placed in my hands and translated. It was an allegory, but there the writer pictures to himself an expedition in search of Truth. The members of the party go out in all parts of the world, and the one who lands in India says that throughout all his wanderings, he found Truth personified,> humility personified, God Himself in a little pariah hut. There are many such huts belonging to the untouchables where you will certainly see God and find Him also; the pariah has every reason, if there is any man who has reason, td deny God, but he persists in affirming that there is God. No matter what man does, he will depend upon God for assistance and finds his assistance also. There are stories told throughout the length and breadth of these noble untouchables. Vile as some of them are, there are the noblest specimens of humanity in their midst.
But does my experience exhaust itself with merely the untouchables' By no means. I am here to testify to you, a non-Brahmin, that there are Brahmins in India who are as fine specimens of humanity as you may find in any place of the earth. There are Brahmins today in India who are embodiments of self-sacrifice, who are embodiments of godliness, who are humility personified. There are Brahmins who are devoting themselves, life and soul, to the service of the untouchables, without expectation of any reward! from the untouchables and with execrations from orthodox Brahmins. They do not care, because they know that in serving the pariah they are serving the God who is made manifest in the Vedas. I place this fact, this truth, before you in all humility for the simple reason that you may know this land better, which you are here to serve as its servants, as its friends.
You are here to find out the distress of the people of India and the reason of that distress, but I hope you are here also in a receptive mood. If there is anything that India has to give, you will not stop your ears, you will not close your eyes, you will not steel your heart, but you will open your ears, open your eyes and most of all open your heart, to receive all that may be given in the land. I give you my assurance that there is a great deal of good in it.
MAHATMA GANDID'S ADDRESS TO MISSIONARIES
I therefore ask you to approach the problem that you have undertaken with a new sense of openheartedness, receptiveness and humility. If you have prepossessed notions, so that you will refuse t.o see the other side, if you will refuse to understand what the Indian is thinking, you will deny yourselves the real privilege of service. I have told so many of my missionary friends "Noble as you are, you have isolated yourselves from the people whom you want to serve." Not so St. Francis Xavier. At the Language School in Darjeeling, Lord Salisbury was waited upon by a deputation of missionaries. That deputation wanted protection in connection with China. Lord Salisbury said to them: "Gentlemen, if you want to go to China and take the Message of Christ, then do not ask for the assistance of temporal power. Go with your lives in your hands and if the people of China want to kill you, think that you have been killed in the service of God."
Christian missionaries, who come today to India come under the the shadow, or protection of a temporal power: and it creates an impassable 'bar. Statistics show that so many orphans have been reclaimed and have been brought to Christianity, so many grown-up people do not represent your Mission. You will have to go to the lowly cottages not to give them something, may be probably to take something. I miss that receptiveness, I miss that humility, I miss that willingness on your part to identify yourselves with the masses of India.
If anything that I have spoken has given you pain, know then it has not been said in order to cause you pain, it has not been said in order to criticize you, but as a friend to a friend I have exercised that privilege. May God bless you all.
At the close of Mr. Gandhi's address an opportunity was given for questions, and many were asked by missionaries, Indian teachers, students, and Indian Christians. One of the important questions from a missionary was in regard to "receptivity" on the part of Christian missionaries. The question was asked of Mr. Gandhi: "How do you feel, not only about the Christ of history, the Christ of Judea, but about the living Christ, the Christ of the Resurrection' ' , Mr. Gandhi replied: "H I understand correctly my friend's very sincere question, he wants to know whether I feel within me the presence of the living Christ. H the living Christ is the same as the historical Christ, then I must confess that I do not feel that presence. H' Christ' is a convertible term with' God, ' the living God, not a God who lives somewhere in the clouds or in the Himalayas, but God who lives nearer to me that anyone of you, nearer to me than my hands and feet, if that is your meaning of Christ, then I say that both Christ and Krishna of the Bhagavad-Gita live in me, because to me they are convertible terms. I do not talk now of the historical Krishna, but I talk of the seer, the one who is supposed to have given the Gita. And yet I do not even mean the one who is supposed to have given the Gita. What I mean is something which is indefinable, which is inexpressible. H, then, you will allow me to interpret the living Christ as that indefinable Essence,
I believe in that Christ. If I did not realize the presence of that living, speaking God in me, I should become a raving maniac, and the waters of the Hughli would be my destination. Such is the pessimism that would possess my soul, as I analyze the conditions that confront me throughout the world. Only the Presence, the realization of that Presence, enables me to keep body and soul together, and, in spite of all that disturbs me from outside, I enjoy in an abundant measure an inexpressible peace."
Dr. George Howells, the President of Serampore College, Calcutta, and chairman of the meeting, said in his concluding remarks: "I most heartily thank the Mahatma for his very straight talk to us. There is much in his speech which is convincing-and there is a great deal which has not convinced me in the least! He has revealed, if I may say so, an abysmal ignorance in regard to what is going on among Christian thinkers regarding the relations of Christianity with Hinduism and other religions. The idea that Christians in general think of other religions as satanic, is ~omething totally out-of-date. If Mr. Gandhi knows anything of missionary activities in recent years, he must recognize that it has been the Christian missionary, more than any other, who has revealed to the world the richness of India's spiritual heritage. I need only mention, in illustration, the 'Heritage of India Series' published by the Y. M. C. A. Indians themselves can show nothing comparable to what the Christian missionaries have done in revealing to India herself, and to the Western world, the great heritage of the Hindus and of India. I think, that in this respect, the Mahatma has done us less than justice.
"There is one other thing, perhaps, which I may mention. I do not think Mr. Gandhi has realized the heart of the Christian message, and per- haps we ourselves are to blame for that. We have not, as Christians sufficiently revealed to the people of India, what has come home to ourselves with telling force, that Christianity is Christ, that our religion is nothing except, in so far as men see in it, Christ. It is not a creed, not a commentary on Christianity, not a philosophy, but a living, abiding reality, going where we go. It means living in the spirit of Jesus among men, serving as He served men. With all that I have learned of Eastern philosophy and Eastern thought, Jesus remains a figure incomparable, unlike auything that India or any other country has produced. I say that we have failed to bring home as a reality to the people of India, as a reality even to the Mahatma himself, that our Christianity is not merely a creed, but a life lived by faith in the Incarnate God Himself as revealed in Christ.
"Now if we have a messagc, if the Mahatma is to have a message for India, I think it is there. We must be consistent Christians before we can bring home to people of India, to the Mahatma himself, what our religion stands for. And further, I think from what I know of India, that the philosophy of the 'Gita '-much though it may have attraction-and even the great but shadowy personality of Krishna as set forth in the 'Gita,' as a Hindu once told me, will never win and bring to manhood the masses of India. Your Eastern philosophy, even the 'Gita' itself, is without hope for the masses. However much it may appeal to a man like the Mahatma, to the cultivated, philosophic-minded Hindu, I believe that we have a message in the Christian revelation-the concrete personality of God in Christ, the supreme revelation of the divine Fatherly heart-that alone will bring to life and to manhood the millions of India, millions who find nothing in the 'Vedas,' nothing in the 'Gita' itself or in Hindu philosophy. But we know from experience that in living contact with Christ, and in appropriation of Him, they can find their life eternaL"
A Banker's Verdict on Christian
F W. STEVENS is a prominent American business man in the Orient whose headquarters were in Peking while he repre- • sented international banking interests negotiating for the Consortium loan authorized at the Paris Peace Conference. He had time to study China, with unique opportunities to see the inside, and to study conditions with the eyes and mind of a hard-headed American banker.
When Mr. Stevens addressed the faculty and students, of the Peking Union Medical College all Peking took notice and the Peking Express carried a report of it in full. Having evidently been stirred up by anti-religious agitation the speaker devoted his attention to religion as a factor in the development of China, and rendered a clear-cut tribute to the work of the Christian missions.
"I do not speak as a religious man, only as an American business man who has become deeply interested in China. My remarks will be the first 1 have ever made upon a religious subject," said Mr. Stevens.
After discussing the place of religion in the life of any nation~ Mr. Stevens turned to Christian missions and said: "Now and then 1 hear reputable foreigners in China-I am not now speaking of the excessively intellectual class-express the opin. ion that the Christian missions are not helping China. The Christian missionaries have long been about this, I am told, but have allowed the statements to go largely unnoticed. Perhaps it is time that something be said by laymen on the subject.
"These remarks are made by people not particularly interested in nor familiar with mission work. They have not investigated and they draw conclusions from misinformation. ·When I hear a man express such an opinion, I want to be a lawyer again and have the privilege of asking him questions. 1 want to ask him: "What do you really know about the work of the Christian missions in China?
"How many of their twenty-four Y. M. C. A. city centers or their twelve Y. W. C. 4-. centers and eighty student associations, how many of their many schools, academies, colleges and universities, workshops and hospitals, churches and Sunday-schools and other places of activity have you investigated or even visited?
"With how many Christian missionaries themselves have you talked seriously about their work Y Or with how many Chinese who know about such activities 1 "Have you read any issue of the China Mission Year Book that tells about them!
"Do you know what is being done in the cities of China through homes for boys and homes for girls, and otherwise, by the Salvation .Army, a great and worthy Christian missionary organization'
39
"Do you know of anything more repulsive than Chinese beggar women and do you know that it is educated, genteel Christian missionary women who are little by little getting them and their children off the streets, cleaning them and getting them into self-supporting condition?
"Do you know that about 80 per cent of the Chinese people are farmers; with about 50,000,000 farm holding; that they are backward in methods; that their position in respect to adequate food supply and articles to be sold in foreign markets is threatened; that about 85 per cent of China's exports are products of the soil; and that Christian mission institutions are doing nearly all that is being done at all for their economic as well as their spiritual and social welfare.
"Do you know a single thing about the importance of agriculture in the yearly program of the missionary organizations-about soil fertility, plant diseases, seed selection, animal husbandry, as they relate to Christian missionary efforts in China T Do you know of the misAionary work in sanitation and health promotion, or in helping to rid China of the awful narcotic curse'
"Do you know that there are about 236,000 Chinese children in missionary day schools, not counting the 190,000 in ihe Roman Catholic schools, and that most of them would have no schooling but for the missionary schools'
"Do you know that the Chinese modern system of education in China began with the work of the Chinese mission teachers, and that modern medicine was mediated to China by the Christian medical missionaries Y "Do you know that China was devoid of anything resembling modern hospitals and trained nurses until they resulted from missionary effort; and that now there are over 300 mission hospitals in China, nearly 100 of which are conducted on approximately ~odern standards with up-to-date equipment and nursing; and that there are few cities in China having even one such Chinese hospital which is of non-missionary origin 7 "Do you know that although leprosy has existed in China from time immemorial and there are now estimated to be 400,000 in China, the first leper hospital or asylum was established by a missionary society ~ "Do you know that there was never in China a hospital. or asylum for the insane until one was provided by missionaries'
"Do you know the missionary type' Do you know with what respect and confidence the people within the range of the missions have come to regard the missionaries; and that they are advisers and friends to the whole community in all kinds of troublef "Have you some better way than. the one followed by the Christian missionaries for implanting into the minds of the Chinese masses ideas of right living that will help uplift China'
, 'Do you know of a single organized activity in China, on a scale of importance, that aims at moral improvement or that is calculated to bring it about, and that is not traceable in its origin to the Christian missions f "Careless talkers with little or no learning about Christian mis- sion work in China, go home, and, wishing to seem wise on all things pertaining to China, express their opinions about the ineffective- ness of the Christian missions. It is a common mistake in foreign lands to regard all former residents of China as oracles upon all matters pertaining to China and the Chinese; while in fact there are hundreds of foreigners in China who are as ignorant of the real facts about Christian missions in China as if they had never come to China." ,..
• From The ChriBtia-n Advooate.
"LITTLE MOTHERS" WITH THEIR SMALL
Life of Women and Children in North Siam BY HAZEL E. HANNA, SAN ANSELMO, CALIFORNIA Missionary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions " And Jesus answered and said, 'Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecution; and in the world to come eternal life. ' "
This sounds like a 10,000% investment. Starting to Siam twelve years ago I did not go in a mercenary spirit. I did not take this promise, at least the part concerning this world, at all seriously. But as the years passed and I began to count my increasing wealth, and rejoice over it, I found that it was being fulfilled literally. It is about my hundred mothers, my two hundred grandmothers, and my several hundred children that I wish to write ; also of some of the many thousands whom I still long to possess in the close fellowship of the family of Jesus Christ.
Daily contact with the women and children of the Lao, or Northern Siamese, shows that each woman or child is an individual even as one's mother or sister is distinct, and that each one is just as important to Christ as any other woman or child. It is only people whom we do not know intimately that we describe in general terms.
There are, however, certain groupings and classifications which we may make. In Siam, as through all the world, there are the two great divisions-the saved and the unsaved; those who may be our friends in this life only, and those others who are bound to us by ties 41
that eternity itself shall not sever. There are also the city women, and the country women; the rich and the poor. To the new-comer they all look alike, but after a few months of daily contact one learns to distinguish the faces of friends, and to discern the points of Oriental beauty. There are even those who attract us because of their resemblance to some far-away friend in America.
Within,rts own borders Siam is known as "Muang Tai" or "Land of the Free. " ' The freedom does not extend to the men only. Woman holds a position to be envied by the women of any other non-Christian land. Though she does not receive the respect and religious equality that is enjoyed by women of Christian lands, still she is neither shut away in a harem nor compelled to veil her face in public; nor is she the 'slave of her husband. She has liberty to come and go. A man evangelist may teach her, or a man doctor may care for her in illness. She holds the faimly purse and may buy and sell, make contracts, and own land.
When a tiny brown baby girl is born in the little bamboo house in the jungle village or in the rambling tropical city, she is just as welcome as if she were a boy. There is an economic reason back of this. When a girl marries she does not go to the house of her husband's people. The husband comes to live for at least a year with the family of his bride. He gives gifts, and helps to support the family. The man with several marriageable daughters is quite to be envied, for even after the bride and groom have gone to a little bamboo home of their own they will continue to help her parents. So the baby girl is welcome and her father carries her about the street as proudly as if she Were a son.
In a good family, a girl's training in the social graces begins very early. Long before she can walk she is taught to make a proper bow. As soon as she sits up well she is taught to arrange her chubby feet properly so that the soles of her feet are not indecently exposed. Her fingers, arms and legs are frequently stretched so that she will become graceful and supple, even to the point of double jointedness. After her daily bath she is covered with dots of powder, sometimes white, sometimes yellow. A tiny pair of anklets, a wee bracelet, and sometimes a necklace and other jewelry, are put on her as soon as she can walk. Her grandmother ties a spirit string around each wrist, and a charm about her neck, to keep her little spirit from leaving her, or another spirit from entering. This is the business of grandmothers. But she is very little troubled with clothing until she is four or five years old. Her hair is done up in a smooth tight top-knot, which her mother does over dozens of times each day.
When a little girl reaches the age when her mother thinks clothes would be becoming, a tiny short bodice is made for her, of gay foreign material or, if she lives far from a city, of coarse white homespun cotton. The sewing is done very crudely with a coarse rusty needle.
LIFE OF WOMEN AND CIllLDREN IN. NOR'l'R SIAM
In the absence of scissors a sharp Imife is used to cut out the pattern; when it is finished (except the sewing on of the buttons), it is dipped into the indigo pots of the village dye woman, and comes out a lovely dark blue. Perhaps the buttons are sewed on, and perhaps they are not, so that the little bodice gaps widely down the front. On the crude heavy loom under the house the mother weaves a little skirt with many bright stripes in it. It is a straight piece with the ends sewed together and the stripes running around. The extra width is folded across the abdomen, and knotted. Little girls spend a great deal of time readjusting these knots. Perhaps that is the reason that one-piece American dresses and rompers are becoming popular ill the cities. The costume for a woman is the same from babyhood to old age, though there is endless variety in the color combinations and the cut·and trimmings of the bodice.
The Lao woman is usually quite clean. She bathes every day, either in a stream or pouring the water over herself with a cocoanut-shell dipper. A skirt is worn during the bath, it being an outdoor sport, and a fresh one pui on afterward. Soap and towels are considered a great luxury, and are almost unheard of except in cities. The Lao girl blackens her teeth with pitch from a certain WHERE WOMEN ACQt1lRED 1'HE HABIT tree, shining ebony being pre- ferred to gleaming iv.ory. The constant use of tobacco and hetel nut make teeth very dark brown, for a picture of a Lao woman is not complete without a cigarette or a large mouthful of betel or pickled tea leaf. These filthy hahits often begin before the child is weaned.
She stops nursing occasionally to receive a puff from her mother's cigarette. .
Housework in North Siam is not burdensome, and has the advantage of being done mostly in the open air. The house is ordinarily a square structure of bamboo, built up on posts, and reached by a ladder. The roof is of thatch or leaf. 'L'here is a sleeping room; a large, partly covered veranda, and a small lean-to kitchen. The :tire is made on a box of earth, and the smoke finds its way out through the roof. One or two curry pots and a wooden rice steamer, a knife, a large brass spoon, and perhaps a few bowls comprise th,e , ki~ch~D,
utensils. The water pots are kept in a shaded rock nook on the veranda and are filled several times a day. Buckets are hung from the ends of a flexible bamboo pole, which is carried on the shoulder. The women are very skillful in carrying water up the rickety ladder without spilling it. All burdens are carried in this way, and very graceful, erect carriage is the result. The rice, which is of a different variety from that used in America, is soaked over night, steamed in the morning, and put away in covered baskets to be used as the principle article of diet through the day. A few vegetables, partly cooked, some tiny dried fish or roasted frogs, or perhaps only a sauce made of red peppers, is eaten with the rice. In the cities where there is a better market, the people have a much greater variety of food, and a great deal of imported canned goods is being used. One of the problems of the missionary is to teach the Christian people to raise more fruit and vegetables, and to cook them properly. At meal time the family gathers together, sitting on the floor, about the curry pot or bowl. Each one takes a handful of rice from the basket and rolls up a large mouthful into a hard gluey ball. This is dipped into the curry or pepper water, and put into the mouth and is very slightly chewed. The meal is soon over and the two or three utensils washed in cold water and left to dry of themselves. Betel nut, pickled tea leaves, or cigarettes, taken at frequent intervals during the day try to make up for the deficiencies in diet, and their vicious effects are seen in the weak bodies, hearts, and nerves of the people.
Each member of the family sleeps on a small cotton mattress and a very hard pillow. Mosquito nets are suspended over these, for the mosquitoes are very numerous and malaria is a constant visitor. After breakfast the nets are pulled up, the mats and mattresses straightened and the few blankets folded. A quick brush with a soft grass broom scatters the dirt down the numerous cracks that are indispensable in Lao housekeeping. In cases where the family is sufficiently well to do to have a floor of real boards, a square is cut in one board; which may be lifted up to sweep the dirt down, and to use as a spittoon. When a green girl from the village comes to take service with the missionary it is a very serious problem-what to do with the sweepings. I have seen one sweep it all to one side of a room, then finding no crack to sweep it down, sweep it back across two rooms and a veranda, and over the edge. Especially in the city, where the people come in more constant contact with the missionary, the houses are better built, and the whole plan of living is on a much higher scale. But there are still the thousands of villages where life goes on much the same as it did centuries ago, and where the Gospel of Jesus Christ is still unknown.
After the indoor work is done there is the rice to be beaten out for the next day's food. The unhulled rice is put into a hollowed-out stump, over which a heavy weight is raised and lowered by the wom-
LIFE OF WOMEN Al'J) CHILDREN IN NORTH SIAM
an, who jumps up and down on the end of a long lever till the hulls are loosened. She then tosses the rice from a tray-like basket in skillful manner so that the chaff flies away.
Then there is the little garden to be tended, and the cotton to be prepared and woven. When she has a little leisure, there is nothing more enjoyable than a fishing trip to some mud hole or stream. When the river rises the women have fishing parties, about twenty women each with a hand net, forming a line across the stream, and fishing up the river. Going to market is another joy for the love of a bargain seems to be deep in the heart of every woman. She will walk many miles to trade a small basketful of peppers, salt, red ant eggs, greens, waLer jars, or rice.
The care of little children demands a large part of the mother's time. A very young child sleeps in the mother's arms, and day or night, whenever he cries, he is fed. After six weeks the mother or some other person chews up rice and bananas and puts them in the infant's mouth.
As he begins to creep he demands constant watching lest he fall from the veranda, and much of the mother's work is done with a baby on her hip. The older chil- dren are set to watch the younger and it is very difficult to keep little ; CHRISTIAN GIRLS IN NORTH SIAM girls in school. Even after it walks a little child is constantly guarded from snakes, scorpions, ,stinging ants, mosquitoes, and mad dogs. The mothers try to make 'up for thiJir ignorance by their affection, and the children are fre- quently badly spoiled..
. Should a woman die in childbirth, there is very slight chance for the child 'g surviving long. Everyone fears to take the helpless in- fant for iear the spirit of the mother should be jealous and work evil. The body of the mother is taken from the, house through a hole cut in the floor for that purpose; the hole is at once securely closed so that when the spirit comes back it cannot ;fiild ;tJie. way in. The husband runs to the nearest temple and dons the yellow robes of priesthood for a season, so .•1!hat the spirit of his wife willilot recogni~e him and lead him away.to the spirit world. . v Ttook care of one child for eleven months, because the mother had died and, as my nurse-maid said, "He is such a nice fat baby it is a
shame to let him die." He ·was sixteen hours old when I took him, and he had already had a very cold bath and a meal of rice. He soon learned to prefer milk, and to wear the left-over clothing of my own three babies. "¥hen I saw him last he was a healthy two-year-old ohild, adopted by a fine Christian family. We hope that some day, through him, we may gain his father and his five brothers and sisters for Christ.
As the non-Christian woman grows older, there seems to be a hardening and darkening of the face. She grows more regular in her temple attendance, in her' gifts to the priests, and in her offerings to the spirits. She looks forward to the time coming when she must go out into the great dark pl~ce of wandering souls, and when her children will make regular offerings to feed her spirit after she has gone. Stubbornly she clings to the traditions of her ancestors and the merit she has been laying up for herself all her life. Her ears are open to the teaching of the Gospel, but her heart is so full of the rags of her 0Wll. righteousness that there is no room for the shining robes that Chtist offers her.
How vastly different are the old women of our Christian community! Their faces shiue with the light of love, and their minds are alert to learn new truths out of the "Vord of God. Even in old age many have been persuaded to begin to learn to read. They, too, are regular intelllple service, but it is the temple of the Living God. To these ""omen death comes as a welcome home going and a reunion with loved ·ones· gone on before. God grant that the day may soon come when niany more of these dear brown sisters of ours in Siam may know tlie joy of the Lord.
MBTHODS
iii 4 =¥ SA WS EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, 721 MUHLENBURG BLDO., PHILADELPHIA, PA.
OBJECTS AND METHODS FOR Objects for specific missionary giv- SPECIFIC GIFTS ing are of three general types. Things, By REv. GEORGE H. TaULL as already described, persons, and Secretary for Specific Work, Board of localized activities. A missionary, Foreign Missions of the Presby- home or foreign, goes out from a cer- terian Church in the U. S. A. tain church. He is Missionary Spirit Would you rather give your money and Consecration personified. He is toward an outfit for Willie Jones, or real, personal, concrete flesh and bone.
for a hat, suit, shoes, and overcoat, Supporters can visualize him long which comprise the outfit required- after he has departed for his field.
said Willie Jones being your son and Every letter from him refreshes their heid W ouIa you prefer to give to a memories with his buoyant person- general Christmas fund, or provide ality. They can see him move among one hundred boxes of candy for a par- his patients in the hospital ward, and ticular mission school Y Some people are quickened as they read of his trip are prepared to give a total sum for thirty miles on mule back through the equipment of a hospital requiring tropical forest at night to see an $1,000 or $5,000 and not bother with urgent ease, losing the trail in the details. Others, however, do not re- darkness and returning to his station act to "equipment," but enthuse over to find scores of sick and needy wait- a sterilizer $300, microscope $125, ing for him.
operating table $100, autoclave $100, The individual native worker, or the incubator $25, and forward the particular pupil in the foreign field, money. should not he assigned for support by Most people respond to stimuli American donors. Long experience in which produce a rich association of attempting such connections by the ideas. "Fatehgarh, Industrial School Foreign Mission Boards has proved it Equipment," to most minds connotes impracticable, unwise, prejudicial to little and carries no challenge; where- the best interests of the beneficiaries, as "Ponte Nova, farm machinery- and administratively impossible on plow, disc harrow, corn planter, cul- any large scale. The alternative is tivator, wagon, ensilage cutter," may application of money, equivalent to paint a picture of definite needs that the approximate support of such an is associated with the experience of individual, to a particular mission boyhood days on the farm, and create station in which are located pupils or a sympathetic emotion and the deter- native workers of the type that enlist mination to provide one of the imple- the interest of the American donor.
ments needed. Or gifts to a scholarship fund in a Girl power washing clothes in the particular mission or station, or sup- cold water of a river far removed port of localized evangelistic, educa- from the school buildings at Castro, tional or medical work, are possibili- Brazil, is an argument for a pipe line ties. Even better is it to designate and plumbing which can be under- gifts to a mission station, which offers stood by any person using modern the donor opportunity to support not necessities for wash day in Columbus, merely a particular bit of mission Ohio. work, but the big challenging, com- 47
prehensive task in all its varied ac- In missions just as in many other tivity at one definite center. forms of philanthropic and benevolent work, penple who contribute like to GIFTS FOR SPEVIFIV PURPOSES know what their money is doing. A A. E. CHENOWETH person who supports a preacher or teacher 0,1' student thinks nf his rep- Secretary, Department of Designated In· resentative on the nther side of the come, Board of Foreign Missions of world as wo.rking for Christ while the the Methodist Episcopal Church Gifts for specific purposes are called giver sleeps. He prays for his repby various names by the several resentative. Often he sends extra per- Boards, such as Special Gifts, Desig- sonal gifts to provide bnoks or clothnated Gifts, Station Plan, Parish ing. He receives pictures and letters. Abroad Plan, Share Plan, etc- But He becomes interested in the mission in each case the plan consists in the country and people, and reads literaapplication nf specific amnunts con- ture about that country and its people. tributed by individuals, churches, or The person supported also becomes inorganizations in churches, to, specific terested in the country and people purpnses in the foreign field. from which his support is coming.
Special Gifts, Designated Gifts, 0,1' There is, therefore, a process of eduby whatever name they are called, are catinn and development of sympathy gifts to be used for specific items lIS a and interest 'which affects both giver preacher, teacher, nurse, student, etc. ; and receiver.
or fnr definite property needs, as a There should not be any attempt to church nr chapel, a schnol, a dispen- obtain gifts for specific purposes. from sary, a residence fnr a missionary or reluctant donors by an over·emphasis a natinnal worker, 0,1' for equipment of some urgent emotional appeal. lor church, school, hnspital or other There must be a genuine desire on the bUilding. This type nf giving is at- part of the donor to help meet a real tractive to individuals. need. Do not make appeals but tell Gifts on the Parish Abrnad Plan, the story of the needs, and the oppor· tunities for investing some of the the Statinn Plan, the Share Plan, ek, are more nften made by churches, 0,1' Lord's money in ways that will result classes 0,1' organizatinns within a in bringing more abundant life– church to, whnm are assigned shares of physical, mental, and spiritual-to $25, $50, $100, or mnre, in the regular people who thrnugh no fault of their running expenses of a statinn, schnnl, own have been born into, unfavorable hospital 0,1' other unit of wnrk. On cnnditions. The need and the oppnrthe part of the church the regular giv- tunity will make their own appeal. ing, or a part of the giving, may be Usually when followers of Christ see cnnnected with the regular expenses and realize the need they are eager to respond with their gifts. nf the unit nf wnrk nn the field.
From the standpnint nf the Board Memorial buildings offer a very at- 0,1' organization administering the tractive proposition to those who work it would probably be more de- want to, do something inmemory of a sirable if funds were provided in suf- loved nne and at the same time help ficient amnunt to, care fnr the needs in making brighter and better the without specific designation of indi- lives nf less fortunate people in mis- vidual contributions. But such sion lands. Those who provide such amount is nnt provided, and as in- memorial buildings may have pictures dividual dnnors and organizations de- of the buildings and receive regular sire to, give for specific purposes roost reports nf the wnrk being done. A of the Boards are glad to receive such memorial tablet may be placed on the gifts even though there are snme diffi- building, and thus the example of culties that are inherent in the ad- commemorating lives in loving service ministration of them. will thrnugh the years influence the
BES.'!' METHODS
lives of all who are helped in their zation, and involves some expense, growth and development by the Chris- especially when one Board receives tian ministries carried on in the build- gifts from many thousands of in- ing. Often those who have given ex- dividuals during the year, and the pression to their love in this way have gifts, usually not large, total more visited mission lands and have had than a million dollars during the year.
the joy of seeing the memorial build- But the experience of the Boards ings and the still greater joy of seeing which have tried to handle the matter the lives which have been transformed in a sympathetic manner has shown as a direct result of the gifts. that many people will give for specific Many who support workers, stu- purposes, and that churches receive dents, or other persons, desiring that inspiration and larger vision from a their influence may live after them, vital connection with a particular establish permanent funds by deposit- unit or task.
ing with the Board an amount to be invested, the income of which is to be A YEAR'S WORLD PROGRAM FOR A SUNDAY SOHOOL used perpetually to support a worker, or to provide a scholarship for a boy Court Street Methodist Church, or girl or for a theological student. Lynchburg, Virginia, has a good The income oj a fund of $1,000 will world program and is training its provide a scholarship, while the in- Sunday-school to enter fully into the come on $2,000 to $4,000 will support missionary activities of the church. a preacher or teacher in most mission Three volunteers from the Sundaylands. And such a permanent fund school are now working in foreign established with any of the regular mission fields. Their pictures hang Church Boards will continue its on the walls of the Sunday-school beneficent work down through the auditorium. and beside them is an years so long as the Board shall last. empty frame silently calling for the Some Boards have already been in fourth volunteer. existence more than a hundred years. Recently the full world program The experience of the Methodist was presented at a Sunday-school ses- Episcopal Board, is that the income sion and later at the evening service from Designated Gifts and on the in the church.
Parish Abroad Plan continues more The leader introduced the program stable and constant than undesignated by saying: "Have you ever had a giving. But sympathetic attention dream come true 1 I am going to tell must be given to the whole proposi- you today of two dreams of the Mis- tion. It will not work automatically. sionary Committee of Court Street Returned! missionaries, church papers, Sunday-school. The first dream was and missionary speakers must con- that some day our Sunday-sehool tinually tell the story of needs and might have a world program. Our opportunities. Reports, letters and Mission Board has eleven fields. We pictures must come from the mission- dreamed of having some special work aries for the donors. Careful and a~ in each of those tields and wrote to curate records must be kept so that our Board Headquarters in Nashville full information about any gift and asking for such a plan. In response correspondence about it may bc we received an outline of a real world quickly found when wanted. Donors program for our school, which was often need to be tactfully reminded accepted by our officers and teachers, when payments are due. Missionaries and put into operation by our school.
need full info.rmation about each gift, Our first dream has come true and and also need constant reminders now we present to you the world pro- about sending letters and reports at gram of Court Street Church."
regular intervals: At this point the attention of the All of this requires system, organi- audience was directed to a large wall 4
map of the world which had been fit- was founded in 1889 by Bishop Lamted with electric bulbs placed to rep- beth, and while it began in a very "esent the location of each missionary small way it is now one of the largest or station. As the speaker proceeded Christian schools in Japan. Some of the lights were turned on one after you remember Bishop Usake who the other to indicate the work being visited our Sunday-school. He is a done. graduate of Kwansei Gakuin. Our student's name is M. Shiomi. First and best of all, our Sundayschool has three flesh and blood rep- We have gone on to Cuba in our resentatives in the foreign mission world program. The church of the field. In Africa is Frank Johnson Cuban pastor, Rev. Constantine Gon- Gillian back for the second time at zales, to whose support we contributed his station after spending eighteen last year, has become self-supporting months at home studying and enlist- and we have taken, for this year, paring volunteers to take up work along tial support of Rev. Sterling August educational lines, and Dr. Charles P. Neblett, who is a fine and experienced Sheffey who has recently been elected missionary and has been working in Superintendent of the Mission at Cuba for ten years. He is editor of Nyama: the conference periodieal and super- intendent of Sunday-school work, In Manchuria, too, we have our and serves also as pastor in Havana. flesh and blood missionary, Miss Constance Rumbough, who has been in her In Mexico we are working through field about two years teaching, doing our gift of $155.00 for the support of social service work and caring for our evangelist, Senorita Maria I. orphan children. Oaxacca, Bellaze Circuit, Parral Dis- trict, Mexico. Our missionaries write The light shines also in Brazil. that, inasmuch as Mexico celebrated Last year we had Mr. Al Staton, who her fifty-year Jubilee last year, the had to return to North America on opportunities are greater now than account of his health, so this year we ever before. have given $150 on the support of Dr. W. H. Moore at Granberry Col- 'On our walls is the picture of a lege. boy in a Children's Home in Warsaw, Poland. Our greatest relief work has Now we go on to Korea with four been done in Poland. Our Sundayshares of $25.00 each in the country school is giving $100 a year to make clinics in the Choon Chun District. possible a home, food. care, and educa- Dr. Phillip Hill who is in charge of tion for this boy. these clinics visited our church last year and described in a most inter- In Czecho-Slovakia we are paying esting way his work for both children $75.00 on the support of Rev. Fredand grown ups. SometImes the clinics erick Wagner, colporteur and pastor. are conducted in the country though He discarded Romanism in his youth. they are at the hospital whenever pos- While he was in the trenches during sible. the World War some one gave him a Testament. As he read it he promised Last year we had a day school at God that if his life were spared he Huchow as our special work in China. would give it in service to Him. His The school has been discontinued by work in distributing Bibles and our Board but we are glad to know preaching the living Gospel has been it is being carried on by native Chris- especially successful. tians. Our gift to China this year has been $70.00 toward the support of Dr. In Belgium we are helping to sup- Li, a Chinese doctor in Soochow Hos- port colporteurs and evangelists by a pitaL gift of $75.00 a year.
In .Tapan we have a ministerial Now if you are quick at figures you scholarship of $125.00 in our school at know by this time that our SundlJ,y- Kobe. This school, Kwansei Gakuin, school has pledged $] ,000 for our
BEST METHODS
world program. Divided by twelve various fields, the volunteers were in- we have gifts of $85.00 a month troduced. 'l'hey flung out their chal- needed to carry out this program. lenge, •• Our Lives Against Your When our pledges are met up to date Money," and held it before the audi- the lights on our map shine brightly ence until one after another of the at each session of the Sunday-school. laymen, singly or in groups, answered If the pledges are unpaid we see a the challenge with pledges sufficient dark map until we bring them up to to send the volunteers to the needy date. Weare thankful that only once fields which waited their coming. has our school faced a dark map. In addition to the missionary offerings I< I< I< of our congregation whiCh amount to more than $6,000 a year, and thE Working in Two Parish"lI offerings of the Women's Missionary Society, our Sunday-school can readily A young pastor took charge of his meet its obligations for its world pro- first parish. The geography of his gram if we remember to give a little life had ended far short of his dreams more than we have been giving and as and expectations. He had thought to S. D. Gordon says, "Add to your bit serve in some far mission field. In- of money a bit of prayer." stead of an ocean voyage a short train journey only was required to bring Now our second dream is that some him to the home mission field in a day we may have a flesh and blood coal-mining section, to which he had representative from our church in been called. Instead of missing his each of our eleven fields, and some of opportunity he doubled it. With Liv- you may help this second dream to ingstone he discovered that" The end come true. of the geographical feat is the begin- ning of the missionary enterprise." SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENTS IN It seemed that the end of the geo- DESIGNATED GIVING graphical feat of his life was within a few miles of his birthplace, but it was . Actual experiences of individuals who have only the beginning of his missionary made special gifts, or who have enlisted enterprise. There was no doubt of the the interest of other gi'Jers, contain need and opportunity. in his own . many best method .•uggestions. parish and its outlying territory. As he met that he said to his people, "I "Our Lives Against Your Money. " can't be satisfied about not being in The words printed in letters clear the foreign field unless I know there enough to be read by everyone in the is some one else there whose work I great auditorium were flung out to a am helping to make possible." convention having an attendance of more than a thousand men. Quietly, earnestly and persistently he kept the subject before his people The streamer with its challenge was until the support of a second pastor held aloft by about a score of young was assumed for a foreign mission men and women who were volunteers parish. for missionary service but who were detained at home because there was no I< .. I< money with which to send them out. Opening Up a Foreign Branch Ofllce A wise committee, realizing that some expenditure of money is fre- ,. Why don't you extend your busiquently a requisite for obtaining more ness and open up a branch office in money, paid the expenses of these some foreign land Y" said the mission volunteers that they might attend this secretary to the man of big business. convention and present their own challenge. "Oh, we have a number of foreign offices," replied the man of big busi- After a genuine interest had been neSS. awakened by a .program presenting the call of God and the needs of the " Anything in Korea?" was the next question,-"I mean anything in the line of your Father's business. "
Then in a way that challenged the tax levied by designing officers of man of great affairs he told of a new mission station that should be opened synod. up. The result was that he opened up that entire station in Korea providing A young student returning home for all the equipment and the mis- from college arranged for the pres- …… sionaries needed. entation of a series of missionary sub- Giving a Missionary and Supporting jects during a period when the con- Him Too gregation was without a pastor. At In many instances the congregation or Sunday-school or class from which the closing meeting of the series he a missionary goes may be enlisted to support him by girts of money as well proposed that in addition to the regas through constant interest and prayer. ular gifts for missions the support of A young man from South Carolina a native evangelist in Japan should went to Japan. To the Young PeopIe's Society from which he went it be assumed. The amount required was another call of "My LHe Against Your Money." The members who was $1.25 a day. Pledging thirty days stayed at home pledged their gifts to provide his salary and the frequent himself, he asked for volunteers to communications between Japan and South Carolina resulted in deep in- make this worker" my missionary for terest and fine support on the part of South Carolina and a constant en- a day." . couragement and help to the representative in Japan. There were few people present who In another instance a member of a were not earning at least $1.25 a day. Business Woman's Council who accepted a call to home mission work Almost anyone of them would volunin the mountains of North Carolina was supported by the members of her teer to work for one day during the Council who remained at home. year in Japan if the difficulties and When a member of a Sunday-school class was commissioned for service in expense of transportation could be India, the seventeen other members of the class accepted the commission they eliminated. The idea of working a recognized in their own hearts to go with her through prayer and gifts, day or a week through this plan apand assumed her financial support with the promise that through their pealed to them. prayers they would work with her constantly. In rapid succession hands were My Mislionary for a Day raised with pledges for one, two, or This plan is not a new one but it is more days, for a week or two weeks, an effective one. When it was presented in one large and listless rural or a month until they had provided church it suggested a possibility hitherto unheard of. In that con- for the entire year. gregation the apportionment for mis- .. .. .. sions was considered a burdensome An X-ray for India For many years the doctors in charge of a mission hospital in India longed for an X-ray apparatus. At a missionary rally in Chicago one of the doctors who was on furlough men- tioned this need.
There was no begging for help, no impassioned appeal. She simply told of a need and an opportunity. At the close of the meeting a man came to her saying that he was a dealer in X-ray apparatus and would be very glad to donate a machine to her hospital.
The plain statement of facts and needs in meetings, large and small, and to individuals is one of the best of methods for enlisting special gifts.
At Work In Brooklyn, Auo In North Carolina A summer conference; an earnest group of young women delegates; a
statement that a girl from a mountain He Couldn't Stop mission church in North Carolina who In a Southern city lives a man who had never given away any money in had been in college last year would all of his life, that is, anything more than small change which he had in his not be able to return this year unless pocket when the collection plate was passed. some one provided for her expenses; A representative of a Mission Board a pledge from a young business wom- went to talk with him about larger possibilities of giving. He went in fear an of Brooklyn; a bright young girl and trembling, for his prospective host was known among his friends as back in second year in college training a man who would speak his mind on all occasions rather candidly and the for a life of service; a young woman mind that was in him at that time was not a giving mind. going happily to her business knowing To the amazement of the Board repthat she is at work in Brooklyn and resentative the information which he gave concerning the need and the opalso' in North Carolina every day- portunity in the mission field was re- ceived with an interest which seemed that is the sequence in a story of one to increase as he talked. When he 'presented the opportunity of taking • • special gift. • the full support of a missionary, to his great amazement his host said that "Standing By" he would like to do that, and forth- with wrote his check to cover the en- When a missionary started to Korea tire amount necessary for the first years ago an old college friend said, year's work. 'rhat check was written ,,Well, old friend, I won't forget ten years ago, and it has been followed every year by many others. Recently you." this man, who is now recognized as a Throughout the years he sent newsy, generous donor, said, "That man got me started and I can't stop." cheering home letters out to his friend in Korea. He seemed to have a He has contributed liberally to a marvelous way of understanding what splendid new church in a needy part his missionary friend needed most. of his own city, moved his own mem- Money, clothing, and other supplies bership to it and is standing back of followed the letters with an occasional it in every way. Lately he has gone shipment of candy for the missionary into the great business of giving family. During the years that have passed since those days of beginnings mountain boys an education through this donor has grown in wealth and in church schools. Already he has ingiving also. I,ast year he gave to one vested more than $300,000 in the church enterprise $75,000 and this Lord's work, since the writing of that year he has added $100,000 to his first check ten years ago, and now he designated giving. One gift built a is laying all of his plans to invest school in China, another a missionary about $3,000,000 more in the Lord's home in Korea. In the meantime the work. He is trying to sell a skydormitory of a mountain school has scraper and a bank which is housed been erected and many other gifts in it that he may put the proceeds made for designated purposes. from the sale into building Christian character. His own time and energy His right hand has not known what are being devoted to that Christ-like his left hand was doing and scarcely work. Under the process the man himanyone knows him as a generous giver. He has never been impoverished by his large gifts and reminds one always of the man of whom it was said: , 'A man there was, some called him mad, The more he gave the more he had."
He began his giving with small sums very early in life before he had great possessions. Now he is a very wealthy man and his gifts run into hundreds of thousands.
sell' h~s grown toward the full stature books of their own selection. This of Christ. plan preserves the pleasant element of surprise in the gift; insures that only " II " desirable books shall be sent; fur- nishes the books to the missionary at The Solution Offered by a Chicago such times and in such quantities as he can best use them; keeps such a Church for the Book Problem of long list of books before the church- members as to make it possible for It. Foreign Pastor in Korea them to find among them some that are already in their own libraries or One of the great problems of the some books they would love to "j:my missionary's life is how to keep fitphysically, mentally, and spiritually. and read before sending; and builds Nor is keeping fit mentally the least up for the missionary a library that of these three difficulties. The number of those who pursue any syste- is always up-to-date and available for matic method of continued mental de- his own use and the use of other misvelopment from their school days sionaries near him. Thus the gift of throughout life is few in any land, but a book becomes like the "gift of there is perhaps more excuse for the mercy, thrice blessed "-it blesses the neglect when one lives in a foreign donor, the recipient, and all his mismission land where the work is exact- sionary friends who may read it. ing and arduous; the literature such as there is in a foreign tongue; op- Are there not many other churches portunities for stimulating social con- in America that will welcome such a tact very limited; books and maga- chance to be of real service to their zines expensive; and public libraries missionary, and through him to the entirely lacking. In the midst of such work he is doing 1-E:Echange. environment and conditions the missionary must depend largely upon his mLE BOOKS WANTED determined effort in reading and studying good books and magazines, In many places there is a famine of good but even if he has the determination, literature while elsewhere therA is a surplus. and jealously guards his time, he still Idle hooks and unused magazines that clut· has the problem of getting books and tel' shelves in many homes and lihraries, magazines. No one, besides himself, might, with little trouble, be sent to bring is more vitally interested in the well- light and joy and blessing to homes and being of a missionary than the church churches that are in need. A letter from a in America that has undertaken his missionary in the Ozark Mountains, Arkan· support. Here in one place the sas, says: church can help him. "Our little communities have no reading It is common for such churches to matter except an occasional paper or cheap furnish magazines, either new ones or book. If we only bad a few good books to second-hand ones, forwarded after start a cirCUlating library-especially of they have been read, but the Buelll simple, inspirational books-it would be a Memorial Church, of Chicago, Illinois, great boon. No better work could be done during the past year has undertaker for this people." to supply good books in various fields of interest for its missionary in Seoul, Many people in the southern mountains in addition to the magazines it sends. and on the western plains and many Chris· In response to such an offer the mis- tian workers in isolated mission !'Jtations in sionary sends long lists of books that America and in foreign fields have no li· he desires, adding year by year to the braries accessible, and their salaries are too list new books as they come to his at- small to buy books. They need all kinds of tention, and from this list the mem- interesting, helpful literature-biography, bers of the Buena Church send popular science, history, essays, fiction with throughout the year from time to high moral tone, travel and general. religious time, and only in such amounts as the books that stimulate faith and Christian missionary can really read and. digest, living.
If any reader will write a card to the office of the REVIEW, stating the kind of books or papers they have to give away, we will gladly send the addresses of Christian workers to whom such literatur.6 may be sent. .EDITOR;
Woman's Foreign Mission
EDITED BY MIss ELLA D. MACLAURIN, 25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY CHRISTIAN WOMEN AND THE women who are vitally in touch with the problems. The next hour of the WORLD TODAY session will be spent in full and free discussion of the topic. Among those By GERTRUDE SOHULTZ who will lead in the ,presentation and in the discussion will be the following: The annual meeting of the Federation of Woman's Boards of Foreign Mrs. Thomas Nicholson Missions will be held in Vernon !Worn, Mrs. Charles K. Roys Haddon Hall, Atlantic City, January Mrs. Robert E. Speer 10th and 11th. The Executive Com- Mrs. Daniel J. Fleming mittee will meet the afternoon and Miss Mary Dingman (London) evening of January 9th at the same Mrs. Katherine Willard Eddy (Japan) place. The first public meeting will Mrs. J. H. Warnshuis (India) be held Sunday afternoon at 2: 30 Mrs. Frank Gaylord OOok o'clock, with Mrs. E. H. Silverthorn, Miss Margaret Burton President of the Federation, presid- Mrs_ Hm-man Butler ing. The underlying theme of the Dr. William Paton (India) meeting will be: Dr. A. L. Warnshuis.
• A large group of missionaries, Board members and secretaries will be THE SPIRITUAL FELLOWSHIP AND RE- present to help with the discussions.
SOURCES OF CHRISTIAN WOMEN A group of Oriental women will be the guests of the Federation: IN FACING: Miss Tze of China I. The Missionary Enterprise in Miss Grace Yang of China Relation to World Peace. Miss Esther Kantayya of India.
II. The Present Situation in China. The formal reports of the w.ork of III. International Relationships and the Federation will be presented to the Executive Committee so that the Prejudice. business of the Federation may be IV. Industrialism as It Affects the put through rapidly in order to give the time for the discussion of these Work for Women and Chil- very vital world problems. dren. V. The Contribution of Youth to The officers of the Federation feel This Enterprise. that these problems are of such vital importance to the future of all the A whole session will be given to missionary work being done by womeach one of these vitally important en that most serious consideration problems facing Christian women to- should be given to them. The Chrisday. The first forty-five minutes of each session will be given to the presentation of the topic by men and FROM 9: 30 TO 12: 30 SUNDAY MORNING THERE WILL BE HELD A RE- TREAT FOR THE MISSIONARIES, OFFIC'ERS, MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, PRESIDENTS OR CHAIRMEN OF LOCAL FEDERATIONS, NA- TIONALS FROM MANY COUNTRIES, AND ALL P"&RSONS TA"KlN'G PART IN THE PROGRAM. A CORDIAL INVITATION IS EXTENDED TO THE OFFICERS, MISSION- ARIES AND SPEAKERS ON THE PROGRAM OF THE FOREIGN MISSIONARY CON- FERENCE, WHICH FOLLOWS IMMEDIATELY ON THE CLOSE OF THE MEETINGS OF THE FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S FOREIGN BOARDS OF NORTH AMERIC'A.
55
t.ian women of the world are facing mean real progress in the advance- TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITIES and rtl- ment of Christ's Kingdom. sponsibilities; only as they unitedly face these problems can real results The result of this meeting should be achieved. Toget.her these repre- be far reaching, for the recommenda- tions of the Findings Committee will sentatives of the Christian women of be sent to all local Federations and the Occident and the Orient will face to every mission Board for consideranot only the problems, but the great tion and action. Every Christian woman who can possibly arrange to undeveloped SPIRITUAL RESOURCES be at Atlantic City for these days is available for the solution of these urged to be present. problems. Such a meeting should JOINT HOME AND FOREIGN MISSION PLANS SUGGESTED PROGRAMS FOR A possible. Have a roll-call or pro- YOUNG PEOPLE'S MEETING cessional. 10. Have plenty of ushers, leaders of under the auspices of a music and good ventilation. 11. Do not take a collection, but make WOMEN'S CHURCH: AND M:!SSJONA.R.Y plans to follow up the meeting with FFDElLATION a service project which will appeal to the young people; and stimulate These programs are suggestive merely and may a >desire to give. be adapted to suit the spec.ifio community. The II. Meeting. two may be cO!llbined if desirable. 1. Procession."l hymn-I IWe march, Suggested Program Number One we march to victory.'"
1. Preparation for the meeting. 2. Scripture reading in unison-Psalm 1 or Psalm 103. 1. Invite cooperation of city officers S. Prayer, closing with the Lord's of Young Men's Christian Associa- Prayer. tion, Young Women's Christian As- sociation, Young People's Union, 4. Brief introductory word from the Christian Endeavor, E p w 0 r t h Women's Federatbn, expressing the League, Guilds, etc., calling a meet- interest of the church in youth, the ing of such officers for help in ar- need for the cooperation of young ranging date, methods of promo- people in all religious problems, tion, and suggestions for the pro- and the desire to have the help of gram. Have a responsible chairman the young people of the community_ chosen by this group to work with the Federation's committee, as well 5. Theme of meeting: "Our Town- as members to serve on the various Our Part In It. n committees of arrangements for the meeting. USE YOu;N"G PEOPLE A. Speech-"What a fine town we have," by the Mayor or some TO HELP PLAN THE MEE1l'ING AND other public official.
PR.OMOTE IT. B. Some questions-" Is there any- thing that could be better in our 2. Begin preparations a long time in town among the unprivileged advance. groups r" (These could be 3. Plan the meeting for and with given by a number of people, each outlining briefly a com- young people, and not about young munity problem.) people. • .C. Answers from young people themselves. Brief talks giving 3. Be willing to try experiments in some way to meet each of the problems outlined under B. arrangement of church or hall, D. "What can we do to helpf" Practical Buggestions either by music, program, etc. one person or by many, or free discussion, if possible. 5. Divide up the work of preparation, E. Summary of discussion, and challenge to youth to find the but hold frequent meetings to re- way of Christ for the solution of the problems in question. ceive reports and cheek up on the (Brief talk by a church leader of young people_) progress made. F. Hymn. G. Prayer. 6. Enlist the cooperation of the pas- tors, and form prayer groups of those interested in young people.
7. Use all denominational agencies for pUblicity and promotion_ 8. Have posters displayed in all churches, with full information as to date, place, program and ar- rangements_ 9. Provide for group seating and sing- ing, with banners or standards, if
WOMAN '8 HOME AND FOREIGN BULLETINS
III. Other themes for such a meeting. organization, closing with the Mizpah Benediction led by the Chairman. 1. What young people arc doing in other lands. FOOT~OTE ~ Be sure your facts are up-to-date. Procure the latest information from the head.. 2. Debate on religious education and quarters of the various denominations. the best methods of securing it. STANDARDS FOR CONFERENCES 3. Poster contest on mission studY AND SCHOOLS OF MISSIONS textbooks and address by sOln'e missionary author on the "Power Affiliated with the of Missionary Books." COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR 4. Summer prog~ams, conferences, etc., HOME MISSIONS and what they offer to young peo· pIe. Opportunities for summer and the service. FEDERATION OF WOMAN'S 5. The race problem in our country BOARDS OF FOREIGN AlIS- and in the eommunity in which we SIONS OF NORTH live. Can we :find a Christian solu· AMERICA tion, and how can we as young peo· pIe have a share in iH (Discussion Affiliation based on a preliminary survey of the race problem in the community, An interdenominational Confer- and, the contribution which each ence or School of Missions which has race is making to the life of the three or more cooperating denomina- town.) tions whose Women's Boards are Con- stituent Boards of the Council of 6. A study of the signi:ficance of stu· Women for Home Missions may be- dent movements in Europe, India, come affiliated with the Council upon China, Japan, and the United recommendation of the Committee on States, in their bearing upon pres· Schools of Missions. ent international problems. What would be the effect of a world·wide An interdenominational Confer- movement of. Christian young peo· ence or School of Missions which has pIe to change or improve interna' three or more cooperating .denomina- tional relations f tions whose Women's Boards are affiliated with the Federation of 7. What is the responsihility of the Woman's Boards of Foreign Missions young people of today in the move· may become affiliated with the Fed- ment for international peace Y eration upon recommendation of the Committee on Conferences and Suggested Program Number Two Schools of Missions.
1. "Fling Out the Banner." Processional For affiliation with the Council and carrying Christian flags and flag or pen· Federation, application should be nant of each organization. made to the headquarters of each or- ganization. 2. Scripture Reading-Psalm 67. 3. Prayer. Committees of the Federation and 4. Greetings by the President of the Feder· Council ation. The Committees of the Council and 5. Theme: ' 'What Christian Young People Federation have for their purpose the rendering of every possible service Are Doing in Other Lands." to the Schools in their efforts toward bringing the sessions to the highest a. A Symposium, each country presente.l point of efficiency, by suggesting by a chosen perSOIL from the respective teachers and leaders upon request, organizations. and by aiding in the advancement of all the interests of the SchooL What Christian Young People are do· ing in Each School is entirely independ- (1) Europe (4) India ent in the management of its meetings (2) China (5) Africa (3) Japan (6) Latin America (10 minutes each. Chairman keep each within time limit.) Or an address on this subject if someone who is really informed can be secured. A missionary Play be available.
b. Song-" 0 Zion Haste."
c. What are the great tasks which Amer· ican, European and Oriental youth must carry through together to pro· duce a truly ,Christian world' (Ad. dress or discussion.) d. Short prayers by one chosen from each
and in the preparation of its pro- tbe Dean, the records of regisgram. tration by classes. (6) Lectures or Addresses: Appropriation Popular presentation of mis- When a School affiliated with the sions. Council needs financial assistance for (7) Time: the purpose of securing a teacher for the home mission textbook, the Coun- Five days, not including Suncil will grant $50 per year upon re- day. quest, this assistance to be maintained for a period not to exceed three years. 2. Maximum: (1) Committee: Conferences and Sr;hool of Missions The managing Board or Com- mittee to be composed of repre- I. Objectives: sentatives from at least three evangelical denominations, ap- Training leaders for tbe missionary pro- pointed or approved by tbeir re- gram of tbe Church. spective Boards. (2) Bible Study: Promoting intelligent Bible study. At least four courses helpful Developing missionary technique. in developing the spiritual life Developing cooperation among women of •the individual and in pre· paring for tbe devotional pe- and girls in the churches. riods in tbe regular missionary Promoting interdenominational fellow· meetings of women, young wom- en, 'teen age groups and chil- ship. dren. Stimulating discussion of national and (3) Graded Missionary Instruction: a. Two·hour normal class, international problems. using the group method of Christianizing race relations. teaehing, for those who are to prepare to teach or promote II. Standards: study classes, and a sufficient number of classes so that not The following "minimum standard" is more than thirty are registered the basis of affiliation witb the Fed- in each class. eration and Council. There should be classes of this type for leaders who ex- 1. Minimum: pect to teach. 1. The Adult book, (1) Committee: 2. The Senior book, 3. The Intermediate book, The managing Board or Com- 4. The Jnnior book. b. Discussion groups for mittee to be composed of rep' those not preparing to teach. (4) Methods: resentatives from at least three Courses for leaders of the fol- lowing missionary groups: evangelical denominations, ap- a. Women's Societies, b. Young Women '8 So- pointed or approved: by their cieties, c. 'Teen age groups, respective Boards. d. Children's groups. (5) Addresses by missionaries or (2) Bible Study: others: a. On Missions, A course helpful in develop- b. On tbemes allied to the textbooks of the year. ing the spiritual life of the in- (6) Forums: The holding of at least one dividual and in preparing for forum which shall demonstrate the technique and practice of the devotional periods in the this method. (7) Dramatics: regular missionary meetings of Technique and practice. (8) Story Telling: the women, young women, 'teen Technique and practice. (9) Faculty: age groups and ehildren. a. Experienced leaders i 11 Bible, mission stu d y and (3) Mission Study: methods.
One-hour discussion groups or two-hour normal classes, daily, based on the textbooks of the year.
(4) Methods: Classes for leaders in women's societies and in young wom- en's or junior organizations.
(5) Faculty: a. Experienced leaders in Bible, mission study and meth- ods.
b. A Dean who shall assist delegates in the selection of courses and shall keep in touch with clasa registration to see that all attend classes bes~ adapted to their needs. .
c. A Registrar who shall su- pervise," in collaboration with
WOMAN'S HOME AND FOREIGN BULLETINS
b. A Dean who shall assist carefully c h 0 sen leadership. delegates in the selection of F'aculty as for adult school. eonrSeB and shall keep in touch (11) Time: with class registration to see that all attend classes best a. A day for preliminary adapted to their needs. conference of the leaders.
c. A Registrar who shall b. Seven to ten days, ineIud· supervise, m collaboration with ing Sunday. One day for regis· the Dean, the records of regis· tration, opening sessions of tration by classes. classes, etc., followed by six (10) Young Women's Department: days of regular class sessions.
Camp or other activity with c. Periods not less than forty·five minutes.
Woman's Home Mission Bulletin EDITED BY FLORENOE E. QUINLAN, 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK IN EVERYTHING BY PRAYER lowship in prayer, for inspiration to- Last month the section of the Wom- ward further service, and those who an's Bulletin devoted to foreign mis- are representing you in the various sions carried an announcement by Mrs. Montgomery telling of the ob- mission fields will be deprived of the servance of ~he Day of Prayer for help the united intercession would Missions to be held on February 19tb. have been to them. Shall we send Mrs. Montgomery modestly did not them forth and not uphold their state that she is the author of the pro- hands T Do we believe in the power gram. It was thought most fitting of prayer T Let no one interested in missions fail to do her part on Febthis year when Prayer and MissiO'nS ruary 19th.
by her is one of the current study EACH DAY books to have her prepare the pro- Into the basket of thy day gram for this next observance of the Put each thing bright and each thing gay united Day of Prayer for Missions: That thou canst find upon thy way.
In Everything by Prayer is the title Neglect no joy, however small, of the program. And it shall verily befall A Call to Prayer has also been The day can scarcely hold them all.
printed, as usual, for preliminary use, Within the basket of thy day the chairman of the Joint Committee, Let nothing evil find its way, Mrs. S. S. Hough, having prepared And let no frets or worries stay.
this card. Wide use of the card helps So shall each day be brave and fair, much toward a successful observance. Holding of joy its happy share, And finding blessmgs everywhere. It is most advisable that orders for both card and program be placed -PRISCILLA LEONARD.
early with your denominational head- FACING THE FACTS; FACING quarters, for each year some aTe dis- THE FUTURE appointed when they send belated orders to find that the supply is ex- The Home Missions Council and hausted and there is not sufficient time Council of Women for Home Mis- to reprint. The card is sent :tree in sions have taken this as the theme for quantity by most boards; a few their Annual Meeting, which this charge postage. The program is 2) year is to be held in St. Louis, J an- cents each, $1.50 per 100. uary 21st-25th; and is to include a If no plans have yet been made for National Missions Conference, such interdenominational observance of the as was held in Rochester, N. Y., and day in your community, call up the in Dayton, Ohio. In each case these leaders in the various communions National Conferences are planned and see if arrangements cannot be and carried through in cooperation macle for such a meeting. You will with the local Council of Churches or be missing. a real opportunity for fel- Church Federation.
As usual, most of the sessions of Council of Women for Home Misthe Annual Meeting will be jointly sions. The fundamental Problems of conducted by the Home Missions Migration will be presented Friday Council and Council of Women for evening. Other possible items of joint Home Missions. All sessions, except endeavor will also be discussed. two when technical executive matters will be discussed, will be open to the The Church Federation of St. Louis public and as large an attendance as requested especially that one session possible 'will be welcomed. be given to a review of the St. Louis Church Survey made by Dr. Paul While this announcement goes to Douglass. This will occur on Saturpress before plans are perfected, they day. On Saturday, also, in accordhave progressed far enough to indi- ance with the plans of the local cate most interesting addresses and Women's Missionary Federation the discussions on vital matters. After Day of Prayer for Missions will be separate sessions of the two Councils observed, instead of on February on Thursday, January 21st, all will 19th. come together for a dinner, after which Dr. Charles L. White, Presi- Saturday evening representatives dent of the Home Missions Council, from the Interdenominational Stuwill address the gathering on "The dent Conference held in Evanston, Greatness of' the Task," and Mrs. IlL, Dec. 2'9th-Jan. 1st, will tell of John Ferguson, President of the the Contribution of Youth through Council of Women for Home Mis- the Church to Present Day Needs, Sions, on "The Oneness of the Task." followed by an address by Dr. John Other addresses at this dinner will McDowell on the same general topic. emphasize the necessity of confidence in and loyal obedience and devotion Ample time for discussion will be to our Lord and Master. allowed throughout the sessions.
Friday afternoon will be devoted to On the Sabbath, visiting delegates the various activities now being car- -both men and women-will fill ried on cooperatively by the Boards 'many of the pulpits of the city, mornthrough the Councils. A great lack ing and evening. Meetings are being of religious books for the blind hav- t>lanned for Sunday afternoon and ing been evidenced, the Councils have Monday. Hotel Buckingham will be during the past year printed the fir~t headquarters, the sessions being held of what it is hoped will be a series of in the assembly rooms of the hotel. books in braille. Fittingly at this afternoon session the devotional read- Consisting of the Boards of twentying will be by a blind person. The eight denominations, and having sucproviding of Religious Work Direc- cessfully launched various pieces of tors in Government Indian Schools is actual cooperative service, it was felt another cooperative project and it is that now all should together face the expected that Mr. Isaac Greyearth. a facts-the facts of need, of opportu- Sioux who serves as one of these Di- nity, of service–and then face the rectors, will tell of this work. The futwre and determine goals, discuss functioning of the Bureau of Refer- methods, and bend energies to acence for Migrating People, the follow- complish the desired end-the bringup of Protestant Immigrants, another ing in of the Kingdom in all its fullof the joint activities, will be ex- ness here in the homeland for the sake plained. of America and of the world.
One of the most interesting phases It ain't the guns nor armaments, of missionary service of late years has been the work among Farm and Can- Nor the funds that we can pay, nery Migrants which is conducted by the women's boards through the But the close cooperation that makes us win the day.
It ain't the individual, nor the army as a whole, But the everlastin' teamwork of every bloomin' soul. -KIPLING.
FROM .MANY
!
Protestants of the Earth dale's New Testament in English was the theme for Universal Bible Sunday STATISTICS presented to the on December 6, 1925. Tyndale's Stockholm Conference on Chris- translation shaped the whole course tian Life and Work give the total of succeeding translations of the New Protestant population of the earth lis Testament. A circular on Tyndale 195,100,000. The Protestant popula- may be obtained free on application tion of the British empire is reckoned to the National Association of Book at 46,900,000, divided as follows: Publishers, 334 Fifth Ave., New Anglican, 28,600,000; .Free Churches, York, N. Y., or to the American Bible 800,000; Church of Scotland, 2,700,- Society. 000; United Free Church of Scotland, 1,500,000; Irish Presbyterians, 800,- "Rid the World, of Leprosy!" 000; Canadian Presbyterians, 1,400,- 000; Canadian Methodists, 1,100,000; WITH this slogan, William M. Canadian Baptists, 400,000; Canadian Danner, General Secretary of the Lutherans, 200,000; Church of Aus- ~<.merican Mission to Lepers, startoo. tralia, 1,600,000; Church of South September 16th on a round-the-world Africa, 600,000. In continental Eu- tour. The Mission, coope.rating as it rope the P.rotestant population is said has done for many years with deto be: Germany, 40,300,000; Switzer- nominational boards of foreign misland, 2,200,000; Holland, 3,600,000; sions, has established a chain of nearly France, 1,400.000; Denmark, 3,200,- a hundred leper asylums in lands 000; Norway, 2,300,000; Sweden, where the afiiiction is most severe. 5,700,000; Finland, 3,300,000; Esthonia, 1,000,000; Latvia, 1,500,000; Mr. Danner carried letters of intro- Russia, 1JOO,000; Lithuania, 200,000; duction from the Japanese Ambassa- Poland, 1,500,000; Czechoslovakia, dor and the Chinese Minister at 2,100,000; Austria, 300,000; Hun- Washington, which will secure him gary, 3,600,000; Roumania, 1,300,- access to the strongest statesmen in 000. The same figures give the Prot- these two countries. In Siam he will estant population of the United States seek an audience with the King, who as 74,500,000. personally founded the extensive pub- lic leper asylum in its capital city. These figures are probably over- Bangkok. He will bring to the attengenerous to the Protestants. They are tion of all the officials he meets the based on an estimate of about one excellent results that have been obhundred and fifty per cent sympa- tained from Hegregation of lepers in thizers or adherents to Protestantism Hawaii and the Philippines, as well in addition to the actual members of as in the United States. If he can Protestant Churches. This would induce them even to begin on the mean only about 75,000,000 Pirotes- American policy the end of the histant communicants or open confessors toric scourge could be said to be in of Jesus Christ as their Lord and sight, since quarantine on a national Saviour. They number about one in scale would stop the infection of new twenty oil the earth's population. victims.
The Gospel by Mail to Je….. T THE The Tyndale Centenary HE four-hundredth anniversary of British Society for the Propathe publication of William Tyn- gation of the Gospel among the 61
JOews, believing that to most Jews the 7. Spend twice as much for school Bnd Bible, especially the New Testament, edacation as for church and reli· is "a hidden book, " carries on "postal gious interBats. 8. :Spend eleven times as much on crime mission work," that is, sending and its punishment as on church through the post copies of the New and religious interests. Testament chiefly, in part or whole, 9. Waste $19 for every $1 they spend on to Jewish families on the five conti- church and religious interests. 10. Spend $,29 on luxuries for every $1 nents of the earth. The first batch of given to church and religious in· postal packets was sent out from terests.
° Liverpool, in November, 1910, and If our Christian people could be others have been sent at least three made to realize what these figures times a year, ever since. With each mean, and to set resolutely toward gospel or New Testament there is en- making a change in them fw the bet- closed also an introductory note which ter, then certainly the 48,224,000 reads in part as follows; church members gathered in the 237,- This is a message from God to you. Do 945 churches in our country should not turn a deaf ear to it. Like your Scrip. have influence and power enough to tures it was written by a holy man of God, start something worth while.
moved by the Holy Ghost, written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ (the :M.essiah) the Son of God, and that believing America.n Bible Society A you might have life through His Name. In T its l09th annl1al meeting in May, this great society, which Him and Him alone is pardon, peace, hope and heaven . . . Read, therefore, believe has more than 3,000 workers scattered and be saved.
all over the world, reported encour- NORTH AMERICA aging growth along many lines. The The United States Dollar total issues for the year amounted to THE Year Book of the Young Men's 6,652,299 volumes 'and were in 172 Christian Association for 1925 languages and dialects and Scriptures for the blind. In the Arabic-Levant deals with the American dollar and Agency the work of manufacturing Arabic Scriptures has proceeded at a how it is spent. According to the greatly accelerated pace. The total American Education Digest, here is for the year was more than,twice the the accounting; Cents Living costs •…………. 24% number manufactured in ] 923, and 22 t.hree and one third times the annual Luxuries •••………….. 14 average. All printing of the Scrip- Waste …•…………… tures for the Levant Agency is now Miscellaneous ………… . 13% Investment ………….. . 11 Crime ……………… . S% being done at the American Press in Beirut and for the first time in its Government …………. . 4% history a representative of the Amer- ican Bible Society, lVIr. S. T. Cassapi, Schools ………..•…… I1h is living in Beirut and supervising the work. In China, the three Bible Church .•……………. 0% Societies-the British and Foreign, From these figures the compiler of the Year Book draws the deductions that the people of the United States; 1. Spend nearly as much for luxuries as the National Bible Society of Scot- for living costs. land and the American Bible Society 2. Spend one half as much for invest· ment as for luxuries. –have cooperated in the publication of an edition of Scriptures with 3. Waste more than one half as much as what is termed a "common title it costs to live.
4. Spend only one :fifteenth as much for page."
school and education as for lux· uries. 5. Waste nine times as much as they Y. M. C. A. Help for Strangers S spend on school and education. TRANGERS in strange lands- whether they be Japanese; Ger- 6. Spend six times as much for crime and its punishment as for school man, French; Polish, West Indian, and education.
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
African or American-find the nu- possible effort to perfect the necessary merous difficulties of travel made organization of those world forces easier by the service which the Y. M. whereby the people of our time and C. A. extends to them. In the fourth- of succeeding generations shall be able floor backroom of a Chicago tenant, a to reach agreements and to adjust new arrival from Poland has framed grievances. " the "Y" introduction card, which helped him so much all along his Tract Society Centennial Fund wearisome way, and has scrawled under it in Polish: "Trust the Y. M. THE American Tract Society, which C. A. It is your best friend!" The has printed and distributed in all Y. M. C. A. was the first organization 815,669,200 pieces of Christian literto promote service among foreigners ature, and which celebrated its cenon a world·wide basis. Its activities tennial last May, now appeals to the now extend to most European and public for $200,000 with which to Oriental countries, frontier towns, start its second century of service. fifteen strategic ports of embarkation, The present work of the society ten ports of entry, and several hun- stresses particularly the .Christian dred cities of destination. Even on .'.meriminization of the thousands of shipboard, the hours are enlivened by foreigners who come to America each games started by Y. M. C. A. repre- year. Through its colporteur at Ellis sentatives. During the last six months Island, it gives out Christian books of 1924 special migration secretaries and tracts and books on Americanizaat the British ports alone have dis- tion in many languages, and it distributed nearly 14,000 cards and tributes in the great foreign centers letters of introduction and sent more of America tracts and books in twenthan 10,000 letters regarding emigra- ty-seven languages, and hymnals in tion cases. During the same period ten languages. over 4,000 people of thirty-nine different nationalities were assisted in The sum of $200,000 which is the numerous ways at Ellis Island. goal of the Centennial Fund Cam- paign of the American T.ract Society Dett'oit Congre.. on Peace is to be used to develop and increase colporteur service among the foreign THE chief message of the tenth an- groups in New England; to endow nual meeting of the American the Spanish !:lunday-school periodical, Council of the World Alliance for In· Man-zan-as de Oroj to republish the ternational Friendship Through the "Self-Explaining Bible" with notes, Churches, held in Detroit, Mich., No- and t.he pocket Bible; to print new vember 10-12, 1925 and announced tracts in English, more books in foras "A Congress on Peace and Secur- eign 'languages, and foreign hymnals ity," consisted in an appeal to all in five different languages. churches and all citizens to obtain congressional approval this winter for White and Negro "Y" Seoretaries American adherence to the World Court. The congress also asked that A PRACTICAL demonstration of committees in all churches arrange the Christian spirit in race relafor study classes on "how the prin- tions, which was given at the re,cent ciples of the gospel may be applied to annual meeting of Y. M. C. A. secreinternational and racial relation- t.aries has received little attention exships" and urged all pastors to "lay cept in the Negcl."o press,' where it has especial emphasis in their preaching heen greeted with deep appreciation. on the unity of mankind," with par- During these meetings in other years ticular reference to Japan and China. secretaries of the colored department One of the resolutions adopted read: of the Associa.tion have roomed at "It is clearly our duty to exert every hotels conducted by Negroes for Negro patrons. LaSt year the feeling was strongly expressed that arrangements
should be made so that colored and but they are practicing unity in these white workers could be accommodated ways that will make a united church in the same hotels. .An effort was possible in time."
made to arrange this with the hotel- keepers of Atlantic City, but when Santee Indian School the secretaries reached their meeting F OR fifty-five years the American this year they found the old segrega- Missionary Association (Congregation perpetuated. Whereupon eight tional) has been conducting a school white secretaries of the Student De- at Santee, Okla., and F. B. Riggs repartment took up their residence in ports that the last year has been the the colored hotel where their Negro best of all. He says: ' ,We pursue all fellow-secretaries were, perforce, staying. Two of the men who took this the studies that are taught the public step were Southerners. Chrisiian schools. Besides those, of course, we 1Vork comments: "These student sec- teach subjects that are especially retaries deserve all the praise whicb necessary to our main purpose as a has been given them. They have made missionary school for the training of it harder to maintain segregation in future avowedly religious gather- Indian leaders. Our academic limit ings. " was only the tenth grade. Now this year, we have advanced to the elev- enth and are on the way to become a full-:fl.edged accredited high school Ohri.tlan Ohinese Uniting next year. This year our Indian stu- ~~THE steady growth of a r-eal dents made marked improvement in youtll movement looking toward studying, in dass recitation, and in general reading. We excel other Inunity in the religious work of the San dian schools in vocal music. We give Francisco Chinese community and toward initiative and responsibility in non-sectarian religious instruction in all our grades. And for non-resident social service," is reported in The. students we have a correspondence American Missionary, which says: school, seven courses in the Dakota "In one of the Chinese mission build- Indian language (Sioux) and three ings of San Frnncisco generously courses in English. Our Bible corgranted for such use by a mission respondence school is rapidly improvboard, the younger Chinese of several ing." denominations are carrying on a very significant work to serve the community in educational, social and reCir"ea- LATINAMERIOA tional activities. This includes a Chi- A :ali.donary Appointed Mayor D nese language school, a society 'for R. EUGENE A. MacCORNAGK training in chorus work, a society fOJ of Whitehall, Wisconsin, a med- amateur dramatics, and the regular ical missionary of the Methodist Epis- work of Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, copal Church, who served as superin- besides frequent union social and reli- tendent of the British-American gious meetings. All these activities Hospital in Lima, Peru, has been ap- which could scarcely develop to any pointed alcalde or mayo;r- of the city great strength in a single small church of Callao by President A. B. Leguia.
are flourishing as the young people get The president of the republic and a together in this way. The competition score of congressmen and other gov- of the purely secula;r- organizations of ernmental officials have had members the Chinese community, on the one of their families treated in this hos- hand, and of the strong Catholic mis- pital. It is also giving medical serv- sion, on the other, make it clear to ices to several thousand needy poor.
most of the Christian Chinese of the Dr. MacCornack is the first North Protestant churches that they must American to be appointed mayor of a work together more and more. They Peruvian community, and probably are not yet ;ready for a united church, the first appointed anywhere in South
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
America. He has recently received to time we receive visits from wealthy the degree of Doctor of Medicine from farmers, often fanatical, and coming San Marcos University, Peru, the old- a distance of several hundreds of est university of the Western Hemi- miles, solely to buy pure-bred animals sphere. It is unusual to grant this and grain. They bring a whole retinue degree to physicians from the United with them-·Indians, foremen and States. It will enable the doctor and under-men-and often they have to his staff to carryon their work in stay several days. But during that Peru with the full sanction of the time they not only purchase cattle; Government. they hear the Gospel preached, and see for themselves the change that has Conditions in Central America taken place in the Indian Christians; t.ake note of the characters and capa- REV. R. R. GREGORY, secretary bilities of our lads and children; out of the Caribbean Agency of the of curiosity enter the school; and, led American Bible Society, thus sums up to acknowledge the po'<ver of the Gosthe impressions he gained in a recent pel in the lives of many, they are won tour of thirteen weeks in Central over to a new view of Christianity, America: "On the one hand, saloons and gladly accept a copy of the hereare doing a flourishing business; too tie's Book, and the printed message of many still believing that governments salvation.' , cannot be run without the license tax money. '1'he movie picture business On the Brazilia.n Frontier is a veritable gold mine in these irCpublics. American capital is making FROM the town of Patroeinio, bigger success of raising bananas and whieh is called "the frontier staswelling dividends, than in building tion of the Western Brazil Mission" np men and women in character. of the Southern Presbyterian Church, Everybody is in love with the Amer- Mrs. Alva Hardie writes: "There has ican dollar, and it circulates freely been strong opposition from the first side by side with the currency of the on the part of the priest and good various republics. On the other hand, Catholics. "'INe are denied the press, the Church in Central America has but every week the little paper, City never faced such opportunities for of Patrocinio, is filled with articles advancement a13 she faces there today. against Luther, Calvin, the Reforma- Evangelical missions are everywhere tion, non-Catholic schools, Protestants undermanned and underfinanced. in general. In every way they seek There is little diffi,culty in establishing to turn the people away, not in the private schools. Pupils abound-all least minding the use of gross unthat is needed is money and teachers. truths put in strong language. Never The Central American people are ap- has the town been so religious! Durpreciative of genuine help and friend- ing May, the month set aside for the ship, and, in a larger measure than exclusive worship of Mary, a proceswe give them credit, are capable of sion took place solely and expressly absorbing our best. More Bibles are as an insult to the Protestants here. being circulated this year in Central I did not believe this when I heard America than ever befro-e." it, for I could not conceive of a reli- gious ceremony being used to insult Missionary Farm in Peru anyone! But the weekly paper pub- lished the fact; triumphantly an- F ORTY miles from Cuzco, Peru, is nouncing this brilliant achievement! the Urco Farm conducted by Mr. There are now twenty preaching and Mrs. T. E. Payne, of the Evan- points in our field which is as large <IS gelical Union of South America. Mrs. the state of South Carolina. Only two Payne writes: "Let me tell you how of these points can be reached by the agricultural part of the work helps train." the spread of the Gospel. From time 5
EUROPE markets and fairs; also during the summer months two gospel tents visit Plight ot European Protestants the different parts of the country, reaching many communities where the REV. GEORGE STEWART, D.D., Gospel has never been heard. Some associate minister of the Madison of the most fruitful stations are the Ave. Presbyterian Church, New York, permanent outcome of these summer pictures in an article in Current His- tent visitations. During the past year tory the plight of the Protestant in Belgium 373,117 copies of Scripchurches in Europe. They have suf- tures and gospel literature have been fered a "series of unprecedented distributed. calamities." Three great communions, the Evangelical Lutherans of Active ProtestantisJD in Italy Germany, the Roman Catholics in the Dual Monarchy, and the Greek Ortho- REV. PIETRO S. MONCADA, an dox Church in Russia, have been evangelical pastor, reminds those pushed off the raft of state subsidy who are disposed to think of Italy as and told to swim for themselves in a entirely a Roman Catholic country, stormy sea. The inflation of currency that "from the Alps to the last point has wiped out all endowments, not of Sicily and Sardinia, in every city only for local churches, but for mis- and in the small villages there are sionary enterprises, colleges, theo- churches and missions, elementary logical seminaries, hospitals, and and secondary schools, hospitals and orphanages. Dr. Stewart says that charitable institutions, besides penthe endowment of the church institu- sions and Y. W. C. A. 's, under the tions of Germany could not be ex- direct control of the Protestant dechanged for a street-ear fare. Prot- nominations." He emphasizes the estant teachers and ministers in activities of the historic W aldensian France are remaining at their posts Church along many lines, and continin a starving condition. Numbers of ues: "Denominations are to be found them receive less than flve dollars a also in Italy; American and Anglican month in American money. Three Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, thousand ministers, teachers, and doc- Salvation Army, Pentecostals, Sevtors have been recalled from overseas enth Day Adventist!!. Rome, the missionary service. 'Eternal City,' is becoming more and more the center of Italian Protestant- Belgian Gospel Mission ism. There are there about twenty churches, Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., the DESPITE opposition and many offices of the British and Foreign difficulties, this Mission, under Bible Society, printing offices for pubthe direction of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph lication of Protestant literature, the C. Norton, has grown until today in International Methodist College on all of the nine provinces save two high Monte Mario, just overlooking there is established work; some eight- St. Peter's and the Vatican gardens, een posts in all, where regular preach- the imposing Waldensian Cathedral ing services are held; there are over on Piazza Cavour-the gift of Mrs. fifty workers, representing seven dif- John S. Kennedy, of New York City; ferent nationalities; two Bible schools the theological school, which trains in the two different languages spoken not only the Waldensian ministers, in Belgium have been founded, and but also the Methodist and Baptist." the latter, the Flemish, for its second term of enrolment, had seventy api- AFRICA plications and enquiries from the adjacent country of Holland alone; Christia.n and MosleJD Heroes an extensive campaign of colportage work goes on the year round, the sum- THE following story of how Chrismer months being exceptionally fruit- tians penetrated into Nigeria is ful, as open-air meetings are held in quoted in the IS'lamie World, a paper
1926J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
published under Mohammedan aus- asked a chief's SOl] the other day why pices: he had come to school. 'To learn how to be a good man and how to be a Nineteen years ago a young Irish doctor good ruler when I have a village of who went to Southern Nigeria to take up my own,' was his instant reply. A government service, while travelling in the number of the present chiefs belong to Owerri district, was set upon by the natives, a new generation, and are, without stripped of his clothing and made to march, exception, old boys trained in our naked as he was, in tbe hot tropical sun to school. These show their influence a large market·place some miles away. Here everywhere in every way." he was put to death. Early in the present year Bishop Lasbrey visited the stations of "I Want to Know This God" the Church Missionary Society in this neigh. borhood and found eloquent proof of the REV. T. E. BUCK, of the London change which a few short years of gospel Missionary Society, writes of influence had brought about. The Bishop spending a night last year in a village visited a place which is less than a mile in Madagascar, where all the people from the market where the doctor met his were heathen. "I called the viHagers tragic fate. No threatening mob of infuri- together," he says, "and gave them a ated enemies escorted the white man on this simple talk about God and Jesus occasion, but a band of earnest Christians, Christ. I could see that they were rejoicing that they were workers together impressed. One of the headmen came with. him for the Kingdom of God. There to me and said: •You have told new are now mOre than 13,000 adhereuts of the and wonderful things about the true Church in this district. God today. Will you tell me more' I feel I want to know this God.' Soon The editor goes on to comment: after daybreak eleven men were await- "This shows the wonderful tenacity ing me, and they told me that they of purpose and the extraordinary per- had made up their minds to go forseverance which the Christians have. ward in the new faith. We made an If the Muslims cherish the great hope application to the Government. The of spreading the light of Islam in the reply was recei Ted last February. world far and wide, they should also When I visited this little church in exhibit sueh qualities. As a matter of June I was astonished. The little fact the Muslims of the good old times place where the services are held was were the embodiments of these heroic packed to the doors. 'fhe men of the virtues, and the Christians have only village finished the teacher's house in borrowed these from them. The pity, two days. About twenty people are however, is that now the Muslims are learning in the catechumens' class. almost devoid of these virtues." Now thirty of them have made an ap- plication to the Government asking Fruits of a Boys' School for permission to build a schooL"
ENGI,ISH Baptist missionaries in A West African Opportunity Africa are now rejoicing in the achit'vements of the graduates of their FOUR hundred and sixty-two miles schools, and are recalling the early from IJagos is the little town of days, when it was difficult to per- Minna in which the Sudan Interior suade the people that the object of the Mission has been working for several missionaries in caring for the boys in years. Here a spacious mission buildschool was not to sell them later as ing has been erected as this is a censlaves. F. ,V. Savidge writes from tral station and many missionaries South Lushai: "Among our 'old pass through Minna to and from their boys' now are sub-assistant surgeons, work. Here, too, the Niger Press does compounders, preachers, teachers, its great work of sending out the evangelists, overseers of the Public Scriptures in many different lan- Works Department, road-surveyors, guages. In Minna there aresevel'al carpenters, tailors, blacksmiths, cobblers, book-binders, soldiers, government clerks, language-interpreters and many others, and almost all of these without exception are Christians. I
canteens and a number of Europeans THE NEAR EAST live here. Owing to its being a railway junction a number of trains pass A. B. C. F. M. in Turkey up and down the line each day, and to anyone who has been living in the WITH the reopening of its stations ,,Bush, " Minna is a wonderful place in Turkey, closed because of the of civilization! 'rhe inhabitants are 'Vodd War and the destruction of the mostly Hausa speaking. There is a Armenian population, the American large market which affords good op- Board is entering upon a new phase portunities for preaching to mission- of its work. 'rhe annual report of the aries who can speak this language. Board says of it: "Not institutions The people are always glad to welcome but personal relationships are the the white teacher to their own com- means; not classroom inst,ruction but pounds, and they listen attentively to personal friendliness is the method; his message. But besides the Hansas llot converts to Christianity but those there are representatives of at least who will follow .Jesus' way of life other twelve tribes. 'rhese facts are are the fruitage of missionary toil. stated by the Evangelical Christian It is not wise to try to tabulate results, as the basis of an appeal for a man but those who are in closest touch "rith to offer himself as pastor of the the present methods of the missiollchurch. ary in Turkey are enthusiastic over the prospects. The International Col- After Ninety Years in Natal lege at Smyrna is filled to capacity, and the Christians among its students THE first missionaries sent by the and teachers, with the approval of the American Board to Africa estab- authorities, meet for daily prayers lished themselves in Natal and began and Sunday service. Closed for some a work for the Zulu people which has months by the Gove,rnment, St. Paul's continued uninterrupted for ninety College, Tarsus, reopened. Five other years. The results of this missionary missionary schools are crowded with effort have been unusually great. A Turkish pupils to a number never exstrong and virile A'frican tribe has, ceeded before. Each pupil is the open largely through the influence of the door to a Moslem home, and friendmissionaries, been brought to a place liness is daily mo;re general and more of Christian leadership in South Af- genuine. " rica. The native Church has its own council and largely administers its Turks Suspect Y. M. C. A. own affairs; and if it had not been for the multiplication or problems THE new "Turkish – American due to a rapidly advancing civiliza- Clubs," which Asa K. Jennings, a tion this native Church might already former Y. M. C. A. secretary, had set have been entirely independent. Aside out to organize were described in the from the salaries and expenses of the August REVIEW. It was then stated missionaries the appropriations of the that Mr. Jennings had the confidence Board amount to less than $10,000 a of the Turkish leaders, but the latest year, while the amounts coming from report indicates that some Turks at local sources, including corporations least are growing anxious OVer the and the Government, amount to over purpose of these clubs. A Constanti- $145,000 annually. Not a small pro- nople newspaper recently stated: portion of this local support is given to the social· work in Johannesburg. Since religion and politics have been It is almost impossible to overestimate separated ill Turkey, these fanatical Protthe unique opportunity presented by estants, working like people trying to save the thousands of heathen native Af- valuables from fire, have become inimical to ricans gathered in the compounds of our existence.• The Turkish Republic does the gold mines on the Rand. not deny freedom ill religious convictions, but, for all that, it does not intend to make room for religious propaganda. But we know that the Y. M. C. A., under whatever veil it may appear, is a sort of dervishism which first makes friends and then wins fol-
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
lowers. Every American school is a shrine Pahlevi, Premier and former Miniswhere Ghrist's songs are snng. The ability of the members of the organization is so ter, but earlier still a private soldier great that the young minds fall a prey to in the Cossack army, seems to be a them as the fly is caught in the web. man of very different type. He is of very humble origin, both in ancestry Cooperation in Palestine and education. His father was a I."~MEN and women of the Jewish farmer, which means that Reza Khan faith from every corner of could not obtain in his chlldhood even Europe and America have joined to- an elementary education. Before the gether to establish what they frankly World War Persia had come under label a 'cooperative commonwealth' the joint control of Great Britain and similar to that set up by the leaders Russia, bnt the latter's hold slipped because of its own upheaval. Reza of the chosen people millenniums ago," Khan saw his opportunity, and his says the All-American Cooperative rise to power was rapid. He has been Commission in describing the efforts virtual dictator since February, 1921, of Zionists in rebuilding Palestine: 'rhe main economic instrument in the using many methods which have led Palestine of the Zionists is to be the some to call him "the Mussolini of cooperative guild, which has already Persia." The first act of "King" attained significant results. In Sa- Pahlevi, the name assumed by Reza maria, Judea and Galilee there are Khan after the Shah was deposed, more than 50 workers' land settle- was to order the liberation of all po- litical prisoners, grant amnesty to the ments with 2,500 tillers working to- former Shah, members of the late gether cooperatively. Eight unions of dynastic family, and members of the 5,000 building trades workers are royal household, who will be penbanded together in a National Building Guild which owns its own quarries sioned. The new ruler also ordered and contracts on work, with a busi- that the price of bread be reduced ness already amounting to $4,000,000. through government subsidy.
The General Federation or Jewish Jjabor has also constituted a Workers' INDIA, SIAM AND MALAYSIA Fund to build up producers' coopera- Gandhi on Race Hatred T tives. Twenty shops have been set HE address delivered by Gandhi at the meeting of the Calcutta up, giving work to 400 operatives. Consumers' cooperation is carried on Christian Missionary Conference in by a suhsidiary of the Federation, and July is quoted on page 34 of this' now handles an annual turnovp-r of issue. An Indian writer in the $600,000. Three town clinics and 34 Christian Patriot has recently profarmers' clinics are established on a tested vigorously against what he cooperative basis, maintaining a well- calls "the unique spectacle of Chrisappointed sanitarium. On the edu- tians letting themselves be preached cational side everything from kinder- to by a staunch, out-and-out Hindu gartens to lectures is conducted like Gandhi." During his stay in cooperatively. Eighty-five branch Calcutta numerous speeches on both libraries with 30,000 volumes supply political and social questions were reading matter for the farm and labor made by Gandhi, and the paper pubcooperators. lished by the Oxford Mission to Cal- A Mnssolini for Persia cutta quotes one on race hatred as follows: "The world is weary of it; THE deposition of the young Shah we see that the song of hatred has not of Persia by an overwhelming vote benefited humanity. Let it be the of the National Assembly has been privilege of India to turn a new leaf reported in the newspapers and stories and set a lesson to the world. Is it have been told of his extravagant and necessary th.at 300,000,000 of people dissipated life in Paris. Reza Khan in India should hate 100,000 English-
men Y In my humble opinion it is de- Vidha Vivah Sahayalc Sabha, an 01'- rogatory to the dignity of mankind, ganization richly endowed by Sir it is derogatory to the dignity of India Ganga Ram for promoting the marto entertain for one single moment riage of high-caste Hindu widows. hatred towards Englishmen." Mr. This excellent society is achieving Gandhi himself, says the editor, "sets notable success in the work that it is a golden example in this respect. He undertaking. In 1922, 452 widow thinks he Ms just reason for hating marriages were solemnized under its the English rule in this country, but auspices. In 1923 the number rose to he carefully distinguishes between do- 892 and in 1924 to 1,603. During the ing so and hating the whole ruling first half of 1925 the number reported race, or even the actual rulers. On is 1,020. Brahmins and Kshatriyas the contrary he has among them many are most numerous in the cases rewarm friends." corded. During 1924, 160 inter-caste widow marriages were solemnized by The Scudder Family in India the Sabha's representatives. We re- joice in the relaxation of caste con- THE recent death of Mrs. John sciousness, and of the proof which it Scudder of the Arcot Mission in affords of the freedom of the Society's South India of the Reformed Church paid representatives from rigid caste in America, after sixty-four years of prejudice, but we hope that the main missionary service, has reminded work of the Society will not be jeopmany of the remarkable record of the ardized with overzealous propaganda Scudder family, the fourth generation for inter-caste marriages. The lot of of which is now connected with the thel child widow is one of the most Arcot Mission. The first John Scud- appalling in the world and an organider, M.D., reached India in 1819 and zation that has proven its ability to served in Calcutta, .Jaffna, Madura promote the rescue of these innocent and ~radras. All his seven sons victims of an ancient abomination served in the Arcot Mission. In the should be very careful not to fritter past one hundred years, twenty-five away its strength on anything less of his children and grandchildren vital to human welfare." have been missionaries in various foreign lands. When the Dr. John Scud- OOlllDlnnity House in Bombay der whose widow has just died went from Boston to India in an ice ship in THE Marathi Mission, in facing the 1861, the trip took four months. He new industrialism which is develdied twenty-five years ago, and she is oping factory life in India and caussurvived by their five sons and one ing a rapidly increasing inflow from daughter-the three eldest being in country districts to the cities, is ad- America and the three youngest in dressing itself to the changing condithe Arcot MissiQn; namely, Rev. Hen- tions, by seeking to promote the social ry J. Scudder of Punganur, Rev. applications of Christianity, and par- 'Walter T. Scudder of Tindivanam ticularly through organized commuand Dr. Ida S. Scndder, Principal of nity service. By gifts from America, the Women's Medical College in Vel- amounting to something over $50,000, lore. Two of her grandchildren and to be matched, it is hoped, by a similar a great-nephew are also at work in amount which has been promised from India. funds held by some broad-minded Indian philanthropists, first steps Hindu Widows Remarrying have been taken towards erecting a community house on the mission com- SOCIAL service work in which pound in ByculIa, Bombay, where it Christians are unable to take an is planned to provide a center for the active part but which, according to life and activity particularly of young The Indian Witness, "deserves their men coming into the city from uphearty good will, is being done by the
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
country Christian centers; also not the first case, the Jteathen parents of less to open to them Christian lines of a village boy reported that when dy- work for their people in Bombay, that ing he was singing to himself a little may tend to safeguard them from the hymn that the Christian teacher had temptations and demoralizing associa- taught him. Of the other she says: tions of the big city. The enterprise "One day the way home from a dis- is to be largely under the direction tant village lay through some rice of Rev. Alden H. Clark, formerly of and ragi fields. Women coolies were Ahmednagar, who received the degree planting out young ragi from the of D.D. from Amherst, his Alma nursery beds, and were singing as Mater, last .Tune. they worked, as is the custom out here.
But the listeners' ears were arrested Ma.ss Move_eDt in TiDDevelly by hearing a familiar Telugu Chris- A CHRISTIAN mass movement of tian hymn instead of an unseemly outcastes is reported from Tin- song in praise of some god. There nevelly, the southernmost district' of Madras Presidency, where the Church were fifteen women at work, and one Missionary Society is at work. The seemed to be the leader. She sang a Diocese of rrinnevelly consists of 120,- line, and the others all repeated it after her in unison. Enquiries elicit- 000 Christian!), scattered over ninetY'- ed the information that this woman one pastorates-a term which is used had learned several hymns from a to describe not one congregation, but missionary on tour some fifteen or an area over which there is one pas- twenty years ago."
tor. He may have from four to ten communion centers and many villages Christian Shrin'e in Puri in his parish, and he works through AN experiment defined as "an atcatechists. There are about 100 Tamil tempt to present the Gospel on aud only six European clergy in tlhe more indigenous lines" has been cardiocese, which is largely self-govern- ried on for a few months in the city ing. It is also almost self-supporting. of Puri, Bengal, where the famous For every shilling that the home so- temple of Jagganath is located. A cieties give, the Church in Tinnevelly writer in the Indian Standard thus gives at least three. The diocese sup- describes it: ' ,We have a room in ports its own pastors, about 100 in the bazaar-a room daily passed by number, and has built eighty-nine the pious and impious alike on their way to Puri's sacred tank of Norenchurches of stone or brick in the last ten years. T:he Tamil is a very gen- dra. Here we consecrated our shrine. erous giver. He loves his Church. He The only furniture isa picture of the may be abroad, for he is a great ad- Crucifixion with it low altar in front venturer, but he always sends home of it, and on the far side a low readhis church contributions, and he is an ing-stool and such copies of the shasinsatiable church-builder. Some of the tras as best befit the devotional mood. Tinnevelly churches are as large and Neither shoes nor chairs are allowed as beautiful as the great parish churches of England. Bishop Tubbs inside, and the floor is covered with ;ays that one day they will build a mats. Here, then, is our place of cathedral, and it will doubtless be one of the architectural features of South devotion. Every evening our guru, India. Rl}v. B. C. Sircar, M.A., of the Na- tional Council of the Y. M. C. A.., who has s() long advocated this line of ChristiaD Hymns Reme_bered approach, performs the puja (wor- ship). Gongs are set ringing, the in- TWO instances of the unexpected cense symbolic of unuttered prayer influence of Christian hymns are rises in a cloud, songs are sung, pray- In described by Mrs. Horton, of the Cey- ers are offered. 'l'be puja over, the lon and India General Mission. lights flicker, the incense dies away,
and there in the quiet of meditation, spirit, and it would remove many hinsometimes an hour, sometimes long in- drances to evangelistic efforts in the to the night, we sit one or two or fnture, and no one would ever again three, and remember Christ." dare to say that you are the spies of your governments or the advance Illiteracy in Java guards of imperialism. Such action on your part would completely re- I LLITERACY 8till prevails among move the opposition of the anti-Chris- ninety-:!ive per cent of the 35,000,- tian movement." 000 people of .Java, and less than 900,000 pupils are provided with in- A Bible Verse Each Sunday struction, the amount spent for education annually being less than THE effort.s during the past ten £80,000 sterling. At the meeting in months of an evangelistic group of August last, where missionaries of all thirteen Chinese Christians, trained Java were in council, it was estimated in the Bible Institute at Changsha, that the total of literates for Java Hunan Province, have led to the was as follows: One million who read founding of ten churches. Rev. Frank Malay, one. and one-half million who Keller writes: •• The Christians in read Javanese, 400,000 Sundanese this district know something of what readers, an.d 200,000 Madurese read- it means to sacrifice and to suffer for ers. Dutch is becoming more known their religion. It is not an uncommon among all educated Javanese. Today thing for old women to walk five, ten sixteen societies work on the Island of or in some cases even fifteen miles in Java and have 456 missionaries in the order to attend the services on Sun- Dutch East Indies. 'Fhe methods fol- day. VVhen they reach the church lowed are practically the same as in they do not expect to be entertained other mission fields, with the excep- with a flowery sermon or to hear a tion of the establishment of Christian professional choir, but they come to villages by the development of land study their Bibles. For most of them and virgin forest under grant of the the study is of a simple but intensely Dutch Government. By this method profitable nature, cong,isting of memothe Dutch missionaries were able to rizing a golden verse each Lord's day. protect their converts and give them In this way many who have formerly educational advantages in a center of not known a single character have social and spiritual life. learned to read their New Testaments with a fair degree of readiness, and CHINA it is the regular thing for the Chris- tians to be able to repeat all the verses Dell1and :frODl Che:foo Christians they have learned, which, of course, after several years of study, number AN open letter to the American several hundred." Presbyterian missionaries in Shantung Province, w h i c h was A Living Testill10ny signed by five hundred Chinese Christians, called upon them to "make a Fu GIN D.JANG is the leading righteous manifestation" on the sub- evangelist and preacher of the Kiaject of the Shanghai incident, and ting district of the West China Bapstated: "There is now a splendid op- tist Mission, though hi'> home is in a portunity to enable you to express city in the Yachow District. Rev. your love for the Chinese and to dem- Archibald G. Adams writes of him onstrate that you are strictly opposed in Missions: "He is a living testito political aggression and to such mony to the power of the Gospel, ruthless and inhumane procedure. To having been saved from an opium adact in this way would not only be the dict's grave about ten years ago. He means of spreading the Gospel widely, was well educated under the old but everyone wcmld be compelled to Chinese system and has been urged respect your character and Christian
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
several times by his feUow citizens to Moslems were permitted to live within be the mayor of their city. He has the city walls. Some years ago land preaohed the Gospel for about eight for a Moslem hospital was acquired in years, part of the time in Yachow and coilllection with the Borden Memorial in Chengtu, the capital of West China. Hospital, and some special gifts were He has a happy disposition, and is en- received last year, enabling us to put thusiastic and sincere in his work. He up some wards, a chapel, a dispensary, has experienced the power of the Gos- and a house for the staff. We still pel to save, and daily finds inspiration lack about a thousand dollars to com- and help in God 's Word. He has plete the scheme"
attracted a lot of friends to the church and maintains tlhe largest regular Prayer for Language Teaehers U Bible study class we have known in p to a few months ago out of fifty teachers in the language school the local church. He is outspoken against evil, and has suffered no little at Nanking, China, only two or three persecution for righteousness' sake. were Christians-and even those two Moreover he has an unusual conscien- or three had not joined the church. tiousness in money matters. Though The class of missionary pupils was entitled to the middleman's fees in distressed. It seemed to the newthe recent purchase of our church comers that here at hand was their property he· contributed aU to the first work, but their inability to talk church, setting a splendid and un- with their instructors because of the heard-of precedent for the future. handicap of language seemed almost Withal he has an attractive spirit of unsurmountable. They decided, 'howgenuine humility and the influence of ever, to pray for the conversion of his Christian character and leadership their Chinese teachers. One of the is deepening and widening in the best older missionaries held a service with sense. " the teachers every Monday morning, and while he was holding this service, Hospital for Chinese Moslems the new missionaries and the other DR. GEORGE E. KING, of the " old" missionaries in their chapel Borden Memorial Hospital at service at the same time concentrated Lanchowfu, Kansu Province, China, thought and prayer on the teachers. writes that, as the provincial capital The result was that twenty-five of and "the mart and exchange for the them have signed decision cards and millions of Kansu," Lanchow was the asked for Christian baptism.-The right place for the Borc.en Hospital. Continent.
"On the other hand," he continues, "Lanchow is mainly a Chinese city, Mongolian LalIlB B Seeker T the country around it is Chinese, and WO workers of the China Inland Mission visited a Tibetan lamasery, the real Moslem center of influence is Hochow, sixty miles to the southwest. and one of them writes: "Two months Hochow is often called the 'Mecca' later a young lama walked into the of Chinese Moslems, but it lacks the Kanchow compound with the request veneration of a sacred city. It is that he might have some of our books rather a Damascus, full of influential in the Tibetan language. He told us Moslems; or a Constantinople, a seat that a Mongolian Prince had met him of Moslem government; or perhaps a and told him to come here, ask for Cairo, the educational center of Chi- some books and see Dr. Kao, who nese Mohammedanism. In Hochow, would tell him some wonderful things.
work for Chinese and Tibetans is car- From Mongolia he had passed over to ried on by the Rev. C. F. Snyder, of Kanglung Lamasery. There he found the Christian and Missionary Alli- the people reading Tibetan gospels.
ance. The Moslem center is in the Being a scholar of some renown, he south suburb, because till recently no had been appealed to for an explana-
tion of the conteIts. 'The more I printed word, which has gone on beread the more I knew t.hese to be true forelhand, will to some extent have words,' he said. 'l'hen he earnestly prepared the minds of the people to added: 'Is your religion for such receive the Cospel." people as I ~ , For several days he spent many hours on the mission com- JAPAN-KOREA pound, reading, listening and asking questions. This young lama from Democratic Tendency in Japan Mongolia is one for whose conversion we pray. His scholarship and knowl- OF the five "Elder Statesmen" of edge of lllany 'l'ibetan dialects, Mon- Japan, only Prince Saionji is golian and Chinese, his alert intelli- still living, and he is eighty-four. For gence and inquiring mind, maxk him a little while after the death of the as a man who might well be an evan- next to the last of them, Marquis gelist to his own people." Okuma, two years ago, the Privy Council was the real authority in Tibetan Gospel Inn Japan. The Council was composed of great men in public life and members F HOM Siningfu, Kansu Province, of the House of Peers. But a month Mr. Learner of the China Inland or two ago, when the presidency and Mission w.rites of this institution: vice-presidency of the Council were to "The place has been well filled al- be filled, instead of appointing polimost all along. Hundreds of Tibetans ticians and aristocrats, the Governhave thus come within the sound of ment selected two professors from the the Gospel, who otherwise would never University of Tokyo, men who were have heard it. This 'ever open door' not politicians in any sense, although is a great attraction, and our Tibetan one of them, Dr. Okano, had served visitors cannot understand why it is as Minister of Justice, and Baxon that we take so much trouble in see- Hozumi, the new president, is the ing to their comfort when they come ablest international lawyer in Japan, and visit us. Some are still horribly seycral times proposed as president afraid, and more than once I have of The Hague Tribunal. "The apseen our Tibetan evangelist standing pointments mean," says Christian at the door trying to persuade the Work, "that the Council will in time Tibetans to come and receive our free become what it always nominally has hospitality. Gradually opposition is becn-a place for recommendations to being lived down, fear is being the Throne after expert examination changed to friendship, and one by of proposed laws. They also mean one the barriers are being removed. that Japan is accepting for good and There is a great change coming over all the principle of party government the people, and they are being won which Mr. Hara, the first commoner by love. In the course of a yea,r thou- Prime Minister of Japan, put into sands of gospels and other religious force five years ago." books are being scattered among the people, and not a few are carried Moral Problems in Japan across the frontier, for Siningfu is only a day's journey from the ethno- DR. NORMAN, a Canadian missiongraphical border wall. Who knows ary in Nagano, writes of the inwhere these books go T It is certain creasing strength of the moral reform that many of them travel hundreds of and prohibition movements in Japan, miles, and one has heard of some even but goes on to say: "The licensing landing in the 'Forbidden City,' of prostitution is becoming more and Lhasa. The time is coming and per- more a live question in Japan. Last haps is not very far distant when fall petitions signed by over six thouthere will be a great awakening among sand adults were presented to the govthese daxk heathen people. The ernor of this province asking for the abolition of the system. The Governor replied that he did not think public
NEWS FROM MA~ry LANDS
opinion was sufficiently advanced yet fare Association, to which both Japa- for such a step. A month ago there nese and foreigners belong. About was a convention of brewers and dis- seven hundred prospective suicides tillers in our city. They distributed have come to the home provided for literature telling of the good things them where they may stay until they connected with drink, they held pub- are ready to face life again. She had lic meetings here and in a neighboring also taken in fallen girls and led them city, and some of them got drunk, back to the right way. Many of those evidently thinking that, as example is better than precept, they should whom she has helped have become earnest Christians, and the number of give examples of what drinking will these is daily increasing.
do. One thing that struck me was that the brothel keepers and the What a Japanese Bishop A.k.
brewers used the same arguments. ONE of the speakers at the recent Both admitted that their business was General Convention of the Protbad, but they said this evil has always estant Episcopal Church was Rt. Rev. existed and the best way to deal with J. S. Motoda, D.D., Ph.D., Bishop of it is by license and government con- Tokyo. On the subject of the relatrol. " tions between the two countries he A "New God" in Japan said: "We as a nation trust the Christianeommunity of the United J E. COURSAR, JR., writes in the States, rely upon you, we depend • Presbyterian Survey that the upon you, for the solution of this citizens of his town in Japan have re- most difficult problem. We all know cently "manufactured a new god." that you can do it and we all know He tells of a half-witted man who that you are the only set of people "seemed to have no f,riends or kins- who can do it. We have said what people, and lived a vagabond sort of we have to say, we have said it all, existence, picking up scraps of food now we keep ourselves quiet, we will wherever he could find them, sleeping not say anything, simply depend upon wherever night happened to overtake you in the solving of the problem."
him, and dressing himself in the rags Later in his address he made this that kindly disposed people gave him. striking statement: He had, however, one trait which We all know that our Lord, Jesus Christ, made him popular with everyone. He is an Eastern man, not Western man. He was kind to children. Soon after his belongs to us, but you got Him. Now we death a movement was started to raise funds with which to erect an image ask you to return Him to us. In returning and a shrine for him. Already num- Him I sincerely hope you will come yourbers of people are worshiping him and praying to him." selves with Him; in that way not only Japan, all Asia might be Christianized so that, hand in hand with the Western breth· ren, we can attain the peace of the Whole world and the happiness of the whole man- kind.
Would-be Suicides Rescued ~~WAlT a moment! God is love. Korean Budget for Mission.
If you must die, come and see THE General Assembly of the Presme first." Thus reads a sign, set in byterian Church of Korea (made a prominent place in a beautiful spot up of all the Presbyterian bodies at near Kobe, .Japan, which has long been work in that country) adopted at its a favorite place for people to commit last meeting a budget of nearly $9,000 suicide. This sign is one of five, kept for its foreign missionary work. This illuminated at night, which were is always an item of outstanding inplaced at different points near Kobe terest to the Assembly. Last year it in 19]9 by a Japanese Christian, Mrs. was decided to separate the bona fide Nobuko Jo. Her work has been sup- foreign mission work, which is being ported by the Kobe Women's Wel- done for Chinese in Shantung, China,
from that done for expatriated graphic Society says: "The Bible Koreans in Siberia, Japan, Peking, was translated into a made-to-order Nanking, Shanghai, etc., and a home written :Maori language in 1820, and mission board was created to take by the middle of the century the over that work. Three Korean pastors former savages were pretty generally are working in Shantung, China, sup- Christianized, at least superficiallf' ported entirely by the Korean Church. Then came the wars with the whites They have under their charge nearly in the 60 'so Bitterness was en- 1,000 Chinese Christians, of whom gendered, and many fell away from over 600 are baptized. There are the white man's religion. The losses twelve churehes, eleven boys' schools at that time have never been comand two girls' schools, with nearly pletely made up, it is said. Al- 400 pupils. A self-supporting Korean though numerous individual Maoris doctor, graduate of Severance Med- have made good in trade and in the ical College, works with them. For professions, the Maoris as a whole still the new home board a budget of about constitute a problem in New Zealand. $3,000 was adopted. They are keenly intelligent and easily follow the ordinary school courses; ISLANDS OF THE SEA but their learning is not always help- ful to them. A great many youths A Jubilee in the South Seas and girls, after an excellent schooling, revert to primitive life in the vil- AUSTRALIA..t'l" Methodists have lages. " been celebrating the fiftieth anr niversary of the beginning of their Indian Teacher in Fiji missionary work in the islands of the western Pacific. The 39,000 Chris- THE problem created in the Fiji tians who are the fruit of that work Islands by the presence of about have joined in the jUbilee. The native 60,000 Indians – nearly half of the Church of New Britain, in an address population-was referred to in the of welcome to the Australian repre- September REVIEW, and it was then sentatives, said: stated that Hakim Din, a Christian teacher, had gone from the Punjab to We are a happy people today, happy be- take charge of a school conducted by eause for us now shines the L'ght of Christ Australian Methodists, in Lautoka. A . . . happy too because of the treasured missionary of the United Presbyterian memory of Talatala Doctor Brown, our first Church writes of this man: great earthly comforter, who came to us fifty years ago, came from out the far lands It means much for an Indian to go aud to teach us to know the Word of the Father live so far from home, but Mr. Hakim Din . . . There are some few of us here today is a man of big timber, and is not hesitating. who remember Dr. Brown; there is none He has risen up from the humble community who does not know his name; a name that for whose interests he has since given him· has been so often hear d, spoken in soft self, and he has not stopped with any halftones of love and sadness, by our fathers as way attainment. His collegiate work was they sat around the village fires of a night. taken in our college in Rawalpindi aud in We, too, we younger ones shall pass on that the Presbyterian college in Lahore, then his name until it shall shine as a giant star in postgraduate degree of bachelor of teaching our earthly history. in the Government Training College. After that he was enlisted for some years in the Maoris· of New Zealand Y. M. C. A. for war work overseas, and be- fore he came back to India he went to Lon· T HESE people have made extraor- don and took further teacher training in dinary progress in recent years. one of the best institutions there. A century ago they were almost savages, and on certain ceremonial Sialkot city always has been his. home. occasions actually indulged in canni- It was here that he grew up and attended balistic feasts. Today there are among school, here that he rendered unusually faiththem numerous capable doctors, law- ful and efficient service in the Christian yers, merchants, farmers, ranchmen 'l'raining Institute, here as an administrator. and holders of university degrees. A as a teacher, as a counsellor, and as a friend, bulletin issued by the National Geo- that he filled an extraordinarily large place, uot only with teachers and students, but in the community at large.
MISSJ[ONARY
Bolivar, Liberator of Venezuela, Colombia, limitations and, in some respects, to Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Henry Rowan the lack of critical and unbiased judg- Lemly. 452 pages. 1 map. 22 illustra- ments of these national writers. This tions. $4.00. Bo,;ton. 1923. picture of the Liberator will help to fill a vacancy in historical and bio- "South of the Rio Grande, every graphical literature of the period; but man, woman and child knows who was the ideal and enduring biography of Washington. Surely we should not Bolivar is yet to be written. be ignorant of one whom Henry Clay ealled . The Washington of South w. R. W. America.' "
Thus Major H. R. Lemly, some time Modern Miilsions on the Spanish Main. By director of the National Military School at Bogota, a former colonel in w. Reginald Wheeler and Webster E. the Colombian Army and a retired Browning. Iilustrations, map, xii, 334 officer of the L'nited States Army, pp. Philadelphia: Westminster Press. writes in the preface of his biography $2.75. 1925. of Simon Bolivar. There have been many lives of Bolivar in Spanish but Early in 1923 a secretary ,and a this is the first book in English which prominent South American missionattempts to record in detail the career ary of the Presbyterian Board went to of one who has been called "the investigate its Ulissions in Colombia greatest personality of the heroic age and Venezuela. This popular report of South America." of that visit is somewhat technical and yet contains enough geographical, his- Major Lemly tells of the rise of torical, sociological and religious ma- Bolivar to the command of the revo- terial to enable the reader to picture lutionary armies in Yenezuela and to the envhl-onment and understand the the practical dictatorship over the problems connected with the work. Caribbean colonies of 'Spain. He points out some of the difficulties The account shows clearly the large which the South American patriots relative place. of the Presbyterian had to combat in their war of inde- work in these two republics and rependence, difficulties which, in many veals the educational and evangelistic ways, were even greater than those results that have come despite the lamentably imperfect equipment and which the American colonies faced in inadequate force of workers. their war with England. "The territory wbich became free as the result Chapter 17 will surprise those who of the war between Spain and her have thought of Colombia as a leadcolonies was about seven times as large ing Latin American Republic in its as the territory conceded to the United educational program for Mr. Wheel- States by the treaty of 1783." er's statistics show that the results are disappointing, with only ·358,9.28 Major Lemly has given in detail a pupils and students enrolled in its description of the various campaigns schools and higher institutions. The in which Bolivar took part and many percentage of Colombians who are of the addresses of Bolivar are given illiterate and illegitimate is very in translation. If any criticism is to high. In Venezuela, also, the official census places its illiteracy at eighty be made of the book, it would be that per cent, while other publications it follows too closely the South Amer- make it still higher. In the two reican sources and is subject to the publics these figures and other facts 77
fully justify the Presbyterian em- came into close contact with Moslems . phasis of educational work. One re- in Palestine and Arabia while engaged grets that, in addition to the detailed in medical work. He loves them and estimate of equipment needed for a seeks to lead others to understand five-year program, there is not also a them and to seek their conversion to strong appeal and an equally detailed Christ.
estimate of the missionary force re- An Outline of the Religion of Islam. H. W. Weitbrecht Stanton. Pamphlet. 49 quired. H. P. B. pp. ld. London. 1925.
Sidelights on the Crisis in India. Letters .ueginners, who seek to understand by H. Harcourt. 12mo. 118 pp. $1.25. Islam, will find here a short and ex- New York and London. 1924.
In an Indian civilian's letters to an ceptionally clear and helpful study of Indian friend and the latter's replies the origin, sources, doctrines, observ- we see pictured the present crisis in ances and effects of this religion, to- India. The author is a retired civil gether with statements of modern service man of twenty-five years' ex- changes and results of the contact of perience who has a warm regard for the Gospel with Islam. It is an excel- India and Indians, and a clear knowl- lent introduction.
edge of conditions. It is worth while An African Church in Building. Rt. Rev. to read his views on British Law and J. J. Willis of Uganda. 8vo. 118 pp. Administration, Religion, Gandhi, 28 Ga. London. 1925. Women, Education, etc. The jubilee of the Uganda Mission The Sunday School and the Healing of the of the C. M. S. makes this volume of Nations. Edited by John T. Faris. 12mo. especial interest at this fiftieth anni- 270 pp. New York. 1925. versary of Henry M. Stanley's letter to the Daily Telegraph, the event that The W orId's Sunday School Con- led to the rounding of the mission. vention at Glasgow in 1924 brought Bishop Willis, in well-chosen lantogether from fifty-four countries, guage, tells of the spiritual church 2,693 delegates, including a notable that has grown up there and of its body of Christian teachers whose ad- marvelous beauty and strength. Read dresses and discussions are here re- the story to see how God has wrought. ported. The world-wide infiuence of the Sunday-school, the progress made and the program for the future is here Bits of China. Christine I. Tinling. 12mo. recorded. Many stimulating ad- 220 pp. $1.50. New York. 1925.
dresses were given on prohibition, A traveler often notes. many things stewardship, the Sabbath, teacher that those of long residence in a countraining, lesson making and the su- try miss. Miss Tinling (whose name premacy of Christ. The book lacks an sounds Chinese but is not) traveled index. The statistics reported show for three years in China organizing a total enrollment of 32,677,611 temperance societies for the Woman's teachers and pupils in 347,001 Chris- Christian Temperance Union. She tian Sunday-schools of the world- saw much besides intemperance and two thirds of them in North America. women and, having a gifted pen, de- scribes many things that are inform- Islam and Its Need. W. Norman Leak. ing and entertaining-Shanghai with Pamphlet. 6d. London. 1925. its foreign and Chinese quarters; Here is an excellent statement as to Nanking, with the Ming tombs and the history, distribution, beliefs, prac. pulsing student life; a river trip up tices, ideals and characteristics of the Yangtze on a Chinese boat; Islam and its followers, with short Peking, the capital, with its schools, chapters on the contact of Islam with missions and politicians; Kiukiang, Christianity, methodij of approacih and with its teachers' institute; Canton, the effect of the war. The author . with its boat people, market, insane asylum and Christian college; Chung- the superhuman character of Chrisking, a great western walled city of tianity. Szechuan, and Chengtu, with its modern Christian university. Miss Stories of Great Hymns of the Church. Tinling vividly pictures the opium Silas H. Paine. 12mo. 795 pp. $3.00. evil, the oddities and discomforts of Montelair, N. J. 1925. travel, exciting experiences of fire and bandits and the encouraging re- A former officer of the Standard Oil sults of mission work. Company and an officer in Broadway Tabernacle, New York, rendered a Ben and Kit. M. E. Drewsen. 12mo. 104 useful service to many pastors and pp. Is 3d net. Glasgow. 1925. other workers by gathering stories concerning eight hundred and five American Christians are prone to great Christian hymns. forget the home mission problems of England. This little story of the Later Evangelistic Sermons. W. E. Bieder- London waifs gives a glimpse of the wolf. 12mo. 125 pp. 75 cents.· Chicago. darkness and of the Light that is shin- 1925. ing in "Darkest England." Eleven wrmons on faith, life, sin, Life Story of David Livingstone. J. J. Ellis. salvation, and God's love have been 12mo.. 64 p~. Is net. Glasgow. 1925. used to save and transform hundreds of men and women. They are biblical This biography of one of the and gripping. "Mighty Men" of missionary annals is brief, cheap and poorly printed but Die Herren der Erde. (The Lords of the it gives the main incidents of the Earth.) Ferdinand Brockes. 385 pp. hero's life and the lessons taught. C. Ed. MiilIer. Halle, Germany. 1923.
A Nature Mystic's Clue. Dwight Goddard. This, a "romance of future days," 8vo. 281 pp. $2.00. 1925. as it is called by the author, is an in- In the story of the son of a Canadian woodchopper and a school terpretation of Biblical passages bearteacher, the author gives his ideas of God, the soul, and of love as the" ulti- ing on the second coming of Christ. mate cosmic principle." Most missionary leaders of America, Dr. Fosdick's Book: A Review by I. M. Haldeman. 12mo. 116 pp. $1.00. Phila- Great Britain, and the Continent of delphia. 1925. Europe, will not accept the author's Clearly and candidly one famous Baptist preacher of New York dis- viewpoint that missions have ceased sects another famous Baptist preacher's lectures on "The ~fodern Use of for the Gentile ChristIan Church and the Bible, " pointing out their definite disagreements with the Bible and have become a part of the new task their logical rationalistic outcome. Dr. Fosdick asserts his loyalty to of the restored Israel after the great Christ as the Son of God, his belief in salvation through Him and his battle of the Christ and Anti-Christ, faith in immortality, while at the l>ame time he discredits the reliability and the casting out of Satan from this and authority of the Bible as a true record of Jesus' life, works and teach- world has been accomplished. The ings. Dr. Haldeman points out the inconsistency of these two positions whole romance is centered about the and the way that rationalism undermines faith in God's omnipotence and three cities of Moscow, Berlin and Constantinople, which latter city is regarded as the Babylon of Scripture prophecy. D. B.
The Gospel of John. A Handbook for Chris- tian Leaders. Benjamin W. Robinson. 275 pp. $2.25. New YorK. 1925.
The writer of this handbook holds that John the son of Zebedee, is not the author of this Gospel and that the" Disciple whom Jesus loved" was another John, a young disciple, not one of the twelve apostles. Dr. Robin- son believes that the author lived in Jerusalem, and though an eyewitness of the scenes described, was unfami- Divine Love; The Death of Christ; The Holy Spirit. The method is liar with Galilean topography. He topical, but the arrangement of ma- terial in each study is analytical. holds that this John later be- Thus Chapter IV traces through the references to Christ as the Life, up to came the preacher, at Ephesus and the climax at 20; 31.
that this Gospel was intimately con- The book is scholarly as well as practical. Care has been taken to nected with the life of his Ephesian give the most satisfactory readings of disputed passages. The author has converts, as for instance, the sixth definite opinions on exegetical ques- tions, but these are introduced only chapter which" consists of a talk that when they add interest and value to the study. Several of them are given John gave on communion day" (p. in footnotes, including some excellent discussions of New Testament Greek 140). He believes that the Gospel synonyms.
was published in completed form in Especial attention is directed to the chapter on the Holy Spirit, which 100 A.D., after the death of the forms a fitting climax. The book is readable and its great value lies in author; chapter 21 being an appen- its presentation of the standpoint of John himself in writing his Gospel. dix. o. R. S. Robinson stands squarely for the trustworthiness of the Gospel narra- tive though he does not assign the authorship to John the son of Zebedee -in spite of the weighty arguments advanced from the book itself by such scholars as Westcott and Sanday. He senses the spirituality of the book, and in some cases may be thought to over-emphasize it without denying the reality of its character. o. R. S.
The Leading Themes of the Gospel of John. The Hebrews Epistle in the Light of the W. E. Vine, M.A. 12mo. 141 pp. 28. Types. Sir Robert Anderson, K.C.B., net. Glasgow. 1924. LL.D. Hmo. 182 pp. Glasgow. 38, 6d.
The outstanding feature of this Bishop Westcott, in the 1892 edibook is the author's thorough appre- tion of his Commentary on the Epistle ciation of the purpose and construc- to the Hebrews, said; "The more I tion of the Gospel according to John. study the tendencies of the times in Without pausing to discuss critical some of the busiest centers of English problems, such as those of disarrange- life, the more deeply I feel that the ments in the contents of the Gospel, Spirit of God warns us of our most he points out that it has a "Divinely urgent civil and spiritual dangers arranged order" (p. 10); and a through the prophecies of Jeremiah reverent sense or its profundity is and the Epistle to the Hebrews." shown throughout. It is viewed as These words are quite as appropriate the revelation both of Christ's glories today. Sir Robert Anderson's timely and His grace, and each revelation is volume does not aim to be a comseen to be connected with a particular mentary on the Epistle, but rather to purpose of God for His children. The bring the light of the Old Testament question or authorship is not raised, types to bear upon it. He emphasizes the Gospel being allowed to testify to the importance of the Pentateuch, pointing out that the Christian revelaits own genuineness. tion is based on historic Judaism. The leading themes of the Gospel Of this Epistle he writes: "Its are concerned directly with Christ, purpose is not to tell how sinners may and with closely related subjects. be saved, but to unfold the infinite They include; The Prologue of the fulness there is in Christ for sinners Gospel; Christ as the Word; Christ who have obtained salvation." (p. as the Light; Christ as the Life; 126.) He sums up the thought of He- Christ, the Sent One; The Subject brews by saying that it "unfolds the of "Believing"; Witnesses to Christ;
that the divinely appointed Toto and' Sundri are like other inter-
esting boys and girls, but become shrine, with its divinely ordered Christians and finally enter Christian service. The last chapter is a list of ritual, and all its gorgeous furniture suggestions for teaching the six chap- ters in ~ix lessons. living and dead, were but the shadows NEW BOOKS of heavenly realities; and that, with Arnot of Africa (~issionary Lives for Chilthe coming of the Son of God, the dren). Nigel Grahame. 59 pp. 65 cents. George H. Doran Co. New York. 1925. morning of shadows was past, for the Moffat of Africa (Missionary Lives for light that cast them was now in the Children). Norman J. Davidson. 59 pp. 65 cents. George H. Doran Co. New zenith of an eternal noon." (pp. 38, York. 1925.
39.) Between Black and White. Henry Hugh Proetor. 189 pp. Congregation'al Pub- In discussing the problem of author- lishing Society or Pilgrim Press. Boston and Chicago. 1925. ship, two names are suggested-Luke Chrysanthemum. Mrs. Robert Gillies. 18 and Paul; others are said to be mere 6d. China Inland Mission. London. 1925.
conjectures. It is claimed that the Education of Christian Ministers in China. Samuel H. Leger. 118 pp. Union Theoauthor is Paul, speaking not as logical Seminary. Foochow, China. 1925.
Apostle to the Gentiles, but as the The Key to Faith. Michael O. Gershenson. Translated by Herman Frank. 156 pp. Messianic witness to Israel. A re- $1.50. Macmillan .co. New York. 1925.
semblance is pointed out between this Never Again: Everyland Stories. 200 pp. $1.50 each. Four copies, postp:ri-d; $5.00. Epistle and Paul's sermon to the Everyland Publishing Co. West Medford, Mass. 1925. Jews at Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13). Penny Object Lessons: 25 Lessons for 26 The author suggests that the last Cents. C. H. Woolston, Homer Rodeheaver and F. B. Lane. 25 cents. Rodeheaver chapter of Hebrews, which "sounds Co. Chicago an d Philadelphia. 1925.
like Paul," is a "covering letter" Peace on Earth-A Study for Today. Edited by Rhoda MeCulloch aud Margaret written to accompany the treatise. Burton. 144 Pl'. 30 cents. Central Com- mittee on the United Study of Foreign He thinks Paul may have had Luke Missions. West Medford, Mass. 1925.
for his amanuensis, and that this A Parent's Guide to Children's Reading. Mary Graham Bonner. 143 Pl" $1.75. partly accounts for the peculiarities Funk & Wagnalls Co. New York. 1925.
of style. Surveying Your Community: A Handbook of Method for the Rural Church. Ed· A glance at the table of contents mund de S. Brunner. 109 pp. $1.25. George H. Doran Co. New York. 1925. and the appendices suggests the Tales of Young Japan. Pie Series. Conscholarly character of the book which tributed by People Who Lived in Japan. 61 pp. Is. Church Missionary Society. shows careful study and a wide knowl- London. 1925.
edge of the Scriptures. The author's Art Blotters. Five in a set, in Art Envelopes: exegesis of specific passages is inter- 1. Prayer and Missions. 2. Little Fl'iends of All Lands. esting, though sometimes open to 3. The Me""ning of Christmas. 4. Union College Series (6 in a set). question. It is supported by frequent 5. Ginling College. 6. Isabella Thoburn College. appeals to the Greek. c. R. S. 25 cents a single set; $2.00 for 10 sets Negro Year Book-An Annual. 1925-1926. of one series; $15.00 for 100 sets of one Edited by Monroe N. Work. 520 pp. series; $65 for 500 sets of oue series. Maps and charts. $1.00, paper; $1.50, Mrs. T. J. Howells, 324 Spencer Avenue, boards. 1925. Cal'fick, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Every subject related to the Negro -statistical, political, physical, social, occupational, educational and religious-are dealt with concisely and in, telligently in this Year Book, edited by a Negro for the information of all races. Dr. 'Work of Tuskegee Institute shows the magnitude and importance of the problem and the progress that the American Negro is making. This is an excellent book of reference.
Toto and Sundri. Emma A. Robinson. 16 mO. 103 pp. Paper, 40 cents. 1922.
A story of a boy and girl of India in a Methodist mission school, with questions at the close of each chapter.
WITH DR
After a visit to South Africa in the interest of work for Moslems there Dr. Zwemer held Summer Conferences in Europe and returned to Cairo abont October 1st. Next year he w"il1 go to Mesopotamia and India. By your prayers and gifts you can help in this far-reaching work and can supply the much needed Christian Literature for Moslems.
Egypt Syria Russia China Morocco Palestine Persia Java Algiers Turkey India Sumatra Tunis Arabia Malaysia South Africa These countries are furnished with Christ's Message through The American Christian Literature Society for Moslems cooperating with the Nile Mission Press and with Interdenominational Comtnittees on the fields to give the Gospel Me!:sage through the printed page.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS William I. Chamberlain, Ph.D., President Dr. Robert E. Speer, Delavan L. Pierson. of New York. Vice Presidents Rev. S. M. Zwemer, D.D., Cairo, Honorary Field Secretary Rev. Ernest W .. Riggs Dr. Frank Mason North Mrs. William Borden Dr. William B. Anderson Mrs. William Bancroft Hill Mr. Fennell P. Turner Miss Anna A. Milligan Dr. John H. Raven Mrs. D. L. Pierson Send your contributions to MRS. E. E. OLCOTT, Treasurer, 322 West 75th Street, New York City.
Apply for information and literature to MRS. JAMES M. MONTGOMERY, Secre- tary, I West 72nd Street, New York City.
HOW DR. HOWARD KEllY Studies the Bible ~his great surgeon and scientist, honored by learned so- cieties in Europe and America as few men of our genera- tion, wrote last year his epoch-making testimony to the Old Faith. Now he will tell what his personal methods of daily Bible study have been for the past forty years, and how he digs treasures from the Word. This indescribably rich contribution will appear, early in 1926, exclusively in .
(I••ued every week) 0'"…~.
<).'0" 01- i~$Iune,aodnditthioen,InthteernTaitmioeJnacloUntnaiifnosrmno less than twelve lesson-helps in each …,." 111 Lessons, while a wealth of special THI! :0.<> 40 ~/ articles Oft Sunday-school methods, research in Bible lands, and SURAY SCHOOL " ~resent-day problems of Christian thought and life, o~e n~ C~::ANY 0'S.~· P.~Ip_ Pa unerdenominational, international journal almost indispensa- hie to the earnest Christian. Will you try it! Subscrip- .,;J".."..,<J Forthe25cenlsenclosed;lea;" tion rates 'If,2.00 a year, or $1. SO in clubs of five or more »rPi send The Sunday School Times copies, either to separate addresses or one address. ~~0~:1(; for 10 weeks to 2S cents, mailed with the coupon, will bring the . 0"<" Name ………….,………..,…….. , .paper to you for 10 weeks.
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