The Missionary Review of the World — January 1898
OF FIVE HUNDHED GODS, CANTON
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD: VOl,. XXI. No. 1.-Old &rWs.-JANUARY-VoL. XI. No.1.-New &ries.
SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS OF THE HALF CENTURY.-· THE REVIVAL of THE PRAYER-SPIlUT.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
The pivot of piety is prayer. A pivot is of double use: it acts as a fastener and as a center; it holds in· place, and it is the axis of revolution. Prayer is the double secret: it keeps us steadfast in faith, and it helps to all holy activity. Hence, as surely as God is lifting His people in these latter times to a higher level of life, and moving them to a more unselfish and self-denying service, there will be a new emphasis laid upon supplication, and especially upon intercession.
This revival of the praying-spirit, if not first in order of development, is first' in order of importanr,e in every really onward advance. Generally, if not uniformly, prayer is both starting point and goal to every movement in which are the elements of permanent progress. Whenever the church is aroused and the world's wickedness arrested, somebody has been praying. If the secret history of all really spiritual advance could be written and read, there would be found some intercessors who, like Job, Samuel, Daniel, Elijah, like Paul and James, like Jonathan Edwards, William Carey, George Muller and Hudson Taylor, have been led to shut themselves in the secret place with God, and have labored fervently in prayers. And, as the starting point is thus found in supplication and intercession, so the final outcome must be that ()od's people shall have learned to pray, if there is not to be rapid reaction and disastrous relapse from the better conditions secured.
These convictions have so been inwrought into the mind of the writer by patient and long continued study of the religious history of the race, that there seems to be no seal of permanence upon any movement, however spiritual in appearance and tenden(}y, which does not sooner or later show a decided revival of the praying spirit.
* This periodical adopts the Orthography of the following Rule, recommended by the joint action of the American Philological Association and the Philological Society of England :-Change d or ed fina to "when so pronounced, except when the e affects a preceding sound.-PUBLISHERS.
SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS OF THE HALF CENTURY
There is a divine philosophy behind this fact. Our greatest need is to keep in close touch with God. Our greatest risk is the loss of the sense of the divine. We are in a world where every appeal is to the physical senses and through them. Reality is in direct proportion to the power of contact. What we see, hear, taste, touch, or smellwhat is material and sensible-we can not doubt. The present and material absorbs attention and appears to us solid, substantial: but the future, the immaterial, the invisible, the spiritual, seem vague, distant, illusive, imaginary. Practically the unseen has no reality and no influence upon the vast majority of mankind. Even the unseen God is less a verity than the commonest object of vision; to many He, the highest verity, is really vanity, while the world's vanities are practically the highest verities.
God's great corrective for this most awful inversion and perversion of the true relation of things, is prayer.. "Enter into thy closet." Why? There all is silence, secrecy, solitude, seclusion. Within that shut door, we are left alone: All others are shut out, that the suppliant may be shut in-with God. The silence is in order that we may hear the still, small voice, that is drowned in worldly clamor, and which even a human voice may cause to be unheard or indistinct. The secrecy is in order to a meeting with Him who seeth in secret and is best seen in ·secret. The solitude is for the purpose of being alone with One who can fully impress us with His presence only when there is no other presence to divert our thought. The place of seclusion with God is the one school where we learn that He is, and is the rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. As Dr. Plummer used to say, the closet is "not only the oratory, it is the observatory," not for prayer only but for prospect-the wide-reaching, clear-seeing. outlook upon the eternal! 'rhe decline or prayer is the decay or piety; when prayer ceases altogether, there is spiritual death, for prayer is the breath of life to every child of God. .
To keep in close touch with God in the secret chamber of His presence, is the great underlying purpose of prayer. To speak with God is a priceless privilege; but what shall be said of having and hearing Him speak with us ! We can tell Him nothing He does not know; but He can tell us what no imagination has ever conceived, no research ever unveiled. The highest of all possible attainments is the knowledge of God, and this is the practical mode of His revelation of Himself. Even His holy word needs to be read in the light of the closet, if it is understood. "And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with Him, then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony,-from between the two cherubims, and he spoke unto him." Nu. vii.: 89.
THE REVIVAL OF THE PRAYER SPIRIT
And, where there is this close touch with God, and this clear insight into His name which is His nature, and into His word which is His will made known, there will be a llew power to walk with Him in holiness and work with Him in service. « He made known His wallS unto .Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel." The mass of the people stood afar off and saw His deeds, like the overthrowing of Pharaoh's hosts)n the Red Sea; but Moses drew near into the thick darkness where God was; and in that thick darkness he found a light such as never shone elsewhere., and in that light he read God's secret plans and purposes, and interpreted His wondrous ways of working. All practical PO'VER OVER SIN AND OVER MEN'
depends on closet communion. Those who abide in the secret place with God show themselves mighty to conquer evil, and strong to work and to war for God. They are the seers WllO read His secrets; they know His will; they are the meek whom He guides in judgment and teaches His way. They are His prophets, who speak for Him to others, and even forecast things to come. 'rhey watch the signs of the times and discern His tokens and read His signals. We sometimes count as mystics those who, like Savonarola and Oatharine of Siena, claim to have communications from God; to have revelations of a definite plan of God for His Ohurch, or for themselves as individuals, like the reformer of Erfurt, the founder of the Bristol orphanages, or the leader of the Ohina Inland Mission. But may it not be that we stumble at these experiences because we do not have them ourselves? Have not many of these men and women proved by their lives that they' were not mistaken, and that God has led them by a way that no other eye could trace?
But there is another reason for close contact with the living God in prayer-a ieason that rises perhaps to a still higher level. Prayer not only puts us in touch with God, and gives knowledge of Him and His ways, 'but it imparts to us His power. It is a touch which brings virtue out of Him. It is a hand upon the pole of a celestial battery, and it makes us charged with His secret life, energy, efficiency, Things which are impossible wit.h man are possible with God, and with a man in whom God is. Prayer is the secret of imparted power from God, and nothing else can take its place. Absolute weakness follows the neglect of secret communion with God-and the weakness is the more deplorable, because it is often unsuspected, especially when it has never yet been known by us what true power is. We see men of prayer quietly achieving results of the most surprising character. They have the calm of God, no hurry, or worry, or flurry; no anxiety or care, no excitement or bustle-they do great things for God, yet they are little in their own eyes; they carry great loads, and yet are
SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS OF THE HALF CENTURY
not weary nor faint; they face great crises, and yet are not troubled. And those who know not what treasures of wisdom and strength and courage and power are hidden in God's pavilion, wonder how it is- they try to account for all this by something in the man, or his talent, or tact, or favoring circumstances. Perhaps they try to' imitate such a career by securing the patronage of the rich and mighty, or by dependence on organization, or fleshly energy-or what men call "determination to succeed "-they bustle about, labor incessantly, appeal for inoney and, cooperation, and work out an apparent success, but there is none of that Power of God in it which can not be imi- tated. They compass themselves about with sparks, but there is no nre of God; they build up a great structure, but it 'is wood, hay, stub- ble; they make a great'noise, but God is not in the clamor. Like a certain preacher who confest that, when he felt no kindling of inspired thought and feeling, he walkt up and down the pulpit: and shouted with all his might-they make up for the lack of divine unction and action by carnal confidence and vehemence. There is a show of energy, resolution, endeavor, and often of results, but behind all this a lamentable and nameless deficiency.
Nothing is at once so undisputable and so overawing as the way in which a few men of God live in Him and He in them. The fact is, that, in the disciple's life, the fundamental law is "not I, but Christ in me." In a grandly true sense there is but one Worker, one agent, and He divine; and all other so-called" workers" are instruments only in His hands. THe first quality of a true instrument is passivity. An active instrument would defeat its own purpose; all its activity must be dependent upon the man who uses it. Sometimes a machine becomes uncontrollable, and then it not only becomes useless, but it works damage and. disaster. What would a man do with a plane, a knife, an axe, a bow, that had any will of its own and moved of itself? _Does it mean nothing when, in the Word of God, we meet so frequent symbols of passive service~the rod, the staff, the saw, the hammer, the sword, the spear, the thrashing instrument, the flail, and in the New Testament the vessel? Does it not mean that a wil((ul man God can not use; that the first condition of service is that my will is to be so lost in God's as thai; it presents no resistance to His and no per- sistence beyond or apart from His, no assistance to His. George Milller well says that we are to wait to know whether a certain work is God'sj then whether it is ours, as being committed to us; but even then we need to wait for God's way and God's time to do His own work, otherwise we rush precipitately into that which he means us to do, but only at His signal, or we go on doing when He calls a halt. Many a true servant of God has, like Moses, begun before his Master was ready, or kept on working when his Master's time was past.
There is one aspect of prayer to which particular attention needs
THE REVIVAL OF THE PRAYER SPIRIT
to be called, because it is strongly emphasized in the Word, and because it is least used in our daily life: we mean intercession.
'l'his word, and what underlies it, has a very unique use and meaning in Scripture. It differs from supplication, first in this, that supplication has mainly referenqe to the suppliant and his own supply: and again because 'intercession not only concerns others, but largely implies the need of direct divine interposition. There are many prayers that allow our cooperation in their answer, and imply our activity. When we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," we go to work to eaJ'1~ the bread for which we pray. That is God's law. When we ask God to deliver us from the evil one, we expect to be sober and vigilant, and resist the adversary. This is right; but our activity in many matters hinders the full display of God's power, and hence so our impression of His working. And the deepest convictiolls of God's prayer-answering are wrought in cases where we are in the nature of things precluded from all activity in promoting the result.
It will, therefore, be seen that the objecNon which often hinders our praying, or praying in confidence of results-namely, that we are entirely helpless to effect any result-is THE GRAND REASON FOR PRAYING; and when such praying is answered, the evidence of God's working is irresistible. It is when we are in trouble and refuge fails us, when we are at our wits' end, that it becomes plain that He saves us out of our distresses. Unbelief is always ready to suggest that it is not a strange thing if a prayer for the conversion of another is answered, when we have been bending every energy toward the winning of a soul; and we find it very hard to say how far the result is traceable to God and how far to man. But when one can do nothing but cry to God, and yet He works mightily to save, unbelief is silenced, or compelled to confess, this is the finger of God.
The Word of God teaches us that intercession with God is most necessary in cases where man is powerless. Elijah is held before us as a great intercessor and the one example given in his prayer for rain. Yet in this case he could only pray. There was nothing else he could do· to unlock the heavens after three years and a half of drought. And is there not a touch of divine poetry in the form in which the answer came? The rising cloud took the shape of "a man's hand," as though to assure the prophet how God saw and heeded the suppliant hand raised to Him in prayer! Daniel was powerless to move the king or reverse his decree; all he could do was to " desire mercies of the God of heaven cOlwerning the secret;" and it was because he could do nothing else, could not even guess at the interpretation when he knew not even the dream-that it was absolutely sure that
tJannarS
God had interposed, and so even the heathen king himself saw and felt and confest. All through history certain crises have arisen when the help of man was vain. To the formal Christian, the carnal disciple, the unbelieving soul, this fact, that there was nothing that man could do, makes prayer seem a]m-ost a folly, perhaps a farce, a waste of breath. But to those who best know God, man's extremity is God's opportunity, and hUIUan helplessness is the argument for praying. Invariably those whose faith in prayer is supernaturally strong, are those who have most proved that God has wrought by their own conscious compulsory cessation of all their own effort as vain and hopeless.
George Muller set out to prove to a half-believing church and an unbelieving world t.hat GOD DOES DIRECTLY ANSWER PRAYER; and to do this he abstained from all the ordinary met.hods of appeal, or of active effort to secure the housing, clothing, and feeding of thousands of orphans. Hudson Taylor undertook to put missionaries into Inland China, by dependence solely upon God. He not only asks no collections, but refuses them in connection with public meetings. lIe and his co-workers are accustomed to lay all wants before the Lord, whether of men or money, and expect the answer, and it comes. The study of missionary history reveals the fact that, at the very times when, in utter despair of any help but God's, there has been helieving prayer, the interposition of God has been most conspicuously seen-:-how could it be most conspicuous except amid such conditions?
One of the most encouraging tokens of God's moving ill our days is, ·therefore, what, for lack of any better terms, we have called the revival of the prayer-spirit. This is very noticeable in the numerous "prayer circles" and" prayer covenants," which have been formed within ten years past. In Great Britain particularly, intercession has been unusually emphasized of late. The Keswick movement has been more conspicuous for prayer than for anything else. The whole atmosphere of the convention has been laden with its fragrance, and the intervals between the meetings are very largely filled up with private supplications, or with smaller gatherings of two or three or more who seek further converse with God. There are organizations for prayer alone-some whose members do not know each other, or meet in common assemblies, but whose only bond is a covenant of daily supplication for one another and for objects of mutual interest. Any one who will read the two volumes in which is told that wonderful story of the China Inland MisEion, will find that beyond all else believing prayer is brought to the front, as the condition of all success. It fell to the writer of this paper to spend some weeks at the Mission
THE REVIVAL OF TIlE PRAYER SPIRIT
Home, in London. From morning till night there was one sacrifice of praise and prayer, and at least once a week, with the map of China in fun sight, the various missionaries and stations are mentioned by name, individually, the peculiar circumstances being made known, which incite to earnest, sympathetic supplication. And thus, both in larger and smaller circles of prayer, the spirit of intercession has a markt revival.
This is doubtless the most hopeful signal apparent above the horizon, and it is a signal calling God's people to a new life of unselfish and believiug prayer. Every church ought to be a prayer C'ircle)' but this will not be, while we are waiting for the whole body to move together. The mass of professing Christians have too little hold on God to enter into such holy agreement. May the writer venture a suggestion-the fruit of long and prayerful thought-to his brethren in the ministry, and to all who yearn for a revival of the prayer-spirit? It is this, that IN EVERY CHURCH A PRAYER CIRCLE be formed, without any regard to number.~. Let the pastor nnite with himself any man or woman in whom he discerns peculiar spiritnallife and power, and without publicity or !tny effort to enlarge the little company, begin to lay before God any matter demanding special divine guidance and help. Without any public invitation-which might only draw unprepared people into a formal association-it will be found that the Holy Spirit win enlarge the circle as He fits others, or finds others fit, to enter it-and thus quietly and without observation the little company of praying souls will grow as fast as God means it shall. Let a record be kept of every definite petition laid before God-such a prayer circle should be only with reference to very definite matters-and as God interposes, let the record of his interposition be carefully kept, and become a new inspiration to believing prayer. Such a resort to united intercession would transform a whole church, remove dissensions, rectify errors, secure harmony and unity, and promote Holy Ghost administration and spiritual life and growth, beyond all other possible devices. If in any church the pastor is not a man who could or would lead in such a movement, let two or three, who feel the need, meet and begin by prayer for him. In this matter there should be no waiting for anybody else)' if there be but one belicver who has power with God, let such an one begin intercessory prayer. God will bring to the side of such an intercessor others whom He has made r.eady to act as supplicators.
Not long since, in a church in Scotland, a minister suddenly began to preach with unprecedented power. The whole congregation was aroused and sinners marvelously saved. He himself did not understand the new enduement. In a dream of the night it was strangely
SPIRITUAL MOVEMENTS OF THE HALF CENTURY
suggested to him that the whole blessing was traceable to one poor old woman who was stone deaf, but who came regularly to church, and being unable to hear a word, spent all the time in prayer f~r the preacher and individual hearers. In the biography of C. G. Finney similar facts are recorded of "Father Nash," Abel Cleary, and others.
In 1896 I met in Newport, England, a–praying circle of twelve men, who had met for twenty-five years every Saturday night to pray for definite blessings. Not a death had occurred in their number during the whole quarter century. The first impulse leading to this weekly meeting. w.as interest in Mr. Spurgeon's ministryo They felt that with his greall.a;ccess to men he had need of peculiar power from above, and on the .Sabbath following their first meeting, he began to preach with such- increast unction as attracted general notice. Examples might be multiplied indefinitely. But the one thing we would make prominent is this: that above all else, God is calling His people to new prayer. He wills that "men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting;" that,first of all, snpplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.* And if this be done, first of a,ll, every other most blessed result will follow. God maits to be ask!. He has the fountains of blessing which he puts at the disposal of his praying saints. They are sealed fountains to the ungodly and the -unbelieving. But there is one Key that unlocks even heaven's gates; one secret that puts connecting channels between those eternal fountains and ourselves, that key, that secret, is prevailing prayer. .
In London an enterprising newspaper has a private wire connect- ing with Edinburgh, in order to command the latest freshest news from the Scottish Athens. One night the clerk, who was out to col- lect local items, returned late and could not get in-he had forgotten to take his night-key. He thought a moment. It was of no use to knock at the door-the only fellow-clerk in the building was too far away to heal' him. He stept to a neighboring telegraph office and seRt a message to Edinburgh: "Tell – – that I am at the street door and· can not get in." In twenty minntes the door was unfastened' and he was at his desk in the office. The s7wrtest way to get at the man in the fourth story was by Edinburgh. How long will it take us to learn that our shortest route to the man next door is by way of God's throne! God has no greater controversy with his people to-day thaI;.
this, that, with boundless promises to believing prayer, there are so few who actually give themselves unto intercession.
" And there is none that calleth upon Thy name, That stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee."-Isa. lxiv.: 7.
*1 Tim. Ii.: 1, 8.
1898.J THE PRESENT SITUATION IN ASIA
'l'HE PRESENT SITUATION IN ASIA.
)lY ROBERT E. SPEER, NEW YORK CITY, Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.
It is a cJmmon belief among men who are living in the East, and who are, without bias, studying its future, that the Pacific is to supplant the Atlantic as the great sea of commerce and the ocean theater of the world's life and movement. The populousness of the lands bordering the Pacific on the west, the wealth of their undevelopt resources, the magnitude of their markets, the greatness of the empire that is growing up around Australia, the inexhaustible richness of the Spanish-American States, and the promises made by the powerful infancy of our Pacific commonwealths, leaving out of view the yearnings of European states to gain seats of influence and residence in the old East that is becoming the newest West, are but a few of many grounds on which these men rest their belief that the great scenes of future history will be enacted around the Pacific. There is much to lend color to such views. We mistake in thinking of Asia as wholly effete. It is covered with the wrecks of great historic movements. Onr antiquities are as the play of children compared with its hoary age. The forces which have made many of its peoples are spent. But the peoples of Asia are great peoples, and their old life, while devoid of aspiration, of progress, of fertility, has schooled them into a pati~ ence, an endurance, a frugality, a sense of human weakness, that may prove, when the new forces that are at work begin freely to play upon them, an equipment of infinite value, the very qualities needed to enable them to do what has not yet been done.
The new forces have been powerfully at work the past year, and the new year begins with the situation in Asia more interesting than ever to the friend of human progress and the student of history. Superficially the reactionary influences seem, in the main, to have prevailed. Underneath, the solid, progressive forces may be seen not only to have held their own, but to have gained in the great struggle which has begun. Some wonld reckon Russia among the retrogressi ve influences; but Russia stands for order, protection, law; and her industrial ambition means that her political absolutism is constructing its own limits, while emancipation in some form, which must come, may make Russia's influence not so unfavorable to the higher' interests of the Asiatic peoples as has been usually supposed. Sunnee Mohammedanism in the person of the p8eudo Oalif, Abdul Hamid, has risen from the low estate into which it was believed to have been brought, and the Sultan, from being the sick man of Europe, has gained new health and power with which further to curse the nations. The new year sees both :r.ussia and Turkey more securely entrencht than ever in Asia; and in the case of the former, at least, in a position of unassailable strength in fields on which a few years its hold was slight.
On the other hand, the influence of Great Britain, which, while in the main (lirected with purest selfishness toward the absorption and developme,nt of trade, has also ever been the most righteous and just- spirited influence in Asia, is declared by many British residents and papers in Asia, to have declined. The weak and vacillating course of Sir Nicholas O'Connor during the Japanese-Chinese war certainly did weaken the influence of Great Britain in both China and Japan, while it played into the willing hands of I~ussia. And the appointment, two years ago, of Mr. Byron Brennan practically to in vestigate the condition of British trade, and his commission, with a sort of pontifical authority, indicated the. British belief that they were in danger in just that sphere which is dearest to them, and whose protection and enlargement has ever been the particular care of British foreign policy. Many long for the old swash-buckler days of Sir Harry Parkes, forgetting that the Asiatic nations have past through a generation of the most efl'eC-' tive discipline in the ways of western governments since then, and have learned some good lessons in that same school which taught the Sultan to play chess with the suspicions and distrusts of the European states. In matter of fact, the solid influence of Great Britain has not declined so much as the influence of other European governments, and the wit and skill of the Asiatic governments have increast. 'l'he old supremacy and daring aggression are gone. The telegraph renders the Asiatic stage too opcn to the gaze of civilization to allow the old tactics ever to be employed again. Still, e'ven a relative decline of British power means a less favorable political atmosphere in which to initiate and foster missionary movements toward enlightenment and iiberty and life.
But, whether the atmosphere be favorable or unfavorable, the missionary movements will be maintained and enlarged. It is waste time to meditate on their decline or withdrawal. Through whatever difficulties, against whatever odds, at whatever heavy cost of money and life, the missionary movement means to do its work in Asia until its work is done. And steadily during the past year it has prest on its way. Temporary diminution of receipts has led it to re-examine its methods and to increase their efficiency. Each year's experience has shown it how more fully to avoid all irritation of the people, and to win their friendship and confidence. Political confusion has given it the opportunities for which it is ever looking to show the people that it is free of all political entanglements, and is a clear and untrammeled enterprise, whose kingdom is not of this world. Fi'om Turkey to Korea the year has witnessed the solidifying of the foundations of missionary work, and its quiet and steady progress in numbers and 1898.) '1'l1E PREBEN'f SlTUATlON IN ABlA. 11 power, while it closes with the forces of decay and retrogression emerging in many places, and in some apparently predominant.
In Persia the new Shah has shown himself incompetent to de{L1 . with the problems confl'onting him. When he degraded the Sadr-azam, the powerful prime minister, and reorganized the cabinet, some thought that he was showing the master hand of which Persia is in need; but all later developments have corroborated the first impression of his weakness. 'fhere is no hope for Persia in the Kajar dynasty, nor in any force or party within the state. The timidity with which Muzafi'r-i-din began his reign led to the abandonment, during the year, of his proposed trip to Vichy on account of kidney trouble, and it seems to be leading him now to adopt a weaker atti- tude with regard to the mollahs, and to' hold, with looser grasp, the lin es of control over the more distant sections of lJis empire. He recently appointed a serparast, or governor, for the non-Moslems of Ramadan, with instructions to warn th em against heing misled by the missionaries, who were the more dangerous because of their kindly acts of charity and beneficence. This may have been only a sop to the ecclel:!iastics, but sneh sops have become too numerous. How weak the government's authority is has been well shown by the recent propaganda of the Greek Church among the Nestorians. For years the Nestorians have lookt for political snccor from some foreign source. They coquetted with the Catholics in the hope of French protection, then with the Anglicans, looking toward England. Long ago, tho, they saw how vain were these reliances, and have been turning toward ~ussia, wondering when the Greek priests would como. Last spring they came, and hundreds flockt to them, hailing them as their deliver- ers. Under the illusion that they were now secure, they taunted the Moslems, boasted of their security and the coming day when their heels would be on the necks of their Mohammedan masters, and the lands of the faithfnl wonld be their portion. The Moslem authorities were dumbfounded, and not knowing how true the pretensions of the new proselytes to the Russian Church were, hesitated to take vengeance, or to enforce the old order. Feeling their way, however, they have discovered that Russia is not ready yet for arny aCtiveinterference, and the last state of these poor Nestorians is now far worse than the first. It is to the credit of the solid work done by the American missionaries, that the great majority of the members of their churches resisted the allurements of the Greek priests, and kept a temperate mind. The whole episode, taken with many others illnstrating the general weakness of the country, the rottenness of the village system, the injustice and extortion of the whole scheme of taxation, and the incapacity of Persian and Turk alike have increast the longing of many Mohammedans as well as confirmed the desire of all non-Moslems for the intervention of Russia or England. 'fhere are some strong men in Persia, most of them as unscrupulous and wicked as they are strong. Some of them might develop, for a little while, an apparently stable government, but PERSIA IS ROTTEN.
Her village population has great possibilities under a just government, but it is absolutely futile to hope for a just government from any dynasty that can be establisht in Persia, or as long as the Mohammedan ecclesiastics have influence over administration or are left with any of the large judicial authority they now possess. Whoever hopes for progress or righteousness from Islam in this or the coming century, is expecting grapes from thorns or figs from thistles. There is no political hope for Persia save in Russia or England, and there is no moral or social hope save in that vital regeneration which only Christianity of all the forces in the world can effect. As Mr. Curzon, no favorable critic of missions, declares: "Those philosophers are right who argue that moral must precede material and internal exterior reform in Persia. It is useless to graft new shoots on to a stem whose own sap is exhausted or poisoned. We may give Persia roads and railroads; we may work her mines and exploit her resources; we may drill her army and clothe her artisans; but we shall not have brought her within the pale of civilized nations until we have got at the core of the people, and given a new and a radical twist to the national character and institutions."
It must be admitted that in Persia and 'furkey the mission mttlook is not bright. The abandonment of Mosul as a mission station greatly weakens the force at work in Mesopotamia, all of the lower and central portions of which now are toucht only from Bagdad by a small force of C. M. S. missionaries on the south and from Mardin on the north. The magnificent work of the American Board of Missions has been tried as by fire. In Arabia there has been general quiet, but the few Scotch missionaries at Shiek Othman,. near Aden, and the Americans at Buzrah, Bahrein, and Muscat are as drops in a bucket. The chief grounds of assurance regarding missions in the lands of Islam must be found in a prophetic vision of the future, and in a calm faith fed by the very spirit of Islam, and vindicl]:ted daily, that there is o"ne God, and that Jesus Cbrist is the Son of God and the Savior of the world, and that ·he will be the Savior of Islam because there is none, other. Islam simply can not endure modern life and light. When these are turned fnll upon it, the old religion of a nation of Arab tribes, full of the shackles of a narrow life, yet full of the bigotry of a universal claim, must crumble of its own contradictoriness.
What shall be said of that great territory between Persia and the west, India and Tibet on the east, Russia on the north, and the Persian Gulf on the south? Where are the heroes who will essay to enter this field? What is to be its destiny? Is it to be barren and waste, curst by the jealousy and anger of the two great .empires that glare across it at one anothcr? The past year has seen no advance made toward the evangelization of these lands-Afghanistan, Beluchistan, Turkestan, and Bokhara, which, howeVEr, is Russia.
THE CONDITION OF INDIA.
In India famine has followed plague, and war and unrest have followed famine. Plague slew its thousands, and threatened to turn Kurrachee and Bombay into cities of the dead. Famine slew its tens of thousands, and filled the Northwest Provinces with agony and suffering, in comparison with which the quick fatality of the plague was merciful. How many died of famine or plague, many will say, but none can know. Of what account are the numbers when set against the millions who remain, as sick and hungry almost as the multitudes who have gone? On the heels of these miseries have come new mutterings of discontent, ncw exposures of the dark tides that are always running under Indian life, new difficulties on the northwest frontier. And many speak as always of the cruelty, the oppression, the tyrannical impositions of the British power. Which is both uutrue and unjust. All that any power on earth but Christianity could do for India, England has done. But what is that? Fine roads, a great and non-religious educational system, newspapers, enlightenment, political equality and equality before the law, railroads, abolition of cruelties and enormities practist in the name and under' the sanction of religion, national peace, 'and order, these are great blessings, and some of them run deep; but equality and enlighten- ment and justice and righteousness run just as deep in India as the layer of British integrity extends, and no deeper. Below that, and that is not far, all the principles of Oriental life, so distorted, so evil, 80 wondrously persistent, rule with unshaken sway. To think of India as civilized, and to propose to deal with it so, is to toy with high explosives. A new mutiny, if it ever comes, would show the spirit of the old in the same opulent extravagance of savage and treachei'ous brutality. Why shonld this be so? Simply because Eng- .
land's work has been on the sur- face of Indian life. New institu- tions, new courts, new laws, all these are the expressions, not the creators of a spirit. England has not given India a new moral spirit or a character of integrity, because she could not. When she might have done so, if sh,e could have done it at all, by a system of free Ohristian education, she refused to do so, politically she was not fit to do so. India will not be a better India than was revealed in the days of Chandra J apta, of Akbar, of the Sepoy Rebellion, until the only force in- the world that can do it gives to SON OF THE GANGES, BENARES, INDIA.. India a new character. Julian Hawthorne's testimohy, growing ThIs Is the Image of the River God, which 18 out of his study of the famine covered at high water.
conditions, warmly corroborates the judgment that irresistibly obtrudes itself. He says: "The only salvation of India, even from the economic poinL of view, is, in the opinion of those wllO have longest and most deeply studied it, its Christianiza.- tion. Hindu idolatry and Islam are the blights that are destroying the country. The pa.rnlysis of caste on the one side, and the fetters of bigotry on the other, delay civilization and obscure enlightenment. England bas not fulfilled her duty to the souls of her dependents; and, therefore, as Edwardes foresaw, her administration has measurably failed to rehabilitate tbeir minds and bodies. . . . Let her inspire India with a veritable Christian faith, Rnd nine-tenths of the present difficulties would spontaneously cease."
It will be for the peace of India and of Asia to recognize this. He who contributes to enlarging the missionaries' work in India uuring the coming year, is not only saving souls from death; he is strengthen- ing the only force that is working for the life and redemption of the world. Whatever else is done for India, in plague prevention or famine relief, or secular education, is but external and tertiary.
The King of Siam has been visiting Europe during part of the year. Perhaps the pleasant intercourse he had, as it is reported, with President Faure of France" accounted for the absence of serious, trouble over the boundaries between Siamese and French territory, though the Siamese appear to have made some aggressions. Much may be hoped from the visit, The work of the missionaries is held in as high favor as ever and explorations by Dr. McGilvary and Dr. Peoples in the extreme north, above the Laos States, reveal a great country and accessible peoples whom missions have not -yet reached.
Ohina has moved slowly during the year; but it is a great thing to move one-fourth of the human race at all. Politically there has been little change, Russia holds such a position with reference to Man- CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATION HALLS, CANTON.
In these examination booths, each of which is only large enough for one man, the students are examined in the Chinese classics. They are not allowed to leave them until each examin· ation Is over, but attendants may bring them food and water.
churia as to be able to absorb that territory whenever she is ready to do so, and her sharp, decisive action, during the war, in securing Chinese territory from Japanese appropriation, and in pursuing one clear, strong line of policy commanded the respect and confidence of the Chinese government. In the south, France wants Hainan, and makes little concealment of the desire, while the opening of the West river to trade pours British influence into Kwang tung, Kwangsi and Yunnan, and so places an effective bar across the northward advance of French aggression from Tonquin, while it establishes a belt of British control, in fact, along the northern boundaries of Tonquin, Burmah and Assam. British commerce and so British influence are now predominant in the two great valleys of China-the Yang-tsze and the West. 'l'here have been no serious outrages during the year, save the murder of the two German missionaries in Shantung, where the Rhenish society were just establishing a new mission, and on the whole, the anti-foreign feeling seems to have mellowed a little. The German aggression, which followed the murder of the Rhenish mis- sionaries, however, may feed the slumbering hostility into heat. From Peking not a little pressure has been exerted on provincial author i- ,ties to provide facilities for the study of English and western sciences; and in many provinces such schools have been establisht.
The Imperial University at Tientsin under Mr. Tenney has been enlarged, and, crowded with students, seems to be on solid founda- tions. A passion for English has grown np in the ports. Schools and colleges which offer it are thronged with pupils, and even those which do not, but have a reputation for solid work, have also leapt from an almost languishing condition to new prosperity. The railroad from Tientsin has been pusht to within three miles of the gates of Peking, and the great line from Peking to Hankow, and from Hankow to Canton seems to be fairly well assured. Puny shut" and geomantic superstitions have shown that they are powerful, but not powerful enough to stand against the demands of progress. Bicycles and foreign restaurants are fads of the young Ohinese of sportsman- like tastes in other cities than the coast ports. Some think the foun- tains of the great deep are about to be opened. It is not so. Ohina is moving, but her central government is corrupt, and lacks the capa- city to lead the country forward, wbile the people are the same in character that they have ever been. There will be ebb and flow in China.
SPASMS OF PROGRESS'
'will be succeeded by reactionary falls. Permanent change for the better will only come with permanent improvement of character and the play upon Ohinese life of the redeeming, restorative forces of Christianity. If there is any harder task in the world to set before the Ohurch than this, of subduing the mind of Ohina, which has been forming and hardening into its present amazing distortion through thirty centuries, to the mind of Ohrist, it has not been discovered yet, unless it is to be found in the Mohammedan missionary problem, aud the proclamation of religious liberty in the lands of Islam will give to this problem a totally new face. It may b~ doubted whether, on the whole, the m-tss-ton cause in China has ever before had so successful year as this last. The move- ment in Fuh-kien may be discounted by some in suspicion of the motives of the inquirers, on whom the power of foreign nations shown in the punishments inflicted for the outrages at K ucheng has made a deep impression; but such a criticism is of second causes only, and not of results. A great gathering of sincere Christians will be the fruit of this movement. The growth in Manchuria seems to con- tinue without abatement. The-missions are pressing out into new territory. The work in southeastern Hunan, carried on for several years without ostentation, seems to be better establisht, several churches having been gathered there, and persecution having been brought to an end for the present. Generally throughout the Eighteen Provinces missions have surrendered nothing, but have strengthened their stakes and enlarged their borders.
In the missions in Japan the worst seems to be past. The reac- tion which had its roots chiefly in rationalism and nationalism has tried the churches severely, and has sifted out a great deal of chaff.
Now, the general ..,,-'-~"""""~""Oi'''''''_ii''?';;;; testimony is, that the people want pure and positive presentation of the Gospel, and not the arid spec-"
ulations and va- garies which, for awhile, many were in danger of su pposing consti- tuted that real and adapted Christianity for which Japan was seeking. The A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL AT NANKING, CH.INA. dangers w h i c h assail the Japanese church have by no means been left behind, how- ever. The new industrialism which has increast the product of man- ufactured goods so as to absorb trade formerly in foreign llands, and which is represented by imports in 1895 of yen* ] 38,674,842, as compared with yen 37,637.38 in 1886; and of exports in 1895 of yen 136,186,328, as compared with yen 48,870,532 in" 1886, has made the.
commercial spirit the spirit of the country. While the elaborate and thoroughly .organized system of government education pours out steadily its irreligious torrent of influence. Combined with this. is the spirit of war, which has been fed and nonrisht the past year among all the people who are toucht by the modern movements at all, and which is striving toward the end of doubling both army and navy within the next decade, in preparation, the young Japanese will tell you, for the meeting they propose to have some day with the * A yen is equal to about 50 cents gold. Russian power, which, with its advancing railroad across Siberia, its Asiatic fleet, and its one hundred thousand troops at Vladivostock, so ominously overshadows them, and so sharply checkt them in their designs upon China and robbed them of the foothold upon the Continent-one of the most disavowed but most desired fruits of the war. The flurry over the Hawaiian question in the summer soon died away. Every level-headed Japanese knew that it was nonsense to offend the United States, which buys nearly one-half of their exports. But there has been not a little friction, and a great deal of talk about friction between foreigners and Japanese in the ports. 'fhe missionaries, as a rule, make no such complaints. Their relations with the people are now well adjusted. The difficulties arise with those who so distrust the Japanese that the prospect of coming into force of the revised treaties is most unpalatable to them. 'fhey do not wish to be subject to Japanese laws and courts. On the whole, the year has been one of comparatively sober and solidifying progress in Japan. The people are enamored now of industrialism and military power as the real secret and gist of civilization, but many are coming to recognize that a nation is fouling the springs of all true power and stability which traduces religion and trains men to live as tho there were no God and no law of God. But this mad self-deception is only A STAGE IN JAPAN'S PROGRESS.
The country is honestly seeking for what is best, and its fickleness is due to its superficial judgments, which lead it with apparent captiousness from one thing to another, before the first has been thoroughly tried. When the people find what is the best, and see it, they will be stable enough. One who knows them as well as anyone living, writes privately regarding them: "One often hears the Japanese charged with extreme fickleness, especially in comparison with the Chinese. This charge, I think, requires to be somewhat qualified. During the feudal regime, for about three centuries, they surely were sufficiently steady and conservative. The Chinese as a nation have not yet emerged from that kind of stagnancy, whereas the Japanese have entered on the path of human progress. The present generation of Japanese lives and moves in an age of change in all departments of life, in an age of transition from the old to the new. In things material as well as immaterial, they are making for something better and something higher than what they were, and had by heredity and transmission from of old. The Japanese are quick witted, and apt to jump to a conclusion without sufficient knowledge or examination; hence, they readily enter upon a thing quite new to them. It does not take them long to find out that they have made a mistake, or, perhaps, they are disappointed, while at the same time it is likely that another" good thing!' has attracted their attention. And so they go in for that, and so on. But, by-and bye, when they have finally hit upon the right thing, they are quite steady and often splendidly persevering."
The process of galvanizing the national religions into some sort of vital obstruction to Christianity has been carried on vigorously during 1897. Societies for adapting Shintoism to modern philosophy, and for advancing the interest of the worship of the fathers of the empire, have been formed. The Buddhist papers have beeu full of forebod- ings as to the effect of throwing the whole country open to foreign residence. " What will happen," they ask, "when the simple-minded country folk, with their quiet and trustful faith, are brought face to face with this disturbing, scrutinizing, iconoclastic spirit of western civilization? Would that the treaties had not been revised, and that the people had been left in the peace of their ancient ways!" 1'0 prepare for this change the more advanced Buddhists, who have already adapted their ethics and philosophy to the needs of the new situation, are seeking now for some adaptation in prepara- tion for the struggle with modern science. In the missions, the rupture between the ultra liberal men in the Kumiai churches and the American Board missions has been made complete. The Church of Christ now stands first in evangelical membership, and with the cooperation of the seven mis- sions which work with it, has decided to take what it believes to be a large step forward in the !
matter of self-support. Its prac- tical position is, that no church should be organized that can not be self-supporting, and t hat churches already organized on a different basis shall be given two years in which to attain self-sup- A BUDDHIST PILGRIM IN JAPAN.
port or forfeit their privileges as fully organized churches. Deeply in sympathy with the nationalistic aspirations of Japan, and strongly affected still by the influence of liberalism ll:nd scepticism pouring in from America and Europe, the native preachers of all the churches are struggling toward firm evan- gelical foundations, and the people are everywhere demanding such preaching as supplies them with true spiritual bread and drink. '['he Unitarian propaganda is not gaining any power. Mr. Clay Mac- Caulay, its leading American representative, declared at the seventy- second anniversary of the American Unitarian Association in Boston lately,that the Unitarian body is more widely known in that country than any other foreign religious body, and that the name Unitarian has become incorporated into the Japanese language as signifying reason in religion.
It is an interesting comment on this, that in reporting their work to the Rev. Henry Loomis, of the American Bible .Society, for his annual table of statistics, the Unitarian missionaries omitted this last year the one church they had reported the year before. What had become of it? Did it become incorporated into Japanese Buddhism or eclecticism?
Light and shade have played over Korea with inconstant alternation during 1897. The new year begins with the missi.on outlook brighter than can be described, and with the dark clasp of Russia tightened to mastery. On the evening of October 7, 1895, Japanese influence was absolutely supreme in Korea. But it was an external power imposed, which· had wrought great reforms in the most obtuse and provocative way, but had built up no party ~n the state to whose interest it was to sympathize with Japanese authority. Early in the morning of October 8, 1895, the queen was slain at the direct instigation of Viscount Miura, the Japanese minister. It was a stupid blunder, showing the complete diplomatic pnerility of the Japanese representatives. By sunrise, the influence of Japan in Korea had been wiped away as floods sweep away straws. Japan had won and Japan had llndone. The king fled to the Russian legation, and so without the lifting of her hand, Russia found Korea separated from China, cleaned somewhat and a little purified, and placed in her lap by the blunder of Japan.· The war with China was undertaken by Japan to secure the independence of Korea. So she boasted. She was establishing civilization in the East. To start Korea on the high way of emancipated enlightemnent was her great aim and ambition. And now she has closed her first chapter with the utter collapse of these pretensions, and has succeeded merely in doing a piece of not very clean work for Russia. As long as Mr. Waeber was the Russian Minister, and Mr. McLeavy Brown, an Englishman, was superintendent of the customs and &dviser of the treasury, there was not much to fear. Mr. Waeber was a broad-minded, honest man, who wisht for the good of Korea, and did a great deal to this end. His wife was a Lutheran, and they showed no unfriendliness to evangelical missions, while Mr. Brown, with absolute veto power over all expenditures save those of the royal household department, was a guarantee of integrity and honesty, and an assnrance of such progress as could be madeagainst the odds of a worthless king, an opera b01~(fe government, and as corrupt a set of officials as could be found outside of Persia and China. However, Mr.Waeber was promoted to be Minister to Mexico, and in September Mr. Speyer, a man of different methods, with whom it was believed the interests of Russia would have precedence over those of Korea, was transferred from Tokyo to take his place. Does the fruit begin to appear? A recent telegram announces the removal of Mr. Brown, and from time to time news comes of slight increases of the "staff of Russian officers, who now have charge of the Korean troops. If Mr. Brown has indeed been removcd, it is as heavy a blow as could well be struck at the cause of progrcss in Korea, altho even he was unable to stay the tide which was already running back to the old days of office buying and selling, unjust, irregular taxation, official squeezing, and geueral corruption. In any event,1898 opens with the reactionary tendencies dominant in politics and government in " Chosen." Buddhism has no hold In Korea, when compared with Japan or A CHRISTIAN SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, SEotTL, KOREA.
Asia, or Burmah, or Siam. What religion the people have is Shamanism, and Shamanism unorganized, unarticulated, with no framework of bone or gristle is a very flabby opponent to such a force as Christianity launches against it. The spirits proved quite inefficient in the China-Japan war, and the spread of Christianity has emboldened many to throw aside their fear of them, even while unprepared as yet to accept the high requirements of Christian discipleship. A great transformation has past over the country since the war, destroying the old spirit of exclusivism and distrust, which seems to havc been the inevitable fruit of Confucianism everywhere, and disposing the people with peculiar favor to missionaries, especially from America, which has had the good fortune to be well represented diplomatically, and whose political disintercstedness, at least, is in a measure under-
"REJOICE, YE IlEAV)j;~NS ! "
stood. The missionaries have been helpt by these conditions, but have known their supe1"ficial value too well, had they not been ai!lling at altogether different results, to do other than ground their work on solid spiritual foundations. Nowhere else in the world have I met native Christians of more joyous and simple faith, who were more vivi(Uy reproducing in our own time the apostolic days, when "the word of the Lord had free course and was glorified"; and "there were added to the Church daily such as were being saved," visibly delivered from day to uay from the grip of old errors and evils, and led on into ,evident light and life. Over and over again we thought of the exclamation which in the early days of Christianity was in the mouths of the heathen, "Behold, how these Christians love one another!" It is scarcely to be dou bted that there will come, perhaps soon, a time of great trial and sifting in the Korean Church. The new year dawns, however, on a wonderful opportunity to reach an open people.
The Siberian railway slowly creeps across ARia, working from both the east and the west. Russia has been given a coaling station at Fusan, anu an open port is hers on the Gulf of Pe-chi-li when she wishes it. Germany is pressing her trade, and before the end oithe year several new Japanese steamship lines, or old lines enlarged, are promist to bind Japan more closely to America and Europe.
This is a rapid view of the conditions with which the new year begins in Asia. The forces of men flare and fall. The old faiths of men are declining, or so far surrendering to the pressure of the new times as to betray themselves and to compromise their true principles in the effort to meet Christianity on ground where it is invincible. But throughout Asia the great movement of missions has forged steadily on. Nothing can stay it-neither its own blunders nor the apathy of hom8 Christians; neither slander, nor misunderstanding, nor opposition, coldness of heart or warmth of passion. A cool, just measurement of the situation leaves as a conviction more firm far than that of designs and power of the Russian government, this of the pertinacity, the virility, the permanency of the enterprise which begins this year under brighter anspices than ever, and which believes in the face of all doubt and denial, that it is the movement of God upon the nations.
"REJOICE, YE HEAVENS! "-Rev. xii. : 11,12.
REV. F. B. MEYER, B. A., LONDON, ENGLAND.
We will not attempt to locate i~ the prophetical chart, the incident referred to in this paragraph; whether it has been fulfilled, or has yet to be fulfilled, is immaterial to our present purpose. The casting out of Satan is not confined to anyone incident in the history of redemption, but is, probably, a long process which commenced when Jesus said: "Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out," (John xii.: 31), and will reach its consummation, when he shall have been driven from heaven to earth, from earth into abyss, and from the abyss into the lake of fire and brimstone. The 'principles, therefore, which appear at anyone stage of the casting out of the old serpent, the deceiver of the whole earth, are applicable universally, and we may obtain valuable lessons for our own share in the process, by carefully studying the statement, that "they overcame because of the Blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their life even unto death."
One point of exegesis must be settled before we can feel the full force of this sublime announcement. Weare told that they overcame. Who are these? Obviously, not Michael and his angels, for it could be hardly said of these celestial combatants that they overcame because of the Blood of tlie Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, nor, that they loved not their lives unto the death. The pronoun evi- dently points to the previous noun, the brethren, who had been accused before their God day and night. And who were these brethren, con- cerning whom the great voice in heaven speaks? Can they be other than the saints who were dear to God, and who, face to face with the.
fury of magistrates and crowds, stemming manfully the hatred and opposition of their times, were bearing persecution and reproach in every city of the known world; and without knowing it, by their vic- tories, were bringing success along the entire line of the hosts of light.
THE SOLIDARITY OF THE ARMIES OF GOD.
The conflict thronghout the universe between good and evil is one.
The saints on earth are brothers in arms with Michael and his angels.
Each soul, however lonely and obscure, plays an important part in the issue of the fight, jnst as sometimes an entire position may be gained or lost by the fidelity or otherwise of a single sentry at his post.
For a moment let us consider this great conflict. It must have begun with the first uprising of pride and rebellion in Satan's heart, when for the first time he abode not in the truth. There was, prob- ably, war in heaven long ages before it broke out in the glades of Eden. It may even be that the earth herself bears marks of that an- cient conflict, though it became more markt and determined when man's destiny became the gauge of battle. It may appear some day that much of the carnage of creation, the ferocity of the tiger and the hawk, the violence of the hurricane, and the casualty of the earth- quake, are due to a disturbance introduced into God's creation by the sin of the archangel, who had been appointed the vicegerent and prince of the world, but who violated the first law of his creation, by assuming the prerogative of independence. It is enough, however, for us to learn the consideration of the malign effect of his fall on nations for the more certain and scriptural conception of its effect on man.
The inner thought of the fall was the successful assertion on the part of Satan of his superiority over the new creature which God had built up from the dust of the earth. By a lie he seduced him from the allegiance which he had so often plighted when he walked the glades of Ed"en in converse with his creator; and in that first act of rlisobe- dience Satan acquired a supremacy over Adam and his race which he has never failed to press to its utmost capabilities.
Since the fall, the government of man has been hcld by the prince of the power of the air, who is also the God of this world. and the entire system of idolatry, which is co-extensive with the family of man, is in its essence, demon-worship. This is clearly stated by the apostle, "This, I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God" (1 Cor. x. : 20), a statement which is corroborated by the universal witness of missionaries, that "the whole system of FetiEhism, is really demon-worship, and that the gifts of idol-votaries, are really presented to propitiate the evil ·spirits, which in their experience are only too much to be feared.
It is pl.'obable that heathenism is the dark veil beneath which the prince of evil enshrouds himself and his trusted emissaries. Daniel tells how the angel that came to him had been resisted and stayed by the Prince of Persia, in evident allusion to some strong evil spirit which hac delayed his progress (Dan. x.). And Ezekiel uses of Tyre words that, in their full meaning, are only applicable to the dark spirit that mled the city (Ezek. xxviii.). In perfect harmony with these two statements, the Apostle tells us that our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places (Eph. vi.). Putting all these statements together, are we not clearly taught that before headway can be made in the evangelization of any country, or the overthrow of any idolatry, the strong man who holds his goods in peace, has to be bound by the cords of faith and prayer. Probably, if the story of missions could be written from the heavenly standpoint, we should fini! that each advance was simultaneous with some casting out of the evil spirits that had been too long entrencht . in the dark superstitions and idolatries of the heathen-the casting out which was due to the faith and prayer of humble saints, who may have been removed from the scene of conflict by vast spaces of land or sea.
This thought may be carried even further. It is almost certain : that behind every strongly entrenched wrong in Christian laws, such as the liquor-interest, the betting-ring, the gigantic system of impurity which holds its myriads in thrall, we have to deal not with flesh and blood, but against evil spi:'its that hold and rule the hearts of men. Hence the necessity of having spiritual men engaged in the conflict. If we are contending with spirits, it is preposterous to use carnal weapons, such as rhetoric and human learning. You can only conquer spirit by spirit. And no man can hope to succeed in this fight, who has not already learnt the secrets of the overcoming life, and applied them successfully for the regimen of his own spirit.
Hence the importance also of prayer, because in this ~oly exercise lonely souls are able to throw their weight into the conflict, and the supplication or intercession offered in loneliness and solitude may avail to turn the scale in some distant place, as an ounce-weight cast into the scale, where two hundredweights are in balance, will make the one preponderate over the other.
Heaven and earth are in close sympathy. The angels rejoice over one sinner that repenteth. Satan is beheld falling from heaven, when a handful of humble disciples cast out a few demons, and perform a few other miracles. The heavens are bidden to rejoice, and Satan is cast out of some position of advantage, because the brethren on earth overcome with the blood of Jesus, and the word of their testimony.
Do not undervalue yourself. Do not underestimate the effect of your successes or failures. The position of every grain of sand affects to some extent the position of every other sand gra.in throughout the world. The weight of every asteroid reads on the balance of the spheres. The addition of every drop of moisture is felt on every tide on every beach around the world. We can not be neutrals in the great fight. If we are not for Ohrist we are against Him; if we do not gather with Him, we scatter abroad. It will make a real difference in briuging in the kingdom of God, whether we have fought a good fight, and finished our courEe. Let us, therefore, appropriate the memorable resolve of S. J. Mi1ls, of the Haystack Covenant, so to live as to make our influence felt to the remotest part of the world, and not here only but through all worlds, and all ages, to the glory of Christ, so that through us may come salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ.
THE ESSENCE OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL.
By every artifice which Satan can employ, moral beings, whether among the ranks of angels or men, are being blinded to the secret of blessed and healthy existence. In order to win and help his power, he endeavours to show that there is no policy comparable to that· of self-pleasing. To be one's own mastel', to follow the sway of inclination, to do good things from a selfish motive, to oppose even the power of Satan, because of the price to be paid with self-interest, this is the policy to which he uses all his arts to persuade. In the first temptation he told Eve and her husband that the tree was to be desired to make them wise, and its fruit would make them become as gods. In the temptation of our Lord, Satan strove to show that He had a perfect right to gratify appetite, to act 011 impulse and presume on the :Father's care, and to acquire the Kingdom by methods of selfpleasing, from which the cross and shame were eliminated.
In our Lord's words to Peter, when he answered his suggestion to spare Himself by the severe command, " Get thee behind me, Satan; " we may infer that in his apostle's advice, the Lord detected the same spirit against which He had so often contended in his conflicts with the evil one. 'The great enemy of rilan was always suggesting to the Son of Man that He could achieve his life-purpose by easier· methods, than by laying down his life.
When on the evening of His death, the Master said: "The Prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me," His consciousness of the certainty of victory was determined by the knowledge that He had no will or way or purpose of His own, to which the evil one could direct his suggestions, or from which would emanate the least likelihood of yielding to his power.
The Christ spirit is, therefore, forever victorious over all the power of the enemy. It is as impervious to the attack of evil, as carbolic acid is to the fructification of spores of disease. When a spark comes to the ocean, it finds nothing in the briny waves on which to feed or kindle, and when the spirit of selfishness appeals to a nature in which there is nothing but perfect love, in which there is absolute selflessness, it rolls back paralyzed and conquered_ If we may dare to say it, the Divine Man has establisht in Himself a perfect antidote to the power of evi1. The spirit of love and life and entire devotion to the will of God in the service of man, is a rock on which the waves of hell break in clouds of spray. And just in proportion as we imbibe that spirit, are inoculated with that nature, and partake of that rock-like character, we, too, shall be more than conquerors. Good is love, the highest good is the most perfect love, and love is selflessness. There is none good but One, that is God, and God can not be tempted with evil, because He is good, and in Him is no darkness at all, no taint of self.
Evil is in some form or another the manifestation of the selfprinciple in which is darkness, hatred, misery, hel1.
Christ in our nature has lived a life of perfect selflessness and love. Thus He has overcome the power of the enemy, and is raised far above all principality and power and might and dominion. Through the ages He is living a life of pure and intense benevolence, goodness, love. Selflessness is regnant in our King; through Him love reigns over all spheres, and is carrying forward its blessed victories to the overthrow of the empire of darkness. And in so far as we ally ourselves with him, substitute His nature for onr own, repeat in our poor life something of the mighty music of His matchless natnre, we, too, shall overcome. The Christ-spirit in us will master the selfish spirit of the devil. Love must gain supremacy over hate. Those that follow the cross, and count not their lives dear to the death, must finally tread on all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt them. "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world."
THE THREE-FOLD TALISMAN OF VICTORY.
The Blood of the Lamb.-The oue sufficient answer to the accusations of the great accuser before God, is the propitiatory death of the Lamb of God, for which the word Blood is the sufficient synonym. Let him say what he will against us, and he can hardly exaggerate the truth, there is one sufficient and satisfactory reply, " The Blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, has cleansed our hearts, and blotted out the handwriting that was against us, and contrary to us." There is uothing more to be said. 'rhis word ends the I1trife.
But, probably, there is even a profounder meaning. The Blood of Christ stands for His perfect love, His entire subordination to the will of His Father, His supreme devotion to the great cause of human salvation. And in so far as we drink of that blood, and are baptized into that spirit, and even fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of ·Christ, we learn the secret of perennial victory, and are able to stand in the evil day. We possess a thin red line that keeps the enemy at bay. In preaching it we let loose 11 principle throughout the world, the principle of selfless love even unto death, before which the powers of hell can not stand.
Again, as we proclaim the Blood of Christ, and all it means to the children of men,we emancipate them from the dread of the consequences of sin, which is Satan's most potent instrument of thraldom, we secure peace from the terrors of conscience, and the accusations of a broken law, and Wfil inspire them with desires to learn the secret of love as selfless, self-sacrifices as perfect. Thus we overcome by the Blood of the Lamb.
The Word of onr Testimony.-Weare sent to the world to resist the devil's lie, by bearing witness, as our Master did, to the truth. There is no such way of defeating error, as by presenting truth alongside. Suppose the artists of a given era are possest with false conceptions of nature, and of painting, a great critic may arise, who shall detect and criticise their mistake, but his words will not produce the same effect as if he were to present nature on his canvas with the faithful portraiture of a true witness. Let him hang his picture on the wall, and without a word of comment, it will show the inaccuracies and inaptitude of the school he desires to dispossess.
Such is the vocation of Uhrist's servants. When Satan presents men with a travesty of true peace, making it to consist in circum-
RECENT MISSIONARY BOOKS
stances and surroundings, we are called upon to show it consists in a state of heart, which outward conditions can not affect. When Satan makes joy consist in the hilarity of perfect health, or the stimulation of the stage, the music-hall, the dance, it is for us to bear witness that the unseen and eternal are the only true ministrants of enduring gladness. To this end we were born, and for this we came into the world that we might bear witness to the truth, and in doing so, refute the lies with which Satan deceives the whole world. Finally, the conscience which is within every man must recognize the voice of -ehe true Shepherd, and reject the false for the true.
The Prod1:gality 'With 1()7ticlt the Saints regard their L(fe.-" They loved not their life even unto death." In the great war we must follow our Master in absolute self-surrender. The resistance against evil must be carried even to blood. Like Paul, we must be willing to be poured out as a libation. There must be but one purpose-to do the will of God; one aim-to deliver men from the power of the devil; oue supreme and over-mastering love to which no hardships are too great, no expenditure too costly. Like our Master, we overcome in apparent failure, we conquer in apparent defeat, we are crowned and ascend the throne when our enemies think they have put out our name from under heaven.
RECENT MISSIONARY BOOKS.
BY THB EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
What furnishes a more abundant proof of t.he prominence of missions in the present age than the number, variQty and value of the books and periodicals which either treat of mission work directly or recognize in it a factor too mighty to be disregarded? The Literature of Missions is fast assuming a manifold form and a yet more manifold bearing; not only historic and biographic, it is becoming in effect also apologetic-presenting in itself a body of evidence that makes cavillers appear irrational and even ignorant, and proving Ohristianity to be of God by its divine effects.
The mere mention of good books issued during the past few years along the lines of missionary enterprise or in some way linkt with the work of a world's evangelization, would require more space than is consistent with the pressure of other matter. But we here bring to the reader's attention some books which have been submitted for review, or have in other ways compelled attention by their high merit and excellence. We give here a partial list of recent books bearing on missions, some of which have been already referred to in these pages, but are now mentioned in a classified list, for more convenient reference.
I. GENERAL.
Christian Missions and SociaIProgress..Jas. S. Dennis…………. Fleming H. Revell Co. $2.50 Strategic Points in theWorld's ConquestJno. R. Mott. ………….. Fleming H. Revell Co. $1.00 Concise History of Missions ………… E. M. Bliss, D.D………… Fleming H. Revell Co. .75 Short History of Missions. (5th Ed.) …. Dr. Geo. Smith ..·……•… T. Clark, Edinburgh .. $1.00 Hand Book of Missions ……………… A. McLean ……………. Chn. Pub.Co. , St. Louis .50 Picket Line of Missions …………….. By Eight Authors ……… Eaton & Mains •.••…. $UA) In Lands Afar ……………………… Edited Dr. E. E. Strong … A. B. C. F. M………. $1.25 A Century of Christian Martyrs …….. Rev. F. S. Harris……… Jas. Nisbet, London… .75 Child Life in Mission Fields….. . .. ….. Barby & Smith…….. ti.oo Methodist Episcopal Missions. 3 Vols .. Reid·Gracey …………… Eaton & Mains… …. .00 Church Missionary Society Workers … Emily Headland ……….. Jas. Nisbet, London… 1.00 Hist. SketchesPresb.MisslOns. (New Ed.) Pres. W. B. F. M… … 1.00 Philip Melanchthon ………………… David J. Deane………… Fleming H. Revell Co. .75 The Growth of the Kingdom of God ….Sidney L. Gulick ……….Fleming H. Revell CO:'!,50 Chosen of God ……………………… Rev. Herbert W. Lathe … Fleming H. Revell Co. 1.25 Dictionary of Treatment…………. Wm. Whitte, M.D ……… H. Renshaw, London.. .00 Autobiography ofChas. F. Deems, D.D.By His Sons ……………Fleming H. Revell Co. 1.50 II. AFRICA.
Chronicles of Uganda ……………… R. P. Ashe ……………. Randolph & Co., N. Y. i1.50 Seven Years in Sierra Leone ………… A. T. Pierson …………. Revell & Co……….. 1.00 Wril. & Louisa Anderson. (Old Calabar).Wm. Marwick …………. And. Elliot, Edinburgh 1.50 Madagascar of To·day ……………… Rev. W. E. Cousins…….. Fleming H. Revell Co. 1.00 Madagascar Before the Vonquest……. James Sibree………. , … Macmillan & Co ……. $2.00 Africa and the American Negro…….. Prof. J. W. E. Bowen….Gammon Theo. Sem.. '11.00 Pioneering in Morocco ……………… Dr. Robt. Kerr, M.D ….. H. R. Allenson, N. Y.. 1.50 David Livingstone. (New Edition) …. Dr. W. G. Blaikie ……… Fleming H. Revell Co. 1.50 III. TURKEY AND PERSIA.
Letters from Armenia …………….. Prof. J. Rendell Harris. .Fleming H. Revell Co. $1.25 Conversion of Armenia: ………: ……. W. St. C!air Tisdall……..Fleming H. Revell Ce:>. $1.40 Turkey and the Armeman AtroCitIes … E. M. BlIss…………….. Hubbard Pub.Co.,Ph,1. $2.00 Persian Life and Customs ………….. Rev. S. G. Wilson ……•.. Fleming H. Revell Co. $1.25 IV. INDIA.
Twelve Indian Statesmen …………… Dr. Geo. Smith………… John Murray, London. fi'OO Missionary Pioneers in India ………… Jno. Rutherford ………. And Elliot,Edinburgh 1.00 Life ofT. Valpy French. 2 Vols …….. Rev. Herbert Birks……. John Murray, London. 3.00 In the Tiger Jungle …………………. Jacob Chamberlain, D.D.. Fleming H. Revell Co. $1.0t) Chn. Service Among Educ'd Bengalese. R. P. Wilder …….•. .- ….. Gazette Press, Lahore. $1.25 Letters from Ceylon…. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fannie Gregson . . . . . . . . . . . Marshall Bros., Lon … $1.00 V. CHINA. A History-ofChina …………….•…. Dr. S. Wells Willial!'s ….. Chas..Scribner's sons"I~'oo A Cycle of Cathay…………………. Rev. W. A. P. Martm, D.D.Flemmg H. Revell Co. 2.00 26 Years of Miss'y.Work in China……. Mrs. Grace Stott………. Am. Tract. Soc., N. Y. 1.75 Eye·Gate, or Native Art in the Evangel· ization of China …………………. Dr. Wm. Wilson ………. Partridge & Co., Lon. .60 China and Formosa ……………….. Rev. Jas. Johnston ……. Fleming H. Revell ('0. $1.25 Sister Martyrs of Kucheng. . . . . .. . …. Letters of Miss Saunders. Fleming H. Revell Co. $1.50 VI. KOREA. Korea and Her Neighbors…………… Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop.Fleming H. Revell Co. $2.00 VII. JAPAN. The Gist of Japan ………………….. R. B. Peery …. , ……….. Fleming H. Revell Co. $1.25 Rambles in Japan ………………… Canon Tristam ………… Fleming H. Revell Co. $2.00 From Sunrise Land ………………… Amy Wilson·Carmichael. . Marshall Bros., Lon … $1.25 Religions of Japan …………………. Rev. Dr. W. E. Griffis ….. Chas. Scribner's Sons.. $2.00 VIII. ISLANDS OF THE SEA. Hawaii, Our New Possessions………… Jno. R. Musick ………… Funk & Wagnalls Co.. 1.75 Pioneering in New Guinea ………….. Jas. Uhalmers …………. Fleming H. Revell Co. 1.50 Een Yaar op Reis in Dienst Der Zendig .Fe Leon Cachet…………Amsterdam…. '" …. .00 IX. AMERICAN INDIANS. On the Indian Trail ………………… Rev. Edgerton R.Young.Fleming H. Revell Co. $1.00 Conquest of the Sioux ……………… D. C. Gilman …………. Carlon & Hollenbeck.. .75 X. EUROPE. Robt. W. McAll ……………………. Mrs. McAll ……………. FlemingH. Revell Co. $1.50 Christian Life in Germany ………….. E. F. Williams, D.D …… ,Fleming H. Revell Co. '$1..50 The foremost in rank is "Christian Missions and Social Progre'ss," before referred to ill these pages. 'fhe extent and magnitude of this work may be inferred from the fact that the one volume so far issued, embraces over 4GO pages octavo, and a second, of like dimensions, is being prepared. This work gives evidence of no hasty preparation. It will take first place among sociological treatises on missions, which are not numerous. It is scholarly, as became lectures first given in the halls of colleges and seminaries of learning, and is made doubly attractive by its artistic and unique illustrations, over sixty pages being thus adorned; while its value is greatly enhanced by the pains and patience expended in securing accurate statistics-a department where exactness is so difficult to attain. This book every student of missions, CLASS IN CARPENTRY, LOVEDALE INSTITUTE, SOUTH AFRICA.
(By courtesy of Fleming H. Revell Co. From" Christian Missions and Social Progress,") and of Christianity, will want to study; no other so broadly covers the field of its special survey.
The contributions to missionary biography are remarkably complete. If any man of modern times deserves to rank among the biographers of good and great men, surely it is Dr. George Smith, whose golden pen has given such masterly portraits of Duff and Carey and Wilson and Martyn and Heber. Here we have his latest, just at hand -" Twelve Indian Statesmen "-Charles Grant, Henry and John Lawrence, James Outram, Donald McLeod, Henry M. Durand, Colin Mackenzie, Herbert Edwardes, John C. Marshman, Henry Maine, Henry Ramsay, Chas. Aitchison-the empire-builders of the nineteenth' cen- tury. All but the first, the biographer knew personally, and some of them intimately. Dr. Smith has rare power of historical analysis and synthesis. He separates, classifies and combines, with equal skill. He sees events and men in their succession and in their procession. His eye takes them in, in the individuality that belongs to each, and sees the providential relation that each sustains to all; and thus he becomes a true philosopher of missionary history. This new volume we hope will have an American edition. Those who would test its value should read for example the splendid monograph on John Lawrence, the third of these pen portraits. The description of the great pageant at Agra on Nov. 20, 1866, is itself a masterpiece of word painting.
"The Life and Correspondence of Thos. Valpy French, First Bishop of Lahore," is in two volumes, each embracing 400 pp., octavo, superbly gotten up and a credit to author and publisher alike. This biography verifies the saying, that the world knows nothing of its greatest men. Bishop French was a C. M. S. missionary in North India for 18 years, and bore remarkable resemblance to Henry Martyn. One was honored by Oxford, the other by Cambridge; both were men whose one aim was to be holy and useful; both labored among Mohammedans and both finally left India and died in Arabia in the service of missions to Moslems. Bishop French's grave, like Keith Falconer's, is both a milestone and a stepping stone for missions to the Arabs.
Here we may add a word about" Brief Sketches of C. M. S.Workers," containing 25 biographical sketeheH in one volume of over 300 pages, which are both readable and valuable. How could it be otherwise where you have a gallery of portraits of Henry Venn, Dr. Krapf, Bishop Crowther, A. M. Mackay, and others like them!
" William and Louisa Anderson" is a record of life and work in Old Calabar. Mr. Anderson we ha.ve persona.lly known and loved for his own, as well as his work's sake, and his wife was, indeed, an hell)- meet for him. This godly man had the rare honor of having presented to him a "Jubilee" address from the U. P. Foreign Mission Board of Scotland, on the completion of his fiftieth yeal' of mission work. The presentation was made by our dear friend, Hon. Duncan McLaren, in 1890. In 1892 Mr. Anderson visited his relatives in America, and at the advanced age of 80 years, still kept preaching. Also on his return to Scotland, where we last saw him we found him as ready as ever to go back to Old Galabar, and having all the enthusiasm, if not energy, of youth. On September 29th, 1895, he actually sailed for the beloved home of his life's labors. He had his heart's desire, but it also proved to be the closing scene. After his death some facts came to light that illumine his saintly character. For instance, after his retiring allowance of £120 annually was voted him, he "complained (?) that it was too large" and askt that half of it might be given to the aged ministers' fund and the foreign mission fund! This is a fair specimen of the man, one of the noblest missionary patriarchs we have ever seen, and one who reminded us of Robert Moffat.
"The P:cket Line of Missions," is the happy name of a book con- taining nine sketches on Livingstone, Mackay of U gallda, Keith-Fal- coner, Sia Sek Ong, Dr. Kenneth Mackenzie, Bishop 'l'hobnrn, Mary Reed, John Williams and John Hunt. 'l'hese sketches are from eight different pens-with an intmduction which has on it the marks of that Johannean man, Bishop Ninde. Eaton and Mains have given a cheap but-most attractive book to the Epworth Leaguers, in these portraits of the Advance Guard. The spirit of holy heroism burns in the book and is contagious. Variety is consulted, as may be seen when the difference is considered between the great missionary explorer of Africa and ~he humble convert of China, or between Mary Re,ed in India, and Keith Falconer in Arabia; and every Christian reader m'ay find his" affinity" here, and get a new impulse and inspiration.
Among other biographies, not bearing directly on missions, we may mention" Philip Melanchthon," a delightful sketch of the " John" of the Reformation; and" Scripture Photographs," by Dr. J, Elder Cum- ming, who never writes a puor book or preaches a dull sermon. (Drum- mond's'l'ract Depot, Sterling.) "The Chronicles of Uganda" is a specimen of the historical books which deal with special jielils. '['his country, in the interior of the dark continent, is the cynosure of all eyes. Never, since apcstolic days, has there been a miracle of missions surpassing what has occurred there withiu fifteen years, and particularly within the last five. It seems beyond belief that since Bishop Hannington was shot, such revolutions have taken place; and such transformations in the whole religious aspect of the pe.ople. Uganda is the great modern answer to doubts about the living God and the living Book of God. Mr. Ashe, in his "Chronicles," has given an interesting and valuable record of the religious and political conditions and changes of the country. '['he book abounds in well selected half-tone illustrations.
"Twenty six Years of Missionary Work in China" is a book of • which Hudson Taylor says he found not a dull line in it. Mrs. Stott has a right to be heard. She has something to say: it is a story of faith, prayer, and patience. When her husband fell at his post, she bravely took up his work and carried it on, even to the preachingj and the mission she conducts is so well shepherded that Mr. Tayloi' finds it practicable to let it alone, scarcely supervising it. Those whv think a prayer-hearing God is dead, or that the old Gospel is, like Samson, blinded and shorn, should read Mrs. Stott's charming story.
"China and Formosa" is from the pen of a man well known to many as the Secretary of the World's Conference of Missions at Exeter Hall in 1888, as well as by his missionary work and writings. He is careful, scholarly, able, with modesty as great as his merit. There are some men whose imagination holds the brush when they paint; Mr. Johnson's fancy does not play with fact, or robe it in illusive attire. He is a mathematician in preciseness and accuracy, and his book is one on which the reader may rely. But, with all its carefulness of statement, it is by no means lacking in all that means an interesting volume. Numerous illustrations add their charm to the narrative.
"From Sunrise Land" come the letters of a charming woman, put into the usual beautiful form in which the publishers present matter to the public. Those who read this book become companions of a most lovely worker for God in her daily ministries in the Sunrise Kingdom, and are taken into her confidence. There is no attempted "style" or eloquent" periods"-simple as she is, is the story she tells, but it is full of the aroma of Ohristliness.
"Letters from Oeylon ,; deserves to go side by side with Miss Carmichael's book. The two are alike, and the authors are not unlike, but this sorrowful contrast is suggested-our dear brother, Rev. J. Gelson Greggson, has laid' his daughter to sleep in Ohilan, and her husband (Mr. I .iesching) followed her less than a month later. These are the last letters that this saintly woman's hand will ever write.
A valuable account of mission work in Java is" Een Yaar op Reis in Dienst Der Zendig," covering a department of mission work which needs just such a full presentation. The book has 800 pp., and glows with fine illustration. We hope some good translation may make it accessible to English readers. It is a matter of regret that so much valuable matter should be lockt up in the chambers of a foreign tongue.
If the writer be permitted to mention his own work in this connection, "Seven Years in Sierra Leone" is the story of W. A. B. J oh.nson's marvelous labors, between 1816 and ] 823. The fact that the original memoir is out of print, and that the narrative is of almost unequaled interest, constrained the Editor of this REVIEW to put it forth in this new form, which he hopes may bring it to the knowledge of many, llnd pro-ve a divine impulse to a like holy life.
"Rambles in Japan" and" The Gist of Japan," both beautiful and artistic pieces of presswork, are what they claim to be-only that the "rambles" are by no means rambling. If anything more than has been written could be said about this little empire near the sunrise, it is here suggested. History changes so fast in Japan where a sudden Rennaissance has come to pass, that while a book is going through the press, events make it half antiquated. The" Gist of Japan" is an excellent digest of what one wishes to know in regard to th~ country, people and missions.
The book market presents also some very useful and marvelously condenst text booles, suc~ as the "Handbook of Missions," (Bethany Reading Course Oommittee, Cleveland, 0.), whose writer is himself an able missionary secretary, and author also of a volume of fourteen "Missionary Addresses;" both books being meant and fitted to quicken and direct intelligent zeal for a world's redemption.
"The Short History of Christian Missions" is out in a fifth edition. Of course, every student of missions has that; and now comes a new "Concise History of Missions," which packs about as much information into 300 pp. duodecimo as can often be found. This will be a favorite text book and is one of the modern helps to study, eminently suited to the student volunteers and others who want multwn in parvo.
Not every record, however, can or ought to be so condensed; and it is a "matter of great satisfaction to see Dr. Reid's "Missions of the M. E. Church" enlarged by our true yokefellow, Dr. Gracey, into three volumes of 500 pp: each. Here is an encyclopedia of "Yethodist Missionary Societies and their work, and it is well worth its theme and gifted author and editor. It is embellisht with maps.
"Historical Sketches of Presbyterian Missions" is an old friend in a new dress. It always was first-rate and is now, if possible, better in its new and enlarged edition.
"The Growth of the Kingdom of God," is an attempt on the part of a missionary to the Island Empire, to present, primarily before Japanese young men, the proof of Christianity's power in the world. 'fhe book is confessedly an apologetic: it exhibits the growth of God's mustard seed-in numbers, uuderstanding, practice, and influence among the nations where it has been planted. The charts are a distinctive feature. Mr. Gulick puts the results of his study in a form t.o be easily graspt and retained.
"In Lands Afar" is a series of sketches already charming the younger readers of the Missionary Herald, gathered now in a preservable form for reference. Those wh() have been accustomed to find in the Herald a feast of fat things will know what a banquet is here spread.
" Christian Life in Germany" is a much-needed book, treating of one of the great thought centres of the world; what happens there concerns the race. Dr. Williams has sought to acquaint us with this nation, to give the key to the life of a great people, especially intellectually, morally, socially, and religiously. He helps us to' understand them, to sympathize'with the sceptical tendencies and to interpret the socialistic sentiment so prevalent. We have been especially interested in his sketch of Pietism and the" Inner Mission," but we have as yet found not a page that had no charm about it. Whether or not one agrees with Dr. Williams, he always finds that the writer's converse is uplifting and instructive.
" A Dictionary of Treatment" is a comprehensive therapeutic index of 1000 pp., a copy of which the author has sent free to fifteen hundred "missionaries, as a help and guide in medicine and surgery, where often skillful attendance is not at hand. It is the work of a lifetime to present such information in a form so portable and useful; and it is a noble service to humanity to send such a book as a free gift to the ends of the earth.
" Eye-Gate or Native Art in the Evangelization of China," is the title of a unique and attractive book recently prepared by William Wilson of the China Inland Mission. The object of this book is twofold, appealing alike to missionaries in China and to those at home interested in the spread of Christ's Kingdom in heathen lands.
Missionaries, in China as elsewhere, realize the value of Scripture prints, magic lantern illustrations, etc., to instruct native Christians.
THE PRODIGAL SON. SCENE 11 THE DEPA.RTURE.
Among those unfamiliar with Christian truth such means are of little value and often prove a positive hindrance because the foreign character of the picture distracts the mind from the truth. In" Eye-Gate," Scripture stories. and parables are illustrated with pictures designed and executed entirely by a Chinese artist, so that these are Chinese in every detail. One of these illustrations we reproduce here.
These pictures are printed in colors and were originally painted in large cartoons suitable for open-air preaching. The subjects delineated comprise The Prodigal Son, The Good Samaritan, Noah and the Flood, The Horrible Pit, and The Miry Clay and The Burden of Sin. Each subject includes several scenes, and is accompanied by an explanatory key. The book contains, in addition, several chapters on the progress and prospects of missionary work in China.
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
n.-MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT.
JULIAN HAWTHORNE ON INDIA.-I.
The Oosmopolitan presents a vivid and awful picture of the horrors of famine and plague in India, in the valuable series of papers publisht in the July to the November numbers from the graphic pen of Julian Hawthorne, the Oosmopolitan}., special commissioner to India. Mr. Hawthorne was deeply imprest with what he saw and heard, and has written in candid, clear and convincing manner of harrowing conditions prevailing, the inadequate methods of relief, and the outlook for the future.* We are obliged to reserve perhaps the most striking part of Mr. Hawthorne's account for our next issue. He says in part: THE PLAGUE CITY (Bombay) is built on a round flat-an island-the greater part of which hardly rises above high water mark, and even sinks below it here and there; but an acclivity, about one huoored feet in height, called Malabar Hill, occupied by the government house and the bungalows of wealthy people, extends in the form of a promontory into the western sea.
The population of the "Bazaar," or native town, is about nine hundred thousand, but the buildings containing it are crowded together in a very small area; some single houses are occupied by as many as two thousand persons. The site of the Bazaar is the least salubrious on the island. To the north is spread out the European quarter, with large and handsome public buildings. The streets are wide, connecting immense squares or open places. They are constantly swept and watered. Everywhere passes to and fro a mixt and incongruous population, Asiatic and European, naked and clothed. The thermometer in Bombay seldom shows a temperature above ninety· eight degrees, but the atmosphere is always miasmatic and fevedsh, and the humidity makes the heat far more debilitating than th(j scorching suns of the arid interior country. No white man living in Bombay can ever be or feel entirely well. The air is poisonous. The poison may act quickly or slowly on individuals, but it alw:;tys acts.
I began my investigations with a drive through the Bazaar, or native quarter. The narrow, irregular streets lie between queer buildings, misplaced, uneven, grotesque, salient with odd features; some low, some high, their fronts and roofs balconied, hooded, gabled, crowding upon the sky, the eccentric lines of structure defined in various colors; over them glared down the blinding Indian sun, casting strange shadows. Upon the door-jams were painted innumerable red circles and crosses-plague and death. These sinister marks were by no means restricted to the poorer houses, many of the most pretentious were scarred with them. Death unseen and silent was all about me; it burrowed in the soil; it hid in the walls; it hovered in the air; it lurkt in the squalid nudity of the swarthy figures that thronged the narrow ways, squatted -at the street corners, croucht within the shadows of booths. Hunting down the plague is a ghastly business. The circumstances and details of the pursuit could hardly be more redoient of horror and loathsomeness.
A house was markt down for visitation in the midst of the Bazaar. You could not see anything of it from the street; it was screened by other houses; but it was large enough to contain six hundred people. It was built round an interior court, perhaps five and twenty feet square; the four walls inclosing it went stag- • Send fifty cents to The Cosmopolitan, Irvington, New York, for July to November numbers, and read these articles in full.-Ed.
1M8.] JULIAN HAWTHORNE ON INblA
gering upward, story above story, so that we seemed to stand at the bottom of a well. But what a well! The place even here, beneath the open sky, smelt like a -cesspool. The ground under foot was boggy and foul, it was composed of dung and rotten matter of all kinds, and upon investigation proved to extend down- ward to a depth of no less than five feet. This huge and festering mass of coagu- lated filth had been accumulating uncheckt, deep down in that pit of human habitations, for fifty years past. The heat, quite apart from the poison of the atmosphere, was stifling and intolerable; there could never be any movement of air in this place, nor could the sunlight penetrate its hideous depths. But the windows of three-score living-rooms opened upon it, and this was the atmosphere which the inhabitants drew into their lungs day and night. / The people who crept and peept about the place assured us that sickness of any kind was quite unknown in this savory retreat. At the same time they admitted that several families were at that moment on a visit to their friends in tile country, and had lockt up their apartments. Hereupon orders were given to inspect the house from top to bottom, and to break open all closed doors unless keys were promptly forthcoming.
The harvest of disease and death reapt in that single house was terribly large.
Every room entered was dark, and the breath that came from it was uubreathable.
Some were empty; three contained each but a single occupant-two were dead and one was dying. In one room, at the end of a stifling and lightless corridor, down which we had" groped and stumbled, feeling along the filthy walls for pos- sible doors, we found a mother and her baby lockt in and left to die alone. The woman was barely able to move, but with her last strength she covered with a fold of her sari the body of her infant, lest it should be seen and taken away from her. There was no food or water in the room; there was a number of rats, all dead. The floor was uneven with the compacted grease, rubbish, and excre- mentitious filth of years, and in the dull flash of the lantern there could be dis- cerned an obscure scuttling of obscene insects, disturbed at their banquet.
Now, the family and neighbors of this mother and her child had complacently lockt them up there in the darkness and horror to die a lingering and tortured death; they had done so with the victim's full consent, and the reason was that both parties to the transaction preferred such an end to accepting the light, air, cleanliness and devoted nursing which the government offered them. If caste, superstition and ignorance can bring the descendants of a mighty race to this, what lower depth remains for them? And is this the ultimate goal of our clever contemporary Theosophists? One wishes the Mahatmas would come to Bombay and demonstrate to these turgid English how much better than Christianity is the esoteric doctrine.
How many hospitals there may now be in Bombay I know not. New ones were being added weekly and almost daily while I was there. Three'big ones in different quarters of the city would have been enough; but the difficulties of caste had to be met, and each person relegated, so far as possible, to his or her own kind. The cooking must be done either by persons of the same caste as the patients or higher-I suppose the Brahmans could have cooked for anybody except for some of themselves. No doubt one might be too sick to know whether they were being profaned or not; but it is wonderful to note how vital the caste instinct is in this people; it seems to die, if at all, only just before the body, and not seldom it might be said to survive it.
The so-called Servants' Hospital, on made land adjoining the docks, consists of four sheds, made of matting stretcht on Bamboo frames and whitewasht.
These constituted the hospital wards. A range of smaller huts behind them served to accommodate the friends of the patients, the workers, the dispensary
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
and the kitchen; the dead-house was removed a few rods to the north. The aspect of all was clean and airy. Each ward contained four beds and could have held many more. The nurses-men and women, native and European-past from cot to cot, taking temperature, dressing bubos, adjusting coverings, giving medicine or food.
In the first ward lay a middle-aged Hindu, with a blanket drawn up to his shoulders, and a piece of white mosquito-netting thrown over his face to shield him from the flies. He was drawing his breath with difficulty, in stertorous gasps, which heaved up the folds of the blanket under which his wasted body lay. The attendant pulled aside the netting, there were patches of black on his pincht brown face, his eyes were open and shining, but fixt; he did not notice us or change his posture. " He will die before sunset," remarkt the doctor, replacing the netting; "the disease has taken the pneumonic form in his case."
THE BANDORA . PLAGUE HOSPITAL, INDIA.
(By courtesy of The q081nopolitan.) So far as a visitor could judge, all the arrangements and proceuure of this -little hospital were as well-conceived and as efficient as they could be. All was done that could be done for the people. Often the latter come for treatment too late; often they refused medicine or inoculation, and by far the greater part of them die-there is no cure for the plague. But the almost hopeless fight is steadfastly maintained; and, at least, it is bett& that the victims should die here than in the hideous surroundings which they would choose for themselves.
The newly started government hospital at Parel, given for the purpose by Lord Sandhurst, isa huge, irregular builuing, with spreading wings and a lofty columnal portico. This place had been for many years the palace and headquarters of the governors of Bornbay, but for a long time past had stood unoccupied, the governors preferring more salubrious qlarters on the seaward promontory of Malabar Hill.
A native attendant with whom I talkt, said that altho the people were so unwilling to come to hospitals, yet.after having been brought there they became unwilling to leave. Mauy arrive, he said, who have not got the plague; but their houses have been destroyed and their furniture and clothing burnt; they have nowhere to go; their relatives were dead or had got away to the country.
JULIAN HAWTHORNE ON INDIA
STARVING INDIA.
The only persons of white blood who know what is actually going on are the missionaries, for they go about quietly everywhere, see everything, and can not be deceived or put off the scent by the native subordinates. Nor are the latter much concerned to deceive them; for they know that what a missionary says would not be accepted by the government if it contradicted the reports of its own agents. A missionary, in the eye of the government, is a worthy but sentimen~al and unpractical personage, whose sympathies are readily workt upon, and who knows nothing of political economy. The weight attaching to their assertions is, therefore, the government thinks, entitled to the respect which belongs to good intentions, but to little more. Now, anything further from the truth than is this prepossession on the part of the government it would be hard to conceive. It was my great good fortune to be thrown with the missionaries from the start, and I was able to compare their methods and knowledge with those of the government people.
Let me most emphatically declare that the English in India are doing all that wisdom and experience can devise, and heroic energy and devotion execute, to combat and diminish this stupendous calamity; they are sparing neither time, money nor life itself. But whatever they do as a government is voided of a moiety or more of its effect by the strkt necessity they are under to employ native subordinates. The moment their white backs are turned, the native sub- ordinates pocket a part (as much as is safe, and often rather more) of the money. It is impossible to stop this wholesale robbery, for the simple reason that there are not white men enough in India for that purpose. The area affected by the famine is nearly half as large as the United States; the means of transport are still inadeqnate to enable one to reach the greater part of it; and the climate is terrible beyond the belief of anyone who has not experienced it. No white man can live in the plains of India; all he can do is to survJve until he can get away to the hills, or back to England.
Millions, literally, of the people starve to death without the government hav- ing any knowledge thereof. Eight millions-eight times the popUlation of New . York, nearly twice that of London, have already died of the famine in India. Think, if you can, of this number of persons slowly turning into skeletons and dying for lack of food-and no one knowing anything about it. And were it not for the hero!:! and unselfish efforts that England is making, this stupendous total would be multiplied l1y two, or even three. Nor does the mortality by any means stop with the immediate deaths; for millions will be left, after the famine proper is past, with no means. of cultivating crops-their bullocks have died, and their tools have been sold for foC)d. And millions more will have been so weakened that their constitutions can never recover from the shock; they will droop month after month and year after year. Children especially, after having reacht a certain stage of hunger, never recover; they will not appear upon the books that record the mortality of the famine, but they will die of the famine none the less, even tho when they die they may be in tIle midst of plenty.
There is one thing we can do to help India, and only one-we can send money. If we would (and how easily we could) raise a hundred million dollars here. and cause as much as possible of it to be distributed through the various missionaries on the ground, we would almost dispose of any further danger of starvation in India. The missionaries do not work through native officials; the money they distribute is given by them directly into the hands of the starving persons themselves. Of course, the number of missionaries is very limited, and the number of persons they can reach is correspondingly so. But with means in their hands, the area of their activity would be greatly increast. Let each of
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
us remember that one dollar, properly applied, will keep a human being alive in India for a month. How many of us can afford to let that one dollar stay in our pockets, or go in tips to waiters, or in peanuts at a baseball match, or in cocktails and cigars? A score of persons have died in India of starvation while you have been reading the above passage.
Jubbulpore was my first stopping place. I drove through the native city- a crowded, huddled up, uneven mass of buildings. looking older and more primi- tive than Bombay. The inhahitants throng the winding streets and the houses, and squat or sit directly in the roadway in great numbers, getting up and moving aside reluctantly to let my ghari pass. They are more, and more generally, naked than the Bombay people. In the grain.market section of the town quantities of grain were spread out on the streets, with venders and buyers squatting beside and upon it. The latter wel'e mostly bony remnants of human beings; the former were uniformly plump and often fat. Near a fountain, surrounded by worship- ers, sat an old fakir, his face smeared with ashes, his hair matted with filth, clad in a dirty twist of a rag; he was eating raw grain with an expression of crazy self-complacency. Further on was a Hindu temple, with two or three priests under the portico, calm and clean. At the door of a mud hut a lusty young woman sprawled naked on her back, nursing a naked baby, which scrambled over her bare stomach. 'There were many women whose arms and legs were loaded with silver bangles; and many more who tottered along on bony limbs, and were recognizable as women only by stature and head-dress.
After tiffin, Mr. Johnson, the resident American missionary, drove me to the relief-camp and poor-house, where are kept persons who are unable, from weak- ness or disease, to lab01' on the government relief works, All are under the supervision of white inspectors, one of whom should visit them daily.
We first entered an orphanage, being met at the gate by a native supervisor, a shrewd and hard.looking oriental of sixty. There were hundreds of children, mostly under ten, standing or sitting about the large inclosure; they had lost their parents either by death or desertion-for at a certain stage of starvation the' parental instinct disappears, and fathers and mothers abandon their offspring with a terrible apathy. Indian children are normally active, intelligent and comely, with brilliant eyes, like jewels. A few of these little creatures, who had been taken in before starvation had gone too far, lookt fairly well; but the major- ity-death walkt among them and would sooner or later carry them away. You could count the ribs in the least emaciated of them; but there were scores of figures there upon which I could scarcely endure to look. The abdomen, espec- ially in children, is often largely distended, and tight as a drum, as if overloaded – with food; and I have heard persons, looking at photographs of such, remark that these, at any rate, mnst have had 8. hearty meal. But it is not food, but the lack of it, which causes this distension; there is disease of the liver, which becomes enormously swollen with wind. A child who reaches this condition hardly ever survives. The contrast between this abnormal rotundity and the emaciation of the limbs, chest and back is grotesque and horrible. As for the faces of these children, nothing childlike remains of them. The dark skin is stretched on a fieshless skull; the lips are mere skin, and shrink back from the teeth, the eyes glimmer dimly in hollow sockets, unless, as is often the case, they have been eaten away by the ophthalmia, which is among the consequences of starvation. Creatures thus reduced are not seldom fed by the native supervisors on insufficiently cooked or even raw grain-the result is diarrhea, dysentery and cholera, of which every camp of this kind contains many cases, Well, this is starvation !
From the orphanage we went to the general poor-house; here were men and
THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY
older children. They had lost, literally, everything. All was gone-all, except the rag which bound their loins. They showed us their hands, worn with toil, but now bloodless and shriveled. They showed us their bellies-a mere wrinkle of empty skin. Twenty per cent. of them were blind; their very eyeballs were gone. The joints of their knees stood out between the thighs and shinbones as in any other skeleton; so did their elbows; their fleshless jaws and skulls were sup- ported on necks like those of pluckt chickens. Their bodics-they had none; only the framework was left. A certain portion of them lookt in better condi- tion than the others; but it was at best a sorry exhihit. Yet this Jubbulpore poor-house is consiuered one of the best conducted of them all.
We went to the women's poor-house. There were fewer women than men; I askt the missionary why. " They die quicker," was his reply. I can not portray their aspect; everything womanly had disappeared, and with it all womanly modesty. We began to make the round of the sheds. Most of the women here were lying down and could not rise; they tried to lift their heads and mutter some· thing; but the effort was too much, and they fell back. The missionary, used to trying sights, turned abruptly away, and said to me in a choking voice, "Let's get out of this." One can endure the sight of a great deal of pain and misery, if one is capable of relieving it; but otherwise it is hard. – I went home with the good missionary, who had invited me to spend the night at his bungalow; and when, before we went to bed, he knelt down and askt God to bless the poor heathen, I silently joined in the prayer with all my heart.
(To be Oo?Wluded in February.) THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY.
REV. R. M. PATTERSON, D. D.
In the year 1000 the number of nominal Christians in the world was computed at about only 50,000,000; in 1500, 100,000,000; in 1700, 155,000,000; in 1800, 250,000,000; and now, in a world population of about 1,430,000,000, 477,000,000.
As to the different governments of the world and the people whom they rule, nearly 800,000,000 of the 1,430,000,000 inhabitants of the world are under Christian governments. The progress, at first slow, has been with an ever-increasing ratio.
As to the different forms of Christianity. In the year 1700 there were 90,- 000,000 of the inhabitants of the world under Roman Catholic governments; 33,000,000 under Gteek, and 32,000,000 under Protestant; and now the number under Protestant is about 450,000,000 of the 800,000,000 who are under Christian governments.
As to the Uniteu States, the latest reports (of 1896) give 25,424,333 as the number of communicant members in all the churches of all kinds, and about 10,- 000,000 children in all the Sunday-schools, which figures seem to leave a large proportion of the popUlation beyond all direct ecclesiastical connection, not connected in any way with any of the churches or schools, tho, of course, many of those who are not members of any church may be in families some of whose members are in the churches and schools and attendants upon the services, and, in some measure, under their intIuence.
The contrast between the little Ante-Pentecostal Church in Jerusalem of 120 members and the millions upon millions among almost all nations now is great in the arithmetical figures, but the Omniscient One alone knows the number of the saved for eternity-the multitude of true and obedient believers in the crucified
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
Jesus, and the incomparably greater multitude still of all the infant dead, who have been taken to the glory of heaven during the terrestrial strife and progress. And as to the intellectual, moral, social, restraining, elevating influence which Christianity has had upon society at large in the nations it has reacht, and not merely upon those who have been eternally saved through it, what human pen can describe it all ?-Condensed from Trea,8ury of Religious Thought, PENTECOSTAL TIMES IN SOLTH AFRICA.
Last year (1897) George Weavers, of Tabor, Iow::1, U. S. A., a plain man of God, with little education of this world, but a faithful student of God's Word, and a man of much prayer, has been used by the Holy Spirit to begin the work which since his departure for America in February has swept like a mighty tide over the whole mission (Natal). There is no leader of the movement except the Holy Spirit. Sometimes He uses a missionary to utter His message, and some- times He uses a school girl or boy, or calls an ignorant kraal girl just out of heathenism. No matter what the instrument, men listen and act as though their lives depended on it.
The revival has swept through our schools with great power. The 180 girls at Inanda Seminary have been shaken like leaves in a tempest. The boys in Amanzimtoti Seminary have been wonderfully stirred. Sleep was abandoned to afford time for confessions. The teachers stood amazed to see the work which they had struggled so hard to accomplish, done so easily and thoroughly by the Spirit's power. The Inanua church, where a division had arisen that split the church from end to end with fearful hatred and lying, has been through the fire of the Holy Spirit's searching until men have forgotten their personal animosity in their fear for their personal salvation, and now .seems welded together in brotherly love and service. In the entire history of the mission there has been no such awakening among the people.
WONDERFUL WORK IN NATAL.
Mrs. Cowles sends the following account of the work in the Boys' Normal School at Amanzimtoti:- " The work of the Spirit became manifest on Saturday eve, March 13th, in the boys' Prayer Meeting. The next day, Mr. Cowles in his usual Sunday evening talk to the boys, took repentance for his subject. When Mr. Cowles dismist the boys he askt any who would like to talk to him to come to his office. The room was soon crowded and adjournment was made to the boys' study. Then began a never to be forgotten scene. Such confessions! such a pouring fortll of sins! Lying, stealing, social vice, immorality of every sort. Every sin, except murder was confest. The meeting continued until 3 A. M., and that was the beginning of this wonderful work. After several meetings of confession, there came a great crying unto the Lord for forgiveness, followed by earnest seeking for the gift of God's Holy Spirit-His indwelling. Then came the conviction that ere this blessing could come, W1'ongS as far as possible must be righted and reparation made.
" A very markt feature of this movement on all the stations has been the giving up of the use of tobacco, it being included in the same category as love charms and evil medicines. We hear of piles, literally bushels of pipes, snuff boxes, and charms, being brought into the meeti~g, and at one of the stations they have had a great public burning of these implements of Satan. That God's spirit could not dwell in a polluted temple has been a foregone conclusion. The fUllness of blessing tlle boys felt they must have. For this they wrestled with
PENTECOSTAL TIMES IN SotrTlt AFRICA
God in prayer, and many whole nights were spent with Him, till the rising bell at 5.30 called them to study or to chop wood or draw water. It seemed almost impossible for the boys to do anything but pray and study the Bible, so a whole day was given up to prayer and fasting. Football and their favorite debating society have given place to the prayer-meeting, and every evening between sup- per and 7 o'clock study hour there is a voluntary resort to the hillside back of the house, and this recreation hour is spent in calling upon God.
" As a result of this constant and earnest seeking, many have received great blessing. Their hearts are fairly on fire with love to God. They love the word. One boy, hugging his Bible to his heart, exclaimed, "0, this is the book for' us now! We have had enough of other books. The Bible, oh, only t.he Bible now!" With God's Spirit in their hearts, His Word in their hands, the boys began immediately to ask if they might not go out to tell their friends of their changed lives, and induce them also to give up all for Chrlst. And so every Sunday morning more than hl;tlf of our school scatter in little bands all over the hills to take the glad message to their heathen friends. Some start at 4 A.M., returning at 7:30 P.M., having walkt thirty miles or more.
"They are truly converted. Their danger lies in their emotional and imaginative dispositions. They measure their religion by their feelings. We need divine wisdom to guide them right ..
Miss Phelps writes of God's wonderful work AMONG THE ZULU GIRLS at lnanda. The school has 168 boarders. Each class spends half of the time in lessons, and the other :lalf in work in the laundry, sewing.room, garden, or in general houscwork. A large number of these come directly from the kraals, and many come unable to read, and most of them without clothes. Some had been aroused to seek the Lord at their homes in attendance upon special service, and had found pardon and peace.
The first signs of the deeper interest were noticeable in connection with some very serious talks by Dalita, a native teacher, and one or two of the older girls_ One Sunday evening the teachers heard loud crying and sobbing, and on going to them found nearly the whole school in an almost uncontrolable state of emo· tion. After awhile, a number made definite confessions of sin, and this was God working in our midst before he sent Elder Weavers to be the instrument of bringing many souls into the kingdom of Heaven. The arrow of conviction went deeply into many hearts. And with strong crying and tears, confessions of sin were made before God and men.
The weeks and months that have gone by since this blessed work began have borne witness of the genuineness of it. Some have been much used of God in strengthening and helping their mates, and they have been an inspiration and a support to their teachers. They see that a Christ life within them must touch their lives everywhere, in the class-room, and at the laundry, as well as in the prayer-meeting. The deep concern of the girls for their friends in heathen darkness, and the earnest desire to tell the good news to others have been noticeable. Some have gone to the kraals or out-stations to tell the people what God has done for them, and in several cases the Lord has blessed their words, and sinners, old and young, have confest their sins and turned to the Lord.-Mission .7I{ew8 Letter, publisht at Wellington, South Africa.
From The South African Pioneer we also take the following account of this wonderful work as described by Rev. W. C. Wilcox: Last year I could hardly see a ray of light in the dark clouds that seemed to overshadow us. But this was only the darkness which preceded the dawn.
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
I think God has been preparing the people and missionary for it, in various ways. The scourge of locusts which had destroyed the food of the people for two seasons, had been taken by many as a judgment of God for their sins. Then there was the rinderpest threatening to come in at almost any day. The missionaries also had been quickened by the "Keswick" Convention held at Durban last year. So there were in many ways the signs of a shower. .An early morning prayer-meeting had been begun on this station, which was surprisingly well attended for the time of the day. Just at this time God sent Elder George Weavers from .America. He at first attempted to preach without interpretation, and there were very few who understood him, yet it was evident that the Spirit of God was present from the start, and after a few days, as he began to have his sermons interpreted, the revival took hold of the people with great power. It was especially characterized by great grief for sin, confession, and restitution, and the forsaking of sinful habits and customs. .At one time the feeling reacht to such a pitch that the meeting was kept up all night long and all of the following day. Many laid aside snuff, pipes,heathen medicines, and ornaments. Two heathen men cut off their head rings. Many would about as soon have consented to have their heads taken off, as it is a mark of rank and honor among the men. One man confest to a murder. .All this was at Mapumulo. But a similar work had begun at Umvoti. We also went over into Zululand to another station in our connection. Here again we saw the same manifestations of divine power. We only stopt about a week in Zululand, but when we came back we brought with us fifteen snuff boxes, one hemp horn, three pipes, three bottles of heathen medicines, all of which had been renounced in the meetings. One old woman claimed to have had her appetite for tobacco taken away from her in a remarkable manner. .A witch doctor confest his deeds, and promist to give up his practice.
The revival did not stop, as so many do, when Elder Wea-:ers had returned to .America. It went on in many places with even greater power than before. From Inanda it spread to .Adams, where is the boys' school, and they being aroused carried it on to Infumi and other outstations. Not only the boys but many girls and even children were used of God to spread this new salvation as it was called by many. It was carried up to Table Mountain (Natal), where there was a wonderful work done notwithstanding most violent opposition from the adversary and some of his minions. .As this account must be brief I may not go any further, but let me give here a summary of some of the results.
(1). First, great spiritual blessings to the missionaries. Many of us have come into a deeper experience than we have ever known before, and have come to realize the truth of doctrines which we have held before more as theory than as an actual experience.
(2). Increast number of meetings. On some of the stations there have been as many as ten meetings a week kept up now for over six months.
(3). Increast attendance. Notwithstanding the greater number of meetings the attendance is much better and the interest deeper than when there were fewer meetings, and at the present time there seems to be no flagging in interest.
(4). Peace and harmony in the church, long standing feuds and quarrels having been made up. In many cases these were made up simply by gathering together and continuing in prayer till God gave them to see eye to eye.
(5). Increast contributions. Notwithstanding the almost total loss of crops and the blocking of traffic by the rinderpest quarantine, the contributions to the Lord's work have been largely increast. Many have gone away to Johannesburg and other towns to earn money that they might have something to give.
(6). Large additions to the church and the restoration of backsliders. The
THE GOLDEN AGE OF MISSIONS
additions to the churches under my charge have been hundreds more for the past – six months than for any time since my coming to the field. But it is not the number so much as the character of the converts that is encouraging. I believe none have been admitted who have not only renounced all customs and sins that are in any wise connected with heathenism, but also dancing, beer drinking, and tobacco in all its forms. They are, almost to a man, workers ready to preach or pray with sinners and visit the sick.
With all this that is good I do not overlook the fact that while the Spirit of God has been with us the devil has been present also. Never in my life have I seen such exhibitions of his power. In some places it has appeared in violent opposition on the part of some old backslidden members. Again it has been in the counterfeiting of the experience of some who have received the Spirit. At other times it has been the circulating of mischief-making lies. Perhaps the greatest wonder of all is that notwithstanding such persistent and violent opposition on the part of the adversary, there has been so mueh that is genuine and lasting. "0 that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful works to the children of men."
THE GOLDEN AGE OF MISSIONS.
The Church at home is now going through much the same experience that comes to very nearly every missionary on the field. It is a common, if not uni-'
versal experience there, that after two or three years of work an earne&t man or woman, who has gone out full of enthusiasm and ambition, comes to wonder whether, after all, a mistake has not been made, and whether better work could not be done somewhere else, perhaps at home. The work is so different from what was anticipated, and they seem to make so little progress. Sometimes they yield. More often they hold firm and find that their grandest, most successful work is yet before them. They take it up with new heart, new energy, and, a little later, look upon withdrawal, if for any reason that becomes necessary, as the greatest possible trial.
So it will be with the Church. It is now in its trying time. It is facing as never before the real problem of the Christianizing, not merely the evangelizing of the world. If it holds true, if it supports the work it has commenced and enables it to be carried on, it will find a golden age before it such as it has not dreamed of. If it holds back, the story of the Middle Ages may be repeated, and the world may wait for evangelists from Africa to do in America what Americans are now doing in the Levant.
Let us look for a moment at the immediate possibilities. The battle with the great systems is on as it has never been. Buddhism in Siam, in China, in Japan, is bestirring itself to resist the encroachments of Christianity. Hinduism is looking anxiously at the signs of its weakening power, over not merely the educated, but the common people. Islam shows an, as yet, undivided and apparently unconcerned front, yet recent events make manifest its realization that it has at last met a foe the strongest it has ever encountered. While this is true. however, it must not be supposed that the end is near. Such systems are not conquered in a generation. They survive many severe wounds, and rally even after they appear to be conquered. That they can be conquered, however, and that they will be, is as true as Christianity itself. When they yield, then will be the golden age of missions. , How soon that will come depends very much upon the attitude of the Church toward the work during these coming years. If the vantage-ground is to be kept and inmeast, the daS' of success will be hastened. If work already done is to be given up, if the orders to those at the front are to be Retreat, instead of Advance, then the delay may be indefinite. Now is a time of test, not a time of crisis, for crisis implies a possible failure, and God's work knows no such possibility. It may, however, be delayed through failure of His appointed means fully to meet the demands upon them. To meet them requires effort, patient, persevering, persistent effort; but that will win.-Tlte independent.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
III.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Anglican Oonferenoe and Foreign voluntary body, and itsutterances,while strictly non-official, except as they are Missions. those of a company of officials, have, perhaps, all the wider swing, and really What one hundred and ninety-four gain in moral effect by the accident of bishops, whatever church. they repre- being a concensus of view instead of sent, have to say on the subject of for- an official pronunciamento. eign missions, might well attract atten- tion in any part of the Christian world; It would be impossible to make room but when these bishops represent the in this magazine for even a full synopsis foremost evangelical forces of the cen- of the utterances of this widely repre- tury in a great body, like the Church of sentative body on the subject of mis- England at home, with delegates from sions. Some of these have reference to all the British colonies and also from matters pertaining to the internal history affiliated bodies like the Protestant Epis- or economy of the Episcopal churches copal Church of the United States, as here met. They note that theevangeli- did the Fourth Lambeth Conference, cal impulse is a comparatively modern and when such a body occupies a whole one, even in the Church of England, the month in council on its own, and on Book of Common Prayer having but related interests, whatever they for- very meager allusions to the subject of mulate as a concensus of their views, or missions, the whole subject scarcely express in resolutions looking to activi- being present to the minds of the great ties, ought by all means to secure the leaders who compiled that book, while serious consideration of the whole Chris- they declare for themselves the judg- tian church, whether Protestant, Roman ment that "no ordinary service should or Greek. be considered complete which did not plead amongst other things for the Less than a decade before (1888), a spread of the Gospel." There is a re- similar conference made no reference to cognition also of the fact that the mis- the subject of Foreign l'IIissions, in sionary impulse in the Church of Eng- markt contrast with which the Fourth land arose by the independent action of Lambeth Conference thrust missions its members, who, recognizing the into the fore~ound, creating for their failure of the Church as a whole to consideration the largest of all the many realize her bounden duty for the world's . committees which they appointed, and evangelization, formed themselves into making it as representative as possible societies within the Church to do the of all the interests of missions at home work of the Church. The Church, it and throughout the British colonies, as concedes, owes to these great societies a well as of the missionary energies of the debt of gratitude for the work which Protestant Episcopal Church of the they have been enabled to do, not only United States. Not less than ten directly in evangelization abroad, but bishops actually in service in the several in supplying a providential stage in mISSIOns of the Church Missionary leading the whole Church to a higher Society were members of this com- conception, though this has never yet mittee. been adequately workt out in church history. This they assume to be only a This body has no organic relation transitional stage and that the Church under constitution to any branch or as such must come to the front to plan branches of the Episcopal churches re- and to prosecute its own work in seeking presented in its composition, but it has the additional freedom and force of a the redemption of unchristian races. races which must continue to expand The Protestant Episcopal Church of independently. In China and Japan the United States may be said to be the proportion of white races present, conducting missions in its official capa- and even their great influence over city through a Board of Missions ap- the social, political and religious life of pointed by the General Convention, these people, will, probably, never in which board appoints as its executive a any way materially affect their racial Board of Managers. The Conference independence of the Chinese. In such declares, however, the individual right cases they would encourage the develof donors to offer funds for missionary opment of national churches. The purposes, either for special localities or practice of the Church varies in different special work alld on special lines, and localities, but mainly along the lines of that the missionary societies should these distinctions. The Protestant accept all such when not inconsistent Episcopal Church of the United States with the belief, order, and discipline of has a native African bishop of Cape the Charch. Palmas, with two African assistant bishops consecrated in recent years. One In the matter of the development of formal resolution of the Conference denative churches, they take a very liberal clares that the establishment and develview as to the measure of autonomy opment of native churches is of the utwhich should be recognized under pro- most importance and' 'from the very be· vidential developments, encouraging ginning the idea that the Church is their native churches to work toward the goal own, and not a foreign Church, should of independence, bound to the mother be imprest upon converts, and that church "by no other bonds than the a due measure of the management and one faith and one communion in the financial support of the Church should Church Catholic." The Church in India be theirs from the first." It would not, has already made great advance in the however, encourage ultimate autonomy direction of this autonomy. There are until the Church had reacht a stage 9f no bishops of the Indian race, and the financial independence. They assume number of ordained native missionaries that it is only a question of time when directly engaged in evangelizing their the Church in Japan will become selfown countrymen is small, yet the devel- governing and self-supporting. The opment of the Indian ministry in most English and American Episcopal miscases keeps pace with the growth of the sions in that country have already Christian community. A good deal of united to form one Japanese Church, sound philosophy underlies the general having its own constitution and canons, scope of aim, however, in this direction. with a strong body of Japanese clergy, It would not be wise, for instance, to though as yet having no Japanese anticipate nor aim to secure autonomy bishop. for races which are rapidly diminishing, or that will be absorbed in white races, In the matter of comity as between such as the Maoris of New Zealand and the churches organically connected with the Indians of North America, as there the societies and independent churches would be no prospect of their per- of the Anglican communion, they demanently maintaining themselves as a clare that there ought to be a recognichurch, separated from the white races. tion of the equal rights of each other But there are other races which will when establishing foreign missionary continue, even under the dominance of jurisdiction, and that there ought to be white races, to so far outnumber them the utmost care to avoid conflict of inthat they can never be absorbed, or to terest in creating any new missionary any preponderating degree amalga- jurisdiction, and particularly where mated with them; while there arc other signal spiritual blessings have atraces lying contiguous to the white tended the labors of Christian missionaries not connected with the Angli- through the lens of Christian thought.. can communion, special care should be The practical outcome of these religions taken to avoid any encroachment on is by no means what might be anticieach other's territory, and to avoid pated from these favorable excerpts, whatever would tend to interfere with the very religion itself being often the the" due growth and manifestation of avenues of vice, and its leading reprethat 'unity of the spirit' which should sentatives too often conspicuous exever mark the Church of Christ." amples of evil. Noone of them nor all of them can furnish any substitute for Perhaps nothing on which this Con- Chlistianity, while, philosophically ference made a deliverance is of wider speaking, several of them or most of interest than, what would be popularly them have an underlying base which is called, comparative retigiontl. Though Pantheistic, Atheistic or Agnostic. the Conference itself is not holden for the utterances of its committees except Perhaps no part of the proceedings as form~lated in resolutions, yet it cer- touches a more crucial question than that tainly is responsible for a concensus of relating to the duty of the Church to the judgment on these related topics. It follower8 of Islam. Estimating the goes further than to merely admit that population of the world at fifteen hunthere are glimpses of theological and dred millions, they make it liberal commoral truth to be found in the several putation for the proportion that falls to systems, and recognizes a measure of Mohammedans, distributing them as direct and divine inspiration in the follows: in Europe five millIons, seven origin of these truths. It would seem hundred and fifty thousano; in Asia and· that in this they recognize something the Eastern Archipelago, one hundred beyond the mere migration of truth and sixty-nine millions; in Africa, forty from thG original inspired utterances. of millions; in Australasia, twenty-five the Hebrew and Christian literatures, millions, making an aggregate of two for they frankly admit that the existence hundred and fourteen millions, seven of these truths is owing to the work of hundred and seventy-five thousand, or the Holy Ghost, which would at least one-seventh of the entire population of warrant the inference that they concede the world. We do not know what the direct inspiration of the authors of authorities they followed in making so these several ethnic cults, of that which liberal an estimate, and it certainly is excellent in them. Of course, they must be by a very charitable allowance assert the insufficiency of any and of for countries where populations are only all of these several systems as furnish- estimated, that they can accept such ing an inadequate degree of· light and figures. It is scarcely possible to comtruth about God and about man's rela- pute with anything like accuracy, what tion to him, and their failure to give the Mohammedan portion of any popuany competent motive for well doing, lation might be where a strict Euro· or to furnish anything like a sufficient pean census is not taken. It is of help to man's weakness or consolation interest, however, to note that with in his troubles. They declare that for even this high estimate, more than the most part these sacred literatures one-fourth of the :Mohammedan populathemselves are but little known amongst tion of the globe are citizens of the the people who profess them, and that British Empire, amenable in its courts the Christian world at large overweights and under its political sway. India the extracts which are culled for pre- alone contains over fifty-seven and asentation to Christian communities out third millions of Mohammedan popUlaof an Qverwhelming mass of foolish, tion. It is a deplorable fact that until fallacious, or immoral material, and the present century, no effort worthy that even these excerpts are interpreted the name to evangelize the Mohamfrom a Christian standpoint 01' se~n medan world was ever made; and even that within the present century has zibar, as well as amongst the Hausa been local, weak and spasmodic. The people of the Central Soudan. The opportunities and obligations now rest- conference made special mention of the ing upon the Christian Church to inau- Student Volunteer Movement and allied gurate a systematic and well-organized organizations, and also remarkt on forward movement, for the conversion the rapid increase of the number of of the Mohammedan world, as recog- women giving themselves to the service nized by the conference, includes such of the missionary church, as well as to facts ~s the awakening of the Christian the increast employment of medical misworld to a sense of the iconoclastic sionaries to the progress of west Africa element of Islam, its immobility and toward self-support; to the evangelistic inadaptability to all modern progress, fervor of the native Christians in Uganda and to the blood of the martyrs all of which have been imprest upon in China.
the civilized world by the Armenian Our space does not permit a further massacres. This, and the peculiar poli- presentation of the interestint. _hr-TIO'~. tical relations of the Turkish Empire nor of the formulated utterallt 0: – tnil! with the Christian powers of Europe, Conference. To some they ~ave aphave turned the attention of western peared as the utterance of mere plati- Christendom to Islam to a degree never tudes, but whatever may be thought of known since the crusades. There is, them, favorably or unfavorably, every -however, it is asserted, a growth of a honest Christian throughout the world spirit of dissatisfaction within Islam must rejoice in the declaration by so itself in parts both of Europe and of widely influential a body of scholarly Asia, which is not without encourage- men, that the work of foreign missions ment, while, at least amongst the sixty " at the present time stands in the first millions of the l'Iohammedans of India, rank of all the tasks we have to fulfill." there is enforced toleration on the part of that community to any agencies J. T. G. put in operation for their enlightenment. The Conference, however, re- Ohinese New Year Notes. cognizes further that it requires no ordinary energy in attempting to com- BY REV. ARTHUR H. SMITH, P'ANG y'ANG, bat Islam or to secure any modification of its prejudices towards Christianity. CHINA. It believes that for this purpose missionaries must be extraordinarily fur- However little attention he may pay nisht by a patient study of Moham- to the Chinese calendar, every foreigner medanism and knowledge of Arabic, of in China is sure to be reminded in a the character of Mohammed, and that very effective way of the approach of absolute fairness must be the rule in the close of the Chinese year, long bedealing with the doctrines of Islam, fore the edge of the New Year is to be while emphasis should be put upon the seen above the horizon. At some time correspondences between Christianity during the twelfth moon, the "boy" and Islam, in discussing all points of makes his appearance, and with an undifference. It believes that men should usual animation in his unanimated face, be put in special training for this work explains that owing to a combination of and that missionaries should not be sent circumstances which seem to be to a singly into this part of the field. Special large extent incapable of elucidation to us, he is obliged to request the advance at opportunities are named the present of his wages for the current month, and also for the one to come. This may be time in the districts of which Lahore, contrary to rule, doubtless is so, but Lucknow, Delhi and Hyderabad in owing to the combination above alluded' India are centers, and also in eastern to, is an imperative necessity. Otherand western equatorial Africa and Zan· wise ruin impends. It is not long before a similar statement is made by the upon. One reason for this is the fact cook, with regard to his affairs, and by that it is very difficult for them to the various coolies as to theirs. In each accumulate a reserve, and another case the necessity turns out upon in- equaLy potent is the fact that there is vestigation to be so real, and the pres- nothing which can safely be done with sure of the combination of circum- it pending its ',[se. There are no savings stances so powerful, that we are, in a banks, and there are no investments manner, forced to do violence to our which are safe. The only thing which own judgment, in order to avert the can be done with ready money, is to imminent ruin of those who are in our lend it to those who need it, which is employ, and in whom we feel, perhaps, generally done with some reluctance, as some interest. But it is a long time be- the lender jnstly fears lest he should fore it occurs to us to look into the never again see either interest or princimatter more deeply than sufficiently to pal. Whoever has a wedding in his ascertain what everybody knew before, family, is liable to have to borrow that Chinese New Year is preceded by money to carry it through, and if it be a universal season of debt-paying from a funeral the necessity will be still more which no one is exempt. If we insist urgent. He needs money to start in upon following up any particular case business, and he needs more to settle up with a rigid examination into its re- at the end of the year, when, if their moter causes, we soon learn from the own accounts are to be trusted, nine principal party such facts as appear to Chinese out of ten who engage in "busijustify his assertion of an emergency, ness" in a small way, find that they and also that there is nothing peculiar have lost money, though this often in his case, but that other people are in signifies that they have not realized so the same predicament. If these in- much as they had hoped. In short, it quiries are carried far enough, they will is hard to find a Chinese to whom the bring to light the seven deadly sins of loan of a sum of money at any time Chinese socialfinanciering. would not be as welcome as "water to a fish in a dry rut." It is this all-pre- I. Everybody always needs to borrow.- vailing need which smoothes the sur- That the business of the world, even in face of the spot where the pit is to be western lands, depends upon the borrow- dug. ing of money, and that credit is the largest factor in trade, are positions II. E'1!erybody is obliged to lend money. which we do not ·for a moment forget. -We have just remarkt that the man But Chinese borrowing is of a different who happens to have a little surplus type from that with which the great cash does not like to lend it, lest he expansion of modern commerce has should never see it again. But there made us familiar. We do not affirm are various kinds and degrees of presthat there are not Chinese who do not sure which can be brought to bear upon need the mon!)y of other people for the the capitalist. One of these is connected conduct of their affairs, but only that with the solidarity of the Chinese these people are so rare that they may family, or clan. If one of the members as well be disregarded. We never saw has money which he might lend and any. We have, indeed, never heard of another is desperately in need of it, the so much as one. The whole scale of latter will get a member of the genera- Chinese living and the whole system of tion higher than that to which the capieconomics are of such a sort, that, as a talist belongs, to intercede for him. rule, there is but one narrow margin of This may be done unwillingly, but it financial reserve. With all their prac- will probably be done. To a sufficient ticality and skill in affairs, it is a con- amount of pressure of this ancestral de· stant source of wonder that so few scription, the capitalist will find it best Chinese ever have anything to fall back to yield, though not improbably against his financial judgment. But every V. No Chinese ever pays a debt till he is Chinese is from infancy accustomed to dunned.-To us this also seems a strange the idea that it is seldom easy to have practice. Most of us have grown up one's own way in all things, and that with a fixt idea that as a debt must be when one can not do as he would, he paid, "if it were done when 'tis done, must do as he most. If the borrower then 'twere well it were done quickly." does not belong to the same family or The mind of a Chinese operates in quite clan as the lender, the difficulty will be a different way. His view is, if it must greater, but it may, perhaps, be over- be done, it were best done when it is come by the same description of pres- done as deliheratelY'as the case admits. sure, by means of friends. A wouldbe borrower is often obliged to make a VI. It seems also to be the rule, that great many k'o·fous before he can se- No Oltinese will pay his debts till he has cure the favor of a loan (at an extor- been dunned a g1'eat number of times. tionately high rate of interest), but he Here again he is at the opposite pole is much aided in his efforts by the from that which we occupy. We do Chinese notion that when a certain not like to be dunned, and would rather amount of pressure has been brought make considerable sacrifices than to to bear. a request must be granted, just have needy persons dogging us for the as one of a pair of scales must go down collection of debts which we honestly if you put on enough weights. Thus it owe, which we must ultimately pay, comes about that in all ranks of Chinese, and not to arrange for the payment of the man who has, is the man who must which at once is more or less of a disbe content to share his wealth (for a grace. By" we " we mean, of course, handsome remuneration). the average foreigner, for it is not to be denied that Western lands have their III. From the foregoing propositions, full proportion of impecunious and it follows with inevitable certainty shameless rascals who" live off the inthat Everybody owes some one else. terest of their debts," and who swindle There is never any occasion to ask a all those whom they can. But the Chinese whether he owes money. The Chinese, of whom we are speaking, do proper formula is, "How much do you not belong to this class. The mass of owe, and to whom, and what is the rate the Chinese people we believe to be of interest?" honest, and they fully intend to pay all that they owe, but they do not intend IV. No Ohinese ever pays cash down, to pay until they· are ready to do so, unless he is obliged to do so.-To us this and neither gods nor men can tell when that will be. It is a current saying, that may appear a most eccentric habit., but when a person has many debts he is no it seems to be almost a law. The longer concerned about them, just as Chinese has learned by ages of experi- when one has many parasites he ceases ence, that he no sooner pays away to scratch. money to satisfy one debt, than he needs VII. In a large proportion of cases, the that same money to liquidate three other Ohinese who pays a debt, pays but a Pa1't debts. In their own figuratively ex- of it at a time. The rest he will try to get together in the ., third month," the pressive phr~se, a single cup of water "ninth month," or "at the end of the year." The practical outcome of these is wanted in three or four places at once last three peculiarities is, that the and the supply is always as inadequate twelfth moon of every Chinese year is as the classical "cup of water to put a time of maximum activity all over the out the fire in a cart-load of fuel." empire. One would suppose that a Knowing tbis with a keenness of appre- vast amount of work was being accomhension which it is difficult for us to plisht, but the facts are otherwise. appreciate, the Cbinese holds on fast to his cash till it is wrung from him by a force whicb overcomes his own tenacity of grip. One is reminded of the witch in " Alice are a time of rejoicing, but there is no Behind the Looking-glass," where the rejoicing 80 keen as that of a ruined child was hurried along on a broomstick debtor, who has succeeded by shrewd at such a rate as to take her breath devices in avoiding the most relentless away. She thought she must be travel- of his creditors and has thus postponed ing illimitable space, but when this idea his ruin for at least another twelve was communicated to the witch, the months. For. once past the narrow latter only laughed, and replied that strait at the end of the year, the debtor this was nothing at all, for they had to finds himself again in broad and peace~ go like that to "keep up with things," ful waters, where he can not be mo- and if they were really to get ahead to lested. Even should his creditors meet any extent, the rate of travel must be him on New Year's Day, there could be enormously faster .than that. The no possibility of mentioning the fact of racing around of the Chinese in their the previous day's disgraceful flight and la-yueh, or final moon, is just to "keep concealment, or, indeed, of alluding to up with things." Every shop, no mat- business at all, for this would not be ter how trifling the sum total of its busi- "good form," and to t.he Chinese ness, has its army of runners out, each "good form," (otherwise known as "demanding debts," or rather endea- custom), is the chief national divinity. voring to do so; for to achieve it is no such easy matter. The debtor is him- The National Reform League of Ohina : self a creditor, and he also will be A Girls' School. occupied in the effort to call in the sums which are owing to him. Each separate Miss Gertrude Howe, of Kiukiang, individual is engaged in the occupation China, sends us a translation of a proof trying to run down the men who owe spectus of a proposed school or college money to him, and compel them to pay for Chinese girls, which is in contemup, and at the same time in trying to plation to be establisht at Shanghai. avoid the persons who are struggling to Whether it shall be establisht or not, track ltim down and cork-screw from the very proposition is significant of a him the amount of his indebtedness to new movement in Chinese thought. them The dodges and subterfuges to We give the text in full, in what Miss which each is obliged to resort, increase Howe calls a "rough translation," as, in complexity and number with the so far as we are aware, this is the first advance of the season, until at the close time attention has been called to the of the month the national activity is at subject in any way, outside of China. fever heat. For if a debt is not secured The paper was brought to Miss Howe then, it will go over-till a new year, and by" His Excellency Wen," and Miss no one knows what will be the status of Howe remarks: " It shows evidence that a claim which has actullly contrived the project is essentially Chinese and to cheat the annual Day of Judgment. that the leaders have not sought any In spite of the excellent Chinese habit foreign help in formulating. it, but are of making the close of a year a grand themselves toucht by a spirit of reclearing-house for all debts, Chinese form. J.Jet us hope and pray that they human nature is too much for Chinese may give themselves to this spirit's custom, and there are many of these guidance until they recognize it to be postponed debts which are a grief of no other than God's Holy Spirit." mind to many a Chinese creditor. In a note Miss Howe says: "Yester- We have but to imagine the applica- day two influential Chinese gentlemen, tiop. of the principles which we have members of the National Reform named to the whole Chinese Empire, League, sought out our Chinese girl and we get new light upon the nature doctors with the exprest desire of of Chinese New Year festivities. They placing their young daughters in our home, to have them brought up with employed, two for Chinese and two for unbound feet and given a thorough edu- English, all of whom are to be Chinese cation. No objection was offered to the ladies. In general each teacher will girls becoming Christians. Our Chinese have twenty pupils. This refers to the lady doctor, Dr. Kahn, recommended beginning of the literary department. the M. E. Church (South) school· for As funds and pupils increase more the daughters of official and "high teachers will be added. class" (so called) families opened in Shanghai. The gentlemen objected to 3. There shall be one foreign and one having their daughters educated by foreigners ! There seems to be a wide- Chinese Superintendent, who will live spread suggestion of opening a highgrade school in Shanghai of which our at the school, and have general over- Chinese lady doctors are to be invited to take charge. These gentlemen men- sight of pupils and employes. They tioned and seemed to be anticipating it. They deprecated the doctors' hesitating shall receive salaries. . to fall in line, saying: "If one has one objection and another another to taking 4. Eight Directors shall be chosen hold, what will become of our poor from the number of contributors who country?" The greatest wisdom is shall visit the school by turns, inspect requisite at this point to keep in touch the studies and assist those in charge. with this eminent progressive element They shall receive no salaries. and put it in touch with the one invincible "power that makes for reform." 5. Twelve men shall be chosen from This great National Reform League the families of contributors to solicit and seems to appeal to the best there is in collect funds, appoint teachers and printhe people, but it needs to be led to cipals, decide on course of study and Christ. I regret, for some reasons, to manage finances. They shall receive see the distrust of foreigners, especially no salaries. of foreign missionaries. The intelligent Chinese can eMily discover that we 6. There shall be two Treasurers have no politieal axe to grind, nor com- chosen by the twelve male directors, . mercial greed to satiate. Perhaps, it is who shall be honest and economical not so much distrust as that we have men and good accountants to have failed t9 win them. Very probably we charge of receipts and disbursements. have failed to divest ourselves suffi- They shall receive salaries. ciently of the oft-vaunted spirit of "An- The above five rules appertain to the glo-Saxonism. " management.
PROVISIONAL PROSPECTUS FOR A GIRLS' 7. The school will open with forty SCHOOL. pupils, and the members shall be in- 1. In opening schools for girls we creast as funds increase. are reverting to the illustrious custom of the three dynasties. In order to open .8. Pupils may enter between the ages up the intelligence of the people we of eight and fifteen. must, certainly, make the women free and afterward customs can be changed. 9. Pupils between the ages of eight That the reality may correspond to the and eleven must be able to read a cername, all funds and plans for this tain amount on entrance. Those beschool are to be under the control (super- tween twelve and fifteen must know vision) of women and the teachers are something of composition and be able to to be women. read letters. Teachers shall decide upon the eligibtlity of candidates for The above is the fundamental idea in admission. the establishment of the school. 10. Foot·binding is a very vile custom 2. Temporarily four teachers will be of the Chinese. Persons of culture should not continue it. Since this is only a beginning of the school and the customs are not yet establisht, for the present pupils shall be admitted with- out regard to whether their feet are bound or not, but after a few years there will be a limit and no one with small feet will be admitted.
11. It is the intention of this school to make no distinctions of rank, but since in the future pupils from this school will be leaders and teachers in other schools, only daughters of reput- able families will be admitted. .
The above are the five rules for the admission of pupils.
12. The course of study will be half English and half Chinese. First reading and composition shall be learned, ceive a diploma which empowers them and later all elementary branches of to follow those professions for which learning; afterward history and science, they have prepared. handicrafts and professions may be taken up. 22. Girls taken from' Foundling A1!y- lums can not be given ill marriage as 13. There shall be three special cour- concubines; much more shall the pupils ses of study; mathematical, medieal of this school not be given as concuand law. Each pupil may choose which bines, but shall be more highly esteemed she will pursue, but those who study in the world and loved by their parents, medicine and law must first have a good and not by being given as conCUbines general knowledge of the mathema· tarnish the purity and disgrace the high tical. standing of the school. – 14. Besides these courses of study 23. All countries prohibit the sla.vethere shall be a Kindergarten depart- trade. China should gradually do away ment, the teachers of which must have with the system of slavery. Any pupils a wide general knowledge. who have been in the school, however poor they may be, may never be sold as 15. The Industrial Department shall slaves. Anyone violating th{s rule include spinning, weaving and drawing, shall pay a fine of five hundred dollars. as soon as there are funds sufficient to engage teachers in both foreign and The above are the three rules for native methods, as these matters are of those who graduate from the school. great importance to women. 24. Each contributor will please hand 16. Monthly examinations shall be in the official rank and residence of her held by the teachers, who shall give the husband or son, and her own officiaL markings. Quarterly examinations shall rank with her subscription for the be conducted by specialists who will record. give the marks and award prizes. 25. Make the contributions payable The above are the five rules for by the month or year according to the studies. custom of western countries. In order that the funds of the school may not 17. All those in control, from teachers run short, contributions should be reguand superintendents to servants, shall lar. Our great hope is that the ladies be women. Rigid discipline shall be within the four seas will observe the enforced. Nomen shall be allowed to annual and monthly contributions. enter the doors. If the male directors have anything about which to consult, 21. All SUbscriptions, whether from they shall meet in an outer building. natives or foreigners, small or great, from one dollar upward, will be alike 18. Little children, whose homes are received. We would not hinder cheernear, may attend the school without ful giving. living in it, but must be regular in attendance. When the homes are dis- 27. In the beginning, while funds are tant, children may live at the school. limited, it has been decided to open a It is decided to build ten rooms for their school in Shanghai. but it is hoped that accommodation. afterward the work may be pusht for- ward into every province, and prefec- 19. Fees shall be g,aduated similar to ture and township. those paid by foreigners (or expenses will be about the same as in western 28. The teachers of western branches schools). The rich shall pay liberally to first to be appointed, are the learned help the school, but if the family is in women from the Kiang Si province, moderate circumstances, the fees shall Ida Kahn, and from the Bupeh pro· be less. In case of extreme poverty the vince, Mary Stowe. The teachers of fee may be entirely remitted. A poor Chinese are yet to be sought out by the student who has ability and application superintendents. may not only have fees remitted, but may be prOvided with board, clothing, 29. The men and women directors books, etc. shall be elected by ballot by those who are instituting the enterprise. Since 20. Clean. honest women-servants those interested are widely scattered, shall be employed to attend to all the those instituting the work will go forwants of the pupils. Pupils may be ward and act temporarily until such allowed to bring servants from home, times as directors can be elected. but such servants shall be subject to the authorities of the school. 30. For the present all contributions may be sent to the office of the Chinese 21. Whoever completes one of the Progre8s. Each issue will contain names three courses of study in the Kinder- of contributors with amounts contrigarten or Industrial course, shall re- buted, also all disbursements. Everything being made public will insure effectually through the school-house confidence in the enterprise. door.
31. This is an experimental schedule " A long row of graves in the little giving the general scope of the enter· Protestant cemetery, at S. Paulo, t-estiprise. After the school opens, the ties eloquently to the faithfulness of the teachers, superintendents and directors men and women who have given their will formulate the details. lives to this work during the last 30 years. With a knowledge of Brazil Horace M. Lane, M.D., President of and Brazilians growing out of forty years' experience with them, I would the Protestant College at S. Paulo. not attempt to discuss this plan of reaching eighteen millions of people in Brazil, in a note at hand says: four years. God bless every effort everywhere and by every process to " A contributor, in a recent number spread the light of the Gospel through- out the world!-nor would I say a word of the REVIEW stated it to be his belief to dampen the ardor.of those who advo- cate it; but I can not help feeling that that with 100 men all Brazil could be the gentleman who made the statement had not carefully studied the conditions evangelized in four years. • With under which the work must be done;"
God all things are possible,' but with [The editors of the REVIEW also took poor, weak, erring man there are cer- exception to the feasibility of the plan tain limitations, even in the work of proposed by Mr. Olsson, as was stated evangelization. . in their editorial note following his ., In a very restricted sense the evan- article.-ED.] gelization of Brazil might only mean Babism in Persia.
the preaching of the Gospel to the one Some tifty years ago a new prophet arose in Persia claiming to be the only million Indians to be found in the true representative of God. Many Mohammedans were dissatisfied with forests and on the plains of that vast their own religion, and gathered round this prophet, who has to-day 800,000 couI)try, who have never heard of it, or followers, notwithstanding government persecutions and imprisonment. The to the so·called tame Indians living chief difference between the orthodox Mohammedans and' the new sect is along the great water courses, who are that, while the former say the Bible is not reliable, the latter admit the New equally ignorant of Christian truth, Testament to be the Word of God. Most of them believe that Jesus Cllrist though catechised in some of its forms. has come again in the person:of their prophet. These scattered peoples, speaking a be· Then; is much in the new teaching wildering variety of dialects, derived that is sad, but it has opened the door to the Gospel as nothing else has done. from the eight principal Indian lan- Bible circulation is almost doubled every year. It is computed that in guages, would have to be taught Portu- many towns and villages half the popu- lation are Babis. This is a clear indiguese, or the missionary would have to cation that the people of Persia are already, in large measure, wearied with aequire a knowledge of Indian tongues, Islam, and anxious for a higher, holier, and more spiritual faith. Almost all before they could be told the story. through the country the Babis are quite friendly to Christians. The rise The von den Steinen brothel'~ spent the of this faith is in a large measure due to the spread of the Gospel, the best of best part of two years, with a well their doctrines are borrowed from it, while they openly reverence our Scripequipt expedition, in acquiring an tures and profess to be ready to reject any opinion they may hold when once imperfect knowledge of a comparatively proved to be contrary to the Bible.
small region of the Xir•.qlt, embracing a few small tribes. hitherto unknown.
In the populous states along the sea- . board there are still vast areas of unex- plored country, while the great central plateau is practically terra incognita.
" In a wider sense t!J.e evangelization of Brazil would mean not only the preaching of the Gospel to the Indians, but also to 16 to 17 millions of civilized- and nominally Christian Brazilians, Italians and other foreigners, including about a million of freedmen. When we consider that no less than four or- ganized evangelical missions have been working in Brazil for many years (the Presbyterian mission was establisht in 1859), and that only a comparatively small portion of the nation has been toucht, we may have some idea of how difficult and complex the problems are which confront the Protestant mission- ary. The idea is rapidlj' gaining ground that these high strung Latins can only be reacht permanently and
FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
III. -FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
The Outlook,* Sta.tistics,tLitera.ture.t BY DELAVAN L. PIERSON.
Monthly Topics for 1898. SEPTEMBER.
JANUARY. Japan. Korea. The Outlook. Shintoism. Statistics. Medical Missions. The Church and Missions. Self-Support of Mission Churches. Missionary Literature. OCTOBER. FEBRUARY. Greek Europe. The Chinese Empire. Mohammedan Lands. Tibet and Formosa. The Greek Church. Confucianism and Taoism. Mohammedanism. The Opium Traffic. NOVEMBER. MARCH. South America. Mexico. Frontier Missions in America. Central America. Mormonism. The West Indies. Young People's Work. City Missions. Foreigners in America. DECEMBER.
APRIL. Syria and Palestine. The Jews. India. Educational Work. Burma and Ceylon. Industrial Missions. Hinduism.. Woman's Work for Woman. "A Word to the Wise." Na~ive Agents. Every year the editors are flooded MAY. with manuscripts entirely unadapted to their use, while many others could be Siam and Laos. vastly improved by a little thought and Shan States. care. Many are indeed "opened with Malaysia. expectation and closed with profit," Unoccupied Fields. but not in the sense which Alcott in· Buddhism. tended. Perhaps a word to prospective Work Among Lepers. contributors to the pages of this RE· VIEW may not be out of place. JUNE. A.frica. The subjects are, for the most part, Madagascar. suggested by the list of topics for the Freedmen in America. present year, but within this range Fetichism. there is a vast opportunity for variety The Slave Trade. of treatment. The specific topic must, Missionaries. of course, be determined upon by the peculiarities of the field and ~he definite JULY. object in view, but what readers of missionary periodicals usually desire to The Islands of the Sea. know is the peculiarities of countries Arctic Missions. and people with which they are unfami- North American Indians. liar, the methods of awakening interest The Liquor Traffic. . and bringing to the light those who are Work Among Fishermen and Sailors. in the darkness of sin, the trials and triumph~ of missionary life, the con- AUGUST. trasts between Christian converts and heathen, the special needs and oppor- Papal Europe. Romanism. Bible and Tract Work. Reflex Influence of Missions.
• See p. 9, 45 (present issue). t See p. 41,70 (present issue). An article by Dean Vah! on the subject comes too late for use in this issue. ~ See p. 28 (present issue). tunities of the field, as well as any dis- least two months previous to the date cussion of missionary policies or methods of work which may be attracting of issue, and if their value is in any present interest. An excellent list of suggestive topics, possessing the possi· way dependent upon immediate inserbility of almost endless variety of application in connection with the various tion, it should be so indicated. mission lands, is that of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions for In sending manuscripts, kindly in- 1898.* Under the general subjects: The Bible and Foreign Missions, The Un- close stamps for return, and give full believing World, Evangelistic Work, Missionary Administration, Nat i v e name, address, and the name of the Church, Missionaries, The Printing Pre~s, Reflex Advantages of Missions, society, church, or mission field with Civilizing Influence of ~nssions, Relation of the Home Church to Missions, which the writer is connected. etc., a great variety of SUb-topics are suggested which present a fruitful field The editors do not hold themselves for study and discussion. responsible for opinions exprest, but But the selection of a subject is less difficult than the manner of its treat- will do all in their power to insure the ment. The style of an article is of vast importance in securing a hearing and reliability of statements made and the in producing an impression. Adefinite purpose is a prime requisite to the clear worthiness of objects indorst. and forcible presentation of a subject. Accuracy, interest, and brevity are, of Missionary Donations. course, important. There is no necessity that articles on missionary subjects The editors of this REVIEW are always should be either dry and tiresome on the one hand, orfrivolousand puerile fln the glad to receive and transmit to their other. Incidents should be used as much as possible to illustrate points destination free of charge any sums and to add specific interest; statistics which may be forwarded to them for should be tabulated and condenst as any cause presented in these pages. It much as possible, as they are thus more is their endeavor to give place to no usefnl, and, while none the less weighty, appeals for objects which are not in are much less heavy. every respect worthy of the confidence and S1; pport of the readers of this REo Photographs are desired to accompany VIEW. It is impossible to give space to and illustrate articles as much as pos- every such appeal, but we rejoice at sible, and add much to the interest and the evidences of Christian love, which instructiveness of description and nar- come in response to physical and spil'itratives. Views of people and places ual needs of those who have a claim are always acceptable, especially those upon our sympathy and assistance. showing characteristic customs of natives, the results of Christian missions, All donors will hereafter receive and the machinery and methods of numbered receipts for all sums sent to missionary work. us for benevolent purposes. Such dona- tions should be sent to the Managing Articles intended for special numbers Editor, D. L. Pierson, 944. Marcy Aveof the REVIEW should be in hand at nue, Brooklyn, New York.
* See Church at. Home. and Abroad for In addition to sums already acknowl- edged we have received and forwarded December, 1897. the following: No.100-For Rev. J. C. Denning, India, $5. No. 101-For Pandita RamabaPs widows, India, $35.00.
According to Rev. Dr. Daniel Dor- chester, the growth of the Roman Catholic population in the United States 1870-94. was from 4,600,000 to 8,806,- 000, while the increase of the commu- nicants of Protestant churches was from 6.673,400 to 15,218,000. During the same period the popUlation connected with these churches has increast from 29,029,000 to 45,654,000. The growth of Protestantism as indicated is greater than appears on the surface, and is in advance of t1lat of the Roman Catholic denomination, for while the latter in- cludes all the children of Catholics, the former includes only the actual com- municants.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
V.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
In the January issue of 1897, page 2, possest but a corner of the land, which the editor stated his calm judgment far away to the north and east invites that, because "the giving of the peo- the standard bearer of the Cross. In ple of God is so utterly inadequate and Africa there is actually no limit to the disgracefully disproportionate, missions possible establishment of new stations to the heathen have at no time during by the heroic men and women whom the last half century been at greater our Church may push to the front. peril of utter collapse." One phrase from this sentence, taken China is softening in its prejudices, apart from its connection, lias been and growing more accessible every day quoted with severe criticism, and, as to the messengers of salvation. Reports we think, most unfairly. We did not from Persia are fragrant with the say that the danger of collapse came record of precious revivals of unprece- from any source but the inadequate dented power and fruitfulness. The giving of the Church and the conse- very attitude of defiance of enemies of quent emergency of debt and retrench- the Cross at some points in the world is ment. no less a bign meant of God to stimulate For example, one. religious journal the zeal of the Church. And shall we thus refers to it: "If that high and excellent au- not recognize yet another divine sign in thority on foreign missions, who not the manifest yearning on the part of long ago, in a public meeting, gave the great body of missionaries for a • utterance to his belief that the cause of more thoroughly spirit-filled life? It missions was on the verge of collapse breathes out in many of their letters. It and failure," etc. If the quotation gathers volume in many special meet- had been fully given it would have ings held to seek this blessing. It is been seen that the deficiency of funds was the point of warning, and, at this revealed in increasingly intense work very time, the American Board and for soul rescue in many lands. .
most other societies are sounding the SECOND FAcT.-The all-pervading interest in the cause of foreign missions same note of warning, as is evident which ruled at the sessions of the last from the following extracts from a general assembly at Winona, is an in- spiring summons to the whole Church. model appeal from the Presbyterian It was as a solemn response to the Board of Foreign Missions. unmistakable call of God's providence for a forward movement, . . . The FOUR PRESEN'l'-DAY FACTS. enthusiasm of the assembly in this cause should be accepted as setting the Real and effective interest in foreign pace for the Church in enthusiaRm and missions can only exist as the facts devotion in the months before us. pertaining to them are well known. The board of foreign missions calls " He that hath an ear, let him hear attention to four such facts now con- what the Spirit saith unto the Churches." fronting our Presbyterian Church. THIRD FACT. – Notwithstanding FIRST FACT.-The trend of divine these signs of the divine intention that providt:)llces to-day unmistakably calls the Church go forward, the startling for a forward movement in foreign fact confronts us that the foreign mis- missions on the part of the Church. sionary work of our Presbyterian Signs abound in many lands. . . Church is to-day crippled beyond pre- which summon to immediate duty and cedent. The financial straits of the conquest for Christ. Grand opportuni- board have compelled it to order severe ties for missionary effort fire the zeal of retrenchmcnt on all its mission fields. our brethren and sister.~ in foreign This reduction in their appropriations lands. Korea flings its doors wide open has struck our missions like a cyclone. to the march of the conquering hosts of The missionaries from one station, Christendom. In the Laos country ex- writing of the cable announcing for plorations disclose that as yet we have them a reduction of $6,000, say, "We were simply stunned." To meet this cut, college and girls' seminary, hospital and press, and village schools must ap- parently be side-trackt for a whole year. J…arge contributions from the missionaries' salaries were the only re- sources in sight to keep some depart- ments from absolute stagnation. From another mission a brother writes: "The situation is, in some respects, simply may be found, vol. iv., new series, p. hearthreaking. My wife and I have decided to give ~200 of our salary to 320,325. help out the cut in our field." Every mail from abroad is multiplying such The editor of the O. M. Intelligencer distressing statements. Furthermore, the board has called a halt in the send- makes a reference to the fact that this ing out of new missionaries. motto, "The Evangelization of the FOURTH FACT.-After this unparal- leled retrenchment has been made the World in this Generation," has lately board still' needs for the current ex- penses of the year on which it has been animadverted upon in terms of entered $830,000. This amount it has virtually pledged for the support of severity by D1'. Wm'neck (a recognized au- its 708 missionaries actually on the field, for its 2000 native workers who can thority on missions), in an article on not be ;ummarily discharged, for its vast itinerating work, and for other "The Modern Theory of the Evangeliza- vital departments abroad and at home. Besides this amount necessary for cur- tion of the World." He says in reply: rent expenses, there was a debt at the outset of the year of $97,454.47 to be "Regarded as a vindication of the provided for. In short, the board must old and tried methods of missionary receive during the present fiscal year work the article in question has un- $118,1'525.95 above w~at it. received last doubted value. But while individual year in order to satIsfy Its full fiscal advocates of the motto have laid them- obligations and unforeseen dema~d8. selves open to Dr. Warneck's criticisms, This certainly is a large undertaklllg, the Volnnteer Union itself has dis- "but not an impossible one for such a tinctly disavowed either that the watch.- Church as ours. word is a prediction, or that 'evangelz- eation' means on their lips a mere Here are the facts. What will the hurried proclamation of the Gospel. On Church do with them? Who cau the contrary, in a memorial to the ignore the claim they establish upon 'Church of Christ in Great Britain,' every church member's personal atten- which the Union issued this late spring, tion? "My Missionary Work," "My it defines 'evangelization' as meaning Board," "My Share in its Outlay," 'tl;(lt the Gospel should be preacht "My Portion in the Bl~ssed Reward.:' intelligibly and intelligently to ef!6ry Which link in this cham of holy oblI- soul in such a manner that the regation would you wish to renounce? spon~ibility for its a.cceptance shall no Will you not take the cause home to longer rest upon the Ohristian Ohurc1t, your heart with new affection, to be but upon each man for llimseif·' " manifest in more ardent prayers and To this Dr. Wameck says in effect, laro-er gifts in its behalf? "Then this evangelization is not possi· . ble in this generation; " and the S. V, .'j'The people rejoiced for that they M. U. is in agreement with him on offered willingly." this point, with an im portant qualifica- tion. It says, "With heathenism so The question is often askt of the edi- vast and so strongly intrencht the 'Evangelization of the World in this tor how, and when, he was led to sug- Generation' is an impossibility, unless t116 Ohurch cease8 to be so engJ'ost with gest the motto, since adopted by the things of time." And herein the true aim of the Union and the great service Student Volunteer force both in Ameri- which in God's Hand it has been privileged to render to the Church and ca and Europe, and now by the Church the world is brought into. view. Its object is to emphasize not a theory but a Missionary Society in the forward duty. There is no part of Dr. War- neck's paper which we regret 80 much movement, viz.: "The Evangelization as when towards the close he deprecates appeals for large acces~zons to the b~n~s of the World in this Generation." of missionary evangelIsts because It !s not acc(Yl'ding to t',e law of growth zn The motto, so far it can now be nature, and 'becal;se the Christians at home are not able to increase the numtraced, was first suggested in an address, ber of missionaries so suddenly, and if they did the money for their support Feb. 27, 1891, before the Student Vol- would not correspondingly increase. We should have thought that Dr. Warunteer Convention iu Cleveland, O. neck would have agreed with us that the Church of Christ, whether in Ger- It was in May of the same year put into many or England or America, has been a printed form in the leading article in THE MISSIONARY REVIEW, where it asleep to its duty to evangelize the The outlook in India is brightening. world, that it is only partIy awake now, Rains have been more abundant and that those who are awake ought to try the famine is wellnigh over for the their utmost to awaken the rest, and present. The number of its victims, that what the Christian Church can do will, however, run up into the millions. when it is awake will be out of all pro- The need is still great, for 5,000 portion to what it has done while for famine children must be cared for or the most part asleep." they will die of starvation.
The Recent Revolt in Uganda. The outlook for the coming winter in Armenia, says the Independent, is by no It was on Tuesday, July 6th, 1897, means cheering. There has been no that the capricious and fickle King disposition apparent on the part of the Mwanga ran away. Government to institute reforms and altho there have been no serious dis- The King's action is not hard to turbances, there has been no substantial explain, especially when one fact is progress. The harvest of 1896, an ex- understood. The King's party repre- ceptional one, is nearly exhausted. The sents the distinctly irreligious class, fall sowing did not bring forth much who wish to be free to live openly and fruit, the crop in no case being more than without restraint according to their fair, and, in many instances, scarcely lusts. Two things combined to bring returning the seed sown. The relief matters to a crisis. In May the failure work has been carried on through the of the rebellion involved Mwanga, who summer, care being taken to give the was in the plot, but turned "state's greatest aid to those who had no pos- evidence." His share in it was con- sible means of self-support, and even doned, but he feared results. Secondly, then to use them so far as practicable about one hundred of his pages, with in the industrial department. In this whom he had been guilty of the grossest way some 5,000 persons in Van district immorality, were banisht from court alone, have been kept alive, who, so far by the government, and this led Mwan- as is apparent, must have perisht with- ga himself to raise a revolt. He sent out this assistance. The care of orphans emissaries in every direction to stir up has developt in many important ways. strife and promote rebellion against the The schools for them have increast, English government. If he had suc- and there is constant demand for new ceeded, all the Bible readers would have departments, especially in the different been killed, and the Europeans driven trades. Shoemaking, weaving and out, and the reign of heathenism re- some lighter forms of iron work are establisht. All Uganda lookt on among the lines needing to be pusht. with intensest interest to watch the Great efforts are being put forth to care issue of the first engagement in Budu. for these children, who are to be the Nearly all the police deserted and chief strength of the next generation. joined the King, and the war became distinctly a religious one, between The twenty-fifth anniversary of the those who serve God and those who Jerry McAuley Rescue Mission, 216 serve him not. Mwanga and the hostile Water Street, New York City, was . chiefs and pagan people hate Christians eelebrated in Carnegie Hall on Sunday, because sensuality, slavery, polygamy, November 21. This is the original etc., find no encouragement under the rescue mission which has given the im- rule of Christ. The only faithful pulp!) to many similar efforts all over natives are the Protestants. Happily the lforld. The remarkable story of the battle of the 24th of July was fought the conversion of McAuley has often and won at Krango, in Budu. It ended been told. Sent to prison at nineteen for in a panic for the heathen party and great rejoicing for the Christians. fifteen years and six months, he profest of memorable sayings, for example: his conversion under preaching in the prison chapel. On coming out of prison "The Lord is ever looking for cothere was no one to care for him, and he fell to drinking. At last he was workers: He gets on-lookers." The fully reclaimed, and four years later started the Water Street Mission. The Bishop of Newcastle, the main speaker, story of the conversion of S. H. Hadley, who for eleven years has had charge of made a strong plea for a revival of true the work, is scarcely less interesting and striking, and is well nigh as missionary interest in the officers of familiar. At the anniversary exercises in Carnegie Hall, a number of eminent the Church, and especially the clergy. men spoke, among them Bishop C. C. He said: McCabe and President Moss of the Police Board. A large number of rescue "Since the cal1 to evangelize the workers from all parts of the country world came to the whole Church, then, also came together, and made the even- as the officers of the Church, the clergy ing exercises most interesting. We are primarily responsible. We must hope to give an illustrated account of not suppose that missionary ardor is this and other rescue work in our March universal in the Church of England. issue. Those who are really on fire are a dis- tinctly small minority, even in a congre- After a t.rial, lasting several weeks, gation which might have a reputation the Session of the Fifth Avenue Pres- for missionary zeal. Whose fauIt is it? byterian Church, New York, of which We clergy are very much to blame. 1 Dr. John Hall is pastor, found Mr. do not know of a single instance of a Hermann Warszawiak guilty of the clergyman really interested in foreign charges made against him aud dismist missions, praying and working for him from the membership of that them, who has not met at length with church. l'ir. Warszawiak appealed the a real response from a certain number case to Presbytery. The Presbytery of his parishioners. I have once wisht has recently sustained the action of the that all ordinary deputations might be Session of the Church,'but Mr. Warsza- suspended for a Whole year, and dewiak threatens to carry the case before putations be sent to the clergy alone. the Synod. It is stated that Dr. Hall Until the clergy are afire, it is useless and others still believe in Mr. Warsza- to expect the laity to be so." wiak's innocence, which we hope may be made manifest. At present a dark On October 12th uIt., Exeter Hall, cloud rests on his name. London, again witnest the outgoing At the recent Church Congress, in Nottingham, England, the Bishop of of C. M. S. missionaries. Rev. H. E. Southwell, in his presidential address, declared its "speciality to be its mis- Fox stated that including 12 who had sionary character." At the clerical breakfast, 170 sat down, the Bishop of sailed, 97 were going out during the Sierra Leone in the chair. He gave a thoroughly spiritual address on the autumn. 85 were on the platform, " first missionary breakfast"-John xxi. He said the key words were of whom 30 were returning to their LOVE, FEED, FOLLOW, and his address, like all Bishop Taylor-Smith's, was full work and the rest going out for the first time. Out of the 63 located during the year past, 52 were to be supported by special cont1'ibutions of individuals or groups of friends, 4 were honorary or so in part, leaving but 6 to be supported by the general fund.
Bishop Ingham, among other good'
things said, quoting one of the" Hints to Stewards" for the Missionary Ex- hibition about to be held at Guildford -" Be fresh to each person." When they got into the mission-field how could they be fresh to all amid the ad- verse influences around? He remem- bered how surprised he was when he first saw at Sierra Leone the marvelous greenness of the trees, while all the shrubs and herbage were parcht. It was owing to the faCt that they were 1897, 323. And this is beside, and not deeply rooted down in the levels kept instead of, sUbscriptions to the general moist by the last rainy season. Again, fund. We feel constrained to say that those who escaped from the Benin mas- we believe some such plan would do- sacre had depended upon the dew-drops more than any other one thing to relieve to quench their thirst in the forest. the present debts of the Boards and pre- The inference was obvious. We needed vent other debts being incurred.
not only deep roots but heavenl,!/ dews if A legacy amounting to probably £180,000($900,000) has been left to Rev. we would befresh every day, to each per- J. Hudson Taylor for the work of the son, and to every duty: China Inland Mission. Laus Deo !
In 1890, in July, a letter from several The Kongo Balolo Mission, of the East friends in Keswick was sent to the C. M. London Institute (Dr. Guinness) is in S. Committee, urging that an appeal be sore need of funds to carryon its prosput forth "for no less than a thousand perous and growing work in the heart additional workers, who will be needed of the Dark Continent: $7,000 to go out into the various fields withiu (£1,400) are needed immediately to the next few years. The prayers of nieet expenses. Eight new missionaries many friends of the Society were di- have recently been sent out and are rected toward sending forth 1,000 new worthy in the highest degree of our missionaries in the last decade of the prayerful sympathy and financial supcentury. To not a few it seemed little port. short of presumption at that time to ask for such a thing, but now is there any About two years ago a few of God's one who thinks an average of a hun- children had the continent of South dred a year a visionary aspiration? America, with its thirty-seven millions What has been the experience? The of perishing souls, specially laid upon number added to tluJ li.~t between May 1st, their hearts. arid longed, in some way, 1890, and May 1st, 1897, including to aid – in the work of preaching the wives and missionaries in local connec- Gospel to these people. ~<.s it was not tion, was 666, an average of 95 for the permitted any of them at- that time to seven years, the average for the first three take the Word of Life to the inhabityean having been 83, and for the latter ants of the " Neglected Continent," four years 104. These numbers do not they decided to remember daily before include those sent out in July last, the Throne of Grace these poor deand more lately, which would add 83 to graded souls, and also the missionaries the total given, making a grand total laboring among lhem. Thinking that of 749. Clearly we are encouraged to others would like to join with them in plead with enlarged desires and expecta- prayer for Sonth America, they were tions." led to form what is now known as the &uth American Missionary Prayer Again, about the same grand society Union. The prayer of faith is necesthat leads all Christendom: sary in the great work of spreading the knowledge of Christ. and while" Some Twenty years ago Rev. V. S. Stanton can go, most can give, aU can pray."* initiated the "Substitute for Service Fund," not only the idea but the exam- * Any further information regarding the ple, for he himself gave, during eight years after, the sum of £250, which was Prayer Union, or membership card for the doubled afterward in the time remain- same, may be obtained on application. In ing before his death. In June, 1893, order to defray the necessary expenses of the appeal was made for such offerings. printing, postage, etc., there is a small fee In May, 1894, 48 were thus supported; of 25 cents on entering the Union, which, in l'Iarch, 1896, 146, and in November, however, is optional. The secretaries are A. E. Robinson, 1 Hepbourne Street; and A. E. Armstrong, 927 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ca- nada. It is reckoned that during the year strumentality of the Salvation Army 1897, the cases of lynch-law being put into execution have averaged more into the enjoyment of the higher than twelve a month, and some one has arranged the list in the order of promi- Christian life, the whole course of his nence thus: Texas takes the lead, and is the black-banner State"":then Ala- life was changed. As a thank-offering, bama, Mississippi, Georgia and· Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, South Caro- he gave one hundred thousand dollars lina, Kentucky and Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia, and Maryland, Arizona, Cali- for the work of the army, and liberal fornia, Ohio, Nevada, Alaska and Illinois conclude the list with one each, contributions followed each year there- While Texas heads the list with nineteen. It will be seen that all but five of after. these lynchings have occurred in the South; eighty of the victims have been Being convinced that he must make negroes, and three Indians, and the great majority of cases were supposed a change in his whole mode of life, he murder cases, and now Indiana comes in the list with five victims at once in abandoned his handsome dwelling to the late tragedy at Versailles. take up his abode among" the slums."
He bought an old theater in one of the worst parts of the city, spent one hun- dred thousand dollars in fitting it up for mission purposes, with a hall for meet- ings, Rescue Home, etc., and a home for his family, and there the rest of his life was consecrated to lifting up the fallen. His wife, being in accord with him, they together lifted up the cross, where sin and sorrow and death had held undisputed sway. God put the The following letter is of such inter- seal of His approval upon him, both est to the general public, that we pub- temporally and spiritually. " Star lish it, and invite further suggestions as Hall" deserved its name as a great to its proposal: center of light and life. .
DEAR DR. PIERSON-In preparing a Some of us have followed this devoted missionary address on Africa to-day, it man in his walks of usefulness through occurred to me that, perhaps, the RE- those lanes and alleys, where crime was VIEW could inaugurate a movement rampant. His Mission Hall has been whereby. on the last day of the century, all missionaries and societies might the place of holy'convocation for many publish a statement, or send to some saints and for new campaigns against central committee a statement, of the sin and hell, and for the deepening of'
then present condition of tIle world the spiritual life. One who was with and position of the work, that might be placed in the hands of suitable editors, our dying friend, says he closed his and a volume publisht the first month earthly life "full of the sweetness of the new century, or as early as con- and tenderness of Jesus-no care, no venient-a volume that would review struggle, no fear-and the last· hours the growth of missions from the begin- ning, and state the actual position of were a veritable heaven on earth." It affairs in the missionary world. These was a real translation. The work goes are crude id~as, but can you not mark on. The beloved wife and coworker the century in some such form? Yours consecrates herself to the Lord's work truly, . D. SPENCER, LL.D.
with redoubled energy, succeeding her Mr. F. W. Crossley, of Manchester, glorified husband in the sowing as she England, who died March 25th, ult., was a man of large business, who will join him in the reaping. abode in his calling with God. He had taken the Lon]. into partnership as the Dr. John H. Barrows, has given Head of the firm, and used the profits for His glory and the extension of His most unequivocal testimony to the work. work of missions in India. He says: Having been led through the in- "The objects most worth seeing in India, to my thinking, are neither the Himalayas, nor the Taj Mahal, the Tomb of Akbar, nor the Temple of "Women in the Mission Field; Madura, but the varied triumphs of mis- Pioneers and Martyrs," and " The sionary effort. What a prodigious Heroic in Missions; Pioneers in Six amount of toil has gone into the Chris- Fields," by the Rev. A. R Buckland, tian vernacular literatures, and what secretary of the Church Missionary splendid triumphs of faith have enriched Society of England, are both interestthe church universal! I have heard ing narratives of life and work in formuch less of the discouragements of eign lands. The various chapters (each missions than I expected. I know how complete in itself) Me -excellent material hard workt and, in the truest sense, for reading at missionary gatherings, self-sacrificing are the Christian mis- mothers' meetings, girls' friendly society sionaries. I know their temptations meetings, or any occasion where a stirand sorp trials. But I have not heard ring narrative of missionary work a single word of doubt with regard to would be effective. (50 cents each, or the ultimate evangelization of India. two, postpaid, 80 cents.) Thomas Those who have been here longest Whittaker, New York.-D. L. P. have seen the most wonderful changes." Without the Oamp, the organ of the Books Received. "Missions to Lepers in India and the East" (17 Greenhill Place, Edinburgh), ENCYCLO;PEDIA OF SOCIAL REFORM. is full of interest to all true followers of (Large 8vo, 1439 pp.) Edited by Christ. It is an illustrated quarterly Wm. D. P. Bliss. Funk & Wag- (15 cents a year), which should be naIl's Co., New York and London. widely circulated and bear fruit in $7.50 (cloth), $9.50 (sheep), $12.00 hearty support of this truly Christian (half morocco), $14.00 (full mor- enterprise.-D. L. P. occo). Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop's" Korea THE STUDENTS' STANDARD DICTION- and Her Neighbors" (Fleming H. Revell ARY. (8vo, 915 pp.) Edited by Company), is a valuable contribution James C. Fernald. The same. both to missions and to general litera- ture. Mrs. Bishop resided in Korea for CLERICAL TYPES. (12mo, 217 pp.) By over two years after the China-Japan Rev. Hames Mann. The same. war, and made frequent excursions $1.00. into neighboring states. The reports of the condition and outlook in this THE STORY OF JONAH in the Light of land at such a critical period in its his- Higher Criticism. (16mo, 120 pp.) tory by such an experienced observer By Prof. Luther Tracey Townsend. must certainly commend themselves to The same. 50c. the student of the Eastern problems.
THE OLD TESTAMENT UNDER FIRE. Mrs. Bishop writes graphically and (12mo, 246 pp.) By Rev. A. J. F. intelligently of the Kur Dong and the Behrends, D.D., S.T.D. The same. King, of the assassination of the queen, $1.00. of the Japanese occupancy and suzer- ainty, describes a great Manchurian THE CONVERSION OF ARMENIA. (12mo, flood, as well as curious customs of a 150 pp.) By W. St. Clair-Tisdall, people little affected by Western civili- M.A. Fleming H. Revell Co., zation as yet. New York, Chicago, and Toronto. $1.40. The illustrations, about thirty in number, are all reproductions of photo- SISTER !'[ARTYRS OF RU-CHENG. graphs taken by the author. Two new (12mo, 120 pp.) Letters and Me- maps are also provided, as' well as moir of Eleanor and Elizabeth index and appendices.-D. L. P. Saunders. (Illustrated.) The same. $1.50.
THE AINU OF JAPAN. (12mo, 175 pp.) By Rev. John Batchelor. (Illus- trated.) The same. $1.50.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
VI.- GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD', D.D., OBERLIN, OHIO.
Extracts and Translations From Foreign mation of a various interest in human Periodicals. and Divine knowledge. Perhaps this makes the matter so much the worse. BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, Great numbers of the upper-class Eng- MASS. lish look upon India simply as existing to provide lucrative salaries and honor- INDIA. able places for younger sons of the gen- try. As an Englishman, quite apart -Mr. Harold Frederic, in a recent from any thought of criticism, has dispatch to a Boston newspaper, calls laughingly said, great numbers of his the zenana missionary ladies propaga- countrymen in India, if asked what tors of "the gospel of discontent," and their duties are, would be able to give questions, on the authority of old gen- no other answer than that given him erals and other Indian functionaries, by a very subordinate official, whom he whether as much harm has been done askt what he did: "Sir, I hold the in India by famines and other plag ues position." The natives know that Engas by them. It is interesting and land gives them peace, justice, humane rather amusing to notice this restric- administratiun and care, and enlightention. Formerly, it was all the mission- ment. Still, the more widely developt aries in India that were a danger. their intellects become, the more likely Carey and his fe!lows were put out of they are to persist in asking whether all British territory, and compelled to take these objects might not be accomrefuge in Serampore, which was then plisht just as well by a great reduc- Danish. Mr. Thompson, and we sup- tion in the complexity and expensivepose others, were sent out of the Penin- ness of the pllblic service. Such sula altogether. In 1857 the cry was questions might be very uncomfortable raised for a moment that the Sepoy for aristocratic young England. The Mutiny was the result of missionary old stoHd and stupid acquiescence in propagandism. But as the missionaries whatever the "Sahibs" please to do, were plainly not in the least responsible might be preferable, rather than that for greased cartridges, and as the .. niggers " ane. "black devils" should Hindu merchants of Calcutta indig- begin to ask such questions. It· must nantly declared that the missionaries, be confest that a few more million so far from being answerable for the Christian and educated Hindus would, mutiny, were, above all other foreign- without a word or thought of violence, ers, winning reverence for their religion compel a very fundamental revision of and. their courtesy, and were esteemed Indian administration, ami a far more by the Hindus as fully the equals of profound respect for themselves; and, their own saints and sages, this cry as a certain Right Reverend English soon died down. Now, for some inex· Bishop has suggested, that Joseph Arch plicable reason, perhaps because these might well be duckt in a horsepond modest women are not much given to for insisting that even farm-laborers controversial self.defence, it is the have rights, it is no strange thing if that zenana ladies that have to bear the Bishop's cousins to the hundredth genbrunt of the attack. To be sure, they eration think the same of zenana can not enter the zenanas without the women. There seems to be only one full consent of the husbands and fathers. way of suppressing this inconvenient These, then, have not discovered the growth of intelligence, namely, to danger of quickening the monotonous life of the female recluses into the ani-
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
disestablish Christianity. So long as this "The gods Vishnu and Siva," says subsists, it has an uncomfortable way Mr. Phillips, "the highest ideal of of working itself out in various direc- Hinduism, have committed every imations, some of which provoke Anglo- ginable sin magnified to the utmost Indians to a very free use of profane extent." language. The German missionary, Frohnmeyer, The Rev. Maurice Phillips, in the quoted in Le Mi8sionaire, remarks: "At Harvest Field, remarks of the minor the present time one meets with but a poems of Hinduism: "The minor poems cold reception in Germany to speak· are of a very late date, evidently writ- about England. There are political ten after the introduction of Christian- reasons for this; I shall not undertake ity into India. Some time ago their to judge of their force. For all this, it teaching was represented in one of the pains a German missionary laboring in English monthlies as 'Latent Hindu- India, to hear the English described as ism.' What was quoted from them is nothing but a nation of shop-keepers. not Hinduism at all, but reflections We, on the other hand, see them under of the teaching of Christ! .. a very different aspect, and we love to say of them: 'They are the nation of As the excessive predominance of the missions; the nation of the Bible.' The priesthood in Roman Catholic countries. English take pains to bring the Bible especially in Italy, has called out a into every house and into every heart. violent atheistical reaction, so it was We know, for instance, that in India the absolutely unendurable tyranny of you can find in every railway station a the Brahmans that called out the athe- Bible in English, and another in the lanistical religion of Buddhism. As Mr. guage of the country. The English Bible Phillips says: " About the sixth century is read assilluously by the employes and B. C., it appears that the tyranny of the also by the travelers." The Hindus do Brahmans had become so oppressive,· not venture very much into the waitingthe burden of the daily sacrifices had rooms, but as we know, they read the become so heavy, and the fetters of Bible a good deal at home. caste had become so tightly riveted that the people, unable to bear them any MADAGASCAR. longer, revolted, and that revolt found expression in Buddhism. Buddha de- The German Ultramontanes endeavor nied every doctrine of the ancient creed, to weaken the force of the damning aIexcept the doctrine of transmigration, -legations brought against the French which he modified to suit his own sys- Jesuits in Madagascar, and their viotem. He declared that there is no God; lent ways, by urging, among other that the Vedas are of no authority; that things, that common prudence would priests, prayers, and sacrifices are use- not allow the French authorities to less; that caste is a fiction; and that permit outrages against the EngUsh there is no soul in the sense of a spiritual mISSIOns. To this G. Kurze, in the entity distinct from matter. Thus he Allgemeine Mi8sions Zeitschr(ft, very swept away, with one stroke, the foun- pertinently answers: "The French govdations upon which the tyranny of the ernment has not the slightest occasion Brahmans was built, viz. God, the soul, to take any account of England. in the Vedas, prayers, sacrifices and caste." these last years Protestant Albion has shown herself wretchedly timid when- Yet, as Mr. Phillips remarks, "the ever she was called to vindicate English system of the void," as the Brahmans Protestant missionaries. And, now rightly called it, could not prevail in the again, when Gallieni is so contemptuousend. and Brahmanism, deeply modified ly treading under foot the rights of the by Buddhism into Hinduism, recovered Congregational, Anglican, and Quaker jts sway among the devout Indians. missionaries in Madagascar, England is
GENERAL MISSIONARY' INTELLIGENCE
playing as pitiable a part as ever. We How many others which have disap- can not help querying whether the two peared, replaced by those of the Jesu- powers have not struck a secret bargain its! I am here speaking only of the in the political sphere, on the principle three most threatened districts, known of Give and Take, by virtue of which to me personally." England is fain to look quietly on, while her missionaries in Madagascar M. Ducommun writes; "The peo- are maltreated." ple are so put beside themselves that the strongest means succeed. For ex- What else could be expected from ample, the priest traverses the villages that unworthy descendant of Elizabeth's with two registers, a red for the Catho- Burleigh, who now misdirects the lics, a black for the Protestants. ' The atrairs of Great Britain? An Armenian Protestants, "says he, •will have to make friend tells me that some years ago the all the roads, railroads, and telegraph Marquis of Salisbury said; "If the Ar- lines, then they are to be shot, and will menians do not want to be ill treated go to hell. The Catholics will have by the Turks, why don't they turn nothing to do, and heaven stands ready Mohammedans?" It may be doubted for them.' And such means succeed!" whether these were his words, but they exactly express his cynical and con- "Is it surprising that a missionary temptuous spirit. How much less should write thus to us; 'There are would he care when the 1<'rench shoot now not more than twenty persons in a few score Malagese, to frighten the my church. The rest have all heen rest into the French Church! shot, chained, imprisoned, or banisht, and these twenty are every day expect- M. Delord writes; "The Jesuits are ing their turn, fClr the priest has taken far from abating their efforts. They their names.' " receive, almost by every steamer, new reinforcements, and we have the cha- We see the spirit of St. Bartholomew grin of learning often that they are oc- is still as fierce as ever in the veins of cupying new positions. There are these fanatics. strange illusions as to the nature of our work. It is imagined that we are real " The situation in Madagascar, with- pastors, almost bishops, having the su- out showing any particular sign of im. preme direction of solidly constituted proving, is now becoming more clearly churches, composed of a certain num- defined. The animus of the French ber, relatively considerable, of Chris- authorities is now seen to be directed tians. Alas! such notions must be against the missionaries not as Protes- given up. At bottom we are, and used tants, but as English. and against the to be, real missionaries. There are L. M. S. in particular. The London many things to do, to undo, and to do Missionary Society has not been known over. In easy days things went as they by any distinctive name in the island, might, but since the tempest has risen, but being the first in the field, and, by all is disorder, confusion, chance-med- far the largest of all the Protestant ley. Desertions, churches burnt by the societies at work, i.ts converts have been Fahavalos, stations disorganized by the called 'English' Christians, while the Jesuits; a general recrudescence of de- Romanists have for a parallel reason lations, of calumnies, of false witness! been called 'French.' A similar state How many persons thrown out of their of things prevailed in Uganda a few wits, and seeking rather the approba- years ago. The L. M. S. has thus tion of the government than of their loomed up before the eyes ofthe French own consciences! How many schools as a great oppossing force, and all the . there are, once humbering hundreds of more so because in previous colonial pupils, which now number but units! extensions, in Tahiti and the Loyalty Islands, the French have found the same society at work before them.
ENGLISH NOTES
Needless to say, they are quite unable to probably live until disease or heartbreak grasp the idea that English missionaries does its work.
are not political agents. Theirs are, as witness Monsignor Hirsh in Uganda, English Notes.
therefore ours must be. The BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS, M.A.
compulsory acquisition of the Normal North Africa Mission. – Another School building and other educational year of service in connection with the establishments by the French Govern- above mission is completed, and looking ment is narvely justified by Le Temps as at the work as a whole progress and in- 'an injury done to the prestige of the crease seem to mark the year. The be- Society, for it is thereby deprived of its ginning was saddened by the murder of most powerful means of propaganda.'" Dr. and Mrs. dLaerakcahnadnmd ythsteeirrioliuttsleevseonn~' but even this -C. M.lnteUigeneer.
The treatment of Queen Ranavalona has been the means of good in the by General Gallieni is a characteristic hand of God. mixture of brutality and hypocrisy. The unhappy sovereign lmd not a fore- The storm of opposition from the boding of what was impending, when, French seems now to have benefited in the evening of February 27, she was rather than interfered with the work. suddenly informed that she was de- The work of the Lord is specially felt posed, and must set out for the island in Algeria, where signs are continually of Reunion early the next morning. being manifested, several having re- Utterly overcome, she threw herself at cently confest Christ. the knees of the subordinate officer who brought the message, but, of course, to The receipts of the mission show an no purpose. The man who had judi- increase of income every year on that of the previous year, which is felt to be encouraging.
cially murdered her uncle, doubtless The China Inland Misswn.-Mr. J.
praised his own clemency in letting the R. F. Pledger writes from Yun-nan niece live. That her passage to the stating the difficulty which he and Mr.
coast took place in the unhealthy season Stevenson experienced at Yun·nan by of course signified nothing. Had Rana- reason of anonymous placards posted valona perisht, it would simply have about the town denouncing missionaries been one inconvenient life the more out and ~her foreigners. These posters of the way. made the people generally very unfavor- After this manly deed, Gallieni put able, although, fortunately for the mis- forth this ponipous and mendacious sionaries, the chief man of the district proclamation: was favorable to them and issued orders " Since the Government of the Re- commanding the people to behave public has declared Madagascar a properly to them, giving permission to French colony, the regal dignity has the missionaries "to build, buy or become superfluous in Imerina. I have rent" where they liked. Difficulty still therefore invited the Queen to abdicate exists because of the popular feeling the exercise of the same, and at her re- being against foreigners in the district, quest have authorized her to repair to and it is unsafe for missionaries to go the Island of Reunion, where she will unprotected about the city.
enjoy the fullest hospitality of the Miss :M:uir writes from Tsin-chau: French authorities." "Miss S. Garland, while visiting Tuh- The French are not poisoners, and it siang, a city one day's journey from is not likely that they will guillotine Tsin·chau, Kan-suh province, was talk- the poor woman, which would raise her ing to some wome who seemed specially to an unpleasant likeness to their own interested. Presently one of them turned Mari!' Antoinette. She will, therefore, to the others -and said, 'This is quite
GENERAl, 'MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
true; my baby has been very ill for a before its close, as there are three or month and after trying everything I could think of I remembered what Koh four persons who have already applied Tai-t'ai had told me, and prayed to this God, and my baby got well quickly," for baptism. We believe that God has Tidings from Hankow rel~te the sad wrought His work of grace in their death of Mrs, Fishe, who has been connected with the C. I. M. since 1875. hearts, and we are praying that they All acquainted with her hold her in great esteem, and her loss will be keenly will be a power of good in this land of felt at home and abroad. darkness_" Four lads have recently Baptist Missionary Society_-A private letter to Edwin C. Curtis, of South offered their services as itinerant work- Wales, from the Rev _Timothy Richard, of North China, contains matter of ers, and the little church feels able to fresh interest in its bearing on China's future. According to Mr. Richard the bear the expenses which this will necesrecent marvelous awakening in China through the Japanese war, and the re- sarily involve. markable direction which has been given by the China Christian Literature The Church Missionary Society,-The Society to tbe minds thus awakened, Church Missionary Intelligencer for call for a larger support to the operations of that society, and an extension October contains a specially interesting of those operations. The design is to establish in each of the capitals of the report of the Medical Mission in Rana- 20 provinces of China an institution which shall consist of a library and ghat, Bengal, under the direction of Mr. 1ecture-hall, to serve as a nucleus of enlightenment" for their respective 20, :MuDl'o. The workers endeavor to fol- 000,000 of population, who are now asking for the light of Christian civili- low our Lord's ministry of preaching, zation." Mr. Richard now reports donations and sUbscriptions for this object teaching and healing, and the work is from the Baptists of the United Kingdom, amounting to £1,590; and also re- lleing most signally blessed. The ports that a merchant from China (Mr, Thomas Hanlevy) has promist to build spiritual needs of the people must come a central institution in Peking, which will cost some thousands of pounds. first, and continually there are services Mr. Timothy Richard, who left for the United States on August 25th, will being held in the waiting-rooms and doubtless be heard in person in many of the important centers of this great verandahs of the dispensary. "Men and republic. women have listened with attention- Stanley Pool.-The Rev. S. C. Gordon writes from Stanley Pool: "It is a Illany have admitted the truth of the great joy to me to be able to report that yesterday we baptized two persons in words spoken-many have gone further the Congo River here. This is our second baptism since the beginning of and have stated their belief in Jesus the year, and we hope to have another Christ as their Savior; but beyond this none have gone."
The teaching in the school does good satisfactory work-the standard taken is the three R's up to the Bible. The little Hindus are very much in request by the people around, because of the hymns they sing. In this way the Gos- pel is becoming known in the neighbor- hood round the school.
The daily visits to the hospital have been 180, and many cures have been brought about. The people are becom- ing quite favorable to the foreign doc- tors, and bring their sick from aU parts_ Lady-doctors attend serious cases among the women at their own homes-thus doors are opened for the truth.
Work on the Niger.-" On Easter Sunday last, an interesting service was held at Onitsha, when fifteen boys, the first, fruits of the work at Immanuel church, were baptized by the Rev_ P. A. Bennett in the River Niger, in the presence of all the native Christians and a large crowd of heathen people, who had come down from' Onitsha town to the waterside in order to witness the ceremony." Statistics of thc Missionary Societies of the [THESE tables include only Missions to non·Christian and non·Protestant peoples, and so they Japanese in the United States. The figures are derived almost wholly from annual reports, and leave the fewest possible blanks, and hence where official figures were not at hand, conservative .Missionaries. Native Laborers. .; qo…-,t:.eS ~~ '"d ..,.~ od .~g NAMES OF SOCIETIES. §§ .; .n -~SS.·~$u·;~i ai _.n " "… A"'<~: <"Qa [o§ 0 .~ <l 0"..". "S .":: ~ .5 ",,, §~ ~.e; j~ 1;' ~ p ~ E-<Ol ~ ~ 0 Z — —————— American Board …………………….. 1810 $688,414 174 13 176 175 543 234 2,956 Baptist Missionary Union……… ……. 1814 467,202 163 2 161 102 428 283 1,984 Southern Baptist Convention …….•…. : 1845 125,682 35 0 33 12 80 38 100 Free Baptists ………………………… 1836 30,432 5 1 6 11 23 7 229 Seventh·Day Baptists………………… 1847 9,000 2 0 2 2 6 0 4 Christian (Disciple) ………………….. 1875 96,811 24 5 24 12 65 0 76 American Christian Convention ………. 1886 5,100 4 0 2 1 7 4 11 Protestant Episcopal.. ……………….. 1835 237,326 28 7 22 20 77 70 353 Society of Friends……………………. 1871 32,100 9 11 13 23 56 7 83 Lutheran, General Council ………. .. 1869 20,803 7 0 7 3 17 1 143 Lutheran, General Synod …………….. 1837 48,238 11 0 8 7 26 2 442 Methodist Episcopal. ………………. 1832 948,938 230 18 225 194 667 606 5,223 Methodist Episcopal, South …………… 1846 225,297 56 1 49 5 111 99 262 African Methodist Episcopal. …………. 1876 6,814 6 10 12 3 31 0 7 Methodist Protestant…………… · ….. 1882 12,000 5 1 6 4 16 4 10 Presbyterian………. ……………….. 1837 808,929 231 51 241 185 708 182 1,802 Presbyterian, South ………………….. 1861 143,500 56 9 50 38 153 36 134 Cumberland Presbyterian ……….. …. 1820 31,430 7 1 6 13 27 8 33 Reformed Presbyterian (Covenanter) …. 1856 18,838 … 2 9 6 24 0 37 Reformed Presb. (Gen. Synod)…….. , .. 1836 5,000 2 11 6 8 22 4 29 Associate Reformed Presbyterian ……… 1879 8,413 3 0 3 8 9 4 5 United Presbyterean…………………. 1859 120,520 89 2 39 34 114 32 705 Reformed (Dutch)……………………. 1836 111,112 32 4 30 20 86 82 431 Reformed (German)………………….. 1878 29,789 6 1 5 3 15 12 42 German Evangelical Synod….. … ….. 1883 12,124 7 0 4 0 11 0 49 Evangelical Association ………………. 1876 9,000 2 0 2 0 4 14 46 U nited Brethren …………………….. 1853 11,077 8 10 8 7 28 2 20 Canada Baptist………………………. 1873 50,018 18 0 18 14 50 13 206 Canada Congregationalist ……………. 1881 5,500 1 0 1 2 4 0 4 Canada Methodist.. ' …………………. 1873 148,499 28 29 45 15 117 26 65 Canada Presbyterian …………………. 1844 159,000 36 18 37 40 131 7 243 Twenty·three other Societies…………. …. 628,300 135 -38-0 271 312 1,098 38 – 460 Totals …………………………… -…-. — — — — — — – 1,372 592 1,521 1,269 4,754 1,767 16,194 $5,255,006 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _-C.-_ _ ~–'- _______ ~_ United States and Oanada for 1896-97.
omit work done in non·Oatholic Europe, while covering that in behalf of Indians, Ohinese, and relate in the main to 1897, tho sometimes the year includes a part of 1896. The aim has been to estimates have been made, based upon former reports.] 'Oc0fSl.'"'~ 2 bIl ~~ ~~ ~ Ol '" ";." .'."-", " <Ii .<.I.i Countries in which :3~ ol "ol Missions are sustained. -~(!) ''0O"~ Cl)·…. cts "0 ~ olOl<> "ol"" .S:! .E0..-,·!0…. ~'0"~ :"g,."$" ~+=I …. ,.0c:: ,.c:: 0…00 Ol ~ <> ~ ,."c'::oZl·;'!"l "00 00 "ss ~~~ 0 0 0 — — —- ——- — 8,499 1,227 44,606 8.919 1.~8,445 1,184 54,615 Africa, Turkey, India, Ohina, Japan, 2,412 1,128 127,128 6,594 1,285 Micronesia, Mexico. Spain, Austria. 500,000 180 236 4,824 660 25,000 85 28,997 Africa (Kongo), India, Burmah. As«am, 252 15 782 72 2,500 . 95 China, Japan, France, Russia, 'etc.
1,103 Ohina, Japan, Africa, Italy, Mexico, Brazil.
3,238 India (Bengal).
10 2 89 22 250 4 120 China (Shanghai).
141 64 1,418 286 4,550 19 784 China, Japan, India, Turkey.
18 22 317 60 1,200 4 118 Japan (Tokyo, etc.).
430 200 4,074 140 18,000 125 4,598 Greece, Africa, China, Japan, Haiti, In- dians. 139 . 2,500 32 1,106 Mexico, China, Japan, Jamaica, Alaska. 160 57 1,029 234 2,719 India (Madras). 198 2,002 170 5,100 113 466 13 5,283 230 16,000 212 5,870 India (Madras), West Africa.
5,890 504 63,650 4,560 146,767 1,587 43,470 China, Korea, Ja:&an, Africa, S. America. 873 Mexico, Italy, ullfaria, Malaysia. 38 8,756 908 26,000 62 2,096 China, Japan, Brazi, Mexico, American 164 Indians. 257 West Africa, West Indies. 12 360 45 1,000 5 26 14 290 60 1,000 1 34 Japan (Yokohama).
2,510 904 80,644 3,140 120,000 724 25,592 India, Siam, China, Jspan, Korea, Africa, 287 Syria, Persia, S. America, Mexico, etc. 60 86 8,156 508 10,000 25 726 0hina, Japan, Korea, Africa, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Brazil. 8 tOO Japan, Mexico. 11 773 188 2,500 61 11 245 20 800 14 620 Northern Syria, Asia Minor.
51 25 876 172 2,500 4 273 India (Northwest Provinces).
14 14 276 39 600 4 90 Mexico (Tampico, etc.).
819 277 7,677 1,271 25,000 358 17,488 Egypt, India (Northw~st Provinces).
517 281 5,806 391 15,000 182 6,904 China, Japan, India, Arabia.
57 34 1,985 197 5,000 2 206 Japan (Tokyo, Sendai, etc.).
60 13 675 240 2,227 15 1,182 Africa (Sierra Leone).
50 21 807 52 2,000 1 8 Japan (Tokyo, Osaka).
48 12 5,000 300 12,000 9 700 Africa (West Coast, Sherbro, etc.), China 256 76 8,920 505 10,136 74 1,480 India (Te!ugus).
8 2 30 4 200 3 100 Africa (West Central).
182 50 2,850 180 12,000 40 2,500 Japan (Tokyo, etc.), Indians.
874 188 8,054 426 10,000 177 7.086 China, India, .Ne" Hebrides, West Indies. 1,558 290 26,048 324 27,000 20,946 6,091 856,880 I750 30,000 6,672 241,180 26,283 1,143,275 THE KINGDOM. corrupts, or the light that splendidly illuminates, and the salt that silently -" Ye know the gracc of our Lord operates; but, being dead or alive, Jesus Christ; that, tho He was rich, every mnn speaks.-Ohalmers. yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might -Society is recognizing the debt of be rich."-PAur" THE ApOSTLE. strength to weakness. The man who -One of the missionaries in British has skill in speech is becoming a voice Columbia reported the prayer of an to the dumb. TlJOse who have skill Indian after hearing of the Ku-cheng towards wealth are becoming the al- massacre: "Say again, dear Jesus, moners of bounty towards art, educa- 'Father, forgive them, for they know tion, and morals. Men who selfishly not what they do.' 0 gracious Spirit, . get much and give little, who have be- Thou art not quencht by blood; let it come Dead Seas of accumulated treas- make thy garden soil strong to gr01J! ure, are losing their standard in society.
Oltinese believers in! " More and more cities are bestowing -High words and disagreeable on their honors and esteem upon those the streets of Chiningchowabout "for- who serve their fellows. Men are beeigners stealing Chinese children," were coming magazines, sending out kindsilepced last July by two official procla- ness everywhither. Men are becoming mations. In one of these the citizens gardens, filling all the air with pungent were told that it "would not be fair to fragrance. Men are becoming castles kill them without a warning, and, in which the poor find protection. The therefore, they were being warned;" floods of iniquity have long covered the earth, but love is the dove bringing the but if they continued to spread false reports about the foreigners "I shall olive branch of peace. Love sings the take your heads off." dawn of a new day.-REv. N. D.
HILLIS.
-The Otis legacy, which yielded -Thomas A. Edison has discovered a $1,500,000 to foreign missions, was process whereby he is able to extract, given by a deacon of the First Church, by the use of powerful magnates, iron in New London, Conn., whose interest in paying quantities from low-grade ores. the cause was developt from seeing If, now, that busy brain of his would some missionaries, who had landed in invent some kind of magnet which New London the day previous, after an would extract withheld gifts from lowabsence from home of twelve years, grade givers, he would be one of the walk down the aisle of the First noblest benefactors of the world.-Ad- Church, Sunday morning. in their old- vance.
time and much-worn garments. Their -We have been privileged to read a moral heroism so toucht him that his remarkable letter from one of the honinterest in the mission world from that ored bishops of the Moravian church. hour knew no abatement. He commenced housekeeping about -Every man is a missionary now 1859 on a salary of $350. He at once and forever. for good or for evil, began to tithe, and has continued the whether he intends or designs it or not. practice ever since. He has not li~ited He may be a blot, radiating his dark his gifts to the tenth, but has often influence out to the very circumference given more. This bishop has a family of society; or he may be a blessing, of 8 children. The youngest is twelve spreading benediction over the length years old, and all have adopted the sys· and breadth of the world; but a blank tern of tithing. The bishop writes: he can not. be. There are no moral " I have never known want, tho I have blanks. there are no neutral characters. often had more in the Lord's treasury Weare either the sower that sows and than in my pocketbook. We have had many luxuries, too, not the least of pal Caven, on the' study of the New which is knowing the blessedness of Testament, and one by the Rev. Progiving." His private means are very fessor Geo. L. Robinson, on the study slender; he is worth but $500, and yet of the Old Testament. he has been able for the past three years to keep his son at a theological semin- -Every night 1,000 women are ary. He is receiving now only $500 a housed in the Salvation Army shelters year, but declares cheerfully that he and homes in Great Britain. During the has all he needs, and has nothing but last twelve months 1,633 past through hearty gratitude for God's providence the Rescue homes, of whom 1,432 have in his life.-Golden Rule. been sent to situations or to friends, and enabled to make a fresh start. Mrs. -A wealthy manufacturer in Bahia Bramwell Booth's 250 helpers visited (Brazil) has recentiy turned over to the 1,068 women prisoners, and spoke to use of the Presbyterian mission a new nearly 5,000 women on the streets. The school building, completely furnisllt Army's investigation department has and equipt with material from the traced 708 missing persons during this United States, to accommodate 150 year. Self-denial week in Australia pupils, and will support the teachers resulted in the collection of £25,000, required for kindergarten and primary which is more than was received in grades, on condition that it be made a Great Britain. model school like the "American" school at S. Paulo, the mission to have – Intelligence comes of the appointabsolute control of the work and the ment of Miss Hu King Eng, M.D., as selection of teachers. first physician in the household 'of Li Rung Chang, viceroy of China. Miss -The British and FOl'eign Bible Eng was born in Foo-chow in 1866, Society has publisht 151,000,000 vol- and was the second of five children of umes at a cost of $60,000,000. The Hu Yong Mi, one of the most efficient American Bible Society has publisht Methodist native workers in China. 63,000,000 at a cost of $27,000,000, and Her grandfather was a military manother societies 51,000,000; making a darin, who embraced Christianity early total of 265,000,000. in life, his five sons also accepting Christianity, and the family being the WOMAN'S WORK. second one in China to embrace the -If one would get a glance at the Christian religion. She took a special marvelous, because multifarious and course of study in the Ohio Wesleyan multitudinous, tasks which the women University preparatory to adopting the of the W. C. T. U. have undertaken medical profession, in 1890 was admitand are pushing with great vigor, let ted on examination to the Woman's him traverse the more than 100 pages Medical College of Pennsylvania, and of the New Crusade for October last. was soon rankt among the leaders of The table of contents is fairly bewilder- her class. After completing the full ing. medical course she spent a year and a -The Methodist women (M. E. half in post-graduate and hospital work, Church, North), raised $313,938 for and was practicing in Foo-chow when missions last year, an advance of $28,- this high honor came to her. Dr. Eng 000 beyond the year before. To the 170 is the first woman in China to be gradrepresentatives in the foreign field 13 uated from a medical college. were added.
..!-In Toronto was recently opened YOUNG PEOPLE.
the Ewart Woman's Missionary Train- -The Y. M. C. A. has 127 railroad ing Home. The curriculum includes a branches, with 30,000 members, and no course of lectures, to be delivered at less than $140,000 are contributed by Knox College, one by the Rev. Princi- . railroad companies for their maintenance. The New York, New Haven and charitable objects, shall at the end of Hartford Railroad has granted $30,000 that time prove to the satisfaction of for a building. the United Society that he has not been financially prospered far beyond the -The first Young Woman's Chris- sum paid out by him." tian Association Home in London was opened in 1855, and now there are in -Fully 500 poor mothers and that city 23 homes and restaurants for children were carried on each of the young women, while in the provinces free excursions given by the Junior there are 100, in Scotland 11, and ill Christian Endeavor union of Camden, Ireland 14. These minister to all classes N. J., during last summer. of workers-teachers, clerks, shop as- sistants, and servants. AMERICA.
-According to the Congregationalist United States.-How strangely it 120 of our colleges now support as came about. D. O. Mills laid the foun- many Christian missionaIies. Last year dations of a fortune upon the Pacific Wellesley gave $1,050 for missions; Coast, and now he constructs a hotel, Yale, $1,200; Mt. Holyoke, $549; Cor- costing $1, 000, 000, in the" down town" nell, $500, and Oberlin, $650. But our section of New York City, whose design students do not begin to sacrifice for is to furnish for 1,500 a clean, comfort- this purpose as do those of the Canadian able room for 20 cents a day, bath in- colleges. Thus the 80 students of cluded, and meals and laundrying at McGill University last year gave $1,- similar rates. He proposes also to build 833, and only 5 out of the 80 are exempt a second hotel for the same purpose. from the necessity of earning their live- lihood, in some measure at least, while – In the twelve years of its existence they are students. the Chicago Training School has sent out 98 foreign missionaries, 935 gradu- -Kin Leon is a bright young China- ates engaged in deaconess work in this man who has spent a number of years country, and 70 who are occupied with in the United States, and coming under some other form of home missionary or the influe!lce of Christian teaching was evangelistic work. With its fine new led to accept the" Jesus doctrine," and building, Harris Hall, and the recent ' joined the Presbyterian Church and the extension of its course, it seeks with Endeavor society. For some time he renewed courage to fulfill its part in has conducted a laundry .at Oxford, supplying the large and increasing Pa., but now he feels that the Lord has demand for trained workers at home other work for him to do, and is about and abroad. to give up the laundry for the purpose . of devoting his entire time to study, with -Hampton (Va.) Institute opened its a view of some time enteriJ?g Lincoln thirtieth year with an attendance of University to take the regular course about 1,000. A new building for teach- necessary to fit him for missionary work ing agriculture and domestic science is in China. in process of erection, to cost between $50,000 and $60,000, of which $35,000 -At least 700 Endeavorers of South have already been subscribed. Hamp- India met a short time ago in convention ton has done more for the negroes of at Madura. Out of 65 societies 37 sent the South than can be estimated. Its delegates_ work for the Indian IS of the same character, only more limited for the -A Louisiana insurance agent, in want of material. Yet there are about . joining the Tenth Legion, makes this 140 Indians connected with the school, 40 of whom are new students, mostly bold proposition: "I will pay $1,000 as from Western tribes. – a forfeit to any young man who, having -There are now 22,799 Indians in during three consecutive years given – honestly one-tenth of his income toward schools of all kinds, 68,000 own lands. Spanish America.-The uneducated in severalty, and the government ap- Mexicans are not exempt from the propriation for 1897 was $2,631,000. usual prejudice which obtains among ignorant classes concerning the use of -Two sons of a Zulu chieftain have water for personal cleanliness. The recently reacl1t this country. This two things the sick are most carefully chief is not a Christian himself, but he guarded against in the homes of the desires that his successor shall be one, poorer Mexicans, we are -told, are fresh and, therefore, he sends. his sons to air and clean water. A teacher says: America "to learn and to believe. " "Children sometimes come to school The oldest son, who is the natural heir, with dirty faces and hands, and when I is not a Christian, and has two wives speak to them about it, they tell me whom he leaves behind. The younger they have colds, ()!" are not very well, brother has been in the mission schools and it would make them sick to wash at Lindley and Amanzimtote, and is a themselves."-Horne Mission Monthly_ lay preacher. The father pays all cost of sending and supporting the boys. -Primitive customs. prevail in' the more remote Mexican plazas. "It is -The Methodist Episcopal Church, amusing," says our teacher at Embudo, South, is rejoicing in the complete pro- "to see the threshing of wheat. A cir- vision for its missionary debt. The cle of ground is first swept clean, the entire amount of $145,000 has been wheat is placed in the center and scat- secured by personal pledges, and the tered llbout the circle. The goats are Church is free to go on with its work driven around on the wheat, while as it has not been in the past No pub- boys guard the goats from straying_ lic appeal has been made, but the work After being thus thresht, the wheat is has been done in a private way by in- carried home and washt hy the women dividuals, laymen, benevolent women, before it is sent to the mill_ The corn and church officers. Of that sum $50- is husked, then baked in the oven, and 000 have been given by 9 persons, afterwards ground between stones by $100,000 by 200; and the contributors the women, as in Bible times.-lOid.
to the debt have been less than 4,000 -Nov. 10 the Congress of Peru, in in number. spite of the utmost the cleJical party Canada.-The Grande Ligne Mission could do to pI'event it, past a bill legalwas founded, in 1835, by Henriettll izing non-Catholic maniages by sanc- Feller and her associates, who came tioning a civil ceremony. Great was from Switzerland and opened a small the excitement attending.
school, with the object of doing what EUROPE. they could to give a pJimary education, and a knowledge of the way of salva- Great Britain. – The Ohurch Mis- tion, to the French-Canadian people of sionary Intellig, nCe1' calls attention to Quebec. The mission maintains some the fact that offers have been made by 15 or 20 colporteurs and Bible-women. individual friends or groups of friend~ 6,000 persons are known to have been to sustain the personal charges of converted through the agency of this neal"ly all the new missionaries who do mission, and it has sent out 50 mission- not go forth at their own costs. " Of aries, several of whom have gone to the 63 (excluding wives) sent out since the foreign field. The income is not May 1st, 4 are honorary, one partly derived solely from Canadian Baptists. so, and offers have been made for the Of the $19,000 expended last year, support of 52, leaving only 6 to be a nearly $3,000 came from the United charge on the ordinary funds of the States, and nearly $2,000 from Great Sodety. The totalnumher of mission- BJitain. aries Oil the roll for whom special" provision is thus made is 305, of whom administering Lutheran baptism to the 188 are men and 117 women. Indi- children of Lutheran fathers and vidual friends are responsible for 94, mothers who had married members of parochial and other associations in Eng· the Greek Church. land and Ireland for 87, the Gleaners' Union and its branches for 43, various ASIA. county organizations for 11, the Dublin University Fuh·kien Mission for 8, Islam.-The Turkish Government other bodies of friends for 30, and has demanded the recall of 2 mission- Colonial Associations for 32. Besides aries from Aleppo, on the ground that· these 305, oifers are to hand for the sup· their distribution of relief is likely to port of 18 others, making a total of cause disturbances. The American 323." legation has ignored the demand pen- ding definite charges, fearing that this The Continent.-The Order of is the first step toward the expulsion of Jesuits numbers 14,251, who are dis· all the missionaries. tributed among 22 provinces, which cover the globe. Germany has more -We continue to have cheering than any other country, though Bel.. words from Turkey in respect to the gium, Spain and France are not far be- spiritual work. Little allusion is made hind. in the letters of our missionaries to the political situation, but they write -The Danish Missionary Society held almost uniformly of progress in their its annual meeting recently in Copen- several fields of labor. Mr. McNaughhagen. It comprises 600 branch socie· ton, of Smyrna, says: "The prospect tics, with an active membership of for the future in all departments of our 20,000. The receipts for the past year work was never brighter. The reports amounted to about $27,500. The first from the out·stations are uniformly mission field of the society was in hopeful, and some of them most inspirsouthern India; but since 1892 mission ing." It is a most remarkable fact, reo work has been begun in China, 4 mis- ported by the Smyrna station, that the sionaries are ready to be sent out, 16 contributions from native sources missionaries are employed. The ques- within that city and district for the tion was discust whether a third evangelical work amount to more than mission, in middle India, should be twice the appropriations received from undertaken. The president of this the Board.-Mis8ionary Herald. society is Dean Vahl, the veteran missionary statistician of 72 years. For -U. S. Consul Wallace at Jerusalem a half century he has studied mis· reports to the State Department that, sions, and has in his home a missionary according to the consular records of his library of 11,000 volumes. office, it appears that there are 530 citi- zcns of the United States residing in – The Norwegian Missionary Society Palestine. Of this number 438 are sent out last year to Madagascar 12 Jews, who are only nominally Ameri· Norwegian missionaries, 2 French mis- cans, having lived in the United States sionaries, 2 French teachers, 1 printer, just long enough to obtain citizen and two women teachers.-Norsk Mis· papers and passports. The majority of SW1UJtidende. these emigrated from Russia to the United States and thence to Palestine. -It is reported from Russia that the Of the other 92 American citizens, Czar has granted full pardon to 200 nearly all went there because of pecu- Lutheran pastors of the Baltic provin- liar religious views, and among them ces, who, on a variety of charges, have may be found all possible shades of been deprived of their churches and Christian beliefs. The one idea, which deported to other parts of the Empire. seems to possess all to a greater or less Among the charges has been that of extent, is that of the second advent of local Islamia College, who is reading in our Lord. This is by all considered to his second, or sophomore, year. For be an event soon to take place in Jeru- some two or three months he was very salem. The Spoffordite colony or regular in attendance at all the services "Overcomers," as they call themselves, of the Hindustani Church, including have recently been increast by an ad- all the meetings of the Christian En· .
dition of 117 Swedish Americans, deavor Society. Then he was baptized mostly from Chicago. on confession of his faith in Ghrist_ -Missions t.o Mohammedans have, of His father is one of the leading Moham- late years, found a special advocate in medans in Lahore, and, moreov~r, a .Pastor Faber, a Lutheran minister in preacher of Islam. His brother is a Saxony. His efforts resulted in the man of liberal mineI, quite different sending of 2 German missionaries to from the ordinary Mohammedan. If .Persia. They settled at Ooromiah, the young man stands fast and proves were received in a friendly way by the Mohammedans, and were cheered by himself a genuine Christian, there are hopes of his father and mother also.
finding a spirit of inquiry. But the -Some time since an Englishman in Persian Ambassador at Berlin, a fanat- Ceylon announced his conversion to ical Moslem, had become acquainted Mohammedanism and immediately with some of the writings of Pastor claimed the privilege of polygamy, Faber, which he sent to the Shah, and taking unto him a second wife in the secured their expUlsion. One of them person of an English girl of excellent died from exposure and malaria, on family, who also announced her con- his way through Asia Minor, in March version. The first wife sued for a of last year. This defeat has only had divorce. The man protested that as a the effect of stimulating to further Moslem he had a right to two or even efforts, and now 4 theological students four wives. The matter has come up of great promise, and a fully qualified in the courts, and it has been decided woman doctor, have placed themselves that his status in Ceylon is that of an at the disposal of the mission. Englishman upon whom the obligation -India. The statement is by no of monogamy is binding, whatever his means new, but it is true, and will bear religious belief, whether he be Chris- repetition: "The people in India, hold- tian, Jew, Buddhist, Mormon or Mo- ing hands, would reach three times hammedan.
around the globc at the equator. Put -The Rev. Ruttonji N owroji, of the people in single file, allowing three Aurangabad, in Western India, writes feet of space for each to walk in, and, thus of the actions of the Hindus While walking at the rate of ten miles a day, suffering from :famine: "The Hindus it would take them forty years to pass had hired Brahmin priests to keep up a given point; or, walking five miles a their noisy worship before the village . day, with the present increase of popu- idols, and fully expected abundant rain lation by birth-rate, the great proces- as the result of their worship. But after sion would never have an end." And waiting for days and weeks, they re- . China has a population larger by one- solved to punish the gods who had third. . received costly offerings without giving them the lookt-for blessing in return. -The Indian famine is said to have In some places they indignantly be- caused a pecuniary loss of $50,000,000. smeared their idols all over with mud, Great Britain, her colonies and America and closed up the entrance of the tem- contributed some $7,500,000 for relief.
-·An interesting baptism recently ples with thorns. In otbers they filled took place in Lahore. It was of a up the temples with water and blocked young Mohammedan, a student in the up the doors, so that the idols m!ght shiver in wet as a punishment for keep- vance movements of the church, espeing their fields dry." cially that of self-support, has just suc- cessfully past the examinations for the China.-In a certain village, called "First Degree," and has received his San Yuam, which is known as the degree from the official. One of his "Gospel Village," the native converts brothers, also a church member, has were anxious to secure a room to hold just received the same degree. services in, and so they undertook to build a· place themselves, and also find -The Rev. Timothy Richard, the the material. A chapel was in this way eminent Baptist missionary to China, erected to accommodate 300 or 400 per- was greatly cheered on the eve of his sons, and the cost to the Baptist Society return thither by the promise of £5,000 was only £15. When Mr. Shorrocks from a Mr. Hanbury, for the purpose was returning to England the people of establishing an institution in Peking presented him with a silk banner, bear- to consist of a library and lecture hall. ing the inscription in Chinese characters, "Blessed is pe that cometh in the -Rev. S. H. Chesler, now on a visit name of the Lord," and their spokes- to the Celestial Empire, writes: "If I man said, "We can't give you a big should sign my name and title as present, but we wili contribute 500 arranged for me here, in Chinese, it days' labor in building a school where would be Mei Kwoh Nan Changlao our leaders can instruct us." .. On one Tso6hg Hwuy Pudao Shook Keh-szeoccasion," narrates Mr. Shorrocks, teh; which, being interpreted, means, ., my colleague and I were much sur- "American Kingdom Southern Presprised to see some men coming towards byterian General Assembly Mission us with wheelbarrows. We soon dis- Secretary,-the man who meditates on covered that they were bringing a num- virtue." The last two syllables, "szeber of petitions from 200 villages, urg- teh" are the nearest approach the laning the missionaries to go out to teach gnage affords to my name. them." Japan.-The Nippon gives the num- -In an article on the" Present Sta- bers of students in some of the most tus of Missions in the Fuh-kien Pro- noted pri'DUU schools of Tokyo. It may vince," the Ohinl!86 Recorder gives a be possible to arrive at an idea of the statistical table of th(j work of all the principal aims of the rising generation churches in the province, including, of from a study of the figures given. In course, the L. lL S. and the. English the Semmon Gakko (Count Okuma's Presbyterian Mission in Amoy, the school, where politics, law, economics American Societies and the C. M. S. and pure literature are taught) there are The missionaries (male and female) 937 students; in the Meiji Law School, number 171, and there are 133 ordained 932; Tokyo Law School, 1,200; Nippon native pastors. The adherents number Law School, 854; Franco Japanese Law 55,000; 3,441 adults and 1,817 children School, 525; Saisei Medical School, 700; were baptized in 1896. There are 697 Tokyo Commercial School, 288; Arschools, with nearly 13,000 scholars; tisans' School, 937; Senshin Gakko and the contributions for church pur- Baron Tajiri's – vice-Minister of Fiposes for the year amounted to $38,167. nance-School, where economics alone The latter show an increase on the pre- is taught), 250.-lndependent. vious year of $9,000, and the adherents have advanced by nearly 16,000. -Writing concerning .the first ordi- nation service held .by him in Japan, -At Foo chow Mr. Ling Muk Gek, Bishop Awdry, of Osaka, says: "All a teacher, a member of Geu Cio Dong went very well, but it was curious to church, the first Christian Endeavorer have no music at all. . As II sign of in China, and a leader in all the ad- public mourning for the empressmother, all music is forbidden for a which has been a crying scandal for term, lind though it was explained that years, has doubled during the past this was not intended to apply to music seven years. Unless measures are taken in religious servic_es, yet, on the whole, to restrict the traffic the most disastrous it was thought best to show the fullest results, he says, will ensue. possible sympathy with Japanese feeling by havin'g no singing. The J apan- -" The capture of Benin," says ese are excessively sensitivl) as to for- Bishop Tugwell, "opens up a large eigners disregarding their feelings, district lying within my diocese. This especially in matters connected with city has long .been notorious for its patriotism. " atrocities committed with the Ju-Ju worship; it is now thrown open to the -A correspondent of the London Christian world. Meantime, I am Tim6s writes from Japan: "Japanese anxious to organize a band of from 20 women are for the most part comely to 30 men. We need ordained men, layand engaging rather than handsome. men and medical men. Ere long, ladies It is the combination of grace, dress will be able to proceed to these counand manner that makes up the sum tries with a minimum risk to life and total of attraction. The apparel of a health. Proceeding further, as we Japanese lady is not the least agreeable should now be prepared to do, to Sokoto feature. It is artistic, healthy, and and Gando, and other important censuited to the beautiful fabrics of the ters, we should necessarily need concountry." siderable sums of money."
-Under the title, "Low Life in -Dr. Taylor Smith, Bishop of Sierra Tokyo," the Japan Times has an inter- Leone, speaking at Norwich, EnglllJld, esting article, illnstrated by actual sta- described the horrors of Ashantee and tistics. After saying, "Few of the Benin, including human sacrifices. well-to-do people have any idea of the King Prempeh, who had revelled in all number of their fellow-creatures who this blood shedding, was now one of struggle for existence in the poorest his congregation in Sierra Leone, and quarters of this great metropolis," the only shortly before the bishop left he 1 imes gives the number in each dis- had taught him, at his own request, the trict of the city engaged in various Lord's Prayer. lowly occupations. There are 42,328 jinrickisha men; 3,061 waste – paper -A missionary writes: There is a buyers, 834 waste-paper gatherers, 797 list of goods which was recently paid shoe keepers, 2,348 broken glass buyers, by a young man in our employ to a and 1,040 potato sellers. The waste- father-in-law who had an eye for busipaper collectors are chiefly poor, weak ness before the young man secured his children, and shoe keepers are a "class wife. And the time will never come of persons engaged in taking charge of when his father-in-law will not regard wooden clogs at the entrance to theatres it as his perfect right to ask his son-inand all places of assembly, and arrang- law for anything more he may want. ing the footgear, ready for departure." The list is thus: 80 neptunes, 5 guns, 32 marks (about $8) worth of cloth, 3 AFRICA. goats, 5 cases of gin, 3 kegs powder, 2 zinc trunks, 2 umbrellas, 1 coat, 2 -Shades of Rameses and Pharaoh! chairs, 2 tall hats, 3 felt hats, 1 flag, 4: Are we awake. or do we dream? A shirts, 1 tin of sugar, 8 drinking glasses, traveler writes of "a fine bridge across 12 plates, 1 lamp, 2 brass kettles, 4 the Nile," and "the rush of electric small iron pots, 1 knife, 25 pipes, 2 jugs, cars" in the streets of Cairo. 1 large iron pot, 30 brass wires, 4: pairs of scissors, and about 23 marks in cash West_-Bishop Tugwell points out ($5.50). that the liquor traffic in West Africa, -The battle of Bida opened the long now stands the house of the O.M.S. misclosed doors of Hausaland, or the Central Soudan, says the Missionary, and sionaries. The tree has fallen, and its thus gave the Christian world access to 15,000,000 of the finest people in wood has been ttsed in the building of a Africa, a hundredth part of the world's inhabitants_ This country is more ac- Ohristian church. cessible than was Uganda, and British authority insures protection of life_ -Bishop Tucker, speaking on Ugan- Moreover, the Hausas excel in physique da, before leaving England for Africa, and intellect, are famous as traders, said the natives are now able to receive have a vernacular with no mean litera- in tbeir own language the Bible, the' ture, and possess great cities, such as prayer-book, a hymn-book, and "Pil- Kano, Sokoto, and Gando_ The Church grim's Progress." Missionary Society has entered upon the work of evangelization_ ISLANDS OF THE SEA.
East.-The English and German -Societies in Victoria, Australia, are missionaries in East Africa introduced already represented in the mission field the custom of hoisting a whiteftag with by 24 workers, while 15 others are prea red cross upon it in their stations on paring. From one society 5 members Saturdays, to remind the natives that have gone to China and India, while the morrow would be the Sabbath_ The another has 6 members now at work people have consequently come to call and another in preparation. Sabbath "Flag Day_" -The variety of races to be found in -The Berlin missionaries in Konde- both Singapore and Penang is extraland, on the north of Lake Nyassa, in ordinary. The bulk of the population German East Africa, lately made a tour is Chinese, but there are Malay, Ben- 'of exploration through Wahehe-land, galese, Parses, Arabs, Japanese and which was brought into SUbjection two Jews, besides English, French, Dutch, years ago. Mission work is now madc Germans and Americans. Men-of-war possible. There are 11 male and 4 fe- and trading vessels of many nations male Berlinmissionaries in Konde-land; crowd round their beautiful and extenthey are enjoying good health, while sive harbors, while Mohammedan the English and Scotch missionaries on mosques, Chinese joss-houses, Hindoo the east coast of the lake have suffered temples, and Christian churches are several losses by death. prominent in the well-kept streets and park-like spaces. The Chinese form by -It is fifteen years since Mr. Wray far the most conspicuous part of the went out to East Africa, to work among population. To be in Singapore or the wild Taitas. He had found their Penang is like being in China. A deck country, he said, a hard field, but passage from Hong Kong to 8ingapore nothing was too hard for God, and the can be had on some of the best steamers Spirit of God was, indeed, working for 5 dollars, and on second-class among them. He held in his hand steamers as low as 3 dollars, enabling some pieces of wood from that far thousands of Chinese to migrate from region. "I wish," he said, "these the overcrowded cities of South China pieces ·of wood could tell their own year by year. Many of the Chinese story. " At Sagalla, among the Taita merchants in Singapore are rich and hills, was a hill held once so sacred that prosperous, and the run of Chinese no woman was allowed to set foot upon emigrants both industrious and successit. The wood came from a tree which ful. stood on the hill and was worshipt as the god of the country. On that lLilt -There are now at work in the New Hebrides mission 256 teachers; 13,084 people are attending more or less regu- larly at Sabbath services, and 5,463 are attending the day-schools; 207 adult baptisms and 142 Christian marriages were celebrated, and 231 were added to church membership last year; and there are now 239 candidates asking for baptism. Thirty-three teachers were settled, and the total contributions for mission purposes were £424, 6s. in cash, and 17,683 pounds of arrowroot, equal to .£884, 3s., amounting together to the sum of £1,308, 9s. All the above fi~ ures are exclusive of the island of Efate, from which no returns were received.
The Missionary Review of the World — October 1888
A. CRUSADE FOR MISSIONS. [OCT••
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XI. No. lO.-Old 8eries._ _OCTOBER, _ _VOL. 1. No. to.-New Berle8.
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.
A ORUSADE FOR MISSIONS. [EDITORIAL.-A. T. p.] [The following solemn and earnest appeal we are sure will be received in the spirit in which it Is made, and, we trust. will not have been made iu vaiu. We who have staid at home, and so have not felt the touch of those great movements and mighty throbings, of which 'London has been the center, are not prepared to appreciate the fnll force of the feeling which dictates this bugle-call from across the sea and the intensity of the conviction which thrills along every line of this stirring appeal.-J. M. S.] THE time seems to me to have fully come for some new movement, which I can call by no other name, and for that crusade I solemnly appeal to my brethren in the pastorate to set themselves apart.
The evangelization of the world is a problem so grave and so great that it demands men, in a peculiar, if not an exclusive sense, devoted to it. The church needs to be aroused, quickened, stimulated, to new endeavor, prayer, consecration, giving, if we are to overtake the present generation with the gospel. To do this work of arousing the church, information must be gathered, facts collated and marshaled in effective array, and then presented with readiness of memory and of utterance, with the unique power and force that come from a mind and heart on fire with intelligent zeal and holy enthusiasm. For this work who are naturally fitted as are the devoted pastors of the churches? They are the leaders of church life and church'work ; their contact with the people is constant, and their touch is sympathetic; they are in t4e very position to take up such work with every advantage and hope of success.
Of course such a work demands a special training. There are certain lines of study and research, personal acquaintance with missionaries and mission-fields, providential contact with the work at a hundred points of approach, and the habit of advocating missions, which are requisite for the fullest measure of preparation to carryon such a crusade; but no man has the chance of such university training in the school of missions so available to him as the pastor. He whose yearnings and leanings are in this direction will unconsciously develop power in the work.
Nothing is more imperatively needed at this precise emergency, the crisis of missions, than a generation of such pastoral crusaders. There is no need of abandoning the pulpit and parish to enter upon such a crusade. The churches need not even be neglected, left unshepherded, unsheltered, like a scattered flock, in order that a pastor may go about, like Peter the Hermit, on missionary tours. The pastor must care for the flock, of course. But there is a larger, broader work for Christ than any individual church presents, and every minister of Christ owes somewhat to the church at large. He ought to feel and recognize the call to ministerial service to the whole body of Christ, and seek training for that larger service.
I am persuaded that in most cases a man is more effective as a pleader for missions who is making such appeals to only one branch of a general work for Christ and His church. We need to remember that the pastoral office is the first and highest in the church. Its forms of activity are so manifold and multiform, that it cultivates every part of the man; every faculty finds employment. To do the work of preacher and pastor, instead of making a man narrow, broadens him. His very appeals for special causes, such as Home Missions, Foreign Missions, City Evangelization, are rendered only more effective by his not becoming a mere specialist, absorbed in one particular subject or object. The tendency of doing only one thing is to be short-sighted, and see only one interest, and so unduly magnify that one object. A. specialist in benevolence is apt to loose breadth of view. width of symmpathy, and he cannot make up for such lack by mere length of tongue. The two great qualities, "audibility and volubility," may be enough for some men, but they do not prove sufficient for holding and rousing the people.
I would not have pastors abandon their flocks and folds to enter the new crusade for missions. How often have we observed that a pastor who is a powerful advocate of some one or all of the benevoleri.t agencies of the church degenerates as soon as he becomes a secretary of a board or an agent. He gets formal, official, a mere functionary. A.nd because he is expected to magnify his office, and exaggerate the relative importance of the cause he represents, he loses power with the people.
Hence, in order to be more useful in pleading for missions, it may be well for a man to keep out of all official relations with a board or a society in all ordinary cases. It takes a really extraordinary man to keep out of the trammels of a perfunctory routine. For myself, I have sedulously avoided aU such complications, preferring to be first of all a preacher and pastor, and, as such, whenever God gives opportunity, and as He gives ability, lift up my voice for every true, noble and effective form of church beneficence, WIth no fetters on my tongue or my independence. '1'0 do the best work in missions, it is best for me, and probably for most men, to remain pastors; and their words will have all the more spontaneity, enthusiasm and real power when they speak not as agents or secretaries but as pastors.
THE GREAT MISSIONARY CONFERENCES•
.At the same time, I cordially recommend my fellow pastors to avail themselves, especially when they are abroad, of opportunities to gather information by personal visits and contact in the mission fields themselves. Nothing so vividly impresses the mind as the sight of the eyes, and nothing so fit for vivid, graphic, telling description and reproduction. If a pastor is going to take a vacation abroad, why not, for the sake of his own church and the church at large, take his vacation where recreation and investigation may be cQmbined? Dr. Gordon and myself went to Paris together to visit and investigate the McAn Missions. We spoke twice a day in the various salles, through an interpreter, and saw the work for ourselves. But the help of M. Saillens, Dr. McAn's main helper in his work, enabled us to see Paris in the meanwhile as we could not have done it alone. I had written much and spoken often on the McAn Mission work, but never had I such a conception of its simplicity and effectiveness. He who would be a powerful pleader for missions will do well to avail himself of every chance to come into personal, vital contact with mission fields and mission workers. In fact, many a church might well send a pastor abroad to carry cheer to missionaries on the field, and gather a store of facts, . and best of all a new enthusiasm. The time so spent would not be lost to the church at home. A true pastor may well desire to visit fi-elds and conduct a personal investigation of the work, in order to fit hjmself better to do the work of a home pastor. The more many-sided a man is, the better-informed he is, the more intelligent his zeal in the wider work of God, the more keenly alive to the wants of the worldfield, the better is he fitted to guide the flock at home, especially if his church chance to be a large and leading one among the churches.
Brethren of the ministry, much as we need missionaries on the foreign field, we need, even more, missionary pastors on the home field. We need menwho shall make a business to keep themselves thoroughly informed as to the progress of the Lord's work and the great missionary campaign. Such men inspire a whole church, lift it to a higher level, quicken intelligence, and arouse zeal. They are the true and poweJful pleaders for missions. Give us more of such men-men who can make a monthly concert an inspiring occasion, men who not only take an annual missionary collection or preach an annual missionary sermon, but whose every prayer and discourse and pastoral visit is fragrant with the spirit of missions. Then we shall have a true missionary revival, and the pulse of a sluggish church shall beat with new life, and a new missionary era shall ,dawn.
THE GREAT MISSIONARY CONFERENCES.
THIRD LETTER FROM: A. T. PIERSON, D. D.
. '. : EDUTBURGH, July 16.
THE grand World's Conference in London was but the beginnh~g of a series. The so-called Mildmay Conference, at Mildniay Park, almost immediately succeeded it-July 27-31-and the del6gates have found in their travels that at every new point gatherings awaited their com- ing, where the eager multitudes were waiting to gather at least some fragments of the feast. In this Athens of the British Isles, for in- stancH, the pulpits were filled all day yesterday by delegates, and at a monster-meeting in the Synod Hall last night, addresses were made on the subject of missions by Dr. A. J. Gordon and myself.
-I have thought that to many who may not see the reports of the Conference, now preparing in extenso, it might be well to present a . few choice bits of the feast. And so I have been at pains to gather up a basket of fragments, to let our readers see what was the character of the fare distributed at the banquet board. Those who wish to have the reports in full will do well at once to send orders, with two dollars and a half, for the two large volumes of verbatim reports, to Rev. James Johnston, Secretary, care of Y. M. C. A., Exeter Hall, Strand, London. The reports will be published about January 1, 1889.
1. Ohristianityand Oivilization.-Bishop Colenso attempted to civil- ize without Christianizing. He got twelve Zulu lads and took them for a limited time into his service, not making any attempt meanwhile to convert them. When the time expired, he reminded them how faithful he had been to them and to his promise not to seek to bias them at all as to their religious faith. The next day all were gone, leaving behind only their European clothes, as they went back to bar- barism. It is said that Colenso went over to the American mission, laid on the treasurer's table a fifty-pound note, and said: "You were right, and I was wrong."
Christian nations were defeated in the Crusades: they deserved to be, for the Bible was carried behind the sword.
ee Among the Zulus, the first sign of approach to Christ is a desire for clothes. A man comes one day and buys a calico shirt; the next, per- haps, and buys a pair of duck pants; then a three-legged stool, for he can no longer sit on the ground, and with shirt and pants on, and seated on that stool, he is a thousand miles above the level of the heathen round him."-Dr. Lindley.
2. The Power of Christian Schools.-We do not appreciate the value of the educational element in missions. The missiollary superin- tendent in Utah lately undertook to lecture on subjects such as would interest the Mormons, beginning with lectures on humor, in which lie had to explain his own jokes and stories to his stolid and stupid auditors. As soon as he had convinced them that he knew more than their own priests, of science, history, etc., he opened a school, and their children came to learn, then a Sunday-school, and so an evangelistic service. . In Beirut, the Christian church, the medical college and the girls' schools go side by side. The very Pashas confess the power of these schools, and the Arabs had to open girls' schools in self-defense, and having no fit teachers, sent to our schools for teachers for their own. Education acts asa prophylactic, upsetting the uIlscientific and absurd geography, cosmogony, etc., of paganism, and so the religion itself.
Education of a Christian sort tends to upset the heathen faiths, by first undermining the heathen systems of false science which are inseparably bound up with the religious system. For example, the absurd Hindoo cosmogony cannot stand before the revelations of modern astronomy, etc. The antagonism between the truth and error is irreconcilable. On the other hand, the more the Bible is studied, the more it is found to be in accord with all the great scientific facts not known when the Bible was written. The leading truths of geology, astronomy, comparative anatomy, physiology, etc., find in the Word of God no antagonism. In fact, we may almost say, they were anticipated in its wonderful phraseology.-A. T. P.
Medical Missions.-It is noticeable that Christ sent forth His apostles, not only to preach and teach and testify, but to heal the sick.
3. The Progress of Missions.-In the Fiji Islands one wretched cannibal gloried in his shame. He was wont to put down one stone for every human body of which he partook, and his horrid memorial reached the number of 872 stones! At the late jubilee of missions not one avowed heathen was left.-Rev. John Oalvert.
4. Preparation of Missionary Oandidates.-It is very desirable that while in the course of preparation they be kept as much as may be into contact with souls. Isolation and seclusion for study during a long period sometimes leaves a student with a chronic or at least intermittent chill. Intellectuality often developes brilliance, but the brilliance of an iceberg. It is well to keep up the warmth of love and passion for souls by evangelistic labor-and all the better if among the lowest classes; for he who is not ready to preach the gospel anywhere is fitted to preach it nowhere. He who can reach the lowest can commonlyreach the highest, but the reverse is not always true. We need men in earnest, not for salaries and positions and honors, but seekers after souls.-A. T. P.
5. The Rurn Traffic.-When Stanley came to Aganda, the king, Mtesa, asked after Victoria, the Emperor of Germany, etc. Then he said, '''' Have you any tidings from above!" Mr. Stanley was not quite so much at home on this subject, but he could at least give the king a New Testa:r;nent. But it was noticeable that when Stanley reached the mouth of the Congo, the one unfortunate question there was, "Have you any gin?" The very day that the American Baptists in Boston accepted the Livingstone Inland Mission, 200,000 gallons of rum sailed from Boston to the Congo, in a single ship.
6. The three eras of rnissions have been: 1. The apostolic: the result was the conversion, nominally, of the :Roman Empire. 2. The rnedi- OJval: the result was the nominal Christianization of Europe. 3. The modern: the result of which is to be the evangelization of the world.~ Dr. Philip Schaff.
7. The Opium Trade in Ohina.-The sum of all villainies is the opium traffic. It entails more and worse evils than drink, slavery and licensed vice put together !-J. Hudson Taylor. .
8. The Gospel in TaMtL-The London Missionary Society sent the first missionaries to Tahiti in 1797. They worked till 1813, sixteen years, and not one convert. Then a change came over the whole land. So rapid was the development that in 1821, eight years later, evangelists-natives-went out to the Hervey group. Eight years more passed, and, with John Williams, native evangelists pressed on to the Samoan group. Another nine years, and the New Hebrides were reached; and, in 1841 to 1843, the Loyalty Islands and New Guinea. What a remarkable proof and fruit of the power of the gospel!- Wardlato Thompson.
'l'he progress of God in the march of missions has been correspond- ingly rapid with the capacity of the church to keep up with the Great Leader.-A. T. P.
9. Buddhism and Other False Faitlts.-Buddhism has, in fact, no God. 2. No family life. Women he abhorred and would not speak to .them, and so Buddha taught his followers.
The goddess Kali is worshiped because believed to have control of .aches and pains. Of the Buddhists of Ceylon 90 per cent. are demon- worshippers. Much is said about the "Light of Asia." But the so- called light of Asia is the light of Oxford and Cambridge. Arnold reads his own conception into Buddhism, and then attributes it to Buddhism. He owes his own conception to Ohristianity. Buddhism is to be judged by its practical results and fruits in life and character. In comparison to the light of the world, the light of Asia is but darkness.-Prebendary Edmonds.
Buddhism accommodates the natural heart of man. It is all things to all men, without bringing to any man salvation. All the heathen faiths yield to the carnal element in humanity; they foster pride, lmt, selfishness, avarice, self-righteousness. There is no hatred of sin, love of holiness, or unselfish benevolence taught. Even benevolence is only another form of selfishness.
10. The Bible a Missionary Book.-If you cut out of the Bible whatever pertains directly or indirectly to missions-all precepts, promises, parables, discourses-all the drift and tendency of prophecy and history, and gospel, and epistle, in the direction of missions-and all dispensational dealing and leading having the same significanceyou will have nothing but the covers left.
11. Mistakes of Preachers.-One of the greatest is that we have too ·often preached on missions only when we wanted a collection. Allolll'
EARLY MISSION WORK AMONG THE INDIANS OF NEW ENGLAND. . 7~
preaching should have a missionary character and tone.-Rev. Geo. Wilson.
The preacher ordinarily determines the level of the missionary interest and intelligence of his congregation. What a mistake, then, 'for him to be uninformed and unenthusiastic in respect to the work of God. He ought to be at the very head, the leader and inspirer of missionary study and consecration.
12. MiscellaneOtls.-Such words as "conversion," etc., are God's edge-tools, and even the devil gets hurt if he fools with them.-Rev. Mr. McNiel.
"To-day, June 18, is Waterloo day. The Oongress of Vienna adjourned on that day to unite with other nations to drive back Napoleon as a common foe to the peace of Europe. Does it not behoove us to adjourn this Oonference to unite our forces against the common enemy of mankind?"-Sir John Kenna1lJay.
One hundred nations lie east of the Soudan, embracing 100,000,000 without a missionary.
In the importation of rum into Africa, the order for liquor was accompanied by an order: "Send llS. handc1I1fs."-Dr. W: M. Taylor.
We must discriminate between Romanism as a religious faith and Romanism as an ecclesiastical system, and between the abettors of this Papal despotism and its victims. Many mistakes have been made in approaching Romanists. Many so-caUed Oatholics are themselves conscious of the tyranny of Papal supremacy.
EARLY MISSION WORK AMONG 'fHE INDIANS OF NEW ENGLAND.
BY JULIA M. BLISS, LONGMEADOW, MASS.
THE "Indian Question" is not a .new subject. This generation is not the first to seek to have it righteously settled, to be baffled by its perplexities, or to be moved to.earnest work in behalf of an unfortunate race. If the matter so greatly in~erests Ohristian philanthropists to-day, much more was it a subject of solicitude to the fathers of New England, who planted their colonies in the midst of the natives. Th~y gained a foothold by the destruction of thousands of Indians by terrible diseases, but still, large and fierce tribes and numerous remnants of tribes surrounded them; their embarrassments and difficulties were manifold, and their endeavors to deal kindly and justly with their savage neighbors were scrupulous and unremitting.
The establishment of missions among the Indians was the carrying out of purposes formed by Pilgrims and Puritans before they caIl}e hither. One of the" reasons" given for the coming of the J?lymou th Oolony was "a great hope and inward zeal" for making Ohrist known "in those remote parts of the world." So with the BlJ.Y Oolony, that was one of the objects mentioned in their charter, and a among the "reasons" for their "undertaking," and on their first seal was an "Indian having label going from his mouth, 'Come over and help us.'" They surely needed help, for they were in a for- lorn and wretched condition, improvident, depraved, living more like animals than men, the "veriest ruins of mankind."
-Some efforts were early made in their behalf; Squanto, Sagamore John and a few others in each colony were, as the English rejoiced to believe, the "first~fruits." But the hardships were so great, especially in Plymouth, that it was some years before regular labors were begun among them.
In 1636 Plymouth passed laws to provide for the preaching of the gospel to the Indians, but in the larger colony, the work under Eliot, though later started, progressed more rapidly. Skillful in languages, compassionate, generous, uniting zeal with tact and discretion, truly apostolic in spirit, Eliot was admirably adapted to be the leader in this work. But he was not left to carry it on single-handed; he had the encouragement and co-operation of the General Court, of his church at Roxbury, and of the best men in and around Boston, especially the . ministers, those in the vicinity supplying his pulpit when he preached to the Indians. The General Court ordered, in 1644, that the county courts should attend to the civilizing and Christianizing the Indians in their shires; in 1646, that two ministers should be chosen annually to preach to them, and that something should be given by the court to those who were willing to be instructed; and in 1647, that quarterly and monthly courts should be held where Indians assembled, all fines to be used to build houses for worship or schools "or other publick use." So Eliot's work was begun with its aid and sanction.
Having made some progress in learning the language, without which he could not have gained even a h~aring, in 1646 he began his direct mission labors at Nomantum, a part of the present town of Newton, . preaching the first time so that the Indians" understood all." U n- wearied by toil, undaunted by hardship and danger~ he pressed the work forward and brought it to such a promising state that, in 1649, through the efforts of Mr. Winslow, a society was formed in England for propagating the gospel among the Indians. Its revenue in a few years amounted to £500 to £600 annually; the Commissioners of the United Colonies, while that body had an existence, were the almoners, and returned yearly an account of expenses to the society. The Gen· eral Court early contributed to it £500, and the towns £1,560.
It seemed to Eliot that no great progress could be made until the Indians could be brought into some civilized way of living. So the "praying Indians," who had "felt the impression of his ministry," and who were desirious of more settled homes, were gathered into towns, built and .go'l'erned by themselves, under English instruction. Natic, the chief of these, and covering six thousand acres, was settled in 1651, and into it were gathered the Indians near Dedham and some from Concord. It was laid out with three principal streets; and upon these, parcels of land were set apart for a dwelling, garden and orchard, . "one to be assigned to each native head of a family." The town contained a bridge 80×9 feet in length and height, with stone abutments, a palisaded fort, and a "common house" for worship, school and other purposes, all made by the In~lians. There was manifested a strong desire for improvement among the natives. They began to dress like the English, to give up their savage customs, to till the ground; the women learned to spin, so there was a great demand for farming implements and spinning-wheels. They began to put away their immoralities, to keep the Sabbath, to catechise their children, and to pray in their families. Schools were establiEhed, and the brightest pupils from them were put under competent masters ~nd instructed in Latin, Greek and English.
In 1654, at Natic, was formed the first Indian church of those who had been most carefully examined and re-examined by the ministers, and who gave good evidence by their" confessions" and lives of being true Ohristians.
That the "Scriptures might not in an unknown tongue be locked" , from the natives, Eliot, in 1649, began his translation, the first from the English into a heathen language. This work of vast labor, because of the strangeness of the language and the "interminable" words, was carried on at intervals, for beside the Indian work he had the care of an important church. In 1661 the New Testament was completed, printed at Cambridge, and a handsomely bound copy was sent to Charles II., to enlist his interest in the good work.. In 1664 the whole Bible was printed at Cambridge, and two hundred copies were at once put into circulation. If no living man can read that translation, who shall say it was made in vain?
Eliot was anxious to have a trained native ministry, and for this purpose provision was made at Cambridge. Not far from 1661, a brick building for about twenty students, and called Indian College, was built there. Two Indians completed the course, one was drowned just before taking his degree, and the other died soon after his graduation. Others died who had been instructed there, so "many friends began to doubt the success of the enterprise," and after a time the building was used for other purposes.
Meanwhile the work had been carried on in Plymouth by the "godly and gracious Richard Bourn," and in 1666 he was able to gather a church at Marshpee. John Eliot and his son, the governor, several magistrates and ministers of Plymouth helped in organizing it; and all the churches of the colony, having read the "confessions" of the Indians, gave their approval. One of the most hopeful' fields was Mltrtha's Vineyard and the adjacent islands. For forty-four years the Mahews-father, flon and grandson-labored for the good of the poor inhabitants. In 1641, the .worshipful Thomas Mahew had a grant for settlement of these islands and was made the Governor of the English. In 1644, his son Thomas Mahew, the pastor of the English on Martha's Vineyard, became greatly interested in the Indians and began to visit and instruct them in their homes. He often lodged with them, enduring cold and wet, thus bringing upon himself many" pains and distempers." At last he so won up0l1- them that they were willing to meet for preaching and instruction, and in' a few years his efforts were so much blessed that "many hundred men and women" in these islands gave evidence of being intelligent Ohristians. He continued his" painful labors" till 1657, when, intending a short trip to England, the ship in which he sailed was lost. His father took up the work wl1ich he had laid down; he visited and encouraged the Indians, and, with the aid of some native Ohristians, induced those of Gayhead to yield to the gospel. Mr. John Ootton of Plymouth preached to them two years, and in 1670, with the advice of the best men on the island, a church was formed at Martha's Vineyard, and Hiacooms, the first COnvert, was made pastor. After this John Mahewassisted his grandfather until the death of the latter, when for seven years the chief work devolved upon him, until he died. in 1688, leaving the Indians with well instructed native teachers, and pretty well established in ways of Ohristian living.
Before Philip's war, when the work was most prosperous, there were about four thousand praying Indians and six churches, two in Massachusetts, one in Plymouth, two in Martha's Vineyard, and one in Ohappequiddick, all adjacent island.
Some obstacles to the work were the various dialects in use,and frequent wars between tribes, especially in Oonnecticut, and the violent opposition of many sachems, who prevented any instruction of their people. It may be noted that generally only the broken remnants of tribes showed any inclination to lead better lives. The Narragansetts rejected all efforts in their behalf; and when Mr. Eliot visited Philip, hoping to induce him to hear his message, Philip, taking a button on ,Mr. Eliot's coat, said "that he cared for his gospel just as much as he cared for that button." If Mr. Eliot could not move him, who could have done it?
At the beginning of Philip's war, the condition of aU the Indians ,had been much improved by the coming of the English. The smaller tribes had been preserved from destruction by English protection; a portion had been greatly benefited by. these special efforts in their behalf, and all, in a measure, by the introduction of seeds, farming implements and domestic animals, and by the great increase in their trade.
FOURTH LETTER FROM A. T. PIERSON, D.D
This dreadful war, which for a time almostthr~atened to destr-OY the colonies, was unfavorable to the mission work. The Ohristian Indians were hated by the others and exposed to danger from them, and many of the English became suspicious of an Indians, which was not strange perhaps under the circumstances. Many of the Ohristian Indians were faithful and aided the English, but some, lured by the wiles of Philip, went over to the enemy. Many from Natic, Stoughton and other places were ta.ken to Deer Island for their safety, and on theiI: return after the war, their towns in the Massachusetts colony were· reduced from fourteen to seven. But the work revived under the labors of Mr. Rawson, Mr. Treat, Mr. Thatcher and others, and about the year 1700, there were altogether, thirty congregations of praying Indians, twenty-four native helpers, and" more than three thousand caning on God in Ohrist and hearing His holy Word."
FOURTH I~ETTEI~ FROM A. T. PIERSON, D.D.
[The following communication, althongh somewhat personal, we are sure will Intensely interest ou~ readers. We may here give expression toa fact-known to us from a hUlldred sonrCe8that our dear friend and editorial associate lIot only took a· very prominent part in the ConferenCe, and in various after-meetings, in London, but his addresses were received with very marked favor, and seemed to enthuse his audiences in an unwonted degree. Scarcely a day has passed since tlie great Council opened that he has not addressed vast assemblages, often more than once a day. And the following letter, and the docnment appended, which we give below, will show what h.e and his greatly beloved co-Iabore,', Dr. A. J. Gordon, of Boston, are dOing, and have been dOing, in Scotland, since the London Conference closed. God seems to be calling these devoted servants of His to do a great work for foreign missions in that grand ·old historic church-in the land of Knox, and Dntf and Chalmers-and giving up their long-cherished plans. of extended travel on tlie Continent, they have Iieeded the Providential call, and have begun a "Crusade for Missions" that may lead to far-reaching, glorious res nits. This work, to which two of the leaders of the Conferenc.e are so urgently called by the united voice of the Scottish Church, is part of the fruit of the recent World's Conference on Missions. Theprsyers of the American Church-honored by having two Qf its well-known and beloved pastors selected to carry the sacred fire from London and kindle a flame In Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, and other parts of Scotland-should go np in behalf of these, ortr representatives, not only that a tidal wave of missionary revival may follow them there, but that they may come back to us In due time, so endued with the spirit of zeal and of the Holy Ghost, as shall fit teem to be the leaders of a mighty" Crusade for Missions" throughout the great American Church, whose scores of delegates did such grand service at the great Conference.-J; M. S.] My DEAR YOKEFELLOW : SCOTLAND, July 28, 1888.
I send you a letter. and you may publish or not, as your judgment may indicate. The meetings in London were so enthusiastic and inspiring that a great desire was expressed to get a few of the delegates to go to a number of other points and in some measure carry the sacred fire. Fl'om time to time public meetings have been held in other places where delegates chance to have been temporarily sojourning, and the interest awakened in London" has been extending elsewhere, both through the pen and the tongue. During a tour on the Oontinent, in which Dr. Gordon and myself were companions in travel, and while we were at Paris visiting with great delight the various McAll Mission salles, we found that arrangements had been. perfected for a series of Ihissionary m~etings in Edinburgh for July 14-17. These dates were chosen in order to reach the University students before their dispersion for vacation. It implied.3o very decided alteration in all our plans, as we desired to go on to Rome while on the Continent; but a!' it seemed to be God's call, we yielded to the earnest and pressing invitation of brethren in Edinburgh, and abandoning, at least for the time, our Continental trip, went to Edinburgh. The series of meetings which had been planned began with lL garden. party on the grounds of Duncan McLaren, Esq., where, on the early evening of Saturday, July 14, about seventy-five of the leading people of Edinburgh were gathered. A few informal addresses were made by delegates who were present, including Mrs. G. Stott, of Wen Chou, China; Mrs. Armstrong, who has been identified both with Burmah and the Telugus in India, and by her husband, and a short address by myself. On Sunday Dr. Gordon, myself and Rev. .Mr. Armstrong were put in the pulpits of the leading churches, and in the evening an immense assemblage was convened in the Synod Hall ill Caiiltle Terrace. The meeting was much prolonged. Addresses were made by Dr. Gordon and myself, as also hy Dr. Simpson and several others, and five medical missionaries were set apart for the foreign work. On Monday evening a meeting was called at the Free Assembly Han, following an afternoon meeting, which was conducted by the ladies alone, and which was a meeting of singular power. At this afternoon meeting Mrs. A. J. Gordon spoke, followed by Mrs. Armstrong and Mrs.'Moses Smith, Miss Child, Mrs. Stott, etc., ttnd it could be easily seen that the tide of missionary interest was rising rapidly. The Scotch are not easily moved, but when they are moved, have corresponding momentum. Notwithstanding the afternoon meeting was continued so late, the evening audience filled the Assembly Hall. I~ord Polwarth presided. Dr. Gordon, as usual, made a most happy and powerful address, and it fell to me to make the closing speech. The sympathy of the audience was manifest and profound. The tide was still rising.. As I concluded, the solemnity and the silence impressed us all that God was there, and that He was using the facts and appeals presented to move the great audience as only He can do it. The brethren gathered around Dr. Gordon and myself, and suggested that we should visit other cities of Scotland and endeavor to arouse deeper and wider interest in missions. The next evening a sort of conversazione was held at the church offices on. Queen's street, on which occasion brethren from all parts of Scotland convened for a stated meeting, and we had the rare opportunity of reaching and touching many springs of church life. There the proposition was first made formally that we should spend some months in a mission tour of Scotland, and consent to fill appointments made for us by a central committee representing all various branches of the church. The proposition was startling and novel. It involved -an 'abandonment of all previous and personal plans. But such a deep spirit of prayer seemed to have been awakened, and so much unity and harmony between all the brethren that we could not abruptly dismiss the matter from our minds. We took it into prayerful consideration, and consented to spend one more Sabbath in Edinburgh. After occupying pulpits again on July 22d, another ahd a very large meeting was called for Sabbath evening in Synod Hall. Sir William Muir was in the chair, and Dr. John Lowe, who is connected with the medical mission, presented to usa very earnest letter on behalf of all the brethren, imploring us to ask a six months'
furlough of our congregations and take a wide tour of Scotland in the interests of missions. .
There were some very remarkable tokens of God's will that appeared to Dr. Gordon and me to mark this very unexpected appeal. The eff~ct of our addresses and those of others upon the popular mind, and particularly the minds of our brethren of the ministry, was such as could be traced to no human source. Some of the oldest ministers present remarked to us that they remembered no meeting so marked by the divine presence and power. Then the wonderful unity and unanimity of the movement. Brethren of all branches of the Ohurch, and from all lucalities, seemed impressed with the same idea that the thing to be done was to ask us to take this missionary campaign in hand,and that the leading of God was perfectly clear in the matter.· At each successive public meeting, and meeting of the ministers and the committee, the unanimity was more manifest, and the convICtIOn· grew in depth and power, that the hand of God was pointing in one direction. After Dr. Lowe had read his letter, the audience rose as one man to signify their cordial assent to the proposal, and it became clear to Dr•.Gordon and myself that we ought at least to go on a short, experimental tour, leaving the further steps to bo made apparent as the necessity for taking them was more apparent. We, therefore, undertook the work for a limited time, leaving to God to indicate whether He had any further work for us to do which was imperative enough to justify the prolonging of our stay in Scotland. Generous provision was made by the committee in Edinburgh for Our traveling expenses and our entertainment while engaged on this service, and the offer was made to send brethren to occupy our home pulpits should that provision render our way more clear.
Upon that mission tour we are now engaged. A meeting was held at Oban on Thursday, and the others are arranged for at Inverness, Nairn, Dundee, Aberdeen, Glasgow, etc. Should no very clear and emphatic leading of God indicate a further duty in the same direction, a few weeks will close our little campaign. But if it is manifest that a wider door opens before us, the way will no doubt be made clear and the obstacles will disappear as we proceed.
This is but one indication of the. far-reaching results of the World's Conference of Missions. The sound of it has already gQne out to the ends of the earth. An appetite for missionary meetings, a relish for missionary literature and information, a spirit of intelligent zeal and consecration, and many other results already hint at a very large har- vest of which these are first-fruits. Delegates have gone in every direc- tion, bearing coals from the same altar and fires, and kindling every- where. The printed reports have been widely scattered, and will be more widely. There will be, wedouot not, a new era of giving and self-giving.
In our addresses we have sought no mere ephemeral impression by an appeal to emotion. We have felt that a true interest in missions must be built upon the basis of an intelligent conviction-that disci- ples need to be informed-confronted with the great facts of missionary history. We have sought, therefore, simply to mass, or rather mar- shal, these facts before the mind-to show how plainly the work is God's work-to indicate providential and gracious signs of His going before and with the missionary band. And everywhere we find a most absorbed and attentive audience. The turn in the tide of missions has evidently come, but it is a turn toward, not the ebb, but the flood.
Both Dr. Gordon and myself regret that our great work at home does not seem to allow of an extended absence and work in this direction.
There is a wide door and an effectual opened before us, and there are not many adversaries who show open opposition. Now is the time for some one to enter this door. A crusade of missions is called for, and where is Peter the Hermit? A reform in missionary methods is called for, and where is the Luther, the Wesley, the Owen for t':J.e crisis? A reconstruction of our habits of giving is needful, and where is the Zin- zendorf to lead the way to a higher level of consecrated beneficence?
Let the whole Church pray for the present epoch and the «oming men for the crisis.
August 4, 1888.
DEAR BROTHER: I sent you a letter a few days ago, referring to the marvelous movement here for a missionary campaign. I now send you the letter of the Committee referred to, read and adopted in Synod Hall at the great meeting. I think this and the letter I sent you ought to be published as soon as possible, not because of personal references, of course, but as a signal token of the outcome of the W orId's Conference in London.
VISIT OF DELEGATES TO SCOTLAND.
CENTRAL COMMITTEE.
Rev. W. Adamson, D.D. Rev. G. D. Cullen, M.A.
" R. G. Balfonr. .. William Grant.
·h James Buchanan. " James Gregory.
" Principal Cairns, D.D. .. T. T. Lambert.
" Professor Calderwood, LL.D. .. W. Landels, D.D.
.. Professor Charteris, D.D. David Lewis, Esq.
•, Lewis Davidson. Robert Lockhart, Esq. .. E. C. Dawson, :M.A. Rev. John Lowe, F.R.C.S.E.
Sir,Thomas Clark, Bart., Lord Provost. R. A. lIaclle, Esq. J. S. :Mack, Esq. Bev. Robert Craig, M.A. J; T. Maclagan, Esq. George Smlth, Esq.; LL.D: Duncan M'Laren, Esq. Rev..Professor T. Smith, D.D. Rev. Norman M'Leod, D.D. Henry Soitan, Esq. Rev. W. Stevenson, M.A. " JohnM'Murtrie. Peter L. Stuart, Esq. W. White Millar, Esq. Rev. C. R. Teape, Ph.D. Andrew Mitchell, Esq. James Thin, Esq. Rev. Mnrray Mitchell, LL.D. Rev. Alexander Whythe, D.D. Sir William Muir, K.C.S.I., LL.D. Rev. Thomas Nicol, B.D. .. George Wilson. Sir Charles Pearson. Thomas J. Wilson, Esq. Rev. W. Robertson, M.A. Robert Wilson, Esq. Rev. John Young. " Archibald Scott, D.D. Colonel Young. " Principal Simon, Ph.D. Professor Simpson, M.D.
Mrs. Cleghorn. Mrs. M'Murtrie. " David Dickson. " Molfat. " Gordon, Sen., of Parkhill. Miss Paton.
'.' Lowe. U Reid. Miss Mackenzie. Mrs. Hugh Rose, Jun. Mrs. Miller. " Sandeman. " Duncan !'PLaren, Jun. " Soltau.
The REV. JOHN LOWE, F.R.C.S.E., 56 George Square, Edinburgh, CQllvener of Central Committee.
The foregoing Edinburgh ministers, laymen, and ladies, representative of all the Evangelical Churches, have formed themselves into a Central Committee to promote the unanimous desire of the great united Missionary meeting held in the U. P. Synod Hall on Sabbath Evening, the 22d of July, and presided over by Sir William Muir, K.C.S.I., LL.D., Priucipal of the University of Edinburgh, expressed in the following letter, which was read on that occasion: ".EDnmOBGH, 22d July, lSSS. "To the REv. A. T. PIERSON, D.D., and the REV. A. J. GORDON, D.D.
" BELOVED BRETHREN: With feelings of devout thankfulness to God we welcome you amongst us. Not a few present at this meeting enjoyed the privilege of forming your acquaintance in London, and of listening to your heart·stirring addresses at the great Missionary Conference recently held there, and they ventured to invite you to visit Edinburgh that their.fellow·Christians here might have the opportunity of participating in the privilege they themselves enjoyed, and in the blessing God so graciously bestowed upon that remarkable Missionary Convention.
"Without consulting your own convenience, and denying yourselves the pleasure of an extended tour on the Continent, which you had contemplated previous to your return to America, 'you responded most kindly to that request; and the • times of refreshing from the presence bf the Lord' which we have enjoyed-the inspiring missionary meetings that have been held-the quickening of missionary zeal which so many of us have experlenced-tbe blessed spirit of unity which prevails, and which so signally marks the movement-and. above all, tlie spirit of grace and suppli· cation which has been poured out-are all, we believe, indications that God has been leading us, that this movement is in His hands, and that, in answer to prayer, as the outcome of the great Centennial Conference, we may encourage ourselves with the thought that the desire of many hearts is about to be realized, that a new era in the history of the missionary enterprise is about to be inaugurated-an era which shall be signalized by a holy alliance for the world's evangelization, by more self-sacrificing consecration to the work, by greatly increased liberality for its support, and, above all, by more fervent, united, expectant prayer for a Pentecostal effusion of God's Holy Spirit the wide world oV,".
"We are longing and praying for such a new departure, for a revival of missionary zeal in the churches thronghout our land; and we gratefully acknowledge that yonr presence amongst us, and the solemn appeals you have made to us in your public addresses, have kindled our miSSionary enthusiasm and revived our drooping faith .
.. This great united missionary meeting, representative not only of the various' churches in our city, but of the friends of Missions thronghout our land, most earnestly and solemnly invite you, beloved brethren, to prolong for a season your visit to Scotland, and we ask that yon, along with other delegates to the great Missionary Conference, would kindly consent to place your senices at tbe disposal of a central committee, about to be formed, representative of all denominations, in order that missionary meetings, such as have been held in Edinburgh, may be arranged for in as many towns throughout the country as possible, the one object in view being the deepening and extension of the missionary spirit among the churches.
.. We are led to understand that you are both pastors of large and fiourishlng congregations in America, and your anxiety regarding YOur work there must be great; bnt we believe that whatever
THE INSTITUTA JUDAICA. [Ocr•• '
the friends to whom the arrangements will be committed can do to lessen your soUciitude, and to provide what may be needful for tbe etllcient carrying on of your respective congregational work In your absence, will gladly ,be done by them• .. Engaged, as yon will be, In snch blessed work for the Master, yon and we may rest assured that the great Head of the Church will not permit your self-denying service to go 1mrewarded, but that while we are enjoying yonr ministrations here, and the fire Is being kindled thronghont onr land, as we pray it may, your beloved people will receive a double portion of the blessing, and you, and we, and they will rejoice together."
At a meeting held on Monday, July 23d,1n 5 St. Andrew's Square, after prayerful consnltatlon, the Central Committee adopted the following resolution, which was communicated to the Rev. Dr. Pie1'!l0n and the Rev. Dr. Gordon: .. Impressed with the conviction that the blessing attending the United Missionary Meetings recently held In Edlnhurgh is a manifest indication that the Lord Is owning the abnndant labors of their beloved brethren, Drs. Pierson and Gordon, in promoting a deep and widespread interest In the cause of the world's evangellzatlon, and believing that the grea.t Head of the Church is calling them to engage In more extended service to the churches throughont our land, the Committee hereby solemnly Invite them to prolong their visit to Scotland, and to accept as many of the pressing requests, which are 1I0wing in for their services, as they possibly can before they return to America• .. The Committee further request Drs. Pierson and Gordon kindly to' Inform them how they can, financially and otherwise, lessen their anxiety regarding their congregational work In America dnr_ Ing their absence."
The following extract from a letter addressed to the Convener of the Central Committee will show the ~plrlt In whIch Drs. Pierson and Gordon have entertained our request, and the plan opou which they have determln~d at the ootset, at least, to carry it out: .. We have left home with great Interests Introsted to our leadel'Ehip, not only in oor own congre- gations, but In the community at large, and the denomination to which we belong, and to prevent any such interests from serious damage, we had both planned to be at home again by the time when our autumn work woold begin. Dr. Gordon had taken passage for August 9th, and I for Septem- ber 1st. To delay return longer wonld necessitate very great inconvenience to us, to our families left without a head, and to aU our church work and Christian work at large. Should It be plain to us that such a course was demanded of us by God, that woold decide the matter at once.
.. We thank God for oor courteous reception in Scotland, and are quite ready to make visits to a few of the centers of Church life and work, to arouse a more intelligent interest, if we may; but so far we see no reason why those visits should not be made at once, and In rapid succession.
.. This may not be the most favorable time in your judgment, but all things being considered, it seems to us the most favorable for the promotion of the Interests In view, without imperiling others, equally sacred to us, elsewhere. Moreover, He who has the times and seasons In IDs hands, has timed our visit, and we tbink He would not send us here when He saw it was not, on the whole, the best. • • • We go step by step, but cannot plan for a long way ahead. We are not free, but are under a sacred bond of obligation as pastors and workers at home. If, as we go forth In God's name, He makes clear that there is a special call to wider work In this land, we shall nl' doubt hear that call, but we cannot anticipate soch an exigency.
.. Our brethren must make all pla.ns for us with reference to Immediate service, and let the future be eared for as It is unfolded In God's Providence.
.. Yours, with many prayers for the coming of the Kingdom, , "(Signed)" ARTHUR T. PIERSON.
"A. J. GORDON."
THE INSTITUTA JUDAIOA.
BY PROFESSOR GEORGE H. SCHODDE, PH.D., COLU~fBUS, O.
AMONG the notable features that stamp the present as the greatest missionary century since the days of the Apostles is also the revival at the German universities of the famous Ins(itutum Judaicum of Halle. At nine of these high schools in the land of Luther, at several in the Scandinavian countries and in Switzerland these associations, of Israel~ loving students have been organized. The total membership is now between three hundred and four hundred; a general organization has been effected, which holds delegate meetings annually, somewhat after the manner of the Inter-Seminary Mission Alliance in America. Two pub~ lication concerns have been organized in the special interest of the, work, one at Leipzig, which has published about two dozen tracts and '
is beginning to issue larger works, and one in Berlin, which has sent out five or six excflllent tracts. At Leipzig a special seminary has been founded for the education of missionaries to work among the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and this city has also been made the center for operations in this field extending throughout the provinc{ls of Austro- Hungary and southeastern Russia. All this has been done within the last six or seven years, and proves beyond a doubt the existence of an ardent love for Israel and an anxiety for Israel's acceptance of the in- heritance which the fathers rejected. , These institutes do not aim primarily at direct work in Israel.
The programme is widely stated as the effort to spread "truthful knowledge of Christianity among the Jews and truthful knowledge of Judaism among the Christians." The hindrances to work amongthese people exist to a marked degree both among the Christians and among the Jews. The deep-seated antipathy toward the latter has exhibited itself in hideous forms in that crusade of hate, the anti-Semitic agita- tion, which has aroused a powerful popular sentiment against them'
throughout central and eastern Europe. So much has this been the case that they have been charged before the courts of justice of having'
murdered Christians to use their blood for ritual purposes, as was seen in the famous, or rather infamous, Tisza-Eszlar case in Hungary, where a young girl, Esther Solymossi, mysteriously disappeared on the 1st of April, 1882, and a witness, Moritz Scharf, swore that he had seen her murdered in a Jewish synagogue. The agitation was fed still more by the charge made by the Roman Catholic Professor Rohling, of Prague, claiming that such sacrificial use of Christian blood was sanc- tioned by the" Shulchan Aruch," the official ritual and ceremonial codex of the Jews.
On the other hand, the Jews have not forgotten the treatment they have received from pseudo-Christian hands during many centuries, and naturally question the virtue of the good news which the gospel of the Christians proposes to bring them. To this fact comes a further one, namely, that since the beginning of the present century the political and social disabilities of the Jews have been removed. For the fil'llt time they can engage in the struggle for existence 'and power on an equal footing with their Christian neighbors. Of this privilege they have taken such advantage that they are crowding into the positions of honor, influence, and power in every department of public life. It is this greed for station and for power, making modern Judaism so ambi- tious beyond all measure, that constitutes an important element in the anti-Semitic movement, and to some extent, at least, justifies the agitation, which is anything but 'a mere revival of- the blunt hatred of the Middle Ages. But upon the Jews the opportunities of the present' day have awakened a greed for power that banishes almost all love f@r spiritual thoughts and spiritual possessions. Psychologically, it can be readily understood how the very advantages which the 1iberal spirit of the times has bestowed upon this remarkable people has, through misuse and perversion, become a hindrance to their acceptance of the greatest gift which modern civilization can offer, namely, Christianity.
It is the recognition of these facts which make the peculiar work and programme of the institute of the German universities intelligible and correct. A German is nothing if not thorough, and the friends of the best interests of Israel are preparing the soil before they try to sow seed. Their work is directed both to themselves and to the Israelites. At their meetings they study the principal works of post-B'iblicalliterature, i. e., those that will throw the best light upon the character of the Judaism of our day, and thus give a clear view of the problem to be solved. ,The head and leader of the whole movement is Professor Franz Delitzsch, the Leipzig veteran of more than seventy-five years, whose love for the despised race has never faltered, and who in the interest of the work has for twenty-five years been publishing the quarterly entitled Saat auf HQffnung (Seed Sown in Hope). His zeal has enlisted the cooperation of such men as Kohler, in Erlanger; the late Schlottmann, in Halle; Caspari, in Ohristiania ; Strack, in Berlin; Zoekler ; Cremer, and Bredenkamp, in Greifswald. 'rhese men were or are at the head of these institutes in the'various universities, deliver lectures on' subjects of interest, teach po.%"Biblical Hebrew, and, in general,labor to advance the interests of the good cause. The publications of the 'book concerns in Leipzig and Berlin differ considerably from ordinary missionary literature. 'rhey are unique in kind, aiming primarily at instruction, and not merely at exhortation. The experience of men work- ing in this field with a view of gaining a clear con0eption of the prob- lem and the best methods, official docnments referring to the strange Jewish-Ohristian movement in southeastern Russia under Rabino- witz, the Messiah as depicted in the Old Testament and as fulfilled in the New, the meaning of Paul's statement that all Israel shall be saved, the question of the permissibility of killing unbelievers according to J~wish law-these and problems like these are discussed for the in- struction of both Jew and Ohristian, so that, through an elucidation of status controversim between them, the way for evangelistic work can be prepared. That such work is already being done is seen from the establishment of the seminary in Leipzig, at whose head stands the venerable Delitzsch himself, from the appointment of the energetic William Faber as the head of a band of workers.among the Jews, from the fact that, largely through the agency of these associations, no less than 80,000 copies of the classical Hebrew translation of the New Tes- tament has been distributed among the Jewish popUlation of eastern Europe, wher@ it is proving to be a missionary agency of phenomenal success. There are at the present day ministers of the gospel in America, preaching the blessed Word, who were convert.ed from Judaism in Russia through the influence of Delitzsch's translation.
In addition to the smaller books mentioned, the Leipzig Institute has published, also, the large work of the late Pastor Ferdinand Weber, entitled "Die Lebren des Talmuds," the only complete and satisfactory discussion of the teachings of the Jewish religion as developed in the Christian era. The Berlin Society has published two tractates of the" Mishna,"· with complete notes, by Strack, as also a learned discussion of the Jewish interpretations of that gospel chapter of the Old Testament, Isaiah liii. A quarterly, called Nathaniel, is also issued by them, edited by Strack.
The organization and flourishing condition of these Institutes are all the more encouraging evidences of genuine evangelical zeal, when we remember from what intellectual and not spiritual aspect Germans are apt to look upon the study of theology. Self-consecration and personal dedication to the Lord and His work are not considered essential to the same degree to this study in Germany as the case is in America. Accordingly, we find fewer practical evidences of positive Christian faith in German than in ~<merican theological students. Missionary associations have, indeed, existed all along in connection with nearly all the universities, but their membership and activity has never been great. None have ever displayed the zeal exhibited by the Instituta Judaica.
But then the Instituturn has a noble ancestry and pedigree. It is a . revival of a movement that began early last century at Halle. It grew out of the ferment of Christian zeal thrown into the somewhat formalistic church life produced by the rigid confessionalism of the preceding century. 'fhis ferment was the Pietistic movement, nnder the leadership of Spener and Franke. A pupil of the latter was Johann Heinrich Callenberg, who was won for the cause through the influence of his pastor and spiritual adviser. CaUenberg organized, in 1725, an Instituturn Judaicurn et Mohammedicum, with the special aim of publishing works that would~bring the gospel of Christ to the Jews and the Mohammedans. A printing concern was established, Hebrew and Arabic type secured, tracts published in German, in Hebrew, and in the Jewish jargon, and thousands of' these were eagerly read by the Jews of the day. Another object was to take care of those Jews who had been won for the gospel, and who were, for that reason, persecuted by their former co-religionists. A third object was to educate men to evangelize the Jews. All this work continued to be carried on with good success until Callenberg's death. He found no successor, and soon after that the period of rationalism began in Germany.; which blighted even fairer fruits of Christian activity than was the Institute. Now, after the sleep of a century, it has, phoonix-like, arisen again~
MISSIONARY HISTORY
with more vigor and vitality than it ever possessed. May it ever flourish and prosper!
MISSIONARY HISTORY.
BY A. J. GORDON, D.D., BOSTON, MASS.
[Address at Synod Hall, Edinbnrgh, Scotland, July 15.] GOD does not ask us to give men~' but to pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into His harvest. We cannot give men; they, having a will, must give themselves. But God does ask us to give money. He calls and qualifies the workmen; but as a gold sovereign or a silver dollar has no will of its own and can make no choice, we who have the money and have the will must give it. Man must not rob God; neither will God rob man, i. e., He will not take our money as by force, but only by our free consent. Robbery lies very near to charity. If I take another man's money, without his consent, even for a benevolent purpose, it becomes robbery; if with his consent, and by argument and persuasion, it becomes charity. It is stated by one who is a student of statistics, that not less than $8,000,000,000 are hoarded up and lying idle ill the hands of professed disciples in America, in money, stocks, lands, jewels, silver-plate, works of art, etc.
We hear of a "crisis of missions." But there is a crisis within a crISIS. We need a great revival of the giving spirit. A child was recently gilded over to represent a cherub, and died in three hours. Exhalation through the pores is as necessary to life as inhalation through the lungs. And the church would die were all channels of giving stopped.
This review of missionary history has demonstrated the certainty and celerity of God's blessing upon work doue for Him. Morrison in Ohina, Judson in Burmah, Oarey in India, Moffat in Africa, each waited seven years before the first sign of converting grace and gospel triumph greeted their eyes. Now God seems to be in haste to work wonders. When Darwin first went to Terra-deI-Fuego he found a type of humanity so degraded that he found it hard to say whether they belonged above or below the line that separates man and beast. But Allen Gardirier made three attempts to reach these half-animal tribes. He died without seeiug fruits; aud his body was found by a rock on which, in chalk, was written his dying testimony: "Wait, 0 my soul, upon God, for my expectation is from him."
Gardiner died, but his work went on ; and when again Darwin visited that southern cape, he found results of missions so amazing that he wrote a letter asking to become an annual subscriber to missions!
From Hernhutt, two men, David Nitschmann and Dober, went forth, marching 600 miles to reach the seaboard, then finding their way as best they could to the West Indies,· becoming as slaves to reach the slave population of St. Thomas. One hundred years after, it was estimated that 13,500 converts were gathered as the frnit of the work of thoSe two heroic sonls !
Livingstone was not the first that died on his knees praying for Africa. George Schmidt died also on his knees in prayer for the Da,rk Continent, and when the way opened to resume the mission, his successors began to preach, without design on their own part, under the very tree he planted.
God makes what seems to be a disaster to glorify Him. When Judson and his wife changed their conviction on their way to heathen lands and became Baptists, it seemed only a calamity to divide the small missionary force of the American Board. But tha~ event stimulated the Baptists of America to form a :Baptist Board of Missions, and round that society have since rallied 3,000,000 church members. At the Jubilee meeting of the American Board, Dr. Anderson, the venerable Secretary, referring to this early and apparently disastrous division in the missionary force, reached out his hand across the platform to the Secretary of the Baptist Board and said: "But now, my brother, it is all plain; we see why God decreed that division."
Men little know what use God will make of them. Claudius Buchanan wrote "The Star in the East," and that made Adoniram Judson the heroic missionary that he was, and the rallying center of a great denomination.
"Man's extremity is God's opportunity." :May we not reverently reverse the proverb, "God's extremity is man's opportunity"? Is not this an extremity in the kingdom of God? Does not God now need as never before a consecrated and energetic church to carryon the work and make it a short work in the earth? It seems to me as though in these last days God were in haste to accomplish prophecy and fulfil His promises to His Son. This Conference at London was a kind of Centennial Exhibition of Foreign Missions.
Let us inventory the goods: 1. We ltat'e a church united in spirit, divided in form. Where the church has had most rigid and frigid outward conformity, there has been the least missionary spirit. On the contrary, where nonconformists have multiplied missionary zeal has increased. It seems as though God were using the very divisions of the church to promote missionary activity. Would there be thirty-three societies in China and thirtyfive in Africa if there were not denominational divisions in the church? But, thanks be to God, every fragment of the shattered mirror of the church represents and reflects a full-orbed sun. Doubtless, not until He comes again will the church be perfectly one. "I beseech you, by the poming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together nnto Him." . 2. We have one Bible translated into about three hundred languages and diale~ts. A polyform Christianity and a polyglot Bible. What
~ TBE BASEL'
must have been the ecstasy of Moffat when he reached the last verse of the last chapter of his translation into the Bechuana tongue!
All great reformations have begun at some text. Luther started with this: "The just shall live by faith." The English Reformation began with, " This is a faithful saying, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," etc. Augustine's new life began with, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ."
3. We have a revived Ohristian conscience. Formerly even Christian nations were guilty of complicity with slavery and drink. Now the popular mind, which has been long roused to the guilt of slavery, is arousing to the crime of selling drink. It is remarkable that wherever the gospel goes, there Satan goes with rum to offset and upset gospel triumpbs. If the governments have no conscience, then this convention ought to become an external conscience to protest against, ana compel a reform in, these monstrous evils. A suspension bridge cannot easily be broken down by mere weight; but a battalion of soldiers marching across it, keeping time to music, might cause it to sway and break. Let us march to the music of one tune, and by our united motion set swaying this bridge of diabolical traffic in the bodies and souls of men. Let us have two things: godly aspiration and holy emulation in this great work.
'THE BASEL MISSION.
BY REV. HENRY W. HULBERT, A.M., BEIRUT, SYRIA.
[The writer of this interesting and highly valuable article was instructor till recently In the Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Beirut, under Dr. Dennis. This, we are confident, is the first thorough account of the Basel Mission that has appeared in English. Mr. Hulbert recently spent two weeks In the Mission House itself, at the invitation of its Superintendent, and the editor of the Basel Missionary Magazine looked over these notes and made suggestions. Be seemed anxious that the matter shonId appear before the American public in an exact form. So that this article is the result of personal inspection on the grouild aud conference with the highest officials, and hence Its statements may be relied upon as scrupulously accurate, and a~ presenting the latest facts and statistics of the Mission. The writer will follow It with a briefer paper on the actuallife in the Mission HOIlSe and the various peculiar enterprises of the mission.-EDs.l ONE of the most interesting missionary institutions in Europe' is found in the old medimval city of Basel, in Switzerland. This romantic old town is situated on the great bend of the Rhin.e as it turns toward the north and bids adieu to its Alpine birthplace. Its venerable University and cathedral church, associated with memories of great scholars and churchly councils, have given it a marked plaee in the intellectual and religious life of Europe. It is centrally located, and within a few miles from its ancient gates are found the territories of France and Germany.
A stranger landing at the Baden station makes his way through the amaner section of the town, on the right bank of the Rhine, crosses the ancient bridge under which rush the green waters of the river, threads his way past the market-place, turning ever toward the right, up the streets ascending the "berg," and comes at length upon the "Spalenthor," one of the three remaining gates of the Roman wall, and which is perhaps the chief relic of the olden city. Passing through the arch and proceeding a few moments to the north, along" Missionstrasse," he stands at length before the spacious and imposing group of buildings where the Basel Mission has its home.
The principal structure is a little retired from the street and is surrounded by umbrageous trees and and a beautiful garden. If consists of a main section running away from the street, having at either end large wings, all four stories high. It contains the main offices of the society, the museum, library, dormitories and refectories for students, and apartments for teachers," matrons and servants, This fine structure was the gift of Christof Merian, a wealthy citizen of Basel, and was presented to the society when the mission moved from the eastern part of the city. A few rods further along on Missionstrasse is a home for the daughters of missionaries. In front of it is a dwelling for one of the managers. Behind the main building before referred to, and facing another street, is the home for the sons of missionaries, I1nd across the street from this is the establishment where are located the commercial and industrial affairs of the society. Here, embowered in trees that are continually melodious with the song of birds, within hearing distance of the neighboring clock in Spalenthor, chiming at every quarter hour, with the hum of the busy city just near enough to recall the ract of a. toiling and needy world, the "brethren" of the Basel Mission House prepare themselves for a life of self-sacrifice and of earnest endeavor to carry the truth concerning the Master to the ends of theearth, The Basel Mission has, in its origin and management, unique features, which will, perhaps, make interesting a brief sketch of its career. In the latter part of the last century the original and central points of the newly awakened mission life in Germany and Switzerland were chiefly Berlin and Basel. As early as August 30, 1730, the German Christian Society (Der Deutchen Ohristentku1lZ8 Gesselsckaft) was founded at Basel, under the influence of Dr. Urlsperger, who had been in England. Thissocietyundertook, as a kind of a union, to collect and impart information far and near concerning the kingdom of God. It corresponded to the London. Misionary Society. In fact, there was a mutual correspondence hetween the two organizations. In 1801 Friedrich Steinkopf, who since 1798 had been secretary of the Basel Society, went to London as preacher to the German Savoy Church, and in 1802 became"a director of the London Missionary Society: In 1804 he took part in founding the British and Foreign Bible Society. He became the connecting link between England and Basel, and his influence was one of the principal causes which led to the founding of the Basel Mission.
In Berlin Joh. Janicke, pastor of the Bohemian Bethlehem congregation. (not Morl1vian) became acquainted with English missionary activitythrough his bro~her; Joseph'Daniel, and his friend, Herr Vcm ~hirnding, and was induced to found a mission school. That brother, in 1788, was, sent as a misssionary to India (where he died, May 10, , 1~00,) by the Society f~r the Propogation of Christian knowledge. He had been recommended to that society by Ludwig Schulze, who was then director of the celebrated Francke establishment, in Halle.
Inspired 'by th~ formation of the London Missionary Society, Herr Von Schirnding declared h~s readiness to pay 1,200 thalers ($900) for every youth who would offer himself to be educated for mission ser- vice. In 1788 he was intrusted by the London Missionary Society with the task.of uniting in one center the several missionary efforts of devout Christians in Basel, Elberfeld, and East Friesland. He was even made director of the society in Germany. It was he who encouraged Joh.
Janicke to open his mission school in Berlin, and he also supplied the first ,money.
This school was opened February 1, 1800, as the first real mission school of the evangelical church. The school at Gosport, England, was founded in 1801; that at Berkel, near Rotterdam, in 1810, and that at Basel in 1815. The BeJ,"lin school flourished until the death ot J oh.
Janicke in 1827, when it BOon went to pieces under unskillful manage- ment. It ha,s, sent out eighty missionaries, who entered the service of the English ' and, Dutch societies. Among them may be named Rhenius, Nylander, Albrecht, Schmelen, Riedel anll; Gutzlaff. The place of this school was then taken by the Berlin Missionary Society, founded in 1824, which in 1829 opened a missionary seminary of its own. I ,It has seemed important to give these items concerning the work in B:erlin, for Joh,Janicke Was directly connected with the organization of the Basel Missionary Society. O. F. Spittler, who had come to Basel as successor of Friedrich Steinkopf (Lay Secretary), had repeat- edly thought of entering the mission seminary at Berlin; and at the suggestion of the Committee of the German Christian Society, pro- posed to Janicke that, in view of the evil times in North Germany and the straightened condition of the school, it would be desirable to remove his institution from Berlin to Basel. Janicke, although he had repeatedly received money aud pupils from Basel, thankfully declined the I?ffer. In view of the considerable distance from Berlin, and the constant hindrances of war, and from the fact that in Basel itself mis- sionary zeal was increasing, and larger contributions were forthcoming, Spittler began to see clearly that Basel should begin a work of its own.
In May, 1815, Basel was about to be bombarded from Huningen, . alld the ,greatest excitement prevailed. The Rev. Nicolaus Von Brunn (who had come to Basel in 1810) held his usual monthly missionary meeting.; At its close a young man presented himself for missionary servioe. Von Brunn suggested to Spittler that in BOme way such young
THB BASEL
men should be educated at Basel itself, and then be recommended to the English societies. From that moment those two men conspired to carry ont that project. The Central Committee of the German Christian Society in Basel was invited to take np this work as a part of their activity, The committee thought such an establishment ought, as was the case in Berlin, to be carried on as a private school. After some delay Spittler received permission from the Basel government to open such a missionary institution. Thereupon he urgently requested his friend Blumhardt, who from 1803-1807 had been in Basel as theological secretary of the German Christian Society, to organize such a new establishment. But he did not see his way to take charge of such a private enterprise.
In September Steinkopf arrived in Basel and induced Spittler to form a special committee for the purpose of carrying out his project. The Rev. Von. Brunn (President), the Rev. Mr. Wenk (Secretary), the merchant, Mr. Marian-Kuder ('rreasurer), Prof. Lachenal and the Rev. Mr. La Roche were won ov~r to the plan. On September 25, 1815, they held, with Spittler, their first meeting as a mission" collegium" in the parsonage of St. Martin's Church. Blumhardt-was no~ called to take charge of the work. As a married Ulan he requested a salary of 1,000 florins. This the timid committee did not feel able to guarantee, and weJ,lt about to appoint an unmarried man who was a candidate for hoJy orders. At this juncture, at a session of the committee hflld October 3, Steinkopf came to the rescue by promising contributions from England ; and he pointed out that the city of Basel,' out of gratitude for its preservation during the recent war, should contribute toward the spread of the kingdom of God throughout the whole world. At any rate, he urged, economical considerations should not deter them from engaging the services of so efficient a man as Blu~ hardt. Thus Christian Gottlieb Blumhardt came to Basel as the "Inspector" or manager of the Basel Mission Society in the spring of 1816, and on August 26 of the same year opened a mission school with seven pupils.
The important thing to notice is that the Basel Mission was the product of the heads and hearts of a few earnest men, the whole tenor of whose lives was in utter contrast with the rationalistic and chilling atmosphere of the contemporary church in Germany and Switzerland. The society which was founded was not the outcome of a church movement. From this beginning it has been under the control of no organization outside of its committee of private Christian gentlemen, -which is self-perpetuating, and which has a large sprinkling of laymen. The society from the first has drawn its funds (voluntary subscriptions) from Switzerland and Southern Germany. Wiirtemberg has especially led the van as regards gifts of money, and supply of teachers and students. The' Basel Mission belongs in reality to the old Alemanic German race, and is returning through this organization the missionary favors which it received from Fridolin, Columban, St. Gall and other early Celtic apostles in medimval days. It is one of the outcomes of the Pietist movement in Germany, and to-day is upheld by that large number of devout Christians in Central Europe, who are in the world, yet not of the world; in the State church, and yet not of the State church, but whose quiet lives of Christian endeavor form the great undertone of the vital church life of modern Germany and Switzerland.
The Basel Mission School, under the efficient management of Blumhardt, slowly began to gather headway. For the first few years its students, when ready for active service, were ceded to foreign societies, especially to the Rotterdam and the Church Missionary Societies. But as early as 1821 it began to send out missionaries under its own direction. In that year Zeremba and Dittrich were ordained as the first Basel m~s sionaries for southern Russia. Thus the first independent German missionary society arose in Basel. From that time on the history of the society may conveniently be divided into four periods, corresponding to the work of the four successive inspectors. The first extended from 1816 to the death of Blumhardt, December 19, 1838; the second embraces the era of Hoffman, from' 1839 to 1850 ; the third that of J osenhaus, from 1850 to 1879 ; the fourth that of Otto SchoU, from 1879 to 1884. At that date the present efficient leader, the Rev. Th. Oehler, son of Prof. Oehler, famous for his Old Testament studies, took up the important task.
During the first period we note the careful hand of a diplomat. Blumhardt was a very cautious man, which characteristie brought him the reputation of being versed in the art of masterful inactivity. He was slowly forming ties at home and abroad. With the instinct of a statesman, he steered his craft through all sorts of difficulties, and quietly made all sorts of men and circumstances serve the cause of missions. In a truly evangelical spirit, and with the tact of a born teacher, he framed the first house regulations and made out the routine of study for the school: From 1816 he edited the Evangelical Missionary Magazine, and in 1828 started the Heidenbote. He wrote a history of missions in several volumes, and withal managed the finances of the society so frugally that at his death the mission-house was supported by the income of the magazine and the He-idenbote, and an available fund was raised to the amount of 100,000 florins, with a reserve fund of 20,000 florins. He was not an experimentalist, and never yielded to any call that did not seem directly from the Lord.
The following missions were started during the era of Blumhardt : (a) One in South Russia (1821). which on the 23d of August, 1835, with all other evangelical work in Russia, was suspended by an imperial ukase, an,d finally dissolved in 1839. Before the work was stopped, however, the Bible had been translated into Turkish-Tartaric and the modern Armenian languages; Armenia and the regions toward Bagdad and Tabreez had been visited, and an evangelical congregation had been established among the' Armenians at Schamachi.
(b) Eight men were sent to Liberia in 1827 and 1828, but four soon died, .and the remaining four settled in other regions.
(c) In 1828 the mission on the Gold coast was founded, but during the first twelve years as many missionaries died without having seen the fruit of their labors.
(d) In 1834 Hebich, Greiner and Lehner were sent to the west coast of India. They were welcomed with a Christian kindliness by Mr. F. Anderson, an English magistra,te in Mangalore. Mogling, Weigie and Gundert followed them. They began their work at once among peoples of three different languages. There was, however, a want of sufficient organization, and disintegration was threatening.
Under the second "inspector," William Hoffman (1839-1850), the command was, Forward! He piloted the missionary ship out upon the high seas. Under Blumhardt the practicability of establishing missions, and the Ohristian obligation to do what could be done for the heathen had been demonstrated. Hoffman sought to emphasize the fact that that obligation rested upon the whole Ohristian Ohurch. He placed the whole plan of his work more clearly before the public, Public and private assemblies were more and more convened in the churches. New auxiliary societies were founded, new men and new sections of the country were won over to the cause. He brought the work of the society into higher estimation by providing more efficient instruction in the mission seminary. He founded a preparatory school for the young meu, and the course of study was extended from four to six years. In ten years the income had almost doubled. The number of stations had increased fivefold. New life was thrown into the mission on the Gold Ooast by settling twenty-four colored Ohristians at Akropong from the West Indies in 1844. 'l'his step placed the work in Africa on an assured basis, chiefly by making it impossible for the society to withdraw. In India several new enterprises were undertaken. In 1846 mission work in Ohina was begun, at the suggestion of GiitzJaff, by Lechler and Hamberg. In 1846-50 attempts were made to establish the work in East Bengal and Assam, bnt later the field was relinquished to other societies. In 1847 Inspector Hoffman attained the maximum of missionary efficiency. Later he was incapacitated by illness; there was a pause, and in 1850 he resigned his position.
As Hoffman had conducted the fleet out into the wide sea, so Josenhaus, the third inspector, 1850-1879, guided its course more compactly. Blumhardt was the diplomat, Hoffman the conqueror, and Josenhaus proved to be. the lawmaker and the organizer. He commenced his work with a visit to India in 1851. He carefully regulated the various relations of the missionaries, stations and districts, both among themselves and toward the home committee. A liturgy and a discipline for the congregations were introduced. Schools were gradually organized. The tilling of land, shops and places of industry for the relief and
BASEL
occupation of natives who were willing to work, were set under way. The land previously owned by the society was more thoroughly cultivated. At home, the· affairs of the society were conceutrated and the mission made more independent, if possible, of the churches and the auxiliary societies. The houses for the education of the children of missionaries were erected in 1853. An invalid and widow's fund was established. Mite societies were organized; agents were assigned to various fields to solicit mOI).ey. The new mission house was erected chiefly through the munificence of Mr. Marian in 1860, and the churches in the various mission fields were called upon to contribute more liberally to the support of the society. This was an era of large expenses, and yearly deficits were heroically made up. The mission field was not extended, but eff.orts were concllntrated in every department, and the efficiency of the work of the society largely augmented.
The brief term of office of the fourth inspector, Ot.to Schott, (1879- 1884) did not allo~ of any particularly marked developments. But in some respects he added considerably to the efficiency of the society. In the home department he succeeded in avoiding the deficits of his predecessor's era. He won over to the missionary cause a number of outsiders. He went to India on a tour of inspection and ther~ emphasized the work among the heathen, rather than that among the native Ohristians. Female and medical mil.!sionaries were sent out for the first time. Finally he withdrew fro~ the inspectorship, largely because 4e was conscientiously opposed to what he considered to be the secular influence of the mercantile establishments connected with the mission.
In 1882 one of the secretaries, the Rev. H. Praetorius was made subq.irector and wassent out on a visitation tour to the Gold Ooast, accompanied by Dr. Maehly, who was charged with a medical visitation of all the stations and to report on the sanitary condition of the Gold Ooast. This tour proved a very costly one to the Basel mission, for Mr. Praet9dus was stricken down by the climate and died. He was their most promising man, and everyone had expected a new magnetic life would be given to the society when, in due course of time, the directorship should be placed upon his shoulders. Since 1884 Rev. Th. Oehler, a comparatively young, but a thoroughly equipped man, has held the _directorship of the Basel mission, January 1, 1887, a new field was taken over by this society from the London Baptist Missionary Society at Oameroons and Victoria when that colony was annexed to the German Empire.
To-day the Basel Society has four fields of labor, East India, China, Gold Coast, and Cameroons and Victoria in West Africa; 44 stations, 89 ordained,., male European laborers, 31 day European law workers, 85 female European laborers, 577 native workers; 1tl,988 adherents; 9,497 communi.cants, ,207 schools and 7,486 sceolal's, The annual income of this society is £86,000, of· which the native converts contribute £778.
CIVILIZATION AND
CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION AND LANGUAGE.
BY CRAS. S. ROBINSON, D.D., NEW YORK.
IT is very curious, and very comforting, too, to observe that, although the realm of the ancient Pharaohs receives some of the severest threatenings to be found in all the Bible, very many of themn-re immediately followed with glowing promises. And m~st of these are couched in language suggested by the customs and natural phenomena there. Now, it must be noted, that everyone of these predictions is hopeful. Suffer me to relate just how we reached the interpretation of one verse.
The road to the Pyramids, after an abrupt but not unwelcome departure from the precincts of old Cairo, dusty and odorous, lies for a large part of the way through a pleasant series of cultivated gardens, briUiant with tulips, and then continues along the borders of. luxuriant fields until we reach the confines of t.he desert itself. But the verdnre gradually degenerates into mere stubble when the sand begins a desperate struggle for the .dominance. The track is slightly elevated, beaten down into a compact mass like mat.ted gravel, the ditches 'on either side of it being filled with aquatic reeds, bulrushes, indeed, resembling those from which Jochebed plaited the ark when she deCided to cast the nnprotected Moses out upon the charities of the world. These long withes of water vegetation are so thin and slender, tOwering tall and rank from the pools, that even a child could easily 8cratch across the outer skin of anyone of them and cut it through with his nail.
Yet they looked so strong that my c!d instinct returned, and for a moment I imagined they would make capital riding-whips with whioh mv donkey could be encouraged. So the dragoman plucked thre,e or four for the generous energy of our party lagging behind. But instead of gaining a whip, we got one of the finest illustrations of Scripture we met in the East. For, on handling the lithe little stalks, which seemed as tough as willows, we discovered they had positively no strength of fiber or substance within: they were hollow, and the moment the thin cuticle of silvery coating was in the least abraided, it appeared that an inexplicable demoralization was the result. All the stability and an the power of self-support was singularly gone from the whole plant. I could scarcely hold mine upright, for it would not bear its own weight on its stem. The slightest wind playing upon it in my hand bent it over in a dozen places, and drove the frail head drooping down into the swamp. Somebody said it was" bruised," and then each of us in turn alertly repeated the familiar text. Accurate and beautiful beyond conception seemed to us then the inspired symbol of divine gentleness employed by the prophet, "and the bruised reed he will not break."
Catching onr figure, therefore, from the land we are studying in prophecy, we feel ready to say that what the Lord offers everywhere is grace, mercy, and peace to Egypt. In the words of Isaiah, following a. series of heavy denunciations, will be given blessings: "In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of hosts; one shan be called, The city of destruction. "
Just now:t more cl1eedul turn of affairs is indicated in a range of glowing promises of resuscitation under providence which was before long to grow gracious. Some cities of Egypt were to begin to feel the impulse of a vast civilization; the inhabitants would learn to speak a new language, even the language of Canaan. Five of them in partic- ular should be converted unto the true God, and swear allegiance and loyalty of religious service; among which is given one that seems to have a fame of supreme wickedness in its name, the" City of Destruc- tion," the old name which John Bunyan chose as the designation of his allegorical town, from which the alarmed pilgrim fled with his fin- gers in his ears.
.Of course, the primary meaning of this declaration is that civiliza- tion from Canaan shall press across the borders of Egypt; the dull Orient shall feel the sprightliness and impulse of the Occident. From the North shall come cool bracing winds of enterprise which will awake the enervate South into activity. But this cannot be all that the inspiriting prediction means; the expression is not unusual in prophecy. Zephaniah says the same thing under a similar figure: "For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all can upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent."
Much learning has been exhausted in a vain attempt to fix localities and identify histories, so as to settle exactly what five cities are intended in this announcement. Heliopolis, Memphis, No-ammon, Alexandria, and Tahpanhes have been mentioned. But in despair of becoming clear, some commentators have apparently been ready to grow mystical, and"assert that five was only a round number derived from an Oriental custom of counting on one's fingers. The" City of Destruction," rendered immortal in literature at least by the allegory of "Pilgrim's Progress," is without doubt Heliopolis; but whether the name signifies that Heliopolis from which came most of the famous obelisks scattered over the world, was so very wicked as to be called Destruction itself, or the rather was so strong with its vast university and real learning as to destroy those other towns in their ignorance and vice, can never be decided-and really the question is not worth the discussion.
But this other question concerning the new tongue to be introduced into Egypt is very curious and interesting. Is the English language the" language of Canaan"? Some facts are of great importance concerning the growth in the use of a common method of speech throughout that vast region of the Orient. Letters can be sent, and telegrams can now be dispatched, with more chance of safety over all the Mohammedan precincts if they are written in the language of America and Great Britain. The foreign conversation in Cairo and Constantinople, when heard on the street or in the hotels, is not now in French, but in English.
But it is more likeiy that the prophecy means that there will be an influx of ideas and intelligence, and notions, and customs, and views, into Eg-ypt from Canaan and Palestine. This, indeed, has had many remarkable fulfilments. There were vast numbers of Jews that went over bodily into the Delta when Alexandria was founded. More lately than this in the history came Onias with his followers, who erected a temple at Heliopolis, ruins of which have just now been found at Tell el Yehudiyeh, near Kanatir, on the Nile. Then there were immigrations of Christians into Egypt only a little while after the crucifixion of our Lord and the dispersion of the disciples. Mark the Evangelist came over to establish a flourishing church in Alexandria, and died there as a martyr to the faith. 'l'hus this land has always been receiving since help and strength, religion and literature, from Palestine; and if it be the language of Canaan that is meant, the symbol becomes exquisite; for in these later years the mother-tongue of Christians is the language of a whole world of inte1ligence and spirituality. Only with the Christian faith arrives the civilization which can regenerate a great people.
It will be well now, if we desire to become acquainted with some of the peculiarities of the Orient produced by the direct attack of an Occidental civilization upon its old traditions and customs, to seek a line of illustrations the most conspicuous and commonplace, such as an ordinary tourist may meet. We must begin with a rapid and picturesque view of the land under this more favorable aspect. With all its desolation Egypt has this hope, although it is nowhere recognized in Egypt itself; namely, that the whole country will ere long be civilized from the European and Asiatic centers of life and light, and ultima.tely, in God's own good time, will be converted to Christianity and to God.
Modern conveniences of travel are the very consummation and even the incarnation of incongruity in the lands of the Bible. The whistle of a locomotive, while one is pensively looking at· the uncouth hieroglyphics on the shaft of Cleopatra's Needle, is simply an astonishment. It does not hurry you into the cars; it suggests nothing beyond a piteous bewilderment. You cannot get your mind back into its former grooves. Two worlds and two ages are trying to occupy the same intellectual space. And there are mOre than seven thousand miles, and more than four thousand years, between them. When one looks across the low Plain of Esdraelon, in order to trace the trILck over which Elijah must have run before Ahab's chariot from Mount Carmel to Jezreel, and finds his vision tangled and obstructed by the wires and poles of aU electric telegraph, he cannot clear his mind for ordinary consistent thought.
Especially in Egypt this thing looks like a caricature. Scenery there is not constructed for the play of a proper civilization as most of us have become accustomed to it. Hardly anywhere.is there a. slope violent enough to give water the force to turn a wheel. 'The ineffable quiet of the indolent palms is sadly disturbed by a screech of the engine from the railway train, dashing its relentless way into the midst of tlie tranquil plumes. It seems more than a. shame to fill our steamboat boilers from the steady Nile. You are provoked at a sarcastic or ribald suggestion to print way-bills on papyrus. It is as much as our veneration for Oriental scholarship can bear to find our railway passes worded in that beautiful Arabic type. We wonder whether the reason why the departing train is behind time in starting-as, of course, it is-must be found in the fact, which we impatientiyobserve, that the conductor over yonder is on the ground at the side of the road, saying his prayers. Thus the entire scene appears unreal. Civilization, Occidental and vigorous, is confronting barbarism, Oriental and effeminate. One finds himself constantly trying to smooth out the ruffle, to calm the conflict, to reconcile the incongruity, or to adjust the contradiction. When we are fairly seated in a car, labeled with the name of an English maker in Birmingham, and are asked for our tickets by an amiable guard dressed in bag-trousers, with a silk sash around his lithe waist, and are forced to meet his demand for our billets in French-it really makes us seem illusory; we think it doubtful what we shall come to be in the end; we grow dreamy, and feel like an imposition.
Add to this the fact that all our accustomed means of communication with the outer world fail; not a sound around us is intelligible. "Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth." When the Psalmist said that he had a very becoming appreciation of the value of his tongue-for that was what he was speaking about. Any man's tongue is his glory, if he can only use it; but jf fate shuts him off from first possibilities,_he sinks most ingloriously into a piece of ticketed experience going dumbly through enigmas. Of itself, the Arabic language as confronted in Egypt brings not one item of information even to educated American citizens. Previous learning along ordinary lines fails at every point. You cannot read the names of the stations, or the artistic signs above the doors. You cannot copy them in your note-book, even after you have been told. Such inpenetrable mysteries are around you at each moment that for once you grow humble. You hurry along on a dstinctly new plane, like a bride in a honeymoon, far above all of the usual sublunary ranges of things; yet with sometimes a quite human wonder, very modestly indulged, what some of the sublunary things are.
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY PERIODICALS
'l'RANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY PERIODICALS.
By REV. CHARLES C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
THE Missions-tidning for Finland. published in Swedish and Finnish by the established Lutheran Church, the head of which is the Archbishop of Abo, quotes the following from the Swedish traveler, GeOl;ge Pagels: .. Cannibalism is more widely spread in the Congo Valley than a 'traveler would easily soppose. Those who are addicted to it keep it very secret; it seems as if, even among these creatures, standing at so Iowa poiut of moral development, there is some dim sense that, of all hideous things, this is the most hideous, the most monstrous. The tribes of the Batekas, the Bangaias, and the Arouhis, are especially notorious as men·eaters. The Batekas, however, who dwell in the wide districts arouud Stanley Pool, now begin, under the infloence of the missionaries, to lay aside the abominable practice. How it is farther inland, we do not know from personal observation, but reports from there warrant oor assoming that the habit is universal."
The Church of Finland has a mission in Owamboland, in South Africa. Last year 84 natives were baptized. The Lund Missions-tidning reclaims against the statement which puts Sweden almost at the bottom of the missionary scale as respects her gifts of men, and quite at the bottom as respects her gifts of money, making out that, while England sends out 4.8 persons for every 100,000 of her population, Protestant France, 4.2; Switzerland, 2.5; the Netherlands, '2.3; Germany, 1.8: Norway and America each, 1.4; Sweden only sends ont 0.8, being superior only to Denmark; with her 0.6. As to money gifts, the scale presented is as follows: England, 60 ore for each person; Protestant France, 39; Switzerland, 19; the Netherlands, 17.9: Amer-, ica, 15.3; Norway, 9.9; Germany, 9; Denmark, 4, and Sweden, 1.9. In fact, declares The Tidning, Sweden, in 1886, sent out one missionary to every 100,000 of het' population, and now somewhat more; and instead of contributing 1.9 ore per head, she contributed 6 ore. A gratifying rectification.
I observe that the Danish missionaries in the Madras Presidency think rather disparagingly of street-preaching, and of some forms of discussion. Herr Jensen writes: .. Last year I wrote a little about the opposition we began to meet with in oor street-preaching. Since then it has increased considerably, and it seems sometiJ,nes as if they were uppermost and we undermost, they exulting, and we groaning under defeat. In my last year's letter I referred to some encoonters with Hindos, which these had arranged, and which Lazarus and I attended. The Hindus had invited a catechist' of the Scottish mis~ion to dispote with them. And this catechist was so overjoyed at the opportunity, that nobody else conld put in a word. On the other hand. the Hindns would oniy coosent to discuss Christianity as a doctrine, something to which we never consent. The first two of these meetings were small, bot thp~ grew every time. There were five or six of them, and at the last there were some 2,000 present. Anythinl( more pitiable I have never heard or been present at. The Christian catechist came armed with his Bible and Con cordance; his heathen antagonists also with a Bible. A chairman was chosen, as I understand, a Brahmin. The discossion was throughout in Tamil. The sobjects of discossion were various theologjcal questions, among them the two natures of Christ. The Christian thonght surely, after every encoonter, that he had dealt a mighty blow for Christianity, and the heathen thought that he had taken its very life, whereas, the truth was, that Christianity, as such, had simply not come into discourse at all between the two. I attended the meetings because I held it to be my duty to be present, but I sat so bewildered over all this learned discussion over Christianity, thllt I had hard work to keep my thoughts to the matter in hand. It is sorrowfol to see Christianity dragged down to become a matter for learned or onlearned jangling; it can only lose thereby. Onr Lord Jesus' way of proceeding was qoite otherwise. He also sooght to take his antagonists in the.ir own, craftiness, but he never took the learned way. He threw his barbed shafts into their consciences."
Thus the gospel abroad, as at home, has to make its way slowly, by its own power, through all the imperfections of its professors and preachers. Mr. Jensen, bl'ing waited on by some heathen, with various questions, told them that if they were troubled about their personal relation ,to God in heaven, he was ready to help them, but that if they came as aliellS from Christianity, merely to ail' speculative doubts, he had nothing to say to them. They sat mute and confused, listened respectfully to what he had to say, and went quietly away. Bishop Caldwell, of Tinevelly, I believe it is, who answers the inquiry whether the native Christians of South India come over to Christianity from high motives, by the remark that it is absurd to ask if a class of people accept the gospel from lofty motives who never knew what a lofty motive was in their lives. The matter of lofty motives, for them, lies shut up in the gospel itself, to become effective in the future. Meanwhile, we must be content with a reasonable evidence of sincerity. In like manner, deep experimental piety among them will long be rare. 'The following remarks of Mr. Jensen bear in this direction. He says: . "There is scarcely anyone in India who forsakes heathenism and goes over to Christianity because he is roused from death to life, in the sense in which we at home understand the words•. As Ochs says: 'Awakenings, such as are found among Christians, are not to be expected among heathen, where there is not spiritual sleep, but spiritual death. They are not a wakened to the COnsclousuess of sin, which worketh repentance toward God, and therefore they do not staud in any living relation to Jesus. The way to Jesus goes inexorably through a consciousness orsin, which set. aside all the props wherewith we formerly believed we should be able to crawl to heaveu. Practical life has hitherto shown that heathenism is too deeply snnk in deathlike torpor to let itself be awakened as we at home are awakened. As rare as it is, that in Denmark a child passes throngh a conscious awakening, so as thereby consciously to lay hold of the Savionr, even so rare will it be to come upoucases ofconscious awakening among these children of heathenism. But, althongh we cannot be fully understood by our children, when we speak to them of the power of sin in our hearts and of grace in Jeau., who can heal all the wounds of sin, we do not, therefore, give up our little ones, but labor, each one of us, as well as we may, that they may abide in Him into whom they have been grafted. The day comes in time for them, when they are to choose God or the world. and well for us if we have done what we could to implant that in them which shall lay hold of the Lord and say nay to sin. The people we live among here are children in development, but deeply sunken in wickedness, so deeply that in various respects it cannot see evil as evil."
Mr. Jensen remarks on the far greater seemliness of behavior among the lower cla:sses in India than in Europe.
"The people here lie literally half-dead, and can, spiritually regarded. move neither hand nor foot. An elderly clergyman said to me at home, that I had surely seen the very essence of devilishness among the heathen•. I thought that devilishness in its foulest form must be looked for in Christendom and not among the heathen. Here the devil has enjoyed his possessions in peace; nO One has disturbed him, and why take any great pains to fortify his kingdom 1 Where his mortal enemy, Jesus, displays His power in His children, there the devil has to brace himself, to exert himself with all his force. and to lay all manner of fresh plans to strengthen his people, and If possible to win back what he has lost. Here all is death. In Europe all is in development; but is not the kingdom of sin in Europe also in development 1 Here all is petrified."
Mr. Jensen remarks further, that in the living multiplicity and distinctness of personal relations in which Christ is known to advanced Christians at home, He can scarcely be said to be known to·the native Christians of India. They have made, so to speak, a wholesale exchange of one creed for another. They are not troubled as to belief. As heathen they were accustomed to belieye (jverything, and as Christians they are ready also to take everything in a lump. The delicacy of spiritual discrimination which shall distinguish lesser and greater things, and apprehend Christ, not merely as the Helper in death, but as the Great Companion and Guide in every juncture and question of life, is rather of the future than of the present.
Mr. Jensen gives an account of the late National Congress held in Madras, and attended by 600 delegates (including various native princes) from all over India. Among them was the eminent native Christian, Banerjea, of whom he speaks as follows. If I remember right, an eminent native clergyman of the same name has lately died. Probably they were relatives.
"Banerjea is a converted Brahmin, a lawyer. At one of these meetings he gave a political discourse. which carried everything with it. His name, in these days, was upon the lips of every cul- tivated Irmdu. After the Congress was over he held two meetings in a very ample hall of the Bible Society Building. Although I was half an hour too early the first evening, the hall was almost full and was soon crammed. In the little interval of waiting 18at and listened to the lrmdus talk aoou Banerjea. Indeed, they talked of nothing else. One assured another that Banerjea was a mOB' convincing speaker; another declared that Banerjea was an honor to the Hindu people. Meanwhile our man came in; a small, unimposing person. He bowed his head and looked abashed. The whole Hindu assembly clapped their hands with as much enthusiasm and perseverance as If one of their great forefathers had come down to them. He then delivered a Christian dl!course of which, without odious comparisons, I may say, that it was the best I have ever heard in India. It wasgiven in English. I have never heard a man who led me 80 forcibly as Banerjea to declare Involuntarily: These are true and well-considered words. He spokesiowly and composedly; hisstyle'was equable and easily apprehensible; and there was a dignity in all the simplicity which was thoroughly faseinating, Nor had I ever previously heard a man who, through the whole speech, so steadily laid hold of both the thoughts and the feelings of his hearers. He,;1s a Brahmin, understood the philosophy orthe Hindus, and was not unacquainted with that of Europe, but even in that part of his discourse in which he pointed out the impoteuce of philosophy to bring tbe dead soul to life, he spoke so equably and straightforwardly that one wholly forgot that it was philosophy which was under consideration. In his two discourses he laid speclal stress on the truth, that Christianity is simpliCity itself, and therefore fully adapted to every·one's capacity, and to the universal longing of the soul. • • • He therefore did not conceal from the Hindus that Christianity is not a doctrine, but revolves wholly around a person, Jesus. A doctrine abstractly proposed is something which one can admire, but to love it, to surrender one's self to it, is an impossibility. Of such Ii self-surrender of affection only a personality can be the object. And Christianity has its central point in the personality ofJesus; in view of Him must the decision be made. • • • Notwithstanding this living testimony against sin, his clear childlike presentation of Cbristianity as having its center in Jesus, and notwithstanding the thoroughly disparaging manner in which he spoke of the philosophy of the Hindus, so great was the power of his presence over them, that when he concluded, they broke out again into the same unrestrained applause with which he had been received. Then one of the first princes of India the King of Vizanagaram, went up and thanked him. There was, in Banerjea's simple, equable manner of address, something before which everyone involuntarily bowed, and in his eloquence an absolutely irresistible power."
In the June Blad Herr Berg touches upon the way in which grace lays hold, for a particular work, upon a foundation of Nature.
"While it is an Irrefragable truth that living faith in Jesus Christ and abounding love, conjoined with the aspirations of hope, must possess and fill his heart, who, as messenger of the Lord aud the Church among the heathen, will work for their salvation, so it is equally certain, that besides these gifts of grace, there must be various natural gifts or conditions at command, which, united with the gifts of grace, are of peculiarly happy effect for carrying out the work of missions. Among these gifts of nature, next after the talent for lunguages, I would lay stress on the love of travel, the love of seeing, and of gaining information about what one sees. This lightens, indeed, removes, many of the di1ll.culties involved in an itinerant life. And as such a life falls more or less to the lot of most missionaries, it is a very fortunate thing when they are impelled to it, not by a bare sense of duty, but also by natural pleasure and interest."
The Danish Mission is seeking to extend its activity from the Tamils to the wild Malayalas of the hills. Mr. Berg describes his fit'st meeting with one: "We went about the marketplace to find some of these rude mountaineers, and coming to a tree where some Mohammedan merchants were sitting and measuring ont seed, I saw a man sitting In a slouching attitude on the ground, the sweat running off from his face; he was evidently very weary. Before him lay his heavy load of fruit. He wore no turban, but instead of it a sort of cloth cap, which in connection with the rest of his attire gave him a somewhat wild expression. Over one shoulder he had a strap, by which hung an earthen bottle. As soon as I saw this man, I said: This id no Tamil. He was, in each and every point, so different from the people I had hitherto seen, that I could only stare rather blankly at him for a while. But interest in him mounted to sympathy, for when he looked up to us with his shy and timid glance, there was something in his eye which was known to me, something which appealed to me and fettered me Immediately. I have often seen the same expression in the countenance of a frightened child. It is the expression of the suffering and longing of a soul, which can pray by a look without being itself aware of it."
The Neueste Nachrichten uus dem Morgenlande (latest reports from the Orient) for January has the following: "Whoever, eoming from the port of Jaffa, has ascended the last heights before the Holy City, and nOW-8 moment never to be forgotten for every one who has experienced it-approaches the towers of Jerusalem, remarks to the right of the road, on a little eminence, a stately house. On festal day! there waves from its pinnacle, together with the German flag, the blue ensign of Kaiserswerth, and the words of our text etand inscribed in large letters on its front: 'Talitha Kulni.' Thi! is
A WONDERFUL CITY
the training-school of our evangelical deaconesses for poor Syrian maidens, and derives its name from the Lord's Word oCLire. 'Among all the weight of wretchedness which rests npon the land and people of the Holy Places, not the least burden is the ignominious position of woman. In the land in which a woman became the mother of the Son of God, in which devont women composed his sacred body to rest in the rocky grave, in which a woman heard the lIrst announcement of the Resurrection, the lot of the Christian women has been depressed almost to a level with that oCtheir Mohammedan sisters. In that house, however, the Lord Jesus Christ, through the ministration oC his female disciples, grasps the hand of many a poor Syrian maiden and says to her, •TaUth kumi,' It, then, in those places of blesSing, our evangelical hosllitals and schools, you see the daughters o~ the Orient also mingling with the German women in these services of love, or if, on an excursion through the mountains, a young mother, holding her child on her arm before the door of her little house, in some remote village, returns your, salutation in the German tongue, and you, on entering mark something of the influence of a Christian matron and mother, you then recognize the blessing going forth from the house Talitha Kumi. "
.. What has become, in Jerusalem, of the blooming Christian Church of the early centul"ies' Is that it which you see in the clOister, whose gates open yonder before you on some spot of historic note in the lonesome rocky valley, or in that palatial building of· the city, in which a thriving trade is carried on with the piety of the pilgrims? Is this the ancient Martyr Church of the first love, . this communion, which in her wretched houses of worship mumbles nnintelligible prayers in a speech long extinct, or in her grand cathedrals kisses the images of her saints' What with us is accomplished by false enlightenment, which out of the gospel takes the life, by cutting out of it the heart, the love of a God manifest in the flesh, who was in Christ reconciling the world to HimseIC, the same thing is accomplished yonder in the Orient by the form under which everything becomes rigid. Everything has been turned into a form, the worship of the congregation, the creed of the church, the life of the Christians. We can scarcely wonder that from such a Christianity there was so extensive an apostasy to Islam, to that religion without saints, without images, with the simplest worship and the briefest creed."
The simplicity of Islam is here somewhat exaggerated. But Islam is certainly baldly simple compared with Oriental Christianity. "The Oriental church, among her festivals, celebrates also the feast of the Discovery of the Cross," which the Roman Catholics, with ominous appositeness, call the Invention of the Cross. "But even if she had rea.lly once found it, as the devout Empress Helena imagined she had, what would the splinters of that most holy Cross, on which the desire of all the world, on which our Saviour Christ has hung, have availed her chUl'Ch, since this soon forsook "-at least too largely-" the Crucified, her first love. The cross of Christ, and, indeed, the Lord himself, who has turned the accursed wood into the Tree of Life, have been dug out of the rubbish of human' traditions and formulas by that miner's son of Eisleben. The Feast of the Reformation is the true festival of the Finding of the Cross. And it is laid upon us to communicate to all that which the grace of God has bestowed upon us; but especially to those peoples of the East, who once heard and obeyed the call of pagan Europe, 'Come over and help us,' but now, in paralyzed helplessness, need the Prince of Life to come and lay his hand upon them and bring them to life."
A WONDERFUL CITY.
[The Rev. William Burgess, Wesleyan Missionary at Hyderabad, in his speech at tjJ.e Annual Meeting of the Wesleyan Missionary Society at Exeter Hall, gave the following particulars regarding the city in which he labors.-Ens.] "HYDERABAD, the capital of his Highness the Nizam, is the first city of the Deccan, and the fourth of the Indian Empire. It has a population of 400,000, and it is a veritable Indian Cairo. Its streets exhibit more varieties of Hindu raceffthan any city between the Himalayas and Cape Cormorin. Afghans, Arabians, Persians, Parsees, Telugus are among the nationalities that crowd its marts of commerce. It is the home of the India's greatest prince. One cannot attend a state banquet out yonder, served with silver and gold, and look upon the groups of brilliantly-attired officials, gold-belted and clad in lace and rich brocade, lounging on silken cushions or elaborately-carved alabaster seats, without being dazed with the splendor of Oriental pomp, and feeling that the sublime traditions of the Golconda kings and the strange wonders of the • Arabian Nights' find their countel"part in actual fact today in India. Often, when moving amid the blaze and glitter of Moslem pageantry, a solitary messenger of the Cross, I have mused and prayed and wondered when all tbis gold and frankincense and myrrh would be laid in willing tribute at the feet of Him whose star wise men in the East now see rising, and in some instances, too, are following, that secretly they may worship Him, the Bethlehem-born. But if Hyderabad is the metropolis of Moslem courtesy, of high-breeding, of luxury, and of polishedjinesse, it is also the center of seething political ferment and the wildest religiOUS fanaticism. Hyderabad is unquestionably one of the most peculiarly interesting cities of India. No Englishman is allowed to live within its walls, nor can he enter its gates without the written permission of the British ambassador resident at the Hyderabad Court, and then only on the back of an elephant, and under the escort of two men of the British cavalry, "A stra;nger on entering the city for the first time feels a sense of insecnrity, and experiences a peculiar sensation of disquietude, for every man he meets is armed to the teeth. The noble, ensconced in his cushioned howdah, has a crooked tulwar across his knees and a six-barreled revolver by his side, followed by Arab troopers and household retainers with guns ready primed. Even begging fakirs have a couple or three daggers hidden away in their belts. It is almost provocative of a smile, when custom has worn away the fear, to look upon a Rohillah fairly weighted with his murderous weapons. He carries a long straight sword, so made as to enable the wearer to use it double handed; shields of thick hide, with brass bosses, hang at his back, and villainous looking knives repose at his girdle. He calTies also a matchlock, powder-horns, and a !tinder-box, with a fuse always smouldering, tiny implements of hatred hidden in his turban, and deadly elegancies stowed away unseen in the different folds of his dress. Almost every third shop you come across in Hyderabad is an armory, where you might find weapons worth fabulous sums, and daggers so studded with jewels that one might almost fancy that the object is to render assassinatIOn resthetic.
.. The city gives one the idea of being on half-cock, as though a spark only were necessary to plunge the whole into turmoil and revolution. Theadvisability of disarming the people has formed the subject of dispatches from the government many times, but nobody has the courage to attempt it; no, not even the Nizam himself. Your missionaries are destined to playa more important part in that consummation than government order or royal prohibition. Christ's command to you to-day is 'Bring him to Me/ That, and that alone, will still the rage of passion. Christ's presence alone will beguile • misery of its woe, and charm hatred into mercy. If you want to save Hyderabad from future turmoil and revolution, if you want to free the oppressed form of lawless tyranny and an unjust tax-gatherer, if you want to tighten the bond ofloyaJty to the British crown, you cannot do it by the clash of swords or the rattle of military, and by no coercion bills. My remarks have no political tendency. No, you cannot do it in that way. Better throw around the city of Hyderabad the silken cords of love, and in obedience to Him under whose command we serve, 'bring him to Jesus.' This is the center of your new mission in the Nizam's dominions. It is the fierce tide of political unrest and religious fanaticism that your two or three agents are seeking to stein. They are there at your command, and they ask you to
THE NATIONAL PROSPECTS A.ND RESOURCES
stand by them. The difficulties that confront them are almost Herculean; but they are not downhearted, for in their hands they have a charm more potent than shrapnel shot or sharpened steel-the story of the Cross-a charm that for two thousand years has thrown its fascination into the world's heart and wrought its wonders. The wizardry of that spell Hyderabad cannot resist; it, and it alone, will break the strength of Moslem hate, tame the spirit of Moslem fanaticism, and bring them both in fetters to the feet of Salem's King. By the initial stages connected with the establishing of a new mission in a purely independent State, which is hardly touched even in its outer fringes by any form of Christian effort, I have sometimes been driven well-nigh to the verge of perplexity; and had it not been for the consciousness that there were true, loyal hearts in the homeland bearing me up in the arms of faith and prayer, and that the promise spoken centuries ago was mine, 'I will never leave thee,' I should have almost given up the thing in despair.
" Acquisition has folllowed acquisitioB, but it has always been won in the very teeth of the fiercest opposition. So in our school work our very success provoked the bitterest animosity, not in the parents of the children, but in breasts of sundry educated Baboos from the north who affect agnosticism and worship Bradlaugh. Schools were put down in the very shadow of our own. Now I have my mission-house, my school-chapel, my theological institution, and the general machinery of missions in that far-advanced station in Hyderabad. And so in other places outpost after outpost has been stormed and won. The standard of Christ has been planted firmly in places where your European influence was never felt nor the European voice ever heard. It is not eight years ago since our first entry was effected into the dominion of the Nizam. As I think over what you are doing this morning, 'My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit doth rejoice in God my Saviour.' You have five native ministers with the true Methodist ring in their preaching and in their experience-men whom it is an honor to be associated with, men who are able to stand shoulder to shoulder with any other ministry the wide world over. We have baptized 450 converts from Hinduism, and in Gur congregations we number more than 600. We have the nucleus of a native Christian church in five distinct centers. One of these has already reached that sublime state of excellence according to the mission-house-self-support -and two others are slowly but surely climbing up to the same pinnacle of ecclesiastical fame. Eight years ago you had no foot of ground, you had no brick even ill Hyderabad. Now you have property, exclusive of the value of the land, worth 20,000 rupees, not one-tenth of which has come from the Mission-house. We have Hyderabad ready to receive us; Hyderabad belongs to Christ."-lllustrated Missionary News.
THE NATIONAL PROSPECTS AND RESOURCES.
By D. D. P., OF THE U. S. N.
IT is a familiar assertion, but one to which each new step taken in the civiliza.tion of the globe adds fresh pungency and force, that the geographical position of the United States of America, both as regards interior development and foreig:l commerce, is superior to that of any other nation in the world. A country extending from latitude 25 deg. to 49 deg. north, and from longitude 75 deg. to 125 deg. west, not only contains climates to suit all temperaments, but comprises an area (including the lately acquired possessions in the far Northwest) of 2,208,900,000 acres. This vast territory is filling up with emigrants from all parts of the world, bringing their money and household effects, and their hardy fmmes and muscles wherewith to open up the wealth that lies buried in the mountains and valleys of the land. Germans, Irish, French, Scotch, Americans, vie with each other to see who shall push farthest the bound of civilization.
The enormous strides made by the United States-a nation not a century old-are, of course, due to the fact that it came into existence during an age of progress. "Brother Jonathan" has surely lived longer than old Noah, who, in his 950 years, saw only forty days and nights of events which caused him any excitement or promised the least progress. I think the chances are that the hundreds of years passed by those antediluvians upon earth were spent in a kind of lethargy, and that instead of advancing they were often set back.
Annual statistics almost bewilder the reader with their exhibit of material wealth that yearly flows into our possession; while cities are springing up as if by magic, where but yesterday the antelope and the buffalo divided with the savage the sovereignty of the wilderness. The general mineral resources of the United States are doubtless greater than those of any country on the globe; but its inexhaustible coal mines, with the measureless wealth they contain or represent, are worthy of special comment. The coal fields already discovered cover an area of 200,000 square miles-that is to say, twelve and a half times more than is to be found in the aggregate coal deposits of Great Britain, France, Belgium, Prussia, Bohemia, Saxony, Spain and Russia.
The possession of these immense deposits of coal at once betokens and assures future enterprise in America to an extent practically beyond limit. Such an agent at hand to produce power on land and sea, and applicable to all improved mechanism, becomes the symbol of the national strength of the Republic. Through it iron roads are belting the country in all directions, and the locomotive whistle is frightening the Indian's game from the prairies. It keeps in motion hundreds of thousands of spinning jennies, which turn raw material into articles of luxury and of necessity. To it is due the rapid transfer of merchandise in peace, 'and in war the transportation of armies and navies; changing the whole character of warfare, accelerating events, deciding the fate of battles, and the destiny of nations. The coal mines that abound throughout our domain will continue to build up great manufacturing establishments. It is not possible, in short, to over-estimate the national value of these resources.
Of the great gold belts stretching across the United States the chief are the Appalachian gold field, traversing a line parallel with the Atlantic coast; the Rocky Mountain gold field, traversing the newly organized territories; and the great Sierra Nevada gold field, traversing the country bordering on the Pacific.
The influence of the last-mentioned gold deposits on national development is seen in the rapid advance of California, which, in 1846, had a popUlation of a. few thousand Indians, lorded by a few rich land-owners and dissolute priests. The State now has a population of nearly half a million energetic people, who are sending a hundred millions yearly to our treasury to help pay the interest of the national debt. At this moment it is the wealth of California alone that keeps up the balance of trade, without which, in the present disorganized condition of American finances, the nation would be so deeply indebted to foreign countries a.s to collapse for want of means to go on with.
The iron wealth of America is also too enormous to be estimated; indeed, it is impossible to compute the vast amount of this useful and indispensable
ORGANIZED MISSlONARV WORK. [00'1'
metal which lies buried in the earth everywhere throughout the Union. Good authority has declared that the State of Missouri alone contains iron ore sufficient to supply a million tons per annum of the manufactured product Cor the next two hundred years. Extensive copper mines exist at various points from the valley of the Missisissipi to the Pacific; while lead, tin and zinc are found in large quantities in several States and Territories. In 1848 the country began to develop the mineral wealth of California. Since that year over one thousand millions of dollars have been produced from her soil. The younger States are making large additions to the Amel'ican yield of gold and silver.
These facts, hastily grouped together, relate to only one element of national wealth, namely, the mineral resources of the country. I could easily take up and display in like manner its agricult~ral, commercial, inventive and manufacturing powers and prospects, to make the story complete.
n.-ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK.
The General Baptist Missionary Society. American Baptist Missionary Union.
EXTRAOTS from annual report for SEVENTY-FOURTH anniversary at 1877-8 : Washington, ~. C.
Total expenditure for the year has £ 8. d. The total receipts of the Union for the year been………………………….8,994 12 2 ending March 31, 1888, were $411,38;.39, includ- ing a balance of $1,219.77 from the previous year, Total income…………………… 8,107 1 5 and $20,550 to be added to permanent funds. The receipts for current expenses were from the The balance due to bank, May 31, 1888, following sources: Donations, $174,662.93; leg. being…………………………£887 10 10 acies, $94,229.35; Womans' Society, East, $55,- 384.05; Woman's Society, West, $25,882.06; The balance now due to the bank Bible-day offerings, $4,779.12; Henry Reed (£887 lOs. lOd.) is less by £309 19s. Steamboat Oompauy, $1,127.99 ; interest, $3,1113.- than last year, but this is owing to 02; income of funds, $18,136.10; government the extra amount received in leg- grants in aid ofschools, $7,519.62; other sources, acies. Had these not come in, the $3,981.38. The appropriations for the work balance against the Society would amonnted to $390.586.48, and $20,550 was added have been £1,828 lOs. 10d., or an in- to permanent funds, leaving a balance of $248.91 crease during the year of £631 Is. carried to the next year.
The income is made up as follows: It is specially to be noted that the appropria- tions were $38,696.79 more than last year. and Contributions from £ I. d. the donations fell off $1,824.92. This would churches, etc………..3,111 3 4 have left the treasury largely in debt, had it not been that the committee were able to transfer Legacies.. . .. .. . . . .. . .. … 941 0 0 $58,000 from the Judson Memorial Fond, estab- Dividends and interest. … 191 9 2 lished by the legacy of Governor Ooburn, of Sacramental collections… 120 1 g Maine, to the general account. This is very ap- propriate, as the large increase of appropriations 4,363 14 a is chiefly due to the establishment of new sta- tions in Upper Burmah. This commg year, the· Grant of Bible Translstion Society… 150 0 0 Society has no such sum in reserve to make up From capital account…………… 212 7 0 defiCIencies. From Mrs. Buckley (ou interest)…. 000 0 0 Amount received (aud expeuded) iu President Pillsbury's address to the Union was a rousing plea for larger India…………………………3,020 "10 Amount received (and expended) in gifts and a higher consecration. Af- ter a rapid glance at the history of :Rome. …. . . . . . . .. .. . .. ••• •… •• .. 160 15 S the Union and of the church it repre- £8,107 1 4 sents, and an analysis of the Treas- The committee states that the ordi- urer's Report, he says: nary increase from the churches has been less by £219 9s. 2d. than it was .. Consider for a moment the example of brethlast year; £337 3s. 4d. less than in ren in other denominations. The.Almanac of the 1886, and £481 13s. lld. less than in American Board amrmed : • Were all the male 1885. and temale missionaries or the American Board .. A year ago we voted an advance trom Congregationalists (five-sixths are), there would $(00,000 to $500,000 in rate of expendibe one in 24 Cougregational ministers, and one ture. Bnt, were it not for a generous legacy, in 946 of the church members, laboring on for- we should not have provided the ,400,000. The eign missionary ground.' There are 20,477 or- $100,000 advance was not sustained financially dained ministers and 2,g17,315 members in our by a single dollar. Dr. Ashmore moves for the Baptist churches. Were we as fully engaged in modest enlargement this year of 39 new stations. foreign work as our Congregational brethren, We must not falter. They must be manned, there would be almost 3,100 Baptists at work in or where is the strength of our love and faith, or Asia and Africa, of whom 853 would be or- sincerity or obedience' Is it true that a sto1d dained ministers. As it is, we have not, all told, indift'erence is so thoroughly characteristic ofus North and South, 300 missionaries. Measured all to foredoom to failure any advance, and comby the Cambridge' Confession,' we Baptists are pel us to abandon the effort' The gospel age doing one-tenth of our duty under the •great has ripened to its culmination. All the forces of eighteen centuries of moral and historic energy commission.' now converge. The last hour, the grand, the .. Again: the total receipts of the American supreme, is ushered in, and will pass with this generation.. V{e have seen the last of stupid, Board last year were $679,573.79. Dividing this slumbering, age-abiding heathenism. God has amQng the 436,379 Congregationalists shows an given us the post ofhonor in the leadership of average of over $1.56 per member for foreign Carey, the conversion of Judsou, the glorious missions. But in the 31 States and Territories, gift of the Congo Mission. Shall we fail to hold' including Missouri, contributing to the Baptist it' Will the whole army ever move-this lfissionary Union, are 809,760 Baptists. Plainly, mighty Baptist army now so inert' • The chil- 8390,835.39 divided among us allows but little dren of Ephraim, being armed and carrying over 48 cents per member to feed the dying mil- bows, turned back on the day of battle. They lions without Christ. Herein our noble Congre- kept not the covenant of God, and refused to gational brethren outdo us three to one. Yet walk in His law, and forgot His works, and the torther, if we consider the actual donations, the wonders that He had shown them. Shall Bapamount actually given by living stewards of tists be the Ephraimites of Geutile Christianity' God's wealth and gospel, the average contribu- Can two-thirds or the denomination turn against tion making up the the $174,662.93 is less than 21% cents per member; or, leaving out the the line of our prayers aud firm intent of God '" 117,654 Missouri Baptists, and distributing the en- The annual report of the Home Missionary Sotire donations among strictly Nortbern Baptists, raises the average Baptist gift of the year to ciety of this denomination shows the totsl re- 25~ cents. Herein is reason for radical reform. ceipts (or the year aggregate were $551,595.92; expenses, $309,759.84; balance on hand, $241,- .. Suft'er me to glance at another denomina- 838.08. By his will, Governor Coburn, of Maine, tion's work. Let us compare the average giving left a legacy of $200,000 to the Society, of which of Presbyterians and Baptists In live great States, one-half waS designated by the teststor for free older and younger, viz. : New York, Pennsyl- schools for the negro, and $50,000 to Wayland vania, Ohio, Dlinois and Minnesota. New York Seminary, of Washington. The work extends Baptists average 31 1-10 cents per member; over 47 States and Territories or this country, Presbyterians average 86~, almost 2:IL to our and IHoreign countriea. one. In Pennsylvania, the Baptists· average 21 3-10, Presbyterians, 53 cents per member. Baptist Missionary Sooiety in Northern The Ohio Baptist averages 16 7-10 cents per . India. member, and the Presbyterian brother 34% THE report for 1887, a pamphlet of cents, to give the nations the bread of life. Dn- 126 pages is full of interest: nois Baptisbl average 139-10 cents per member Presbyterians average 46 4-5 cents (half as many The total membership reported is 4,232, of Presbyterians contributing twice as much), to carry out the last great command of Christ. whom 3,740 are natives; baptisms during the Minnesota Baptists average, including the 11'0- year, 198. There are 5,141 scholars in day men's societies and Snnday-schools, 53% cents per member; Presbyterian, 1.79 6-10 cents, a schools, and 2,558 in Sunday-school. There are glorious rate, enriched with the blessing of the world's Saviour. about 50 foreign missionaries in connection with .. The average eontribution for the States this Mission; the number of native ordained above-named is: Presbyterian, 79 6-10 cents, Baptists,22 6-10 cents per member, over three preachers is not given; 114" evangelists" are and a half to our one. Conceding the snperior wealth of the former denominations will not ex- returned. The native church at Backergunge plain this di1l'erence ; and may not Presbyterian superiority in wealth, if it exist, arise trom and Madaripur has 1,800 communicants, who habitual generosity of obedience in evangelizing the world' •Give, and it shall be civen to you,' represent a probable Christ!an community of is God'a mle. • • • 4.500 ; Serampore reports 32 members; Benares, 19 ; Poona, 19, and Bombay, 5. No financial statistics are ~yen. so that one is at a 108s to know to what extent the mission Is encourag- ing self-support. The number of native Christ- ians has increased trom 3,110 in 1881 to 3,740 in 1887.-Indian WitnM'. MissionB to Seamen (English). for religious ministrations at several ports. It appears that two-thirds of the English ships of THE Society's thirty-second annual war are without chaplains. With regard to report furnishes the following: temperance work, it was stated that whole crews of total abstainers are frequently to be The Society has 74 honorary chaplains, 23 chap- met with. lains, 44 Scriptnre-readers, an<J a number of other agents working afloat in flfty different sea- The United Presbyterian Ohurch. ports, at home and abroad, who are furnished with forty mission vessels and boats in road- THE twenty-ninth annual report steads, etc., and have 42 churches, institutes, shows that the Foreign Mission and mission-rooms in docks, etc. It further states work of this church during the past that last year witnessed considerable spiritual year "has been signally marked progress among seamen, fishermen, and barge- with the favor and blessing of God." men. Through lack of funds, the committee had been compelled to refuse urgent requests SUMMARY OJ!' WORK. E~ypt. India. Totals.
Centers or Districts………………………….. . 8 15 Stati!'ns .. '.' . : …. : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . …….. . 85 69 154 ForeIgn M,SsIOnar,es …………•……………… 11 Unmarried Women Missionaries ..•…………….. 10 8 19 11 Physicians …………………………………. .. 1 1 21 2 N~?ve ir~:~f;:;t~~:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 10 12 22 7 7 Organized Congregations…………………….. . 24 4,m8 32 Communicants ….. ,…………………………. . 2,807 6,878 Schools ……………………………………. .. 216 82 4,341 9,942 Pnpils in Schools …………………………….. . 5,601 • .. Sabbath-schools…………………….. . 4,338 1,325 5,663 Contributions ……… , ………………………. . $5,90200 $435 40 $6,337 40 Tuition Fees ………………………………… . $10,44900 $10,44900 33,609 Books Distributed (Vols.) ……………………. . 33,609 Proceeds of Sales of Books. .. . . . . . . … ……. '" $7,815 00 $7,81500 Total paid by Natives for preaching, schools, books. $27,178 00 $27,178 00 Value of Missionary Property…………………. . $207,81000 829,922 00 $237,782 00 RECEIPTS AND EXl'ENDITURES. 1888. 1887. $56,263 13 $48,33956 DR. Received from Presbyteries …………………………. . 15,17600 8,73792 7,59559 1,62676 " "Bequests…………………………….. . 4,003 74 8,80348 " "Women'8 Auxilary Board………… ……. . 7,73985 5,002 07 6,120 94 8,536 89 Ladies' Missionary Societies……………. . 1,851 65 Individuals…………………………… . 90213 Sabbath-schools ……………………….. . – -1,5-727-1 1,99499 Gibson Trust Fund……………………. . Interest………………………………. . $100,323 11 $83,943 80 (Of which $10,415 80 was received for debt.) CR. $38,000 00 Remitted to Inaia, and Checks Paid………………….. . 38,000 00 13,523 34 To " ahndE 1:gi2~,tr"em"itted " 1,38784 Egypt on debtaccount:::::':::::::: 2,06152 .. Amounts paid for Children in this country …………. . 128 46 "" " " Travel out of this country .. ……… . 800 00 .. Expense, (Stationery, Rent of Safe, etc.)……………. . I,Oll 93 :: Sal~…y (Ofl!.ce.rs of.Bo~rd).: ………………………. .. 1,000 00 (MlsSlOnarIeS III thIS country)………………. . 750 00 (Dr. Gordon, additional) …………………… . 1,42454 .. Outfit …………………………………………. . 21848 .. Printing and Mailing Reports, Abstracts, etc……….. . 145 85 " Interest .. ……………………………………… . 1,851 65 .. Legal Expenses…………………………………. ..
.. Gibsou Trust Fund (Remitted).:,:.••.•………….
$100,323 11 United Brethren in Ohrist. The financial secretary states that in twent, years, in establishiug and sustaining Christian TOTAL receipts for year ending March schools in the South, the SOCiety has disbursed 81,1888 ………………………..$66,238 16 $1,921,585.81, and for the ten months of the pres- ent year $91,496.21 expended, aud the aggregate Total expenditures for same period… 65,904 43 expenditures of the Society since its organiza- tion are $2,013,082.61. To this add $180,000 in- Bal. in treasury, March 31, 1888. $333.73 crease of our Endowment Fund and we have a grand total of $2,201,082.61 thus far appropri- Freedmen's Aid Society. ated. The increase in income during the last quadrennium over the former one is $ITa,886.90. THE report of the Freedmen's Aid Society of The collections during ten years show that the Methodist Episcopal Church states that the during the last decade the total receipts of the church now has a memberahlp of 450,000 among the 13,000,000 whites and 7,000,000 negroes of the South, with more than a million adherents. Society annually were much more than doubled, cess has been remarkable. The inincreasingCrom $68,402 to $168,271. Tbe conCer- come, which for the first ten years avence collections in ten years have increased 145 eraged about £5,000, last year (1887) per cent. The number of charges not taking col- exceeded £32,000. The gifts have valections has decreased nearly one thousand, while ried in amount from three penny the total number of charges taking collections postage stamps to £3,000. The mishas increased two thonsand. Duriug the qnad- sion staff, which at the end of the rennium $679,362.25 have been disbursed by the first ten years numbered 36 mission- Society; $254,935.43 have been expended in aries and 16 wives of missionaries, lands aud buildings. which is $71,884.38 more now numbers 286, including 53 wives than during the preceding quadrennium. In each of missionaries, most of whom were succeeding year a larger amount has been paid missionaries before marriage. The to our teachers, and during these four years the catholicity of the mission has been payments amount to $340,464.72. This exceeds maintained, and the mission staff the sum paid to teachers the preceding four consists of members of the Church of years $127,234.26. If we add together the England, Presbyterians, Wesleyans, amounts paid for the salaries and traveling ex- Baptists, Congregationalists, and penses of corresponding secretary, assistant Brethren. corresponding secretary, agent, clerk hire, and amonnts paid for bookkeeping, olllce expenses, The China Inland Mission has 58 stations in printing, postage, etc., we have $45,506.81, the which there are resident missionaries. These total coot for administration for four years. are situated as below. In several provinces the Among the colored people 22 institutions have opening of a station was preceded by some years been sustained, 127 teachers have been employed, of itinerating work. and 4,682 pupils have been taught. Among the white people 16 institutions, 84 teachers, 2,097 pupils.
Ohina. Inland Mission. Year first Province. No. of Station Stations. Established in 1862. opened.
THIS prosperous mission owes its origin, and largely its succcess, to 1866 Cheh-kiang………… .. 13 the missionary zeal and enterprise of 1867 Kiang-su…………… . 3 Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, who first 1M69 Gan·hwuy …………. .. 4 went to China in 1853 as a medical 1869 Kiang-si …………… . 4 missi(;mary, and, on account of the 1874 Hu·peh …………… .. 4 failure of health, returned to Eng- 1876 Ho-nan…………….. . 2 land in 1860. Mr. Taylor's deep anxi- 1876 Si-chuen ………….. .. 4 ety for China led to the formation 1877 Kwei-chau …•………. 1 of the China Inland Mission, and in 1877 Shan-si ……………. . 11 1878 Kan·suh …………… . 4 1879 Shan·tung………….. . 3 1879 Shen-si. …………… .. 2 1881 Yun-nan …………… . 2 1875 Bhamo,in Upper Burmah 1 1886 he returned to China, taking There are also about as many more out-stawith him 15 missionaries. The suc- tions.
ANNUAL INCOME, 1887, £32,000.
I I Not.ioonfsS . t aF'o!re.Ign Workers. Native Workers.
I j OrdaLinaeyd. and mFaele-. £ I 132 782 58 101 The MeAll Mission. GENERAL TOTALS POR 1887.
THE following extracts from the Religious meetings for adults (12.599), sixteenth annual report of the "Evan- attendance …………. '" .. .. . . .. .. 889,696 gelistic Mission in France," better known as the "McAll Mission," fur- Sunday-schools, children'S services, nish valuable information as to the young women's classes, etc. (4,423), methods of work pursued and the attendance …. " …………… " .. 224,537 results attained: Total of religious meetings. ………. 17,022 Total attendance at meetings……… 1,114,233 Domiciliary visits ……………….. 21,567 73 Bibles, Testaments, portions, tracts and illustrated papers circulated…. 468.278 Increase of IIttelldlillce for the year. . . 43,224 To these must be added the total number ot «round : he stations his wagon there, opens It, atations, 118, an Increase of Ii for the year, and displays his books, and there he is qnIte at home. ofaittings, 17,029, an increase oC 1,557. The re- Some ot the passers-by begin to draw near In ceipts for the year were £15,746 17~. tid., which ordedo look at the books, and then the conmet the current obligations and left a balance in ductor reads to them, with accompan7ing exthe treasury of £185 10.. tid. planations, and replies to any objections raised by the hearers. It is no longer a mere sale of The Waldensian Ohurch. hooks, it is a true work ot evangelization, with which the law can lind no fault, becsuse it WE are indebted to the Ohurch at places what is said on the same level as other Home and A.broad for the following merchants' praises of their wares I How man7 statements. The annual report of thousands of persons have thus heard something the Waldensian Commission on Ital- ot the gospel who otherwise would never have ian Evangelization shows that the known of it I Were we to say that in one way historic church of the valleys is still or another we bring the good news of salvation an active witness to the truth. to 80,000 souls, we shonId be sure ot not exag- gerating. LABOBICBS. The Original Secession Synod, Ordained pastors………………….. 37 Evangelists.. .. .. . . .. .. .. .. •…. .. . .. .. . 6 DUllING the financial year just closed the re- Teacher-evangelists ……………. , .. . 10 ceipts for the three flUlds available for the mis- Colporteur-evangslists……………… 5 sion work abroad have been as follows: Hale and female teachers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 The Foreign Mission Fund ……. £422 " ~ Hale and Cemale Bible-readers…….. 6 The Orphanage Fund… ……… 128 5 S Colporteurs……….. …………….. 2 The Seonl School Fund………. 239 12 1 Bible-wagon conductor•……… , . . . . •. 1 Wal'6houseman… …………. ……… 1 Making a total ot………….. £790 1 11~ This shows a deficit of about £44. when wm- Total ………………………. 124 pared with the previous year's income, and ts or 85 men and 311 women. accounted for by the absence of numerous per- sonal donations which were sent in last year in The 124 workers are subdivided as follows: response to a special appeal made by the Finance Waldensinns by birth………………. 46 Committee In view of extra outlay. The expendi- Protestants not Waldensians. . . . . . . . . . . 5 ture for the year may be thus classified: Converts Crom Catholicism. . . . . . .. . . . . • 52 Salaries of agents and general dis- Children of converts….. …………… 21 bursements …………….. : …. £383 II .~ Upkeep of Orphanage………….. 139 18 9 12~ Salaries ot teachers and outlay for FIELD 011' LABOR. school………………………. 253 17 3 Take a map and glance over the Italian pen- The total expenditure for the 7ear Insula. Let yonr eyes pass Crom Mount Blanc being……………………….£776 18 ~ in the north to ReggiO in Calabria in the south, let them take in Sicily, the Island of Elba and a Darjeeling Mission Institute. part of Sardinia, and you will have before you the extent of the field where we believe it is Established 1870. God's will for us to seatter broadcast the good .eed. Therein are found- CHURCH CENSUS-17TH MAY, 1888.
Churches…………………………. olS lcom Non-Commu- Stations………………………….. 38 muni- nicants. Total. oj Localities visited………………….. 178 cants. The following statistical table will show at a ~ glance the work that is going on : Name Adult. Infants* .. Attendants at the services……….. 5,923 of Occasional hearers ……………… 47,191 1 Church. .; ~ ~—-.;- ~ 0 Members ot the church .. ' •. . . . •. . . . . 4,005 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – ~r!;.i:'iI1Gl.i.~.". ~;c;~iPI"~,";',;;i·I-&;sa:;ii.C I..&ds: Admitted during the year …… , . . . . . 558 Darjeeling 58 25 24 26 20 35 39 86 83 169 Catechumens.. ……….. ……….. 450 Kurseong. tu 15 17 II 9 15 12 39 38 77 Scholars at the day school. . . . . .. .. .. 2,206 Nagri.. … 14 H 10 5 5 12 10 25 25 50 Scholars at the Sunday-schools…… 2,482 Salom. .. . 11 5 8 6 3 8 3 19 14 33 Scholars at the evening school. .. .. .. 729 KainjiJia.. (3 2 2 2 2 2 7 6 13 To the number of occasional bearers add the Terai….. 4217 16 24 18 9 17 50 51 101 thousands who are evangelized in private wnversation, on the railway and elsewhere, either Totals… 153 73 77 72 57 81 83 226 217 40lS by evangelists or b~ Blble-readel'S and wlpor- .. Under 14 yeara of age. teurs, or in particnIar by the conductor of the Bible-wagon. By means of this last we reach a number of persons whom we could approach In no other way. The laws of Italy do not allow preaching in the streets and squares, as is done In England. By means of the Bible-wagon we get over the di1llcnIty as follows: the conductor of the wagon, on arriving at a town, goes to the munIcipality and hires for a day, or for several days. 811 the case may be, a staud on the public London Sooiety for Promoting Ohristi- praise GIld for these tokens of encouragement; but growing demand ever calls for redoubled anity Amongst the Jews. effort. Notwithstanding the temporary finan- cial depresBion, your committee appeal_nd EIGHTIETH report, adopted at Ex- appeal most earnestly-for snch support as shall not merely Bustain, but widely extend the eter Hall, May 4, 1888: blessed work of the Bociety. Emphatically is it God's work. He declares that as in times past Your committee report that financially th.. the Gentiles obtained mercy through Jewish past year has been one of considerable anxiety. unbelief, even so now the Jews remain in un- At its commencement, when framing their eBti- belief, that throngh Gentile mercy they may mateB., they had to face an expenditure which, obtain mercy. He aBsures those who are workbesideB making proviBion for the proposed miB- ing out thiB principle, that as in the days of sionary schoolB in Galilee, required an income Elijah, so now there are the Beven thouBand of £36,500, while their resources could only be elect in Israel. Of these your miBsionaries have safely eBtimated at £34,000. been, and still must be permitted, In God'B pur- pose, to gather "one of a city and two of a The committee regret that the aggregate for family." In faith, in prayer, and with unremitthe year has only reached £33,Q25 138. 6et. ting labor Bhall the Lord'B work be Bustained whilst the expenditure has amounted to £37,344 until that day when Israel's blindness Bhall be 118., so that the adverse balance of the general removed, and the veil shall fall from the fnnd from the preceding year has now been in- nation'B eyes; when" there Bhall come out of creased to £5,724 188. 9et., for which Bum pro- Zion the Deliverer, who shall turn away nnvision must now be made. godlinesB from Jacob," and the .. redeemed of the Lord," both Jew and Gentile, shall retnrn, The committee earnestly appeal to their and shall .. obtain joy and gladneBB, and sorrow friends and supporters, especially to !hOE.e who and Bighing shall fieeaway." have the conduct of auxiliary associationB, for renewed effort, BO that the income for the cur- British Sooiety for the Propagation of rent year may be raised beyond the experience the Gospel Among the Jews. of the past, and they may be enabled to carry forward their great work without let or hind- FORTY-FIFTH annual meeting, rance from lack of means. MayS.
Your committee cordially acknowledge the FINANCIAL REl'ORT. nnfailing devotion of their friendB in Ireland to the cause of larael, in spite of local and domeBtic The funds intruBted to our care last year anxieties. amounted to £8,182, that is upwards of £2,000 leBB than the Jubilee year. This is due to the They alBa thankfully appreciate the sympa-' difference in the amount of the legacies received. thetic support afforded by the Episcopal Church In the Jubilee year the sum received by legacies in Canada, whose recognition of the duty and waB £4,637 138.; last year, £2,391 78., being £2,- privilege of helping forward the society's work 246 68. le'B than the Jubilee year, showing that IB most encouraging. we must not depend upon that clasB of receipts as a permanent source of revenue. The expendi- The best thanks of your committee are due to ture in 1887, the Jnbilee year, was £8,547 ; last those friends who so readily responded to the year it was £9,175 108. This increase is partly appeal on behalf of the society'B temporal re- owing to the expenses incnrred by the removal lier fund, which Is entirely dependent npon of missionaries to new spheres, and partly to special contribntions for support. Those who the augmentation of onr missionary staff. Four are brought into close contact with the trials new agentB have been appointed, and have and dilliculties of baptized and inquiring Jews proved themBelveB to be .. workmen needing alone can realize the valne of this little resource not to be ashamed." The number on our stall' in times of ueed, which deserves more regular at present is 31, and theBe are assisted by more support. The contributionB received during the than 80 voluntary workerB, making upwards of year have amounted to £268 168., whilst the 110. We are sorry that the fund for the mainteexpenditure has been from necessity limited to nance of the" Home for Aged ChriBtian Israel- £188158. ites" is Btill at a low ebb, and that the" Tem- poral Relief Fund" is at present empty. The Five thousaud six hundred BibleB and 4,018 enlargement of that Fund 80 as to put it within New TeBtaments, whole or in part; 47,219·mis- our power to as&ist our missionaries, not only sionary books,and tracts; 119,784 periodicals; at home but abroad, would result in unspeakaand 59,301 home tracts and appealB, have been ble good to Israel. A thousand a year for tem_ iSBued from the Bociety's depot during the year. poral aid could be most profltably diBpensed. Will our friendB remember that the highest form The amount realized by the Bale of ScriptureB of ChriBtian Bympatby is practical, and deposit haB been £182 168. ld. with UB that Bum yearly for wise distribution!
The report testifieB to the still declining influ- The late Lord Shaftesbury took ence of rabbiniBm-to a diminiBhed prejudice against Christianity-to tbe readiness of Jews to listen to yonr miBsionaries, and willingness to study the Holy Scriptures-and, more particularly, the remarkable attendance, both at home and abroad, to hear special mlBsionary eermODB. Your committee would devoutly
'166 CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE
great interest in this Society. At attributes which feed the imagination, and stir the annual" meeting in 1845, in the into life the warmest energies of the heart. We presence of a most remarkable audi- rejOice in the ends and hopes of this Soelety, 88' ence, being chairman, he uttered seeking the fulfillment of a long series of proph- ecies, and the institution of unspeakable blesBthese passionate words: ings, both in time and in eternity, for all the nations of the world. It is our duty, our most "Our church and our natioff have been called high and joyous duty. that every eft'ort be made, to the glorious serviee of making known the that no expense be spared, that all our toil be gospel of Christ to the mauy thousands of Israel. given, by day and by night, that into every Now, in whatever light I view this great ques- prayer, with all our souls, this special supplication-whether I regard it as purely secular, tion should enter, for the revival and exaltation, whether I regard it as purely religious, or be it figurative or be it literal, of repentant and whether I regard it as partaking of both charac- forgiven Israel." ters-I see no snbject which can surpass, or even approach it in magnitude and in all those III.-CORRESPONDENCEand GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.
Braail. earnest and sincere student of missious wants, however, are all the facts, whether encourag- [The editors have received the fol- ing or discouraging; the wlwle trutl/ in regard to every department of the work. regardless ot lowing suggestive and interesting the effect this may have upon the income of any society. An independent magazine like the communication. They al'e in hearty MISSIONARY REVIEW may well be made the channel of such information, and thus do much sympathy with its spirit and valu- toward disseminating correct views on mission policy, while at the same time inciting the differable hints, and will welcome from ent missionary societies to the adoption of more definite and consistent plans of operation than any source any fraternal helps to- at present obtain in most of them.
ward the wider usefulness and Another good work, which it seems to me the REVIEw might do, is to show by authorized greater efficiency of this REVIEw.l ststements, the comparative expe1Ul/JII of the different missionary agencies, and the proportion JAHti', BRAZIL, January 11,1888. of consecrated funds absorbed by each. One of To THE EDITORS OF THE MISSIONARY REVIEW: the first steps in this direction wonld be to bring -From this far corner of the foreign field allow public sentiment to bear upon the different some to extend a hand of welcome to the new cieties, to induce them to give publiCity to the champion of the mission cause. A magazine facts in regard to the distribution of the mission with so complete and well-matured a pro- funds. Our magazines record in detail the gramme, intrusted to editors who have given amounts contributed by the churches all over such uuequivocal proofs of their qualifications the land, but give us no information, except in a for the work, and their heart interest in it, is most general way as to how this money is emsure to be a snccess, will do much for the ad- ployed. It is impossible to tell from the reports vancement of the Lord's work in the world. how much is spent upon educational work, how WillI be considered presnmptuous if I express much upon publication, how much for the supthe hope that the MISSIONARY REVIEW, whUe port of native pastors and teachers, etc. The doing 811 In its power to enlist the sympathy aud contributor. have a right to this information, interest of contributors iu the foreign mission while at the same time it is only by a comparwork, and to stimnlate them to greater efforts ison of the comparative success of the dift'erent for its support, may give special prominence to agencies with their comparative expenses that the collection of material for the formation of auy rational plan of distribution can be deterthat" Science of Missions," which is so great mined. a desideratnm, and the data for which are at present so meager and unsatisfactory. It also seems to me that the REVIEW might do It seems to me that the REVIEW might do a much good by emphasizing the fact that the great good work in this direction by promoting accu- problem before us in the immediate future is racy and completeness of information in regard not so mnch how to increase the contributions to the comparative success of the different mis- of the home churches, as how to develop the reaionarv agencies " showing by facts and figures 8QUrces Qf the native churchea, and stimnlate which are the agencies that have been attended them to the performance of their duty In sup. with most decided and satisfactory results, or, in porting thtir own teachers and preachers. The other wordS, upon which has most evidently church at large wonld probably be astounded if been set the seal of the divine approval. The it knew how considerable a proportion of its denominational magazines limit themselves al- contributions were e~nded upon those who most exclusively to encouraging and stimulating facts, 8S their object is to maintain, and if pos- sible, increase the current of ~ontributions into their mission treasnry-any other class of facte does not come within their scope. What eve-q nre already Christianized. and capable of sup- of thought. as well as habitlr of life andexpendi- porting their own religious and educational in· ture based npon the long established custom of stitutions, and consequently diverted from the depending upon a foreign sonrce for their sup- direct work of evangelization. The stream of port. He should also be one who has had some contributions from the home churches has reo experience in working np the natives to self- mained so long stationary that there is little support, know something practically of the best hope of any decided increase in that direction, methods of presenting the subject, the most while on the other hand, an examination of the effective motives, the real capabilities of the na- statistics of our Presbyterian Church show that tive contributors, and where reductions conld the contributions of the native churches amount be made in expenditures, in order to bring the to only about 8 per cent. of the whole amount basis of renumeration of native laborers down expended upon the foreign field, and only about to the level of tlla probable native contributions, 8 per cent. of what is expended upon native etc. There are many returned missionaries in agencies, showing that there still is much to be the United States now occupying positions oC done in working up the native churches to the honor and trnst who doubtless combine all these performance of their duty in this respect. qualifications; why shonld not some of these It is also important to notice that if the home find a place in the Board and among the Secre- churches wel·e relieved of the support of the na· taries of our Foreign Board'
tive teachers and preachers, who should prop· Would it not be a good idea to open in the erly be maintained by their own people, an REVIEW a Symposium upon different points of amount of money would be released which missionary practlce and policy, giving the public would probably be sufficient to support all who the benefit of the matnred views and experience are likely to offer themselves as workers among of prominent men from all parts of the field, the unevangelized, but which cannot now be thus gathering together a mass of facts and sent for want of funds. principles, the study of which would be invaln- Would it not also be in place for the MISSION· able to those who propose entering upon the ARY RBVIlIW OF THE WORLD to suggest that su· foreign mission work. A useful and almost ne- perintending the distribution of the funds on the cessary adjnnct to this would be a section Cor foreign field and. development of the native reo Missionaries Exchanging Views.
sources equals if not surpasses in importance I take the liberty of including a list of subjects the raising of money from the home churches, that I would like to see discussed in such a sym- and can only be accomplished by confiding it to posium. I have thought a good deal on all these some properly qualified person as his special subjects, and in regard to some of them have ar_ work. The two branches of the work are as rived at conclnsions at variance with the pres- distinct and require qualifications as different as ent practice of our church, bnt as my experience the manufacturing and sales departments of any has been limited to a single field, ·wonld like a large business. No one would think of confid· basis for a wider generalization before coming ing the superintendence of the shops to a man, to a definite conclnsion.
all of whose training had been acqnired in the Yours respectfully, connting·room, no matter how great his abilities J. BEATTY HOWllLL.
in this line, much less of reqniring him to man- StJllJBCTS SUGGESTBD FOR SYMPOSIUM.
age the shops from the counting-room, determin- Boards 0/ Foretgn Missions and their Secre.
ing the location of the different workmen, the taries.-What are their functions and author- apportionment of the work among them, etc., ity' What are their proper relations to the without ever having entered the shops, or hav- home church and to the missionaries on the ing any practical knowledge of the work to be field'
done there. The Missionary.-What constitutes a call to the But this is exactly what our church is doing Foreign Mission work' What are the abso when in her choice of Foreign Secretaries she lutely necessary qualifications for this office 1 limits herself to men who, thongh abnndantly Should those who enter upon this work be ex- qualified for interesting the home churches in pected to consecrate themselves to it for life'
the Foreign Mission work, and raiSing money Should the missionary's salary be calcnlated for it, have no practical experience in work on upon the basis of a bare snpport, or of a com- the field, its special possibilities and difficul- fortable living' and what has been the practice ties. of the different societies in this respect'
A man to do efficient work in development of The MissWn.-What are its powers and Conc- the native resources, must have learned by per- tions, whence its anthority, and what its true sonal contact with the natives to love and sym- relations to the native Presbyteries'
pathize with them as brethren in the Lord, must Sclwoi& as an ]!}vangellzing Agency.-Their have had some practice in dealing with the sns- place in the scheme of missions, to what extent picion and jealousy which so frequently mani- authorized by the Scripture, and warranted by fest themselves when the money question comes results in conversion of souls and building up of up between the native and foreign laborer, mnst the church'
know how to make due allowance for national Sel/-Support.-Is the support of native evan- dilRlrences oftemperament,disposition and modes gelizing agencies exclusively by the contri. butions ot converted natives desirable. practica- is not so. In every part ofthe country you can find willing audience, givlllg ready assent to ~ ble. and actually realized; and what are the you may say. In this Siam is not specially ftted most approved methods Cor obtaining that re- for this kind of work.
sult, But when Christ sent forth the first mission- Native Candidate8 fO'l' the Minutrll.-How aries, commanding them to preach and to heal, rar should they be obliged to follow the curricu- who can say that one country may have the lum prescribed in our Confession of Faith' preacher and another the healer 7 Can the med- ical missionary win the hearts and confidence of How tar should they be aided financially in ob- China's millions, and thus secure an opportunity taining the necessary education' What has for presenting gospel truth! He can do the same here. If in India or Korea he can allevibeen the practice and what the results in the ate human suft'erings which, but for his presence, would be grossly maltreated by native ignorance different fields! and superstition, he can do the same here. Church BuildingsfO'l' Nativ88.-How far is It If the medical missionary Is needed in other advisable to aid in their construction, or rent fields as a matter of human wisdom and forewith mission funds' What has been the prac- thought, to guard the lives and health of his ortice and what the res nits in the different fields f dained brother and family and the lady teachers, he is as much needed here. Is there a call for Paid Native Lay Laborers.-To what extent the training of native .young men in Western medical science in China, Syria, India, or Japan' can they be profitably employed, and in what The same work is waiting to be done here.
ways' 2. The peculiarities of thejl.eld.. (a) C:imate. The temperature ranges from ~8Q to 98° F. Even MiBSion Compoond8 (buildings).-Where and the warmest days are made quite bearable by a sea breeze which blows in from the Gulf all the how Car are they necessary, and of what charac- afternoon. The wet season begins in April or ter should they be , May, and the dry season about November. The direct rays of the sun render it unsafe to ven- Oontributtona fO'l' Special Obiects.-How rar ture out unprotected, as the experience of many foreigners would show. The heat, moistnre and should they be encol/raged' To what extent is maiaria combined have a most depressing efit possible to incorporate them with the present fect upon the exhuberant spirits which every missionary shows at tlrst. system of distribution, according to appropria- (b) The attitude of the government is favorations asked for by the missions and approved by ble. The King has said on more than one occa- sion that he welcomed the American (meaning the Central Committee' the Protestant) missionaries to his country. He M"l8stonary Training Colleges.-How far is it and many of the princes and nobles have con- tributed to our work. In many provinces the practicable and advisable to give a preliminary governors invite the touring missionary to their houses and ask to hear the gospel preached. course of instruction in mission economics to The Prime Minister has offered houses and land those proposing to enter upon the foreign mis- in a large neighboring province if we will piace a medical missionary there. sion work' Would not greater uniformity of (c) The peeple. Physically they are far below policy and harmony of action be thus insured' their Chinese neighbors. Living in the shadow of tbe equator and taking little or no precaution Beside misRionarv bookkeeping and hygienics. to shield themselves ft'om the direct rays of the sun, coupled with a diet compared with which what else might be profitably included in the the cats and rats eaten by John Chinaman would be an Epicurean feast, it is not surprising that course' the vast majority of them are nothing more than physical wrecks. Mentally they are not capable Siam. of much exertion. Place a Siamese and aSia- mo-Chinese at the same study, and the one with LETTER from Rev. Jas. B. Thomp- Chinese blood will master it in much less time. For devising ways or for anything demanding son. forethought, a Siamese cannot be depended upon. Hence it is not difficult to understand [This letter is in reply to a Medical that morally they also rank very low. All their surroundings and habits of life are such as to Mission student, seeking information. beget the most Immoral of thoughts, feelings and We give it, as the information it fur- practices. or course, l refer here to the llverage nh5hes may be of service to many be- side the person to whom it was writ- ten.-EDs.) I'ETcHABUREE, SIAll, March 26, 1888. DEAR SIR.-Yours of January 20th has just reached me. I am not in the least 8urprisd to receive letters from persons altogether unknown to me. neither do I think strange of it, for I well remember how I once sought the very informa- tion you ask for, and obtained it in the same way that has suggested itself to you. I rejoice to bear from yoo. Now for the points on which you wish to be informed.
1. Is Siam specially fitted for medical mission work r .In Persia, Syria, Korea, China, and among certain classes in India, medical mis- sionary work is special/y.fitted to pioneer the cause of Christ, because in those places yon must. to II certain extent, touch the heart of the people before you can gain the ears. In Siam it CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. 769 Siamese, as you meet him iu missiouary work. domestic relations they will not hesitate to set Among the higher classes there are some bright you down as being as adept at deceit as they examples of what these people might be if suita- know themselves to be. Then, too, it is an ex- ble opportunities were before them and im- pensive matter for a single man to keep house proved. here alone, and he would most probably board (dl Work already done in this field. From with his married colleague. Now, it is a well- what we have seen as to the condition of the known fact that lite in the tropics tends to make people, do not feel that they are beyond hope. one irritable. and when this is added to the nat- For many years the missionaries labored here ural bearishness oC an old bachelor, it will without results, but since the first converts be- require a great deal of the grace of God to keep gan to come there has been a steady growth to him working in harmony with his fellow mis- the church until now we find seven churches sionaries. We might sum it up thus: A single with about 500 members. There are members man will be exposed to strong temptations, or inquirers in nearly every village fO,r many aspersions will be cast upon his character by the miles around our Petchaburee station, and iu natives. Others-not his kindred-will be com- two or three neighboring provinces 500 miles pelled to bear with his crankiness, and he him- down the west coast of the Gulf are several self will be unfitted for a large part of his work members and many inquirers, pleading for a by want of practical experience of married life missionary to teach and baptize. Many of the aud human nature as it develops in the native Christians have made such progress iu family.
the spiritual life as to shame the average church A course in arts is not necessary to one com- member at home. We frequently learn of ex- ing here, but it is a useful addition to his intel- periences here that compel us to say, .. Surely lectual qualifications. If a physician cannot be God is working among this people." too well educated bl and for his profession at We have a number of native colporteurs, home, he ought not to come to a heathen land or catechists, and five licentiates. The Bible with any less knowledge. Students are to be • and many tracts have been translated and taught. A medical record is to be made up, and printed, and thonsands of copies scattered over medical science advanced by such contributions the country. Tours have been made in all as a thoroughly competent, wide-awake medical directions, though by no means all the provinces missionary can give. All the mental training a have not yet been reached. Boarding and day man can have wUl not fit him any too well for schools for both sexes have been established. those terrible moments that will come, when, Medical missionary work has been carried far removed from consultation, he must decide on more or less since the first missionaries questions and prescribe treatments, the issjle of came here about the year 1835. Prejudice has which may be of far more importance to him been broken down, and the people now have a than life itself.
good degree of confidence in our medicines and Let your medical course be as complete as treatment. .possible, giving due attention to every specialty.
S. How about self-support 1 Is it possible or Ophthalmology, for cataracts await you. Rhin- practicable 1 Perfectly possible. A man desir- ology and laryngology, as throat and nose troU"
ous of doing so conld become wealthy in a few bles abound. A troublesome otitis will present years. But as to its being practicable, I think itself to you. Dermatology will claim much of the maJority of missionary societies would pro- your time. You will be culpable it you neglect hibit It, for the reason that we should show the gynrecology and obstetrics, for while you wUl heathen that our religion is a benevolent one, not have many cases in that line among the and that we as its representatives are working natives, the missionary ladies should not be from disinterested motives. There are those deprived oC competent medical care.
who question whether this is the wisest course. One really particular qualification would be 4. What qualifications are necessary in a med- that the intending medical missionary to Siam- ical missionary coming here 1 Aside from those as indeed to any tropical climate-should spiritual qualltlcations, which all recognize 8S acquaint himself as far as possible with tropical essential to missionary service, I would urge the diseases before leaving home. Nearly every advice given me: "An abundant supply of disorder is more or less modified by the tropical sanctified' common sense." If a man comes here malaria (U Diseases of Tropical Climates," by without it, he will likely find it necessary to McLean: Macmillan & Co., London, gives val- return home in a shorttime to procure a supplY uable hints on the subject). The male physi- or mourn over his deficiency. This sanctified cian can reach all classes of people in Siam, and common sense should be of such a nature that a there is no occasion for lady doctors here-more man would be capable of taking a hand at than can be said to exist in America. China and almost anything in an emergency, and such India require the lady physicians, and thither emergencies are frequent here. her forces should be turned.
To work to best advantage every man should In closing, let me urge upon you the claims of be married, and every woman have a husband. Siam. For two years we have been asking for The Siamese mind is suspicious of a person one more medical missionary, and no present claiming to be single. They may believe you, in prospect of his coming. There is room for eight every other matter, but with regard to your or ten, while even a dentist could find ,grand opportunity for Christian work here. though he whols the leader of so many, that God willmaite"
would have to come out at his own charge•. him a great power in building up IDs kingdOm This is, of course, a tropical conotry, and the here.
climate trying to a foreigner, especially until Let me say that I have taken THE MISSIONARY acclimated. The records show that many have REVIEW from the first issue, and that no one broken down on this field. In some cases these I copy has given me such hope and strength as No.
breakdowns are the direct result of the climate, 1, new series. I see, as I have never seen before, but in a large number they are more directly that anything less than a fnIl and complete con- chargeable to errors and indiscretions on the secration and perfect love is a hindrance to the part of the new arrival. If a man or woman is cause of Christ. I have been in the habit of asthmatic or rheumatic advise against coming thinking that in proportion as I was consecrated here. The Same also if suffering from functional I would be successful; that the noconsecrated heart trouble, phthisis, chronic diarrhrea or dys- part wQuld be simply a loss. But now I see it entery_ differently-that it is not only a loss, but a posi- Lastly, the time to arrive here is preferably tive hindrance. NothiD~ short of a p.rfect lmJe December or January. The most unfavorable and a complete consecration can ever make us season is from October 1st to D~cem ber 1st. powerful to the tearIng down of the strongholds Trusting that you will find this at least a par- of Satan.
tial answer to your questions, and a help to any Mexico. who may think of coming to this country, I remain, LETTER from Miss E. Le Huray, Sincerely yours in His service, Miraflores, Mexico: JAS. B. THOMPSON. Mirabores must, indeed, be a favored place, P. S.-If anyone decides to come to Siam, and for here we have no priest against whom to conwishes information of a more minute kind as to tend, and we have all the children in town who outfit, etc.,it would be a pleasure to either Mrs. do not work in the factory. As I often go with Thompson or myself to communicate with them. them to their homes, I thiuk we have more In dia.. than half tue pareuts iu the place. The girls and myself are frequently invited out to dine. LETTER from Rev. M. J. Coldren, These visits are a great pleasure, we are so of the Free Baptist Mission: gladly received.
CUANDBALLY, INDIA, Feb. 24, 1888. How I wish you could see me when school is My DEAR DB. PIEBSON.-We have a very en- dismissed 1 The children crowd aronod me, couraging work here among the Orgas. It would and want to know whom I am going to visit to- not be at all surprising to see a general break day. They follow me all over the village, telL any day, and hundreds and thousands come unto ing me their little confidences-what happened the Lord. Thcre are already about 5,000 who when this one died. or that one moved away, have broken caste and,joined themselves under etc. When we go in to read or pray with the a leader who has for eight years been preaching mother of one of them, they all sit qnietly in Christ as the only Saviour, and that all people in the doorway and take part in the little meet- are equal in caste. He dares not claim to be a ing. Whatever else they do, they grow up Christian, and has not been baptized. He was having a knowledge of the Bible, and accus- led to this belief by. a tract which he chanced to tomed to prayer; all else God will care for, and get hold of some years ago. He expresses the it is written (for my most blessed consolation), m<lRt implicit faith in God the Father, and Christ .. My word will not retnrn noto me void, but as His Son. As might be expected, he has some will accomplish that which I please. and pros heathenish ideas. But he gives many evidences per in the thing whereunto I sent it.n that he has really been converted, and by judi- Not only do the members of our church come cious management not only he, but all his follow- to us, but often, especially in caSes of sick– ers may be led publicly to profess Christ. I be- ness, others will send to the mission, asking lieve that God is in him, preaching to the people, for the minister. It is these features that make and, is no doubt accomplishing more through the work so enconraging, and could you, at hinr than He could by one openly professing home, see all we do, your hearts would be greatly Christianity, because many have learned to comforted.
think of Christians as their enemies, and so the This afteruoon, when your letter came, I was simple name is sufficient to close their ears doing work not properly mine-that is, conduct- against instruction, and hence God is using this ing a funeral. As the native minister has not man under another name to preach His gospel. yet come, I being the only missionary, the poor I examined the man very closely yesterday as people thluir I can help them, if no one else can, to what he preached, and I find him thoroughly So this morning, as two of our little school-chil- sound on' the fundamental principles of salva- dren had died in the night,. their parents, al- tion. He gives a most wonderful experience iu though nominally Catholics, asked if they coul~ his conversion. Let Orissa, and especially the bring the children to the church and have some villages round about Chandbally, be before you sort of a service OlVer them; If ouly a prayer. We n tlme'of prayer. Pray earnestly for this man, did the best we could, for it was too late to get help from Mexica-brought all the school·chll· form, while watching at his side were his wife dren together and read the burial service. sang and daughter, dressed in rags and pitiful to be- .and prayed. It was a touching sight to see the hold. The little money I had given them the day before had bought a candle which stood two small coffins side by side, and the little flock lighted at his head ; the poor old wife at his side was silently wiping her eyes with the soiled otchildren bearing flowers. and torn fragments of her dress. A little later GaIdino aud I went again to pray with them and I could hardly command my voice to make found the honse quite full of sympathizing friends, who listened gladly to all that was said the prayer, especially as the chnrch was filled to concerning the death of Lazarus and the hope of the very doors. Bnt it was a little thing to do the resurrection. after all, and if it brought consolation to any heart, we feel well repaid. It is things like this How I wished that those who speak lightly of we are doing all the time. We have conducted missions might have seen this pitiful death, the several chnrch services, also (for want of some solemn service for the body, and the mournful one to do it better), and have opened our house burial that took place upon the hill. His poor for prayer-meetings. So you see we are very old wife, half naked, followed the COffin,' carry- busy, very happy, and our hearts, in an especial ing on her shoulder the spade to fill in the grave manner, full of God's peace and His blessed and the ropes with which to lower the remains presence. in the ground. And all withont the blessed con- solation we Christians have in such an hour. If A poor old woman from the town came np to I conld only believe that the prayers at the dying the mission one day, saying that her hnsband hour were heard at last 1 would feel relieved of was dying, and asking with tears for some one a weight that has been pressing on me for days. to come speak a few words to him and make a If I could but have heard the assurauce, " This prayer before it was too late. day shalt thou be with me in Paradise" I It is They rarely send for a priest in the presence only because we believe God came into the world of death, but almost always call for ns. I told her we had no minister, but that I would gladly to save 8inners that we can go about our work 11:0 with her and do what I could. It was the as we do. old story; they were old and Gut of work, and so GENERAL INTELDIGENCE. poor, she said, for want of nourishing food, her husband was dying. She herself was barefoot, -Our Missionaries. During the last dressed in rags, and sO old ",nd thin and hundred years the convictions of wretched it made one's heart ache to see her, Chri!)tendom in regard to missionary without hearing her sad story. I followed her work have undergone a profound to her little hut, some distance down the road, change. When Carey, the father of a place often passed before, but which, it so Protestant missions in Bengal, pro- happened, I had never visited. pounded, at the meeting of Baptist ministers a century ago, the duty I"have seen a great many poor homes in Mira- of preaching the gospel to, "the flores, but never one quite so poor 8S that, heathen," the aged president is said Where, in the one room of the little hut, there to have sprung up in displeasme and was not one article of fnrniture. shouted: "Young man, sit down. When God pleases to convert the You cannot imagine what a terrible responsi- heathen H~ will do it. without your bility it is to feel that you mnst say some last aid or mine." A second Pentecost. words to one who in a few honrs will be in he thought, must precede such a eternity. At home it would be different, for work. To another pious Noncol).- there they would have heard it all before, but formist divine the proposal sug- here they are neither Catholics nor Protestants, gested the thought, "If the Lord and totally ignorant ot all that concerns their would make windows in heaven salvation. might this thing be?" Ministers of the Kirk of Scotland, which has since The dying man lay on some rags on the floor, labored so nobly for the education of which itself was of earth-cold and damp. They India, pronounced the idea to be were very anxious that we should pray with the "highly preposterous," and extolled poor man, but when I knelt beside him and took the simple virtues of the untutored his feverish band in mine, he was too far gone savag-e. A bishop of the Church (If to be able to hear the Scripture read or the England, the church whose mission- prayer made, 'and only wistfully turned his eyes upon me, as though trying to hear. I shall never forget how dreadfnl it made me feel to know that he was, perhaps, then dying. and we so helpless to say or do anything that might help to save his sonl. I went away thinking: "How can we take life so lightly f"
The next day it rained so hard I did not see hina. The following morning, as early as I conld, I went to the house. but on entering saw at once tluit he was dead. There, stretched on the cold earth, wrapped only in a sheet, lay his helpless aries now compass the earth, argued was impossible to resist, and to whose publicly and powerfully in opposition mercy it was useless to appeal. . •. , to such schemes.. The British nation, During the last twenty-five years tlie as represented in Parliament, de- study of the science of religion, or, clared against them. Its servants in speaking more accurately, of the his- the East regarded the missionaries as tories of religions, has profoundly dangerous breakers of the law. But modified missionary methods. That for the benevolence of a Hindu study has led the world, and is com- money-changer the first English mis- pelling the church to acknowledge sionary famify in Bengal would, at the good in other faiths. • . • Be- one time, have been without a roof. tween the missionary conceptions of But for the courage of a petty Danish the beginning of the century and of governor the next misslOnary party the present day there is all the di1fe~ would have been seized by our auth- ence between St. Peter at Joppa and orities in Calcutta and shipped back St. Paul on Mars' Hill. In the non- to Europe. A hundred years ago the Christian religions, the early Protest- sense of the churches, the policy of ant missionaries be held only unclean Parliament, the instinct of self-pres- things, four-footed beasts of th~ ervation among the Englishmen who earth, and wild beasts, and creeping were doing England's work in distant things, and fowls of the air. The lands, were all arrayed against the modern missionary to the Hindus missionary idea. The missionaries .takes the tone in which the great had to encounter not less hostile, and certainly better founded, prejudices he proselytizing apostle addressed the among the non-Christian peoples to whom they went. For, until a cen- Brahmins of Europe at Athens; , tury ago, the white man had brought quotes their literature, and starting no blessings to the darker nations of from their devotions at their own al- the earth. During three hundred tars, he labors to supplant an igno,- – years he had been the despoiler, the rant worship by an enlightened wor- enslaver,· the exterminator of the ship, by an enlightened faith. • • • simpler races. The bright and brief ~he science of religion, or more cor~ episode in Pennsylvania stands out rectly, the study of the development against a grim background of oppres- of religions, has armed the mission- sion and wrong. In America ancient ary with new weapons. In contro- kingdoms and civilizations had been versial combats it enables him to trodden out beneath the hoofs of the wield the sharp blade of historical Spanish horse. In Africa the white criticism with an effectiveness hither- man had organized a great export to unknown. In dealing with indi- trade in human flesh. In South Asia vidual inquirers· it qualifies him to cities had been sacked, districts dev- point out how the venerable struc- astated by the Portuguese. Through- ture of their ancestral belief was no out the Eastern Ocean the best of the supernatural edifice let down from nations of Europe appeared as rapa- heaven, but was distinctly and con- cious traders, the worst of them as sciously put together at ascertained pirates and buccaneers. In India, periods, by human hands.. In popu- which was destined to be the chief lar appeals, it gives him the means of field of missionary labor, the power accurately and powerfully pressing had passed to the English, without home the claims of the l'eligion which the sense of responsibility for using he advocates, as against those which their power aright. During a whole he would supersede. For the great generation the natives had learned religions of the world took their to regard us as a people whose arms it present form in ages when mankind was very unhappy. In the East, the logic of extremes accepted, once an~ for all, the conclusion that existence The cell of the prison will become the is in itself a long suffering, and ex- pulpit for a world-wide evangelism. tinction the sole deliverance. Hinduism and Buddhism embodied their The tongue will find utterance, Ifonly to the ears of a jailer and ftollow deep despondency in differenttermsliberation, absorption, or the blowing prisoners. The pen will become a tongue to tell the story of redempout of.one's being, as a woman blows tion, and the press will become the out a lamp. But underlying all their ally of the pen in making its voice euphemisms is the one conviction universally heard and immortally efthat life is not, and cannot be, worth fective. What a blessing was Bedliving.- Christianity avoided the dif- ford jail, that made John Bunyan the ficulty arising from the obvious mis- omnipresent and undying preacher eries of mankind by another answer. to the millions whom his voice could From the first it declared that life never have reached through the cenmight become worth living, if not turies during which his voice is here, yet elsewhere, and the later de- hushed in death! If our lives are velopments of Christianity have directed their energies to make life given to God, they may be safely left worth living here also. Apart from in His care. Not a hair of our head other aspects, Christianity, as a help will perish. Thelamp we have sought to humanity, is a religion of effort to light at His altars,and then to place a.n!! hope; Hinduism and Buddhism are religions of resigned acceptance, high up upon His lampstand, He will not put under a measure or quench in 61' of despair, They were true in- darkness. We may think our in- fluence circumscribed and even lost, terpl'eters of Asiatic man's despond- when He is but enlarging its circum- ency of the possibilities of existence ference and extending its dominion. in the age in which they arose. They How wide is the circle of true mis- are growing to be fundamentally at sionaries, and how enduring the period variance with the new life which we of their power! .Two hundred years are awakening in India. I believe have passed since the tinker of Elstow that Hinduism is still sufficiently breathed his last. But like tile fabled plastic to adapt itself to this new grave of another beloved John, at world; that it has in it enough of Ephesus, the very earth heaves the vis medicatrim naturw to cast with his breafhing. He is not disused doctrines and to develop new dead and can not die.-Dr. A. T. ones. But the process must be slow Pierson, in Aug. Miss. Review of the and difficult. Christianity comes to World. the Indian races in an age of new act- ivity and hopefulness as a fully -Elect Nations. I believe in the doc- equipped religion of effo~t and of trine of elect nations, as' for example, I hope. And it comes to them in a the Jews, the Gl'eeks, the Romans, spirit of conciliation which it did not ,England, Germany, America; that disclose before. It thus presents its these nations have a role given them two most practical claims on human by the God of Nations; that God af- acceptance. FOl', although to a for- fords them their opportunity to fulfill tunate minority Christianity may be this role, called them to the kingdom a religion of faith, yet I think that, to of their own peculiar period, gives most of us, it is rather a religion of them their day of visitation, when He hope and of charity.-Sir W. W. Hunter, in The Nineteenth Century. takes the field with them. We sit down coolly and calculate our popu- -John Bunyan Still Living. He lation in the year of our Lord 1900. who has the missionary spirit can- What do we care about population- not be shut out from a dying world. we who took the continent with 101 souls! Whether that population be Christian-that is the question for us, and that will depend upon whether Christ. Civilization I The rampart can only be we know the day of our visitation, whether we remember the pit from stormed by those who carry the CroSB." which, in the old world, God digged us, and dominion of the earth's forces -Progress of Missions, For 3,000' -does it not seem to tend to one thing, to give us the leverage by years there existed but three versions which to move the earth? If we stand in God, we can do it. Are not of the Holy Scriptures. To-day they our gold and silver God's? Are not our sons and daughters God's? By may be read in 350 of the 6,000 tongues the act of the Pilgrims, is not this continent God's? All that the na- that are spoken. In 1804 there were tions ask is to be fed from the crumbs that fall from the Master's tab1e here. in the world only 5,000,000 Bib'les, in We have only to eat and to distribute. 1880 there were in the hands of hu- And I say that, with all America's mankind 160,000,000 copies of the resources and America's possibilities sacred Word. At the beginning of our and America's temptations, she is century the way of life could be safe only as she takes the world, not studied by but one-fifth of the world's upon her shoulders, as Atlas did, but population, now it is tmnslated into upon her heart, as did her Master; languages that make it accessible to only as she loves it and as God loves nine-tenths of the inhabitants of the it. So that, to Americans, the home world. Protestants occupy over 500 missionary problem and the foreign separate fields. In them they ha.ve missionary problem are one and the more than 20,000 miSSIOn stations, same. The first and great command- supplied with no less than 40,000 ment is America; the second, and missionaries. Five hundred thouthat which is like unto 'it, the world, sand heathen children attend Chrisby America! God's few are mightier tian schools. One million communithan the world's many. Numbers cants are enrolled in congregations are often the source of weakness. gathered from among the heathen. They beget pride, and turn the Two million stat~d healers are nomiheart away from God. It is not salt naladherents of the evangelical alone that He wants; it is salt that faith. Of the 1,433,000,000 that has not lost its savor. It is not Gide- people the world, 135.000,000 are Proon alone that he wants; it is Gideon testant Christians. The area of the and the sword of the LOl'd.-Rev. J. habitable globe is computed at 52,- E.Rankin, D.D. 000,000 square miles; of these 18,000,- 000 square miles are under Greek and -Christianity and Civilization. Rev. Romish Church dominion; 20,000,000 square miles 'under Mohammedan James Chalmers, an experienced mis- and Pagan governments, and 14,000- 000 square miles under Protestant sionary in New Guinea: rule.-Christian at Work.
"I have had twenty-one years' experience Africa.-The Congo Free State. Col. Sir amongst natives. I have seen the semi·civilized Francis de Winton, Administrator·General of and the civilized; I have lived with the Chrlst· the Congo Free State, says that of the 475,roo square miles which compose the table-lands of ian native, and I have lived, dined and slept the Upper Congo Valley, there is hardly 100 with the ·cannibal. I have visited the islands of miles of area not approachable by a. waterthe New Hebrides, which I trust will not be way.-Three hnndred and eighty·slx tusks of handed over to the tender mercies of France; 1 ivory, averaging fifty pounds each, were offered have visited the Loyalty group; I have seen the for sale at Stanley Pool station in one day. When work of missions in the Samoan group; I have some method is devised for getting the ivory to lived for ten years in the Hervey gronp ; I know the coast without slaves, the slave·trade will be a few of the gronps close on the line, and for nine abolished. Both the ivory and the slaves who years I have lived with the savages of New carry it are now sold; but neither trade would Guinea; but I have never met with a single man be sufficiently profitable alone.-The extensive or woman, or with a single people, that yonr territories of the Niger Basin. left nnder English civilization without Christianity has civilized. control by the Berlin Conference, are to be gov- Gospel and commerce; but remember this. it erned by "The Royal Niger Company," organ- must be the gospel first. Wherever there has ized on the same plan as the East India Com- been the slightest spark of civilization in the pany. The company has adopted rules granting southern Seas, it has been where the gospel has freedom in religion and commerce, and discour- been preached: and wherever yon find in the aging slavery.-A contract has been signed by Island of New Guinea a friendly people, or a peo· an international syndicate, for a loan of $25,000" 000, to colonize the Congo Basin.-Preparations pIe that will welcome you there, it is where the are being made to build the railroad along the missionaries of the cross have been preaching sonthern bank of the Congo, past Livingstone Falls, to Stanley Pool; and the King of Belgium has. ordered the building of steamers on the of government. At the head of the company is Upper Congo out of native wood.-Lieut. Wiss- Mr. W. Mackinnon, one of the wealthiest ship.. mann states that the Lower Congo, which is the pers in England, and identified with the British best known, is the least favorable section of the India Company. For several years he has been country.-Lieut. Von Nimptsch regards the Kas- conspicuous for his faith in the wisdom of insai as "oC greatOl' importance to commerce than vesting capital in developiug trade and civilizathe Congo ItseIC."-Stanley took 999 days to cross tion in Mrica. He headed the British syndicate Africa. Lieut. Gleerup, the ninth man to cross, which offered to build the Congo railroad, a took but eight months. project which fell through because King Leopold would not give the concessions demanded. He -The Mohammedan Emir of Nupe, assumed the larger part of the heavy cost of the Emin Pasha relief expeditiou. Associated with West Africa, has sent the following him are a large number of prominent people, stirring message to Bishop Crowther among whom is the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, of the Niger Mission: and the co-operation of tbis lady was perhaps se- cured by the fact that the purposes of the com- "It Is not a long matter; it is about barasa pany arc partly philanthropic. (rum). Barasa, barasa, barasa t It has ruiued our country; it has rnined our people very Tbe company has already arranged to fortify much; it has made our people mad. I beg you, several points along the coast and some of the :Malam Kip, don't forget this writing; because adjacent islands for the purpose of hemming in we all beg that he (Crowther) should beg the the slave-traders. With the Congo State and great priests (Committee of the Church Mission- EminPasha on the west. the Germans on the ary Society) that they should beg the English south, and the British Company on the east and Queen to prevent bringing barasa into this land. north, the hunting-grounds of the Arab slavers will be pretty well surrounded, and Mr. Mac- .. For God and the Prophet's sake. For God kinnon believes that in this way it may be made and the Prophet, His messenger's sake, he must so difficult to follow tbe tra~e tbat it will practihelp us in this matter-that of barasa. We all cally be killed at its sources of supply. The have conlldence in bim. He must not leave our company has also acquired the large island of country to become spoiled bybarasa. Tell him, Pemba, on whose plantations are many of the may God bless bim in his work. This is the victims of the recent revival of the slave trade. moutb-word from :Malike, tbe Emir of Nupe." While putting an end to illegal traffiC, the com- pany hopes to open up safe trade routes, along -Says Canon Farrar, in the Oon- wbich cottons and hardware may be taken by temporary Revtew : white merchants to the millions of peogle living around Victoria Nyanza, all of whom are eager "The old rapacity of the slave-trade has been to get European goods, and who have ivory and followed by the greedier and more ruinous ra- other products to exchange. The Arab caravans pacity of tbe drink-seller. Our fathers tore from carrying European goods to this region somethe neck oC Africa a yoke of whips; we have times number a thousand persons. snbjected the native races to a yoke of scorpions. We have opened the rivers of Mrica to com- The region which has thus come nominally unmerce, only to pour down them the raging Phle- der the control of the British East African Comgethon oC alcohol, 'han which no river of the pany is about 600,000 square miles in extent. It Iuferno is more blood-red or mOre accursed. Is is to be governed by directors under the control the conscience of the nation dead? If not, wiII of a board of managers in London. Thomson, no Yoice be raised of sufficient power to awaken New, Johuston, and a half dozen other explorers It from a heavy sleep P" who have visited this region, tell us that it em- braces much of the finest land in equatorial -A New African State. AmongaU Africa, and that a part of it is ruled with rather industrious and teeming populations. It will be the remarkable enterprises of which interesting to watch the developing of this new Africa is now the scene, there is prob- attempt to extend civilization and to found a ably none which exceeds in interest new State in Africa.-New York Sun. that which is now unfolding in the Burmah. – A missionary of the vast regions northeast of Zanzibar. Society for the Propagation of the We have already told of the agreement between Germany and Great Britain, stipulating in Gospel Burmah says that the six that British Inlluences may operate without interference in the country between the east coast strong points in the ramparts of Budand Victoria Nyanza. uorth of a line drawn from Mombasa to the middle point of the east sbore dhism are these: oC the great lake. We have also described the British East African Company, organized to de- 1. It is the ancestral religion, and has all but velop this large region. The British Goveru- universal sway. No dissenters. ment has now granted a charter to this company, giving it Cnll powers to maintain an armed 2. All the boys and young men at some time Coree, erej:t forts, levy customs and taxes, open wear the robe and live in the monastery. trade routes, and to perform all other functions 3. The women are more devout Buddhists than the men. 4,. It is the one bond of national life. one-third of their pastor's salary. '5. Science. art, knowledge are all aaturated They demurred at the proposition, but the missionary was firm; and with Buddhism. rather than lose the man they 6. The coercive power given to the religion by wanted, they agreed. This was an epoch in the history of self-support iis union with court and crown. in the mission. News of what had beendonespread among the churches, These points, he thini{s, will be car- and soon SIX others had become self- , ried in the following order, the sixth issupporting on the same basis. This now the rule in the mission, and having already been overcome: works to the advantage of all con- cerned. Possibly there may be a 6. The crown and coercive power has gone, useful hint in this for other missions. and the monks will now Corm independent cor- Self-support cannot be secured with- porations. oauryt.setlf-direction.-Baptist Mission- 5. Western art, science, knowledge and trades -Rev. George Owen, missionary from Pe- will undermine and supplant the old system. king, said, in Exeter Hall: .. Itgives me very 4. The national life must separate from decay- great pleasure to support a resolution of Ing religion, and find newer and more vigorous thanks to Almighty God for increased life, with civil and religious freedom under the opportunities of usefulness. I think we fostering care of England. have great reason to thank God for what 3. Women will find brighter, nobler hopes and He has done in China. The doors of that long-closed land are now open to us; with work under the gospel; and their devotion be- few exceptions we can travel from end to come fixed on Christ, not Gau-da·ma. end of that mighty empire; we can sell books and preach the gospel in most of its 2. More active intellectual life will burst mo- nastic bonds,and the youth of the country become cities, towns and villages without let or no longer willing to submit to its irksome re- hindrance. We have great liberty of action straints. and splendid opportunities of preaching 1. The magnitude and extent of the old religion Christ to the Chinese. And that is a thing Wt11 hnrry it on to destruction when once decay for which we may well give thanks. Think rhas set in. ChinR.-J. Hudson Taylor says that China of it: eighteen magnificent provinces, each has coal deposits enough to provide the world with coal for 2,000 years. There is a tradition as large as Great Britain, 1,500walled cities, that St. Thomas went to China in the apostolic age, but as he gave them no Bible the work was some 7,000 towns,and over 100,000 villages not permanent. The Nestorians went there from are now open to the preaching of the glori- ous gospel. Fifty years ago, I believe, there the seventh to fifteenth c.enturies, but they again gave China no Bible. So also the Romanists in waS not a single Protestant con:vert in the the thirteenth century, but they made the same empire of China; thirty years ago there mistake. The Jesuits took SCience, but not Scripture. The first British ships took opium. were some 400 or 500. At the end of last But Robert Morrison went to China, and then year there were 32,000 men and women in the Bible began to he given to the Celestial Em- full church membership, there were 13,000 pire. There are now 150,000,000 of opium osers in China.· In 1856 Mr. Ta.lor went with Wm. children in our schools learning to know Burns to Swatow, headquarters of the distribu- tion of opium in that district. Children, and Christ, and besides these there are thou- even wives, were sold for the sake of procuring this deadly drug, and this represents the sum of sands-nay, tens of thousands-who have all villainies and miseries, working more ruin than drink, slavery and licensed vice combined. learned to honor Christ and respect the gos- Such is the testimony of Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, pel. That, I think, is something for us to the head of the China Inland Mission. rejoice over."
-The way to self-support in the China's .lwakening.-The Chinese King- missions of the London Society, in dom, whose extraordinary inhabitants a. thousand years ago had become proficient China, was found by letting the in many arts and technical discoveries, churches choose their own pastors. made use of the mariner's compass long be- fore the inventive Italians had discovered The method was discovered almost by accident. One of the mission their magnetic needle. They had employed churches was dissatisfied with the cannon before Berthold Schwarz, made gun- pastor which had been sent by the powder, established a paper cnrrency in the missionary in charge, and asked for another who was a favorite with thirteenth century as efficient as the Chase them. The missionary told them national banking system; eat their meals they could have him if they would pay the whole of his salary, whereas from the finest porcelain, while in the they were then paying only about castles of German barons only tin plates were in use and and wooden bowls in the huts of the German peasants. The extraor- dinary race which,long before Gutenburg, employed movable type in printing, and whose gold, sliver and bronze works of art of human activity Protestants have ac. were the admiration of the world from the earliest period of antiquity, has, at quired a distinguished place. len&,th, aroused itself from its long Rip Van • As to ecclesiastical organization, French Winkle sleep. Every mail from the Flowery Kingdom brings fresh evidence of the fact. Protestants are divided into three groups: It is wonderful, and not yet fully ascer- the Reformed Church, the Church of the tained, how a people that in the Middle Confession of Augsburg, and the various In. Ages, while there reigned in Europe the dependent churches. The Reformed Church most barbarous condition, stood upon an is the most considerable, comprehending elevation of cult:ure which has only been about 600.000 members. Its connection with attained by us in modern times, should the State deprives it of the free action that abruptly come to a standstill, as if a moral might render its decisions even more effecttetanus had fallen upon their social exist- ive than they now are. The Church of Augaence. The Chinese were engaged in mining burg Confession has lost three-fourths of its long before the Greeks or Phrenicia!ls;" but members by the annexation of Alsace to for three hundred years their metallurgical Germany. It counts about 80,000 adherents, industries had almost wholly ceased, mining with ninety pastors. becoming arrested, and their output of gold sinking to the lowest minimum. These mines .. The Independent churches number from are again about to be put in operation. 15,000 to 2O,OOU members; the most numerous Some few days since an enterprising Ameri- is the Union of the Free Evangelical can set out for France with inspectors, chnrches with about fifty pastors. These miners and machinery in order to re-open churches represent with courage a.nd firmthe mines in the province of Shan Tung. ness the principle of the independence of the These mines gave, in their day, an abundant church, but their direct in1iuence is reproduct; but in the fifteenth century, it is strained by their numerical weakness. The said, the discovery was made that metal- Methodist Church counts thirty regnlar 1url;"ical industry brought about a plague in pastors and about 100 local preachers. The the country; stormy weather was ascribed otper denominatiens, liaptists, etc., are of to the infiuence of evil spirits let loose by less importa.nce." it: and one day the emperor issued a decree wJtich Interdicted mining operations of Germany.-At one of the meetings every description. Since that time the of the recent London Conference Mr. Chinese have restricted themselves to gold Grattan Guinness, whopl'esided, read washing. Experts assert that the ore in Shan Tung will yield $20 to the ton. As the extracts fl'om a paper received from Chinese laborers work for very low wages, an enormous profit may be anticipated from Mr. Grundiman, who was not able to the output. Thus the powerful kingdom of 'be present, on German Protestant the far East is waking up in every field of useful occupation to a new existence, and Missions: with the adaptability of the Mongolian race it will not be long before 1hey will be able to In a very interesting manner he reviewed !lOntinue their mining operations without the missionary enterprise of Germany, point- the guidance of the Caucasian. There are ing out tho.t un to a recent period one of the already men-of-war, commanded and strongholds of opposition to missionary manned by Chinamen, an achievement that work was the University of Jens.; now a twenty-five years ago would have been COll- missionary society has been formed among sidered impracticable.-Public Opinion. the students there. The political press, which formerly was silent on the question, Franee. -" Numerically, Protest- nOw freely ventilates the cause of foreign antism in France is very weak," says missions. Dr. Grundiman showed that the the Journal Religeux. noble tree of the Moravian brethren, plant- ed through the instrumentality of Count "Those 'competent to estimate give the Zinzendorf, had for a considerable time number as from 700.000 to 800,000. This is few stood alone. Fourteen other societies '!ore for a coustry with 36,000,000 of inhabitants. growing un side bV side With it, and many How much more it might have been but for have already become strong. The Gossner the expUlsion of the Huguenots t There Is, Mission has in Ischutia, Nagpoor, among the however, progress. In 1809, Mr. Recolin says, Kolki tribes, more than 30,000 converts, and there were only 150 pastors in France; now, the Rhenish Mission has about the same even after the loss of Alsace, there are 870 number in South Africa and Dutch India. In pastors, of whom,85 belong to the Independ- Snmatra especia1y the mission among th8 ent churches. It is also trne that the Prot- cannibal Bataks has prospered in a marvel~ estant minority occupies an important po- ous manner. The Berlin South African Mis- sition in public life.' In every department sion has likewise experienced blesSed re~ suits. When the secretary visited the field twenty-one years ago there were something like 1,600 converts at the different stations, but when, three years ago, he went back he found the number had increased to 16,000, and the Ia.test report mentioned 19,000 con- gogne. At the beginning of the verts. The Ba.sel Mission, ma.inly supported present century this island, situated by Christians in South Germany, in West at the most southerly point of the Indo-British empire, was desolate Africa, India., and China, has something and a meeting-place for tigers from the neighboring country. Even now over 20,000 converts, The Leipsic Mission tigers sometimes swim through the narrow channel which separates the bas in India 14,000 converts, and the Her- island from the continent, and come to the gates of the city. At present mansburger Mission in South Africa, 12,000 the city is of great importance to the commerce of the world. All ships converts. from Europe and Asia to Si~m, Anan, China and Japan pass the Island and Hawaii.-The Hawaii Islands have stop there for coal and provisions. About forty Jewish families are resi- ~ population of .20,000 Chinese, who dents, mostly hailing from Bagdad. A few come from England, and one are engaged in all manner of pursuits firm, Katz8z;Brother, from Germany. They follow the Sephardic rite, no and show their native thrift and rabbi, but a shochet, who is at the same time Hebrew teacher. The capability for work in whatever busi- vernacular is English, but most of the Jews speak also Arabic. ness they engage. Many of them are -A Hindu woman said to a missionary: on the sugar plantations; at Spreck- " Surely your Bible was written by a woman." elville (named after the sugar king) ,i Why ?.. "Because it says so many kind things there are 1,100. Most of them are for women. Our pundits never refer to us but from the same district as the Chinese here, but many are of the Hakka in reproach. " class, of whom we do not see so many. For the past 25 year~ evan- -There is no doubt that caste must gelistic work has been carrIed on among them by the Hawaiian Board undergo great modifications in the of Missions. During the past few years Mr. F. W. Damond and his near future. The diffusion of knowlwife have had almost sole charge of this work, and report much encoUl'- edge exposes its hollowness and cruagement in it. There is a Chinese church in Honolulu and another in elty, although neutral text-books do Kohola, on the island of Hawaii, and missionary tours have been made to not give men the" courage of their the other islands, where the gospel convictions." Thatthe "mild Hindu" has been proclaimed. An interesting should become so hardened and unfeature of the work is the use of the natural as to refuse a dying man a magic lantern, oftentimes under the drinlc of water, as caste forbids him open sky. Sometimes the beautiful to do, is sufficient condemnation of view, representing the wise men .fol~ the inhuman system. The political lowing the star, shone out agamst aspirations of the Hindus are directly the starry background of the actual contrary to the spirit of caste. Na- heavens before an assembled audi- tionality demands intelligence and ence composed of Chinese, Japanese, conscience, and the legal equality Portugese, Gilbert Islanders and Ha- and responsibility of men. If a SudI'll, waiians, while at times the explana- may not become a ruler, then nation- tions were given in five different lan- ality is a myth; if he may, then caste guages, and much good has been done is dead. Patriots must be. sever~ly by this object teaching. In Honolulu tried to see the veneratlOnwlth a fine Young' Men's Christian Asso- which the grave-clothes and bands of ciation building has been erected by caste are cherished by some would-be the Chinese, and the Association has reformers.-Indian Witness. been doing good work. This work should be of especial interest to us, -Mohammedanism and Female Education. for we labor in much the same methods, under many of the same A printed circular has been widely distributed disadvantages, and among the same class of people. The report for 1887 iu the zeuanas of the Northern Punjab, in is intensely interesting, and will be sent to anyone on application, with India, adorned with the crescent aud star. in stamp, to Mr. F. W. Damon, Honolulu, Oahu, H. I. Mr. Damon is con- which Mohammedans are most earnestly ex- nected with the American Board. horted to organize girls' schools for the educa- India.-Singapore, a city on the tion of the female sex, .. according to the island of the same name, has a small Korsn," to prevent Christiau missionaries from Jewish congregation and a syna- extending their influence over MohammedaD women.
7'"Mohammedans. Ithas been often referred to that in India there are whether they would embrace the rellcion or.
over forty millions of Mohamme- the irreligion of Europe.
dans under British rule. The Queen- Persia.-~obert Bruce, D.D., of'
Empress rules over more Mohamme- Persia, said at a late meeting of the Church Missionary Society, that" so dans than the Sultan of Turkey. far ft'om mission work among Moham- TheseMohammedans of India are the medans being a forlorn hope, he was descendants of the great Mohamme- acquainted with thl'eeChurchof Engdan invaders of past days. Partly land clergymen who were once Mohammedans, and one of them has the;v are the descendants of Hindus (chIefly oeifthloewr tehrrcoausgtehsf)~rwcehoo~ as in baptized fifty converts. Beng:u, hopes South Sea.-The London Missionary Cbronof gam, exchanged their rude idolatry icle gives extracts from a letter of a. visitor among the missions in the South Seas, who for Islam. These Mohammedans of some time since had written a series of India con~in among them Plen of articles to one of the Sydney papers, speakc!>~mandmg ability and dignified po- ing very contemptuously of missiona.ries sItIon at the courts of Mohammedan and their "Cork. This man was at that time. as he now admits, .. a renegade, reprobate, princes, men of high standing in the and enemy of the gospel," and in the" bond- age of selfish obduracy and vice," but havcouncils of the several governments ing been converted to Ohrist, he makes a most humble confession, expressing the of India, men of learning and culture: deepest regret and shame for the slanders he had uttered, and acknowledging that he That all these millions of Moham- had written statements about matters of which he knew nothing. There is room for medans are fellow-subjects with us, more confessions of this kind from some who have disparaged missions when they under the rule of Queen Victoria, knew nothing about them, or who were so in the bondage of sin that they were wholly means that they are in India brought outof sympathy with any efforts to promote righteous living. We have in mind at this under specially favorable circum- moment an author whose recent cynical utterances about missions and missionaries stances for becoming acquainted with in .Japan would have little weight with the public if the full history of the man were the gospel. It means also that they known.
have the protection of a powerful Syria.-A letter received, very re- go~e~'nment. in the profession of that cently, from Dr. H. H. Jessup, of rehglOn WhICh their honest convic- Beirut, states that: 1. The gospel is now established in the Turkish em-, tion may lead them to adopt. Mr. pire as never hitherto. 2. The Sul- Wherry said, at the Decennial Mis- tan has made legal the circulation of sionary Conference in Calcutta, in 1882, "Th~ progress of learning, the the Scriptures in all parts of· his do- spread of Western science, the appli- minions. 3. The native churches are now coming into a self-supporting ances of travel, the increasing facili- condition. 4. The governmentlooks ties of intercommunication by post with special favor ppon native, and ~elegraph, the pUblication of a rather than upon foreign, evangelistic multItude of newspapers and periodi- agencies, and so encourages a native cals, and the very powerful influence ministry. of the English people resident in "Tahiti.-Lately Mr. Green landed India, combine to make the Moslems the:e with a supply Of Bibles. The of India, of all the followers of Mo- natIves wanted them all, but the hammed in the world, the most amen- missionary was not authorized able to the injluences of the gospel, "- to give away, and there was not Ohurch Miss, Intelligencer. $5 in money on the whole island. However, he sold them all on credit, Italy.-Politically, the Italians are trusting for remittance,from money Protestants, while religiously they are Roman Catholics. We must dis- tinguish between the few who are the abettors, and the many who are the victims of Romish despotism.
One of the daily papers of Italy is now publishing the Bible in its col- umns in 210 parts.
Japan.-Rev. John Gulick of .Japan said that a flood of atheistic literature was en- tering the country from abroad, and the few thousands of Ohristians in .Japan were not numerous enough to influence in the right direction the 35,000.000 of the .Japanese. What is to be done for .Japan should be done quickly, as the .Japanese were movin/:' for- ward, a.nd would have to decide soonas to
'180 INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT. rQcT.-
robe received from the ship's pur- ised dollar was paia to the mission- ary. And this among a population. chases of provisions on land. He of only 140 persons so poor that even thus disposed of $100 worth. Anxious to redeem their pledges, the na- the women were dressed in garments tives brought their fowls, pigs and of grass.
goats to the officer, and every prom- IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
. CONDUCTED BY REY. J. T. GRACEY, D.D., OF THE "INTERNATIONAL HIS- SIONARY UNION."
Five Hundred Years ofIslam inTurkey.* science and art. In all that oonsti- bItes civilization the East was far in BY REY. CYRUS HAMLIN, D.D., LEXING- advance of the West when this Osmanli dynasty arose. The Cru- TO~, HASS. saders, who treacherously took and sacked Constantinople in 1203, ex- ALTHOUGH Constantinople was not pressed their astonishrt:lent at the taken and the last remnant of the arts, the splendor, the luxuries of Greek empiI'e destroyed till 1403, yet the desolated city. practically Sultan Muhammed and Bajozet, in the victories of Kossovo, Islam had possession also of all 1389, and of Nicopolis, 1396, estab- the sources of wealth. It had every lished the Ottoman power over those variety of soil and climate, and proregions known as European Turkey. duce of the earth between the tem- The OsmanIi Turks, therefore, thQ perate and the tropic zones. Its minbravest, the most persistent, the most eral wealth was vast, and is still capable of instituting and maintain- undeveloped. In the shores and ing government, of all Moslem peo- harbors of the Mediterranean, the Sea ples, have had possession for five of Marmora, and the Black Sea, with hundt'ed years of the fairest, richest the great rivers Nile and Danube, portion of the old historic world. The commerce was offered advantages possession was complete when, in which no other power possessed. 1453, tHe capital fell i,nto their power, Europe stood in awe of this mighty and the crescent replaced the cross power, and was only anxious for on St. Sophia. defense. In all the science and arts . These five centuries present to us of war, as existing in the fourteenth the most favorable test of the faith and fifteenth centuries, Islam had of Islam which· history contains. the advantage. In 1326 the second The government has been adminis- Sultan of this dynasty organized a tered in the. interests of the faith. It standing army, with regular pay for has been a religious government. Its officers and men, with military uniinspiration has been the Koran and form and music of drum and fife; Koranic tradition. Its sovereign with infantry and cavalry, and an ruler claims to be the" Caliph," the order of battle conformed to the successor of Muhammed, the infalli- organization of the army. In a word, ble repository. of the faith, and his Islam had its own way, could choose claim is admitted by the Moslems of its own mode of action, and it must every land. Islam thus came into the now be judged by its results. Among possession of a wider territory than its subjects it had a Christian popu- Rome ever controlled. . lation on conditiOIlj> which, it im· posed. There was no superior powel Its domains in Europe, Asia and to fear. When the first Sultan or Africa secured. to it the accumulated this dynasty took Nice .and carved riches .of the world, not only in what over the gate, "There is but one God, i~usually termed wealth, but in * Rejld·beCore International Missionary Union, Bridgeton, N. J., fuly,lS88. and Muhammed is his prophet," Rus- clearly the great advantage that sia was a barbarous power under the domination of the Mongol Tartars. would aCcrue to the Christian popu- Germany, France, Italy and England, lation over the Moslem to be freed were in a much lower state of civili- from military service. He found the zation than the inhabitants of Syria remedy in the institution of the Janand Asia Minor. These now" Great izaries. He selected 1,000 of the fin- Po",ers" were slowly getting into est Christian youth, put them under shape. This history of modern civ- special and severe training, with a ilization dates from a later perlOd- simple nutritious diet, and developed the fall of Constantinople, 1453. them into the finest body of athletes Islam, then, has had its fairest trial ever known. There was nothing in Turkey, on three continents, with known in the art of war to which the choicest treasures of each at its they were not severely trained. For command. By their fruits ye shall three hundred years 1,000 Christian .know them applies to nations as youth every year (Von Hommel' well as individuals. thinks 51)0,000 in all) were thus taken to form that terrIble corps of Janiza- I shall bring Islam to trial on four ries which was the Ottoman reserve, points-population, wealth, arts of and _which decided many a hardpeace and war, and social life and fought field for the Ottomans. missions. All captives taken in war were I. Fit'st, then, we refer to the popu- held for ransom or held as slaves. lation. When the Osmanli Turks· The women were made the wives began to exhibit their ambition and or concubines of the captors. The capacity for rule, their growth in children were often adopted in the numbers was exceeding rapid. Seated harems, and became Moslems by eduon the banks of the Sangarius in cation. As the empire constantly Bythome, they had a fertile county enlarged its boundaries, mosques and around theirs, and two demoralized chapels, and meddress, or colleges, and crumbling empires to take pos- arose on every side, and the preach- session of. The Turkish Seljukl'on ing of the faith was supported by empire was in a state of disintegration the victorious power of war. by internal dissensions. The Greek empire has .been so shattel'ed by the After the fall of Constantinople, infamous cI'usade under Dandolo that 1453, and the submission of Greece, it had never recovered unity, and the extension of the empire by war was full of plots and counterplots. nearly ceased. The population, both The first Sultan Osman, from whom Christian and Moslem, had become the Turks call themselves Osmanlis, vast and was the greatest empire of -exhibited so much moderation as the age, and all Christendom prayed well as valor, so much justice toward in all public prayer to be delivered al1, in government, that many Christ- from Turks, infidels and the devil. ian villages submitted to him for the But the Christian population during security which his government all thesl' weary centuries endured offered them. According to the law the cruel oppressions and resisted the of the Koran, all believers in a reve- missionary efforts of the Moslems. lation from God and having a book- In population they held their own s. Bible-if they submit without fight- better than the Turks. mg, are to be secure in all the rights of property by. paying the haratch, The conscription of a thousand or ta.x of subjection. No military Christian youth every year was more service could be required of them. than counterbalanced by their uni- versal exemption from other military But the second Sultan, Orkton, saw service. Turkish fatalism exposed their armies to fearful losses by cholera, plague, and other epidemics. of the camps, the defiance of ordinary- Many thousands would be swept off rules of health, are a great drain in a. bad encampment before the upon the very muscle and sinew of· commander would remove to a the Turkish population. healthier place. So soon as the period of conquest ceased, the scale During this century the Christian of increase of population began to population of the empire has nearly turn against the Moslems. or quite doubled. The Moslem popu- lation has hardly held its own. The fact has now become notorious. Things are slowly moving towards a The Christia.n populations have been point when the Turk must retire from gaining upon the Muhammedan in all the supreme authority which he now this century, and probably in all the exercises. It must coIlie in time, last. even if foreign wars should not hasten it. On the point of popula- In Asia Minor, which is, par emi- tion Islam has lost the game. She nence, the home of the Turks, their has played it her own way. She has numbers are positively diminishing. chosen all the adjuncts and circum- Travel where you will in the interior, stances of the game on her own soil, you see signs of decay in all the and has suffered an ominous defeat. Turkish villages, and signs of g~owth in aU the Christian. Testimony is Look for a moment at some of the borne to this fact by many travelers, chief divisions of her empire: and I have repeatedly noticed it myself. At the beginning of this century Moldavia and Wallachia were trib- But the fact is placed beyond doubt utary provinces on the Danube, reby the official measures of the Turk- ceiving their governors from the ish Government. The same percent- Sultan, having a population rising age of the Moslem population in con- 3,000,000. They are now an indescription for the army does not give pendent kingdom, under protection of the same number of soldiers. The the Great Powers, with a population per cent. has been raised. About of 6.000,000. If we assign 10,000,000· fifteen years ago this matter was dis- to the rest of European Turkey, cussed in Turkish newspapers. Why hardly 4,000,000 can be allowed to the is .the Moslem population diminish- Muhammedans; probably 3,500,000 ing? It was said by some, absurdly, would include them all. Bulgaria, Serthat patent medicines a1;e so exten- via and Bosnia are practically lost sively imported and used that this in- to the empire. Asia Minor is the fidel medicine is destroying the faith- chosen home of the Turks. The estiful. mates of her numbers as a race vary from 11,000,000 to 13,000,000. I take The real reasons are not difficult to the lower number, and the Roumaniascertain. Female infanticide in ans, Bulgarians and Armenians outvarious artful forms is confessedly number them. The Turks are a brave prevalent. The midwife knows that and sturdy race, but Islam has taken the natural(?) death of a female in- them fmm the front into the rear of fant, the sooner the better after all the powers of Europe. birth, will procure her a backshesh from the father. If maternal in- II. As to the economy of wealth, stincts are strong, the mother has to what has this religion to show to the guard the life of her infant daughter world. It came forward to European with extreme jealousy and devotion. view with all the wealth of the East in its grasp. In soil, climate, natural But the military service, falling en- production, in rich mines and forests, tirely upon the Moslems, is a still in- its waterways and harbors, it had greater check upon population. The the most glorious opportunity the poor commissariat, the bad condition world could afford for developing cast as those used in the siege of Con. vast wealth and stretching the arms stantinople. But these arts were Rot of its commerce to India and China her inventions. For a time she knew in one direction, and to aU the how to use and to encourage the European nations upon the Mediter- skill of her Christian subjects. But ranean and the Danube. Africa, also, even this has gone down to :>blivion. was largely its own. But what a Her textile industries were beautiful, miserable and deplorable result of but have disappeared. Her dyes five centuries of trial! As a govern- were Uliequalled for brilliancy and ment the empire is absolutely bank- fastness, but they are now among rupt. Its foreign debt amounts to her lost arts. In foolish treaties she very nearly one thousand millions of has gi ven up her industries and her dollars. On a part of this debt it pays freedom of action into the hands of one per cent., and upon a large part foreigners. She pursues a system nothing. It pays the rank and file of which discourages enterprise, art and its own army nothing but rations and industry. Instead of being the first, clothing. It oppresse/il Christian and she is the last among the nations. Moslem alike with a destructive tax- Instead of being the head, she is the ation. As England has craftily bound tail. If she gains a victory, it is with it to free trade, and, notwithstanding arms of foreign make. Her great its cries of distress, will not let it go, victory at Plevna was gained with there is no hope for the future. The rifles made in Providence, R. I., and people have been growing poorer with ammunition from New Haven, and poorer for the last forty years, Conn. As to the fine arts, they have but notably since the war with Russia no place for even a mention. in 1877. If a drought falls upon any place famine follows, and thousands Now, as Islam claims the entire die every year from famine. This regulation of life, and -to include all empire inherited and has wasted all that is needed for human happiness the riches of the East. It has devel- and progress,we are entitled to charge oped nothing. It has blocked aU this faith with the ignorance and in. progress. It received ten talents, and capacity which have wrought out buried them all in the earth, and has these results. It has had a fail' allowed them to be stolen. And it is chance, and more than a fair chance, Islam that has done it. It is this in the presence of Christendom. This faith that has governed and con- faith has developed itself according trolled all things. It can never raise to its own essential nature. Its presa people to a true civilization. It has ent condition is a demonstration of been tried on the grandest scale and its fitness, or unfitness, to be a relig. along the- track of centuries, and in- ion for civilized man. stead of wealth, poverty; instead of comeliness, rags; instead of com- IV. We pass, fourthly, to its social merce, begging-a failure greater and life and missions. more absolute than history can else- where present. The missionary, wherever he goes ~'Hd whoever he is, repl'oduces the so· III. What has Islam accomplished dallife to which he belongs, and out in the arts of peace and war? Her of which he has come. He aims to artisans in the manufacture of arms do this. It is expected of him that, were not inferior to the European. both by precept and example, he will Her steel, her Damascene blades lead his proselytes into his own way have been celebrated for centuries. of living. She early introduced the use of fire- arms. No such cannon had ever been It is absolutely essential, then, to the right understanding of Moslem missions, that we should understand the social structure which is the product and the expression of that having twenty-three wives by succes-, faith. The following five things are sive divorces, and 'yet only one at & inherent in the' system, are sanc- time. The social life of a Moslem tioned by the Koran and by the great people can never rise to the dignity code of Muhammedan law. They of a true civilization. It is only in are distinctly treated of and consti- case the wife has become the mother tute the Moslem life. of sons that her place is at all se- cure. 1. First is polygamy. The prophet himself had nine wives and many 3. A third institution is concubiconcubines, but the law limits man nage. 'It was perhaps the design of' to four wives. Of his slaves he may the Prophet to limit the number of have as many concubines as he concubines to four, but as the slaves pleases, or as he can. Polygamy is taken in war were the property of chiefly the curse of the rich. The the captors, a Moslem, by the laws higher, the ruling classes, the mol- of war, could do what he pleased lahs, officers of the army, the navy with his slaves, the limitation inand civil government, are polyga- tended by the Prophet is of no avail. mists-are expected to be. It would The Moslem'S concubines are, forthe be considered mean and disgrace- most part, pur<:hased slaves. The ful to have wealth and station and Georgian and Circassian market is and only one wife and a concubine or very quiet and secret, and one cantwo. The peasantry, the laboring not tell to what extent it prevails. men, generally have but one wife. But the African market is always act- Could the African slave trade be ive and the supply is large. It is abolished the equality of numbers in this constant demand for household the sexes would still further limit servants and concubines that makes the supply. The highest grades of the overthrow of the Arab slave Mdslem life are essentially corrupted trade so difficult. So long as conand made effeminate, luxurious, in- cubinage exists, so long will the dolent, incompetent, by this curse of trade in female slaves continue. The its social life. slave trade furnishes nearly all the household servants of a Mussulman's 2. Divorce is a great institution. establishment, and is considered by It is made very easy. Every be- him his legitimate and rightful source liever is permitted to. divorce a of supply. wife twice and marry her again, but after the third divorce he must wait 4. We must therefore regard slavuntil she has married another man ery as a fourth and legitimate instiand become a widow or been divorced tution of Islam. Wherever it has by him, and then he may marry her. freedom of action it is established. There seems to be no limit to the Captives in war-men, women and number of times he may divorce and children-are slaves,unless redeemed. marry the same woman, if only a While Islam was a conquering faith marriage to another man and a its supply was abundant. When it divorce intel'vene. Divorce is so eas- ceased to make war with European ily effected and is so much a preva- powers, or was compelled to submit lent custom that it far outstrips any to European laws of war, the supply they yet know in New England or ceased, and the African slave trade other American States. It sometimes through Egypt opened. That slave occurs that a man has a dozen or trade continues to the present day, twenty wives in the course of as and neither the Sultan of Turkey or many years, and yet never trans- of Zjtnzibar, nor the Khedive of gresses the Muhammedan law of four Egypt, will make any honest effort at a time. I have heard of a Moslem to stop it.. It will exist so long as Islam'is a governing power. In its '!'he Importation of Opium Into the great code of laws it has twelve Port of San francil.!OO from Hong' chapters on slaves and slavery. Kong' and Maoao.* 5. There is the death penalty to BY J. G. KERR, M.D., CANTON, CHINA. any and every renegade from the faith. No law of the Koran has THE warfare against alcohol is been more rigidly adhered to than meeting with encouraging success, this. 'Every Moslem is taught that and ere long the shouts of victory the renegade, having three times will be heard from every hill-top in the call to repentance and rejecting our land. But while alcohol, the it, has forfeited his life. In lands great curse of the family and the where the faith cannot rule this pen- home, isbeingconquered and chained, alty is probably in all cases inflicted another enemy of the human race by secret means, by poison, assassin- is secretly invading our country and ation or false accusation of some fastening its grip on our vitals. crime. The convert's only safety re- As yet its presence is scarcely perquires him to leave his people and ceptible, but if our temperance organplace of residence at once. This has izations will appoint a suitable man been a very strong point in this faith. to investigate the matter, the threat::- This death penalty, so universally ening danger will be shown by facts taught and executed, is the reason which exhibit the prevalence of why this faith has lost so few by opium and morphia-eating and the conversion. increase of opium-smoking, as intro- duced by the Chinese. Now, this is the system which is to be reproduced by Mohammedan mis- The object of this paper is to call sions to the heathen. If we are to attention to the preparation of opium form any intelligent judgment of for smoking, and the importation of this recently much lauded work, we the extract for smoking into Califor- must keep in view the system of nia. Opium is produced in India, and which that work is the expression. its growth, preparation and sale is a It introduces the heathen to a social monopoly of the British government, life which always has wrought into the revenue in India amountiBg to it these flve elements-polygamy, many millions of dollars annually. divorce at pleasure, concubinage, This opium is imported into China slavery, and the death-penalty to through Hong-Kong, a British col- the faithless. It does bring to the ony, and herea large quantity under- heathen some great truths-one God, goes the process of " cooking," or the prayer, no cannibalism, no drunken- preparation of the smoking extract; ness, no idols, no idolatrous worship. and the sale of the monopoly brings It enforces so much of mental culti- a large revenue to the colony. The vation that the prayer is repeated smoking extract is also prepared in five times a day. All this is in ad" the Portuguese colony of Macao, vance of the African forms of hea- forty miles west of Hong-Kong. The thenism. But there is no renova- " cooking" of opium, or the prepara~ tion of character, and the paradise tion of the smoking extract, is a held up to view as the end of pharmaceutical process. which re: the race is so utterly and unutter- quires great skill and care, and only ably a sensual paradise that the hea- skilled workmen are employed. then, and they alone; are naturally Large copper pans and charcoal fur~ a.ttracted to it. naces are employed, and the utmost vigilance must be used' to prevent burning, which, even in one pan"
*Read before International Missionary Union, 1888. would involve the loss of many dol- total number of the boxes take:b.· at . lars. Macao on board the Oity of Peking to have been 250, the total value of The smoking extract prepared in the opium was $140,000. To this Hong-Kong and Macao, besides sup- must be added the freight, insurance, plying local consumption, is exported duty at San Francisco, to give the in large quantities to Australia and full value of this precious cargo Ualtfornia, for the use of Chinese when delivered on the shores of our emigrants in those countries. That happy country. prepared in Hong-Kong is quietly taken on board the steamers there, The average amount of opium and attracts no attention. But when smoked by one man in a day is three the Macao article is exported the drams. Each of the copper boxes steamers must call there. These contains fifty drams; at three drams lines were written on the local per day this would last sixteen days. steamer, leaving Macao for Canton, This cargo contained 25,000 copper and the chief officer remarked to me, boxes of fifty drams each, and at " There is an American mail steamer the rate of two boxes per month for over here for opium. Nothing ever one man would supply 1,041 men brings them here but opium." Ten one year, or 2,082 men six mouths. days ago a missionary friend was The custom-house records at San leaving for home on the Pacific mail Francisco will show how much of this steamer, Oity of Peking. He came opium for smoking is imported, and from Hong-Kong to Macao to say an approximate estimate can thus be made of the number of men who are good-bye to friends there, and as I slaves to this habit.
was there visiting a member of our Japan Notes ~nd lBcidents, mission who was ill, I was glad to meet our friend at this parting inter- BY REV. H. LOOMIS, YOKOHAMA, view. He returned to Hong-Kong, went on board the steamer, and found JAPAN. she was to call at Macao. He came A YOUNG man named Sakuma Kichitaro was ashore and spent the night, and we formerly a pupil in Mr. Fukuzawa's school lit made arrangements for him to return Tokyo, and while there was a zealous opponent to the Oity of Peking with the opium, of the Christian religion. With some of his which was to be part of the cargo. companions he succeeded in breaking up one of The agent and officers had kept very the religious meetings held in connection with quiet about the intended call of the the Third General Assembly, which met in steamer at Macao (the neV)'spapers Tokyo in November, 1885.' had no hint of it), thus showing that After completing his' studies he went to his they had a consciousness of the dis- home in Boshiu, and became an active member reputable character of the business of the Liberal party, and in his zeal for that they were engaged in. This opium, cause spent a considerable part of his fortune. which was taken to the Oity of Pe- He afterwards concealed one of his political king, was contained in abou£250 boxes friends and associates who had been guilty of (more or less), and each box held 100 crime, and for this offense was arrested and small copper boxes, hermetically confined in jail for some time awaiting his trial. sealed, in each of which were five Dnring his stay in the jail, a Christian oJlicial ,taels, equal to six ounces and two placed in his hands a copy of "Martin's Evi- drams of the smoking extract. The dences of Christianity," which he read with value of the opium in each one of much interest· and pleasure, and was thus con· these copper boxes at the manufac- vinced that the religion which he had hitherto tory was $5.60, and each wooden box denounced was true, and he now embraced (about one foot by one foot by twenty Christianity with the same zeal that he had inches) was $560. Supposing the hitherto opposed it. Wben he was afterwards sent to the prison he asked the privilege of taking Bibles with him that he might use them for the good of the in- mates, but his request was denied. Still he was not discouraged, and resolved to do what he could. His efforts to help others met with no favor, " She thought that her Bon being a Christian is but decided opposition. Not only did his com· a great shame to her and disgrace to her family.
panions refuse to hear his teachings, but they, She had lost her husband when Tomiyasu was even tried to prevent his own private worship. very young, and since that time slie cared for Yet he was not at all dismayed, or turned aside and educated him; hoping to see him useCol to from duty. Every morning and night he knelt tbe society, and also to make her happy in her in the midst of his ungodly and scoftlng com- old age. Thns she was greatly disappointed by panions ;and pou'red out his heart to God in ear- seeing her SOn believe Christianity, the foreign nest and audible prayer. and false religion, as she called it.
This conduct greatly annoyed the others, and " She sent a letter to him with anger and tears, they apparently resolved to put an end to his forbidding him to believe Christianity. When devotions. So when he was upon his knees in Tomiyasn had received this letter he was prayer they would catch hold of his feet and greatly troubled in his heart, yet his faith was pull him down, and thus, in various ways, as strong as before, and he continued to send annoyed him in order to compel him to cease. her letters persuading her to believe on Chrlst.
But, like Daniel in the heathen palace, he knelt He is very fond of his mother, and obedient to as before, and night and morning offered prayer her in every respect, so that she has not any to God. hesitation to write in her last letter, 'You have Since Sakuma has been released he has led been obedient to my words in every thing be- many others to the Lord, and among them nearly fore.'
all of his own family and immediate friends. "Troubles contiuued more than a year, and He is acting as an evangelist in the region where finally, in the middle of last month, he received he lives, and it has been the purpose of his heart a decisive letter from her, saying: 'If you won't to become a regular preacher of the gospel. His obey your mother's words you are not my son wife is a woman of superior education and any more; you cannot inherit yonr father's ablUties, and she is in full sympathy with him house; I will send you neither money nor In all his desires and efforts to teach his people. clothes hereafter.'
.A. NATIVE JAl'ANESE REQUESTS PRAYER. "At this troublesome moment he wrote me THE 'following request for prayer was pre- (when I was in my native province) that: 'My sented at tile union meetings in Tokyo: mother seut me a letter saying I am not her son .. DEAR BROTHERS AND SrsTERS IN CHRIST any more because I served Christ. My path is JESUS oUR LORD AND SAVIOUR : dark as pitch dark, and I cannot see one step .. Hearing that all the missionaries of Tokyo farther; but I remember the words of the have opened a daily prayer-meeting, I will ask Psalmist, ,. When my father and mother forsake you to pray to the Almighty God for a widow who has ·forsaken her son. I beg to ask your me, then the Lord will take me up." Please prayers for my dear friend Tomiyasu's mother. pray, my dear brother ; pray, pray, pray l' He came to onr school in the fall of 1880, and since that time was my Sunday-school pnpil. " His uncle wrote him a few days ago, urging Gradually his heart was brought to Christ, and him to write a note that he will not believe he united with the Shinsakai Church. Christianity, becanse if not his mother will com- "He was well taught in the Scriptures, and mit snicide, leaving his yonnger brother and before he was baptized knew he must bear the sister without a ~ardian. He is troubled of cross if he follow Christ. He was like a man who this greatly, yet he prays and trusts that God counted the cost before he built a tower, and will keep her from this dreadful deed. like a king who consulteth what to do before he goes to a war. He was from first quite different " I believe God will keep Tomiyasu, and watch from common believers in our school. He did over him, for he is a true disciple of God. I not hesitate in anything to do for his Lord. will not ask yon to pray for him, for he is at his " Once when the Christians of our school have Master's feet, and He will keep him always. decided to give our tracts as we go along on Bnt I will ask you to pray for his mother, for Satnrday or Sunday, he was one of those who Tomiyasu is greatly troubled on her acconnt, did it willingly, while others delayed to do it. but not for himself. He is always saying, His first work done for his master, SOon after , Though my mother forsake me, I will not forhis nnion to Him, was to send letters and por- sake her.' tions of the translation of the New Testament to his mother, with the earnest prayer that she " Dear brothers and sisters, please pray espeCimay know and believe in her Saviour. This ally for her to-day, believing that God will ronsed her anger, for she, being an earnest be- change her heart. Almighty God promised and liever of Buddhism, is a worshiper of her said: 'I will give them one heart, and I will put ancestors. a new spirit within them; and I will take the stony heart ont of their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh.'
"Your obedient servaut, "HATTORI AYAO."
THE MONTHLY CONCBRT OF
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY A. T. PIERSON, D.D.
TURKEY. powers. When the Armenians were TWENTY-FIVE years ago Dr. Kolb approached ea1'ly in this century by estimated the adherents of various re- missionary eftort, the Sultan Mah- ligious faiths in European and Asiatic moud II. encouraged outrages on the Turkey at :S1,500,OOO, about one-half native Protestants, and not until his bemg Moslem, one-third Greeks and army was defeated on the Plains of Armenians, one-fifth Roman Catho- Nezib, and his own death followed, lics, and the remainder Maronites, did the exiles dare to return. .
Nestorians, Jews, Syrians, etc. In no In 1843, an Armel1ian who had em- country, perhaps, beside, do we find so braced, and then renounced, Moham- great a variety of races and religions. medanism was executed at Constan- Mohammedan is the ruling faith tinople. This led theChristiangovern .
and the State religion. Previous to ments of Europe to demand a pledge 1856, a Moha.mmedan of Turkish that no such insult to the Christian birth becoming a Jew or a Christian religion should be repeated. Four was liable to the death penalty, as years later the English ambassador Islamism is universally intolerant. secured imperial action constituting But in that year, by a hatti-Bheri/, the native Protestants a community, or hatti-humayum, 'the Sultan abol- separate and independent; and in ished this penalty, and conceded to all 1856 the hatti-Bheri/, with the signa- the' rigp,t to embrace any religion. ture of the Sultan, formally an- To this result the British Empire in nounced the era of toleration.
India. contributed. Thisimperial decree may have been Turkey lay about midway en route regarded in those pashalics under the between London and Calcutta. Tur- Sultan's immediate sway, but it has key, taking the attitude of resistance, been a dead letter in more remote might block up England's highway districts, where bigoted Moslems have to her Indian Empire. The Sultan had control. Still it was the first could lock the gates of the Golden grand step toward the establish- Horn and blockade the Syrian ports, mentof religious freedom and the en- obstruct the passage across the Isth- couragement of Christian missions mus of Suez from the Mediterranean among thirty or forty millions 'Of to the Persian Gulf, and thus compel people.
British merchantmen to round the Turkey, although by the treaty of Cape of Good Hope to reach India. Berlin her territory in Asia and Eu- He must not be a foe but an ally. rope is reduced, still sways over one EnglaIid must have a casting vote in million square miles and over twenty the councils of the Sublime Porte. millions of people; and by six articles Hence Britain kept her ablest diplo- in that treaty the subjects of the matist there, and the wars with Egypt Turkish government are assured of in 184.0, with Russia in 1855 at the civil and religious liberty. In 1878 Crimea, and with Persia the year Asiatic Turkey came under a. British later, as well as many measures of Protectorate, and a" defensive alli- statecraft, were prompted by the ance " was formed between the two necessity of protecting those East In- nations, by which Britain pledged dian possessions, and keeping open her help" by force of a.rms" when the line of communication. necessary, and the Sultan pledged But the only perfect security must himself to certain reforms, mainly . be found in the abolition of the having in view the protection of na- persecuting policy of the Moslem tive Christians and Christian mission. aries. As a matter of fact; however, . recognized andallopted as the basis a follower of "the Prophet" espouses of government.
the Christian faith only at the peril Education is making rapid prog- of persecution, and practically those ress. There are graded schools, with "
reached by mission effort are for the improved text-books; even girls are most part adherents of the Greek, now finding an open door to the Armenian, and Nestorian churches. higher education. And the supply is Mohammedanism, however, though far from being equal to the demand.
most stubbornly opposed to all gos- The sluggish intellect of the Turks is pel advance, is not without hopeful awaking, and now is the time to take features; possession of its aroused faculties.
First, it is iconoclastic-from the For years the one chief source of beginning the foe of idolatry, it is in reading matter to that people was sympathy with our simple Protestant the Christian missionary press; by worship. that the Word of God has been Secondly, it is monotheistic, affirm- spread through the empire, beside ing one God, and drawing a large over a thousand different books, and part of its doctrine from the religion newspapers. There is a nominal of the Old Testament. censorship to which books and tracts Thirdly, God has made it, all un- are subject which lately ther.e was consciously and unwillingly, the an effort to render more strict, but handmaid of the gospel. The Arabic practically it has not hindered the is the sacred language of the Koran, publication and circulation of Protest- and curiously enough the Moslem ant literature.
faith enjoins upon all true followers For nearly flfty years the Ameri- that they be able to read that sacred can Board has been working to in- book, and yet forbids its translation fuse new spiritual life into the Orien- into any other tongue. Hence, what- tal churches. And now the hour ever be a Mohammedan's native lan- seems to have come when God opens guage, he aspires to read the Arabic, the door for direct labor among the because it is the only sacred dialect Moslem popUlation. Owing to the of his religion and of his Bible. Who abolition of the death penalty, perse- shall doubt a providential purpose in cution for religious opinion is now • all this? illegal. The law of the Koran pun- Notwithstanding all the hostility ishes apostacy with death, but treaty of the Mohammedan power to evan- obligations practically annul the gelical religion, and the antagonism Koran; and since the case of Selim of Oriental churches that have a name Effendi, in 1857, the government otli- to live, but are practically dead, the cials have, in numerous cases, been gradual transformation of the whole compelled to decide that converts to community justifies the concentra- Christianity were not to be molested, tion of larger missionary forces in the according to the provisions of the Ottoman Empire. Treaty of Paris, in 1856.
The influence ofenlightened Christ- Rev. J. K. Greene, D.D., of Con- ian governments is permeating this stantinople, says that the scandal of whole dominion over which is un- Oriental Christianity has largely furled the green flag of the Prophet. ceased to hinder the conversion of The Turkish courts have been a farce the Turks. The introduction of a scarcely equalled in history. The purer evangelical faith and life, con- "code Napoleon "displaces the Mos- trasting with the idolatrous worship lem code in moulding the adminis- and immoral practices Qf "these nom- tration of law. The principles of inal C,kristians, has enabled these political economy are coming to be Turks to see that these scandalous teachings and lives are not the fruit, Pennsylvania R.R., in the State of but the perversions, of the religion of New Jersey, the Women's Christian Jesus. Temperance Union posts up the fol- lowing telling facts and figures: Christian schools are not restricted, as the colleges at Constantinople, In one year, in New Jersey, there were- Beirut, Smyrna, Harpoot and Aintab 5,649 saloons. at a cost of, ……… $28,245.000 testify, with six female seminaries 1893 schools. at a cost of……… .. 2.982,250 at other places, established by the American Board. Excess in favor of saloons …. $25.262.750 In 1873. Vineland. N. J .• and New Britain, The Star in the Ea,st appeals for Ct.• had each a population of 11,000•. ample missionary forces immediately New Britain had eighty saloons. Vmeland to occupy Constantinople, as "the had none. capital of the Ottoman Empire and New Britain spent for paupers……… $8,500 the seat of governm£'nt; as the heart Vineland spent for paupers………….~ of the Moslem faith, whose pulsations are felt in the continents of Excess in favor of New Britain…. $8.276 Europe, Asia and Africa, and reach the distant Soudan and India; and as New Britain had to spend for police… $7.500 the metropolis which holds the key Vinel~nd had to spend for police …….~ of Palestine and affects the destinies of the. Jews. Its inhabitants repre- Excess in favor of New Britain….. $7,425 sent the various nationalities on whom the Holy Ghost was outpoured The Work of Missions is necessarily at Pentecost, and who anciently were slow, if it is not to be superfiCIal. comprised under the great Byzantine Over fifty years ago, Dr. Duff saga- Empire. It is now in a condition of ciously said:' "The time for the crisis: the tide of opportunities is education of women in pagan lands more favorable now than it ever has has not corne; one or two generabeen for evangelistic work. The tions of men must pass in the enjoyraces once enlightened by Chrysos- ment of educational privileges, and tom, Gregory and Athanasius re- then educated men will want eduquire again the living Word, and are cated wives as companions." So it anxious to raise their fallen candle- has proved. Two generations have stick. The Christian workers are passed, and now the women of pagan ready to help, and it is cons£'quently lands are beginning to enjoy instrucof thp. utmost importance as a rally- tion, and the men are proud of their ing center." wives and daughters.
SUGGESTIVE PARAGRAPHS. REV. J. S. WOODSIDE.
Th6 Principle of Vicarious Atone- "DR. DUFF, what is your theory ment is acknowledged among all na- of missions?" "I have no theory; tions. In the Fiji Islands a man anything and everything to advance who was sentenced to death would the cause. If I could advance misoften surrender his father to suffer sions by standing at 'a street corner in hIS stead. The obligation to honor and beating together two old shoes, the law by executing its penalty is I would not hesitate." We are of felt even by pagans, but the possi- Dr. Duff's opinion. There is an exbility of substitution, and the pos- cessive conservatism that attaches sibility of satisfaction by such sub- itself to methods after they have bestitution seem to be instir..ctively come stereotyped, or even fossilized. recognized. A good method may lose ·its vitality and inspiration. So a theory may An Appeal for Prohibition.-In cramp and cripple our effort. We one of the railroad depots on the .need to be on the alert to watch the hand of God, and the moving of the Providential Pillar. Let God's plans be ours, and let us 'Dot fail to find what those plans are, as revealed by the very signs of the times.
PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN
TEXTS AND THEMES. preventing conversion of souls. Sec" ond, preventing evangelism. Nehe- Christ's Humiliation and Exalta- miah's story is one of building and tion, a Pattern for His Saints. manifold hindering_ The foe hin. Phil. ii : 5-9. dered by not co-operating, by "idi- culing, by actively opposing. We He emptied Himself. can see Satan hindering the work of Became a servant. God, constantly. Became a sufferer, even unto death. Then was highly exalted, crowned 1. By indifferentism. Whately and enthroned. So the true saint says that the depreciation of Christfollows Him in self-renunciation, ianity by indifferentism is a more service, obedience and suffering, that insidious and less curable evil than he may sit with Him in the heaven- infidelity itself. lies, exalted and crowned with Him. " Via crucis, via lucis." 2. Vis inertice. Conservatism and First Charge to a Foreign Mission- fear of innovation. Lord Eldon was ary. Gal. ii: 9, 10: "Remember the said to prevent more good than any poor." other man ever did. The Earl of Shaftesbury, whether at home, or on the street, or in Parlia- 3. Criticism and ridicule. A light ment, never forgot the poor. We word is the devil's keenest sword. should remember them because they are poor, because they form the bulk The Divine Law of Sacrifice in Givof the race, and because their pov- ing. 2 Sam. xxiv: 24. Offer to God erty is the desperate famine of the 'that which cost me nothing 1 bread of life. The Planting of the LQ1·d. Isaiah Shall I offer to God what was given xli: 10,20. to me, and cost nothing to get 'I The greatest argument for foreign What is useless to me, and costs missions is the result of the work in nothing to give up? what is not of bringing forth from most unprom- value to me, and costs nothing, to i:;;ing soil the trees of righteousness, surrender? No gifts count much proving the divine Husbandman t~ with Him that cost nothing with us. have been at work. We must le3.rn to .cut off indulgences Satan a Hinderer. 1 Thes. ii : 18. Satan is a person, and as such an till we touch the quick of our being. "obstructionist." A fourfold char- Compo Phil. iv: 17, which contains acter is ascribed to him: tempter, the divine philosophy of giving. accuser, hinderer and destroyer; or, seductive, accusative, obstructive and The Mystery of Christ and the destructive. When sin is not yet Church. Eph. v : 25-32. done, he suggests it; when done, he does all he can to prevent the undo- Dr. Geo. E. Post of Syria says that ing of it by repentance and restitu- this passage, written to those who tion. had been heathens in Ephesus, is the How he hinders missions! First, most wonderful eVer written. It puts woman in a place and on a plane which could not have been im- agined by an uninspil'ed man. Noth- ing suggestive of it ever entered an Oriental mind. Even Paul but partly understood what he wrote.
VI.-PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY BULLETIN.
A.frlea.-The Livingstonia Mission, The and quietness reigned both at the north and long-delayed mails from Lake Nyassa and the west of the lake. Dr. Cross and Mr. Monteith, surrounding region arrived in Edinburgh on of the Lakes Company, had put a stockade JUlle 5th, with the reports for the year 1887 and around the school at Cherenji, on the plateau intelligence up to Marel). 30th. All were well, between Nyassa and Tanganyika, and mission work among young aud old was going on -Ina letter to the London Times,Rev. R.P. Ashe, late olthe C. M. S., writing from Usamhiro, bravely. Mr. Bain had remained at Bandawe, draws timely and forcihle attention to the daily determined not to come home unless his col- increasing scandal of the importation of arms into the interior of Africa. He states that an. league could spare him. Dr. Laws and Dr. English trader is sending to Uganda a hundred Elmslle had' met with him in Mission Council, rifles and twenty thousand rounds of ammuni- tion, and that Arab traders are also supplying and discussed many Important questions, being King Mwanga with hundreds of old English unanimous, especially as to the comparative rifles, and gunpowder ad lib. It is pointed out that apart from the disastrous effect of placing healthiness of Bandawe. Dr. Henry was at the snch means of destrnctlon iu the hands of a south of the lake developing the new mission in young barbarian king, such action is calculated to prejudice the position of Emin Pasha and Chikns('s country. He has sent a second ac- Stanley, and presents the deplorable spectacle of connt of the new mission there, which is, on the .. Englishmen relieving Emin Pasha from the whole, encouraging.-HissiOna1'1/ News. West, and an Englishman relieving King Mwanga from the East." -Progress on the Congo. In The -Bishop Crowther, the black bishop Missionary Herald there is a letter of the Niger, was as welcome a guest from Rev. Mr. Bentley, giving cheer- as any among the bishops who ating tidings or the progress of the tended the Lambeth Conference. At work on the Congo. In February he the house of the Bishop of Dover, at baptizedayoungmannamedNlemvo, Canterbury, he was entertained with and now he reports the baptism of honor, and there was no suggestion two young women, Aku Toniangi of incongruity in his bein~ there. Biseobodi and Kavazwila Kalombo, The form of addr,ess, "my lord," both of whom were formerly slave seemed just as appropriate to him as girls. Of these two Mr. Bentley to any of his brethren of the Episcowrites: "The change of heart and pate. At the lord mayor's banquet life is exceedingly well marked, and in London he was received without they rejoice in a very definite sense condescension. At the Missionary of pardon and peace with God." At Conference in Exeter Hall his venertheir baptism, at the Tombe riverside, able presence stirred the enthusiasm the two converts told the people as- of the audience, and his quaint and sembled how they had been taken telling illustration of woman's work from their countries by the Arabs, in his mission was greeted with the and how God had sent. them to the heartiest applause.-Spirit of Mis- missionaries; that they were at first sions. indifferent until they began to see how great and blessed was the salva- -In the five years ending with 1887, Boston tion which Jesus offered. A few sent to Africa 3,500,000 gallons of intoxicating days following, Nlemvo and Kalombo l!quors. America is also sending missionaries were united in marriage by Mr. Bentley, the first Christian marriage to Africa.- Western Christian Advocate. in the Congo country. -The power of the Arab slave-traders on -Dr. Smythies, Bishop of the Universities' Lake Nyassa has recently grown to such an ex- tent as to endanger the existence of the mission Mission to Central Africa, complains strongly, n that region. Dr. Cross of the Free Church was compelled to leave one of the stations at the In a letter to the London Times, of the way in north end, Marcil 30, and take refuge in the which German in:lluence has been allowed to settlement of Nkonde. An attack which was made soon after npon the Arab stockades failed spread in the country lying to the north of Zan- because the leader of the small force received a zibar. The Universities' Mission was founded severe wotind. It was hoped that the British Government would put an armed steamer on the on the faith that English Influence wonld con- lake to protect the work so nobly begun by Dr.
tinne paramount, but suddenly, not long ago, Livingstone. Unless some effective measures of this sort are adopted, the shores of Nyassa are the German Government began to exercise a pro- likely to become a regnlar slave-hunting ground, tectorate. The bishop says: .. We only ask to as it was before Livingstone's explorations. be left free to minister to the people whom we Asia Minor.-In Saionica, the city love and among whom our mission has worked which, in Paul's day, was called so long, and that that inflnence in restraining Thessalonica, a church of ten mem- violence which has hitherto been used for the bers was formed last June by the good of the people by the Sultan of Zanzibar, at missionaries of the Presbyterian $he snggestion of Her Majesty's consul, should still be used for that end. Faillng, we would ask why, when Germany claims a free hand in an enormous territory of thousands of square miles, It should not be granted that the line oC demarcation which delimits British influence be drawn some thirty or forty miles lower down, so as to include this country In which English mis- sionaries are the ouly European residents of any kind f" Church (South). From' this, as a new Protestant church is to be center, they go through Macedonia opened this summer in Eastern.Boand Epirus on evanselistic tours. It hemia, in a thoroughly Romish dismust be with peculiar feelings that trict. At Pisek, an important town, large meetings are being held, and these men travel the same roads over the settlement of an evangelist thet'e which the apostle Paul walked eigh- has become necessary. On the other teen hundred years ago, and speak hand, opposition is increasing. :A to the descendants of the people petition is being got up asking for the expUlsion of Mr. Clark from the whom he was wont to address. country, and the consequent suppres- Belgium.-The Evangelical Society sion of all his meetings. of Belgium pursues its work with much vigor, and with no small suc- Balgarla.-That Protestant Christianity Is cess. Many of the churches it has galalng a firm foothold in Bo1garia Is shown by the fact that 400 people, many of them from dis- tant towns, gathered at the annnal meeting of founded during its fifty years of ex- the Bn1garian Evangelical Society, at. Tatar- Pazarjik, :May 1()"14. One of the most carioas istence are centers of true spiritual and Interesting features of the session was the aaction sale of articles which had been given to life and activity. The evangelization the,society, generally by persons whose Income in Brussels, worked on the same lines was so small that they conld send no money. as those of the McAll Mission, is In this way even the poorest bad some share in yielding good fruit. In country dis- the work of the organization. tricts, too, new openings are continually occurring, especially in the China.-The tir.le has not yet come mining districts. One of the most recent is that at Monceau de Far- when a missonary's life is safe in all ciennes, near Charleroi, where on parts of Chjna. As Rev. A. Elwin of Thursday evenings three meetings the English Church Missionary So- ciety was walking along the streets are held in three successive hours, with ten minutes' interval between each. One at least of these is for of Chu-Chee, May 4, a mob raised the special benefit of the miners who the cry of "Foreign devil, foreign work at night. They are not large gatherings, being held in the house devil! beat him, beat him I" and im- of a young married couple. The mediately began to stone him. He husband began to attend the preach- owed his escape to a few men who ing of the gospel in November, tried to calm the populace; for while 1886, greatly to the disgust of his they were talking he passed on un- observed, and left the city. wife. But at length, observing the great change wrought in him, she also went, and then urged her hus- -Lay Workers.-A correspondent writesf'rom band's relatives, a large family of Chefoo, calling attention to the Central Cbina grown-up sons and daughters, also Wesleyan Lay Mission, formed a little time ago, to go. The result was that the evan- which is a most useful mission, and Is snpplying gelist was welcomed amongst them a great need In China. Hr. J. R. Hill, St.
and invited to hold meetings under Savionr Gate, York, will be happy to snpply their roof, and in the summer there details concerning this work. .. Yon will be is to be preaching in the ~and glad to hear," says onr correspondent, .. that father's garden, situated on the slope Rev. Thomas Cbampness is sending ont two of of a hill, so that the singing will be his JoyfuJ. News evangelists to this mission. and heard throughout the village, and a young man from New Zealand bas also offered.
will probably attract large audiences. I hear too that Rev. James Gilmonr, of the Bobemia.-The prospect here is London Mission in Mongolia, is most anxions to get ont some laymen to help him in his growing brightening. The Rev. Dr. Somer- work in tbat land. America also seems to be ville, after a long sojourn in that and waking np to the Idea of sending laymen abroad adjoining provinces of Austria, re- to preach the gqspel. Shall we see an American ports that spiritual life is beginning China Inland Mission t n again to manifest itself in the old Protestant churches. The Evangeli- -The China Inland Mission reports the in cal Continental Society and the Rev. gathering of first-CrnIts for Christ on the borden A. W. Clark, of the American Mis- of Thibet. The Rev. James Meadows contrasts sion, both report progress among the the state of China when he went out In 1862 with Roman Oatholics, in face of manifold its present position. Then few places were legal differences and hindl'ances. A open for work, 'houses conld be rented only with great dlftlcnlty, the peopljl were hostile, some of the missionaries looking coldly at efforts his l!)ins, and a ,Koran There has been a tento go inland. Now, the people ready to listen, dency of late, through recent discussions, to missionaries encouraging, and there are native disparage missionary zeal among Mohammedchurches with 100, 200, or 300 members. ans. But have welnot, as followers of our cru- cified Lord, something to learn from them f -The Synod of China, which holds Germany.- An Oriental seminary has been its sessions triennially, is to meet at established at Berlin for practical instruction Chefoo on September 1~. Two weeks in the languages of the far-off East. The following languages are taught: Chinese in advance of the convenmg of the Japanese, Hindustan, Arabic, Persisn, Turkish, and Suaheli. The system of instruction is synod a meeting of those interested new, as the study is not mainly directed to the scientific, but to the practical, acquisition of the in a union of the Presbyterian langnage; and the teachers are natives of the respective countries where the languages are churches in China is to be held for spoken.
comparison of views and the further- India.-Rev. Dr. Wilson, of Bu- ance of the object.. As there are daon, has baptized over 160 persons eight or nme different Presbyterian since February last; a few were bodies at work in China, the union children of Christian parents, five of their forces, provided it can be were :Mohammedans; the large ma- effected on a thoroughly satisfactory jority were low-caste people, farmers, chowkidars, etc. The work on the basis, would not only add to the Budaon circuit is expanding rapidly. efficiency of the missions, but would Dr. Wilson writes: do away with the necessity of t'X- .. It is no time to talk of retrenchment. We plaining to the heathen divisions must have money and men and women full of the Holy Ghost, who are not ashamed to be which they cannot understand. The counted as the filth and off-scouring of the world, if thereby they may but save and lift up the lowearnest prayers of God's people are est to whom God may send us."-Star 01 India.
invoked in behalf of this gathering, -In the northwest of India and of Oude missionary physicians are coming promiand also of the synod so soon to con- nently into notice. Nearly 72,000 cases were treated at eleven missionary dispensaries, and vene. 11,000 women sought relief at Mrs. Wilson's dis- pensary at Agra; 18,850 women and children England.-The report submitted to were treated at the Thomas dispensary at Agra. the last General Assembly in regard The woman doctors in charge successfully per- formed some very important surgical operato the Universities' :Mission was ex- tions.-Presbyterian Banner.
ceedingly gratifying. The four Uni- -The North Indian Methodist Conference met at Cawnpore ou the 4th of January., The versities' Associations had wrought reports presented were full of enconragement. The native Christian community now coimected together very heartily, and in addi- with the Conference numbers 9,226, of whom 5.675 are adnlts. There has been an accession tion to what had been otherwise con- during the year of 832 adults by baptism. Of tributed for buildings, the sum of these 27 were from Mohammedanism, the rest £646 had been raised for the main- from Hinduism. Inquirers are no~ reported, tenance of the various agencies sup- yet these are so numerous that if the missionported by their united mission. The aries desired only to swell their numbers 2,000 future teachers and catechists for the persons could be baptized at once. One native Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Inde- preacher, the Rev. Philemon, ordained by pendent Sikhim :Missions are prepared Bishop Ninde a year ago, has since baptized 211 for their work in the Institution at persons. The Conference greatly needs a staff Kalimpong carried on by Mr. Suther- of good colporteurs. There are 23,913 scholars land, the Universities' missionary. in the schools-Indian Witness. At the close of 1887, thirty-six young men were under training to qualify -Advance of Christianity. Says Sir Charles them for the different stations and Aitchison at a meeting of the C. M. S. at Simla: schools already established, or to be In the Madras Presidency the increase ofChristopened up as cinmmstances permit. ians in all denominations is vastly in advance of that of the population. In Bengal the In- Egypt.-In a book on the Jews, by Dr, Kel- ,crease o~ population during nine years has logg, it is stated that there is at Cairo the largest college in the world. There are 300 professorswho teach Mohammedanism,and 100,000 stu dents. At the head of this nniversity is a Jewish pervert to Islam. Surely this suggests the amazing energy of the Jewish nature, and that the recovering of Israel to Christ would be "'life from the dead." The Mohammedan propagandist goes out from this institution with this only as his .outftt-a turban, a cloth round been 10.89 per cent., of Christians more than which he received the sanction of,the 'Lleuten. ant·Governor. He possessed the entire cO'nfi- 40. In the N. W. Provinces the increase of dence of the government authOrities, alid was Christians has been exactly nine times as fast held by them in milch esteem, while natives as that of the total population. In the Puujab came from the villages far and near to him with their diJllculties and disputes. After upwards -the population has increased 7 per cent. The of nine years' absence, Mr. Stevenson came Hindoo and the Mohammedan religions are prac- home on furlough. He addressed meetings tically stationary, that of the Sikhs has declined, throughout Scotland, and made many friends. He only returned again to India last October. whereas the Christian religion has increased 88~ His loss will be severely felt by the Free Church, per cent. whose Foreign Missions Committee meet to-day -Progress in Madras; Bishop Sar- in connection with the sad event. Mr. Stevengent of Madras, who last year cele- brated the jubilee of his missionary son leaves a widow, for whom much sympathy career in India, has outlived- all the is felt. original missionaries of his society in that diocese. When he went to Tin- Japan.-We have just received the nevelly, in 1835, the Church Missionary Society had only three or four summary of the statistical J:eports of missionaries, one native preacher, and 114 communicants. There are the 'churches in Japan connected now 81 missionaries, of whom 64 are connected with his own society. In with the American Board, and the 1,618 villages there are -now 98,184 ChristiansandcatechumenR, of whom recOl'd is one which should confirm 18,460 are communicants. There are 22,170 pupils in schools, and the eon- our faith and stiIl1,ulate us to re- tributions last reported were 47,761 rupees, or about $22,000. doubled efforts. In January, 1887, -At the anniversary meeting of these churches reported 4,226 mem- the Church Missionary Society, Sir Rivers Thompson dwelt on the sin- bers. The report is now brought gular providence by which a handful down to April 1, 1888, covering a of Englishmen has held the whole period of fifteen months, and the of India. At the last census, in 1881, membership is 6,340, a net gain of the total return of the population of 2,114. This is an advance during the India, not counting Ceylon, was 254,- fifteen months, not counting losses 000,000. According to the normal by death or otherwise, of almost ex- rate of progress, this population is actly jifty per cent. Mention should now estimated to be 258,000,000. Yet be made, moreover, of the work of the total number of Englishmen and the native missionary society con- Englishwomen in India is some- nected with these churches, in thing under 150,000, including 65,000 . regions where no churches have yet troops. "It must often occur to been formed, for the reason, in most every thoughtful mind," says Sir cases, that the converts are not yet Rivers, "what a marvel it is that able to undertake the support of England with 150,000 men should be their own pastors. In these out-dis- dominating 258,000,000 people. If tricts there are reported 753 "believ- it had not been that the hand of our ers," a large proportion of whom good God had been upon us we could were baptized during the past year not do it." and are awaiting the organization of chUl'ches. Adding these converts -Severe Loss. The death of Rev. W. H. to the number of church members we have 7,093 believers, which is a Stevenson, of Bengal, is just announced by tele- gain within fifteen months of 2,801, or sixty-five per cent. This is the graph. Letters received recently intimated the most remarkable record made of any missionary field connected with the prevalence of sickness in the district, but no American Board since the great in- gathering at the Sandwich-Islands. one was prepared for the tidings that have -sad- Praise God from whom all blessings flow !-Missionary Herald. dened many hearts in Scotland. Mr. Stevenson Jews.-Mr. Strauss, the American was appointed by the Free Church Foreign Mis- minister to Constantinople, wasedu- sions Cominittee in 1876 to act as missionary cated in Princeton College, and took teacher and evangelist in India at the age of the prize in Christian evidences, yet twenty-three. Probably nowhere in India has remained a rigid Jew. It was owing a mission been more fully justified, judging by to his influence that the Christian a: visible results. Possessor of good physique, schools were reopened in Syria. administrative ability, untiring devotion, Mr. -At Vienna, last year, 363 Jews be- Stevenson brought them all to his work. Be- sides the schools in his own station, he con- trolled and directed upwards of thirty schools scattered over a large area under a scheme for came Christians, and another paper -The Earl of Harrowby, in an 'a.d~'
says that .. at no period since the dress at the anniversary of the Brit- first century have conversions from ish and Foreign Bible Society, said: Judaism to Christianity been so fre- .. There seems greater interestabout theBible' In Russia than malmost any othercountry. Our quent as they are at present." agent for North RusaIa tells us that a8 soon as the RU8sian learns to read, he becomes veJ'l' Jladagascar.-MissionSchools. The eager to possess the Holy Scripture.. We often find the Russian clergy co-operating in our work; Ohronicle of the London Missionary and when a deputation or great weight went from our committee to St. Petersburg not long Society for July has an intel'esting ago they were received by the clergy and bishops of the Russian Church in the most friendly and article on the elementary schools as courteous way. • • • Wherever you find a Muscovite soldier, you fiud a ready buyer of organized and carried on by the agents Holy Scriptures. The Russian olllears are press- Ing forward education in an their regiments, and of that society in Madagascar. The the soldiers are said by some of your colporteurs to be among their best customers. • • • A growth of these schools has been ex- quantity of gospels go to the exiles of Siberia; nearly 5,000 copies were distributed to them in traordinary. Twenty-five years ago the previous year, and all the Russian olllcials they numbered seven, with S65 schol- have shown the most friendly feeling toward ars; in 1886 they numbered 1,005; your employees in connection with this particular with 102,747 scholars. Some of these branch of the work. From every province of schools, however, are under the care that great empire the same story comes, that of the Friends' Foreign Mission, which there Is an increase In the circulation of the cooperates heartily with the London Scriptures. The total was angmented in the Society. The seYeral provinces are past year by twenty-two thousand copies."- divided into districts, and each dis- Bible Society Regl8ter. trict has a meeting-house, used both as a church and schoolhouse. Most Syrla.-Conversion of Mohammedans. Dr. of them are built of adobe, with Jessup, of Beirut, writes: "Every possible obthatched roof,and are very plain build- stacle la placed lu the way or a Moslem wishing ings with mud floors. The school to embraceCbristlanity. 1. Mohammedan childoutfit consists of a few lesson sheets ren are forbidden to attend Christian schools, and textbooks for the teachers' use. and in mILny places parents who allow their The pupils, however, provide them- children to attend them are treated with vioselves with the primer, a copy of the lence.' 2. No books Criticising the Moham- New Testament, the native Christian medan religlon are allowed to be printed In the newspaper, a catechism, grammar. empire. S. Moslem men embracing Chrlatlanity and geography. There are six stand- are either exiled or thrown into the army wlthards according to which these oat even the form of conscription, even if they schools are regularly examined by escape personal violence. 4. While the death their supprintendents. The teachers penalty lor apostasy from Islam Is nominally are supported in part by the natives. abolished, it is not regarded as a sin to Injure The object of these schools is to teach such an apostate or even take his life. 5. Every the children to read tile Bible, and in book, tract and pamphlet printed is closely this they succeed, and so these schools scrutinized by the press censorship, and any become the chief auxiliary to the press which sbould publish an argument against dh'pct preaching of the gospel. The Isillm would be at once suppressed. Were coming generatIon of the Mala.t;asy Christians allowed to print tracts and books will have as a foundation not only an against Islam, to receive Meslem pupils into ability to read the Scriptmes, but their schools, and to guarantee personal liberty also a fair knowledge of gospel truth. and equality before the law to converts from Islam, there would be constant conversions to Norway.-Nine young Norwegian Christianity. A Moslem turning Christian Is looked upon as an outlaw and a traitor. missionaries, who have had a medical -British Syrian Schools.-These schools, as well as a theological training, are which were onginally founded by Mrs. Bowen Thompson, have done a remarkable work about to for South Africa and Mada- in the Lebanon district since their Inaugu- ration in 1860. The number of schools is 29, gascar. with 3,.73 pupils, superinteuded by Eoglish ladies, most of whom do Sll free of charge. The. Rusls.-There is now iu Southern RUSSia, results In the trainlDg of young .~Is are most near the borders of the Black Sea, a large popu- latlou or several millions, who, whilst retaining their membership ID the Greek Church, belong to reHgious societiea of evangelical ChrIstians, which are designated Monokens or Stundlsts.
They retain their outward connection with the Greek Church as a matter of prudence or politi- cal necessity, their children being baptized and the, marriage ceremony being performed by Qriests of the State Church.
1888.1 STATISTICS OF THE W·OBLD'S JUSSIONS. '11'1
remarkable; 90 are now at work in the ~ehoolB, gium, Holla.nd, Germa.ny &nd Denand of those who have married, it is a most mark-have entered into &n &gree~ noteworthy fact that not one has been divorced, ment whereby the sale of spirituous nor has a second wife entered the harem. The liquors to Turkish fishermen a.nd schooiB are the center of an extensive network other persons on board fishing vessels of Christisn agencies-Bible-women workamolll:' is prohibited. When will these great the blind. the soldiers. and other classes. We nations be as merciful to their own regret to learn that this beneficent society is people as they are now to the Turk? much cramped for want of funds. and that some of the schools will have to be elosed uniess im- -The Newark (Methodist) Conference Commediate and eMcient help is given. mittee on MiSSions, Bev. L. C. Muller of Eliza- -A dispatch from Minister Strauss beth, N. J .• Chairman. has been at work for some time organizing a .. simnltaneous missionto the State Department, given in the ary meeting" campaign for the week October United States Consular Reports, gives 14-21. The" O. S. M." week of last year was information that twenty-one schools fonnd to be very fruitfnl in many ways: new friends were won for the caose, old ones were in Syria, which ha4!l been closed by confirmed and refreshed. and the contributions order of the Turkish officials, had of the chnrches for the year showed a handsome Increase. One of the districta of the Genesee been reopened. Conference observed a week of" simnitaneons" Rhenish Missionary Soclety.-Last year the meetings last spring. and the signs are that ere receipts of the l!Iociety were M7.344 marks. or 883.362 ; the ontlays. 345.773 marks. or $83.000. long thiB plan will be pursned very widely. The society desires to enter into the rapidly ex- There is great need of somellpecialliteratltre for tending work of medical niissions. by sending use in promoting tbese meetings. 81Ich 8S that one physician to China, and another to Sumatra. nsed by the English Church Missionary Society. But. as Dr. Christlieb has shown us. missioDal')' physicians are not so easUy found in Germany as -JoAn Crawfard, &cretary of frut year'. Committee. . in England Ilr America. The society has been Wales.-The Anglican Church of appUed to by the German agent in the Marshall New South Wales has resolved to Islands. to send out missionaries there. But it raise $1,000,000 in five years to comdeclares that it cannot do so without the free memora.te centennial year, and has consent of the American Board. made a start with $250,000. The Wesleyans in the same colonies pro- Turkey.-The Sultan has ordered pose to raise $250,000 in five years. the discontinuance of the ~iquor Other colonies and other sections of traffic in Constantinople, ancl the the church are similarly marking the six. powers contiguous to the North year, and jubilee funds are in high Sea-Great Britain, France, Bel- favor.
VII,-STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS. Oompa.ni.tive Summary of the Presbyterian Ohurch in the United States of America for the Last Six Years.
. 1883. 1884. 1885. 1888 • .1837. 1868.
Synods…………… . 23 24 25 26 28 Presbyteries………. . 182 190 196 199 201 Candidates……….. .. 678 .733 839 906 986 Licentiates…… _•••••• 282 275 322 337 867 Ministers ………….. . 5.218 5.341 5,474 5.546 5,654 Licen.ures………… . 157 126 161 188 201 Ordinations………. .. 157 150 130 1M 188 Installations…. .. …. . 329 420 361 439 Pastoral dissolutions•.. 287 {()2 268 306 322 Ministers received…… 68 Ministers dismissed,.•. 64 295 51 69 88 Ministers deceased••.•. 22 8Ii 19 29 130 Elders……………. .. 89 29 104 101 21,881 Deacons…………… . 18,968 113' 120.602 :n,212 7.0Il5 Chur.ehes …………. .. 5.876 18,968 6.472 6.676 6.436 5.868 6.287 8,098 6,281 228 OrgaDlzed…. . 165 5.973 177 165 " Dissolved•.•.. 66 68 76 78 " Received••••.• 168 3 U Dismissed..•• 4. 68 8 II 2 Added: Examlnationa.. 3 8 1 1 58,888 " Certitl.cates…• 32.132 42,972 111,177 31.229 Commnnicants …….. . 24.67'7 .1 21.518 28,490 698.767 Baptisms: Adulta…. .. 600,695 M,938 644.025 666.9011 20,114 .. Infants…. .. 10,897 26.801 15.191 18,474 S.S. Members……… . 17.728 615.94.2 21,012 21.4116 28,.- 663.'165 11.942 720.0511 743,518 771.821 19.488 687,269 CONTRIBUTIONS.
1883. 1884. 1885. 1886. 1887. 1886.
Home Missions,…….. $582,360 $620,023 $632,906 $760,947 $785,070 $844,695 Foreign Missions……. 501,578 550,2'20 548,613 651.160 669,891 748,195 Education………….. 187,254 118,956 115,870 97;954 117,898 152,320 S. S. Work……. .•…. 39,178 35,907 34,218 34,739 39,487 78,182 Church Erection… . . . . . 150,391 193,047 152,050 243,016 28Q,687 228,364 Relief Fund………… 75,249 80,288 88,934 99,479 110,939 *525,555 Freedmen…….. .. …. 84,012 86,452 97,619 91,273 103,404 106,641 Aid for Colleges…….. — 76,415 85,471 I 119,730 127,627 215,009 Sustentation.. . …. ….. 21,275 24,845 21,410 26,419 37,026 General Assembly. ….. 46,847 51,037 55,200 21,750 62,324 68,125 lIO,312 Congregational……… 7,139,904 7,355,791 7,541,017 7,640,855 7,902,164 8,803,562 Miscellaneous ………. _833,444 __9'76,420 ___~3,755 _ _771,116 ~~1~4,803 Total,……….. $9,661,493 $10,169,401 $10,192,053 1$10,592,331 $11,098,622 $12,817,783 *Includes part of Centenary Fund. WILLIAM H. ROBERTS, Stated Clerk, Oompara.tive Summary of the Presbyterian Ohuroh (Southern) for the La.st Five Years.
~l~~~~ Synods………………………………… . 13 13 13 13 13 Preshyteries '" .. .. .. … .. ……………… .. 68 89 89 89 68 Candidates …………………………….. . 25344 24878 m 269' 26M7 28_5 Licentiates……………………………… . Ministers ………………………………. . 1,0'79 1,072 1,085 1,116 1,129 Chnrches……………………………….. . 2,093 2,159 2,199 2,236 2,280 Licensures . . .. . ………………………… . ~ •. 53 ~ ~ Ordinations.. .. . . . . . . .. .. .. . . .. .. .. … . …… . Installations ……………•……………….. 29 33 37 44 54 Ministers deceased ……………………….. . 99 81 134 78 107 Pastoral dissolutions…… . _…………….. . ~ ID 33 24 ft Ministers received from other denominations.. . Ministers dismissed from other denominations .. 74 96 79 122 SO Churches organized……………………… .. 76346 Churches dissolved … , ……………. ' .. _… ,. 4 4 5 10 4 mffi "• ~ Churches receiv* from other denominations .. . iHll •~ 9 Churches dismis ed from other denominations .. Number ofRuli g Elders………………. .. 2 3 1 1 1 Number of Deacons………………………. . Added on Examination …………………… . 6 7 Added on Certificate.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . ….. . 6,454 6,554 6,827 6,981 7,110 Total Communicants ………… , .. , …….. . 4.,352 4,5(15 4,814 5,070 5,220 Number of Adults Baptized………………. . 7,359 9,951 11,644 12,145 10,173 Number of Infants Baptized ……………… . 4,369 4,934 5,576 5,461 5,67U Number of Baptized Non-Communicants ….. . 131,258 135,201 148,748 150,398 156,24U Teachers in Sabbath-School and Bible Classes. 2,995 3,780 4,214 3,48~ Scholars in Sabbath-School and Bible Classes . 2,334 4,637 4,767 5,121 5,090 5,155 32,870 31,036 34,805 34,163 33,444 8,830 10,308 10,702 12,021 12,201 81,633 86,847 88,963 98,806 101,700 CONTRIBUTIONS.
Sustentation…………………………….. . $48,770 $47,457 $47,676 $42,944 $47,291 41,307 37,490 42,084 48,388 fnV:':;ft;!~d:::::::::::' :::::::::::::: ::::::::: 10,402 11,323 11,677 42,~4 12,687 _,553 60,482 67,685 72,389 Foreign Missions……………………… ,. 37,334 3&,485 38,704 11,921 35,226 Education ………………………………. . 8,426 8,372 8,347 67,204 9,092 Publication ……………………………… . 3,573 3,070 3,505 39,250 6,028 Tuskalo08a Institute……………………… . 13,006 13,649 9,084 18,581 Presbyterial. … ………………. . ……… . 557,731 . 13,258 591,896 4,152 625,312 Pastors' Salaries ………………………… . 562,l()'Z 563,526 13,754 495,653 Congregational………………………….. . 65,415 510,098 4~,097 616,583 97,826 Miscellaneous …………………………… . 54,202 41;8,977 81,104 114,015 Total. ……………………………… $1,398,629 $1,340,763 $1,324,374 $1,415,318 $1,463,478 JOSEPH R. WILSON, Stated Clerk.
-The grants of the Society for the Propaga- April 30, 1888, $14,900.41. The Board made the tion of the ~spel for foreign expenditure for the year 1389 exceed those for 1888 by 10,0001. assessments the coming year to aggregate $50,- Among them IS 5001. for fi"e years for commencing work in Korea by means of an English mis- 000. This was apportioned to the churches at sion;'ry and llome Chinese catechists. the rate of 33 1-3 cents per member. The ex' -The Board of Missions of the Methodist Protestant Church received for the year closing penditures for the past year were $12,158.22.
The Japan Mission was reported as being in a 1I0urishing condition. . The United Presbyterian Ohurch (Scotland).
GENERAL ABSTRACT OF MISSION STATISTICS.
MISSION FllllLD.
J amaica•………19 13 …. …. . … .1.6.. ..76 ………… 124 46 Trinidad ……… 2 1 …….. .2:i' 3 3 0 Id Calabar…… 6 "7' ..2.. 19 …. 38 6 K aft'raria ……. o •11..4…..1. ……1.. 38 36 74 11 Spain ………… 2 5 3 13 7 3 I ndia …………. 2 5 158 10 China …………12 ..2.. .iii' 4 5 ..2.. 2 4 ……. J apan …………3 ..1.. 3 2 28 8,814 1,343 73 6,213 5 23 374 3 16 .. .. Mi· 73 280 137 3 2,209 521 36 1,667 11 9 7 9 255 …….5. 365 82 308 5 473 ……6.5. ..7…0… 17 40 632 …4.,8.8..0. 1 14 460 — — — — — — — . ——– — 2'41S; Total……….. 60 21· 3 95 301 100 612 87 155 13,497 2,074 202 13,676 • Four of these are ordained medical missionaries.
Zenana Mission Fund. Number of Mission Bands …………. .. 124 H Members in Mission Bands .•..• 3,829 THE following is a statement of the Foreign' Auxiliary Societies ……….. .. .351 Members in Auxiliary Societies. 9,025 and Zeuana' Mission Funds as at 30th Jnue, 1887 Life Members …………….. . 251 Mem bers of both Local and and 1888, viz.: General Society……….. . 2,336 Presbyterial Societies……… . ·21 I. ORDINARY FUND. Total Membership ………………… .. 12,854 1887. 1888. Increase in Membership …… : ……… . 4,291 New Presbyterial Societies …………. . 3 Balance against Fund New Auxiliaries …………………… . 98 New Mission Bands………………… . 49 at lsi January …. £20,457 6 10 £1.972 8 11 New Life Members ……………….. .. 90 Payinents 1st Jan. to 30th June ……… 23,569 2 11 22,08~ 6 2 £44,026 9 9 £24,060 15 1 FINANCES.
* Receipts, do. do .. 15,966 9 0 10,732 11 9 Contribnted by Mission Bands….•… $ 5,273 25 Dr. £28,060 0 9 £13.328 3 4 " Auxiliaries ………… 19,856 19 from other sonrces. . . . 528 00 * Includes transfer from Reserve Legacies, £8,716, 128. 8d. Total amount contributed …… $25,657 54 The amonnt in all at the credit of the society II. ZENANA FUND. 1888. is $28,519.51, including: $3,500 specially desig- 1887. nated for boarding school at Indore, leaving at the disposal of the society $25,019.51. "Balance in favor of Fond at 1st Jan … £14,594 14 11 £14,179 2 4 Receipts, 1st Jan. to 30th June. . . . . . . . . 1,529 15 5 1,466 10 2 -The Report berore the late Geueral Synod shows that the Reformed Church is. comprised —– of four particular Synods, 34 classis, 546 churches, 555 ministers, 15 candidates for the ministry, £16,1~4 10 4 £15,645 12 6 89 churches without a pastor, many of them very small, 15 candidates for the ministry; Payments, do. do.. 3,029 2 11 2,814 8 3 4,991 persons were received into membership upon confessiou of their faith, 2,745 on certifi· Or. £13,095 7 5 £12,liIl1 4 3 cate, a total of 7,736 ; gain over all losses by death and remo.al, 3,918. The correction of Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of rolls reduces this nnmber to l,3E9. The amount contributed for benevolent purposes through the the Presbyterian Ohurch in Oanada. church is $284;902.31, an increase of more than $52,000 over last year. The contributions for WESTERN DIVISION. congregational purposes show an increase of $56,113.60, being $986.847.29-total amount for WE regret that in tbe brief statement of fig- benevolent and congregational purposes being ures given in our September number (p.715) re- $1,271,749.60 ; this exclusive of 44 churches that specting this societv, we were misled by an old make no report. The report on SuudaY-Jlchools report. We are happy to correct the figures gives 9,154 omcerS and teacbers, 88,709 s.cholars, from the twelth annual report (l888), kindly the average attendance being 60,537; and sent us by the fresident of the Society, Mrs. C. amounts contributed, $47,000. S. Ewart. This report shows a marvelous increase in the work and the re:ources of the society. As we purpose to give a fnIl resume of woman's work in the mission field before the close of the year, we present here, as in other instances, only a brief summary Southern Baptist Oonven~on. work was correct.' In the foreign field the number of missionaries (white) is as follows: WB correct the figures given In our 8eptem- China, 20; Africa, 8 ; Italy, 3; Braz1113; Mexber number, plIge 691, respecting th!s society. lco, 10. Total, 54.
The receipts of the Home Board were $62,930.- There are besides 10 native preachers In Italy, 37. And of the Foreign Board, $86,385.66. 2 In Brazil, 5 In MexiCO, 3 in Afrlca,.and about Leaving a balance In treasury of 13,609.63. 25 In China. Our lltatementof Home Missionaries and their ABSTRACT OF STATE MISSION WORK REPORTED, 1887. . -i–.-. – !. –~l..i~– BODIBS. ,,; ,,; t ,,; ~.",'.,,,; t2 …
STATE. ~os 1..1.2. ' ,a,; ~., III e'S ",,, .'0.w",£" ~., 0'5 0 as! ~ ,g&'. • 0 112 – – – – ~,t: ~ ~I> III 0 0 – — til 5,134 8 $ 7,38733 .Alabama …… State Convention ………….. 66 1l,595 8l!1 1.750 00 …… …. Arkansas •••••• State Convention ………….. l!1 985 8 No report 'i45 West ArkansBsGeneralAss'n .• 17 686 1,073 l!44 355 Plorlda …….. State Convention ………….. 26 789 1112 ll,186 ll,7l!2 14 3,546 48 Georgia …….. State Convention ………….. 45 1,304 912 8.533 6,381 14 15,O4.l 38 Kentucky •••••. General Association ••••••••••• 36 620 631i 2.145 6,990 6.185 61 …. Louisiana .••••• State Convention •• , •••••• , •••• 14 728 l!Ii6 1.131 2,502 6 4,~10 Maryland …… Union Association ••••••••••••• 21 848 818 ll,207 9.264 8,41688 Mississippi •.•. State Convention ………….. 66 673 753 1l.546 . ………… ……. 6,9208 8,002 87 General Association ••.•••••••• 8 70 186 301 5 1.162 00 833 646 KissOuri …••• General Association ••••••••••• 33 3.246 12.046 18 North Carolina. State Convention •••••••••••••. 64 'iili 'isi 9.33113 '''785 Western Convention ………. 11 1.192 1.636 61 ll,600 8,797 7 8.046 M South Carolina. State Convention …………. 68 635 285 6,846 48 iiJ:795 iO:755 Wi 23,71028 …… :i,42i :i,Oi5 Tennessee•••••. State Convention………….. 29 11,244 84 6,840 12 Texas ………. State Convention •••••.•••••••. 120 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Virginia ……. Genera! Association ……….. 60 2,186 861 685 9,010 9,93l! 44,716 54.657 1110 ll!7.m 46 i… . . ~ Sc GENERAL DENOMINATIONAL STATISTICS.
ADDITIONS. DlIllNUTIONB. a., COLOBBD BAl'TISTS • ::EI . :a ~ 8i .'~"s.2s1 j .sda d ~. i i J ~.. f ~ e .~ lH ., 0 ~ -:e Iii 0 :f:s ,.dg,I it ::s a., —– ———;—– — — ~ £"" .E i i -~'". -A – :-I S ":i:isi 0.0 -t-3 ::EI 0 III ~ "is ~ ~ -Eo<- – – – Ala.bama… 1,467,884 64 713 1,432 6,009 4,415 188 693 4,828 1,412 101 917 89.728 847 92.690 – 18l!,418 Arka.nsss .. 936,058 38 478 1.028 4,308 2.510 128 457 2.402 901 497 47.604 403 29,597 77,201 FIorlda….. 338,406 16 l!O3 36Il 1.489 902 42 136 812 333 18 137 14.816 219 15.497 30,813 Georgla.•.•. 1.00.,800 61 IIl() 1,577 9.460 7,078 45 1147 7.38l! 1.769 4 1,400 131,937 1.409 166,429 298,386 ….. ….. …….. Indian Ter- . r i t o r y . . . . 'i;80i:83i Kentucky . . 7 148 136 841 230 29 126 171 136 103 5.830 5,680 67 884 1.366 10,975 3,818 518 775 4,456 1,882 464 1,51;3 187.503 439 65.038 202.Ml ….. Louisia.nia.. 1,008.961 20 188 898 1,821 1,179 10 314 959 458 6 l!27 19,164 768 71.193 90,357 ~ryland •. 1,009,798 1 45 40 790 246 85 246 :.'99 84 6.717 17 6,400 18.117 issis8illpi. 1,237.468 40 481 1.106 5.963 3.513 2 757 4.078 875 16 788 74.068 1,l!24 108,133 182.201 )lissour•..• 2,438.747 70 896 1.526 8,178 3.605 572 632 .,185 2,061 544 1.044 103,357 213 15,10t 118.461 NorthCa1'()o lina …… 1.525,841 47 6l!7 1.307 7,649 8,306 8 819 3.748 1,828 84 1.282 124,725 1.015 105,603 2IlO,328 SouthOaro- 374 766 5,327 2.666 26 607 2.888 1,024 106 922 74,745 625 116.865 191,610 Jina …… 1,085.789 744 1,191 5,890 2,619 264 383 2,784 1,248 217 1.096 94.740 326 32,005 126,745 115 148 846 106,871 889 66,774 173.645 747 7,292 2.046 —- -=– – – — — — — — – – — — —– — Tennessee..1.723,996 Texas …… 2.0l!7.8Il5 78 1.070 1.889 7.820 7.1114 – – – – Vil'iinia…. 1.660,788 23 846 768 6,694 2,119 307 626 2.699 1.005 765 1.089 83,671 937 191,954 275,625 Tota.ls…. 19,951,241 584 8,057 14.874 82.714 46,019 2,24:1 7.904 48,~30 17.267 2,4l!2 12.1~1 1.115,276 9,331 1.083,282 2,198,668 Net increa.se of churches……………………. 628 Tota.IBaptistChurches in U. 8…… 81.891 _ Net increa.se of membership.. •• •• •• . . • •• • • . .•. . • • 50.100 Total membership in U. 8 …………2,917.316 Tota.l number of churches. white a.nd colored.. 24.205 Tota.J Baptist churches in the world. 37,354 Tota.l number of ba.ptisms. white a.nd colored .. 121.578 Tota.J membership in the world……3.600.719 -The Board of Missions of the )lethodlst The appropriation amounted to S208,819.8l! aud additional contingent appropriations of 125,610. lIplscopal Cbnrch, South, met In May a.nd made Dr. Kelley resigned as Missionary Treasurer. lUI assessment on the Conferences of 8300,000.