The Missionary Review of the World — July 1939
1939
The "Moksa" Goes to the Country Shannon McCune When a Mission Became a Church Alexander H. Kemp Rural Youth of the Church Today H. S. Randolph Spain Today and Tomorrow By a Wayfarer Politics and Religion in Albania Phineas B. Kennedy Liberty and Religion in Red Russia F. J. Miles Forty Years' Progress in Latin America Webster E. Browning 25 Cents a CoP1 $2.50 a Yeat'
D.tes to Remember WORLD FRIENDSHIP — FIRST
June 24-July I-Eagles Mere Confer- IIJUST LIKE YOU II ence of Missions. Chairman, Mrs. Earl Breeding, 24 Rugby Lane, By LUCY W. PEABODY Scarsdale, N. Y. 196 pages, a picture on every page. Children love it···Libraries need it. June 28-July l7-Erieside Conference for Girls and Young Women. Wil- PEACE AND GOOD WILL DEPEND UPON IT lowick, Ohio. Special Price, $1.00, Postpaid July 3-10-Northfield Missionary Con- ference for Women and Girls. East Order from MISS M. H. LEAVIS, 186 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, Mass. Northfield, Mass. For information, address Mrs. Warren C. Taylor, 38 Obituary Notes of seventy. For thirty years he had Union Ave., Schenectady, N. Y. held administrative positions in the Mr. Russell Carter, who retired Illinois Synod and the United July 6-11 – International Christian two years ago after serving forty Lutheran Church. He retired from Endeavor Convention, Cleveland, O. years as treasurer and Assistant active service in 1936 after having Treasurer of the Presbyterian Board served as Secretary of English Mis- July ll-August 16 – Winona Lake of Foreign Missions, died in Pitts- sions of the Board of American Mis- School of Theology. Winona Lake, burgh, Pa., April 29, at the age of sions for eighteen years. Ind. Dean, Dr. J. A. Huffman, 302 72. Mr. Carter had also traveled Morton Blvd., Marion, Ind. *** • • extensively in foreign lands. July 22-28-Baptist WorId Congress. The Rev. Albert Oltmans, former Atlanta, Ga. • secretary of the American Mission to Lepers, died June 12th, at Yokohama, July 2l-30-'-Erieside Annual Summer Rev. George F. Jenkins, formerly at the age of eighty-four. Bible Conference. Willowick, near Cleveland, Ohio. a Presbyterian missionary in China, He was born in the Netherlands, and came to the United States when a July 24-August 2-World Conference died April 6, in Kansas City, Mo. In youth: He was graduated from Hope of Christian Youth, Amsterdam, 1903, Mr. Jenkins went to Hunan un- College, Holland, Mich, in 1883, and Holland. der the Cumberland Presbyterian from the New Brunswick Theological Seminary in 1886. That year he went August 30-Sept. 2-National Rural Church; and later transferred to to Japan as a missionary for the Re- Forum. Penn State College, under the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., formed Church in America. He re- the auspices of the American Coun- stationed first at Changteh and then tired from active service as a mis- try Life Assn., Dr. Benson Y. sionary fifteen years ago and took up Landis, Executive Secretary, 297 at Taoyuan, where he established an his work as secretary of the American Fourth Ave., New York. Mission to Lepers in Tokio. Recently, • orphanage. • • the Japanese Government decorated August l-lO-Erieside Conference for Mrs. Caroline Atwater Mason, au- him for his work among lepers. Boys and Young Men. Willowick, thor of more than twenty volumes of Ohio. short stories, travel and religious Aug. SolO-Ninth Quadrennial Con- books, died recently. She was the vention of the Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society of Af- widow of Dr. John H. Mason, a pro- Personal Items rican Methodist Episcopal Zion fessor in Rochester Theological Sem- Church, Detroit, Mich. inary.
August l3-2O-Geneva Summer School The Rt. Rev*. R*ob*ert Lewis Pad- of Missions, Lake Geneva, Wis. For information write to Mrs. Paul dock, retired Bishop of the Protestant Rev. William C. Kerr, of Seoul, H. Wezeman, 1177 S. Humphrey Episcopal Church, died in Clifton, Korea, has been appointed to the fac- Ave., Oak Park, Ill. N. Y., on May 17 after a long ill- ness. He was born December 24, ulty of the Imperial University in Sept. 2-4-Erieside Business Women's Conference, Willowick, Ohio. 1869, in Brooklyn, N. Y., and was Seoul, to teach Latin and English ordained as Missionary Bishop of Literature. Because of this connec- DO YOUR S.S.PAPERS Eastern Oregon, in 1907. He retired tion he has been able to start an Eng- ~ in 1922. **• lish Bible Class among university stu- BIBLE TRUTH? Rev. William B. Millar, D.D., for- dents. **• ~~ COUNCll. ~ FIDES – For Young· People merly General Secretary of the New Dr. William Webster Hall, Jr., of York Federation of Churches, died on New York and Sofia, Bulgaria, has May 30 in New York City as a re- been called to the presidency of the sult of a stroke, at the age of 73 College of Idaho. His experience in years. Dr. Millar was born in Lake Mills, dealing with educational pioneering Wis., in 1866. After his graduation was gained in the Near East first at from Lawrence College, Appleton, Robert College, and then in the Ameri- Wis., he became a Y. M. C. A. secre- tary at LaCrosse and later was Sec- can College in Sofia. He is the retary of the International Committee author of numerous magazine articles (1896-1910). He was a founder of and books. the Army and Navy Department of *** Mr. P. O. Philip who has been for the Y. M. C. A. in which he did excel- some years Secretary of the National lent pioneer work. He was General Christian Council of India and one of Secretary of the Laymen's Missionary the Editors of the N. C. C. Review has Movement and later of the Inter- resigned as Secretary to take up work church World Movement. Dr. Mil- in connection with the Mar Thoma lar is survived by his widow and three Syrian Church whose interests have daughters and a son. always been very dear to him. His *** home will be in Travancore, South India, and he is expecting to be a reg- Dr. John F. Seibert, for nearly a ular contributor to the N. C. C. Re- half a century an active home mission view. 1502 N. Third St. Harri.bare, Pena. worker in the United Lutheran (Concluded on page 337.) Church, died April 19th at the age
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REVJEW OF THE WORLD YOUR CHILD At Home. DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor Calvert's wor1d~famou8 home study plan fives superior VOL. LXII Nos. 7-8 education to thousands of children not near good schools JULy-AUG., 1939 t or unable to attend school. Complete courses for each Publication and Business Office- grade from Kindergarten to High School. All books. Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. materials and teacher gl.!idance included. En- t~lUsias:ical1y endorsed by educators and parents. Editorial and Executive Office– Low cost. Vrite today for free catalog. State 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. child's age, Entered as second-class matter jt CALVERT SCHOOL, 187 E. Tnscany Rd., Bahim.re, Md. Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under Act of March 3, 1879. all the missionary societies. It can 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. do for these societies what no one of Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. Published monthly, except August. them can do for itself." All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1939. JOHN R. MOTT, British agents – Marshall, Morgan . and Scott, 12 Paternoster' Buildings, Chairman, International London, E. C. 1 shilling per COpy, Missionary Council. 10 shillings a year. *** MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- LISHING CO., INC. "My congratulations on the splen- BOARD OF DIRECTORS did issue of THE REVIEW on home ROBERT E. SPEER, President A. L. W~RNs;auIS, Vice-President missions." (June, 1939). W ALTIllR,.' McIlouGALL, Treasurer KENNETH S. LATOURETTE, DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary Professor of Missions and Or-iental History, Yale PAUL J ..; B.RAISTED· University.
S~UEL'MCCREACAVERT *** D.J. FA-NT""'" . "I have taken occasion to go through MRS. ORRIN ,R.' JUDD the latest issue of THE REVIEW and it wM.. B. LIPPHAllD has brought back to me what a very ERIC M. NORTH able and worth-while publication it SAMUEL M. ZWIilMER is; indeed it has appealed to me so Only 10 swift days direct to Yokohama when you sail by much that I am starting to subscribe Empress to the Orient. Only 3 more days to visit lovely Editorial (.hat over again. The only reason I dis- Hawaii en route by Empress oj continued my subscription was that I lapan, largest and fastest liner This July-August number includes on the Pacific, or Empress oj two summer months when many read- have so many magazines coming to Canada. From California ers are away from home and when ports connect at Honolulu. most local church activities are less. my desk that it is simply impossible The articles in this issue will be of Frequent sailings from both great interest and many are particu- even to scan them all, and in a Scotch Vancouver and Victoria to larly readable for summer mission Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, circles. spirit one day I decided .that I must Shanghai,HongKong,Manila. economize." ,. Consult YOUR OWN TRAVEL *** AGENT or Canadian Pacific: DR. GEORGE W. ARMS. 41 offices in U. S. and Canada. The Foreign Missions Conference at Swarthmore, Pa., (July 9-16) comes Bedford Presbyterian Church, too late to include a report in this number. It has been unusual in set- BrookLyn, N. Y. up, in interest and importance-fol" lowing the Madras Conference and Personal Item, planning to make the most effective use of the re~ults of that 'con:l;erence. (Concluded from 2d cover.) Dr. Milton T. Stauffer, former Education Secretary of the Student Vol- Dr. Wilbert W. White has resigned unteer Movement, and Dr. Herrick from the presidency of the Biblical B. Young, Personnel Secretary of the Seminary in New York, with the title presbyterian Board, are to report and Founder and Honorary President of evaluate this Foreign Missions Con- the Seminary. His brother, Dr. J. ference in the September number of . Campbell White, will act as president THE REVIEW. Look for this report. until a successor has been secured. *** *** Recent letters have contained the following comments on THE REVIEW Mr. James Stark, Mr. M. Hardman and its value: and Miss R. E. Oaskeshott are retir- ing after fifty years of service in the "After all is said and done, THE REVIEW seems indispensable, although China Inland Mission. I know of no otbers of this mission who subscribe for it. But I want it Mr. E. K. ** * a misand that's the reason for this check. I've been a patron for more than Higdon, formerly thirty years, with some time carelessly skipped." sionary in the Philippines under the REV. JOHN C. FINEFROCK, United Christian Missionary Society, United Lutheran Church Mis- has been elected to a foreign secre- sion, .Guntur, .India. taryship in that Society.
*** The Rev. * *R. * Associ- "THE REVIEW exists primarily to Jesse Wilson, further in every way the program of ate Scretary of the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society connected with the Home Department, has been transferred from the Pacific Coast office at Los Angeles and is now in the same department in the main of- fice, New York. Dr. Wilson was for- merly a missionary in Japan and later the general secretary of the Student Volunteer Movement.
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"MOKSA" (DR. WM. N. BLAIR) REMOVING HIS SHOE COVERS ON LEAVING THE CHURCH. (THE MEN USE ONE
AND WOMEN THE OTHER) INTERIOR OF THE CHU)'tCH AND AUDIENCE-(TWO JAPANESE DETECTIVES IN THE CENTER FOREGROUND) GDiNG TO CHURCH IN KAICHUN, 'CHOSEN
NARY
REVIB ORLD AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS VOLUME LXII JULY-AUGUST,1939 NUMBERS 7 AND 8 Topies of the Times ARE FORCIBLE CONVERSIONS POSSIBLE? only by a long process of training after a conquest. The Soviet rulers of Russia are attempting to con- At times the objection is raised that Christian vert the people to atheism by force; they are not missions attempt to bring about the conversion of succeeding and can only succeed by a long procmen by bribery or force. It is possible by such ess of atheistic education. In Nazi Germany, means to change a man's vote but not his convic- propaganda, national ambition and false teaching, tions. are being used to overthrow faith in the supreme authority of God as revealed in Christ and the Many means are used to turn men from one Bible. There are multitudes of German Chrisfaith and loyalty to another-military force, tians whom these motives do not sway. money, threats, promises, falsehood and ambition. Mahatma Gandhi has tried, with some temporary How long will it take Japan, by the use of success, to force Indian people by his fasting to bombs, machine guns and terrorism to win the accept his program. His most recent self-im- friendship and cooperation of the Chinese? Only posed fast to convert Thakore Sahib of Rajkot, unworthy men succumb to unworthy motives. apparently gained his point; he now says that it resulted in his defeat. Gandhi's opponents were Intelligent Christians realize that men and not convinced and their purpose was not changed, women cannot be truly won to Christ by bribery, therefore they plan to destroy the effect of the fear or force. One might as well attempt to cause a child to be loving and obedient by continued decision in Gandhi's favor. spankings, by threats or by gifts of candy. Men The transmutation of metals, or the conversion are led to consider the claims and character of of one substance into another of apparently en- Christ by the offer of economic advantages such tirely different elements, was formerly considered as provided by the Grenfell Mission, by medical an idle dream. Today such marvellous changes service like that of Dr. Schweitzer's hospital in are conceded! to be in the realm of science. The Africa, or by such secular education as is offered changes wrought in human nature by the power of in many mission schools and colleges. These God are still more wonderful. This has been methods of work may affect their attitude but proved in countless instances, as in the conversion affect no real change of heart. Jesus Christ, when of Jerry McAuley, the "River Thief" of New York, on earth, won men by the revelation of His heart and of Africaner, the "Hottentot Terror" of of love, by the truth that He taught, and by the South Africa. light of Life that shone out through Him. His The transmutation of metals has not been ac- denunciations of selfishness and sin were for hypocomplished by a wizard's alchemy but by the crits; His invitations to come to Him were for knowledge of natural forces and by scientific proc- the hungry and thirsty; His service and sacrifice esses. The transformation of human beings from were for the needy and dying; His- revelation of the natural and beastly to the spiritual and God- God was for those who we:te ready to receive and like is a fact established to the satisfaction of all follow Him. who have seen such changes. This change cannot There is abundant testimony that today, on the be affected by force or by bribery. The Mohammedans have used force and fear to convert whole mission fields at home and abroad, the most efnations to Islam but their end has been achieved fective work in winning men to Christ is not by means of the denunciation of other religions, or [ 339 ]
by the preaching of "hell-fire"; or by the free The result was that Christianity seemed a "fordistribution of "loaves and fishes." Men and eign cult," not well adapted to the peoples to women of all ages and races are won through lov- whom the missionaries came with the universal ing service, by the proclamation of the Good News message of Christ. of forgiveness and life through Christ, and through the manifestation of sacrificial and under- At the recent Madras Conference, Miss Minnie standing love. Other and unworthy methods may Soga, a Bantu woman from South Africa, declared temporarily add to the number of adherents but that to her people Christianity, with its foreign do not change hearts or make loyal followers. clothes, European churches and ceremonies, for- The transmutation of material substances is eign words and unfamiliar songs, was distinctly wrought by understanding and applying the laws a "white man's" religion. Many thought that if of nature, which are the laws of God. "To as they adopted the white man's clothes and manmany as received him (Christ) gave He the ner of life they would no longer be "heathen." But right to be called (recognized as) the children of Africans did not feel at home in European sur- God-who were born, not of blood, nor of the roundings. When they worshiped in a church with will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of a native thatched roof, an unhewn stone for an God." altar or pulpit, and sitting on the ground; or when they worshipped under the trees with the ESSENTIALS IN MISSION WORK vaulted sky for a roof, then they felt at home.
A young doctor, who had recently been gradu- Christians from other lands pointed out the ated from a modern school of medicine and sur- same need for using native ideas and surroundings gery, was sent as a medical missionary to China to make the peoples of each land and race feel at and became a member of the staff of a large and home in their Christian life and worship. efficient hospital. One of the first things he did was to direct one of the Chinese orderlies to throw Many young missionaries today, going out to out a lot of tin pans and other ancient equipment foreign lands with all the enthusiasm of youth and so that they might be replaced by enamel ware with the equipment of the most modern education, and modern implements. Some of the older mem- are demanding better facilities and more money bers of the staff retrieved the discarded utensils. in order that they may give to the "under privi- leged" of those lands, "the best that America and In contrast to this young doctor's attitude are Europe have to offer"-medically, economically, the reports. of Dr. Gordon S. Seagrave of Burma socially, educationally and religiously. From some in his "Tales of a Waste Basket Surgeon." He quarters there is a constant call for more modern has achieved wonderful results ·by using instru- buildings, better equipment, more automobiles, ments and equipment discarded as out-of-date by fast motor boats, radios, airplanes, together with doctors in America. more highly technically trained teachers and spe- cialists. An article recently appeared in Asia, written by an American college man who went to India to On the other hand missionary history shows that investigate the effectiveness of American and some workers have made the mistake of attempt- British educational methods and ideals as applied ing to adopt native dress, food, and living condito the Hindus. From intelligent Indian graduates tions to which they were not born or adapted. of some of the modern institutions he learned that Some valuable and consecrated men and women many of the best trained Indians consider "West- have died prematurely, or have been invalided ern" ideals and methods to be unadapted to In- home, because of such mistakes. Others have redia's needs. ' Foreign colleges are too highly or- fused to use modern methods, inventions and ganized and regimented. They turn out largely equipment which might have added greatly to "white collar" clerks who find few openings for their efficiency. service in Indian society. The educated Indian critics believe that if the "ashram" method had What are the essentials, as distinguished from been followed, with capable teachers who would non-essentials, for effective Christian life and train students in practical ways for Indian life, service? Jesus Christ came to earth as a "foreign the results would have been far better. missionary." He adopted the Palestinian mode of dress and manner 'of life-so far as these were Other critics of Christian missions in Asia, wholesome; but Jesus was born into that life; He Africa and the Pacific Islands, point out many never refused to use the best that Judea and Galmistakes made by early missionaries who intro- ilee offered to make His ministry more efficient. duced European and American dress to replace native costumes-or the lack of them; setting Is it not clear that non-essentials in Christian foreign styles for church buildings, houses and an life and service include special kinds of clothalien manner of life copied from their home lands. ing, (little or much) ; particular architecture for houses or churches; a special language or music; a type of equipment, peculiar ceremonials in wor-
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
ship; a particular form of organization and spe- on their knees to confess sin and pray for forcial educational methods-these are clearly non- giveness. Dr. Sung's meetings were crowded and essentials. God can use any of these that are many came forward to accept Christ. The "Witimpregnated with His spirit and are wholly sur- ness Bands" with two hundred men, women and rendered to His control. Personnel is vastly more youth, were busy speaking of Christ to outstations important than equipment. An efficient doctor or and neighbors. There is great rejoicing over the surgeon is one who knows his science and can spiritual fruitage of this work and over churches use his equipment efficiently; a successful teacher that have been awakened and strengthened. Biis one who knows his subject and how to present ble reading and prayer have increased as well as it effectively; a successful ambassador of Christ personal witnessing of Christ and His power. is one who knows and loves God as He is revealed lives have been set right; quarrels have been setin Christ and the Bible and who lives a Christ-life tled, debts have been paid, pastors have been set among men. on fire with new zeal for winning people to Christ. In one church some members of the congregation Es-sentials for the missionary, or for any Chris- stood up and said to the pastor : "You are not the tian life and service are therefore: first, life in man you were before the evangelist came-you Christ-a life that comes from God, is God-filled preach better sermons than formerly." The pasand God-directed. The second essential is the tor himself admits the great change. Whereas he purpose and power to lift up Christ as the Saviour, used to consult with the missionary concerning who lived and died for sinful men; who rose again, those cold and indifferent, now he weeps over them and is ever living in and with His people in every and prays for them. Sunday afternoon after he land. The third essential is ability to teach the has taught a Bible class, preached a children's Bible as the revealed Word of God; the Spirit of sermon to the Junior Church and a mess·age to the God can be trusted to interpret and adapt the adult members, he takes any who care to go with ideals and truth of God to meet the needs of each him to hold a street meeting. In the evening he race and clime and condition. It has often been takes his part in the special meeting of the "Witfound that the earnest native Christians of a com- ness Bands." munity are much more reliable guides in applying Christian truth to local problems than are the This new spirit in the Chinese Church was foreign missionaries-even those of holy charac- further strengthened during March, through the ter and long experience. visit of Wilson Wong, of the Christian and Mis- sionary Alliance, when the Christians feasted upon Do we not often make the mistake of clinging the Word of God, and at the evening meetings to old ideas and prejudices when new methods brought unsaved friends to hear the message. might be better or of thinking that modern untried More than forty took their stand for Christ durideas and equipment must necessarily replace the ing those evening sessions. old? The first essential is always life-spiritual life; the second is proper food-soul food found in God used both men and both methods to save God's revealed truth; the third essential for souls and inspire soul-winning service in the strength is exercise-loving spiritual service, using whatever equipment we have that will help hearts of the Chinese Christians.* produce abiding spiritual results. It would be well for every Christian to check up in order to Rev. Sook Pongsanoi, a Siamese pastor in discover how many lessons we have learned Trang, Siam, writes of his interesting experience through a period of years, that have helped to that changed him from a Bible-selling colporteur make us and our children more Christlike and more effective servants of God. into a soul-winning evangelist. He says: t NEW LIFE IN THE CHURCH IN SIAM "As a student in the Bangkok Christian Col- lege and later, when acting pastor of the Second As a result of God's blessing on the work of Church of Bangkok, I sold and distributed many John Sung, the Chinese evangelist, in Siam last Scripture portions and Testaments without makautumn, a new spirit has been manifested in the ing reports to the Bible Society. I went into many Chinese Church in Siam. The work was formerly homes and walked in and out of many lanes with carried on in three dialects and three denomina- the Scriptures, but did not feel any real need of tions; now unity and cooperation have taken the reporting on sales. place of division. There is also a new zeal in evangelism and new signs of Christian faith and life. "When I went to work for the Bible Society as People are saved; lives are quickened; the spirit a regular colporteur I had to report every month and power of Christ are manifest in hearts, homes and wanted to give a wonderful report to the head and churches. Entire congregations have fallen office.
"But I was nQt satisfied with the work I was do- ing, and was not happy in it. I sold more than • Facts quoted from Rev. A. G. Seigle of Slam.
t Reprint from the Forty-Eighth Annual Report of the Siam and Laos Agency of the American Bible Society.
any other colporteur in Bangkok, but I felt that ent situation assure us that religion-and particumy work was shallow. I was just selling the larly evangelical Christianity-is not dead in Rus- Book without giving purchasers any message con- sia. The expression of it may have changed and cerning the Saviour of the book. I knew that I been driven to cover, but the hunger of the huought to do something more than simply sell God's man heart for God has not been satisfied and the Book, but I went on day in and day out like a vital spark of men and women who have received machine. life from Christ has not been quenched.
"A year and a half ago I was called to become A Soviet Government census has recently shown pastor of the Trang Church, South Siam, and I (according to The Sentinel) that two-thirds of the accepted the call, but with the agreement that I 80,000,000 Russian people living in villages and should continue part time work as a colporteur. one-third of the 40,000,000 people living in larger My work had very little power, but there was a towns are stilI definitely believers in God, in spite growing desire for a clearer understanding of the of the twenty years of pressure and persecution Holy Word for myself so that I could pass it on to to suppress all' religious faith. others. The Soviet authorities have been disturbed by "When I heard that John Sung, a noted Chinese the revelations of the census and have sought to evangelist, was coming to Bangkok I determined suppress the facts. A German writer states that to go and hear him. Thank God, God opened my there are today 30,000 organized Christian groups eyes to see His wonderful love in a new way. A in the Soviet Republics, in addition to many secret powerful meaning of the Cross has come to me societies. Faith in God and a desire for some and I came to have a new attitude toward Bible relation to Him-even in the form of unenlightstudy. ened religion-will not die.
"I invited Dr. Sung to come to Trang and Many factors that have been supposed to support through him God has poured out a mighty bless- religious institutions-capitalism, private proping upon the people of this city. The Trang erty, wealth, and an independent clergy-have Church is now on fire for God and has been packed lost influence, but the roots of religion still rewith people every Sunday since Dr. Sung went main. The younger generation, declares the away. Every church member brings his Testa- Deutsche Landshau, that does not remember the ment to every service and we read the Scriptures regime of the Czars, is less prej udiced against together. Every Sunday I read a chapter from the religion. Many Russian congregations are said to Old Testament, and then the congregation reads a be made up largely of people under thirty years chapter of the New Testament with me. (I wish of age. Ministers are ordained secretly, have no all the people could have a complete Bible, but it definite parishes, and travel about unrecognized will be a long time before that can come true.) by the enemies of religion, but known to Believers. We are feeding on the Word of God as never be- Many of the clergy are artisans or small trades fore. and last Sunday sixteen women and five men people, and gather groups of Believers in unfrewere baptized and twenty baptized children pro- quented woods and ravines. Piety is nourished fessed their faith in Jesus Christ and all united in the hearts of the people who are encouraged to with the church; two back-sliders also came and memorize Scripture, songs and prayers. It takes confessed their sins. One of the old missionaries courage to join such groups, as was true in the said }i.e had never seen anything like that ingath- early days of Christianity, but persecution enering before. dured helps to strengthen rather than to weaken faith in God. The truth of Christ's promise is "Now I have an entirely new attitude toward proved today, as to the Church founded by Him Scripture distribution. At first I did not think and characterized by living faith in Him: "The it necessary to make any report to the American gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Bible Society; then I came to look on the report as the major part of my work; no'W I am seeking PROVERBS OF THE HILL FOLK OF INDIA to win souls through the careful and prayerful distribution of thi.<; Holy Book. I am not now A small stick hides the mountain from the eye. most interested in the ntlmber of Scriptures sold, One says, "What shall I eat?" Another says, but in the number of men and women and boys "What sauce shall I eat with my food?" and girls brought to accept Christ." Sparrows are the headmen of deserted villages. A potful of rice is judged by one grain. CHRISTIANITY NOT DEAD IN RUSSIA Men say that time passes. Time says that men pass. In spite of the continued atheistic propaganda A good man finds the world good. in Soviet Russia, as promoted by communistic officials, by means of ridicule, education, persecu- -The Indian Witness. tion and materialism, those familiar with the pres-
"MOKSA" PUTTING ON HIS SHOES, PREPARING TO LEAVE THE HOME OF A KOREAN PRESBYTERIAN
The "Moksa" Goes to the Country Adventures on a Week-end Journey in Chosen By SHANNON McCUNE, Clark University, Wor- * cester, Massachusetts He OME out to the country with me for the thankful ever since, for it gave me a chance to see week-end." It was my father-in-law, Dr. the country work of a missionary in Korea at William N. Blair of Pyengyang, who was first hand. It was not any special trip but the ordi- speaking. I had just returned from a two weeks nary, regular week-end trip of a foreign Moksa, reconnaisance trip through northern Korea and or itinerating missionary. confess that the prospect of starting out right away, even for a short trip, was not very inviting. Mother made ready the bedding for us; Edith, But after some hesitancy, I agreed, and have been my wife, finished the batch of fudge so that we could take some along. I loaded my camera, while • Sha nnon McCune, the son of Dr. and Mrs. George S. McCune, Father Blair put gasoline in the car and checked was born in Korea. He Is a graduate of Wooster CoIlege, Ohio the oil. The car needed careful going over for it (1935) , Syracuse University (1937) and did graduate work at Clark has been in constant service since it was bought on University (1937-38) where he is Willia m Libby Fellow in the furlough five years before. School of Geography. His father was formerly president of the Union Christian College, Pyengyang, Cbosen. His father-In-law, Dr. At three o'clock in the afternoon, on a Saturday William N. Blair, of Pyengya ng, has given most of his time to last November, we started off to the north-Ieavevangelistic work, la rgely in the country districts. The photographs used to Illustrate this article were taken by Shannon McCune on the journey described.-EDIToR.
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ing our wives at home in Pyengyang. The road presidency of the Union Christian College and was very familiar to Father Blair for he had been told stories of his evangelistic campaigns. There traveling it for almost four decades on foot, by was some reference to the Shrine question (which pony, in oxcart, and by almost every conveyance is such a serious problem in the Japanese Empire imaginable. We were going to the center of his today), but there was no discussion of it for the Korean leaders appreciate the position taken by the missionary body.
After a night's sleep we woke to a fine fall day with light cumulus clouds in the sky. The usual Korean breakfast of rice and soup are scarcely to the Occidental's liking, so Father pulled ou't his little alcohol lamp and proceeded to prepare a real American breakfast of bacon, eggs and coffee.
During the morning I had an opportunity to look around the elder's home, while Father was at Sunday school. It was typical of the better class Christian home and was heated by the regular Korean system of an ondol, the draft going' under the floor from the kitchen stove to the chimney on the other side of the house. The floors and 'walls were made of mud, well-packed on a corn-stalk frame. The outside walls were white with lime . and the inside walls and the floors were papered.
The roof was of slate, warmer, cleaner and longer- GOING ACROSS THE RIVER ON A FERRY lasting than the usual Korean thatch, though more expensive in initial cost. The elder had utilized beloved Anju district of which he has been the the hills back of his home-not for the usual grave sole missionary M oksa ever since he came to Korea sites-but for an apple orchard and the samples as a young man of twenty-five, fresh from semi- we had for breakfast were delicious. He had pre- nary, thirty-seven years ago.
It was not easy driving, for the roads, built pri- marily for army and other trucks, are continually obstructed by large jagged rocks. With rubber.
like gold in a war economy, our tires were Dr.
Blair's first concern. It was necessary to ferry :,lcross the Tatong River twice on small flat-boats just wide enough for the car. Everyone, from the farmer with the top-knot on his head to the J apa- nese gold prospector, offered advice. But Father has guided the car up over the two narrow planks on to many a ferry and so we crossed without much trouble in the growing dusk. We drove along the river for a number of miles and saw boats going down to Pyengyang piled high with firewood or earthen jars.
After a four-hour drive we came into Kae Chy- on where we were welcomed by the pastor of the local church and were taken to a Christian elder's home to stay. In a few minutes the car was un- loaded and soon we were warming our stocking feet on the warm Korean floor. After a bowl of CROSSING STREAM BY FOOT-BRID GJ<:: . DR. BLAIR (IN u-dong (soup) we talked with the pastor, the FRONT), BEHIND HIM A KOREAN DEACON. elders, and others of the church who dropped in to call. This was a valuable opportunity to renew pared a cellar to store the apples, under a shed old friendships with the Korean leaders. I met a where he kept his firewood and rice. In front of number of people who remembered my own father the house was a little garden for cabbages. These (Dr. George S. McCune) and were sorry to hear had been pulled up and stacked by the well to be of his retirement. They recalled his years in the used in making kimchi, or pickle. Tethered under
THE "MOKSA" GOES TO THE COUNTRY
the apple trees were two goats and across the the Church the platform was arranged to make little garden was the pig pen with a fat sow and room for a large sheet of paper which Father her grunting litter. Chickens were pecking Blair would use for his chalk-talk. The church around in the garden and the yard-doubtless filled rapidly, the women sitting on the floor to the missing their companion which was boiling in the right and the men on the left, so that by the time big kettle in the kitchen. The elder was naturally the service started there was not much room left. quite proud of his establishment, which made him Other similar Presbyterian services were taking remarkably self-sufficient. He told me of the help he had received from his subscription to The THE "MOKSA" AND KOREAN ELDER ENJOY SUNDAY DINNER Farmer's Life, a magazine founded by Father (In former days everyone had his individual table, Men still eat McCune and now edited by Mr. Lutz of Pyengyang. The house and little yard n their cleanliness apart from the women,) and convenient arrangement showed that the elder place all around the world, with only a few difhad received from the missionaries not only spirit- ferences. Here the congregation took a big part ual help but also an incentive to improve his ma- in whole-hearted singing and an elder gave the terial surroundings. Sabbath prayer. Everyone listened attentively to the sermon which the Moksa gave. Two Japa- At about twelve we had dinner, a little better nese detectives sitting in front of me took copious than usual in honor of the M oksa. It was a treat notes. (Korea is far from being a free country, for me to be able to sit on the floor and really make especially for a foreigner.) But the preacher my chopsticks click on the good things that the could have the satisfaction of knowing that his elder's wife had prepared. I had been wary of sermon spread beyond the two hundred people in Korean food in my travels around the country the church auditorium. but the clean kitchen was an evidence that I had no need to be afraid of contracting any disease As soon as the church service was ended Father here. With all my appetite, I couldn't hold a candle, Blair put on his shoes and went to the parked car. or should I say a chopstick, to Father Blair as he The canvas cover was taken off in a hurry and off polished off his bowl of chicken soup and heaping we started for a ten-mile ride to a little town to dish of rice. The side dishes of different kinds of the south-west of Kae-Chyon. Here we left the car, meat, fish, and eggs cut up in small pieces, were again shrouded in its canvas cover, and went on also very good but I reveled in the kimchi, the foot. It was a beautiful hour's walk through the pickle which is an essential part of every Korean Korean countryside on this fine autumn day. We meal. It is full of red pepper which burned the had to cross over streams on little foot bridges inside of my mouth, and had a tang, from having and had fine views of lone pine trees towering been in an earthen jar buried in the yard for over above little villages clustered under the brows of a year. The pepper· brought tears to my eyes, the hills. We fell in with a fellow traveler and not only because of its sharpness but because I soon struck up a conversation. When a nail came thought back on my seven long kimchi-less years through the heel of Father's shoe, they squatted in America. down together to fix it with a rock. This road, too, was very familiar to the Moksa and he enjoyed The bell at the church had been ringing all telling about the days when as a young man he morning at intervals for the different divisions of developed this territory. He pointed out the rocks the Sunday school but it pealed for a longer time for church at one o'clock. The elder, in typical Korean style, commented on the glad note it sounded this day because the Moksa was to preach. Rising from the floor and going out on the veranda where we put on our shoes we went off to church. It was the third successive building erected on this site during the last twenty years. Each one bigger than the last and now the congregation was making plans for a new addition. The building, with its tile roof and red brick walls, trimmed with white shutters and doors, made a pretty picture, especially to the Korean eye.
With my camera I took some shots of the men dressed in their white robes going in one door, women, with babies on their backs, going in the other; some "kids" stayed outside to play. Next door was the manse-a modern Korean home with' a tin roof and very clean in appearance. Inside
on which the pigeons used to roost and the hill- out, (or rather "pried" out), and once again the sides which formerly were thick with pheasant. rooms were packed, this time by the adults of the He sighed for: the days whe.n he had a gun and, village. Outside were others, who were too shy not being bound in by red tape, could bring home to come in, making a group of about eighty. Faa brace of ducks or perhaps a deer. The greatest ther spoke this time on some of the basic beliefs pleasure of the trip for him, however, was to talk of Christianity and what they meant in the way of with our companionaboutthe story of Jesus. Much a changed life. At the end of his talk he asked all of my Korean is forgotten but the simple story who wished to make a definite stand for such a change in their lives to raise their hands. Eight torwas beautiful to hear. It fell on "fertile ground," people raised their hands, some having been pre- the gentleman w~s deeply moved. pared for such a stand by the elder and the dea- "At about four o'clock we came into the little vil- con. They only needed the incentive of the Mokla.ge of Kul Chang Kori, or Rock Village Market- sa's coming to ~ake their stand definitely. Our pla.ce. The church had been started many years fellow traveler of the road came up at the close of ago' but had had its ups and downs. Father Blair the service and said that he wanted to change his had not been able to get into this isolated valley for life also, but wished to study more before he came over four years, so that his arrival was a real event to a decision. for the church and also for the village. The little church, situated on the edge of the village, had Shortly after the service we left the town to been repapered arid looked fresh 'and clean. Fa- walk back to the car. A number of the church ther walked around the village of a hundred people, in accordance with Korean custom, walked homes, talked with 11. group of threshers working to the top of the first pass with us. A full moon on the village threshing fioor, and invited them to had come up and the sight of the village, nestled come to the meeting,At night. He also called on on the 'edge of the hill with wisps of smoke spiralsome of the non-believers and interviewed some ling up from the evening fires, is a treasured young men who were interested. At :(lve we went memory. We said our goodbyes and walked tQ",the local elder's home, a typical two-roomed through the beautiful landscape in the crisp au- &untry house with the newly-threshed rice tumn air. We could not but think back on the stacked in bags under the eaves of the thatched eight who had decided definitely to seek a change roof. The cow was in the adjoining shed. Rude in their lives. We wondered if they would be able and poor as it was there was a spirit of welcome to stand fast amid the every day life of the village arid warmth that must have impressed the neigh- and in the strenuous times through which their bors among whom the elder and his wife lived. country was passing. Father commented on how There was no pastor in this village but the faith- typical was the reaction of our fellow traveler who, though sincerely moved, yet was so bound ful elder with a young deacon had kept the lit- by tradition and custom that he could not bring himself to a complete change of faith and life so tle church alive. quickly. There we had supper of chicken and rice and Soon we were back in the car driving to Kae kimchi, all specially prepared for the visitors. Chyon to spend the night in the elder's home. We Again, it was interesting to be introduced as a were up early in the morning in order to be back son of my father, Dr. McCune. It warmed my for an afternoon meeting in Pyengyang. We took heart to hear the old village headman, a non- a different route home and passed through another Christian, say, "The name of Yun Moksa is on section of Father's field with a church in every large town and groups in many of the villages. the hearts of all Koreans." He pointed out the church he had gone to the Sun- At six o'clock the little bell was rung for the day before and the church that he and Mother were to visit the next week. I was impressed by the children's service. The little church, with one fact that this trip we had taken, though extraor- room' about 12 feet by 2'4 and another room in the dinary to me, probably seemed just the usual rear reserved for the women about 8 by 12 feet, thing for him or for any of the evangelistic mis- Was soon jammed with children of all sizes and sionaries scattered throughout Korea. Even Fa- descriptions. There were about sixty, and all ther was sorry to have to rush back to Pyengyang clamoring to be up in the front. The young deacon so quickly but his city responsibilities called him. 'soon had them splitting their throats, singing He wished for time to visit others of his fifty or "Jesus ,Loves Me," while Father tacked some more country churches that have been passing drawing'paper on the wall. In a few minutes all through such difficult times and need the strength- were shouting the answers to his question in ap- ening and encouragement which a visit by the proved Korean fashion, as he told and illustrated Moksa would bring to them. the story of the lame man at the Beautiful Gate. Many of the older people had come and the rooms kept' getting more and more crowded. When the children's service was over, they were ushered
a Mission becomes a
By ALEXANDER H. KEMP, M. D., Angola, Africa Missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church W HAT is the supreme purpose of Christian 600 church members; today there are over 5000. missions? Is it not to win people to Christ Then we scarcely dreamed of a self-supporting and to gather these disciples into churches native church; today we have 20 outstations which that will become self-supporting, self-extending, receive no subsidy from the mission. The mediand self-governing through the leadership and cal and educational work at Quessua now receive power of the Holy Spirit? In Angola, West Afri- a large amount of financial support from African ca, after fifty years of mission work many circum- sources. stances show that we should take a big step forward towards achieving the second part of our In the early days there was great rejoicing purpose. It is one thing to found a mission; it is when some of the first converts were deemed quite another thing to establish Christianity in a ready to be sent forth as evangelists and village foreign soil so that the Church will grow and de- pastors, and the missionaries were glad to provide velop and bear fruit. these men with houses and salaries from mission funds. The fact that a chief would allow Chris- The past half century of missionary work in tian work to be started in his village was consid- Angola has cost the Church at home not far from a ered a victory for the Kingdom of God. Realizing half million dollars. During the first twenty years that these first native workers were poorly prenearly thirty of the missionaries laid down their pared for their tasks, the missionaries directed lives on the field. The visible results are seen in their energies. towards the training of more effec- three mission stations, sixty native-manned sta- tive men. This meant mission schools. Every boy tions, five thousand church members and an equal who could qualify educationally, spiritually and number of adherents, and a hundred African morally, was assured of an appointment and a Christian workers-pastors, teachers or evange- salary from American funds. The supply of suitlists under appointment of the church leaders. able young men has never equaled the demand. One of our stations, Quiongua, which has had The desirability, as well as necessity, of instituting missionaries for fifty years has been closed be- a system of self-support for outstation work led cause of a shortage of workers, and there is only to an effort to have the older outstations assume one missionary couple at Luanda, the capital of responsibility for the support of their own pasthe colony. This couple cares for a school with tors. About 20 outstations are now doing this. 250 pupils, a church with an average Sunday afternoon congregation of 1200, and 20 outstations Today the situation in Angola is markedly difin the district. At Malange, 270 miles inland at ferent. Decreasing income from America has the railhead, there is one missionary doing pas- made it impossible to continue the present force toral work and translating. At Quessua, 8 miles of native workers on a salary basis, and an infrom Malange, is situated a central training insti- creasing number will each year be ready to enter tute with a school of 200 boys, a Bible School of the Lord's work. At the same time there are 15 pupils, besides industrial, agricultural and med- several large areas in which, until now, a Chrisical work, directed by a single woman missionary tian worker would not have been accepted, but and one married couple. One male missionary from which requests are now coming. In the superintends the Malange District with its 40 out- Malange District there is a large force of native stations, and four women missionaries conduct workers to whom customary salaries cannot be a school with 250 girls. paid from mission funds; there are opportunities to open new work in unevangelized areas, and When the writer arrived in Luanda in 1923 the there is a constantly increasing number of new re- Methodist Episcopal Board had three times as cruits available from the Mission Institute. many missionaries in Angola as now, and more than double the present annual work budget was A call was issued for a conference and seventy provided from American funds. Then we had a African workers were present. After reviewing score of native workers; today we have a hundred the work of the mission during its first half-cenmuch better trained workers. Then we had some tury, I took the men into complete confidence and laid before them a summary of the receipts, dis- [347 ]
bursements and balances of the district funds for Two vital attainments to be achieved in transeach of the past five years. Summing up the sal- forming a mission into a native church lie in aries of several classes of workers I showed that workers' willingness to receive their remuneration it would take 4,000 angolares ($80.00) per month from the people rather than from the mission. to pay all of them, whereas we had on hand enough The village churches must also be ready to proto pay 25% of this from American funds. The vide their workers with remuneration commensuother 75% would have to come from local church- rate with the service rendered. es, from other remunerative labor, or from their gardens. Each quarter less money would come One fundamental question which must be defrom America for them, so that the time seemed cided concern the form which the ministry is to to have come when the native church must as- take. Is it to be a strictly professional ministry sume a much greater share of the responsibility in which the pastor spends all of his time in Chrisfor the support of its own ministry. tian work and receives his entire support from his people, or is it to be a ministry in which the Is Foreign Money Inexhaustible? pastor, trained at the mission, earns all of his sustenance from his gardens or from a trade, For many years our native workers seem to donating his ministerial labors to the village? have had the impression that there was an inex- Shall the ministry be supported in part by the peohaustible supply of American money in the mis- ple and in part from the pastors' own labors? The sion, and that the share each received depended latter seems to be the only feasible plan for the upon the plea he put up to secure it. To help present, at least, and will probably be the final them realize that every angolare I paid out for solution. An understanding of native customs such general expenses as the conference in which is necessary in determining the question. we were sitting, must be deducted from the amount available for salaries, I deducted the The African Ministry travel expenses of men, the cost of rations during the conference, the cost of sending a boy 150 miles In many instances native pastors spend little into the interior to advise the men of the confer- more time in their routine church work than their ence, and other expenses. Thus many of them for people spend listening to them. The African is a the first time came to the realization that there natural orator, such as no other race claims to be, actually was a limit to mission funds. I endeavored so that he requires less preparation for public to make them see that I was doing my utmost to discourses than one would estimate. Even the best secure for them an adequate subsistence, but I of our African preachers have very few books, or told them that in my judgment there would have other literature; a Bible, hymnal and Sunday to be developed a local rather than foreign source school quarterly being the extent of many a pasfor this subsistence. The word "salary" was re- tor's library. They do little pastoral work, such as placed by the word "assistance." From now on is done in America, but they spend many a day they must consider themselves as supported by listening to disputes, settling differences, and givtheir respective churches rather than by the mis- ing judgment on questions., being in reality an sion, and that if they proved themselves faithful unofficial justice of the peace. A teacher must and loving servants, they would be sufficiently sup- spend about three hours daily in the classroom plied with this world's goods to enable them to and practically every native worker should spend continue to break the Bread of Life to their peo- half of his time in his gardens, as do most of ple. his parishioners. As in all African families, the wife spends from sunrise until one o'clock in her Late in the afternoon, after having been given garden. Even when the man of the home is upon their "assistance," the workers left to return to a salary basis, cash never goes for common foods, their stations, determined to preach the Gospel but is used for taxes, clothes, and trinkets. Even to the utmost of their ability, regardless of the re- a new house costs nothing for floors, walls or roofmuneration they might receive from the mission. ing, all being obtained locally free of cost, the win- dows and doors, table and bed and chairs being We have now agreed that all villages near Mal- the only things requiring a monetary outlay. Land ange that request a worker must provide a house, is free, and if the worker has been taught a trade church, gardens, and some cash salary before the at the mission, he can usually earn some money by worker is sent. For villages among unevangelized simple carpentry, sandals, tailoring, and making peoples, it will be necessary for the mission to forged articles. provide for a small salary for the worker for the first two years, or until the worker's garden be- To get a native worker to accept his remuneragins to produce. This plan must be carefully safe- tion from his church instead of from the mission guarded, however, both the worker and his peo- presents many difficulties-and many opportuniple being made to realize that financial assistance ties. Every boy who passes the government exfrom the mission is very temporary. amination expects a "white-collar job," just as
WHEN A MISSION BECOMES A CHURCH
his wife who had been trained in the girls' school rial returns alone, the finest investment any village here expects to be excused from field work. Un- here could possibly make lies in providing for the til now these expectations have been largely real- Christian message in their midst. Africans are ized, made possible by the salaries paid by the mis- poor in this worlds goods, far too poor in fact to sion. Incidently, one-half of the problem of a continue their present expensive beliefs and reself-supporting church is the wife of the worker. ligious customs. Heathen in their hunger bow It is not reasonable to expect villages to support down to wood and stone-seeking an explanation their Christian leader as liberally as he has been for their experience, a search which every human supported by the mission. A native worker must heart has made in vain, until Christ has been partake liberally of the humility of our Master to found. When He has been found and His freedom make him willing to accept support from his local entered into, then our people will be able to secure church organization, and be responsible to that material as well as s.piritual rewards. church for the faithfulness and lovableness of his ministrations. The present situation makes it imperative that we take a big step forward toward establishing a What Can the People Pay? self-supporting Christian church here. Workers present at our recent conference accepted their On the other side, the village churches, after reduced income from the mission in a spirit that having considered for many years that they were warmed our hearts, especially when we saw how doing the mission a favor in allowing a Christian determined they were to continue preaching the worker in their midst, must be trained to make a Gospel for the salvation of their own people. One fair remuneration for the ministrations they re- worker, who had been unable to attend the con· ceive; and they must be convinced that the min- ference, later wrote that he would continue his ministry even though he never received any reistrations are worth the cost. In old days a man muneration from either the mission or from his own people. Our instructors at Quessua, both would pay an ox to be taught to sign his name, or those in the classrooms and those in the shops, several oxen to have his son taught to read and showed an excellent spirit in accepting lower pay. write. The mission has been giving an incompa- Rather apprehensive of my cobbler's attitude, I rably better education to the boys in our schools, called him into my office to appeal to him to coneven providing the boys with food, clothing, secrate himself as the others had done. When I shelter and school supplies. It has been not too asked his attitude towards the new wage-scale, he difficult to bring our people to the place where drew himself erect and answered, in typical Afrithey pay more liberally for medical treatments, can style: "Have you not given me five boys who and for the educational opportunities provided for passed the government examinations last January, their sons and daughters, than we would have be- for me to train in my art of cobbling? Will not lieved to be possible a few years ago. It is now these boys go out to preach the Gospel in places our task to bring villages to where they will re- where I cannot go, to preach it as I cannot since munerate their Christian workers adequately for I am an uneducated man? Has not God called me the benefits received. About twenty villages. have to help them to the best of my ability to be able been brought to this stage, though the present sit- to earn their sustenance as they preach the Gosuation leaves much to be desired. pel, when the mission cannot pay them? I want to continue teaching these boys, even if I receive An old missionary once told me that we should less pay." With a spirit of consecration and devonever expect our people out of their poverty to tion like this among our workers, we take courage support Christian workers. If this were so, our and press on, feeling confident that God will outlook would be hopeless for progress would be abundantly bless our labors. held down in direct ratio to the amount of American money expended. An Evidence of Success In this way we could never hope to attain the In transforming our mission into a native supreme purpose of mission work. But I have no Christian church, we will be called upon to solve doubt about the ability of the people to support many perplexing problems, to straighten out their Christian ministry, even though the cost be many difficult situations, to exercise many years without material return to them. When converts of patience, tact, foresight, and love. We realize become true disciples of our Lord, and come into that there may be at stake the results of fifty years that freedom which is found alone in Him, they of missionary labor which has cost so much in no longer are bound by their prohibitive taboos lives and money. If we fail, then we shall know and superstitions, and no longer pay so dearly for that the expenditure of a half million dollars and their useless fetishes and amulets; they will no the sacrifice of thirty lives has not yet succeeded longer submit to such death-dealing practices as in establishing here a Christian church that can the sas,s-wood test administered by their witchdoctors. Considered from the standpoint of mate-
be trusted to perpetuate the Christian message tude, so that we may train our converts gladly to through its own efforts in the power of the Holy support the bearers of the Christian message. We Spirit. During the future months we may be can no longer "call" workers from among the called upon to undergo many disappointments in school boys, providing them with work which will seeing our workers and stations and followers enable them to live in relative luxury and ease. diminish in numbers, when they realize that funds We shall have to revive the Master's appeal for from America will no longer be sufficient to main- our boys to take up the cross and follow Him, be tain them as heretofore. But we are confident of the -sacrifices what they may. From many angles, ultimate success in founding a Christian Church it appears to us that the present situation has been which shall endure. How could we be otherwise brought about through the wisdom and love of when we are under a divine leadership, when our God; we feel that the present step we are now native workers, upon whom in final analysis rests compelled to take will be wonderfully blessed by so much of the responsibility for success, are so Him, and will result in great increases in the determined and consecrated and confident that the number of true disciples, and in the appearance work must go on? of a rapidly emerging native Christian Church, which shall be self-supporting, self-propagating Our planning for the future of the work and self-governing. throughout the land must take on a different atti- The Perpetual Value of Foreign Missions By the REV. DWIGHT M. DONALDSON, Meshed, Iran I T IS inspiring to spend a morning roaming third man, Dr. Newton Donaldson, was prevented about Westminster Abbey, London, pausing from going to Persia as he had planned, but he before the tombs of famous men, but there i,s and his wife were always enthusiastic in their something still more intimately uplifting for some missionary interest in the pastorate at home. As of us about going into the prayer-meeting rooms their son I have the privilege of working in Persia. of churches where successive generations have His sister, Elma Donaldson, went to India, where worshipped, and to see the pictures of godly pas- she served at Dehra Dunn with devotion until she tors who have spent their lives proclaiming the was seventy years of age. A daughter, Mary Don- Gospel. aldson, went to China in 192'4.
The late Dr. George Alexander, of New York, Thus a real interest in foreign missions will ingave forty-six years of deeply spiritual service on spire succes,sive generations to take part in the the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian permanent business of promoting the cause of Church. Seven of his classmates at Princeton Christ in all lands. Seminary went to the foreign field, and all died in service. Life is no more static in foreign countries than it is at home. It might be asked facetiously, "Why Over fifty years ago, as a young man returning should the land of the Pilgrim fathers, the land of from India on his first furlough, Dr. J. J. Lucas the Scotch Covenanters, the land of the Quakers, had talks with three students in Western Theo- still require the expenditure of millions of dollars logical Seminary in Pittsburgh. He won their annually in national missions?" Others might inrespect and confidence and was able to help them quire, "Why should the country with the greatest reach a decision in their most important life prob- system of public schools and State universities in lem. At that time all three of these men decided the world need money from a Church Board of to become foreign missionaries. One of them, Education ?" The answer to both of these ques- Dr. A. C. Good, went to West Africa, where he tions lies in the present-day problems in the died after twelve years of vigorous missionary United States. If anyone suggests that economy adventure, and where he has been followed by his in church expenditures could be effected by reson, Dr. Albert I. Good, of Elat. The second man, garding the foreign missionary enterprise as a Dr. John Eaken, went to Siam and carried heavy temporary phase of Christian activity, we should responsibility, with sustained evangelistic zeal, realize that the momentous changes that have for more than forty years. His sons, Paul and taken place in foreign lands make an insistent and John Eaken, and his daughter, Ruth Eaken, are imperative demand upon Christian people. giving life service to the Gospel in Siam. The Where illiteracy and superstition and idolatry
THE. NEED FOR. A LIVING FAITH
have given way before the enlightenment of claimed and the reality of the divine Spirit must Christian education, with its churches, schools and be shown in human lives. hospitals, there are new assets for righteousness in the world. Some of the second and third gen- The spirit of nationalism must yield to the eration Christians fill chairs in colleges or work spirit of Christ. As national churches arise, it is as pastors or editors or evangelists. Missionaries the fact that they are Christian and not merely may no longer be needed to fill these P.ositions national that enables them to be admitted at once abroad but the work of the Gospel must still be to the great international Church of Christ. The carried on by other methods in other places. saying, "Let every nation determine its own re- ligion," is utterly inconsistent with the whole Modern civilization has displaced much ancient tenor of the Gospel. Christians are soOns of n.o error and superstition, but there has c.ome ma- national god, and they have been redeemed by terialism and a more obstinate heathenism of in- no national saviour. The w.orld-wide clash bedifference to spiritual things. Educated Chinese tween capitalism and communism knows no naand Japanese, and Hindus and Moslems, are find- tional boundaries. The auth.ority of Jesus Christ ing that for them the alternative is not between must be recognized as universal. The Christian one religion and another but between Christ and Gospel is of permanent and universal value, and atheism. In Iran Islam is losing its hold on edu- at this time when thoughtful students throughout cated men. Nevertheless the fad remains that the world realize that crass materialism has made Christianity is only beginning to be understood. its sensational denials in vain, the message is espe- Great walls of prejudice and misapprehension cially pertinent. Ambassad.ors of Christ preach have fallen down and there are eyes to see and not a mission of temporary philanthropy, but the ears to hear as there have never been before. universal offer of salvation through Christ and For this very reason the Gospel must still be pro- the everlasting Kingdom of God.
The Need for a Living Faith* By REV. J. W. BURTON, Sydney, Australia Secretary of the Australian Methodist Missionary Society O PTIMISM, we are told, is a great asset for with many luxuries-and many horrors. It has missi.ons. If you want people to contribute given us aeroplanes-and baby-killing bombers; to missions, serve up the bright side .of it has created marvels in chemistry-and pois.on things, tell them .of the "glorious Gospel tri- gas; it has built for us swift motor cars-and umphs," and put the soft pedal on failures and military tanks; it has given us wireless-and nadisappointments. If the income drops, do not tionalistic propaganda; it has lengthened the span advertise that; but if the truth leaks out, then .of human life-and taught us h.oW to cut off the explain the shrinkage as, plausibly as possible. stream of life, so that by birth-control a race may The wand, however, is obviously losing some of be more quickly exterminated than by disease. its magic, and thoughtful people are incon- Let the optimist sound his ram's horn and see if veniently asking for naked facts. these walls will fall down.
Our Lord was not the facile optimist some What chance has spiritual religion in this W.orld would like to paint Him. He s,aw the true condi- of nationalism, materialism, and militarism? tion .of the world in His day. He came .of the line What has the Church, representing Christ, to say of prophets who did not speak comfortable things. The story .of the sower suggests that of the four to economic manslaughter and race suicide? Ruskinds of soil, only one yielded satisfactory results; sia has thrown out the Church, asserting that it the illustration of the tares indicates tpat we must prevents social progress; Germany has banned it not expect a hundred per cent harvest; while the because it demands a loyalty other than to the descripti.on of the net full .of fish shows that there State; Mexico and Spain have challenged it beis wastage. That aspect of our Lord's teaching cause it keeps down the people; many other counhas not had due consideration. tries have done even worse-they have ignored it. According to the totalitarian conception the State We once th.ought that science would lay down a and its interests must be supreme. "Battle pracstraight road for the millennium; but we have tice" is considered more important than the quiet been tragically disillusioned. It has provided us w.orship of God; to learn artistically to thrust a bay.onet in human flesh is of more value to the • Condensed from The Missionary Review, Australia.
State than is· education or slum clearance; the others with the life and death of our Lord. It is profits of a lottery are worth more to the State's by a new spirit of unselfishness. and by a real ap- coffers than the honesty of its citizens; and party plication of the Cross- (not as a theological doc- funds and vested interests come before social re- trine, but as a stern spirit) to aU human life- form and human welfare. whether individual, social, national or interna- No wonder gloomy prophets can find a hearing tional-that we can bring back faith.
when they are so glibly announcing the end of the It is faith we need-faith in the eternal God world; the fear of many is that their prophecies who has revealed the quality of His life and the may not be fulfilled. trend of His will in our Lord Jesus Christ. This Does all this mean that faith – the power to has implications. for the whole Church, and spe- apprehend and appreciate the spiritual-is in de- cial implication for missions.
cline? Spiritual values are simply irrelevant in We must make our appeal more and more spir- this world of brute force and organized hatred. itual. There must be an awakening of the The Christian religion is increasingly suspect be- Church's conscience, far too dormant today, in cause it preaches a Gospel of goodwill. Missions regard to our duty to the wider world. Members in some countries have become a danger to state- of Christ's Church have definitely 'pledged them- craft, for they have proclaimed a world brother- selves in loyalty to Him and they must be aroused hood and have protested against national and ra- to its implications. Let us first face the problem cial discriminations. This narrow conception of of the adult member, who seemingly has little the supremacy of the State-whether in times of interest in winning the world for Ghrist. The peace or war-is entirely incompatible with the missionary meeting has almost vanished as an faith that Jesus is her only Lord. Though we effective method of presenting the "claims of mis- shall suffer, and may be persecuted unto death, sions." Many other interests have sprung up in we must be loyal above all else to Christ and His the last hundred years, and no one in any other eternal love and sacrifice. realm trusts to a public meeting to carry a mes- The new paganism affects our Christian work sage. Our methods of appeal need drastic re- at home and lowers the enthusiasm and passion vision. We place too much emphasis upon results for world evangelization. Depleted voluntary giv- in money. The blunt truth is that most of us are ing is only one incidence of spiritual regression. giving beyond our spiritual interest: it is the What are we to do? Play the ostrich and ignore quickening of spirit that is our deepest need.
danger? Repeat piously "God's in His heaven, That assured, the money will come naturally and all's right with the world?" Quote heartening spontaneously-as. it always should.
texts that have no real application to the situa- We may be obliged to start humbly-in little tion? Attempt to bluff people by weak smiles and groups of three or four-meeting together to talk sugary optimism? Or shall we give up the strug- and pray over the Kingdom of God throughout gle and make ourselves believe that we are in the the world, informing our minds by the study of grip of uncontrollable world forces, and with a material dealing with the concrete needs of the stoic fatalism let the heavens, fall when they will? world, and encouraging one another in this world Or shall we pursue a crackle-of-thorns-under- fellowship. There is no need to wait for some the-pot policy, and attempt to attract people by organization to start such a group. You can call entertainment; devise tempting schemes and a few of your friends together in your own home catchy slogans to lure people to the support of for prayer and missionary study. One of the the missionary cause? dangers O'f our religious enterprises is this super- In our hearts we know that all these things are structure of organization. It takes so much of futile. We must go deep. the coal we carry to stoke the engines. The min- We must realize that the whole trouble is spir- ister is often a busy man with a hundred and one itual. It is the human spirit to which we must thi'llgs to attend to, it is scarcely fair to make him address ourselves, for we are perfectly sure of responsible for forming and carrying on a group, the Spirit of God. His Will is that the world though it would be well to consult him before should be saved, but it is man's self-will that pre- starting one. Groups can start with the infor- vents world salvation. It is a birth from above mation contained in the Missionary Review. There that is needed – a regeneration of the human are also many books dealing with world missions.
spirit. We shall not win by compromising with We have surely enough missionary-minded people the world, by adorning our appeal with confec- in our churches to commence a little group in tionery; we shall win only as we succeed in chal- every church. Live cells live by division, and lenging our own selfishness and the selfishness. of more life comes into being.
Youth of the Church
By H. S. RANDOLPH Secretary of the Unit of Rural Church Work, Board of National Missions, Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.
I N THE early history of the American nation assurance to owning and cultivating land as did our rural youth knew no frontier limits. There his forebears. Consequently farm life has lost was land-good land, new land—everywhere, much of its charm for youth. Poor land holds out two billion acres of it ; nearly a billion acres were little challenge, and there is not much greater covered with virgin forest and challenge to a young man to over a half-billion acres with spend his life toiling even on luxurious grass. The nation pos- good land that he cannot afford sessed resources that seemed to to own.
be inexhaustible. This situation Today a rural youth sees that gave birth to 'It youth fired with what his father had been able to profound spiritual qualities of earn in a year is wholly insuffi- confidence, hope, ambition, aspir- cient to pay the taxes and the ation, determination, pride and interest and principal payments self-respect, qualities w h i c h o n the farm mortgage. He has closely paralleled the ideals for seen the farm sold on the block personal attainment in the to a foreigner while his father Christian Church. Therefore ru- has become a tenant, and may ral youth found an opportunity even lose his place as a tenant.
to express its finer qualities Such experiences have forced through the church. In fact the many rural youth to give up church was the only institution their dreams of owning a farm, in which the entire community or of owning anything else; could adequately express the so- dreams of school and college cial, educational, spiritual and have vanished; books and travel other important aspects of its are too expensive to consider; life. the old family car and the house- Today, after more than 300 told furnishings are rapidly years of American history, there wearing out, and cannot be re- is no frontier in the nation placed for there is no money which promi£es inexhaustible available.
wealth. Those old frontiers have This decline in rural resources been exploited, and ours is no and wealth, and the breaking of longer spoken of as "the richest rural morale, have been sorely and most favored continent on felt by the rural church. Lack the face of the earth." In less of clothing suitable for Sunday than 300 years the frontier has has kept many a rural lad and disappeared and rural youth lassie away from Sunday school now races a national problem and church. Perhaps the old presented by a shortage of eco- car won't run, and it is too far nomically productive land. Much A MOU~TAIN BOY LEAVING HOME to walle As a result there is no of the nation's soil is now de- church going. In many instances pleted or suffers from want of the rural economic condition has insufficient moisture. Rural youth faces the prob- made the church pastorless because the community lem of inability to work highly productive land, could not support even a part-time minister. Mis- for such land is too high-priced to be owned sion Boards either did not see the need or did not wholly by the individual farmer. Therefore mo- have available funds to meet it. In the course of dern youth cannot look forward with any great time the rural church closed its doors and be- [ 353 ]
came a ghost in the community-broken windows, either directly or indirectly for youth, the probpaint gone; weeds and briars grown up-all make lems of rural youth are far from being solved. an unsightly landscape. All this brings home to rural youth a sense of the insecurity of the coun- Many look to rural schools for the solution of tryside, leaving in its wake broken confidence, youth problems. Our schools do much to develop torn aspirations, blasted hopes, stunted determi- courage in the life processes of youth. New honation, bleeding pride, and lost self-respect. rizons are seen; new knowledge and skills are acquired. But here we must be disillusioned, for ThElre are twenty-one million youth in America; the rural school training· too often has had only and of these ten million are rural. They live on indirect relation to future work and therefore fails the farms or in country villages; many live in miserably to prepare youth to enter adult vocalittle unsanitary cabins on eroded and depleted tional life. However, we must recognize the trefarms, or on cut-over timber lands. Others live mendous impact which our schools make in the life in stranded villages in improvised houses going of youth. to rack and ruin. In the disadvantaged open country and in rural towns the young people are As a result of present day educational apoften under-nourished so that they fall easy vic- proaches rural youth, as never before, is questiontims to disease. They are unemployed and des- ing things as they have been and are. Old verities perate. lose their moral force in the presence of the logic of today's youth. They are learning how to dis- In many areas there are prosperous farms and cover new truths, how to create new patterns of vigorous, well-eared-for young people who move social and moral behavior. This situation renon in the realm of noble dreams; but these do not ders the approach of adults to youth problems far represent our rural mission problem today. Out more difficult than that of an earlier day. In a in the marginal disadvantaged areas throughout recent state-wide church group of rural youth this all rural America, forces are sensitive and opera- significant resolution was passed: "Our adults tive, endeavoring to bring back to disadvantaged have more problems of their own than they can rural youth the more abundant opportunities in solve. It is therefore highly necessary that we life. Perhaps it is not too late to recapture and go about to solve our own problems." conserve the finer achievements of American rurallife down through the centuries, and to rebuild The church probably has more rural youth in rural youth by making available the resources by its membership than in any other rural institution which the profounder depths of personality are or organization. Are we helping them to discover developed and maintained. themselves, their spiritual abilities and powers in the church and community? Have we been too The Federal Government is making a contribu- much interested in organizations in the church tion through certain emergency measures, such as for youth rather than in youth itself? We have the National Youth Administration, whereby it preached a great deal at youth, and we have creaids many rural youth to attend school. It has ated a great many things for them with the hope provided special courses in agricultural colleges of building up their faith and loyalty to the for farm boys and girls; it conducts work projects church, but too often our church organizations, for thousands of rural youth, as well as educa- our doctrines, our creeds, and our preachments tional guidance and job placement. More than have not been open doors of behavior patterns on 900,000 rural youth from low income relief fam- the level of youth's interests. ilies have been aided through the Civilian Conservation Corps. The Work Progress Administra- Youth in the country would like to see in their tion has reached a considerable number of rural churches and in the religious life of their people, youth through education projects, work projects, beauty and order together with a vital program and by provision for recreational activities. Other of action. They want responsibility for doing governmental agencies have aided rural youth things of great moment. They want a recreamore or less indirectly. tional program that embodies the development of skills and ability, as well as amusement. They Rural youth has also been greatly affected by want to experience a cooperative way of life for certain non-government agencies working in ru- the community. They want a spiritual program ral areas, such as the 4-H Clubs, Future Farmers which ties them to God through the church. They of America, Farm Bureau, Farmers Educational are asking for a voice in the midst of a faulty eduand Cooperative Union, and the National Grange. cation and in the breakdown of economic order These have developed to a very considerable ex- and unemployment. They are asking to be heard tent in rural areas. In addition there are many in a world of prejudices where there is a denial of localized projects throughout the country. It is opportunities-poverty, wars, and rumors of generally admitted that even with all these gov- wars. Youth calls for a prophet to lead them. ernment and non-government agencies, at work They are very eager to know about true religion.
RURAL YOUTH OF THE CHURCH TODAY
They want to see the church tie up vitally with the situation from it religious point of view was well rest of their life, with their school program, their expressed by one of the men of the community in dubs,societies, and their vocational interests. these terse words: "Our young people were going Back in an isolated cove of the Southern Moun- to Hell." On the one hand the fine, well-equipped, tains, where youth is supposed to be retarded and well-organized consolidated school was doing a bashful, the energies of a group of boys and girls, suc'cessful job for its youth; on the other hand who knew only how to "raise HeU" all up and there were four poor churches with divided inter- down the creek, drinking and cursing, were so ests, doing a very poor job for the same group of redirected under the leadership of a wise, pro- youth; this led the people of the community to do phetic laymen, that in the period of two years some serious thinking which ultimately led them they were quite capable of doing to unite their churches to form things that made them and oth- one large positive force. They ers happy. called a strong minister as their They took an old school house resident leader, and now have a and remodeled it to make a beau- church which the youth can look tiful rural church. After the upon with pride and say, "Our building was completed and church is just as fine as our cenpainted they landscaped it with tralized school. Our minister is native plants and trees. Later just as good as the principal of they built a recreational building our school. He is interested in all in the midst of a rhododendron the things we do and his friendly thicket .beside a swiftly flowing counsel helps us to do them betmountain stream. The hoys and ter."
girls worked together on these This new united church is projects during their spare time. crowded with young people.
Now they are singing the folk They are doing things in that songs and playing the folk games church which are just as cre- of the Southern Mountains and ative as those which they do of other countries. Near the through their 4-H Club work.
recreational building is an out- They have their Young People's door rendezvous. Needless to meetings, their club, recreation- say, all the young people of that al groups, and many special pro- community are actively enthusi- grams which they carry through.
astic. They are conscious that A wise lay leader found himthey have played a large creative self a few years ago in the open part in the reconstruction of the country in a beautiful valley of spiritual and social life of their about thirty square miles in area community. There is no diffi- where there were a number of culty here about the young peo- country churches and hundreds ple attending church or Sunday of young people. The ministers school or any other activity for were all bewailing the lack of the good of the community, for religious interest on the part of they have helped to create it, it the youth. They took every opis theirs. They are proud of it. portunity to tell them of their About eighteen years ago a sins, but had little to offer as rural community experienced substitutes except what to the the birth of a new consolidated RURAL YOUTH TODAY AT SCHOOL youth were vague abstract ideas.
public school made possible by The young people of the valley improved roads through the country districts and were called together one Sunday night for an open a growing cooperative spirit among the people. forum. Here they discussed their needs. That All the children of the community were brought very night an organization of the young people of to this fine school, which had a beautiful building, the valley was formed to meet monthly for var- good equipment, and excellent teachers. ious purposes. They met for social and recrea- In that same rural community ' were four tional activities; they met to sing; they spon- churches, all with poor buildings, no resident min- sored the Sunrise Easter Service of the commu- ister, church membership weak and becoming nity; they later created a Young People's Council weaker, Sunday schools gradually dying, no of the churches. Through this Youth Council de- young people's organizations. The young people's nominatioi1al harries were broken down through-
out the valley and a cooperative church spirit was effectively restored and saved to the nation their born that could never have existed had not the confidence, hope, ambition, aspiration, determina- youth been organized in this creative fashion. tion, pride and self-respect must be reconstructed.
Here the young people developed a new spiritual This is the task of the rural church, for there is life for themselves and also for their community, no other institution that can undertake and carry all of which has been reflected in the life of the through such a momentous responsibility. There churches of the area. is no other institution known to rural life that is Give rural young people a chance to use their so well fitted with philosophy, idealism and methcreative genius in the church under wise Chris- od to provide the needed sympathy and prophetic tian leadership and we need not fear them or fear direction to complete rural living by disadvanfor them. They know well the significance of taged youth of the soil as is the Christian Church. creative work. They bring out of a setting of The holy work of the rural church is to build out eggs a flock of chickens; out of a pig they develop of these hopeless, spiritless lives which poverty a hog; they grow a cow out of a calf. Out of has strewn over this fair land of ours, youthful grains of wheat, corn, or cotton they produce a lives strong and true.
worthy harvest. God's creative way of living is Herein is a challenge to our Christian churches an integral part of the life of rural youth. As for unity of purpose and method of work, such as rural church leaders we must translate this vital never has come from the good earth of America, power of youth into the spiritual world and teach to provide a good church without competition in them how to live creatively in the Kingdom of every American rural community, with a well- God. • trained and efficient ministry, and an ongoing Rural youth has a big job in any community, a program attuned to the problems, needs and activ- job that will challenge ities of rural youth, their creative zeal, a job thus creating a new that should build them Christian rural life.
into integral parts of the church life. What MOUNTAIN CHIL- is needed to reach such DREN READ THEIR a goal is a wise leader TESTAMENTS to help youth discover The Bible Institute its spiritual job in the Colportage Association, church and community founded by Dwight L.
and to frankly face that Moody in 1894 for the job and see it through. pUblication and distri- Youth, through the bution 0 f evangelical consolidated schools and Christian literature, other community insti- A RURAL CHURCH IN THE MOUNTAINS-AT CARMEN sent 9,969 shipments of tutions, is learning to books, booklets, Gospels, live and act cooperatively. Too frequently the New Testaments, Gospel tracts and miscellaneous churches are too numerous in rural communities. books to mountain schools in the South last year They are competitive in character and disrupt the -a total of 564,682 copies.
social unity of the community. All of this is a The Episcopal Recorder quotes from a letter mystery to oncoming youth. 'They wonder why written by a mountain girl to her teacher, in which there should be such a division and competition she says: in Christian life and work. Our rural youth offer a new challenge to united religious effort in all "Mother and Dad never had a Bible in their of our rural communities. Christian intelligence house, and never did any reading, until you gave demands a united church, the best of equipment, us the Book of John and the Pocket Treasury; the finest leadership and program, so that when but now they are getting interested in the Lora." youth compares its church with its school it will The teacher adds: "The children are more interfind that the church is an institution of which it ested in the Lord and want to take fifteen minutes each day to read th~ir Testaments. They are askcan justly be proud because of what it does for ing questions about the Bible. I want them to them, then they will give to it their loyalty, their read the Testament through before school is out, support, and their lives. and help them in every way I can."
Many of the ten million youth in rural Amer- Teachers in these mountain schools report a ica are disadvantaged through poverty. The gov- marked improvement in the morals and conduct of ernment and other organizations are making their their pupils since this work of literature distribu- contributions but if these young people are to be tion was undertaken.
Today and
By a WAYFARER The author of this article has first-hand knowledge of the situation in Spain T HE end of the Civil War in Spain, with the ister of the former, the Rev. Atilano Coco was shot surrender of Madrid on the 28th of March in prison; the incumbent of the latter, Rev. Mr. brought to an end one of the great tragedies Borrobia is still in prison. Liberty of propaof modern times. All who know Spain never had ganda, without which a religious minority cannot any doubt as to the ultimate issue, but all were thrive, was carried on normally in Government surprised that an improvised army, without sci- territory but was prohibited in the Nationalist entific training, was able to hold out so long area. The sale of the Christian Scriptures reached against superior forces equipped with modern record figures in republic or Loyalist Spain durlethal weapons. Neither side is without reproach ing the conflict but was prohibited in the country for many excesses· were committed that history dominated by General Franco. Registered parcels will condemn. The Nationalists, in spite of their of Bibles, sent from London to Vigo, were reclaim to a pure patriotism, opened the door to the turned marked "Prohibited by the Military Cenforeign invader and armed the Moors, the heredi- sorship."
tary enemies of Spain, in order that they might Fears for the safety of the Protestant minority kill Christians. The ruthless repression of the and the continuance of the work lead the British Basque autonomists, with its massacre of priests Committee for the Evangelization of Spain to ap- and civilians will not soon be forgotten. Franco point a delegation, under the presidency of Dr.
too seems to have been unable to restrain the Rushbrook, to call on the Duke of Alba, the official Falangists and Requetes in their zeal to extermi- representative of the Nationalist Government in nate "the Red vermin." Spanish Anarchists, al- London, asking for assurances of protection and lied with Communists, by killing priests and burn- liberty. Through his good offices certain questions ing churches, discredited the Loyalist Govern- concerning the maintenance of religious liberty ment cause and alienated sympathy that would and propaganda were submitted to General Franco otherwise have been theirs. It would be as fool- who later replied guaranteeing liberty of worship. ish to hold Senor Azana personally responsible for On being further questioned as to whether this . this as it would be to make Franco wholly respon- included liberty of propaganda the General replied sible for the excesses of his irregular troops. It in the affirmative and this declaration was pub- is a significant fact neither seems to have pos- lished in English newspapers. sessed the authority necessary to dominate the sit- uation. In this age, however, promises do not seem to have the same sacred character as formerly. The As to the religious situation generally speaking dead cannot- be raised but if General Franco would both sides maintained the degree of religious lib- release Evangelical workers who are still in pris- erty that obtained in Spain at the outbreak of the on and allow the reopening of closed Protestant war. At an early stage the Government published churches, such as those of Barcelona that have a decree to prevent excesses and inviting Roman been closed since the Nationalist occupation of Catholic priests to return to their parishes. At the city, that would go far to inspire confidence. no time was Protestant worship suspended in the Government-controlled area; nor were their build- Moreover the news that filters through from ings destroyed. Christian services were carried Spain is increasingly ominous. On the 3d of May on throughout the struggle, frequently in build- a decree ordered the replacing of the Crucifix in ings damaged by enemy aircraft. In Nationalist all schools, whether Government or private. None territory Roman Catholic worship was celebrated will be allowed to function until it has obeyed this in pre-republican splendor. Protestant services injunction. The teaching of the Roman Catholic continued without interference in most towns and religion has been made obligatory in all schools. were well attended. Conspicuous exceptions were The children are obliged to attend Mass. If any Salamanca and Valladolid where Protestant special provision has been made for non-Catholic churches were closed early in the war. The min- children we have not heard of it. All civil serv- ants too are required to give proof of Catholic [357 ]
piety (pruebas de piedad cristia1W) , that is to be brothers united in one conception of the State say, fulfil the obligations of the Roman Catholic and in one religion." But Franco's forces contain religion. Again there is no mention of exemption groups with opposing ideologies. It is easier for non-Catholics. A list of prohibited books has to conceive the lion and the lamb lying down been prepared. Only accepted books may be circulated in Spanish in Spain. Inquiries at the together than Falangists and Requetes living in Spanish Embassy brought forth the statement peace. The Spaniards are a proud people whose that the Bible is not included in the list. Finally, soil has been trodden and their blood shed by foraccording to newspaper and radio reports, the eign invaders. Official friendship may be main- Civil Marriage Law, instituted by the Republic, tained with the invading countries but the people has been repealed and 60 days have been given to who have suffered will not forget. It is even more all married under this law to remarry according difficult to visualize post-civil-war Spain as united to Roman Catholic rites. Failing this their chil- by a common religion. A large part of many of dren will be declared illegitimate. Now as confes- the Spanish people have an inherited hatred and sion is required before marriage in the Roman distrust of the Roman Catholic Church which is Catholic Church, and no so called, "heretic" can considered as the enemy of liberty and a barrier receive absolution, remarriage, under these con- to progress. This feeling has shown itself in ditions, would seem to be equivalent to being re- periods of national tumult by the burning of ceived into the Church. The Spanish Embassy church property. Is it conceivable that the conconfirms the, promulgation of this Law but they duct of the Roman Catholic Church during the have not yet received the text. The conservative civil war was such as to win these people for its French newspaper Le Temps in its issue of April cause? There have been too many priests of the 25th, says that more than 30,000 couples in Madrid type of Zafra who, waving his pistol in the air, alone are affected. They are being remarried at boasted that it has sent more than 100 Marxists to the rate of 650 a day. their account. Even the holy lives and sacrificial death of such men as the Franciscan, Father Re- What will be the position of non-Catholics under ville, who was shot for protesting against the murthis reactionary decree? We do not know as we der of inoffensive citizens, cannot blot out the have not seen the text. We can only hope that memory of others better known whose conduct was there are attenuating clauses in it that are not different. Cardinal Mercier, whose heroism Belmentioned in the first reports. gium will never forget, visited Spain on one occa- I On the 19th of April a deputation from the sion. On his return a friend congratulated him on i'British Committee" again called at the Spanish having seen that most Christian country, to which Embassy in London. In the absence of the Am- the Cardinal replied pensively, "Christian? Do bassador the news of the closing of the Barcelona you think so?" churches-the other information mentioned above had not then been received-was brought to the Spain needs Christ. Not the crucifix hanging notice of the Chief Secretary, the Marquis de los round the necks of bloodstained Requetes and Santos, and the contrast between this event and Moors but the Christ of the Gospels who died the promises given on the occasion of the previ- expressing forgiveness to his enemies. He alone ous visit were emphasized. can lead Spain forward to that new epoch of peace and prosperity desired by all true friends. Pray We hear much of the new Spain that is to rise that there may be an open-door in Spain for men on the ruins of the old. It is, we are told, to be who incarnate the virtues associated with the di- "prosperous and powerful. Its inhabitance will vine character of Jesus, the Christ.
One of India's political leaders said of Stanley Jones: "We always know where he is com- ing out. If he begins at the binomial theorem, he will come out at the place of conversion." And to this Stanley Jones replies: "Right. I make no apologies, for life comes out at that place. Amid all the changes which have taken place in the mind and spirit of this age there is one underlying need that has not changed-men need conversion. But we now see that that conversion is bigger in its scope than we had dreamed-the individual and society must shift the basis from self-centeredness to God. For conversion is that change, sudden or gradual, by which we pass from the kingdom of self to the Kingdom of God through the grace and power of Christ."
and Religion in
By REV. and MRS. PHINEAS B. KENNEDY, recently * of Kortcha; founders of the Albanian Mission A LBANIA, which has recently been front page day dropped leaflets guaranteeing the free exer- .r-. news in the press dispatches on account of cise of religious beliefs." the Italian occupation and the flight of The virile Albanian mountaineers trace their King Zog with his wife and baby, lies north and history (according to Max Muller and others) west of Greece, and across the Adriatic Sea from back to the Pelasgic race. In ancient times they Italy. The country is smaller than the State of were pushed back into their mountain fortresses Maryland and the total population (800,000) is by the Romans, Goths, Bulgars, Serbs, and Turks.
about the size of Baltimore. The people are three- For nearly five hundred years they remained fourths Mohammedan; the remaining fourth be- under the Turks, then they became independent; ing about equally divided between the Roman now they are subject to Italy.
Catholics of the north and the Eastern Orthodox The first Bible colporteur to come to these moun- of the south. Islam was forced on this sturdy tain people was Gerasim Kyrias, an Albanian. He race before the fall of Constantinople in 1453. had been educated under the American Board Their honored patriot, George Castriot Skender- Mission. He was captured and held for ransom, beg who died in 1468, is the hero in James M. but money was raised, through the efforts of the Ludlow's "A Captain of the Janissaries." Evangelical missionaries, and was used for his re':'
The Rev. Arthur W. Konrad of the Evangelical lease. While his health was seriously impaired Mission writes that some Italian bombs proved to by his rigorous experience, he and his sister were be "stuffed with paper and wood, used only to instrumental in establishing in Kortcha an evanscare and not to exterminate." He speaks also of gelical day and boarding school for girls in 1891. the friendliness of the Italian army when it en- This school they carried on for some years. tered the city of Kortcha. A generation ago a young Mohammedan Al- At latest reports the Albanian flag was still banian entered the offic·e of the American Board flying with the flag of Italy. Albania has now a of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in Boston reconstructed government, and, according to and gave a modern Macedonian call: "Come over newspaper accounts, many of the people are jubi- and help us." This touched the heart of the secrelant over having Victor Emanuel III as King and tary of the Board, Dr. James L. Barton, and a Emperor. Albania has lost her brief independ- special fund was raised which enabled the Board ence and she is now related closely with to send out Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy in 1907. While Italy in whatever the future holds. Since the the Turks attempted to prevent the missionaries' Italian occupation of Albania, (April, 1939) there entrance, permission was finally granted on the has been time for some details to filter through basis of American treaty rights. The little school to America. This occupation seems to have been started by Gerasim Kyrias in Kortcha was a veriinevitable due to several years of Italian financial table "cradle of liberty" and was the only girls' aid in the material development of the country. school in the country where the Albanian lan- Moreover dissatisfaction was beginning to be felt guage was taught. Preaching and Sabbath school by many of the Albanians against the Zog regime services in the language of the people were held, in which overtaxed the people. spite of opposition both from the Turkish Govern- ment and from the Moslem and Greek Orthodox The Rev. Edwin Jacques, another Evangelical leaders. From time to time Albanians have conmissionaries, says in his "postscript" to a recent fessed their faith in Christ and have been received circular letter (written before the occupation), into the little Evangelical circle. The occupation "To quiet Moslem forebodings airplanes yester- of southern Albania, during the Balkan War made it necessary for the missionaries to leave, but the * Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy, the founders of the Albanian Evangelical way was opened to do relief work among the starving and dying Moslem refugees in the north, MiSSion, are now in America, having passed over to their fellow with headquarters in Durazzo. After four or five miSSionaries, Messrs. Jacques and Konrad, all the property held by them, both mission and private. Their address is 332 West 12th Street, New York. They expect to work among Albanian communities in America and are ready to accept speaking engagements.
-EDITOR.
[359 ]
years' absence, while the World War was still in Two young missionary couples, Rev. and Mrs. progress, the Kennedys were able to re-enter Kortcha, and soon the attendance at the re-opened Edwin Jacques and Rev. and Mrs. Arthur W. school and at the Evangelical services was larger than before. Konrad were added to the staff and are now con- The income of the American Board being in- ducting the mission. adequate they decided to withdraw from Albania in 1922, expecting that another board would take While the great need in Albania today is to over the work, but this was not done. Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy therefore decided to conduct the reach tre Moslems, there is also a call to teach work on interdenominational lines and founded the Evangelical Mission as an independent "Faith" the unenlightened Roman Catholic and Greek work in 1923. The so-called Kyrias School, having been moved to Tirana, the capital, a new school Orthodox Christians. Albanians are "very reliwas established in Kortcha and village evangelistic services were carried on regularly. When the gious" but their religion is largely outward and independent State was formed, the Albanian language could be taught without the protection of formal. Those who have had a real experience the American flag so that many, who were not vitally interested in the dospel, lost their interest of Christ are deeply concerned for the salvation in the mission. Nevertheless the school grew so that it was necessary to add more rooms and em- of their fellow Albanians. ploy additional teachers. The Bible was regularly taught in all classes three times a week and new The country has passed through many political . members were added to the Evangelical circle. Later, with the growth of nationalism, the Al- changes under Turkish, Greek, French, Albanian banian Government was influenced to close all private schools, including the mission school. The and now Italian flags. What this new change may prejudice of the people has been dispelled, and more time can be devoted to distinct evangelism. mean for Evangelical work is known only to God.
Certain it is that the Albanian people need the clear Gospel message, proclaimed by the power of the Spirit of God. .
Some day there may be a Christian mass move- ment in Albania, for many are dissatisfied with empty religious forms and superstition. They are "almost persuaded" to become real followers of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and to accept Him as their Lord and Saviour. They are a noble race of people, and hold a strategic position in the Bal- kans. Shall we not give them the entire Bible in their language, and evangelize this field while it is yet day? The night cometh in Europe and the Near East, when no man can work.
Liberty and Religion in Red Russia * By COLONEL F. J. MILES, D.S.O., O.B.E., V.D.
International Secretary of the Russian Missionary Society, Inc.
N UMERICALLY, the Russians form the tive Committee viewed with alarm the lack of in- greatest white race in the world, 210 mil- crease due to licensed lasciviousness, reduced it to lion people. Of these approximately 180 latitude, and by law abolished liberty and free millions live within the borders of Soviet Russia, provision of hospitals and surgeons for the pera tract of territory so vast that it stretches from formance of certain operations. The year that Europe to the Pacific; from the White Sea to the the alteration took place making the operation Black, from the Baltic to the Balkans; so huge illegal, the population grew by four and a half that when it is twelve noon in Moscow it is seven million. It is anticipated that the futur·e normal o'clock in the evening at Vladivostock. In this increase will be at the rate of seven million per land, which covers one-sixth of the earth's sur~ annum, until in 1970 there will be three hundred face, one-fourth of Asia and one-third of Europe, million resident in the U. S. S. R. Lenin's widow there dwell 170 races speaking 120 different is leading a journalistic campaign and nation-wide tongues and dialects. There are White Russians movement in fayor of large families. and Little Russians; .Cossacks and Caucasians; Georgians and Ukrainians, and the like. The laws concerning religion govern the whole of the Federated Soviet States. It is, of course, The population was increasing at the rate of true that the farther one gets from the capital three million per annum, until the Central Execu- cities the more likelihood there is that laws will not be so strictly observed. For instance, I vis- • From the E'IIamgeUoal O'hristi<z.n, Jamlary. 1939.
LIBERTY AND RELIGION IN RED RUSSIA
ited a collective farm in the Don Cossack country. mummified bodies lying side by side in the Cathe- The village was still called by its· old Czarist name dral of St. Isaac in Leningrad. The centre one -Alexander the Second! But the collective farm is a "saint," and the outside two are a peasant that included it as its centre, and on which all the man and woman. The stage is set to show that not villagers worked was styled "October 25th"! I sainthood, but chemical processes were responmanaged to "lose myself" from the Field Briga- sible for the preservation. Moreover, into the dier, who made it his business to carefully shep- hand of a corpse lying in the Russian coffin, which herd me around, and I wandered down the village has casket and lid of equal depths, there was street "visiting." placed a Greek Orthodox passport to heaven, printed in Archaic Greek. This had to be pur- One cleanly-clad housewife called me into her chased from the priest and without it there was home where I found in the living-room five ikons, no hope of the departed entering paradise! In the and in the adj oining bedroom another two, each first instance, persecution was directed against with its little red lamp burning beneath it. I this church which was characterized by creed, found that nearly every worker on this intensely ceremonial, crude teaching, and too often not by communistically named farm was still living reli- Christian character. giously as in the old "Holy Russia," and that the bulk of the people, in spite of the five-day week, The Stundists were given a freedom, under were actually worshipping in the little church which they increased with such remarkable rabuilding of the Greek Orthodox Church every sev- pidity that the Central Executive Committee beenth day. came alarmed. They reasoned that the church of these Christians who refused to participate in The American secular press has been misled party politics or to bear arms, was necessarily into stating that the new constitution affords reli- opposed to the Bolshevic plan for world-wide antigious liberty to Soviet citizens. The conditions religious communistic dominion. Their rapid inremain as they were before the draft sent out to crease was, therefore, a menace to the Soviet plan. the Soviets in February, was "adopted" in No- So the forces of persecution were focused upon vember of 1936, and became law on January, 1937. them. No Christian is persecuted as such and Articles 124 and 125 provide for "liberty for anti- no evangelist is banished merely for preaching religious propaganda" and "freedom to perform the Gospel. They are charged as counter revoreligious rites." News editors did not sense the lutionaries. But. facts are stubborn things. Forworld of difference between the two. It simply meant that elderly folk who still clung to their merly we had sixty-six consecrated Russian evanreligious ceremonial could continue to follow it. gelists within the U. S. S. R. Today only five are left and they are in exile. None of the "liquidated" The revolt, while :;tgainst all religion, was in the men ever engaged in any counter-revolutionary first place a revolution against the National Or- propaganda or activity. Before me are the rethodox Church. From the standpoint of the anti- ports for August, 1938. (1) In the Far East God and anti-religious hosts, it was justified. a purge of Baptist churches is taking place There were notable exceptions, as in the case of and the leaders are being charged as "Japanese the Patriarch Tikhon, and the Metropolitan Ben- spies." This is in harmony with the procedure in jamin, the one dying in prison and the other being the West where evangelists and pastors were shot. Before the tribunal the Metropolitan said, exiled· or shot as German spies. (2) Baptist "If I must die, I will die as a Christian." But the groups in Tolka have been "liquidated." Tolka is old Russian Church was largely led by illiterate in the Caucasus. (3) Baptists in the Caucasus and immoral men like that "holy devil of Russia" were accused of (a) hindering the election of -Rasputin. Priests in the provinces actually Stalin candidates at the recent elections; and taught the people that the bodies of believers were (b) conducting religious. propaganda among the immortal, and that when a believer died the body hospital workers of the district. (4) A Baptist remained intact until the judgment day! They pastor of twenty years' standing in one of the exhibited bodies of saints in glass cases in their oldest churches in the autonomous Udmurpk Rechurches. When the revolution came, the anti- public was arrested as a German spy. (5) Evanreligious hosts opened the graves and disclosed gelistic groups in the Crimea were "liquidated." that they only contained decomposing bones. They smashed the glass cases and revealed that the It seems strange that in a land where capital bodies of saints were "fakes." Not all; for the punishment has been abolished hundreds of men ground beneath the monastery of Pechersk at are being shot daily. The military and naval lead- Kieff, the ancient capital of Russia and the pres- ers are shot so that they may be replaced by noment capital of the Ukraine, has the property of inees of Stalin and Company. I ventured to ask preserving bodies interred therein. The monks a City Magistrate in his Chambers in Mosco.w how were quick to take advantage of this and instituted he explained this anomaly. Indignantly he couna mummy factory. • . . 1J'here are three complete tered, "But we do not hang people up and leave
them hanging till they die; we shoot them in- in 1936, twenty-seven in 1937; there are less tostantly and put an end to their misery." And I day. The last German Lutheran Church was found that this university trained man, who had closed in August, 1938, when the pastor died. In taken a juridical course, really believed this. A Omsk, Siberia, with a population of two and a few weeks later I was on the lower Volga, and two quarter million, only three churches remain open. Scotch ladies, traveling first-class, were being con- In a town on the lower Volga, with a population ducted by a Girl Guide interpreter. She told them of eighty thousand, five churches were open when this same story. I had several conversations with I visited it a couple of years back: two Greek her, as we were several days on the boat. During Orthodox, two Roman Catholic, and one German the recent winter she had passed an examination Lutheran. For all practical purposes they might in an additional language, so was receiving an as well be closed. The vital religious work in that extra fifty rubles a month pay, and had been pre- community is being carried on in private circles sented with an English up-to-date edition of a of Brethren, Baptists and Evangelical Christians. work by Frederick Engels in which it was claimed that during the previous year in the Brit- Some reports appear in the press of churches ish Isles, men were banished for life to convict settlements overseas for poaching rabbits, and being full. hanged for stealing sheep. I published excerpts There are enough elderly folk (with whom the from this work in the British Press. Noone has dared to attempt to refute what I wrote. Soviet cannot be bothered-"They'll die off soon, anyway") to fill the buildings that still remain Effect of Censorship open at Easter, and at the three-day Christmas (January 6th) of which Greek Orthodox churches Lamentable ignorance of conditions in Russia make so much. But in the few churches remainand in the other lands is due to the censorship ing open, what can be done? The pastor may which is, applied both in and out of the U. S. S. R. preach on the premises, but nowhere else. He is For instance, no paper, periodical, or magazine taken up for interrogation periodically, and comes Duhlished abroad is permitted to enter Russia. out of the ordeal a nervous wreck. No literature The population gets its ideas concerning "starv- is allowed on the premises except such as is absoing and revolting peoples" of other lands from lutely needful for the conduct of worship. No government controlled papers, in order that by meetings may be held for women or young people. contrast they may be the more content with the It is a criminal offence to gather three young peo- Soviet regime. All who regularly write or are ple under the age of eighteen to teach them reliwritten to come under suspicion. I have before gion. No teacher is permitted to enter any place me a communication from K– asking us not of worship. No social service may be rendered, to write more at present. Believers and others lest by so doing the church should influence those under suspicion are tortured to secure confes- helped to become religious. The church is under sions; nothing to eat or drink; no sleep-terrible! a graduated tax that is increased periodically till, It is such torture that induces wholesale confes- in spite of severest sacrifice, it can no longer be sions of "counter revolutionaries." There have paid; then automatically the Soviet takes over been many positive acts against religion. Church the building because those using Government buildings were taken over by the Government. All property have not paid their dues. It is all quite private property was nationalized, including the lawful and legitimate! !! If the pastor dies, no churches. Like so many other communistic prin- successor may be elected and the church is liquiciples the abolition of private property has broken dated. The German Lutheran Church at Gorki down in practice. For instance, Cooperatives are (Nizni-Novgorod) has been closed for this reason allowed to erect buildings and sell the apartments for years. Apparently the local Soviet has no use to their members. Most of the church buildings for the building. were closed and converted to secular uses such as bureaus, workshops, factories, apartments, clubs, In one city where we bought land and erected a kolkhos (stores for collective farms), public con- building wherein thousands of souls were saved, veniences, etc. "Dom Evangelia" in Leningrad our people were expelled, but permitted to conis a workers' club. for the men who make nails in tinue to meet twice in what we call one week, in a the metal factory opposite. The cathedrals of St. hall attached to a former Greek Orthodox Church Isaac in Leningrad, of St. Basil in the Red Square building which they shared with followers of anof Moscow, and that of St. Andrew in Kieff are other persuasion. Needing this, the local Soviet anti-God and anti-religious, museums. turned them out. They have been driven from pillar to post, hampered, hindered, harassed-yet Of 1636 Greek Orthodox churches in Moscow on the 29th day of January last year, in one meetbefore the revolution, thirty only were left open ing they baptized fifty converts on profession of faith.
Since May, 1929, the Bible has been banned. It is a criminal offence in Soviet Russia to print,
publish, circulate or distribute the Word of God 87 per cent of the Russian population were illitor any portion of it. We printed the largest edi- erate. Now only 14 per cent are, and in the intion of Russian Bibles that ever came off the press dustrial areas, only 8 per cent. But every day 25 -81,000 copies. Before the officials became so million children going to school are taught that alert we sent copies back by the lumbermen who there is no God; never was. a Creator, and are brought the rafts and logs down the rivers to the subject to such caricatures of Christianity, and border states. Our men carried them over the such blasphemous cartoons of Christ that I canborder at dead of night, taking their lives in their not bring myself to describe them. No teacher in hands every time they crossed. In markets far school, college, or university is permitted to enter away from Moscow bidding may proceed for a any place of worship. And yet all over Soviet few mushrooms spread out on a bag-but the real Russia today there are sporadic outbursts of reobject is under the bag, a second-hand Bible or vival among young people (over 50 percent of Testament. When the government said in effect the population, i. e., all the young people, have -"You shall not have the Book in your hands," passed through these schools), and especially the Believers replied, "Then we'll put it into our among young men in the factories, so the local heads and enthrone it on our hearts." So they leaders are sending to Moscow asking that special studied and committed to memory the Sacred speakers be sent to combat the religious revival. Word. Now, when they gather round our evangelists in "bears' caves," they repeat passages of I dare not close this article without giving evi- Scripture and so illumine and inspire, instruct, dence of the truthfulness of the above, from offiexhort, and "comfort one another with these cial Soviet sources, lest I be charged with rowords." mancing.
There is no food shortage in Russia in Europe Lunarcharsky, former Commissar of Education today, though sometimes failure in distribution in the Central Executive Committee, issued a occurs. There is still shortage in Russia in Asia, manifesto in which he stated: and we still need to send food parcels. to Christians and banished evangelists in concentration camps We hate Christians. Even the best of them must be rein the Far East. Nothing but our food parcels garded as our worst enemies. They preach love to one's stands between them and starvation. Until food neighbors and pity, which is contrary to our principles ( !). tickets and ration cards were abolished no priest, Christian love is a hindrance to the development of the rabbi, moulvic, pastor, evangelist, editor of reli- revolution. Down with love for one's neighbors. What we gious pamphlets, or tradesman dealing in any re- want is hatred. We must know how to hate, for only at ligious article, nor his wife or family, was per- this price can we conquer the universe. We have done with mitted to have a ticket or card. Thousands who the kings of the earth, let us deal with the Kings of the wished to be loyal to the Lord "whom not having skies. All religions are poison. They intoxicate and deaden seen (they) love," were living on the bark and the mind, the will, the conscience (!). A fight to the death roots of trees, on nettle grass, and on field mice. must be declared upon religion. Our task is to destroy all kinds of religion, all kinds of morality. In spite of these conditions there has been, and still is, a real religious revival. Let him tell us how they succeeded. Trud, whieh means "labor," is the chief workers' organ; In the U. S. S. R. one evangelist, now in exile, Comsomolska Pravda is "Truth for Youth"; in three months, in three villages far from the Pravda, meaning "Truth," is the chief organ of capital, baptized 450 converts. Next spring he the Communist Party; while Izvestia, "News," is baptized 154 more in two months. Then he went that of the Government. In Southern Russia it is to prison for a technical offence in connection with said that there is no news in the Truth, and no preaching. Not to the Solovetsky Islands, the truth is the News. Writing in Izvestia in 1929 most rigorous imprisonment in the world, but to on the basis of the figures of his own department, a "house of re-education," in which the offenders Lunarcharsky affirmed that in 1917 there were are .given a good time, to induce them to come out only 700,000 members of the Communist Party, good supporters of the Soviet regime. Freedom but in 1927 they had grown to 1,700,000. But in therein enabled our man to preach to those who 1917 there were only 100,000 Stundists, and in would not have listened to him outside, also to hold 1927 over six millions. The Christians had outprayer meetings. Several prisoners were con- lived, outwitnessed, and outnumbered the Comverted. When he was discharged he found that munists by six to one, and this in spite of Governhis wife had carried on so effectively during his ment support of the latter, and satanic and Soviet incarceration that he had to baptize another 12'6 opposition of the former. converts. The Party Commander of the Bezbojniks (the The greatest achievement of the Soviets has Godless), Em. Yaroslavsky, has recently published been in the realm of education. Before the revolt an explanation which is an apology for failure in the Scientific Journal, Antireliginoznik. In it he has to confess that about two-thirds of the rural
pop1l1ation, and one-third of that in the towns, the ministers of the cult must be viewed as fraudstill continue faithful to religion. He admits that ulent members of the Party. All our skill must while the Government can prohibit support of the consist in systematically and unremittingly de- Church, and separate the Church and the school priving the Church of its head; in striking the by decree, "a decree is powerless to efface reli- blow at the Shepherd and alluring the sheep into gious ·conception"; "being deprived of an edifice our own stable" (sic!). has not killed the religious feeling of believers," and even "the Pioneers frequent the Church in There is one reason why the anti-religious hosts great numbers." He claims. that the coercive have failed. Jesus said, "On this Rock (faith in measures have been a mistake: they have failed; Christ as the Son of God) I will build my church and concludes that "The masses must be tamed by and the gates of hades shall not prevail against kindness." But–"We must outroot religion, and it" (Matt. 16: 18). My Master always keeps His word.
Forty Years' Progress in Latin America By REV. WEBSTER E. BROWNING, New York Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions; For Forty Years a Missionary in South America I N THESE chaotic moder:::J. times, forty years United States flag was seldom seen on the few constitute as long a period in the life of a na- ships which then made the run to South America. tion as in the life of an individual. Changes, The investment of North American capital, could rapid and cataclysmic, occur, even in the coun- not have exceeded a few hundred millions in all tries that have been fully organized for centuries Latin America. In 1937, the total investment was and whose traditions and form of government ap- reported to be about $6,500,000,000. pear to be crystallized and unshakable. In younger nations, such as those of Latin America such 2. Politically-Few governments of the very changes, though less sudden and dramatic com- young republics were then more than oligarchies. pared with those of Europe during past years, are A small number of families, in each of them, connevertheless well defined and epoch-making. sidered the presidency and other public offices their peculiar right and saw to it that the power The writer of this article journeyed to Latin was kept within their limited circle. As an illus- America, for the first time, more than 40 years ago, tration, one lady, known to the writer, was the and, except for occasional visits to the homeland, daughter, the sister and the wife of a President lived all that time south of the equator. He has of her country. Today, though not to the same dethus been able to note the changes in the commer- gree in all the republics, the democratic form of cial, political and religious life of the peoples of government prevails, and most of them, like Arthose lands which have marked their slow but gentina, Brazil and Chile, merit the high esteem sure progress toward equal standing with the in which they are held by the peoples of Europe older peoples of Europe and North America. A and North America. brief description of some of these changes may be of interest. 3. Culturally-Public instruction has made great advance and the formerly high percentage 1. Economically-Forty years ago, the immense of analphabets has been correspondingly reduced. natural resources of Latin America lay practically The oldest university of Latin America was founduntouched. The great modern industries of min- ed 56 years before the first permanent English ing, cattle-raising, the elaboration of nitrate; settlement w:as made in North America, and 85 banking, railways, manufactures, shipping, the years before John Harvard made possible the importation of machinery and automobiles, and institution that bears his name. Today, the best of other commercial activities-all these were but these universities equal those of the United States in their infancy. The United States, in particular, or Europe as centers of learning, and the intellechad not attempted to discover in those lands a tual spire of Latin America is as high as our own, market for its excess products. There was not a though it is more slender. In the learned profes- North American bank south of Mexico, and the sions, especially in law and medicine, are found
19391 FORTY YEARS' PROGRESS IN LATIN AMERICA
men and women of the highest professional prep- As a result of this exclusionist policy, when aration, fully the equals of their colleagues in evangelical missions began to extend their work with greater earnestness and conviction, forty or other lands. more years ago, they found certain conditions 4. Religiously-The pioneers and founders of which had to be overcome if that work was to be successful. Among these were the following: the colonies of Spain in the New World differed from those who laid the foundations of religious life in what is now the territory of the United (a) There was no liberty of worship. Free States of America. The groups that came to those thought was in itself considered heretical; the shores, Catholic and Protestant alike, were simply press was under the absolute control of the seeking a place where, quietly and unostentatious- Church, and, in some of the most backward coun- ly, they might worship God according to the dic- tries, death was the legal penalty for adherence to tates of their own consciences. Spanish discover- any religion other than that of the dominant ers and conquistadores, in the lands that now con- Church.
stitute what we call Latin America, were of a (b) There was no civil marriage law. The only more militant mold and sought to establish not legal ceremony was that performed by a priest of only the power of the King whom they represented the State Church; children of those otherwise but also that of their particular Chm'ch. They wedded were ipso facto considered illegitimate. flung to the breeze not only the colors of Ferdi- Even Protestant missionaries, wedded on the field, nand and Isabel, King and Queen of Castile and were required to secure the services of a friendly Aragon, but also those of the Supreme Pontiff priest. To satisfy their own consciences, they of Rome. Even the sails of the caravels of Chris- might have another ceremony performed by a topher Columbus and of less worthy conquista- Protestant minister, but this latter ceremony had dores who came after him, had imprinted upon no legal significance whatsoever. them the figure of the cross and the words, "with this sign you will conquer." Columbus is said to (c) There were no civil cemeteries. The bodies have considered his name Christopher, "Christ- of deceased dissenters were thrown into the sea, bearer," a good omen, and historians tell us that or were buried surreptitiously by night in some his hope was to secure funds from the newly unfrequented spot. About the middle of the past acquired lands in order to finance another crusade century, a progressive Mayor in one of the South against the Turks. American capitals when converting a hitherto' undeveloped hill i,nto a park, found at its base a In view of this deeply religious motive that in- collection of human bones, and on the site placed spired and encouraged the Spanish pioneers in Latin America, which was largely in conformity a tablet with the inscription, "To the memory 0/ with the spirit of the times, in both Roman Catholic and Protestant lands, it is not strange that the exiled from heaven and earth who were buried the type of Christianity which became the official in this place." religion of the Colonies of Spain, and, afterward, of the younger republics that grew out of those (d) Possession and reading of the Bible was proscribed by the Church itself and, under the in- fluence of the Church, by officials of the State. A colonies, should have been ultra-fanatical, ex- customs officer in Ecuador, toward the end of the tremely jealous of its own prerogatives, and dis- past century, refused to admit a box of Christian Scriptures; pointing toward one of the towering posed to resist, to the last degree, the entrance peaks of the nearby Andes, he said, "So long as and propagation of the beliefs of any other sect Chimborozo stands, that Book shall not enter this or denomination. The spirit of the Inquisition, country." typical of the religious life of the time, especially in Southern Europe, was deep-rooted. Branches The distressing religious conditions that preof that feared and hated body were set up in vari- vailed in the countries of Latin America a half ous centers, especially in Lima, the capital of the century ago have been narrated in order to show viceroys, and in Cartagena de las Indias, now one the historical background against which we may of the port cities of the modern republic of Colom- throw into clearer light the situation as it is today.
bia. So strong did the Church become, so thor- The former unfortunate conditions have now oughly did it indoctrinate the peoples, that when very largely disappeared-due largely to a closer the colonies, following the lead given by those of contact with Europe and North America, made Great Britain, in North America, and by France, possible, in part at least, by more modern means gave way to republics, at the beginning of the 19th of communication. The changed situation has ·century, the representatives of the Papacy were also been greatly helped by the liberalizing, reflex able to have written into the constitution of the influence of Evangelical missions. Today, in every newly-created states the words, "The religion of one of the 20' republics of Latin America, there is this State is the Holy, Roman, Catholic, Apostolic, complete freedom of worship; the only legal mar- to the exclusion of all others." riage ceremony is that performed by an official of
the State; cemeteries are open to the dead of all friendly eye and are evidently willing to forget faiths or of none; and the Bible is widely and some episodes of the past in which the "big stick" freely circulated. In one South American republic, played too prominent a part. Brazil, there is now an estimated total of 1,500,000 Evangelical Christians; in all there is a steadily Probably no part of the world has made such growing National Evangelical Church which is economic and cultural advance in the past forty willing to cooperate in many respects with the years in a quiet and natural way as have the nainfinitely stronger, dominant, ecclesiastical organ- tions of Latin America. And their history is still ization, for the spiritual instruction and upbuild- in the making. Millions of Europeans, seeking ing of the people. refuge or the opportunity to better their condi- tions of life are wistfully turning their faces 5. Internationally-There is today a much bet- toward the great open spaces of Argentina and ter understanding between the Government, and, Brazil. Many thousands have already entered hence, the people of the United States of Ameri- those and other Latin American countries, where ca, and the governments and peoples of the other they have established homes and have begun a new countries of the Western hemisphere. Instead of life under more liberal conditions. The Christian the former policy of occupying a country with forces of North America, especially the Evangel- United States marines, in order to establish our ical churches, have a great opportunity to aid conception of what we considered law and order, these incoming thousands, making it possible for or exerting economic pressure to encompass our them not only to secure the right to liberty and own ends, a more modern and more Christian the pursuit of happiness, but also to surround "good neighbor" policy has been adopted and has themselves and their descendants with the spirbeen well received by all Latin American govern- itual blessings that flow from a free Church in a ments. Their people now look on us with a more free land.
Queen Salote of Tonga K ING GEORGE VI of Great Britain sent the lieves in the tenets of Christianity, but is most following message to the queen of Tonga, energetic in seeing that her beliefs find practical a Pacific Island, on the occasion of the expression in the daily life. With her, "Faith twentieth anniversary of her accession to the without works is dead." She is a constant attendthrone of Tonga. He said in part: ant at divine service, is a class leader, and is al- ways present at the regular meetings of the Chris- "The period of your reign has been one of tian Endeavor Society. Not only has Queen Salote steady and peaceful progress in the development advanced the interests of her people in the mateof your kingdom. Medical and health services rial sphere, but she has also, by her Christian life have been extended, educa.tional facilities have and character, provided them with a splendid been increased, roads have been built, and com- example of Christian living. munication between the islands has been improved by the provision of wireless stations. And The great event of the celebration took place in these achievements, of which your majesty may the large public square where gathered about four be justly proud, have been effected without in any thousand school children, as well as the Royal way sacrificing the financial stability of your Guards and Band. kingdom." Then came one of the finest sights of the day- Twenty years ago, as a young girl of eighteen, the march of four thousand school children, Queen Salote Tubou succeeded to the throne of carrying Tongan flags in their hands. Tonga. During the years intervening since that time, by her wise and statesmanlike rule, her The queen then departed, and as her car passed keen, unfailing interest in the well-being of her through the lines of children, she was hailed with subjects and her many excellent personal quali- hearty cheering and the waving of flags. Even ties, she has endeared herself to the people of her after she had returned to the palace the public land. How deeply enshrined she is in their hearts enthusiasm could not be restrained. The Tubou might well be gauged by the remarkable demon- boys entered the palace grounds, followed by the stration of loyalty and affection displayed by them other schools and the general public, until a crowd on October 11 of last year, the commemoration of of several thousands had collected. Her Majesty's the twentieth anniversary of her accession. appearance on the balcony and acknowledgment were the signal for more vociferous greeting. Queen Salote is known throughout the king- -By "The Wayfarer" in The Missionary Review dom as a sincere Christian, one who not only be- (Australia) .
Story for
Tony Finds Two Friends and it seemed wonderful to Tony room where Tony lay. His broth- to be able to help. As he snipped ers and sister were standing by By VIOLET WOOD, New York off the beans he thought of the his bed and to each one the nurse "Won't you leave your chil- time when his father had worked gave a glass of milk. dren with me, Mrs. Rossetti?" in the city, while his mother the nurse at the Center invited. stayed home and took care of As Tony's mother took her them. Suddenly there had been glass she spoke excitedly to the Mrs. Rossetti turned to Tony, no more work. A friend had told boy. Tony laughed, "My mothher ten-year-old son, to interpret his father of the need for bean er says you have nets over the for her. When she understood pickers and they had packed all babies' cradles to keep the flies what the nurse had said, Mrs. their belonging$. in a truck and away just as she used to have in Rossetti shook her head and had come to this big farm. Now the city." gathered her three small chil- father was sick for he had dren about her. worked too hard the first few "Ask her to leave you all with days. me tomorrow? You can go back "You could stay, too, Tony," to the fields in a few days, but the nurse said to the boy, "and At noon Mrs. Rossetti took it would be nice if you could stay help me take care of them." out of her blouse a paper bag and here a little while. Your broth- gave them all cold biscuits for ers and sister will love it." "I gotta pick beans," respond- lunch. She and the children ed,Tony. went on picking beans as they When Tony told his mother ate. But Tony could not eat his she nodded happily, as she fin- When Tony told his mother biscuit. Something was wrong. ished her milk and went back to what the nurse had said, the lit- His head felt as if it were float- the field. tle group passed the Center and ing away. But he kept on pickwent out towards the field. Tony ing, hoping that the funny feel- The nurse brought in some noticed several women leave ba- ing would pass. He suddenly picture books for Tony. One of bies and small children at the fainted. them was a beautiful "Life of Center. He shrugged. Who knew Jesus," and, as the nurse exwhat would be done to them in When Mrs. Rossetti called for plained some of the pictures the that place! Tony's family had help two men came over and car- boy looked up suddenly, and been at the migrant camp only a ried the boy to the Center. When said: "Then I have found two few days and he had no idea of new friends today!"
the loving care, the nice lunches, the nurse came she patted Tony's Making Use of This Story the toys and the Bible stories mother on the shoulder and in a few minutes he opened his eyes that were provided for the chil- and tried to smile. "You just The plight of the migrant is not well dren of the migrant workers. lie here for a little while and enough known by many people and yet soon you'll be quite all right. it is a great social problem in Amer- Down the long lanes between I'll bring you a nice glass of milk ica. Because the parents lose their the rows of bean poles the lit- in a few minutes. Tell your legal residence by so much traveling, tle family went, snipping off the mother I would like to show her the children get insufficient food, imbeans as they moved. Every- our little home here." proper shelter, no medical and dental body helped fill the baskets. care and very little schooling. When one was filled Mrs. Rosset- Tony translated this for his ti carried it to the weigher who mother, whose eyes shone with The Council of Women for Home checked the number of pounds gratitude. Missions has Centers in many states against her name. and has done a wonderful piece of The hot sun beat down upon The nurse beckoned to Mrs. work with the children. Excellent the men, women and children Rossetti and took her into an- material on the migrant is found in working on either side of Tony other room where babies lay the pamphlet, "They Starve That We and his mother. Although many sleeping in little cradles. In an- May Eat," compiled by Edith Lowry were thirsty they could not stop other room little boys and girls, and published by the Missionary Edueven for a drink of water. Every just like her own, were playing cation Movement (35 cents.) moment of daylight counted, and together at sand tables and with if they were to make enough blocks. In one corner a teacher money to buy food they must be was reading stories to the older Questions quick. boys and girls. All the children What would you lose if you had no home, no school, no church? Tony's back ached, but he was seemed very happy. bigger than his brothers and sis- In the kitchen Mrs. Rossetti What are some of the crops that ter and he could not stop to rest. watched the nurse fill five glass- migrants gather?
He must go on like his mother. es with milk. Putting them on Are migrant workers necessary in His father lay sick in the tent a tray she carried them to the America?
[367 ]
Ways of W9rking
'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home hDITED BY GRACE W. MCGAVRAN, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Enlisting a Congregation for and throb of enduring purpose as Pete and with a memorable in- they witness Christian romance scription was unveiled. The MissionEsdTuhcarotiuognh*Visual in China (yes, indeed, there is film also gives a glimpse of lep- high Christian romance in China ers' suffering, and of lepers who "Seeing is believing" is an old today, especially today), or a adage. But rich old warp woven great mass meeting of untouch- have been helped. into today's tapestries gives pat- ables in India, or a frightened At the close of the showing of terns of beauty, luster and value. African youth witness his moth- er's slow death at the hands of this film in the city church the If every Christian at home the witch doctor and his deter- pastor arose and said, "I have could visit and see the mission mination to run away and find today had a new vision of this fields, their opportunities, their the secret of the doctor who talks great work. I think everyone needs, their returns for service, and acts with love at his Christhe weaving of the pattern of tian "medicine house" in the for- of· our Sunday school classes Christ into the lives of peoples, est clearing. should have one of these pig not much time or money would banks. I suggest that all of our need to be spent on promotion A few weeks ago the film, Sunday school offering next Sunwork for Christianity. In the "A Million Dollar Pig," taken by day go to the leper work and I entanglement of threads in our nromise to find means of matchpattern here in our own land we the American Mission to Lepers, ing, dollar for dollar, all that are prone to grow discouraged, was shown in a large city church. the Sunday school gives." He feeling it improbable that there It tells the story of how a ten- felt as we had felt after visiting are other spots on the earth year-old boy, Wilbur, sad be- the many leper colonies on our where the Christ pattern is be- cause his mother had been able African way during the past ing distinctly and clearly woven. to furnish support for only nine lepers instead of ten, bought a months. If we cannot see these remote little pig with three dollars Films from mission fields are places, the next best step is to which had been given him. The have them brought to us by the children 0 f the community goingto be increasingly available medium of the motion picture- joined in feeding the pig, all the in the days ahead. The 1938 as nearly life-like a portrayal as time envisioning that pig as Africa Film Project has already can be had outside the actual bringing smiles to the face of released its first 3-Reel, 16 mm. experience. Christianity has not some weary leper. It was finally film, "Ngono and Her People." been in haste to take on this won- sold for twenty-five dollars and It movingly tells the life of a derfully convincing method, feel- the money was sent to help a typical African girl. In it one ing perhaps a worldliness about little leper boy of Siam. Out of really lives in the life of a girl of the very utterance of "movies." this experience came the idea of Africa; feels the heartache of a But at last, after the field of edu- the "pig banks," over 100,000 of ten-year-old child torn from her cation recognized why the "eye which have been distributed in mother and sent to harem life; witness" medium so grasped the America. They have brought in feels the fear of the jungle world public, Christians have over one million dollars to aid where she hides, the ,doubtful come to realize that these same the lepers of the world. Then the eyes may prove to be inlets to film shows the twenty-fifth anni- serenity in the hands of her the hearts and souls of vast num- versary of the event of Wilbur missionary rescuers, the school bers of people. Eyes that make and his pig, "Pete," as it was life, the romance of true love, hearts thrill and throb over which "never smooth did run" scenes of intrigue or love may celebrated in Wilbur's little home in Africa either, the power of also stir those hearts to the thrill town of White Cloud, Kansas. Over one thousand people there, the Christian life and all the • We are indebted to Mrs. Emory Ross including Chief White Cloud and problems it brings, as again she for this fine article. She last year accom- his tribe, honored Wilbur, now a meets the witch doctor and his panied her husband, who is pxecutive secre- successful engineer still giving wiles. As the last scene fades tary of th" American Mission to Lepers, on of himself and his money to help you feel that you have been in a trip to Africa to see many of the institu- lepers. A bronze tablet, erected Africa and you know that Christions aided by that Society. She was former- in his honor, with Wilbur and tian missions pay. You have ly a missionary in the C?n~o and .is now seen with your own eye. an active promoter of mISSIonary Interest [368 ] in America. Another six or eight films are being prepared on various phas- es of Africa, her life, her importance in the world, the impact of and explain some things which more careful showing of one? civilization upon her, the need will otherwise be without mean- Take time to slow down the ac- for Christianity to keep pace. ing. But announce that after tion where it is necessary. You Among the scenarios* are "The the first running there will be a will need to go over the film at World's Stake in Africa," "Chil- second, during which any ques- least once with the operator, be- dren of Africa," "A Day in an tions or comments may be of- fore it is shown in the program African Village," ""Bwamba"- fered. Plan time to do this, so in order to decide where the mo- (the life of a typical African that no one will have a sense of tion should be slowed, and how boy) , and "How an African being rushed. Offer to run it much. As you show it, be very Tribe is Ruled." through a third time for those sure to remark when you do so: Yes, today the home church who would like to see it again, "We will slow down at this may see the foreign field, and after the meeting has been dis- point," having explained before seeing, may she believe the more missed. hand the purpose of slowing and hasten to make the pattern Slow Motion in Using a Movie down. Otherwise you may leave Christian in those lands yet in the impression that the people the loom.-Myrta Pierson Ross. The label on the film case read, filmed are lazy or slow in their "Twenty minutes will be re- movements. quired to show this film." A Informal Use of a Movie group of people, planning to use It is needless to say that some films in their churches, had bor- films will not gain by such treat- The parents of a missionary rowed from the mission board ment. Use good judgment in dereceived, in their very ordinary ciding when to use normal speed mid-west town, a package from an entire set of five on the coun- and when not to do so. their children. It was a one-reel try the churches were studying, film, showing the missionary son and were giving a sort of pre- Remember that some projecand daughter setting up camp view so as to be able to present tors make a lot of noise. Whoin a village, taking part in a them more intelligently from ever reads the accompanying lec- time to time. They started im- ture, or prepares a talk to go church service, giving treatment mediately after lunch to have with the showing, should have a to a baby with sore eyes, walk- them run through. voice easily heard over the noise ing in their garden and romping of the machine. Nine o'clock that evening with the grandchildren who had found them reluctantly re-wind- Newer Stereopticon Pictures been mere babies the last time ing the last film. What had hapthey were home. pened? They found that while Color cameras have brought the speed required to run the into the field of stereopticon With what delight the aging film through in twenty minutes slides something a great deal parents viewed the scenes, as was quite correct for .seeing that more vivid and delightful than their beloved ones moved before which is familiar, it was too fast we have had before. Slides can them. The missionary women of to give them time to see what be made directly from the color the church, naturally, borrowed happened in scenes and actions film. No tinting of pictures with the film. The showing was made quite unfamiliar to them. They the colors running into each othinto a gala occasion. The film therefore slowed the running to er, or failing to join! Furtherwas run through once. Then a considerable extent. more, the picture-taker, instead it was run through again. Com- of having to remember that he ments and questions rose freely When that was done, they cannot count on color to do for during the showing. Whoever those who are to see the pictures had an idea as to the correct an- could actually see what was hap- what its actual presence is doswer to any question ventured pening. For example, the quick- ing for him, knows now that colit. Then they ran the film ly-run film showed a woman or, almost as he sees it, will be through again. Details that had squatting before a mud cooking- present in his film. escaped notice came to the atten- place, doing something with tion of the women now. Those That opens a much wider pospresent felt as if they had had swift capable hands. The slowed sibility for enjoyment in the use a real visit with their missionary film showed her going through of stereopticon slides on subjects and his family. of missionary interest. To be the process of handling the flat sure there are as yet few sets Are you following that proce- unleavened bread in the three which have been made by the dure when you show a film? Or simultaneous processes of mold- newer processes. But most sets are you having it shown as a ing one cake, while a second was have been vastly improved durformal part of your meeting, to searing and a third was being ing the last year or two, and they be run through once, accompa- baked among the live coals of begin to "tell a story" instead of nied by its lecture or by polite si- the fire. giving a disjointed picture of lence, immediately to be re- places and people. wound, set into its case, and sent Some parts of the film became on its travels? tedious with the slowing up, but During summer months, the the operator was soon able to picture method of becoming ac- If there is a lecture, by all speed up sections which did not quainted with the missionary means have it used. It will help show detailed action, and to slow work of the church is well worth to clear up many puzzling bits, down on those which did.
Instead of rushing through • Not yet available. two films, why not arrange a considering.
For Small Children Pictures article), was sponsored by the each and marked its location Are Best Harmon Foundation and the Af- with a red pin. rica Committee of the Foreign The flicker and movement of Missions Conference of North The study might have gone movie pictures are not any too America. "Song After Sorrow" further, but did not. To atgood for the eyes of the small is another new film which por- tempt to locate all Protestant children. Furthermore very lit- trays the magnificent work in churches in a city the size of tle of the motion pictures, de- one of the leper colonies in theirs would have taken more signed to interest and educate Africa. time than the enterprise was adults, is of value for children worth for that one study. But of pre-school age. Films like the two mentioned there, in visual form, lay the may perhaps be secured from information that, scattered all The nursery and beginner your mission board under the over their city, were many child should not, however, be same conditions as other films of churches which were working to neglected in the use of visual missionary work, or they may be make the city a more Christian education. One of the newest rented from the Harmon Foun- place in which to live. In those pieces of material, specifically dation. "Song After Sorrow," buildings, week after week, men planned for use with them, is may be rented direct from the and women and beiys and girls the picture set "Children and American Mission to Lepers, 156 gathered to study, to worship, Their Toys Around the World." Fifth Avenue, New York. and to have fellowship. It has eight pictures in color, and a leaflet with a short story Investigate the possibilities. Such a visualization of facts to go with each. This publica- Write to your mission board for gives children a real sense of tion of the Friendship Press sells information. Remember that being a part of something which for sixty cents and can be se- the number of copies of each film includes and yet is greater than cured through your denomina- is limited so that requests need their own local church group. It tional book store. to be made well in advance of the expands their horizon. It brings date desired. We know that one to their consciousness, in a way The pictures are directly re- group of films is dated up com- that mere spoken information lated to the child's interests. pletely for four months in cannot do, the realization of Each one shows a child of some advance. Others, not on the forces which are operating toother race or nation, with a toy country of the current study, day to rebuild the world in characteristic of his environ- may not require such advance Christian ways. ment. booking. Try the use of this form of visual education in the Maps, graphs and charts are This set should be part of the near future. We venture to say not to be limited to Juniors equipment of every Nursery and that you will plan to include it alone. They are good for any Beginners department. It might very definitely in your subse- age above Juniors. well be used in each child's own quent study. home. Individual pictures can Consider them for use in your then be hung in turn where the Using Maps with Juniors church or parish house lobby. Or child will enjoy them. in your meetings when you have When a Junior department five minutes to present some in- Sources for Religious and was making a study of The City, formation about missions which Missionary Movies as was suggested in the course, can best be imparted through they used their own city as the this form of visualization. The Most -of those reading these object of their study. small graphs and charts often columns are familiar with the sent out from Board headquarsources of missionary films. The The boys took a big map of ters, in materials for the inforimportant source for any church the town and mounted it on bea- mation of leaders, can easily be is its own missionary board. Ar- ver board. Starting with their enlarged to proportions such as rangements differ. Many mis- own community they set out to to make it possible for a large sionary boards loan the films discover and locate on the map group or an entire congregation free of charge, requiring only the position of the Protestant to see them. Color can be used payment of express charges both churches of their city. When to make them vivid in their enways. There is the additional they found the actual streets larged form, where only black cost of a projector which is running past their own church, and white was used in the printusually rented locally by the a red pin marked the spot on the ed form. church. map! They did the same with other churches of their neighbor- Never leave such materials The Harmon Foundation, 140 hood. Then they went further hanging for more than a week Nassau St., New York, N. Y., is afield. They secured the list of or two. You do not glance at another very important source. the churches of their own denom- that store window where the dis- Their charges are reasonable. ination in their town. What a play is the same week after Some of the Harmon Foundation surprise! Who would have week. Let your people become films have been prepared in co- guessed that in their own city accustomed to finding something operation with certain of the there were so many churches of new, fresh and worthwhile on mission boards. The Africa film, their own group? They located your display wall every week or "Ngono and Her People" (re- so. ferred to by Mrs. Ross in her
BULLETIN
Council of Women for Home Missions EDITED BY MISS EDITH E. LOWRY, 297 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y.
~======~~~==================== WITH THE MIGRANTS IN crops." It was while in "melons" family as they were growing up CALIFORNIA in Imperial that Maria had her and it took more and more and accident. According to her fa- it seemed that he made less and The bountiful state of Cali- ther: less. So at last they joined the fornia with its varying seasons, caravan of folks off to "the land luxuriant farms, and many in- "If I stay few more days to work of promise," California, to seek dustries is faced with the tre- in floods last winter and not go down their fortune. Theirs was a mendous problems. of migrant to Valley, maybe I not have the bad wreck of a car, a truck, with a people-people who trek from luck, but I go. It's cold. That day canvas over the top so that the crop to crop, starving in between our children left alone. This one, mother and children could sleep "prunes" and "cotton" because Maria, she think she make herself there and the father drove as there is never enough to go warm burning paper. She light it. many hours as he could to make around. When it is too hard to It catch her dress. This other one the trip as short as possible-it find food for three scanty meals she want to throw on water, but the took them fourteen days-a four a day, new clothes are out of the burning one, Maria, she scared, she to seven day trip in a decent car. question; and these people are so run out the door all flames till she The trip was made in the pourvery poor! fall; she fainting then. Her sweater, ing rain. They still shudder as it stops the flame from her face. She they remember the terrible ex- To help lighten their burden bur ned so bad, all over front. She in perience of losing a wheel on a and bring some necessary relief, hospital six months. Eighty-seven steep grade, and the "panthers" the Council of Women for Home skin grafts her mother give, but not that they could hear howling in Missions supports missionary much healing. I got no money, but the night, not to mention the nurses who serve these camps. hospital very good. The vallev too fiat tires that had to be fixed on Nursing and visiting the sick, hot for Maria, doctors say I must take the darkest roads. They felt that telling the story of the Gospel to Maria to where is cool; no more let- their crossing the mountains was the children, finding help here, tuce, no more melons, I go north to quite as trying as that of the eargiving help there, from dawn to 'prunes'; I take my family, and for lier "pioneers" of the covered dark they go and always leaving Maria it is cool. The doctor there wagon days. a little hope, a little comfort and say, 'you no live here,' you take Maria a great feeling of friendship. where you live. What I do? Maria They arrived during the mush- cannot live where is the heat; no room season, and, as they had Would you like to meet a few doctor where it is cool. .I feed my never had such a tasty dish they of these families who make their family? I must work. Doctor put living in crops? on one bandage, I keep Maria with me. I do all the best I know. I keep Take the family of John Wil- burn clean with feather. It no get liams-the children: Susanna, better. She seem sick; she no play born in the "grapes"; Maria, in like other children. Her dress, it hurts "melons·" ; E u p hem i a, in her burn, she walked stooped, like old "prunes" ; John, in "lettuce"; lady. We have cot just for her. We Raphael, in "nuts"; Josephine, move to 'cotton,' and you find her. She in "cotton." Truly children of afraid, she shake all over." the crops. Here there is hope expressed in his When the nurse came upon brightened countenance, he is encourthem she saw Maria walking aged, as he continues: very stooped so that her worn thin dress, her only garment, "You nurse, you find her. Her burn would not be touching her open so bad for so long; you come often, sore which covered her abdomen "ou do much for Maria. It take you and thighs. She was frightened long time, many bandages, much work as she stood before the nurse for you, but now Maria she all well. holding her dress away from her God bless you nurse ! We cannot say body with trembling fingers and how much we thank you. Now, no told her story. more cotton, we go to valley for 'let- tuce' and 'melons'; work for me, feed The family took to the road in my family. heat no hurt Maria now 1930 when the father lost his job -she well!" and joined the "Gypsies of the Then there is the White fam- ily from Oklahoma – father, mother, and four children. For ten years Mr. White had been the "handy man" in the little town that was their home. He made sixty to seventy dollars a month. That didn't keep his [371 ]
relished it more than they could cents. Forty men went out and They are healing now. The describe. Just by picking they picked one crate of spinach. druggist was afraid to undertake could have all they wanted to treatment because of the severity eat. But the season was soon A Mexican father doesn't of the burn, but the nurse over and such things are just a know what to do. He asks the "breathes a prayer" and gives memory. nurse. He explains that there is the necessary treatment for it is no more cotton to pick, and he sixty miles to a doctor, and be- A Brief Round in Camp only has beans for his family to sides there is no money. The Visiting eat. The nurse has no alterna- druggist thinks it is the "prayer" tive but to suggest "relief." The Leaving the nurse's home, we father is proud, and explains, "I that did it-healing, he thinks, go seventeen miles on good high- never ask for that in all time. I was impossible otherwise. way, then eight miles on an just move here. My wife she sick adobe road, then the last half at heart, no can work much; I On to another camp and the mile over what is supposed to sick in stomach, cannot work all road is still slippery, and it is be a road, and into the camp, time." ten miles distant. This camp is thirty cabins in all. Separated from these are some larger cab- Drive toward the foothills and built beside a canal. Here the ins-these for the "permanent" on this road there are three Council nurse spent much time, help. It is wash-day. Tubs of camps. Roads impassable in effort and energy toward solving water are being heated over fires rainy weather. It is ten miles to built outside; clothes lines the first. the problem of sanitation. The stretched between cabins filled grower was very cooperative. with clean garments of all kinds, shapes and sizes. Some families asked the camp Over one tub is a Mexican EYE CLINIC IN A MIGRANT GENTER mother, rubbing away on a washboard, and beside her is her The nurse recalls that this manager concerning the nurse's three-year-old, the youngest of camp was one of her most un- authority, and the grower issued nine. He has on two sweaters sanitary camps, so much so that and a coat, and a dark cloth tied the camp manager remarked to the order that if families did not around his head. her, "I believe these children are cooperate with the nurse that the dirtiest of all cotton camps." they would be moved out. Camp The nurse discovers that the That can't be said now. The child has a temperature. She camp manager and the campers and cabins were cleaned. Five explains that he must be kept in gamblers who had caused the bed, and she takes the child by too were most cooperative in nurse no little concern, were the hand, leads him into the cab- changing things. Health kits moved out. Order prevailed. in, the mother follows and a containing wash cloth, soap, little pallet is made in the corner The sentiment of the people of the cabin. His clothing is re- tooth-brush, and comb, were moved and he is slipped into a given to the children. whom the nurse serves is best pair of warm sleepers that the expressed by the tribute to the nurse finds among her clothing The nurse inquires. about Mr. nurse by a country doctor who supplies. That dark rag is re- Gonzales who was burned so bad- depends. on their help to bring moved from the only window in ly at Christmas, and discovers healing and health to these mithe cabin, and she explains to that he has learned that she is in grants. "So much is heard and the mother that there must be camp and is getting the "water read nowadays of organizations sunlight. The mother im't un- boiling" for her to use in dress- and agencies. doing this and that derstanding why the cloth should for the migrants, but the one not be about her child's head, be- ing the wound. He has learned cause she explains, "Baby sick that it had to boil ten minutes who does the most and the most in the head," but she is willing worthwhile thing in helping the to do as the nurse says, and does before she could use it. First migrant is the little missionary not miss a word of the nurse's and second degree burns were on nurse who rarely ever gets one instructions to "rub the child's chest four times daily with warm his left shoulder and upper arm line of printed matter concerncamphorated oil; give plenty of ing her work in the paper." water and fluids, and keep baby -he had fallen on the stove. in bed."
It is late in the cotton season, and many people are not working. Some have gone out to pick spinach but so little could be made they didn't stay. One man explained that he had made ten
World–wide
A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events ~ EDITED BY MRS. HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON, XENIA, OHIO ~'================================-~~ LATIN AMERICA fered the boys. Near Saltillo, weekly broadcast of religious boys are taught in school to programs. 'A Latin American Cooperation in a Church Bell make rope, and other articles Youth Conference is planned for from raw materials they have February, 1940, in Lima, Peru. We all know about the denom- raised. They learn the art of inational cooperation am 0 n g making dyes, and using them. -Christian Century. Christian forces in Puerto Rico; At the same school, the boys of the union enterprises which farm a tract of land, raise cat- Among South American include a theological seminary, tle, hogs and bees. Indians book store, newspaper, university pastor, e~change of pulpits, Culture Missions, something The treaty signed between and other manifestations of the like an Institute, are held at in- Bolivia and Paraguay leaves the cooperative spirit; but this spir- tervals all over Mexico. For a way open for Christian work it does not end with formal en- period of ten days, five or six among pagan Indians of both terprises. When the Yauco Bap- educators meet with teachers for countries, especially in the Chatist Church, for example, had a lectures and discussion, with co area between the two. Var- 500 pound bell that would not graphs, charts and posters. Such ious indepe!ldent organizations fit its tower, and the Ensenada subjects as the cause and cure of have expanded their work among Presbyterian Church had a large eye trouble, or the digestive Bolivian Indians; while the tower but no bell, the Presby- processes, are presented. This South American Missionary Soterians bought a small bell and is work along constructive lines. ciety has completed fifty years gave it to the Yauco Baptists, of work in the Paraguayan Chawhile they in turn presented the Protestant Youth in South co. In Chile, the same mission Presbyterians with their 500 America has developed a work among pound bell. Mapuche Indians, two of whom The Protestant young people's have been ordained deacons. Rural Schools in Mexico organizations of Argentina and Uruguay held their second bien- In the Argentine Chaco, work The Federal Government has nial conference last April, with has been most encouraging. At put in operation some very prac- more than 100 delegates, repre- Easter 68 adults were baptized, tical ideas in rural education. senting seven denominations, in and a new area has been opened. Two groups of Southern Metho- attendance. There were three The Unevangelized Fields Misdist missionaries visited a num- visiting delegates from Brazil. sion has continued its pioneer ber of these rural schools last The program centered around work among Kayapo Indians of year, and their impressions are the deepening of spiritual life, Amazonia, who, it will be rereported in the World Outlook. and the challenge of the present membered, killed three mission- Almost every country school has day to young Christians. Three aries (the "three Freds") in a little store which the children things stood out: first, interest 1935. themselves manage, thus learn- in a g g res s i v e evangelism; ing how to buy and sell and order second, a passion for closer co- -International Review of Missupplies, such as pencils, tablets, operation in Christian service, sions. crayons, cookies, etc. Some have irrespective of denominational kitchens where the children differences, and a sense that After the Earthquake in Chile learn how to prepare many vari- Protestant Christians are bound eties of food. One school visited by a common loyalty to Jesus Reconstruction work is under maintained a barber shop, while Christ; finally, a desire that way in Chile, following the dispractically all of them raised Christian forces may reach out astrous earthquake, and at pressome living thing -chickens, into the realms of popular litera- ent there is a huge construction rabbits or pigeons. ture and social life. camp at Chillan, located there for months. Military authorities Nearly every school has an an- In these two republics, young have permitted Mr. William M. nual exhibit of needlework, and people's work is organized under Strong to open a center for rest there are special projects to be two national federations. Each and evangelism right in the undertaken by high school girls; publishes a religious monthly, in- heart of this vast encampment, perhaps a layette for a baby formative and well edited. For -its only place of diversion. brother, or her graduation out- several years the Argentine fedfit, while manual training is of- eration has maintained a bi- Evangelical workers were left practically unharmed by the [373 ] earthquake, says Mr. Strong. He
adds that when in 1757 half of Franco occupied Catalonia, evan- Church shall transfer the right Concepcion sank beneath the gelical churches were not inter- of the use of certain cathedrals, surface in a similar cataclysm, fered with, but it is reported that yet to be named, to the Hitler blasphemy, drunkenness and in- those in Barcelona are closed, Elite Guard for their neo-pagan decency were put aside for a though it is believed to be only ceremonies. long time; and asks if perhaps a temporary measure. a similar result will follow this All three demands were relatest catastrophe. -The Christian. fused on the ground that the Di- rectorate was not empowered to EUROPE The "Church of the Den" make any such decision. The demands were issued by the On the Montmartre, Paris Long before Wycliffe and chief of police over the head of Hus were born, the Waldenses the State's church minister, who The Tabernacle Church on the preached the Gospel which re- is reported to have fallen into Montmartre has a corps of de- formers afterward taught in disfavor among the radical elevoted workers. M. Charlet, an Europe. A few months ago a ment of the government; a reevangelist, was a merchant, a group of British tourists visited port that is coupled with the Parisian skeptic, whom God the great cavern known as "the statement that the "Gestapo" called to the ministry of preach- church in the den.". During the (secret police) are sick and tired ing. Andre Fune is son of a time of the persecution of the of the whole church business. French farmer, who is working Waldenses this cavern was used at real financial sacrifice with as a secret place for worship and Encouragement in the Ukraine his wife, a registered nurse. In study of the Bible. Access to it 1925 a young Swiss engineer, Al- is obtained by crawling through September 25, 1938, was the fred Escher, gave up a career to a narrow tunnel formed in the 950th anniversary of the foundserve this mission church. Fif- long past by a terrific upheaval, ing of the Ukrainian Lutheran teen Hollanders have found when the great rocks fell into Church. At that time a Harvest Christ in these meetings. M. the position which they occupy Festival was celebrated in Stan- Jacques Blocher, trained in the today. From the tunnel one islau, when people came from University of Paris and in the emerges into an immense nat- every direction, by wagon, train Bible Institute, Minneapolis, is ural cathedral, the only shaft of or on foot. All Evangelical Luanother worker. M. and Mme. light coming through an aper- therans participated in a com- Dumesil sold their property at ture in the roof. In this spot munion service, creating a pro- Dieulefit to serve as unpaid vol- hallowed by the prayers of mar- found impression upon all those unteers. M. Memmert came in tyrs a feeling of awe came over present. The Stanislau pastor, 1933 after careful preparation the visitors-a feeling that ex- Rev. Theodore J arczuk, writes in the Bible school of Pastor tended to the muleteers who had of the victories of the Gospel of Saillens at Nogent-sur-Marne guided them to it. They rever- Christ among these people: "The and in Glasgow. This does not ently removed their hats upon results of this Harvest Festival exhaust the list. entering. One of them ap- led to arrangement for a similar proached the leader of the tour- service for the Reformation An effective agency is the Gos- ist party and said, hesitantly, Festival on October 2:0. Attenpel poster; 500 of these have "If Monsieur prayed?" And so, dance was even greater. Those been put up in Paris and sub- with bowed heads and hearts up- who passed the chapel were asurbs. Many persons have bought lifted to the Saviour of all, Eng- tonished at the crowd of people, copies of the Scriptures as a re- lish, Irish and Italian, each and said: 'These Lutherans besult. Sometimes professional praised Him there for the past, lieve in God.' The Festival conbill pOosters tear them down; and asked His help in the future cluded with the singing of 'A sometimes unexpected results for the Waldensian Church. Mighty Fortress Is Our God.' In are produced in connection with many different ways the work other posters. For example, a Confessional Church Crisis was advanced." poster announcing a grand ball, had this significant addition at- Three new demands made on Pastor J arczuk writes further: tached: "And after it is over?" the Confessional Church by the Most of this work is done by the German chief of police, Hein- It has long been the custom of young people of the Tabernacle. rich Himmler, indicate that the Lutheran Ukrainians to worship on struggle between the Church and Epiphany at the bank of a river, in -So S. Times. State is nearing a decisive phase. commemo"ation of the preaching of These demands, as reported by John the Baptist at the River Jordan. Gospel Work in Spain the New York Times, were: 1. A few months ago such a service was The Confessional Church shall held on the banks of the Dniester. Reports vary considerably in relinquish its claim to a share of The crowd was constantly augmented, regard to the prospects for evan- the church tax. 2. The Confes- the nearer it came to the river. From gelical work in Spain, now that sional Church shall surrender its all neighboring villages came the folthe war has ended. Protestant status as a corporation of pub- lowers of the Gospel and the curious. churches are permitted to open lic right. 3. The Confessional At the place where the service was to in some centers, in others they be held, thousands of persons had alremain closed. When General ready gathered, listening with the greatest interest to every word of the service. Among those present were some who had come to disturb the serv-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
ice. From the other side of the river at Memia, found no sale for her to work with God in the planta group of agitators came across in a pictures and turned to fruit cul- ing and working of their garboat. As they were crossing one of ture, finally gave that up also; dens.-American Board News. their number cried out: "Either I and offered her home to the Miswill throw the Lutheran pastors into sion. There was no money to "Separatist" Groups the water or will drown myself." But buy, but she agreed to rent and when the service began they listened, now the Mission is established These religious. groups in the and the longer they listened the more there. Union of South Africa number attentive they became. Soon the an- over 500, ilccording to official ger faded; they took off their caps The entire Bible is available figures. Similar movements are and began to nod approvingly. At in Kabyle; portions have been found in other parts of Africa. the close of the service the young man put into the Berber dialects of Whatever may be the underlywho avowed that he would throw us Morocco. So far, the Scriptures ing cause of the rise of these into the water joined our brethren and are almost the only literature in sects, they are hindering the began to make known his sympathy. these dialects. spiritual growth of the African Church. In general, the separa- AFRICA School in Elephant Land tist groups are formed by those who are moved by personal am- The "Book of Manne'rs" Children from the kraals of bition or who wrongly interpret southern Rhodesia attend schools the Scriptures; by those who are Mrs. E. M. Bailey, of the which are merely thatched roof seeking to avoid discipline or United Presbyterian Mission at sheds, and these are often de- have been disciplined by the rec- Minia, Egypt, writes that one stroyed by herds of roaming ele- ognized churches. Sometimes the of the most encouraging things phants. In these so-called "light movements spring from reasons that has happened in the Chris- houses" it costs about $1.40 which are racial or political, or tian school in a long time is the apiece to give the children an from the hope that in the ecclesivoluntary request of some of the elementary education, and is astical sphere the African will graduates for a special Bible their only chance to secure one. be able fo obtain a freedom of class. They are now in a gov- Of this sum, the government action which is denied him in ernment secondary school and supplies 68 cents, the American the political. Owing to the high they find there an atmosphere of Board contributes 30 cents and proportion of illiteracy among profanity and rudeness very dif- the pupil must somehow find the the rank and file of the African ferent from the Christian school other 42 cents, and also buy his people it is always possible for where they grew up. They are books. This would barely sup- a leader of strong personality, coming on a free afternoon to ply movie tickets for the Amer- by specious promises to carry study the Bible and have brought ican child, but we read of one numbers of people with him into several of their new Moslem lad who walked six miles.. each the body which he forms. schoolmates with them. One of way, to cut grass for six cents them, when the Bibles were a day; sold tomatoes from his -Congo Mission News. brought out, asked what they mother's tiny garden, and finally, were. A Moslem girl from last to complete the 42 cents walked WESTERN ASIA year's graduating class replied: six miles with a bunch of bana- "That's the book we get our man- nas on his head to sell them for a Another Side of Palestine ners out of." few cents. Picture Among the Berbers In the same section of Africa It is heartening to sight some there is conducted each year an islands in the sea of trouble Monsieur Warren, of the Paris interesting ceremony called "The which is Palestine. One is what Evangelical Missionary Society, Seed and Hoe Consecration has been described as a "boom" has recently visited the stations Service," a blending of long es- in Christian education. The of the North Africa Mission in tablished African custom and C. M. S. Girls' School at Amman Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Christian practice. Men, women has the confidence of prominent In The Link he describes the and children come with seeds Moslem families, and is looking curious Berber villages of flat- and hoes. The pastor recalls how toward a boarding department roofed houses, reminiscent of the the people would bring grain to for village girls. The Bishop's adventure of the spies in Jericho the chief to be blessed so that it School for Boys in the same (for Berber tradition has it that might be productive. "Here," town is becoming a cultural centhe Berbers are the descendants he points out, "we are bringing ter, and pupils of the different of Canaan's inhabitants, driven grain and hoes to God for His communities are mixing without out by Joshua). This sturdy blessing on our work." At Chik- strain in these schools. A race is not deeply grounded in ore, Rev. Frank T. Meacham re- marked increase of interest in Mohammedanism, and therefore ports that the Community Dem- social work is noted; large nummore or less open to the Gospel. onstrator spoke on the parable bers of the elder boys and girls More than fifty years ago, the of the Sower and then represent- volunteered to teach in daily vafounder of the North Africa atives of the congregation stood cation Bible schools during the Mission was interested in them, before the altar and repeated a summer holidays, and took a but the door was not open for pledge consecrating themselves deep interest in the thousand or evangelization. Years later, an English lady-artist built a home
more children who attended the taught that there is no God, no tees. An interesting experiment score of schools held. use in prayer, and that educated calculated to abolish purdah was people have ceased to be be- the formation of a "family cir- Christian medical work stands lievers. cle" in one constituency, with a out. There is a new hospital at view to promoting inter-commu- Es Salt, and a small temporary On the other hand, there is nal friendship and inculcating a clinic is at work in Jerash. Other developing a more open-minded healthy sense of freedom among hospitals and dispensaries report attitude towards many matters, the sexes, and to encourage increasing work. It seems cer- including religion; and although sport. tain that the spirit of Christ is there is no wide-open door for at work, and new hope has arisen Gospel preaching in Turkey, the Thus Hindu, Mohammedan, that the land sacred to three re- evangelist can get a hearing if Sikh, Parsee and Christian womligions may again become a land there is no suspicion that his en are cooperating for the uplift of peace. message has any political bear- of India's Women. . -International Review of Mis- ing. There is a free field for -Women's Missionary Maga- the circulation of Christian liter- sions. ature; and the Scriptures, which zine. have been published in Latin Palestine After Eighteen Years script, are selling readily. In Soviet Combats Missions the Istanbul area it has been Moses Bailey, writing in The found that the establishment M The Bombay Press Service re- American Friend, describes the small, scattered prayer groups ports': changes he observed in Palestine among the members of the Evanwhen he returned after an ab- gelical and Oriental churches has The Soviet Russian Godless League sence of 18 years. Better roads, served to strengthen and encour- has decided to establish international more land under cultivation, in- age them in life and witness. schools in Moscow to train propacreased orange groves, shade ganda experts to combat the missiontrees, irrigation systems, modern -International Review of Mis- ary work of the Christian Church in ways of doing things, were su- sions. the colonies, especially the humanitarperficial changes first noted. Per- ian and cultural work. Indians, Nehaps the tremendously increased INDIA AND BURMA groes and Arabians will be among the hatred, fear and economic insta- candidates to be trained in these bility might also be signs of Years of Progress :schools. modernity. In the midst of all this it is difficult to train boys The All-India Women's Con- The Bulletin adds: and girls for a useful life. Fiery ference is the acknowledged adnationalists' idea of education is vocate of the women of India, According to information received to have their wits sharpened the without any distinction of creed, in London, special propaganda cambetter to supplant their oppo- caste or class. It has a mem- paign for British India is announced nents. bership of over 8,500. At its by the Riga press bureau of the God- 13th session, about 200 delegates less League. The campaign includes, Mr. Bailey finds two outstand- were in attendance. The criti- among other things, the scattering of ing attributes in the Arab mind: cism that the Conference was 10,000 Russian atheists throughout a genius for friendship and a only for ladies of leisure was re- India. keenness for hard study, not futed, for the delegates were surpassed in any other race, so mostly teachers, doctors and oth- The same facts have been notfar as he has observed. Friend- er workers. ed in European papers. liness and ability form a combination that can go far. There The work of the conference Plea for Economy are two disadvantages, however, during the past year has been as Mr. Bailey sees it; religion, constructive and extensive. Pub- The Soc i a I Reconstruction whether Christian or Moslem, is lic opinion has been enlightened Committee of the American materialistic; and the fact that as to divorce, polygamy and the Marathi Mission presented to the the Arab feels first and thinks legal disabilities of women. Ag- Annual Meeting of the Council afterward; this makes them a ricultural improvement and a recommendation on family fertile field for the demagogue. home industries, such as leather problems, among them the ex- work, clay modeling and needle- travagant marriage c u s tom s Materialism in Turkey work, have been organized in prevalent in the Indian Chris- several centers. Considerable tian community. It was urged The westernization of Turkey attention had been paid to ma- that all Indian Christians and goes on apace; so much so that ternity and child welfare, and especially mission workers armissionaries are saying that it is clinics providing free medical range only simple and inexpennot primarily Mohammedanism, treatment, and in some cases sive weddings, without giving but materialism with which they free milk and clothing, had been dinners to the community, or have to deal. In many govern- established at some centers. The spending money on bands, on ment schools there is not only insanitary condition of certain processions, on lights or on rich no religious. and moral teaching schools and mill areas had been clothing for bride, bridegroom given, but distinct anti-religious tackled by a few health commit- or relatives; and without borteaching. The children are rowing any money for the occa- sion. To encourage those who would prefer to arrange wed- dings within their means, but who yield to the pressure of so- cial opinion, it was recommended
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
that Christians should not attend reminded of it by one of the augurate a New Life Movement, extravagant wedding festivities. women, a fact in itself encour- with the following objectives as aging. So a meeting was called their goal: It was further recommended to plan the campaign, and in- that all mission schools and in- stead of the six women expected, No filth in the house or around it. stitutions should introduce prac- eighteen presented themselves Every Christian wear clean clothes. tical projects which through ex- for Instructions. No debts contracted through mar- perience will teach all students riage, and workers the value of money The women were divided into No excessive interest. and how to use it; and will also groups of three or four, and each No expensive feasts. definitely discourage them from group was assigned a definite All disputes settled out of court. going into debt. number of homes to visit; thus Punctuality, all the homes in one village were Cleansing of tobacco from personal -Dnyanodaya. visited in an afternoon. In two and social life. homes the workers were asked No liquor. Bhil Christians to pray; those who asked for Adoption of a salutation-folding this said they had faith, but to hands and saying namascaram. The story of Christian Work accept Christ openly was a dif- At least one-tenth to Church, Chris- among the Bhils goes back to ferent matter. tian work and charity. the year 182'8, when a British Wiping out the remnants of caste. officer, an earnest Christian, was Mrs. Whitcomb went with a Family devotions every day. in charge of Rajputana, and in different group each day, and No recreation that cannot be taken his administration of the district was deeply moved by the ear- in the name of the Lord Jesus. prayed for the day when these nestness of these women in giv- A cooperative in every village people might hear the Gospel. ing their testimony. Their spirit (Kagawa method), But it was not until 1878 that of good will was contagious, and Wiping out of illiteracy. steps were taken to found a Mis- great benefit came to the work- Cottage industries in every home. sion among these aboriginal ers themselves, for they con- tribes. The C. M. S. put an ap- trasted the hopelessness of the -National Christian Council peal in the church papers for a villagers with the blessings of Review. missionary to go to the Bhil Christianity. country, and two years later a CHINA young recruit went out. After -Outlook of Missions. ten years of uphill work, results A Visitor's Impressions began to appear, and by 1892 Political Advance Helps there was a small Bhil Christian Evangelism A traveler visiting nine out- Church. Coming down to 1939, stations and one main station how has this Mission fared? A A writer in the Missionary of the China Inland Mission, re- recent report says that churches Herald argues that the obstacle marks that three things im- have been .established in nine to progress represented by finan- pressed her especially: the ear- main centers with a total mem- cial retrenchment will turn into nestness of the women, their de- bership of 1047. Schools have a stepping stone to indigenous s,ire to learn and their extreme been opened and there are now evangelization, and the steady poverty. In every place women over 500 pupils in them. building up of an indigenous walked from one to four miles church, because of the political in the early morning, bringing There is also a well developed development of the past year or just a few pieces of dry bread medical work. Presbyterians two. India has taken a long for the noon meal, and would sit have a mission among the same stride toward independence, and on hard benches all day study- people, and many thousands have from now on is ruling herself as ing a hymn, memorizing a bit been baptized in the last few never before; so also she is be- of Scripture, struggling over a years. ginning to realize that she must few characters. When the last also evangelize herself. This is meeting was over they would The work is quiet and inten- the trend of India's Christian trudge back 3 to 8 l~-not only s i ve; sporadic persecution movement; self-government not complaining, but pathetically . breaks out from time to time, but must be paralleled by self evan- grateful for the privilege of the missionaries carryon faith- .gelization. coming. Wind, cold, heat, in no fully the activities of schools, way deterred them, and they hospital, evangelism and pastor- In the light of this conclusion, s,eemed never to tire of meetings, al care. -C. M. S. Outlook. the United Theological College seldom less than two hours long. of Western India is redoubling They have a very real faith. and Women Volunteers its efforts to supply a trained to listen to their stories of an- ministry, and thus do a work of swered prayer is impressive. For some years at Baitalpur, strategic importance for India's Many are in direst economic it has been the custom for Chris- future. straits, yet not one asked for tian women to volunteer for financial help; many eve n evangelistic service in the neigh- Indian "New Life Movement" brought gifts of eggs or sweet boring villages. Mrs. E. W. potatoes to the Mission. Whitcomb who went to Baital- As an outcome of the Mara- pur after furlough knew noth- mon Conference, Christians of The visitor mentions the prev- ing of this custom, but was Travancore have decided to in- alence of demon possession. One saw and heard much of the pow- ers of darkness. In one instance
two Christian workers knelt for now is to institute a movement tians gave cause for alarm, as it two hours beside the afflicted for socialized reform compatible extended to local shops and even person in continuous prayer be- with the aspirations of all pro- necessary food was unobtainable fore release was finally given. gressive people. Portraits of for a time, but happily normal Lenin ruld Stalin have been re- conditions have been resumed. -China's Millions. placed by those of Sun Yat-sen One unfortunate result was the and Chiang Kai~shek. This has apostasy of a whole family of Reveals War Conditions been amply corroborated by oth- Christians with the exception of ers who know China; and this one of its members; and this cir- The Presbyterian Mission in destroys the point of J apanes.e cumstance was the more painful Peiping received the following assertion that they are fighting since the head of that family had letter in Chinese, written by an bolshevism. professed Christianity for nearevangelist living 30 miles outside ly forty years. of Peiping. This is the trans- Future of Medical Missions lation: More Gospels are entering Dr. K. C. Wong, Secretary of Tibet than ever before. Last Do not turn your face away from the Council of Medical Missions, year, with the financial support this my letter. But incline your ear says that of 217 mission hospi- of the National Bible Society of to your evangelist, a man filled with tals 81 were (in March) in "oc- Scotland, an adventurous jour': grief. Since my eyes last saw you I cupied areas," 82 in "fighting ney of two months was underhave been as a tree without leaves. I zones" and but 54 in "free Chi- taken by two evangelists who rehave suffered from one new moon to na." A survey made some ported the acceptance of hunthe other. The church members have months earlier showed that of dreds of copies of the Gospel. passed through four calamities: war, 34 mission hospitals in east Chibanditry, flood and famine. In this na 11 had been bombed or de- During the first three months our country there is no law, there is stroyed, 12 had been damaged of its existence, the "Gospel no peace. Bandits entered our town. or looted, 7 were "occupied" and Inn," of which mention has been They came with big shouting, they left 4 were closed. Since this re- made in these columns, more in clouds of black smoke. As a whirl- port some have been recovered than 800 travelers and pilgrims, wind they went over the land. Spoil- and opened, but almost every 700 ponies, yaks and donkeys ing and violence was before them. At week one or more has been dam- found shelter and more than 2'00 random they killed young and old. aged or destroyed. patients were treated for minor And they considered it but nothing to ailments. A capable Bible womrope seventy of our men together and Dockors and nurses are sadly an and her husband are in throw them into the river. In a well overworked, with most of their charge of the Inn. Beside the near our church twenty-eight women Chinese staff gone. However, daily Gospel talk, each lodger reand girls found death in escape from European refugees have ren- ceives a tract, or buys a Gospel their hands. Young Mrs. Wang, the dered ass,istance. So overwhelm- before he leaves. A public liwife of him who tends the sick in the ing are immediate demands that brary and reading room have mission hospital, was one of them, there has been no time to plan been established, where daily also Mrs. Yang and her daughter, for the future. Relief funds will papers and magazines are availwhom you know. In wartime life is not last forever; doctors cannot able. Another plan to extend the truly cheap. The iniquity of our time run one-man hospitals indefinite- usefulness of the Inn is that of is fiercer than evening wolves. The ly with from 100 to 200 clinical opening a grocery, where tired bandits trampled down the harvest, patients daily besides their in- pilgrims may buy such necessiburned our homes, kidnapped the girls, patients. Before the war many ties as tea, butter, flour and keroand plundered the stores. They took of these hospitals were practical- sene. Judging from the extent away our donkeys and drove our pigs ly self-supporting but for the to which this has been used, the before them. missionaries' salaries. Now the new venture is a success. supporting constituency has fled. Thou, Shepherd-teacher, will re- -Moravian Missions. member how the people used to sing 'One conspicuously efficient as taught at the evangelistic meetings. hospital recently was approached JAPAN -CHOSEN Now everyone is quiet. The men look by the Japanese to rent or to worried, the women have forgotten sell the plant to them, and it is Christianity Gets Official how to smile. For many, death seems reported that a refusal will be Status more desirable than life. A great met by the challenge of a new many have no home, no clothing, no hospital designed far to outshine The 74th Japanese Diet has remoney. 0, thou who art safe out of the mission institution. cently passed all the 89 bills inthis spot of calamity, incline thine ear troduced, not one being rejected and knit the little thread of our hope -The Christian Century. or even altered materially. The into a rope of victory. enactment of the "Religious In Western Tibet Bodies Bill," which in one form -Evangelical Christian. or another has for 40 years been Rev. Walter Asboe, Moravian a bone of contention in legisla- What About the Communists? missionary, reports both encour- tive circles, may have great or agement and disappointment in little significance for Christian- One who has lived long in Chi- the Tibet field. A severe boycott ity depending on what happens na, in a personal letter to a of missionaries and native Chris- in other respects. While acfriend, throws light on a question often asked: Is China going "red"? This writer says that Chinese communists have abandoned many of their ideological concepts, originating in Russia, and much of their violence ; they are now Chinese, first and foremost; their aim
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
knowledging the right to reli- anese laymen and of mission- and surgical work is done by one gious freedom guaranteed by the aries; one half are to be chosen foreign and one Korean doctor. constitution, the bill puts all re- from eastern Japan, and one ligious organizations under the half from western Japan. In 1938, the company spent regulation of the Ministry of over 60,000 yen for this medical Education. Creedal positions and Large Bible rallies in Tokyo service. There were treated in forms of worship must be ac- and Osaka give evidence of a de- the wards, dispensary and the ceptable to the authorities; ad- termined spirit in this move- surrounding villages more than ministrative, legal and property ment. -Bible Society Record. 40,000 patients (this is a record affairs must conform to regula- of treatments-not different pations, and all changes must be Chinese Y. M. C. A. Suppressed tients) . There were more than promptly reported. 400 major operations. Of the The Tokyo correspondent for treatments more than 10,000 Some Christians say that the The Christian Century made a were for outsiders. No charge new bill merely legalizes condi- visit to the parts of the city is made to anyone, but patients tions long in force; that Chris- where formerly many Chinese not employed by the company tianity is now specifically recog- resided and where the Y. M. must pay for their own drugs nized as one of Japan's' three C. A. and other cultural institu- and operating material. The accepted faiths, hence prejudice tions sought to serve those from company has never been known on the part of petty officials can the Celestial Kingdom. Chinese to refuse to send their doctor to no longer be a handicap; that are there still, but both Chinese distant villages to see seriously the new legal status accorded and Christian institutions as sick Koreans. both denominations and local such have disappeared. There communions will prove of advan- was a great exodus of Chinese -Korean Mission Field. tage in penetrating conservative students from Japan in the sumand bigoted regions; and that mer of 1937. Now hundreds of What Medicine Has Done for the bill will discourage the devel- Chinese youths are again com- Chosen opment of superstitious faiths of ing to Tokyo for study-this all sorts. The danger of state time from the occupied regions To form a correct appreciaregulation is minimized. of China. But who now will tion of the part played by medi- help them as did the Y. M. and cine in the regeneration of Ko- -Christian Century. Y. W. C. A. and the churches in rea, says Dr. O. R. Avison, one the days when Sun Yat-sen, Chi- must know what were the con- "Nippon Seisho Kyokwai" ang Kai-shek and C. T. Wang ditions when Protestant missions were occasional sojourners there entered the country in 1884. This is the name of the Japan and had many friends in Tokyo Even forty years ago, practical- Bible Society, recently organ- interested not in the politics but ly everybody was pock marked. ized. It marks another step in in the souls of these youthful All children were expected to the cooperative plans of the seekers after truth? have smallpox before the age of older Bible Societies, and reveals two; so many of them died that the courageous way the younger Medical Work in Mines mothers thought it hardly worth churches are rising to increased while to count a child as a memresponsibilities. One of the Th e Oriental Consolidated ber of the family until he had things that stood out clearly at Mining Company in Korea is survived this disease. An epithe Madras Conference was the known as the American Mines. demic of Asiatic cholera was exfact that these younger churches Its president from the beginning pected every five or six years. have made great strides. Many until he died in 1927 was Henry Both diseases were attributed to of them have grown up in lands C. Perkins of New York who, the power of demons. There was where Christianity was unknown throughout his life, had a deep no knowledge at all of sanitaless than two hundred years ago. interest in the lives of the min- tion ; vermin were abundant; ers and their families, one evi- excrement from human beings Many Japanese Christian lead- dence being the maintenance of infected with all sorts of intesers have been concerned that the medical care for these workers. tinal parasites was used as fer- Scriptures in use in Japan bore tilizer, and raw vegetables eaten the imprint of foreign Bible So- Much could be said of the gen- unwashed, or washed in polluted cieties; and after a number of eral policies of this company; water. Flies had access to conconferences of representatives how it has never been in the taminated places, and to good; of the foreign societies and their courts, has always paid at least mosquitoes were uncontrolled. Japanese advisory committees, a one yearly dividend; never fluc- Those ill with contagious disconstitution was drawn up and tuated prices nor padded its re- eases were not isolated. ratified last October. The essen- ports, but there is space only to tial objectives are the same as speak of the medical work. The One day Dr. Avison was walkthose of Western societies: the company maintains a little hos- ing outside the city gate when translation, publication and dis- pital with room for 25 to 30 in- he saw a strange sight-the tribution of the Scriptures, with- patients. Through a dispensary corpse of a child that had died out note or comment. The gov- and clinic connected with the of smallpox. Here was an operning body is composed equally hosuital 75 or more patients go portunity to pit the strength of of Japanese ministers, of Jap- daily except Sundays. Medical vaccination against the power of
a demon, if only he could be al- and have no Christian influence. from the war scene in Spain, or lowed to try. At first, all offers There are about 4,000 Japanese again it might fit the picture of were refused. Finally, a Chris- Christians living in Formosa. a Jewish refugee group on the tian mother agreed to let him see One hopeful sign for the future border of Czechoslovakia. But what he could do. Her child is the keenness and activity of no, it happened in the U. S. A.; passed its second year and then the Christian youth in Formosa. the pitiful procession was made its third without taking small- up of "sharecroppers" in Mispox; after that other mothers -International Review of souri, evicted from their shanwere anxious to try the new way. Missions. ties because, allegedly, landown- This incident opened the door to ers wished to change from tendisease prevention, and in time In Netherlands Indies ants to day laborers. the government made vaccination compulsory. Today, small- . The first Christian book in One More Poll Needed pox is rare. Javanese, other than the Bible, appeared in 1938. It is a child's We have "had plenty of "polls." -Korea Mission Field. Life of Christ entitled "The King Weare asked how we shall vote of Love." It originally appeared in 1940; even personal habits ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC in Arabic, then in Urdu, then are inquired into, so that we Persian. Christian work among know how everybody feels; but "For Value Received" young people in both Java and why not have a poll as to what Sumatra is being steadily pro- the churches intend to do about Filipino Christians are assum- moted. Annual conferences and the missionary enterprise? ing more and more responsibil- a Christian newspaper are some Would it not be possible to ask ity for work, which a few years of the means used. Autonomous 100,000 people in typical churchago had to be done, if at all, by churches are to be found in dif- es some such questions as: the missionaries. For example, ferent areas of the Indies, but in the wife of a Filipino professor some sections missionary work (1) Do I really believe that Jesus at Silliman University is teach- is forbidden by the government; started the missionary method, and ing music while the missionary in northern Sumatra and in Bali, believed that. His Gospel would evenhead of the department is absent for example, but Christians from tually win the world? on furlough. "Don't worry about other localities settle in these salary," she said. "Silliman gave areas, bringing their faith and (2) Do I really believe that my anme my education, and if I can witness with them. The fact cestors received civilization and every be of service I shall be glad." that now for the first time in uplifting ideal they possessed through One of the assistant professors Borneo the Asiatic ministry of Christian missionaries? Clearly this has started a flourishing cooper- the Church exceeds the Euro- seems true, and how anyone can doubt ative in Dumaguete; while an pean holds out hope for the fu- our obligation to share similar lifeinstructor is teaching local farm- ture. giving and level-lifting Christian ers how to make better use of ideals is beyond understanding. their resources. Still another -International Review of goes regularly to the small Missions. (3) Despite taxes, losses, fears, but churches to help with the music. admitting most of us still live in com- NORTH AMERICA fortable homeR and eat thrice a day, -Monday Morning. do I really believe that an annual per Where Did This Happen? capita gift of fifty cents per member Christianity in Formosa in our denomination proves our part- Last January the New York nership in a progressive and victori- Restrictions have been placed Times published a news story ous enterprise like winning a world on Christian work in Formosa, from which the paragraph be- for the Gospel of Christ? as elsewhere in the Japanese low is taken. Missions reprinted empire. Efforts have been made it and asked its readers to guess (4) Do I really believe that our to force all Formosan household- what part of the world the story missionaries exert important influers to set up miniature Shinto came from. ences for world peace, and that shrines, and neglect to do so has through them we are aidinp.: in the led to trouble in some districts. Along two highways more than progress of the Kingdom of God? This order is as unacceptable to 1,000 men, women and children non-Christians as to Christians, camped in the open air. They hud- -American Board News. since the former regard the sub- dled around camp fires, or makeshift stitution of new emblems for old stoves, along desolate rights of way, "Temperance Trailer" as destroying their own ances- sharing the contents of huge steaming tral religion. kettles. The number of camps was A "Temperance Trailer," still growing at nightfall as new- sponsored by the Friends' Tem- In 1936, the Canadian Mission comers straggled in on foot, or in perance Association of Philadelwithdrew from the Tansui Mid- dilapidated vehicles. The camps dot- phia, has made a transcontidle, and Girls' Schools in For- ted the road all the way to the border nental tour of over 10,000 miles, mosa, because of government re- line. Men feeble with age, one woman stopping in more than a hundred quirement in regard to shrine so ill that she had to be carried on a towns in twenty-eight states, and attendance. These schools are cot, and babies crying from fright and carrying a temperance message now under local management, hunger, added to the distressing pic- to over 150,000 persons. The ture. trailer is fitted out with various exhibits, including a "drunko- It might describe the plight meter," designed to dramatize of the Chinese; it might come the dangers of alcohol. Tem- perance lectures are given, and questions from the audience are
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
answered by the crew of three. missing from my daily life. In which he demonstrates the pos- There has been no acrimonious that immortal masterpiece of sibility of the miraculous by scidebate, or hostility. literature I find new inspiration. entific analogy. Up to March, That is why the Holy Bible is many thousands had listened to -The American Friend. my favorite book." these demonstrations; sometimes the lectures start thirty minutes Immanuel Mission to Seamen -Lutheran News Bureau. early because the auditorium is jammed. The audiences are Laden with Scripture por- Organization Changes Name about ninety per cent untions, workers of Immanuel churched. There have been defi- Mission to Seamen enter cabins The "International Save the nite conversions. A San Franand crews' quarters on vessels Children Fund," as this agency cisco daily observes that these of all types and nationalities has been called since its organ- lectures leave the audience less along the Pacific Coast. Oppor- ization in 1931, is now to be cock sure of their own wisdom, tunity to read at sea, the absence known as the "Save the Children and with a feeling that the mirof opposition and a lack of di- Federation." The President, acles of the Bible are not so imversion ensure a friendly recep- Dr. John R. Voris, says that the possible as they had supposed. tion for these workers. The name Federation is adopted be- Alaska salmon fleet carries a cause this is a movement, or as- Institutions Closed mixed group of Americans, Chi- sociation, and the name "Fund" nese, Italians, Scandinavians, no longer describes its functions, Because of financial strin- Mexicans and Filipinos. They as it did in the beginning. Drop- gency the Presbyterian Board. beg for reading matter, for ping the word "International" is of National Missions has voted Alaska is almost a spiritual of no significance, except to to close three of its institutions: wilderness. shorten the name. The Federa- the American Indian Institute, tion will continue to maintain Wichita, Kansas; Ingleside-Fee Malay and Javanese Scrip- relationship with the Save the Institute, Burkeville, Virginia; tures find their way to the crews Children International Union of and Brainerd Institute, Chester, of Dutch East Indies boats, and Geneva, of which the fund has South Carolina, in the Negro. Spanish booklets are used with been the American member ever field. All three have been givgreat blessing on various ships since its founding. The question ing splendid service, but their coming in to San Francisco from of changing the title of the agen- discontinuance was the only al- Puerto Rico. American liners cy has been under consideration ternative to a general retrenchsailing across the Pacific are for more than two years. Effort ment, which would have crippled supplied with Bible portions and has been made to find a still the entire program of the Board.. booklets. For a period of more shorter name.-The Churchman. than 24 years this work has been At the same meeting at which carried on among seamen. The Radio as a Missionary this decision was made it was Voice voted that the new hospital be- -Scripture Gift Mission ing erected to replace the over- Bulletin. The "Lutheran Hour," a Sun- crowded Brooklyn Cottage Hos- day afternoon coast – to – coast pital at Dixon, N. M., be named The Bible in the CCC broadcast, can claim a mission- the Embudo Presbyterian Hospi- ary bearing. Dr. Walter A. tal; and that the staff home be When CCC boys were asked Maier, of the Concordia Semi- called the Brooklyn-Nassau Cottheir preference in reading mate- nary Faculty in St. Louis, who tage. Embudo will be the post rial, a large majority indicated broadcast over 66 stations from office address of the new hospithat the Bible is their favorite October to Easter Sunday has tal. The name of the staff home book. The reasons given for this been heard by sailors on the high is the Board's expression of appreference were varied, but first seas, by isolated men in lumber preciation for the continued prize, if one had been awarded, and mining camps in the north interest of Brooklyn – Nassau would go to Wayne Berkshire of woods, by distinguished person- Presbyterial Society in this Company 793, Hill City, S. Da- ages high in the business, pro- project. kota, for the following reply: fessional and social life of the "My favorite book is the Holy nation – by a vast audience Indians Set Example Bible. Why? Because it is my whose number can be estimated mother's and my own wish that only from the tremendous num- In proportion to their means, I develop a more wholesome, sin- ber who send in their comments, the Sioux Indians give more for c ere and faithful religion. totaling 133,000 last season. the promotion of Christian activ- Through the Bible and, of course, ities than any other church the Church, I am striving to Treasure Island Gospel Project members anywhere. Once they reach that goal. I have discov- were the fiercest, most war-like ered and constantly rely upon Mention has been made of the of all North American Indians. the magic powers of prayer when San Francisco Christian Busi- They were the ones who wiped in trouble, in doubt, and at the ness Men's presentation of the out General Custer and his cavclose of every day. If I could Gospel at the Golden Gate Expo- aIry; now, every member of the not have access to the Bible each sition through Irvin Moon's tribe is a professed Christian, day, I would feel that something "Sermons from Science," in important and necessary was
All of them are peaceful farm- MISCELLANEOUS Persia …………….. . 40,000 ers. 40,000 Fifty Years-Past and Future Brazil …………….. . 24,141 A few years ago when grass- 23,553 hoppers and drouth practically United Presbyterian young India ……………… . 20,000 ruined farmers, many church people have been celebrating fif- Australia ………….. . 19,850 people advocated withdrawal ty years of organized work in from the South Dakota field, but their denomination, and are con- Mexico ……………. . 7,800 the Sioux Indians held a mass sidering the situation of today in China …………….. . 4,000 meeting, pledged a fifty per cent its relation to that of fifty years 2,591 increase in their giving and hence; facing a world of today, Cuba ……………… . adopted the slogan, "Move For- terribly disorganized economi- Spain …………….. . ward."-United Presbyterian. cally, socially, internationally, religiously and morally. They New Zealand ………. . The Church in the Arctic realize that there probably nev- er was a day of greater oppor- World O. E. Advance The aeroplane and the wire- tunity for youth to make an imless have caused tremendous press on their world. The older Two important changes in changes in mission work in the generation is looking on with Christian Endeavor activities Arctic regions. Last year Bish- keen interest as it sees young have taken place across the op Fleming traveled from 15,000 people ready and eager to spend Pacific. The Methodist Episcopal to 16,000 miles through the east- a large part of their summer Church of southern Asia has ern Arctic, covered much work vacation period in listening at- voted to discontinue the Epwhich had never been done be- tentively to leaders who try to worth League to permit its youth fore, and could not have been direct their energies in the path organizations to unite with the attempted but for the aeroplane. of Christ's Kingdom. While this Christian Endeavor Union of Plane travel is not expensive, fiftieth anniversary celebration India, Burma and Ceylon. This considering the e nor m 0 u s has paid tribute to the "giants is another step toward union of amount of time saved thereby. there were in those days," it Protestant missionary programs For the better spiritual care of makes clear that the younger in southern Asia. The Methodist the 11,000 people-Indians, Es- generation has a whole army of Church has nearly half a million kimos and white folk-within possible "giants." members in India, and more the Arctic Circle and a distance than 54,000 are registered in below it, the diocese of the Arc- -United Presbyterian. Methodist schools. tic was constituted in 1933, and comprises one-third of the whole Where Can the "Wandering The second move was the for- Dominion of Canada. Jew" Wander? mation of a Pacific Region of the World Christian End e a v 0 r There are two hospitals in the Union, to include China, Japan, diocese: All Saints, at Aklavik, Korea, Manchoukuo, New Zeaand St. Luke's at Pangnirtung. land, Australia, the Philippines, Remembering that the diocese the Fiji and Samoan Islands, and comprises over a million square other Pacific island groups. miles, one understands why Bishop Fleming is seeking to found From his original home in Pal- Youth at Amsterdam a third on the north shore of estine the Jew has wandered far Hudson Strait. The existing and wide. He has indeed been There is an alarming regimenhospitals are fully equipped with "the wandering Jew." The tation of young people in many electric light, X-ray apparatus, Christian Evangelist has given parts of the world in movements operating theaters, and other de- that are anti-Christian, or at sirable and necessary features·. an interesting tabulation to show least non-Christian. A World The government supplies the the present distribution of Jews Conference of Christian Youth doctors: the Church provides throughout the world: to be held at Amsterdam, Holthe staff and upkeep. land, July 24-August 3, is United States ………. . 4,228,029 planned to make the Christian Primitive animism is the re- 3,028,837 youth of the world more aware ligion of the native, Eskimo and Poland ……………. . 2,676,109 of their heritage in the Chris- Indian alike. Nineteen clergy- tian faith, and more forceful one an Eskimo deacon-and six- Russia ……………. . 728,115 and courageous in applying the ty or more lay workers assist Rumania …………… . 514,269 message of the Church in a Bishop Fleming. There is also Near East …………. . 499,682 world whose disintegrating forcwork for white people. Each 444,567 es are placing Christianity benorthern settlement has its Hud- Germany ………….. . 356,830 fore one of the greatest tests of son's Bay Company store, the Hungary ………….. . 300,000 its history. barracks of the Royal Canadian 260,000 Mounted Police (the "Moun- Czechoslovakia ……… . 240,000 The conference program is the ties"), and the wireless. station. Great Britain ………. . 191,408 result of two years of consulta- 161,312 tion among youth leaders from -Life of Faith. Argentina …………. . 156,817 all parts of the world. The 155,614 daily worship service will enable France ……………. . 155,125 all delegates to attend the type Austria ……………. . 110,127 of service to which they are ac- customed, and also to experience Morocco …………… . 95,000 other worship customs. 81,280 Netherlands ………… . 72,791 Canada ……………. . 72,550 Lithuania ………….. . 60,000 Algeria ……………. . 59,485 South Africa ……….. . 51,000 47,825 Turkey ……………. . Greece …………….. . Egypt …………….. .
Belgium …………… .
Tunis …………….. . Abyssinia ………….. . Italy ……………… .
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Our Missionary Bookshelf Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information Cry Dance. A Novel of the Ameri- It is an attempt to provide a While the main emphasis in can Indian. By Coe Hayne. 8 Yo. guide to the solution of life's dif- "This Business of Living" is 255 pp. $2.00. Harper & Bros. New ficult and often tragic problems. upon personal and individual York. 1939. Who among us would not wel- problems, the author pauses come assistance at this point and more than once to point out the The American Indians are a who is there without some friend application of his proffered solupicturesque and romantic people. or acquaintance whose need for tion to the larger social and na- They have been exploited, exhib- wisdom and guidance is great tional problems as well. "There ited, abused and protected for is no problem that is not in printwo hundred years. They sur- indeed? ciple a personal problem," he vive but are not yet made a civi- But will this book meet that truly says. And here are a few lized, Christian and integral part other wise observations: "Any of the nation. Many are strong need? Undoubtedly it will for victory won by force is a defeat" characters and capable of becom- the more intelligent reader, for ing highly educated and efficient the person who is equipped to "An agreement reached unde' r leaders. understand and appropriate that which is not always easy read- pressure is not an agreement, but As Secretary of Research of the ing. But it is a question whether the perpetration of a disagree- American Baptist Home Mission the common man, untrained in ment." "All war is defeat." "We Society, the Rev. Coe Hayne, philosophical and psychological must never surrender to the behas had many opportunities to lief that force has the last word." study the Indians on the reser- terms and methods, will find These words are true for the invations and has come to love and much of this helpful book avail- dividual; they are no less true admire them. Here he has told able for his needs. This is to be for nations. a stirring story of a young In- regretted since the common man dian, "Yosemite," who gave up is often the one who most des- VICTOR G. MILLS. his college course, and fine pros- perately needs the help which pects of a professional career, to Dr. Grensted offers. If the meth- Dynamic Christianity and the World throw in his lot with his people od and style of the book as a Today. By Samuel M. Zwemer. 8vo. in the Sierras and champion whole had been closer to the free 17? pp. 28. 6d. Intervarsity Fellowtheir cause in the struggle and easy spirit of the title it shIp. London; Zondervan Publishagainst poverty and wrong and would be more useful where ing House, Grand Rapids, Mich. in behalf of their rights in Amer- most needed. 1939. ica. A young white woman joined in the fight for the Red Yet with this one limitation, There are good reasons why man. "Cry Dance" tells the let it be said that for many, es- only earnest, believing followers story of the struggle-which pecially for those who would still continues. There are ad- help others in meeting life's of Christ are interested in proventures, bitter fights, and two moting Christian missions. One love stories woven into the nar- problems and crises, this book must believe in the importance rative. It is an incompleted tale will provide very real assistance. but the author shows good judg- Workers with troubled minds of a cause and in the claims of ment in his outcome of the love and hearts will be bet t e r its leader before one will give stories of white folk and Indians. equipped for reading it. It notes time and strength and money to Young people will find the novel advance that cause. Dr. Zwemof particular interest. It has a the nature of life's most common er has proved his faith by his definite Christian tone. problems, always stressing the works for he has spent nearly fifty years in many lands seek- This Business of Living. By L. W. fact that in the last analysis all ing to win Moslems to Christ- Grensted. 187 pp. $1.75. Mac- of these problems come back to by voice and pen and life. He millan. New York. 1939. the problem of self. The inef- knows that the only kind of Christianity worth following A cover notice calls this "a fectiveness of the common meth- and worth propagating is "Dy- book for everyman." One can- ods of help is made clear. And namic Christianity." This is the not but wish that this were more then the author points out the Christianity of the living Christ nearly the case, for every man one adequate answer which is who is the ever present Head of needs what this book has to offer. found through religion, when His Church and the motivating rightly conceived, and preemi- and achieving power of the Gos- nently through Christianity. The pel. chapter on "The Way of Release" is especially worth while.
[383 ]
The author has given us here wealth of Christian doctrine, scenes are laid, gives additional a dynamic book. The Gospel that and the last three which deal he proclaims is the same that with Christian experience based value to leaders of children's came through Jesus Christ and on that doctrine. Her analytical that "turned the world up-side- mind does not prevent her from groups. H. H. F. down" in the days of the Apos- seeing the beauty of the truth tles. It is the Gospel founded on she presents nor do her outlines Mary Reed of Chandag. By Lee S. faith in the Bible as the inspired obscure the life and power. One Huizenga. 37 pp. Paper, 35 cents. Word of God and in Christ as the wishes that she had drawn more Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Son of God and only Redeemer largely on her rich experiences Rapids, Mich. 1939. of men. This is the heart of to illustrate the truths presented. Christianity that has proved its But there is a reality and a glow Almost everyone knows the truth and power and that is dy- in her Christian life that is con- story of Mary Reed, who went namic today among all peoples tagious. These studies in Ephe- to India in 1884; became a leper; to whom the Gospel is pro- sians will richly reward any was healed through prayer and claimed in the power of the Holy student-preacher, teacher, mis- for forty-seven years has di- Spirit. sionary or layman. rected the Chandag Leper Home in the foothills of the Himalayas. Dr. Zwemer shows clearly that They Dared to Live. By Robert M. She recently celebrated her 83d this Gospel is everlasting; that Bartlett. 12mo. 135 pp. $1.25. birthday. This little, illustrated it has not changed; that it is Association Press. New York. book retells a story and gives absolute and is vitally linked 1939. important facts about leprosy with the "Changeless Christ." and its modern treatment. He shows that, while this Gos- This series of thirty-five tenpel is neglected and repudiated minute biographies are very H. H. F. by many who refuse to believe, brief stories of explorers, scienit is the Gospel that the whole tists, teachers, reformers, stu- Meditations on the Holy Spirit. By world needs today. The work of dents, social workers, artists, Toyohiko Kagawa. 167 pp. $1.50. Christ has made great progress, authors, doctors, political lead- Cokesbury Press, Nashville, Tenextens.ively and intensively, and ers and missionaries and Amer- nessee. 1939. mankind is accessible as never icans. They include British, before, but there are still great French, Chinese, Japanese, Ger- The world famous Japanese regions of the world and vast mans, Swiss, Russians, Czechs, Christian has given us an attracareas of humanity that are un- Africans, Norwegians, Indians tive statement of some great enlightened by a knowledge of and others. There are well- principles of the spiritual life. "the Light of the World." known names like Helen Keller Throughout it the author shows and President Masarayk, and ob- a strong mystical tendency. He This is not only an intensely scure persons like Roland Hayes is definitely Trinitarian and interesting and informing book, and Pierre Ceresole. The great clearly stands for the Personit is inspiring and dynamic. disappointment is t hat the ality of. the Holy Spirit. What would be the result if sketches are too brief, but they every Christian minister should make one wish to know more Readers who accept the inread it? about these men and women who errancy of the Bible will be dis- dared to work against obstacles turbed by Dr. Kagawa's tend- The Wealth, Walk and Warfare of and for a high purpose, and suc- ency to rationalize some of the the Christian. By Ruth Paxson. ceeded. miracles. He also appears to ac- 8vo. 222 pages. $1.50. Revell. cept Darwin's views of the New York. 1939. Far Round the World. By Grace W. "Origin of the Species" quite un- McGavran. Illustrated by Mar- critically. Another questionable Miss Paxson is already well garet Ayer. 118 pp. Cloth, $1.00. point is a rather naturalistic known through her spiritual Friendship Press, N. Y. 1939. view of the personal spiritual presentation of "Life on the experience of the Lord Jesus. Highest Plane." She is a devout Miss McGavran, the REVIEW'S With such reservations it is only and intelligent Bible teacher and Editor of "Effective Ways of fair to say that there is a great an evangelist of rare gifts and Working," and the author of deal that is searching and helpgraces; she has been widely and "Missionary Stories for Chil- ful, for the book evidently comes wonderfully used of God in dren," gives here eleven splendid out of deep personal experience. China, in Europe and America. stories showing the improve- The supernatural view of the ments of social conditions, de- Holy Spirit is accepted. In the present volume Miss cline in race prejudice, braving Paxson gives us some fruitful re- danger in Mexico, India, Africa, F. E. G. sults of her study in the letter Japan, China, Paraguay, Ceylon to the Ephesians, which she calls and the Philippine Islands. They Studies in First and Second Kings the "Grand Canyon of Scrip- describe events that actually and First and Second Chronicles. ture." It is remarkably rich, happened. A section at the back Arranged by Grace Saxe. 35 cents. suggestive and stimulating. She of the book, supplying facts 112 pp. Bible Colportage Assn. points out the connection be- about the countries in which the Chicago. 1939. tween the first three chapters, which deal chiefly with the These twenty-three studies in Old Testament history are de- signed for individual or class work. Exposition and applica- tion are well balanced. The mor- al lessons seem to flower forth
Encyclopedia of Religious
"How many baptized Christians in Burma?" "Where is the headquarters of the Evangelical Church?"
"How much does the average Baptist give to his church?" "Name three Christmas dramas suitable for church presentation." "How many denominations in the United States?" ''What are the best available books on the life of st. Paul 1"
"How many Christian missionaries in Egypt?" "What is Kingdomtide?"
"Is church giving going up or down 1" "Where is Washburn College located?"
"To what church does the Governor of Ohio belong?"
You can answer these and many more by turning to the proper pages in CHURCH MANAGEMENT DIRECTORY for 1939, now available in your book store. The price is but 65c. (by mail 75c.). If your bookstore cannot supply you, send the proper remittance to address l;Ielow. This directory offers the most complete almanac for the Protestant field.
CHURCH MANAGEMENT : Auditorium Building : Cleveland, Ohio from the Scripture itself. God Launch Out Into the Deep. By An' The New Sovereignty. Reiinald is clearly seen to be at work be- drew Gih. Edited by J. Edwin Orr. Wallis. 93 pp. Is. Pickering & hind the scenes. The great uni- 119 pp. Cloth, 40 cents. Zonder- Inglis. London. fying message in Kings and in van Publishing House, Grand Rap· Chronicles, Miss Saxe makes ids, Mich. 1938. One Gospel for Mankind. Hugh abundantly clear, in the impera- Vernon White. 72 pp. 35 cents. tive need of trusting God and Among the consecrated Chi- Friendship Press. New York. obeying Him. The book would nese soul winners is Andrew be still better if the author did Gih, now on an evangelistic tour Right Here at Home. Frank S. not lean so heavily upon a very in war-torn China. Previously, Mead. 183 pp. $1.00, and 60 cents. limited number of Bible scholars he made a three months' tour of Friendship Press. New York. for her quotations and if she had Australia with J. Edwin Orr, included more thought-provok- who says he was second to none Studies in I and II Kings and I and ing questions, along with the list for effectiveness. This book is II Chronicles. Grace Axe. 112 pp. of fact questions, at the end of in two parts: the first half be- 35 cents. B. I. C. Assn. Chicago. each lesson. ing s tor i e s of conversions through the Bethel Evangelistic When I Awake. Jack C. Winslowe. C. NORMAN BARTLETT. Bands, and the second half a 78 pp. Is. 6d. Hodder and Stough- collection of Bible readings on ton. London. The Doctor Comes to Lui. A Story such subjects as "The Dry of the Beginnings in the Sudan. By Bones," "Catching Fish," and The Wealth, Walk and Warfare of Eileen Fraser. Illus. 71 pp. Is. "The Way to Victory." "His vi- the Christian. Ruth Paxson. 222 Church Missionary Society. Lon- tal exposition of the Word of pp. $1.50. Revell. New York. don. 1939. God captivated both the saved and the unsaved," says Mr. Orr Yesterdays in Persia and Kurdistan. The reviewer and his wife in the preface; "Not a single Frederick G. Coan. 284 pp. $2.50. spent some years in the Sudan theme will be easily forgotten." Saunders Studio Press. Claremont, enjoying the personal acquaint- Calif. ance of the author and Bishop H.H.F. Gwynne who wrote the intro- Cry Dance. Coe Hayne. 255 pp. duction to the book. The story New Book. $2.00. Harpers. New York. of the establishment of many bush schools in darkest Sudan; The Acts of the Apostles. Studies The Greatest Words in the Bible and cutting down the jungle and let- in Primitive Christianity. W. H. in Human Speech. Clarence E. ting in the Christ; these are in- Griffith Thomas. 93 pp. 30 cents. Macartney. $1.50. 103 pp. Cokescluded, with some stories of the B. I. C. Assn. Chicago. bury Press. Nashville. mauling of African natives by buffaloes, lions and leopards and The Faith We Declare. Edwin Homeland Harvest. Arthur H. Limtheir recovery under the skillful Lewis. 236 pp. $2. Cokesbury ouze. 211 pp. $1.00 cloth, 60 cents care of Dr. Fraser. One feels Press. Nashville. paper. Friendship Press. New that the reader stands in the York. presence of a great and modest Far Round the World. Grace W. servant of Jesus Christ. Mrs. McGavran. 118 pp. $1.00. Friend- One Family. C. M. S. Review of Fraser's self-abnegation in writ- ship Press. New York. 1938-39. 62 pp. 6d. Church Mising of her talented husband and sionary Society. London. herself is remarkable but we The Gospel, in the Pentateuch. Herwould like to know more of bert Lockyer. 125 pp. 50 cents. Personality and Character Developthem. A minor criticism might B. I. C. Assn. Chicago. ment. J. D. Messick. 192 pp. $1.50. be that the narrative skips back Revell. New York. and forth in a way that makes God's Purpose. A Book of 365 Serit bewildering to follow the monettes for Home Worship. 366 The Remarkable Jew. His Wonder~ dates and, sequence of events. pp. 50 cents paper; $1.00 limp ful Future. L. Sale-Harrison. 224 fabrikoid; $1.50 art leather. Win- pp. 28. 6d. Pickering & Inglis. T. A. LAMBIE. ston. Philadelphia. London.
The Meaning of War. James W. The Rural Church in the Far East. Johnson. 57 pp. 75 cents. Revell. Ralph A. Felton. 258 pp. $1.25. New York. Friendship Press. New York.
The S. P. G. Story. 1939. 156 pp. 6d. Society for Propagating the Gospel. London.
Builder of Dreams. The Life of Robert Edward Chambers. Ruth Carver Gardner and Christine Cof- fee Chambers. $1.00. 200 pp. Broad- man Press. Nashville.
Day Dawn in Yoruba Land. Charles E. Maddry. 217 pp. Broadman Press. Nashville.
MOSLEM
PUBLISHED BY THE HARTFORD SEMINARY FOUNDATION Editors: SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, EDWIN E. CALVERLEY Some Articles in the July Number Broadcasting Our Message Samuel M. Zwemer After Madras Paul W. Harrison The Theological Approach Al Sha'ranI the Mystic lens Christensen Our Debt to Moslem Arabs Margaret Smith An East African Experience An Ordeal in Central Asia lohn Clark Archer Mission Frontier in Palestine A. Rowland Pittwa'Y International Relations G. Raquette Book Reviews Survey of Periodicals E. Theodore Bachmann Robert S. Darbishire Current Topics Sue Moll~son Foster ._-•• SUBSCRIBE NOW ….- __ 150 Cents a Copy. $2.00 It Year (postpaid) In combination with THE MOSLEM WORLD THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City $3.50 a Year. (Foreign Postage, 50 Cents.) British Agents: MARSHALL, MORGAN & SCOTl', 12 Paternoster Buildings, London, E. C. Price in Great Britain, Eight Shillings a Year, net HAVE YOU READ?
THE LIFE OF GEORGE BOWEN OF BOMBAY By ROBERT E. SPEER The biography of a remarkable missionary whom the (then) Prince of Wales visited in Bombay at the request of his mother, Queen Victoria.
What some readers say of this book: Robert Speer's "Life of George Bowen of Bombay" is one was so far·sighted and so deep.seeing!-the former because of the richest of missionary biographies. the latter. If one wants to sum up the interests of our DR. J. LOVELL MUllIlAY, Director of the Canadian School of Missions, Toronto. students today-Biblical, social, theological-Bowen is a What a life! He was old enough to know why be went, representative ligure. And what a lesson in apparent failure! and bad enough to know the meaning of salvation. One by. product of his experience was his wonderful bumility-noth. . • . I feel strongly that' every student and alumnus of our ing in the show window and himself in the remote back. ground. It is inspiring. Seminary needs this book. Wbat better book to lead them to DR. GBORGI! P. PIERSON, formerly of Japan. feed on the Bible. One bears so much "vestibule religion"- We must all be grateful for this revealing of the main· men pointing to the door and taking their people as far as the springs of Bowen's character, his abiding faith in God, his threshold, but no opening up of the treasures within the earnest purpose to be a true and faithful follower of Jesus Christ; and his deep.seated conviction that the Gospel of Father's House. Read the topics of current sermons, and Christ could meet the religious needs of India's people. Bowen's expositions are precisely what Christians need in order to grow from puerility into spiritual maturity. Here is no WILLIAM HAzEN, adolescent, but a man in Christ. This is no volume to be Missionary in ShoJapur, India. read and dismissed, but to be marked and to be turned to repeatedly. A biography of one of the saintliest ligures of the nine. teenth century. I could not put the book down. There is a HBNRY SLOANB COFFIN, fascination and a depth in this man's soul which held me in President of Union Seminary.
devout attention. I found myself marking his moving sayings The Memoirs of George Bowen will continue to be for which would serve as starting points for chapel talks. He years to come a searching manual of devotion. He has set before me an ideal which few could attain; his life is a scath· ing rebuke to our ease, comfort, self.indulgence and ind- J. Ross STEVENSON, liciency.
President Emeritus, P,inrelon Seminar,.
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The Missionary Review of the World — April 1939
1939
• A Mission in the Arctic Circle Henry W. Griest, M.D.
Outlook for Christianity in Europe-I Adolf Keller Murad and the Lost Feast Day v. Lane..Frimpole Adversaries and Open Doors in Missions C. Darby Fulton A Milestone in Missionary Progress H. Kerr Taylor "Now Concerning the Collection"
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April 26 – Uniting Conference of HURLBUT'S STORY OF THE BIBLE Amel'ican Methodism, Kansas City, BJ' .lESSE LYMAN HURLBUT. D.O. Md. Recommended by all denominations for Itsfreahness and aeeuracy forIt. simplicity of language. for Its freedom from doctrinal dleeu88lon. May 1-3 – Tenth Annual Missionary Education Institute. Third Chris- THE BEST GIFT FOR YOUNG AND OLD tian Church, Indianapolis, Ind. FOR TEACBER8-STUDENT8-POR THE HOME AND SCHOOL May 25 – General Assembly of the One hundred and sixty-eightstories. each complete in itself, yet form- Presbyterian Church in U. S. A., ing a contIDuous Darr.dye of the Bible from Genesis to Revelstion. Cleveland, Ohio. Each ofthe world-old storie. i. told by the noted author in a mannel' thati. vitaIly interesting and instructive to young and old alike. May 30-June 2-Third Biennial Insti- tute, A Movement for World Chris- Biggest _d Best mulr.ted Book EYer Sold lor tbe …..ce tianity, New York, N. Y. Beautifully illustrated with 281 pictures in colors and in black and white; over 100 famous Leinwebel' paintings. 759 pages. PrIce..f2.00 June 7-13 – Ann u a I Conference, Church of the Brethren, Anderson, At all6oolutore. or from the pu6Uahere Ind. …_THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO., Winston Bldg., Philadelphia _ _II June 8 – General Synod of the Re- formed Church in America, New mestic Missions of the National Dr. J. Arthur Funk, a member of York, N. Y. Council of the Protestant Episcopal the Iran Mission of the Presbyterian Ohurch. Church, U. S. A., since 1902, died from June 20-25 – Northern Baptist Con- a heart attack in Hamadan, Iran on vention, Los Angeles, O!lilif. Obituary Notes March 5th. He was born in Spring- field, Ohio June 17, 1873, and' after June 21-25-Sunday School and B. Y. Mrs. Charles W. Abel, the widow of being graduated from New York Uni- P. U. Congress of the National Bap- the famous pioneer missionary in versity and from the College of tist Convention, U. S. A., (Inc.), Papua, died in Kwato on February Physicians and Surgeons, sailed for Tulsa, Okla. 24 after a brief illness. Mrs. Abel Persia where he was in charge first of went out to Papua in 1892 when her the American Hospital in Teheran and June 24-July I-Eagles Mere Confer- husband was associated with the Rev. for the past 35 years in the American ence of Missions. Chairman, Mrs. James Chalmers in work among the Christian Hospital at Hamadan. He Earl Breeding, 24 Rugby Lane, cannibals of New Guinea. Mr. Abel did notable work in the training of Scarsdale, N. Y. died in 1930 while in England. Mrs. kbel and her four children have con- . . physicians who are recognized prac- July 3-10-Northfield Missionary Con- tinued the work and it has greatly en- ference for Women and Girls. East larged in the last eight years. The titioners in Iranian cities. Northfield, Mass. For information, Kwato Mission of Papua is an inde- address Mrs. Warren C. Taylor, 38 pendent, interdenominational w 0 r k '" Union Ave., Schenectady, N. Y. largely supported from the United States and Great Britain. Mrs. Abel Dr. Harold McAfee Robinson, Gen- July 6-11 – International Christian has seen the Papuans change from eral Secretary of the Board of Chris- Endeavor Convention, Cleveland, cannibals, murderers and sorcerers tian Education of the Presbyterian Ohio. into active and devoted Christians and Church, U. S. A., died on March 5th evangelists. at the age of 58. He was born in Shel- July 11-August 16 – Winona Lake byville, Mo., and after graduation School of Theology. Winona Lake, *** from Park College and from Prince- Ind. Dean, Dr. J. A. Huffman, 302 ton Theological Seminary he served Morton Blvd., Marion, Ind. Miss Jessie Maxwell, a missionary as pastor of the Market Square Pres- of the Woman's Missionary Society byterian Church, Germantown. In July 22-28-Baptist World Congress. of the United Church of Canada sta- 1919 he joined the Board of Christian Atlanta, Ga. tioned at Neemuch, Indi'a, died on re- Education and in 1923 was elected turning to her station from a fur- secretary of the division of education July 24-August 2-World Conference lough, early in February. Under her in the home church and community. of Christian Youth, Amsterdam, care the Girls' Boarding School at For the last four years he has been Holland. Neemuch developed into The School General Secretary of the Board.
August 13-20-Geneva Summer School . . of Home Making and was known as DO YOUR S.S.PAPERS of Missions, Lake Geneva, Wis. ~ For information write to Mrs. Paul "Sundar Ghar" (the house beautiful). BIBLE TBUTH~ H. Wezeman, 1177 S. Humphrey ~w Ave., Oak Park, Ill. '" ~ COUNCIL FIRES =~ Personal Items Dr. Clarence True Wilson, aged 66, for Young People international leader in the prohibition Dr. John R. Mott, the famous Meth- cause, died in Portland, Oregon, Feb- 1502 N. Third St. Harrisburg, Penna. odist layman, was re-elected Chair- ruary 17. Evangelical fervor and imman of the International Missionary passioned oratory made Dr. Wilson a Council at the meeting in Madras, spectacular figure in the fight for India, in December. Dr. Mott made a temperance. For more ,than 26 years condition of his acceptance the under- he was head of the Methodist Board st!l;nding that he would not hold the of Temperance and Public Morals. office longer than three years. For twenty years of this period he waged uncompromising war against '" '" '" liquor, gambling and vice, speaking in every part of the United States. President Francis Wei, of Central He frequently engaged in debate with China College, made history, when he Clarence Darrow, avowed agnostic returned to China from the United and anti-prohibitionist, on the liquor States, by preaching in Honolulu on issue, although the two were warm one Sunday and in Manilla on the fol- friends off the platform. Dr. Wilson lowing Sunday. Air travel made this maintained that Darrow would have possible. been a forcible preacher, if he had been converted. '" '" '"
The Rev. Dr. George A. Wieland, of Seattle, Wash., was elected, in February, Executive Secretary for Do-
MISSIONARY us. I find them most useful in my regiment the life of a people
REVIEW OF THE WORLD course on the History of Missions." notions of race or soil or national his- tory or genius. Wherever the passion DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor PROF. J. L. STEWART, St. Andrews of national and racial absolutism is College, Saskatoon, Canada. VOL. LXII APRIL, 1939 No.4 most unbridled, there the Church *** should stand in the forefront of the Publication and Business Office- battle.-William Paton. Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. In all lands the Church should be a continual rebuke to those who would Editorial and Executive Office– 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. SPIBlTUA'· TIDE Entered as second-class matter at Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under Act of March 3, 1879.
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BOARD OF DIRE'CTORS ROBERT E. SPEER, President A. L. WARNSHUIS, Vice-President WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary PAUL J. BRAISTED SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT D. J. FANT MRS. OERIN R. JUDD WM. B. LIPl'HAlID ERIC M. NORTH SAMUEL M. ZWEMER Editorial Chat The purpose of •• The Quiet Our readers will be interested in Hour" is to help you maintain the further reports from the Madras Conference–the careful appraisal by Dr. high tide of spiritual enrichment H. Kerr Taylor of Nashville, the criti- that Easter brings. When you ex~ cism by Prof. Kraemer of Holland and three extracts dealing with rural prob- amine a copy you will see how lems in Africa, Mexico and Japan. effectively this daily devotional * *. * guide carries out its purpose. The Next month's article will deal with opportunities and the outlook in meditations are prepared by men China, Brazil, Africa, the Appalachian and women of deep spiritual in~ Mountains and work among the blind. sight. A wealth and variety of *** help is contained in every quarter~ ly issue-one full pa~e for each One of the oldest subscribers to THE day. You can easily give your REVIEW recently wrote as follows: congregation the inspiration .. The Quiet Hour" offers. It costs only a third of a cent a week 1 "I have had the MISSIONARY REVIEW since away back in the 1880's when CONSIGNMENT OFFER my uncle, Rev. Dr. J. M. Sherwood, was working on it with Dr. Arthur T. Pastors and other leaders may order" The Quiet Hour" in quan- Pierson. I just could not do without tities with the privilege of returning any unused copies for credit it." MRS. M. E. WEBER. Sebring, Florida. at the close of the quarter. Cash or deferred payment plan. , *** I~ A more recent subscriber comments ,: DAVID C. COOK PUBLISHING COMPANY on our report of the Madras Confer- , S2-D Lincoln Stroot, Elgin, Illinois ence: ,,,,,,, "I write to thank you for the very Gentlemen: Please send: fine job you have done with the Mad- o Free sample copy of .. The Quiet Hour" ras material. Your readers should o Details of Consignment Offer have a well-rounded idea of what went on at Madras even though they have _ Name …………………………………………………………………….. read nothing else about that confer- Ig. i~ ,III~I~I), ~ i,,-'" Box. "mmm.mm••••••m •••••. ence." REV. E. K. HIGDON, Secretary, Foreign Missions :11 t i d 'ur}~ City………………………………………….. State…………………… Conference, New York.
*** SZ.O Lincoln St., Elgin, m. , ………………..;………………………………………………… Church [ 161] "Permit me to congratulate you on the splendid series of special numbers of THE REVIEW you have been giving
COLLEGE – EFFECT OF THE EARTHQUAKE. METHODIST CONGREGATION AT CONCEPCION, FIRST
THE TEACHERS NARROWLY ESCAPED DEATH AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE DESTRUCTION IN THE HEART OF CONCEPCION – WHERE FISSURES IN THE ROAD CAUSED BY THE EARTHQUAKE- PRESBYTERIAN AND METHODIST MISSIONS ARE LOCATED NEAR CONCEPCION THE CONCEPCION CHURCH AND PARSONAGE – BOTH THE REV. MOlSES TORREGOS AND FAMILY. HE IS PASTOR DESTROYED BY THE RECENT EARTHQUAKE OF THE METHODIST CHURCH SCENES CONNECTED WITH THE CHILE EARTHQUAKE REVIE ORLD VOLUME LXII AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 4 APRIL, 1939 Topics of the Times EFFECTS OF THE EARTHQUAKE IN CHILE Rev. S. C. Henderson, of the Presbyterian mis- Letters from missionaries in Chile tell of some sion, wrote from Santiago on January 28th: remarkable escapes from death during the recent earthquake (January 24th) whioh caused wide- All lines and means of communication are cut off and spread destruction of life and property. The cen- we are desperate for information. Airplanes have brought ter of the earthquake was in the neighborhood of mail from Concepcion to some people but we have nothing Concepcion, Chillan and Coihueco-about 300 direct. This afternoon we have heard that all the congremiles south of Valparaiso and Santiago. Over gation in Concepcion are safe. The church building evififty cities and towns were destroyed. It is said dently did not suffer so much as many other buildings. to have been the worst earthquake that Chile has suffered since 1906 when Valparaiso was praoti- Chillan (with a population of 45,000) has suffered most. cally destroyed. It is estimated that one per cent The pastor, Rodolfo Vergara and all his family were in of the people of Chile perished. So far as is Santiago. We have ,practically no notice concerning the known no missionary life was lost in the earth- congregation and the properties. They say only four or quake and only one or two were silightly injured. five houses are left in Chillan which means the destruction The Evangelioal Christians also were wonder- of the church and the manse. fully spared personal inj ury but many lost all their property. According to the latest statistics, ,.The pastor in Talca, Olivero Maufras, says that all the 30,000 people lost their lives, 50,000 were wound- congregation are safe but the church building cracked and ed, many thousands disappeared, and the property the division wall out of plumb. From Curlco the pastor reports all sufe; the church walls cracked.
In Concepcion it will cost considerable to repair the church and manse; and in Chillan we will probably have to rebuild both church and manse.
Rev. Robert B. Elmore, another Presbyterian missionary, wrote from Angol on January 27th: loss has been estimated as high as $60,000,000.00 The force of the shock was felt most in Chillan and in U. S. currency. This is one of the major catas- Concepcion, where the loss of life has been great–10,000 trophesm modern times. in Chillan andi 2,000 in Concepcion. Buildings are down or badly cracked, so they can hardly be used. The railway The Presbyterian Church (North) has several service is cut, all telephone andi telegraph wires are down stations in the eal'lthquake territory, the Methodist and we depend on the radio for news. Episcopal mission is at work in Concepcion and Angol. The Southern Baptists have work in Con- The Methodist mission territory is next to the Presbycepcion and Seventh-Day Adventists in Chillan. terian field on the south, and overlaps in Concepcion (a There are a few independent missionaries-such city of 77,000). Their missionaries and national workers as those of the Soldiers and Gospel Mission. All are safe. The British and Foreign Bible Society reports workers on the field have rendered valiant s'ervice that one of their stations, Chillan in charge of a colporin giving food, shelter, medical care and other teur, suffered heavily. The whole city of 46,000 populaassistance to the earthquake sufferers. There is tion was leveled to the ground. The Baptist (Southern evidence that this physical disaster is caus1ing a Convention) missionaries are reported safe but their spiritual awakening among the people who have property at Chillan and Concepcion is either destroyed been brought face to face with death, many seeing or seriously damaged. their earthly possessions, destroyed, and as they note the loving and effective service given by the The Methodist missionaries report as· follows: missionaries in ithe name of Christ. In Coronel, churches and college in ruins; in Angol, church destroyed and many people home- less; in Concepcion college and church de- stroyed with 600 members destitute; in Chillan, [163 ]
two theaters cO'llapsed, whole audience killed, and pletion, is, however, in ruins-the work of many weeks all churches razed. Talcahuano (the port) prac- destroyed in forty seconds. tically destroyed including Methodist Church and parsonage. After the earthquake, bystanders observing the light on the face of one of our Evangelical Christians, re- Rev. Moises Torregrl()sa, a Methodist pastor marked: Miral la, calma de este gente de Dios/ ("See, in OO'ncepcion, wmte a wee~ after the earthquake: how calm these people of God are!") We hope that many may say "Let us go up with you for we see that God is Chillan is in ruins, 20,000 people dead! Concepcion with you." city, "the Pearl of the south of Chile," has been destroyed. Concepcion College is just a mass of debris and GOD WORKING IN MEXICO ashes. Church building and parsonage have been destroyed. This is a self-supporting church-600 members. Most of the daily newspaper dispatches from Today my people have no homes and have lost everything Mexico tell only of political conflicts and rumors they had. Weare all living like gypsies, sleeping in relalting to communist, fascist and other activicamps out of the city. I have no support but feel my duty ties:; of economic troubles in oil and mining disis to stay here and minister to the poor and the sick. It putes; and of the GO'vernment's restrictions on is time for a big and deep evangelistic campaign, but we religious activity. But there is another side to have no place for worship. How can we find the means the story of Mexico. Many Christians are prayto help our people who are in extreme poverty? F'ifteen ing and witnes:sing; God is working and giving Roman Catholic churches have been destroyed in the earth- signs of His power in the lives of Mexicans. Rev. quake in our city and the Vatican is helping to rebuild. W. M. Taylor of Mexico City, gives the following It is time for prayer and action. Thank God we have glimpses of quiet but effective evangelism. been saved from death. "The distribution of Chris:tian literature by mail Chile has a population of 4,287,445 (including has continued and over 15,000 Gospel portions and 98,703 Indians). Eighteen Protestant missions 45,000 Evangelical tracts have been sent to Mexare at work there, most of them north of Con- ican officials, school teachers, postmasters" telecepcion. The people of Chile, especially in the graph operators, railroad station agents and merrural regions, are very poor and in the small cities chants throughout the country. Thus 30,496 Gosand towns where this blow has fallen, will not be pels and 91,488 tracts have been distributed in able to rebuild their ruined churches and homes. this way since the work began a year and a half They need help. ago. Probably ,every village and town in the Re- public has received at least one Gospel portion. Mr. William M. Strong, director of the Soldiers Continue to pray that GO'd will fulfill His promise and Gospel Mission, with headquarters at Coihu- and will nOot allow His Word to return untO' Him eco, in the earthquake area, wrote from Ooncep- void. cion: "The results have been encouraging. FOor ex- An old historian of Chile, Daniel Riquelme, in writing ample, the secretary of an Indian village in the of the earthquake of Concepcion in 1757, when half the mountainsl of Guerrero received some Christian city was sunk beneath the waves, remarks that "the net literature, read it ·and wrote for more. He was moral result of that distressing time was that the blas- converted and began to have a burden fOor the spir:- phemy and immorality and drunkenness of the men, and itual needs of Ihis tribe. He spoke to his friends the indecency in the dress of the women was put away and. read the New Testament to them. On Aufor a long time and four hundred couples, who had been gust 7th he called a meeting of the Indians and living in sin, went to the priests to have a true marriage translated portions of the New Testament to the rite performed." We pray that a real God-given revival one hundred who attended. He reports that some may result from this, the greatest catastrophe of the West- cried out hecause of their spiritual darkness. The ern hemisphere of all time. Here in this same city of Con- Indian adds: 'Our Lord Jesus Ghrist will Slave us cepcion, there are from twenty-five hundred to three thou- by faith in Him; He will be merciful to us in sand dead. We expect to carry our Gospel tent to Chillan, these forgotten mountains.' where one half the entire population of forty-five thousand are dead and where not more than a dozen houses "Thi:s man is a Tlapaneco Indian in a region still remain standing. hitherto untouched by messengersi of the Gospel. In fact part of this district is marked 'unex- One of the remarkable phenomena of the whole tragic plored' on the Government maps. Now, as a reoccurrence is the fact that hardly one of God's children suit of this Indian's letter, two men have been sent has been touched, although some workers had most miracu- by one mislsion into that region to study the lanlous escapes. guage and translate the New Testament into Tlapaneco. Pray for this Indian, Cruz Avilez, The work, as a result of the earthquake, promises to that God may keep him faithful and use him be large. The soldiers will be in this area for months and among his own people." are already building winter quarters. We should build a regular center to take the place of the tent; it will be a place from which our workers can go out into the town to minister to the needs of the civilians.
At Coihueco, although the town is practically wiped out, our mission headquarters still stand a's a monument of God's grace–its chimneys, a few tiles on the roof, and a few broken dishes are the only reminders of the earthquake there. The new chapel which was nearing com-
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
A special Christian literature campaign has same basis of age, report 21,322,688 members or also been conducted among Believers and over 15,492,016 over thirteen years old. Jewish con- 3,600 books and 14,000 tracts have been distrib- gregations report 2,930,332 members over thir- uted. These may help to bring about a revival. teen years; Eastern Christian sects have 1,014,663 There is a very important work among Mexican members and all other religious bodies 1,453,357. soldiers, and nearly five hundred of them have This seems to indicate that the nominally Prot- publicly declared their decision to follow Christ. estant population of the United States is approxi- New Testaments have been distributed among mately 71,000,000 (or double the total church officers and in the outposts, barracks, headquar- membership), while Roman Catholics number ters and military prisons. Many converts have 30,000,000 and Eastern Christian sects 2,000,000. remained faithful and one whom I had not seen The total number of Christians in America, more for four years informed me that he had explained or less closely connected with the churches, would the way of salvation to his comrades. When a thus be about 103,000,000, leaving 30,000,000 encorporal hesitated about allowing Mr. Taylor to tirely unrelated to the Church. This is a popula- distribute literature to his men, a meeting was tion equal to those of Turkey, Afghanistan and arranged by two women who had heard the Gos- Iran combined. Here is a large and needy field. pel. Every person in the camp came and all were .greatly impressed by the Spirit of God, working At the recent Madras Missionary Conference, through the testimony of one woman whose hus.- delegates from the "younger" (mission) churches band had been converted. The Mexican soldiers placed much emphasis on the need for Church have little or no opportunity to attend church union. This is evident in the United States where s'ervices or to have fellowship with mature Chris- there are forty-two major bodies and where some tians. church families are divided into fifteen or more sub-sects. The largest single organizations are AMERICAN CHURCH STATISTICS the Methodist Episcopal Church with 4,364,142 members (after the coming merger with the Meth- Statistics do not tell the truth-especially as to odist Church, South and the Primitive Methodists spiritual conditions and growth. Life and power it will number 7,385,638 members), the Southern cannot be expressed in mathematics or it would Baptists (4,595,602), the National Baptists—Col- never be true that "one shall chase a thousand ored (3,796,645), the Presbyterians, U. S. A. and two shall put ten thousands to flight." An (1,903,747) the Disciples of Christ (1,597,797), infinitesimal germ may lay Iowa giant and a beam and the United Lutherans (1,541,841). If the of light may halt a railroad train. Baptists should all unite, and include the Disciples of Christ, they would number nearly twelve mil- But statistics, if accurate, may show trends and lion members and all Lutherans would have a reveal weaknesses. It is always interesting to membership of nearly five million. study the religious statistics-prepared every ten years by the United States Census Bureau and Among the non-Christian religious sects in those issued by the Association of Statisticians of America we note the following figures: American Religious Bodies. These latter, for the year 1938, have been summarized by Dr. Herman Congregations Members C. Weber, Editor of the "Year Book of American Churches." According to this summary the num- American Ethical Union ……. . 7 3,024 ber of distinct religious groups in North America American Moslem Brotherhood .. 1,200 have decreased, by mergers and deaths since 1926, Bahai Faith ……………… . 71 2,523 from 212 to 200. Some of the sects are insignifi- Buddhist Mission …………. . 47 30,000 cantly slIIlall and lifeless. A few of the larger Divine Science ……………. . 26 7,000 denominations are merging, like the Methodists, Mayan Temple ……………. . while others are splitting, like the Northern Pres- Spiritualists ……………… . 5 600 byterians, on matters involving leadership or doc- Theosophists ……………… . 543 41,233 trinal emphasis. At the same time new sects are Vedanta Society ………….. . arising among uneducated or underprivileged Mormons (Latter Day Saints) .. 3 5,900 classes; such are "Father Divine's Peace Mission" Reorganized Mormons ……… . 25 400 and "The Church of the First-Born of the United 1,519 Sons of the Almighty." 575 690,401 101,122 The latest reports of church membership in the United States list 35,833,475 in the Protestant Would it not be instructive to tabulate, if pos- bodies, or 31,489,161 persons over 13 years of age. sible, the increase or decrease in church attend- This is an increase of 310,169 since the previous ance and in prayer meeting attendance in the past reports were tabulated. Roman Catholics, on the year, and the observance of family worship? None of the above statistics reveal the spiritual state of the churches or the evidence of Christlike life and service in their members. We are told that the true "vital" statisti(!:;) are kept in the "Lamb's Book of Life."
A KOREAN CHRISTIAN SPEAKS tablets and most of the worship there is directed to the deified spirits of their own ancestors or the Is Christianity a religion (a way of bringing ancestors of the Imperial family. To them are man into relatiQn to God)? If Russia had de- offered various gifts, consisting of fruits of the clared that Christianity is nQt a religion, would soils, flowers acc'Ording to the season, products of that have altered the case?' These questions may the sea, or certain kinds of sacred cloth. In other seem absurd and yet they are t'O the point. Chri&- words, worship before the Kamidana 'Or spirittianity is known as a religion, b'Oth historically shelf is a modified form 'Of the worship before the and universally. I believe in Christ as the Way Jinja or Shinto shrine. tQ God and therefore, regardless of my feelings, I am known as a Christian. I have chosen The Japanese people visit the shrines of their Christianity because I believe Christ is the best own particular sect of Shinto to meditate before and the only true way to bring man into right re- the en-shrined spirits, to pray to them or to worlation to God. I regard the name of Christian as ship them by reverent bowings. This custom is a glorious hQnor, since it signifies that I belong to similar to the Roman Catholic practice of visiting Christ. It denotes a great change has taken place cathedrals and churches or shrines on certain in me as the result of new Christ-given life in re- days. As a rule the Shinto priests do not appear sponse to my acceptance of Him. The significance bef'Ore the shrines except on national holidays or of the name "Christian" is therefore Qf paramQunt on the days on which special services are held in importance, not so much as a matter of religion honor of the spirits of soldiers who have fallen as of all that concerns my s,piritual life. in battle. Government regulations, cover every de- tail of the ceremonies, including the very wording The Japanese Government has officially de- of the prayers read. clared that Shinto shrine worship is not a religious practice but is merely an expressiQn of na- It can be seen that the nature and common tiQnal patriotism. Does this declaration mean that understanding of Shinto shrine worship is inher- Shinto is not a religion and that it has not been, ently religious. It must also be borne in mind histQrically and universally, recognized as such? that there is no distinction between the act of Or does it mean merely that Shinto shrine WQr- worship or obeisance before the Sect Shinto ship, as such, is not a religious practice-related shrines, which are admitted by the Japanese Govto wQrship? ernment to be religious, and before the State Shinto shrines, before which the Government has It is perfectly clear that neither the State or declared that all must bow as an act Qf patriQtism. any other organization is qualified to decide The enshrined deities, the prQcess of enshrinewhether a religion, with a historical background, ment, the details of the ceremonies and Qften the is or is not a religion. Any State or nation can Qfficiating priests Qr ritualists are identical. reject or adopt one of the existing religions as its state-religion, as was done by the Roman Empire On special days, as for example on the Emperunder C'Onstantine; but such a decision in itself Qr's birthday, the leaders of all social organizations does not alter the inherent nature of the religion in ChQsen, including Christian church leaders or Qf the ceremonies connected with it. (ministers, elders and sometimes even deacons) are cQmpelled tQ go to the places where the Shinto One cann'Ot, therefore, accept this declaration worshippers have their religious shrine cereof the Japanese Government concerning the na- monies and to participate in the ceremonies, bQwture of Shinto at its face value but must look into ing befQre the shrine. All Qrganizations so repthe practice 'Of Shinto shrine 'Obeisance to see resented are pronounced by the Government to whether or n'Ot it is religious. It is evident that be shrine worshippers, participating in the soif the declaration by the Japanese Government is called act of natiQnal patriotism. TQ refuse to dQ true, and shrine worship has n'O reHgious signifi- so is tQ be judged guilty of dislQyalty tQ the Emcance but is merely an act of patriotism, there perQr and results in arrest, imprisonment and will be no conflict with the Christian conscience sometimes tQrture. in attendance at the shrines. But if it is not true, then Christians who c'Onform to the Government With the Japanese Empire, now to all intents regulations in this matter naturally believe that they are guilty of idolatry in doing obeisance at and purposes a tQtalitarian state, the Government these Shinto shrines. That is the issue at stake between Christians and the Japanese Government. is ruthless in its insistence that all citizens par- Most of the common people of Japan (the non- ticipate in the shrine ceremQnies. Any discussion Christians) have a Kamidana (spirit-shelf) in their homes. On it are placed the various spirit- of the questiQn is prohibited by the police. Large sectiQns Qf the Church have been cowed intQ sub- mission. The KQrean Christians need yQur prayers as never before. A KOREAN CHRISTIAN.
HENRY GRE"IST WITH A GROUP OF ESKIMOS AT BARROW
A Mission in the Arctic Circle Experiences at Barrow, Alaska, the Northernmost Mission in the World By the REV. HENRY W. GREIST, M.D., D.D.
Honorably Retired Presbyterian Missionary; Stationed at Barrow, 1920 to 1936 BARROW, Alaska, is three hundred miles north but ordinarily weekly periodicals published in the of the Arctic Circle. It is about twelve hun- States come fifty-two copies in one mail sack in dred miles from the Pole, and marks the summer. Not until 1928 was there a radio in northernmost bit of land attached to the North Barrow-at the U. S. Army Signal Corps station. American continent. It was here that Col. and Prior to that time wars, disasters, elections and Mrs. Charles A. Lindbergh landed on their flight other events might occur in the great world out- "North to the Orient." Some islands north of side but it was many months before we learned Canada are nearer the Pole, but they are unin- of them. habited. When Colonel and Mrs. Lindbergh reached Bar- Mails corne to Barrow four times a year, pro- row on their epochal flight, we invited every white vided the one ship in summer succeeds in pene- man, woman and child within two hundred miles trating the ice, and provided further the three to meet these distinguished fliers at dinner in the mails by dog-sledge during the long ten months Presbyterian manse. The total number (includof the Arctic winter succeed in getting in. Mails ing children) who sat at table were seven-in were often six months old before we received addition to the two guests-of-honor and three them, and letters mailed in New York have not Greists. All came who were invited except three infrequently been twelve months en route. All traders in Wainwright who failed to navigate the except first class mail, including parcel post, must ice. corne by ship. Occasionally the Post Office allows a lone newspaper or magazine to corne through, The Arctic is not a white man's country-and never will be. Eskimos alone can thrive there.
[167 ]
The only white people at Barrow are the mission- Barrow is situated, is perhaps the largest presby- aries, two school teachers (one of whom-the hus- tery in the world in point of square miles, but it is band-is the reindeer superintendent), a trader, one of the smallest in membership. During the and the U. S. Army Signal Corps operator and writer's seventeen years of service at Barrow, his. wife, together with any children in these fam- this presbytery had only four active members, the ilies. At Barrow there are no motion picture nearest man being at Fairbanks, eight hundred shows, pool rooms, liquor stores, automobiles, traf- miles distant as the crow flies and separated from fic jams or accidents; no cows, pigs, chickens, Barrow by vast uninhabited spaces of tundra, and sheep, goats or horses within eight hundred miles. by mountains impassable except at very great hazard, by airplane. The three other Presby- terian workers serve white churches at points along the Alaska railway. To travel from our station ·at Barrow to the meeting place of presby- tery anywhere along the railroad would mean a dog-team mileage of not less than fifteen hundred miles, and would take six months, a prohibitive length of time to be absent from one's post.
The missionary at Barrow finds much to do- or did when we maintained both the medical and the religious services in this parish extending a SUMMER "PRESSURE ICE" ON BEACH AT PT. BARROW thousand miles along the coast. It is a work that The Lord's Day is kept as it formerly was· in New calls not only for high spirituality and thorough England as a holy day; all the Eskimos go to training, coupled with devotion to God and to duty, Sunday school, to church and to vespers; and all but it calls also for a plentiful supply of the attend the mid-week prayer meeting as well. The "Three B's" – Blood, Brains and Brawn. The church is. the one social center. evangelist in this isolated region should be a Jack-of-all trades, with the resourcefulness of a The long Arctic Night extends from November Robinson Crusoe. A well-known war corresponduntil late in January, and for a short time the ent twenty years ago, covering assignments in far sun does not rise above the horizon. Then, for places, who became an admirer of missionaries three months, from May to August, it does not and then a student of missions, wrote: A misset at all. These are the periods which are sionary in such a station "should be self-contained, peculiarly trying to white people. The cold in an administrator, teacher, doctor, architect, carwinter is intense but the low temperature is not penter, machinist, engineer, a practical business so trying as the almost incessant fogs in summer, man, and withal tactful and diplomatic." Not together with cold, drizzling rain, which are apt every successful pastor could be a successful misto depress one. The best remedy is to keep busy with one's duties.
The Presbyterian Mission at Barrow, in the Yukon Presbytery, has for its central purpose the evangelization of the Eskimos of Alaska. Hos- pital work was splendidly maintained for many years previous to late 1936; social welfare and community service have also been energetically and faithfully carried on by consecrated and effi- ciently trained workers,……..,but all with this chief end in view – to win the Eskimos to Christ and His Way of Life. Among primitive people the so- U. s. SIGNAL STATION AT BARROW (leftl. WITH HOSPITAL called "Social Gospel," when offered alone, is a failure. Christ must be faithfully presented and AND CHURCH; MANSE AT THE EXTREME RIGHT His cross must be carried to the fore. The arts sionary, and many outstanding missionaries and sciences of civilization may be· readily ac- would discover in the pastorate in an ordinary cepted by people, in so far as they are practically field at home to be a very difficult, if not impos.- useful, but Christian ethics, without Christ as the sible, task.
center of life, are not observed except as they The missionary in the Arctic regions must seem to serve a selfish purpose. Heart conver- travel throughout the winter by dog-team at not sion is the all important goal; then all else follows over five miles per hour. At night, for want of to make a better world. other shelter, he tents out on the ice-bound beach Yukon Presbytery, within the bounds of which in temperatures as low as sixty degrees below
A MISSION IN THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
zero. He must cook his scant supper as best he Jackson visited the Arctic in 1890, with snow can over a tiny oil burning stove, the coffee freez- white hair and deeply wrinkled face but with eyes ing while the reindeer steaks are being broiled. shining like stars, began tugging at the preacher's The coffee must then be warmed again while the coat. He thought it a child in a mother's arms meat is eaten. After this, with his "musher" and behind< him and so ignored the interruption. But guide, he must crawl deep within reindeer sleep- the tugging became more and more insistent. He ing bags, read the Scripttures and offer prayer; turned, and lo! it was this old grandmother, said afterwards he sIeeps,as only healthy men can to be about ninety-five years old. Asked what she sleep under these trying conditions. If a severe storm overtakes them, the travelers are forced to • build a snow-house with a tunnel entrance and a floor lowered deep in a snow bank. The whole .. is covered by a tent slipped over the walls and weighed down at the sides by blocks of snow. .I When the missionary arrives at some camp of DORCAS, A FINE CHRISTIAN ESKIMO GIRL, AT BARROW trappers or reindeer herders, or at some village, scores of miles from any other habitation, he wanted, she replied through the interpreter: makes a house-to-house visitation during the day, "Long time ago, a peddler came to this village holds medical clinics (or did prior to the taking who said he had been a preaeher. The trader over of the medical work by the Government). asked him to preach to us that night, which he Then at night evangelistic services are held in the did. After talking of God's Book, of which we schoolhouse for a week or ten days. The people had never before heard, he went into the teacher's are hungry for the Gospel-and are responsive living quarters, got a wash~basin of water, and but never emotional. They are easily led to accept poured water on my head and on every person's the truth and many wholeheartedly give them- head in that room. Then he said, 'Now you are selves to the Lord Jesus Christ. They take their Christianity seriously, and put to shame nominal Christians in the States. Crowded into the schoolroom are often three times as many as the room would hold if chairs were placed close together. The school desks, intended for one, are occupied by two adults, with children seated on the desk in front of the parents. Boys sit on bookcases or under tables. Children are everywhere, with fathers and mothers sitting flat upon the floor, knees drawn up to make room for others. All mothers seem to hold from one to three babies or older children so that· the preaeher is usually limited to the space that his two feet occupy. But there is no whispering, no sign of restlessness in the audience; the cry of a baby is rarely heard. Every eye is riveted on the minister and every ear strained to catch every word of the interpreter, for the elderly folk cannot understand English very well. Such an opportunity insistently calls for the very best that is in any preacher of God's Word. It is an inspiring experience and sends a man to his knees that he may have the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.
Early in our ministry in Wainwright, a village about one hundred miles southwest of Barrow, one bitterly cold night in January, the writer was preaching to a crowded house,estimated to contain more than 200 people. Becoming warm in his efforts, he removed his reindeer parka and, in his ordinary coat, stood in the limited space left for him by the crowd. Soon an old woman, known to have been a grandmother when Dr. Sheldon
all Christians.' But 0 Missionary, 0 Missionary, proved sufficient. We have now 533 communicant I want Jesus under the skin." members of the Church in Arctic Alaska. The Eskimo are not an emotional people, but they are My sermon on John 3: 16 was only half finished, intelligent and they wish to know the reasons for but I knelt at the old woman's knees and very what they believe and do. tenderly led her along the Way to Christ. We prayed for her, but in the midst of that short Our medical service was fruitful in giving us contacts with people from far away in Arctic Can- AN ESKIMO CHRISTIAN PREPARING DINNER ada and from many hundreds of miles down the coast southwest to within fifty miles of Kotzebue prayer we were disturbed by her changed de- where there is a well-equipped government hosmeanor; looking up we saw that the Holy Spirit pital. Many of these patients came to us five had spoken to her and had given her the evidence hundred miles by dog-teams, through darkness, that He had sealed her, for her smile waselo- storm and cold, bringing their chronically ill and quent; she was seeking to tell us of the change surgical cases. When asked why they came to us in her heart. That smile did not wear off during instead of going to the government doctor, their the remaining weeks of her life. We arose to our usual reply was, "You people up here pray." They feet and saw that fourteen young married couples came from far beyond the geographical limits of were also kneeling in a circle in front of the our mission and over 52:,000 cases and clinical calls school desks; the people who had been sitting on were recorded during our sixteeen years of servthe floor having made room by changing places ice. There were some repeaters but each bedwith them. All were silently praying, their lips patient was counted only as one case. Eternity moving. Later, all arose and each gave a short alone will reveal the spiritual results. The sick testimony, without any invitation on our part. were dealt with by the missionary, assisted by the From that group three young men have been or- ruling elders, and prayer was coupled with indained as ruling elders of the Olgonic (Wain- struction. Many who were brought from a diswright) Church, and at least two of the women tance, and had only a limited opportunity to hear have been ordained as deaconesses. All the mem- the Gospel, were converted in the hospital. After bers of that group have exhibited changed lives throughout the succeeding years. Thus the Holy JAMES, A WAINWRIGHT ESKilMO, AND HIS WIFE Spirit honors the preaching of the Gospel of IN FRONT OF THEIR IGLOO Christ. We now have a splendid, organized church of believers at Wainwright with a chapel the service on the Lord's Day the young people and a manse, served by Percy Ipalcck, a product would occasionally gather in the hospital to sing of Sheldon Jackson School, and now a licentiate hymns dear to the hearts of these folk. The minof Yukon Presbytery. istryof song, if in the native tongue, often worked wonders with the old people. Friends of the sick, The providence of God and His direct answers who had brought them up to the hospital, reto prayer were remarkable throughout the years mained sometimes for weeks or even months until of our ministry on that coast. Strangely peculiar the ill were able to travel back home. In the meanhave been many of these instances so that our while these friends attended Sunday school and faith grew by leaps and bounds as we carried on, the services of the church, often becoming conabiding in Him and His Word .a!biding in us. We vinced and surrendering their lives to the Lord were far from human help, isolated and alone in Jesus. our service, cut off from those who could enter understandingly into our problems; but God alone
One young man, a half-breed, whOo resided four No tourists came to Barrow throughout the sevhundred fifty miles distant, was deeply under con- enteen years of our service. Dr. A. J. Montviction for weeks and gave his heart to God the gOomery, of the National Board of Missions, while very night before he left in his father's motor director of Alaska work, called one summer day, boat fOor his distant home. He was found drowned having traveled near eight thousand miles to visit the next morning, not far frOom Barrow. His us; but he could not remain on shore for more brothers were greatly impressed and, one by one, than an hOour on account of threatening ice at sea. surrendered to God. Alas! our beloved hOospital My brother, L. T. Greist, a Presbyterian attorney from Chicago, also visited us for three months THE MISSION CHURCH AND CONGREGATION AT BARROW in 1934; he not only won the hearts of the Eskimo along that coast, but they won his admiration as is a thing of the past, in so far as it can serve for well. evangelistic work, except by permission of the gOovernment doctor. Medical mission service else- In late August, 1936, we tearfully turned over where in Alaska has also been relinquished, dis- our medical service to the in-coming government astrously as to the spiritual well-being of our doctor and his nurses, but the new doctor SOOon A:[~ctic Eskimos. We debated during four long resigned and left the service. Another came and years the giving up of our medical work, while did excellent work but was dissatisfied with social the proposition hung fire, but the Mission Board cOonditiOons and left Barrow within the year; a thOought that medical service was costing too much third doctor has now arrived. The natives wonmoney. True, supplies were expensive, coal alOone der at the many frequent changes and fail to comcosting $55 a ton delivered in Barrow, and we prehend why a medical man does not seem to be normally required 150 tons a year. We econo- vitally interested in their religious welfare. mized, denied ourselves, cut wages and salaries frOom 25% to 60%; no one complained, including The Rev. Fred G. Klerekoper, a graduate Oof the Eskimo helpers. Our budget was reduced Princeton Seminary (class of 1934) is now the from about $18,000 tOo nearly $8,000 annually. We missionary in charge. Mrs. Klerekoper was edusacrificed gladly to maintain our beloved medical cated in Mt. Holyoke College, Massachusetts, and evangelism but we were forced to write finis in is a graduate nurse. She is the daughter Oof Presour mission's annals as to our medical service. byterian missionaries in Chosen and a capable worker; but she is not likely to have Oofficial con- In 1920, we had invested $48,000 in the Point nectiOon with the new hospital which is now being Barrow Hospital (largely obtained from the Com- built to replace the one burned in the autumn of monwealth Fund). The Sunday schOool children in Presbyterian churches in the United States had 1936.* These splendidly trained and spiritually~ donated $10,000 from their offerings on Washington's Birthday in 1920 for the equipment. We minded young missionaries are there to carry on had no isolation wards, so seriously needed in time of epidemics. and for the tubercular patients; the DR. GREIST (left), WITH MRS. GREIST, WELCOMING THEIR operating theater was merely a small room in- SUCCESSORS, REV. AND MRS. FRED KLEREKOPER tended for beds, and without prOoper light. The two pipeless hot-air furnaces, intended for small the church work along that thousand miles of bungalow residences, failed utterly tOo protect us Arctic coast. Mr. Klerekoper travels much by against the Arctic cold, high winds, and in the dogs during the Arctic night, in cold and storm thin uninsulated walls of the building. NOotwith- and darkness; he sometimes goes along the coast standing these and other serious handicaps, very in a small motor boat during the short summer. effective and faithful service was done throughout They are young, enthusiastic, hard working and the years and many lives were saved. deserve the intercessory prayers of all God's peo- ple. Theirs is not an easy task, as we knOow from experience. Let us support them.
• The government has appropriated $100,000 to build and equip the new hospital to replace the one destroyed.
A Missionary Epistle from China*
By DR. and MRS. WALLACE CRAWFORD, Chengtu, West China A T THE beginning of the war with Japan the the wire, which costs the Japanese a great sum .r- proportion of casualties in the fighting was to replace. They do no open fighting, but are conthree Chinese to one Japanese; l,ater on it tinually harassing the lines of communication, was two to one, but now it is "even going" and the making it impossible for the Japanese to consoli- casualties are terrific on the side of the Japanese. date their gains in North China.
The initial dazed condition of the Chinese peo- "The people's army" receive no pay, and want ple has given way to a steadily developing deter- none; their leaders are poor and there is no selfmination to. increase their efficiency to the place seeking among them. Their average age is not where they will wear out J.apan. There is little over thirty. Contrast this with the puppet regime desire on the part of the people, outside the main set up in Peiping, where the average age of the regular army, to see the Japanese killed off, but rather to cause them such heavy financial loss as "leaders" is sixty-four. to so embarrass their country and to make it impossible to carryon the "incident." Everywhere Over four hundred thousand of these guerrillas one is impressed with the increasing efficiency of are organized in what the Japanese would have the resistance of the people of China, for it is the us believe is the occupied territory. These men go people's struggle, and not merely the activities of everywhere in the occupied territory, uninterthe army. China is just at the beginning of a rupted by the Japanese who exert no control save colossal man-power preparation. in the immediate cities they occupy.
The Japanese have occupied practically all the The guerrillas are constantly improving their walled cities in certain parts of the country and efficiency. Now they have many miles of telehave paralyzed the normal activities as a whole, phone system and it is reported that they will rebut their control does not exceed five miles beyond ceive a wire of the starting of a train and before the walls of the cities they "control." Every male the train has gone a hundred miles, it runs into a from twelve years old and up is a potential soldier bomb and is wrecked. against the Japanese. They are organized into guerrillas, and they are the ones who control the Instead of breaking the morale of the Chinese country, and not the Japanese. Five miles from people the Japanese action is making that morale. the railway these guerrillas have become such a The spirit of the people is improving instead of menace to the Japanese as to make many of the being destroyed. They argue that the Japanese formerly controlled walled cities untenable. have come and destroyed everything so why not join with the forces opposing the Japanese? That Groups undertake the job of disrupting the rail- is what they are doing in an atmosphere of pov- erty, humility, meekness and intense patriotism.
way.'They go out and draw out the spikes so that Communism which was evident in 1935 is dif- the rails fall apart. After the Japanese found out ferent from the brand which we have in China at this trick, they made wooden spike tops which the moment. There is no more compUlsion about looked so much like tM real thing that the Jap- it than there is in a church school. Thousands anese did not suspect their trick, the result being are entering their University, either as organ- wrecked trains. These were looted by the guer- izers, or mass education leaders, or cooperative rillas, and their supplies carried off into the vil- leaders, and a few as soldiers in the Eighth Route lages to be used against the enemy. Army, which is playing havoc with the Japanese Another group will go out and take off a rail forces. They have a school of art, another for and bury it a mile or two from the railway. Of the educating of municipal leaders, another for course the Japanese replace the rail, but in the cooperatives, and many others in addition to the course of a year one can imagine what it costs actual fighting force, which have engaged the Japan to be constantly replacing rails. Another Japanese in battle. While they have won it has group will cut down telephone poles and carry off been at terrific expense in man power. As Mad- ame Chiang Kai-shek says, "The Japanese are 19;9~~e United en/wren Record ana Missionary Review (February. winning battles, but China will win the war."
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for Christianity in Europe-I
The End and the Rebirth of Churches in Central and Eastern Europe By PROF. D. ADOLF KELLER, D.D., Geneva, Switzerland THE idea of the end has never been alien to the person of Christ, and as a result there is a the Christian Church. The first Christians general abandoning of the Churches and a de- looked for the end of the present order and crease of interest in their activity. for the coming of the Lord's Kingdom. This is what is meant by the word "eschatological." It In such countries we can indeed speak of the was a tremendous tonic for the faith of the first approaching end of those branches of the Chriscentury; and again today, in such an apocalyptic tian Church. In Russia, for instance, there may mood, we say that not only thrones" political in- still be hundreds of Orthodox Russian churches stitutions, economic systems, human empires, but open and crowded. But let us not be deceived: if even Christian Churches, will come to an end. the present policy continues, especially if the pol- icy of anti-Christian education is successful, the It will not be the first time in Christian history. end of an old Christian Church of Russia will be Where is today the Church of St. Augustine, the near. That Church has lost its leader and his inforerunner of Luther in North Africa? It is gone! fluence. It has lost a large part of its episcopacy Where are those seven churches in Asia Minor and priesthood. Thousands of priests and bishops today, to whom the writer of the Apocalypse wrote have been killed or are imprisoned, or have been his seven letters? They have been swept away sent to concentration camps in Siberia. The when Islam, the great killer of Christian Church has lost hundreds of its fine cathedrals and churches, conquered Anatolia and when the last other church buildings, partly by arbitrary de- Christian Archbishop was dragged by his hair struction, partly by transforming Christian through the streets of Smyrna and put to death. churches into museums, cinemas and variety Where is the large Christian Nestorian Church in theatres. The Church has lost its theological Central China? It has died, except for a little academy; no priest can receive a theological eduremnant represented by the Nestorian Assyrians cation in Russia at present. The only theological in Iraq and along the Kabur in Syria. academy is that of Father Bulgakoff in Paris. The It is paradoxical to the Christian faith that any Church in Russia has finally lost its educational part of the Church of the living Christ should influence. It is not allowed to give a religious come to an end. But have we not to face this fact education to the younger generation before they when we see that churches come to an end in our reach their eighteenth year. The Church, being large world cities, or at least in certain strata of considered as the last asylum for obscurantism, the population, for instance among the cultured has lost its influence on public life. According to classes or among labor. Modern indifference, the desire of the present Soviet rulers she should scepticism, secularism, threatens whole Churches become a Christian ghetto in the midst of the Ruswith the end which, like the Church of France, sian people.
have been called the oldest daughters of the The Evangelical Church in Russia has been Church. France counts forty-one millions of in- practically wiped out. Out of 200 Lutheran pashabitants. The Roman Catholic Church does not tors not one is still at work. .' AU were compelled claim more than ten or eleven millions. There to leave the country or enter secular professions; are not over one million of French Protestants. or they were killed or banished and their fam- Where are the other twenty-nine or thirty mil- Hies are suffering hunger and privations. Evanlions of the French people? They are the dying gelical churches have been closed or are used for Church of France. I worldly purposes. The Lutheran Academy under Wherever modern secular ideologies, like the Bishop Malmgren had to be closed.
gospel of Marx or the gospel of Lenin or of Can One still speak of the Church of the Refor- Nietsche, are infecting the mind of the modern mation in Germany? Is not the end near? What world, such Churches feel a resistance ,against the is left of the formerly proud and active Church of preaching of the Gospel of Christ, or even against Martin Luther? There is a foreign office with [173 ]
Bis·chof Heckel; a finance department whose ad- fish on the sand to make himself known to other ministrative measures are sometimes a deadly unknown Christians. Wherever these two or three weapon when they are used against recalcitrant meet in the name of Christ, the new Church is pastors; a minister of state for the Church who born. It grows, we do not know how, in Russian is restricting the Christian Church and muzzling villages, in the woods, on the railway. The new its outspoken ministers. Theological faculties, spiritual Church of Christ will take its form, its which were once the pride of German Protestant- organization, will develop its leadership, its the- ism, today have to fight to maintain their influence ology, when such is God's will.
and to build up confidence, at least in the Confes- Simple Christian folks are perpetuating the sional Church. All over Germany there are thou- Christian Church. Russian mothers, for instance, sands of open churches where the Gospel can be seeing that their children are in danger of grow- preached but little is left today of the former en- ing up like heathen,are taking things in hand and terprising missionary spirit. The old Church of are teaching their children to believe in God, per- the Reformation, as a State Church and as a lead- haps in a very elementary way but with a sincere ing Church, is nearing its end. faith. They will save the Christian feeling in the In many other countries the Church of Christ heart of the people from oblivion and destruction.
faces such deadly enemies as individualism, mod- A new Church is being born also out of the ern secularism and indifferentism which are Church struggle in Germany. The intrepid Pas- transforming the old solid structure of the Evan- tor Niem6ller isa Church builder although he sits gelical Church into a vague religious sentimental- ina concentration camp and is closely watched.
ism and aestheticism. He cannot speak to his fellow prisoners, he can- What then is coming to an end? First of all not even see his family regularly, he cannot write there is to be an end to the unnatural relationship or publish, and yet his influence is spreading as of the Church of Christ with the modern State. an atmospheric power. He is kindling a new fire In many Churches the historic State was consid- of faith in the hearts of many people and encour- ered as the fatherly protector of the Church to ages them to resist a State which does not allow take care of the theological faculties, the religious the Church to be the Chu:r:ch. Hundreds of Ger- education in schools, build manses and pay sal- man ministers are punished for having disobeyed aries to the pastors, and therefore claiming the this autocratic State and they are preaching the right to supervise and influence Church life. But Gospel of Christ without fear. The church janitor this influence has become so strong today, and is who will not take the key of the Church out of his leading the Evangelical Church away from its pocket to open its door for an un-Evangelical original aim, that millions feel that such a com- preacher who has come to replace a believing pas- radeship is against the true nature of a Christian tor is another new church builder; so is the or- Church. An easy compromise between State and ganist who refuses to play the organ to accom- Church is therefore coming to an end. panya service which is not inspired with the spirit Second, a Church of wealth and earthly power of Christ.
is coming to an end; the Church knows today Where two or three have such peculiar courage that, in her need and poverty, she resembles much and faith, where they meet in the name of Christ more that Man who had not where to lay His in private houses, in restaurants, in the market head than she did when she was rich and powerful. place, on the railway, they build up a new Church Third, a Church which thinks she knows better of Christ.
than Christ himself is coming to an end today- It may not yet be recognized a Church as we that Church which is like the grand inquisitor, in understand it, as a great national or denomina- Dostojewski's novel, who sent Jesus Christ away tional organization; may be only a small congre- when He came back because the Church to which gation; but such cells are the living stones with He had left His task knew better than He how to which a Church is built.
handle the world. And this Church is being built even against the Instead of such Churches, which are more and will of its oppressors. It reminds us of that pic- more dying out, a new Church is born. It is yet ture painted by the German painter, Moritz von an invisible Church, with no clearly defined mem- Schwind. He shows a saint building a chapel in bership, with no structure or organization. Two the midst of the wood, continuing his work al- or three members may meet somewhere in Russia, though the devil tries to disturb him; finally the two wanderers in the streets, two farmers in the saint's faith is so strong that he compels even the market, two boatmen on the Volga, not knowing devil against his will, to carry the stones that the each other but suddenly recognizing the brother saint uses for building the chapel.
in Christ by a word, a glance in his eye, a symbolic Therefore, even poverty, isolation, pers.ecution action. This was the case in the first centuries must help to build up a new Church of Christ for when a Christian may have drawn the sign of the which we hope and pray and labor..
and the Lost Feast
-·..e{11 By V. LANE-FRIMPOLE IIi- I N ONE room of a small, two-roomed mud and Musing on his new green sateen shirt with its rubble cottage in northern Syria, lived an Arab five buttons, each of a different color, and yearn- boy named Murad. Here he lived, ate and ing to bite into a Ramazan cake, Murad had almost slept with his parents, his little brothers and his fallen asleep when he heard the sound of visitors, granny. The other room was occupied by his fa- coming in to spend the evening. Everyone seemed ther's brother, with his wife and children. happy. His own grown people had been dread- One night, near the end of the month-long fast fully cross in the late afternoon, Murad thought. of Ramadan, Murad lay on the floor in a corner, But after the sunset cannon had been fired and tucked up in his grandmother's bed, under her they had broken their day-long fast, things were wool-waded quilt. The light of the wood-fire on all right again. Now these visitors, too, seemed the hearth flickered among the shadows of the in happy mood. otherwise dark room. Murad liked to watch the Ah! they were asking Granny to chant them a firelight and to hear the sound of the rain and Mevlud-one of the long Turkish poems about the Prophet Mohammed. All the village thought wind outside. The boy's mind wandered to the approaching granny a notable woman. She could make out any feast which would follow the sacred fast days chapter of the Koran without too much halting to and his imagination played pleasantly with the spell the words, and she had memorized many thought of the cakes and other good things to eat. chapters. But she did not know Arabic and so As a little boy he did keep. the fast and did not understood nothing of the meaning. LaHnized need this abstinance in order to get hungry. He Turkish, inaugurated by the late Kemal Ataturk, thought, too, of the new clothes that his clever she could not read at all, but she could spell aunt, who sewed on the machine, had made for out Turkish words in the Arabic characters, him. In the mind of a child, whose people go by enough to read her M evlud. These Turcomans the sun year, other things would have been asso- living in the mountains of northern Syria were ciated with a holiday for under such a calendar not yet sure of the orthodoxy of the Western alevery feast falls at the same season of the year. phabet for to them the Arabic letters, in which the In America, for example, Decoration Day comes Koran came down from heaven, were the only with the grass and spring flowers; the Fourth of ones that seemed right. July is marked by hot sunshine and trees in full Murad loved to hear his granny chant the Koran leaf; Thanksgiving Day is observed in the midst because of the beautiful roll of it and the awe in of November frosts; Christmas is enlivened with her voice. But he liked far better to hear the Me1)lud because it was in his own language, and snow and ice. For Murad and for all Moslem people this is not much of it he could understand. Happily he the case. The moon year of the Moslem world watched granny go to the high shelf that ran retrogrades at the rate of about ten days every around the room and take down a manuscript sun year. In the year of which we write Ramadan written by a learned Mullah's own hand years ago. came in the middle of December, something that His mother thrust a splinter of pitch-pine into the had not occurred for some thirty-six years. Little fire and lighted the little oil lamp. Then Murad Murad, the Turcoman, had been born of Moslem watched the old lady squat down with the precious parents in a Moslem community, consequently he book on her knee and turn over the leaves with found himself in a completely nonsequential uni- moistened forefinger and thumb. She found the verse, where no effect is traced to any cause; page and in a sweet, thin voice began to chant. where each separate act and event of the day is Oh! it was the bit that Murad liked best, the lullooked upon as caused by a special, arbitrary act laby sung to the Prophet by his nurse Haleema: of the "Will of Allah." It is thought impious to It is Mohammed: let mountains and stones seek to try to understand God's will which is im- Rejoice-wild beasts, too, and birds. possible of comprehension. This concept of an Lady Ameena is his mother, arbitrary will, governing the universe, is rein- She is the fine flower of mothers, forced by the changes of the moon year. Her head is of pearls. Lullaby, my Mohammed, my high Commander, lullaby.
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In the mountain of Mecca was his birthplace wind was blowing as hard as ever. Perhaps it At the Kaaba, at the Black Stone, in the presence of was the gusts of wind that shook the stars and made them twinkle so through the frosty dark. Gabriel, Snug under his quilt, Murad watched the two That Gabriel might praise the Beloved of God, (even women move drowsily about preparing the three Mohammed). o'clock breakfas.t–the iftar. He was not quite Lullaby, my Mohammed, my high Commander, lullaby. awake, not quite asleep. The stir and rustle that The houris, the Paradise maidens, came; the women made seemed to go on for ever. Then They bound white incense in his swaddling bands, his grandmother's voice calling his father broke They praised the Beloved of God. the spell. Lullaby, my Mohammed, my high Commander, lullaby. "Get up, my son! Get up and eat; dawn will Abd el Mutaleb was his grandfather, break before you know it and then it will l;le un- Abdullah was his father, lawful for you to eat until sunset. How will you The Lady Haleema was his nurse. be able to fast all day on an empty stomach?" Lullaby, my Mohammed, my high Commander, lullaby. The Feast Before the Fast May Satan's hands be tied, May the hearts of thy friends be fat, Murad's father rose, stretching his great arms and legs. Villagers sleep in their clothes, so there o son of Lady Ameena. was no delay for dressing. He stepped out of bed, crossed over to the hearth and sat down on the Lullaby, my Mohammed; lullaby, my beautiful Ahmad, floor. No one called Murad for he was too young lullaby. to fast. But the smell of the hot food called him; so crawling from under the quilt, he went and sat Lying there in his nest, Murad listened en- down by his father and snuggled up to him. His tranced. He was six years old and so far as he mother unfolded the woolen bread-cloth, took up knew he had always slept in his granny's bed. He some paper-thin loaves as l10und and big as two supposed that he always would. He could not re- dinner plates. She sprinkled them with water and member the time when he had to give up his cradle folded them in four;, then she flung down one at to the next baby. Granny had always been there each person's place and piled the rest in the middle and always would be, like the sun and wind and of the big tray. Granny put down a copper bowl, rain. He loved her voice as she sang about the full of steaming food, and a pan of curdled milk. baby Mohammed's birth; about the Angel Gabriel Everything was, ready. and those beautiful houris swaddling him as his mother had swaddled their own baby. As the "In the name of God," said Murad's father; quavering, sweet voice went on and on, the faces then scooping up a big mouthful of the hot food of his family and the visitors, visible or invisible with a flap of bread, he ate it. "In the name of as the flames in the fireplace rose and fell, seemed God," echoed, Murad, and did the same. The to float in the warm air. Murad felt himself float- women sat down and they used the same prayer ing. A wind was blowing him down a high, high before they began to eat. mountain-away from two goats that he was herding-blowing him like thistledown. Now the wind "I certainly thought," said Murad's father bewas singing. What was it singing? "Lullaby, tween mouthfuls, "that today was to be the first Mohammed, my high Commander, lullaby. N en-ni day of the Ramadan Byram. I was sure the feast -Nen-ni-i-i." began today and I was surprised when no an- nouncement was made in the mosque last night. Murad did not wake up when his granny came Surely it will not be later than tomorrow. We to bed; not even when she took him in her loving must get ready today; it would be dreadful if we old arms as she had taken his daddy when he was delayed and so lost one of our four great days. a little boy. A little herdboy who has been out on My brother and I will butcher the goat, and you the mountain all day in wind and rain, sleeps women must be about your cooking." Good Mossoundly. The fire died down and the room grew lem as he was, he could not help looking forward dark and cold, but he did not know it. to the end of the month-long fast, with its food- less, waterless, tobaccoless days at the plough, and He seemed scarcely to have dropped to sleep its ni,ghts of broken sleep. when he heard his mother saying to his father,: "Get up! Get up! I have our breakfast ready." "All things happen as God wills," said granny. "If he wills that the feast begin tomorrow, it will "It's not time yet," mumbled Daddy, rolling begin tomorrow." over and yawning. By this time Murad was back under the quilt "Vakit oldu. It is time, and the food is ready." again, and soon his granny and all the others also "How do you know it's time? Did you hear the went back to bed and slept until broad daylight. signal gun in Passtown?" "NO', but one seldO'm hears it these windy nights." Grandmother was up now, and had opened the door wide. The rain had stopped but the east
MURAD AND THE LOST FEAST DAY
When the December sun had warmed the air a may bake our cakes in his new bake-house. Tell little, Murad took the goats out on the mountain. him: your father will do the baking if he will show He wore untanned leather boots with toes turned him how." up, just like the toes of the Hittite boots that one sees pictured on monuments. His mother had tied "Oh! and may I go with father and help bake around his head a piece of Turkish toweling for the cakes?" warmth. In the flat gingham bag slung under his arm was his lunch – red peppers, some goat's "Yes, if you are a good boy and run to Armen's cheese, wrapped up in leathery folds of bread, like a bird and bring back word what he says. Ask and some dried figs. His people were well-to-do politely. Run, let me see. Bakalum!" and could afford to give him this variety. Murad came flying back with the permission. For the older people another hungry day had Then he helped his father load some wood on the begun, but everyone was busy preparing for the donkey for firing, and went with him to the oven four-day feast. Murad's father and uncle slaugh- to light it. Afterwards when the oven was hot tered and flayed the fattened goat and, hanging and the cakes were ready, with the spice kneaded the carcass on a tree, began to cut it up. Neigh- in and sesame seed sprinkled thick on top, Murad bors would buy whatever part they themselves did helped carry to the oven the big copper trays covnot want. The women were as busy; brazen ered with cakes to be baked. All eyes, he watched pestles clanged on brazen mortars as they pounded his father put a batch of cakes on the flat wooden spices – nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, all-spice and shovel, and then" slide them off on the oven floor. mastic gum. The younger women did the pound- Lovely! But lovelier still when father took up the ing, while granny spread the thick woolen bread- browned cakes on the shovel and slid them back cloth on the floor and began to knead a stiff mass on the trays near Murad to cool. Ah! the deliof flour, butter, sugar and leaven for the festal cious, delicious smell! And how good the bits cakes. The hours flew. It was noon. tasted that he broke off and popped into his mouth when no one was looking! If he lives another A Mistake and the Explanation fifty years, Murad will still remember that smell and taste. "Boom! Boom! Boom!"-the dull roar of the Passtown cannon rolled through the mountain. The rej oicing was general, yet every now and People looked at each other in consternation. then someone would say grievingly, "Look how we have been cheated out of the first day of our "Toap atuldu! The cannon is being fired; feast!" It was as if a cloud passed over the sun then the teast began last night! We have missed each time someone said this. The village Khoja a whole day!" The words flew from mouth to (Moslem teacher and preacher) was as vexed as mouth, "We have lost a day from our feast! We any of them. He too was baking cakes at the oven. have lost a day from our feast!" "But how did it come that you made a mistake Such a thing had never been known in the vil- about the day?" asked Armen, the Armenian. lage. To add another day of feasting never occurred to them; if an impious stranger had sug- "The big mountain to the southwest shuts out gested such an idea, they would have rejected it the view, and no one saw the new moon." as impossible. No, the lost day was irrevocably lost. Grown men and women as they were, they "Surely a man like you, who can read and felt it keenly, helplessly, hopelessly as children write, must know when the new moon will first feel a loss. But they went on with their prep- appear," objected Armen. "There are calendars. arations that should have been made the day Everyone knows that the new moon is sure to apbefore. pear on a certain day."
Murad heard the cannon and came racing home Murad's father listened contemptuously to the to ask what had happened. To him and the other Armenian's ignorant talk. Thank God the Khoja children it seemed interesting and exciting. Here, was present and would defend the faith. He did there, everywhere he skipped among his busy not like to have Murad hear such impious talk. elders. That was the worst of these Christian neighbors, Well, as the child had heard it, let him now hear "I take refuge in God," said his mother, pestered the Khoja's refutation. past endurance with his mischief as he teased his little brothers, "Go back to the mountain and look "God forbid," the Khoja was saying. "Nothing after your goats, filthy devil, or I'll murder you." is sure to be. Each event happens as the most high Truth wills it. If he wills a new moon on a "I left them with one of the Armenian boys. certain day, there will be one; if not, there will They're all right," he answered. not. Who can say beforehand-I ask pardon of God-what God's will is going to be? We did not "My nestling," said grandmother intervening, see the moon ourselves, we had no authenticated "run quickly to Armen's house and ask him if we news that it had been seen by responsible persons
elsewhere, therefore we did not know that there Murad crawled into bed and left them still eatwas a new moon." ing. He was so full that he went to sleep quickly, but in the night he awoke, crying with a stomach- "If that is ,the way of it, why did not one of you ache. go to town two days ago and stay to bring the news as soon as the moon was seen in town?" "I take refuge in God from Satan, the stoned," persisted the Armenian. said granny. "What can ail the child ?" She tried to soothe him by rubbing, but that was of no use, "Perhaps, after he had taken all that bother and so she got up and made him some mint tea with headache, there might have been no moon; then plenty of sugar in it. Then she said a charm for his labor would have gone for nothing," answered colic. The pain eased, but he was wide awake and the Khoja. could not go to sleep again at once.
"The cause of each event, no matter how small, "Grandmother," he said, "what happened to the is the will of God. I once heard a sheikh of pro- lost feast day? How does a day get lost, granny? found learning say this: 'It is an error to say that Did it wander off in the mountains like our nanny fire always burns. Fire burns or not just as God goat that the wolf ate? Or did it fall down a deep wills in each case. And the proof is that when the crack between rocks like my piastre piece that I idolaters tried to destroy Abraham by fire, far cried so hard about? How does a day get lost, from burning him the fire caused a thicket of rose- grandmother ?" bushes in bloom to grow up around him, full of singing nightingales. Likewise it is an error to "God predestined that we should lose that day. say that knives cut. A knife cuts if God wills it The Most High Truth wrote that fate on our to cut; if not, no. And the proof is that when foreheads." Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Ishmael, the knife refused to cut. There is no God but "But why?" God; without his will naught comes to pass.' " "I ask pardon of God. Listen to the child! God knows his own work. No good comes from think- Murad, listening with all his ears, thought that ing and asking questions. Please God, it be not what the Khoja said was wonderful, and looked a portent of some evil about to befall us for our triumphantly at the ignorant Armenian. "Annen wickedness! Truly, in these days godlessness has is nice, but he is a giaour (infidel) just the same," so increased that if the Supreme Truth rained he thought. He wished that he had seen Abra- fire on us it would be no more than we deserve. ham's roses and nightingales. That conversation For look how children–even small children-" by the oven laid one more great stone solidly in Murad was always bored when granny began the foundation of the Moslem faith upon which to moralize. "Granny, I kiss your eye, ehant the Murad's life was to be built. M evlud," he coaxed. "Chant the same bit that you did the other night," and he began the nen-ni, Murt-koy is only a mountain village. Murad nen-ni of the Infant Prophet's nurse. His grandhad never seen the rude Ferris wheels-outdating mother took it up and went on verse after verse: Ferris by centuries-that are set up for the children at this feast in Moslem cities, from Con- Mohammed is my heart's core, my theme: stantinople to Calcutta. No strolling gypsies If he weeps, my eye weeps blood. came, as they do to the big towns, with fife and Let me rub my face on his threshold. drum. But even in Murt-koyeverybody had new Lullaby, my Mohammed, my high Commander, lullaby. clothes, and the groups of women and children looked like living gardens. Even the tiny babies His teeth are whiter than white pearls, had new caps of every bright color; amulets were snipped off the old caps and sewed tightly on the The Paradise maidens, the Houris, are his companions; new. Families exchanged cakes; and who so proud as Murad to go from door to door offering He is the Sun of the two worlds. ' a cake with his family's greetings. He was shy and his lashes swept his cheeks; his voice could Lullaby, my Mohammed; lullaby, my beautiful Ahmad, hardly be heard, but his smile was sweet. lullaby; nen-ni, nen-ni-i-i-i-i. And what a feast they had when he returned home! He ate and ate until he was tight as a Her voice quavered like that of a nurse croondrum. He liked that feeling and would have eaten ing to a fretful child. Then she fell silent and more but his father said that he had had enough. listened to her grandson's breathing for a few All through that meal, though, with its fun and seconds. She had almost forgotten him and had laughing, someone of the grown people would sigh felt herself to be Lady Haleema-God's approval and shake the head every now and then and say, be upon her-singing a cradle song to the little "Yazuk! What a pity that we have lost a day!" Mohammed. Then her thoughts homed back to Murad. "He is asleep," she said, fondly kissing his forehead. "Sleep my lamb. Sleep in the pro- tection of God. What do I know? May this lost feast day portend no evil to us. I take refuge in God. Amahn! Amahn! Alas for the lost feast day!"
and Open Doors in Missions*
By REV. C. DARBY FULTON, D.D., Nashville, Tennessee Executive Secretary of the Foreign Missions Committee of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S.
THE Chinese word for "crisis" is written with been employed. Many, unable to endure these suf- two characters; one means "danger," and ferings, have yielded to practices they do not ap- the other "opportunity." Paul suggested the prove. Others, standing grimly amid great same thought when he wrote to the Corinthians, distress, are bearing a shining Christian testi- "For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, mony. Never have we faced so ominous an out- and there are many adversaries." look as is before us in Korea. We cannot foretell Of the "adversaries" by which missionaries are what the end will be. The hour is here for prayer, compassed today, we who live in the tranquil at- earnest and unrelenting. There is no way through mosphere of this land of peace and liberty have this crisis in Korea e~cept as God moves to help not the slightest conception. Writes a missionary us.
in China : "We are in the midst of wickedness and But the greatest "adversary" to missions, the inhuman atrocities on such a colossal scale that the only one we really need fear, is the hindrance we mind is too benumbed to take it all in." Even the ourselves can be through thoughtlessness, and neg- physical survival of our missionaries amid the con- lect. Opposition from without, our missionaries vulsions of war is a daily miracle. All around expect; indifference within the Church all but them is ruin, whole cities in desolation, panic- breaks their hearts. The test of carrying on with stricken multitudes fleeing in bewildered confu- inadequate support, unable to touch the needs sion, the maimed and wounded crying for help, around them, and wondering whether the Church the whole lurid scene a part of the tragedy that has forgotten, brings them their sorest trial. They stalks in the wake of banditry, looting, murder, return on furlough and find us living in elegant rape and arson. Hospitals, schools, and chapels homes. They see our streets choked with shining have been shattered, groups of believers scattered cars. They watch the throngs that jam our to the winds, missionary homes battle-scarred, athletic fields" and reflect that the price of one and the missionaries themselves have sat in the football ticket would pay the salary of a native ruins wondering that they have outlived the de- evangelist in Africa for two months. They read struction around them. that a thrill-crazed crowd has paid in one night Unbelievable as it may seem, the Christian to see a prizefight more than our whole Church churches of Japan and Korea, except for the physi- ever gave in a year to foreign missions, and they cal hardships, are enduring an even harder lot. wonder why they are asked to operate hospitals No group of men and women ever sought to ad- on $380.51 a year and schools on $31.12 a year! vance the interests of the Kingdom under greater They are not complaining; puzzled, that is all. difficulties. The systematic efforts to stifle and They wonder if Christ has lost first place in the suppress everything that is contrary to the pro- hearts of American Christians.
gram of aggressive militarism is bringing the The Great Open Doors whole Christian movement under great spiritual persecution. Cresar is exalted above God, reli- But it is not the "adversaries" that 100m largest gious liberty is denied, conscience is no longer in the missionary's view of the present situation. free. Anyone who sets himself against the policies I have just read twenty-eight letters from China. of the government and the idolatrous exaltation of "Opportunity" is the dominant word. One group the emperor exposes himself to reprisals of the wrote: "We are not unmindful of the dangers, most drastic -character. Untold sufferings have but we are thrilled at the thought of the opporbeen endured by Christians, especially in Korea tunities before us." These they describe as "unwhere the pressure of police power has been ap- limited," "without precedent," "beyond anything plied with increasing severity. Threats, imprison- we have known." They are joining with Paul in ment, torture and other extreme measures have saying, "The things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gos- • Condensed fram the OMistian Ob$erver. pel." Like him they refer to adversaries with [ 179]
"and," not with "but," as something not to dis- of spiritual experience and a closer fellowship with Him. We are confronted by four vital and courage but to challenge more determined efforts. immediate needs.
It is no exaggeration to say that we are confront- I. A Radical Strengthening of the Missionary Force. The really critical condition with respect ing a day of unparalleled need and opportunity in to our missionary personnel is reflected in the de- creasing number of missionaries comprising our our work around the world. Here are some of the force each year.
elements of great encouragement: The seriousness of this situation is further em- phasized by the fact that our missionaries are The high spiritual purpose and morale of our rapidly becoming a middle-aged and old-aged group. We must look forward definitely to the missionaries. loss of more missionaries through old age and retirement. Add to these the normal toll through The courage and steadfastness of the Chinese sickness and death, and the urgency of a prompt reenforcement of our missionary personnel be- Christian Church. comes clear.
The scattering of many believers to the prov- A heavy strain is thrown on our missionaries as a result of this shrinkage in personnel. One inces of West China where they have carried the missionary carries the burden of two or three. An evangelist in Korea, charged with the overcontagion of their faith unto areas heretofore un- sight of forty churches, is required to take on re- sponsibility for thirty-five more as a field formerly reached by the Gospel. worked by four men must now be carried by two. Missionaries are remaining on the field without The new friendship of the Chinese people for furlough because there is no one in whose hands the task can be left. Doctors are trying to run the missionary, growing out of the helpfulness two hospitals sometimes separated by distances of sixty or seventy miles. The need for reenand service he has, shown in this emergency. forcement is urgent and immediate.
The enormously enhanced prestige of Christian- We need an immediate and vital reenforcement of personnel on all our mission fields. Nothing ity because such great national leaders as General- would so strengthen the morale of our mission- aries or prove so conclusively to the whole world issimo Chiang Kai-shek, Madame Chiang, and our unshakable faith in the ultimate triumph of the Kingdom of Christ. others who are guiding the nation in the present II. A More Adequate Support for Missionaries crisis, are themselves Christians. in Their Work. The critical financial basis on which foreign mission work has, been operating The unprecedented open-heartedness of the peo- for the past several years can be seen from the fact that receipts for the last fifteen years have ple toward the Gospel, with their new longings for fallen off forty per cent.
the assurances of faith in the midst of the uncer- Foreign mission receipts have suffered a reduc- tion so radical that the very survival of the work tainties of the present conflict. has become a matter of wonder. Only by an abso- lutely merciless slashing of appropriations, and The return of missionaries to China and the heroic measures on the part of our missionaries who took one reduction after another in their supreoccupation of all our stations. port, were we able to weather these difficult years.
The large crowds attending evangelistic serv- With this greatly shrunken support we have had to maintain and conserve a work formerly estahices throughout the country, with many conver- lished and maintained on an annual income almost twice as large. sions and other evidences of spiritual awakening. III. The Replacing of Personal Losses of Mis- The deep undercurrent of heart-hunger among sionaries and Property Losses in China. No ac- curate estimate of property damage sustained in the people of Japan. . China can yet be made. However, a letter from Rev. C. W. Worth will indicate something of what The open doors in Africa and Brazil. we must expect. He is describing what he found Thousands of Korean Christians standing fast under severe persecution.
Should it be necess,ary at a time like this to sound a call to prayer and self-denial? Surely in such a day the attitude of prayer ought to be the habitual mood of every Christian. These are great moments in the history of the Christian Church.
They call for maximum Christian living. This is a time for unshakable conviction, because the foun- dations of our faith are being challenged; for great courage, because it is becoming increasingly dangerous to be a Christian; for strong faith, because the signs of the Kingdom's growth are not always easily seen; for confident Christian opti- mism, because God is the master of crises; for confession and prayer, because God will not refuse the cry of His people; for supreme self-denial, because the greatest issues of life are at stake.
The Present Crisis Missions is in crisis; both danger and opportunity are here; danger lest we fail in this time of need and allow the day of visitation to pass; opportunity to present Christ to a heart-hungry world, and to lift our whole Church to new levels
"BUT FROM THE BEGINNING IT WAS NOT SO"
at Kiangyin station which probably suffered more cases, especially where fire has swept the builddamage than any other center of work we have in ings, the loss is total. Probably all of our mis- China! "Of twenty Western style buildings., sev- sionaries have lost something, and many have lost enteen have been completely destroyed by fire. all. Some of the walls are still standing but even with my inexperienced eye I could see that most of these These, then, are definite objectives that should are unfit for use and will have to be razed. About be before us. This year should definitely mark the three hundred feet of compound walls were down end of foreign mission retreat and the beginning due to bombing and shell fire, and only two wooden of an aggressive forward movement in missions. gates were intact in the whole place. We figure We must add strength and reserves to the fastthat the Kiangyin losses are $100,000, and there thinning ranks of our missionaries; we must prohave been losses in other stations which put vide more adequately for their far-flung work together will make another $100,000." Heavy around the world; we must replace, where necesdamage is also reported from Kashing, Soochow, sary, the tools of our work that have been de- Hwaianfu, Sutsien, Yencheng and Haichow. stroyed, and as far as possible the individual losses of our missionaries. Missionaries have likewise suffered the loss of personal belongings. Even where buildings and With the doors of opportunity standing wide, residences have not been destroyed, systematic with God's clear call ringing in our ears, with looting has taken place. Homes have been com- the resources at our dis.posal for a definite adpletely stripped of every valuable thing. In some vance in our missionary task, God forbid that we should fail!
"But From the Beginning it Was Not So"
Notes by the Late ARTHUR T. PIERSON A S IN the case of human marriage, so in other of which otherwise we would be scarcely con- scious. This is seen in the tendency to lower ri.. respects, mankind often comes· to accept standards in literature, in the drama, in marriage totally different customs and even ideals and even religious ceremonials. We need to go from those which God intended and that were at back to "the beginning" as ordered by God in his first held sacred. In the course of history, by wisdom, and to look at the standards which pregradual and sometimes rapid changes, corruptions vailed in ,the apostolic church before corruptions creep in, so that God's original order becomes ob- crept in. The following features in early church scured and perverted. life seem to have been conspicuous: Professor Bernard illustrated our unconscious 1. The recognition of the Holy Spirit as the wisdom and accommodation to a vicious atmosphere by plac- power of God. ing a sparrow under a bell glass. which contained air enough to keep the sparrow alive for tbree 2. The readiness to yield immedi,ate obedience to the call hours. At the end of two hours he put a second of the Holy Spirit. sparrow under the bell; at once it fell over dead, while the former bird was able to breath for the 3. The personal, spiritual presence 'and leadership of fun three hours. In the spiritual realm, we almost Christ in the Church. unconsciously accommodate ourselves to evils which would shock and overwhelm us if we were 4. The Universal obligation of all Christians to bear witsuddenly confronted with them. If a man, like ness to the world and the ceaseless activity in Stephen, had been in a moment transported from preaching the Gospel at home and abroad. the apostolic church into the corrupted atmosphere of some present-day ohurch life, he would have 5. The courageous and unflinching witness to Christ in been stifled. face of persecution and the prevalence of the spirit of martyrdom in the early church. To save ourselves from this unconscious accommodation to a low standard of living and thinking, 6. Constant blessing attending the faithful preaching of we must get back to first principles and practices the Word. as revealed by God. We should candidly compare what is today with what was in God's plan. Liv- 7. The appeal to the testimOony of fulfilled prophecy as ing much with God, through private prayer and an evidence of the truth of God's Word. Bible study, we will breathe such a pure atmosphere that we will at once recognize the pollution 8. The prevailing power of definite and united prayer. 9. The separation Oof the Church frOom the wOorld. 10. The undisputed imminence of the Second Coming Oof Christ. 11. The equality of all Believers in rights and privileges in the Church. 12. The recognition by early Christians of their steward- ship in property and talents.
The proofs of these positions pervade ~he whole New Testament. There is no need for proof texts.
New Testament Idea of the Church*
By the REV. DR. ABDEL ROSS WENTZ, Gettysburg, Pa.
Professor at the Lutheran Theological Seminary I. According to the New Tes.tament the the way in our day for the New Testament idea Church is centered in Christ. Using the figure of the Church. Because the Church was centered of a body, the Head of the Church is Christ. If in the living presence of Christ it was not static we use the figure of a building, the Cornerstone but dynamic. It was governed entirely by the of the Church is Christ. If we use the figure of Holy Spirit of Christ. It had no fixed outlook.
a bride, the Bridegroom of the Church is Christ. Much of its power was due to its. ability to change In the apostolic ideal Christ is the bond that from time to time in order to meet changing con- binds Christians together in a fellowship with ditions. He who was the beating heart of the Christ, the Leader. There is a communion of New Testament is the pulsating center of the dis'Ciples with their Saviour. Church in our day. He is not weighted down with Recent research has taught us to guard against utilitarian programs. He is not one who binds reading too much system and uniformity into the yokes upon men. He is one who has loved and Church of the New Testament. What produced suffered and who still loves and suffers and yearns the Christian community in the first place was and woos-the great Leader of infinite power who not a constitution and by-laws, not even a set of could transform the world, not by force but by principles; it was the faith that pulsated in the fellowship, not by formulas but by faith, not by hearts of the disciples.. That faith was not at logic but by love, not by programs but by per- first drawn from a body of sacred writings nor sonalities.
set down in the form of a creed. It was a rugged This Christian Church, this Christ-centered fel- attachment, not reasoned out and not integrated lowship, we offer to the groping multitudes of the with other emotions. It was simple personal trust present world. It is plastic as the heart of youth.
in a Person, unquestioning devotion to a beloved It is the living Church of the living God. It has personality, who, they felt, had saved them from traditions· that are living and vitalizing. It is abysmal disaster and who, they believed, could kept eternally young by a living Presence. If lead them into abiding safety. This fact that the Christians would minister salvation to a dig,.
Church is Christ-centered is clear, not only from tracted world today the New Testament suggests a the Great Confession in Matthew 16, but also from Church pulsating with the heartbeats of the many passages in the writings of St. Paul and Saviour, a charmed circle that offers fellowship St. John. with the great central Friend of the universe.
But this idea of the Church as, a free pulsating The Church Is to Be Different fellowship centering in Christ has. often been ob- scured. Today the times are ripe for the recovery II. According to the New Testament the of that idea. For a long time men have lived on Church is sacred; it is holy, set apart. It is "called systems and the bracing effect of them. For sev- out," ecclesia. It is different. It is high and eral generations men have been enthralled by lifted up. The Church is holy in its calling. God ideas and the splendor of them. Today, instead called it into being and it belongs to God. It is of ideas and systems and defini.tions, instead of therefore holy, as God is holy.
programs and organizations, personalities are the The individuals who constitute the Church may centers of all great movements~leading person- show many differences among themselves, differalities. To stand outside of the charmed circle of ences of color and race and language, differences leaders today is to be homeless and unoriented. of faith and zeal and goodness. But at least one To stand within the magnetic influence of the thing they have in common, and that is the fact central personality gives the simplest laborer that their faces are turned towards, God. To be heart and motion; it lifts his life from drudgery in the Church is to belong to God. The thing that into thrilling devotion. brings Christians together into fellowship is the This change in the spiritual atmosphere opens fact that they have all experienced redemption • Aqijress ~Iven at the I. M. c;. meeting at Maqras, 1938. through God's grace. The Church is the fellow- [ 182] ship of the sanctified. All the members of the environment. The Head of the Church protested Church can exclaim with St. Paul: "It is God against the low ideals of his day. Because the who hath saved us and called us with a holy call- Church is holy, high and lifted up, it will always ing, not according to our works but according to feel a tension between things as they are and his own purpose and grace." The Church is a things as they ought to be. When the Church in divine institution, not a mere human society. our day identifies itself with some secular system The Church is holy also because the Holy Spirit of economics or social propaganda, it abandons its works in it. As Christ is the head of the body all New Testament character, because in the New the members of the body do his bidding and are Testament the Church represents the higher spir- filled with His spirit. When St. Paul speaks in itual order. The Church is holy.
the benediction of "the communion of the Holy A Missionary Church Spirit," he is thinking of the community of be- lievers where holiness prevails because the mem- III. According to the New Testament the bers harbor the Holy Spirit of their Head. Church is missionary. It is charged with a mis- Jesus made explicit mention of the Church only sion. To be a disciple, a learner confessing twice, according to our records. In both instances Christ, is to be an apostle, to stand under a special the Church is set in opposition to sin and evil. commission. And the mission of the disciples is "The Gates of hell shall not prevail." "If thy the mission of the Church, as the acts of the mem- brother sin … tell it to the Church." The clear bers are the acts of the body. The apostolic mis- implication is that the Church is holy. Christ sion of the Church is to carryon the work of required holiness of his followers.. For this reason Christ himself' on earth. "As the Father hath he entrusted his Church with the keys, the means sent me, even so send I you."
of grace. The Holy Church has the Holy Scrip- The Church, according to the New Testament, tures, the Holy Sacraments, holy laws, holy teach- is not only the product of God's grace through ings.. The single aim of its acts and its teachings Jesus Ghrist, but it is also an agency of God's is to promote holiness. grace, the keeper of the keys to the Kingdom of The New Testament, however, does not repre- Heaven on earth. As the collective body of be- sent the Church as complete or perfect. There is lievers the Church is the appointed agency for the the parable of the tares and the parable of the extension of the Kingdom of God and the salva- dragnet. St. Paul repeatedly addresses his hearers tion of men. The Church is taught to pray: "Thy as saints, and yet in the course of his letters ad- Kingdom come" and to use its life and resources monishes them about their shortcomings. and sins. ~or the conversion of the world.
According to the New Testament the holiness of According to the New Testament the Church the Church is real but not yet fully attained. The is equipped with the means of fulfilling its apos- Church is in actual process of being "cleansed tolic commission. The Church is furnished with from all sin." The Church looks forward in hope the Truth that it must teach the faith by which to the consummation when "Christ shall present the Church lives. The original Twelve were spe- it unto himself, a glorious Church, holy and with- cially trained by intimate association with Christ out blemish." to be his witnesses and they regarded this as their But the incomplete character of the Church's principal duty. They transmitted that duty to holiness does not make its holiness unreal. A their successors, and the Church throughout his- city may be a rich city while some of its citizens tory has accepted the teaching and witnessing con- are still poor. A school may be a learned school cerning Christ. In this. it has continued the while all of its students are still short of the ideal prophetical office of Christ himself.
in learning. The Church, as a society on earth, Another way in which the Church fulfils its will never be complete in its holiness. None of apostolic commission is by fostering associated its members are. Sanctification is a process.. That worship and transmitting the Sacraments. The is true of the collective body as it is true of the apostolic Church is a worshipping Church through individual member. Holiness is progressive. It all ages. It presents Christ as a mediator even shall be perfect hereafter. now. And all the Christian liturgies of the cen- In the course of Church history there have been turies are the continuance of the priestly office of many attempts to secure greater purity and holi- the great Head of the Church, an expression of ness in the Church. And more than once these the Church's apostolic character.
attempts have led to incisions in the body of Then, too, the New Testament indicates that Christ. However contrary to the New Testament, Christ committed to his immediate followers the these efforts testify to a deep underlying convic- exercise of discipline and the administration of tion that the Church must be holy. affairs in the community of believers. There are Because the Church is holy, there must always widely different views as to details but in general be a state of tension between the Church and its there is agreement that the Church must exercise
some powers of discipline and government. In Spirit, always active and energizing, and always this the Church continues the kingly office of progressively revealing himself. He reaches out Christ. in love towards every living soul. The Christian As to this aggressive propulsive quality of the idea of God carries ecumenical implications for Church, according to the New Testament it is of the Church. If God is a personal, living, ener- the essence of the Church and not merely of its gizing God, then his Church is not merely an well being. Any group of professing believers international society binding people together from that does not feel its apostolic commission to the four corners of the earth. It is more than propagate the Gospel and extend the Kingdom has that. It is an ecumenical community bearing in not inherited the Spirit of the Founder. its heart the propulsive power of a boundless love The new aggressiveness of the great non-Chris- that will not stop until it embraces the whole tian religions in our day calls for special emphasis world.
just now on the apostolic character of the New The Church of the New Testament is catholic Testament Church, its aggressive mission to its because its message is a message of divine revelanon-Christian environment. tion and transcends all forms of religion. Chris- A Universal Church tianity is not a religion. Religion is man's effort to adj ust himself to the ultimates. Christianity IV. According to the New Testament the is GoOd's answer to the quest of the human heart. Church is catholic, universal, all-embracing. It Jesus Christ is not the founder of a religion. The possesses inherent qualities that make it fit to be message of the New Testament Church is not the home of all classes of men in all parts of the simply one of several possibilities for man's pious world and in all ages of time. self-expression. It stands alone as God's message to man. It is not just a word from God or a word The Church is catholic because by its nature it about God; it is the Word of God whose content is not limited as to place or time. This idea of the is Jesus Christ. The Church does not come with Church as universal and timeless was not an after- a philosophy, nor a system of doctrine, nor an thought. It is not true that the Church was at ethic; it does not even come with a religion. It first only the group of Christians in a particular comes with a Person, a living God who speaks locality and then when this little obscure group through Jesus Christ. Our God is larger than the had expanded into a mighty enterprise the idea of founder of religion. Our Gospel transcends relia universal Church arose. From the beginning gion as well as time and place. Our Church, so the Church was understood to be the larger in- long as it is faithful to this witness, is the unicarnation of Christ, and the local congregation versal catholic Church. was simply a miniature of the whole. As a thousand different mirrors may at one and the same time reflect the whole orb of the shining sun, so A United Church the local congregations or churches are the re- V. According to the New Testament the flections of the great Church universal. Every Church is, one. This unity is a subject of enor- Church is a catholic Church unless it claims to be mous proportions, and a whole library has grown the only catholic Church. The body of Christ not up about it in recent years. only includes the believers and saints of all nations and places but it also extends, backward and The chief New Testament sources of informaforward in time and includes the saints of the tion about the unity of the Church are the high past as well as those of future ages,. priestly prayer of our Lord and St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians. From these we learn that the Again, the Church is catholic because it rises unity of the Church is a mystery. It is something above the limitations of culture and religion. It in which we believe. It transcends human underis the only community that can meet the needs of standing. all mankind. This is indicated not only by par- ticular words of Jesus and individual passages in As the Church itself is holy, not merely a volun- the New Testament, but also by the very nature tary association of men combining together to of the teaching set forth. Jesus claimed that his effect certain ends, so the unity of the Church is Gospel is sufficient for the needs of all mankind. not merely an earthly visible manifestation de- Both Jesus, and Paul taught with the background vised by men in order to increase the efficiency of Stoic philosophy and universal empire. They of the Church and to pres,ent a so-called "united made universal claims for their Gospel. They pic- front." It is divinely ordained and belongs to the tured the Church as the organ through which God essence of the Church. The unity of the Church, will accomplish His plan not only for men but for according to the New Testament, arises from the the universe. unity of God, "as I and the Father are one." The The Church is catholic because the God to whom Church is one because there is one Spirit, one the Holy Church belongs is a living God. He is a Lord, one Father. The Church is one because all
NEW STUDENT FOREIGN MISSION FELLOWSHIP
members of the Church are members of Christ Finally, the New Testament represents the unity and abide in Him, as branches abide in the vine. of the Church as a process, a growth. It is a present reality, but still imperfect. It cannot be So the unity of the Church is not something in hurried by the manufactured conceptions of men. the golden past, a lost treasure that needs to be Perfect unity will come as a growth in faith and recovered. It is not something in the rosy fu- in "the knoweldge of the Son of God," a growth ture, a high goal that needs to be achieved. It is "into him in all things" which is the Head, even something that exists now, and simply calls for Christ." External means may be used to increase fuller expression. It is something that was and that faith and spread that knowledge, but the huris and is to be. It is as eternal as the Church it- ried establishment of any external union would self. It is as eternal as the God who called the hinder the true process and would check the real Church into being. It is something that belongs growth of unity. to the essence of the Church. The true Church of Christ is one. The New Testament idea of the Church's unity brings two words of warning: first, that our ef- The source of this mystical unity of the Church forts at Church union should not degenerate into is the redeeming work of Christ for men. It is a trifling with something that transcends human not in a unified organization. It is not in a com- comprehension; second, that if our witness to the mon liturgy. The unity of the Church grows out world is to be effective we dare not permit our of a common faith, a common Gospel that centers love for our particular ideas and traditions, to dein the Cross. This, and nothing else is the source lay that growth of unity which our Lord has in of the creative power of the Church. mind for His Church. The New Testament con- ception of the Church's unity suggests that since The New Testament also teaches that this in- the Church is one, we should enter now with joy visible unity will express itself in outward and into a sense of real unity among us. We should visible unity. It is, to be a sign to the world: allow our hearts to be thrilled with the joy that "That the world may believe." The efforts to was in the heart of our Lord as we emphasize achieve this outward unity of the Christian continually the visible and invisible bonds of faith Church have engaged all the ecumenical councils and hope and love that bind us together. "That of by-gone ages and all the world conferences of they may be one,even as we are one." modern times. These efforts have good New Testament warrant and example.
New Student Foreign Mission Fellowship By DR. TOM LAMBIE of the Sudan Interior Mission Recently Missionary to Ethiopia D o WE need another missionary organiza- life of Christian service in favor of the pursuit of tion? There are already over two hundred pleasure and worldly success. In addition to this, Boards and societies in North America-in the lofty Christian appeals for a sacrificial servaddition to local church groups-that are engaged ice, involved in carrying the Gospel to the ends-of in promoting interest in foreign missions. At the earth, have too often been watered down until first blush one is inclined to deprecate the forma- there is not sufficient strength in them to stand tion of a new one, and yet many feel that there the test of opposition from those out of sympathy may be justification for a new Student Foreign with the highest type of missionary service. Missions Fellowship such as the one that had its first national meeting at Keswick Grove, New Even among many church members the gist of Jersey, early in January. current thought would seem to be ,something as follows: The youth of today is susceptable to the appeal for noble ideals and service to mankind, but there Everyone must have a philosophy of life and should try is, at the same time, a tremendous tug upon young to be true to it, having as good a time as possible without people in schools and colleges to give up these inflicting unnecessary injury on others. We ought to keep ideals and to turn aside from the prospect of a most of the laws of the land in which we dwell. Attend- ance on religious services is sometimes helpful. The heathen are probably well enough off as they are, but if
anyone feels like trying to show them Christianity, with- not because they were urged by others to do someout creating a disturbance, then there is no great objection. thing about it, but because they were conscious of Medical relief is a good thing for the heathen but charity, being moved by the Holy Spirit. after all, begins at home. Old creeds are mostly outmoded but we should be tolerant toward those who still hold them. Many more students came to the conference God is a good sort of super-rotarian who will be lenient than had been expected. Forty-eight registered, with everyone, including the heathen, as long as they do the and many others attended but did not register. best they can and are true to their own philosophy of life. The older people, professors and missionaries, were very much in the minority and kept in the Is it any wonder that, where such beliefs pre- background. The colleges represented included vail, there is lack of interest in the missionary Hampden-Sydney, Wheaton, Columbia Bible Colenterprise, that the quality of candidates has de- lege, Davidson, John Stetson University, Glassclined, that financial support has fallen off and boro Teachers', Wilson, Grove City, Drexel Instithat there is evidence of loss in devotion and spir- tute, Women's Medical, University of Pennsylitual power? vania, National Bible Institute, Philadelphia School of the Bible, Pennsylvania Bible Institute, Faced by these conditions and tendencies the Moody Bible Institute, Faith Seminary and Johns new Student Foreign Missions Fellowship has Hopkins University.* been formed in order to make a stand against such ideologies, and to promote missionary inter- A constitution was adopted and a Missionary est among the youth of today ona spiritual and Purpose Pledge was approved which reads as truly New Testament basis. follows: It has been found that in many cases Christian Knowing: young people, who have commenced their college or professional education, expooting to prepare for That Jesus Christ has saved me from my sin, foreign missionary service, have been turned aside That all men without Christ are lost, and that there is from this purpo'se while in college. It is hoped that the new Fellowship may conserve and deepen no other name by which men may be saved; this purpose and help to maintain spiritual ideals. That God's command is, "Go ye into all the world," Only those who have a definite determination to That the laborers are few in the foreign field, go as ambassadors of Christ to the foreign field And believing it to be God's will for me, will be admitted to this Fellowship. Emphasis on two points is stressed: First, absolute adherence I purpose to be a foreign missionary, and will plan accordto the Christian faith as taught in the New Tes- ingly. Until He leads me to the field, I will support tament. This includes belief in the plenary in- the work by my prayers and gifts and by witnessspiration and authority of the Bible, in the Virgin ing. If the Lord's later leading should direct me Birth of Christ, the atonement and salvation into other service, I will seek to give foreign misthrough Christ's voluntary death on the cross, and sions its rightful place of prominence in my min- His bodily resurrection. Second, it is necessary istry. that all Christians have a realization of the obligation to carry forward to completion the still un- Other true-minded students who are in symfinished task of taking the Gospel to the ends of pathy with the movement, but who are undecided the earth. The organizers of this movement be- about their own future and their own life work, lieve that every active member should be person- may attend the meetings of the Fellowship and ally committed to go to the foreign fields as a are to be admitted to an associate membership if missionary of Christ, as soon as possible after they desire. the completion of his or her education. The meeting at Keswick Grove seemed like an- Thousands of students have (in the past fifty other Haystack Prayer Meeting under the guidyears) volunteered to go as missionaries to the ance of the same Holy Spirit and moved by the foreign field but many of them have never gone. same enthusiasm for carrying the Gospel to the Some have lost their faith and vision, some have ends of the earth. There was the same deep conshown themselvelS to be insincere or unstable. secration to the task. The potentialities of that Something could and should be done to prevent meeting seemed boundless. this great waste and to crystalize and spiritualize the thinking of every student volunteer. The These students mean business. They have a young people gathered at Keswick in January felt steadfastness of purpose and a devotion to the the need of banding together for such a purpose, Will of God that is admirable. This movement will grow and be effective in proportion as God is in it and as the Fellowship is true to Him.
• The following officers of the new Fellowship Were elected: Executive Secretary, Kenneth G. Hood, M.A.; Student PreSident, Jack W. Murray, B.A.; Vice-President, Davison Phillips; Secretary, Lois Raws.
CHRISTIAN COLLEGE AND SOME OF THE DELEGATES AT
A Milestone in Missionary Progress An Appreciation and Appraisal of the Madras Conference By DR. H. KERR TAYLOR, Nashville, Tenn.
-~ Formerly Missionary in China; Educational Secretary of the )It- Foreign Mission Work of the Presbyterian Church, U. S.
THE recent conference at Tambaram, a SlUb- tic and ,social work are included in the methods urb of Madras, India, was both inspiring and of this far-flung movement. revealing f:mm the points of view both of the In Madras we saw a demonstration of the sucmission field and of the sending churches. cess of it. Fifty per cent of the 460 delegates 1. Here was a diemonstration of the strength from over 70 countries and scattered areas came and success of the Chrisltian movement. For well from younger churches in mis'siol'l. lands. A better over a hundred years the modern phase of the mis- equipped and technically trained'group of admin- sionary enterprise has been in progress, during istrators and of workers on the: mission field it these last few generations constituting one of the would have been difficult to assemble. All were in maj or points of contact between Western lirfe and close touch with Christian work in their several that in Asia, Mrica and parts of Latin America. areas. Most of them spoke two or more languages There are today over 27,000 missionaries, and the and many spoke more.
annual budgets of the different societies aggregate On no other platform and in no other Name many millions.*. Colleges, hos.pitals, schools, in- could such a gathering have been held. The con- dustrial missions, and different kinds of evangeiis- ference was conscious of its unity in purpose and program, and settled down to seventeen days of quiet and earnest work on matters of supreme con- * aAt pBprroitxaiimnataenlyd $th3e5,0E0u0r,o0p0e0anfrocmontisneenndti.n-Eg DcIhTuOrcRh.es In America, '
Gre [ 187]
cern to. the life of peoples throughout the wQrld. great demQcracies" from SQuth Africa and Egyprt, Here was a remarkable fusing of cQntributions fro.m China and Japan. Here in a co.mmQn serv- from men of utterly diverse backgrQunds Qf race, ice o.f GQd fo.r mankind, fraternity and love were nationality, religiQus experience, theological views nQt only an ideal, but a fact; There was a striking and economics. FQr Qver a fortnight these hun- absence Qf vindictiveness and CQndemnation even dreds Qf workers expressed their cQnvictions and amQng thQse fl'o.m whQm this might have been ap- aspirations, and in most fraternal and earnest prehended. One of the finest influences exerted by fashion SQught, and measurably 'achieved, a unit- any delegation was that o.f the Chinese delegatiQn ed mind and Qutlook. It was an exceptiQnal gath- who. impres,sed the cQnference with their fine re- ering in our mQdern world. It sought fQr the life straint and Christian forbearance. A new empha- Qf our day the larger recognitiQn of a higher and sis was thus made to. the reaIity and the indis- mQre absolute responsibility and control. Here pensability Qf the influence of the Prince Qf Peace.
was a strong witnes,s to the potential unity of srpir- 4. The Madras., meeting was strQng in the em- it in the Lord that is PQssible to. the whole wo.rld. phasis given to. the Church. This was explicit.
2. The cQnference was sanely PQsitive and con- Christianity was nQt cQnceived as a mere perva- structive. The'delegates spoke their minds frank- sive influence; it requires concrete and definite ly, seeking to. conserve the best in the heritage of expression. As Dr. Speer said many years a'go, the church, particularly in its world-wide Chris- "Religious, life, like any other life, is, and must be tian enterprise. cellular; only thus does it conform to. biQIo.gical The positive leade'r&hip Qf the International law." The Church as a fellowship has a faith, a MissiQnary Council was shown in the publishing witness,a life and a cQmmission. In the Church o.f a prepamtQry study book, "The Christian Mes- is the his,toric and effective means for preaching sage in a Non-Christian World," by Dr. H. Krae- the Kingdom of God.
mer of Leiden University, HQlland. This provided 5. It WQuld extend the limits o.f this article un- a massive cQntributio.n to. the wQrld's missriQn lit- l'easonably to. evaluate the -cQntributiQn of the erature, and CQnserves much Qf the best cQnstruc- wo.rk Qf the sixteen commissions into which the tive thQught of recent decades. The thought of co.nference was divided and whQse reports were the conference was largely indebted to. this presen- received by the who.le cQnference. The evalua.tion tatiQn, which aVQided the pitfalls of ra to.Q Qptimis- of the,se findings i,sa WQrk for the churches and tic pragmatism and Qf the hampering weakness of missionary societies in the coming years. Suffice an Qverweening eclecticism so evident in recent it to. say that these studies and recQmmendations years. While thus the strength of much of what were characterized by great breadth Qf under- has been regarded as the current cQntinental standing Qf the phases and prQblems of this world thought was made basic in the thinking Qf the CQn- movement. In such realms rus the nature and func- ference, the gathering itself did nQt hesitate to tion of the Church, its witnesls and relatiQn to. the implement the strQng positiQns Qf this point of non-Christian systems, its wQrship, mini,srtry and view with the view frQm the North American con- literature, and its, social responsibilities and rela- tinent, which emphasizes practical social em- tiQn to. the State, together with its larger corpo- phases Qf the Christian message. rate life, the cQnference made significant contri- Here was a positive advance in curl'ent mis- butions to. current thought andprQvided for the sio.n and church cooperation. It is in such mutual Christian enterprise a compendium fQr seriQus understanding that the possibility Qf collaboratiQn and extended study during the neXit decade.
and union in our enterprises is possible. In a Unresolved Problems troubled world and time, the Madras meeting was driven back upon its basic and essential values. One hesitates to point Qut weaknesses in such a One wonders if it had been possible to. hold such a worthy enterprise. But it WQuld be to.o much to.
cQnference fifteen years, ago, whether the unfortu- hope that srUch a gathering, representing such nate rift in the American churches with regard to diverse elements and different ranges of experi- theQIQgy and methQd Wo.uld have been largely ence, WQuld not reveal elements of indecision and aVQided. Let the church in its cooperative and inconclusiveness which indicate that the final word uniQn enterprises heed the lesson Qf the past two is far frQm being sPQken on SQme impQrtant CQn- decades and not the strength of the Madras Co.l- cerns. The Church in its miss,iQn and in its labQratiQn. Cooperation is easy when the o.bdec- growth on the missiQn field has yet a long way to tives are clea:r and when Christian leadership is go. in solving some Qf its essential prQblems.
positive and unequivocal. 1. There was a recurring indicatiQn throughout 3. The conference was a demonstratiQn in a the -days Qf conference that secondary considera- war-mad Wo.rld Qf ho.W fraternity and under- tiQn is Qften being given to. the basic necesrsity on standing may be attained. It mattered little that all fields Qf a truly indigenous church life. In delegates had come from Germany and from the mQre than one cQmmission,and in the plenary
A MILESTONE IN MISSIONARY PROGRESS
sessions, the cDnference av'Oided the questi'On 'Of for a new generatiQn of workers in this a new self-supPDrt. One heard too little of church fel- day, workers who will in fraternal c'OHaborati'On lowships seeking such cDIiPorate expressi'On as is with the younger churches take up with them the pDssible now, drawing sustenance up frQm the soil service at the point which it has reached and help and life where these fellDwships exist and where carry it to a WQrthy c'Onclusion. they must give their 'Own witness. Representatives of the younger churches had a The missiDn field church shDuld n'Ot, 'Of C'OU~se, go'Od deal tQ say as to the need fQr collab'OratiQn by be a replica 'Of that in the homeland. N'Ot 'Only in wDrkers frDm abroad with the leaders 'Of the Western modes, music, architecture and ministe- yQunger churches, the desirability 'Of a shared CQnrial garb has the church 'On the missi'On fields tD'O trol in the finances of the enterprise, and the feas- 'Often given the impressiDn of being "foreign,:' but ibility of putting the life and service 'Of the mi,sthere has 'Often been evidence 'Of this want of a sionary himself under the direction of the native conditiDning a-ttitude 'Of mind and life in native church and its, leadership. Much of this was insustenance and in independence. One wonders dicative 'Of the new day ,to which we have come or h'OW this whDle attitude of some 'Of the younger are destined. But in the findings> of the commi'schurches appears tD the supporters of the nQn- sion on the unreached fields, one wished fDr a more Christian religiDus insUtutiDns. And the clash convincing caB from the yQunger churches themwith natiDnalistic aspiratiDns i,s a cQmmonplace. selves for young men and w'Omen from abr'Oad, who are undoubtedly needed, with the offer of In some of the sessiQns at Madras the hDpe f'Or challenging and significant tasks even though toadvance WQuld in thi,s respect have been fur- day there has come a new orienting 'Of the misthered had there been less discussion 'Of "grants si'Onary's PQsitiQn and :service. Wise will it be in in aid," "subsidies," and "control 'Of funds,," and the immediate days ahead if in the, calls from the a more earnest and l'ealistic c'Onsideration 'Of some field less emphasis is put on the special qualifica- 'Of the findings of the Department of Social and tiQns needed for new missionaries', and more con- Industrial Research 'Of the International MissiDn- vincing emphasis 'On their indispensability. ary C'Ouncil through its secretary, J. Merle Davis. If the unrealities of much of the 'Outmoded prac- There is indisputable need and challenging SCQpe tice of past decades, with its want of such self- for y'Oung men and women 'Of consecration and maintenance, are not discarded 'On the missiDn training, as was proved by the convincing evifield in these days of wQrld depression and neces- dence furnished by the commi,ssi'On on the unfinsary recom;,tructiQn 'Of financial pDlicy, then the ished task. And c'Onstant contac,t with the youth current oPPDrtunity fDr much real advance at this of 'Our h'Ome lands aSSUl'es 'One that there is no point will have been lost. want of heroic willingness on the part 'Of the yQung pe'Ople to meet the challenges 'Of a new 2. A cDrrelated weakness of the conference was day. But what the missionary cause in the h'Omeits failure to make clear the vital need 'Of new re- lands today requires, in the light 'Of the rapidly cruits for missiQnary service. It is true that aging missiQnary force and the sman numbers of one secti'On was concerned with the place and missi'Onary volunteers, is a clamant and convincfunction and training 'Of the future missionary; ing call fr'Om the y'Ounger churches themselves, and one cDmmission presented the yet unfinished that many of the best y'Outh 'Of the 'Older churches task. But the conference, and particularly the sh'Ould "come over and help" in a task altogether leadership of the YDunger churches, shDuld hav~ beyond the ability 'Of the y'Ounger churches to commade clear in a ringing and vivid way the admit- pass. There sh'Ould be the assurance that, fo.r a ted need for a l'ecruiting 'Of the miSISionary force. whole lifetime at least, such life investment will be cordially welcomed and challengingly em- The leadel's of the younger church wDuld do ployed. It is just here that the yo.unger churches well to keep this in mind. The present missionary force is rapidly aging, and on all sides there are in the next few years can render 'a, m'Ost valuable vast unoccupied fields. We have lived thr'Ough an era of wide mi's,sionary expansion and of enthu- service and can be the means of reinspiring the siastic support. Outstanding missionary leaders 'Older churches to an even larger adventure in the in the sending countries have laid this responsi- vast unreached task of Christian missions abroad. bility on the church and have called f'Or the heroic venture 'Of YDung life in ocoupying fields that 'Oth- 3. Perhaps the explanation of the situation is erwise would not be reached. The center of gravi- in the trend 'Of leadership n'Oticeable on some of ty of the enterprise has now shifted to the mis- the mission fields, as, revealed in Madras. PressiDn field. Inspiration fDra continuatiDn O!f the ent day leadership partakes t'Oo. largely of Western enterprise must take its rise ,there. In this wDrld- viewpoint and supp'Ort. The church on the field wide enterprise, in which the interests of younger is not native enough. It is oriented too. largely churches and the missionary societies are so iden- to the West. Its dress :sh'Ows it. The structure of tical, what is needed is the sounding 'Of a clear call its c'Ooperativeand representative enterprises is conditioned to'O largely 'On f'Oreign funds. In a
conference conducted entirely in English, and The composite nature of the gathering and the therefore reflecting so largely westernized opinion, necessity for the observance of amenities and reone often missed the careful and measured balance straints made impracticable the specific condemand independence of judgment that is the sure nation of known acts of aggression, specific areas mark of a self-supported and entirely indigenous of persecution, and like ills. One must read beenterprise. Jesus lived and died and rose again tween the lines of the finding:s to see what the conin Asia. What the missionary cause today needs is ference reaHy had in mind. After all, the meetthe careful judgment and collabomtion of a na- ing was for counsel in the doing of a specific task tive church whose life and leadership is devoid of in the world, it was not a conference to sit in judgartificiality in its structure and support. We too ment on the world. often think in terms of the churches as they ought to be, and not enough of the churches as they are. The conference was a worthy third in a great Let the Intern~tional Missionary Coundl, and series. Edinburgh in 1910 was a great missionparticularly its constitutive units on the field, re- ary conference that emphasized comity. Jerusaflect current indigenous church life and opinion. lem in 1928 recognized the importance of the The cenlters, of Christian life for these younger younger churches ,and sought a common front and churches are not, or should not be, Canterbury, platform, finding it in a unifying Christology. Rome or New York, but in the mission lands, them- Madras in 1938 conceived of the unfinished task in selves. We need to be on our guard lest we make terms of a world-wide church fellowship. Its the same mistake here that has so often been made greatest contribution was not so much its findin mission projects, 'and in our zeal for results in ings, but in a real sense its very self. The' conorganization and leadership through foreign sub~ ference was perhaps lacking in great creative sidy, run ahead of ourselves. statement. It was a great creation, representing the results of past decades of noble missionary 4. One should not look in the findings for clear service, and indicating the need for further adcut, unequivocal delineations of some of the cur- vance. It emphasized dramatically how far we rent problemslland frictions throug;hout our world. have come, and how far we yet have to go.
An Impression of Madras Conference By PROF. HENDRICH KRAEMER, Leyden, Holland Author of "The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World"
N EVER before have I found it so difficult to The second reason, as far as I can judge, is that formulate an impression about a conference such international conferences become so per- I attended as in regard to that held at fected in their technique, and so standardized in Tambaram (Madras) last December. One usually their methods, that creative explosions and stir- feels reasonably certain that one understands the rings become very rare and almost impossible. general trend and spirit of the conference, and The method adopted in these conferences seems has some definite opinion of the outcome to be to have become somewhat as follows: For a year expected. These conclusions are not clear in re- or two in advance extensive and stimulating pr~ .gard to Tambaram, possibly for two main rea- paratory work is done, which is 'One of the most sons. productive features of a world conference. Peo- ple are urged to collect material, to think out prin- First, the time allotted to handle the sixteen ciples, to criticize methods and principles, and to main subjects (and the many others added dur- outline new visi'Ons and plans. The result is put ing the conference) was far too short. This was at the disposal of the whole missionary enterprise the general feeling of the delegates. Because of in the world. This isa highly stimulating and the many subjects that had to be discussed in five productive influence. days, one was so occupied with the subjects. to be taken up in the special sections attended that it When the day of the conference dawns the delewas impossible to get a grasp of the general sweep gates are divided into sections, to study the variof the conference. ous subjects allotted and to prepare a report for
AN IMPRESSION OF MADRAS CONFERENCE
general consideration. The idea is that a small baram. It was a great privilege to meet so many group study one particular subject and, as a re- ins,piring personalities. It was inspiring to hear, sult of cooperative and creative thought and con- first-hand, how the forces of the Kingdom of God structive criticism, will present the result to. the are working everywhere, often against the greatfull session of the conference for criticism and est odds. The deep sense of Christian fellowship, revision or adoption. experienced at Tambaram, filled the heart with thanksgiving to God. The reality of the Univer- But this eX'cellent idea, in my humble opinion, sal Church of Christ in the world, as the deepest can create useful and satisfactory results only if and solely undeceiving cause for hope and joy, the general guidance of such a conference is sure manifested itself repeatedly in our dealings with and determined and if there is sufficient time. each other. Otherwise the splendid intentions of this technique will become largely inoperative as seemed, to a Probably the most abiding impression I carry great extent, to have been the case at Tambaram. with me is the expectation that from this confer- In many cases the important preparatory work was scarcely used. This does not detract from DR. HENDRICH KRAEMER AND REV. D. T. NILES OF CEYLON the value o.f the preparatory work but it is to be regretted that the conference could not use to full ence a new fire will spread through all the advantage the results of these preparatory labors. churches and mission fields, a new fire of whole- The same pressure of time made it difficult to have hearted surrender to the divine commission of a thorough discussion in the sections where a co.n- evangelizing the world in all its spheres, and of flict of ideas could be given free play in such a strong loyalty to the Church as the fellowship in way that the creative spirits could formulate a Christ. The world needs a clear demonstration common platform. This criticism applies espe- of what the Church, if faithful to its calling, must cially to the most important subjects. be-namely a new, regenerated quality of individ- ual life and of life in fellowship. Tambaram The plenary sessions of the conference were so strongly impressed this vision on the minds of limited in time that they did not bring that whole- those who were present. some and indispensable clash of ideas to enable us to discover the fundamental urges of a conference and the unifying and inspiring force that determines its energizing influence.
Conferences, like that at Tambaram, are of such great importance to the missionary enterprise and to the Church that it is important to discover where their weaknesses may be remedied. Nowadays we kno.w fairly well what the technique of a great international gathering should be in order to obtain the maximum results. Tambaram, however, teaches that this technique cannot yield its due results unless we take at least three or four full weeks for such a gathering. There is an Arab proverb which runs: Haste originates from the devil. This certainly applies to international conferences. One of the fundamental conditions for their fruitfulness is that the mind can work quietly and intensely, open to God and open to each other. Only then can the average-minded and average-gifted delegate have his due share in the work of planning and thinking; and only then can the spiritually and intellectually creative minds make their indispensable contribution.
This is not all that I have to say about Tam- Is this the time, 0 Church of Christ! to sound No! rather, strengthen stakes and lengthen cords, Retreat? To arm with weapons cheap and blunt Enlarge thy plans and gifts, 0 thou elect, The men and women who have borne the brunt And to thy kingdom come for such a time! Of truth's fierce strife, and nobly held their ground? The earth with all its fullness is the Lord's. Is this the time to halt, when all around Great things attempt for Him, great things expect, Horizons lift, new destinies confront, Whose lOVe imperial is, whose power sublime! Stern duties wait our nation, never wont To play the laggard, when God's will was found? CHAJU$S SUlfN~ HOYT.
"Now Concerning the Collection"
By the REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.D., Princeton, N. J.
Editor of "The Moslem World"; author of "It Is Hard to Be a Christian," etc.
I N ALL the Greek manuscripts of Paul's first Qf thQse who. gave hilariQusly (2 Cor. 9: 7) and letter to. the Corinthians there is not even a liberally stand Qut in my memory. semicQIQn to. divide the glQriQUS fifteenth chap- 'I1here was a Sioux CQunty farmer in IQwa who. ter on the Resurrection from the statement at the heard of Arabia when I was Qrdained as missionbeginning Qf the sixteenth chapter: "Now Con- ary. His Qwn pioneer experience responded to cerning the CoUection." FQr a Christian to. be- such an appeal and I recall hQW he supported our lieve in the living Redeemer and to abound in the first native evangelist. His letters in Dutch, and wQrk of the LQrd implies regular offerings, gifts those from Kamil Abd ul Messih in Arabic, crossed and self-denial to SUPPQrt this work. Paul was the seas and after translation jQined hearts in an example and an inspiration to. all missiQnaries prayer. and to. all Christians~he was not ashamed Qf the AnQther wealthy farmer was the greatest hog- "collectiQn plate." He wrote elsewhere very raiser in his cQunty and his state. His hQgs took plainly "cQncerning giving and receiving." He the blue ribbon prizes but his heart was that of raised mQney fQr missiQnsand fQr the PQQr Qf the the Gadarenes. One day, as he himself tQld me, Church. He himself was generously supported he received an impudent and threatening letter by the Church at Philippi. frQm gangsters in the cQunty-seat. It was signed It is nQt surprising, therefore, that the mQdern with skull and crQss-bones and sPQke of murder missionary must give of his time and strength unless "YQU skinflint, yQU put two thQusand dQI- when Qn furlQugh to. secure from the Church at lars in a cigar box under a stQne at the crQSS- home mQney for the enterprise. All try it. SQme rQads." In great fear he spread the letter befQre succeed, and some fail. But the experiences Qne the Lord as did Hezekiah Qf old. He prayed that has in being GQd's beggar on the dOQrsteps Qf GQd WQuld deliver him frQm the gang, who ap- Dives and CQmpany are priceless, whether Qne parently meant business, and VQwed to. make resti- meets with liberal gifts Qr niggardly refusals. The tutiQn to. God. He paid his VQW Qver and over same plea meets with varied response. My experi- again to. the cause o.f Christian educatio.n and mis- ence (in this sheaf of stQries) is like that of the siQns; nQr was he ever mQlested.
American so.ldier in the Wo.rld War, who was suc- The largest gift I ever received fDr missio.ns cessively billeted in an Irish, an English and a was from a go.dly and wealthy lady in Chicago..
SCQtch hQme. In each place he asked fo.r mQre I was making an effQrt to. raise $10,000 fQr the sugar in his tea. The Irish WQman said, "here's Nile Missio.n Press in Cairo.. Dr. JQhn TimQthy the bQwl, help YQurself"; the English lady said, StQne, pasto.r o.f the FQurth Presbyterian Church, "pass yQur cup and I'll give you a seco.nd lump"; generQusly gave me five minutes at the close of while the SCDtch ho.usewife looked do.ur while ask- his mQrning service, to. present the need of Chris- ing, "Mon, have ye stirred it?" tian literature in the WQrld Qf Islam. No. Qne else The acid test of Qur love to Christ and His King:- responded to. the appeal at this service but this dom is stewardship. The Master still sits before lady invited us to. luncheon and to. my amazement the treasury and weighs our contributiQns as he gave her check fQr the whQle amQunt. There had did those Qf the rich Pharisees and the poor been prayer in Cairo. and in Chicago..
widQw. It is nQt an easy task to raise mQney for In sharp cQntrast to. such beneficence was an missiQns, but I have often cQmforted myself by experience in Philadelphia where, at the clQse Qf the wQrds of Dr. Arthur T. Pierson: "We knQw a service in which I had sPQken of medical mis- that the rich man opened his eyes on a different sions in Arabia, two. ladies dressed in fine seal- scene, but the beggar landed in Abraham's bos- skin CQats tarried to. meet the preacher. They om." I have met with rebuff on several Qccasions said: "We really CQuld nQt go. without giving yQU during the past fifty years, but the recollectiQns SQme tQken Qf Qur interest in yQur great work [192 ]
EXAMPLES OF SACRIFICIAL GIVING
. . ." and, believe it or not, when I had thanked they were disputing whether to give or not to give, them warmly and opened my closed hand in the I asked playfully, "Who is the head of this house, vestry, the image and superscription was that of you or your wife?" Both deferred to the other. an American twenty-five-cent piece. Then to my delight I saw a wall motto hanging over the living-room table : Jesus Christ is the The following week I was in Rochester, New Head of this house; the unseen guest at every York. It was, a very cold day; I called on an old meal; the silent listener to every conversation. friend who sold automobile accessories. He re- I pointed to it as the answer to my question. Withmarked that my light overooat was unsuited ex- out another word the farmer took a check book cept for Arabia, took down an expensive fur-lined from his overall pocket and wrote a larger sum overcoat, and insisted that I pay for it and wear than any of us had expected. The deacon was it. He looked at the sales tag and said, "the price most of all surprised and led in a prayer of thanksof this to you is twenty-five cents-no I am not giving. joking-pay me the sum and then we'll go to lunch together." I told him the Philadelphia story, and Time would fail to tell of other experiences and paid the quarter. Later the coat was bequeathed of the joy that comes to those at the battle-front to a Dakota missionary. when reinforcements of men and money are forth- coming. The Philippian Church was Paul's joy This Rochester friend kept a tithing account in and crown. How ofen they cheered him by their his bankbook (as I learned, after his death). His free-will offerings, so that even in prison he was son showed the account to me and at the top "their own missionary" and they became an exof each page of benevolences were the words: ample to all the churches of Asia Minor, even to "W. R., in account with his Redeemer." the Corinthians (Philippians 4: 15, 16).
It is a spiritual tonic to meet such businessmen. "Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory He was like the Philadelphia lawyer to whose through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beoffice the late Fennell P. Turner and I went to loved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, alsolicit a gift for the Student Volunteer Movement. ways abounding in the work of the Lord, for as "Gentlemen," he said, "you need not waste your much as ye know that your labor is not in v,ain in time or mine by long speeches. I know your cause the Lord. Now concerning the collection." and believe in it. If my funds allow, I shall give you a check." Then he rang for his secretary. EXAMPLES OF SACRIFICIAL GIVING * "Can the tithing account stand another hun- King David would not surrender to cheapness dred?" when it came to his worship of God. When the prophet directed David to go up on the threshing- "No, it is overdrawn." floor of Araunah and there offer a burnt-offering, Araunah freely offered to give the King the "The special account?" threshing-floor, the oxen, and everything that was "No." necessary for the burnt-offering. David's classic "Well, then, draw a check on the special, spe- answer is found in these words: "Neither will I cial account." offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord my God of He explained that this account consisted of re- that which doth cost me nothing" (2 Sam. 24: ceipts from debts unexpeotedly repaid after long 24, 25). He insisted on paying for it. Where standing! there is no sacrifice there is no love and where "I owe my Lord more than these debtors owe there is no love there is no worship. me," he said with a smile. The whole transaction took less than five minutes. Mary of Bethany was at her best in worship The secret of the willing mind and the liberal when she anointed Jesus,' feet with a pound of hand is to realize the Lordship of Christ over our liquid nard, very costly, but without counting the lives and His constant presence with us. In July, cost (John 13: 1). 1918, we were soliciting gifts for missions among the farmers of Sioux County, Iowa. An earnest In "The Gardens of Life," J. R. Straton tells the deacon drove me from farm to farm and nearly following story: everywhere in that prosperous year the farmers gave liberally. We came one day at the breakfast A rich man was down at the waterfront awaiting the hour to the home of one of the wealthiest farmers departure of an ocean liner. He was joined by an acbut my guide said there was no use going in to quaintance, who said to him: ask this man. "He is very close-fisted, although his wife is a liberal soul." "You seem to be much pleased about something." I responded we would better try, since he could "Yes," said the rich man, "I do feel unusually good tonot dp more than say no. As my guide had ex- day. Do you see that vessel at anchor in the North River? pected, the farmer refused bluntly. His wife en- Well, I have on that vessel ten thousand dollars worth of tered a plea but he would not yield an inch. As * Condensed from United Ohurch R6'View of North India.
equipment for a hospital in China, and I just came down wards wrote as follows to the above-mentioned to see the vessel safely off." business man: "That is interesting, and I am glad you made that gift," "As I was for thirty-four years an executive said the friend. "But you know I also have a gift on officer of a large Board.of Foreign Missions (Presthat ship. My only daughter is on that vessel, going to byterian), and am sWI, as Secretary Emeritus, in China to give her life as a missionary." close touch with it, I feel sure that you will ap- preciate my interest in your suggestion that the The wealthy man looked feelingly into the eyes of his churches might cut their foreign missionary work friend and exclaimed: seventy-five per cent, and use the liberated money to further the cause of peace and related objects. "My dear brother, I feel as though I have given nothing, Apart from the reasons for foreign missions that when I think of what this sacrifice means to you." are basic in our Christian faith, may I suggest the following considerations that would be involved This is the spirit that delights the heart of God in so extensive a reduction of missionary work. and the spirit which He seeks to foster in His children. "There are now approximately 40,000 churches in non-Christian lands, with a baptized member- A big lumberjack once said to Frank Higgins, ship of 10,971,066. These churches are the results the "Sky-pilot Lumberjack," as he lay on the oper- of missionary work. While some of them are ating table just before he took the anesthetic: locally self-supporting and all others are contrib- "Frank, you know that we love you and want to uting part of their congregational expenses, thouhelp you. While the doctors are operating I will sands of the smaner ones need our assistance. To be at your door; and Frank, if the doctors find withdraw the major part of this assistance would they need a quart of blood, or a piece of bone, or a seriouly cripple them. They stand for the same bit of skin, they can call on me. Frank, you can principles of peace, brotherhood and righteoushave every drop of blood or every bone in my ness, for which the churches in the United States body; now don't forget, I will be at the door." stand. You eloquently stated the vital need of the cooperation of American churches in creating This is the spirit that God is seeking to cultivate the international conditions that you so ardently when He tells us that it is more blessed to give desire. If the help of the churches here is essenthan to receive. tial in securing world peace, do we not also need the help of the missionary churches to promote There is an interesting story in Philippians 4: .peace abroad? Nationalism cannot create the in- 14-19. The church at Philippi had been minis- ternational mind in churches any more than in tering to the needs of the Apostle Paul while he politics. We need the missionary churches and was in prison in Rome. Paul was very apprecia- they need us. The words of the late Lord Bryce, tive of their gift for it represented real sacrifice, former Ambassador to the United States, are as of which God himself approved. Then the apostle true now as when he wrote them. He declared: makes, as a climax, that matchless promise made to the donors, "And my God shall supply every The jarring contact of many nations in the Far East need of yours, according to his riches in glory in imperatively calls for the strengthening of foreign mis- Christ Jesus." sionary work, which must be the chief influence in smooth- ing that contact, in allaying irritation and in creating Dr. G. Campbell Morgan says, "We know the those conditions of international goodwill which are essentruth of God as no other age has ever known it, tial to the preservation of world peace. The one sure and yet there never was a time when men, know- hope of a permanent foundation for world peace lies in ing and living under its blessings, were less obe- the extension throughout the world of the principles of dient to it than now." In the wake of obedience the Christian Gospel. is rich bles<sing, but in the wake of disobedience is judgment, disappointment and failure. "As a business man, I am sure that you will appreciate the following facts: Sacrificial giving in our service of God enriches and does not impoverish us. Some Significant Facts EXTRAVAGANT RETRENCHMENT "1. The foreign missionary work of the churches has been slowly and laboriously built up In a conference several influential business men for over a hundred years until it now represents urged closer cooperation between commercial and properties and equipment in mission compounds, religious organizations in averting war and pro- hospitals, orphanages, leper asylums, schools, colmoting international goodwill. One of the laymen leges, universities, industrial and agricultural inpresent suggested that the churches might wisely stitutions, residences, church buildings., etc., to a cut down their foreign missionary work seventy- total value of considerably over a hundred millions five per cent and use the liberated money to fur- of dollars. Withdrawal of seventy-five per. cent ther the cause of peace and related objects. One of the financial support which is now being given of the members of this conference, the Rev. Arthur J. Brown, D.D., Secretary Emeritus of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, after-
EXTRAVAGANT RETRENCHMENT
would close most of the 1,092 hospitals and.56,891 now being given, to foreign missions is not in the schools and colleges. It would necessitate the clos- treasuries of churches and is not at their disposal.
ing of the numerous orphanages, leper asylums, It consists of voluntary offerings designated for s,chools for the blind, the deaf and dumb children, this specific purpose. It is, therefore, a trust fund the industrial and agricultural institutions which which is expended by the churches through their are training youth for useful service and self- boards of foreign missions and it cannot be legally support, raising standards of living, and help- or morally used for anything else.
ing poverty-stricken people better their lot. Lead- "4. The distressing conditions now existing in ers of the churches in Asia freely declare that they China, so far from lessening the need for miss,ion- could not possibly meet the expense of maintain- ary work, has enormously increased it. All the ing these numerous institutions without the help mission compounds in the area of hostilities are they are receiving from the American and Euro- thronged with refugees-penniless, starving peo- pean churches, nor do they yet possess a sufficient ple, the aged, the sick, most of them women and number of trained executives to direct them. children, many of the latter being orphans. The Comparatively few of these properties could be missionaries are toiling literally night and day to sold, except at heavy loss. Forced sales of real help them. Recent letters report 2,500 helpless estate, hard enough in the United States, are refugees in one mission compound and 7,000 in doubly so in non-Christian lands, especially when another. All are dependent on the mi'ssionaries the properties are institutions which cannot be for food 'and medical care. The Chinese have given operated for commercial profit. innumerable testimonies to their gratitude. Gen- "2. The 27,577 missionaries, of whom about eralissimo Chiang Kai-shek and his wife have 15,000 are from America, are appointed for life publicly stated their appreciation and their hope service and cannot fairly be discharged as a mer- that the resources of the missionaries will be in- chant discharges a clerk. After a missionary has creased. In his recent Christmas message to the been given a collegiate and post-graduate training people of the United States, the Generalissimo in America, and a miss,ion board has paid his said: .
travel expenses to a distant land, has provided him There lies upon us, and we presume upon you also our and his family with a house and salary for a min- fellow-Christian readers, a great weight of care which imum of three years while he is acquiring the religion alone can teach us to bear worthily. . . . Peace necessary knowledge of a foreign language and and high moral standards are inseparable, and when they people, he represents a considerable investment become an a::complished fact in the lives of all the peoples of the East and West, there will be no more war. War and becomes a valuable man. It would be costly is brutal, but it will ever be powerless. to rob any of us of the transcendent peace of men who are at peace with to lose him and, if the work is reopened at some themselves. later period, to begin all over again with new and inexperienced men. Moreover, it costs about "Why, then, should we weaken the 'religion'
$1,000 to bring an average missionary (less for and 'high moral standards' in China, which the single missionaries but more for married ones foreign missionary work of our churches is cre- with children) from Asia or Africa to America. ating there and of which the Generalissimo and If seventy-five per cent of the 15,000 American his gifted wife themselves are among the fruits.
missionaries were to be recalled, nearly if not It seems to me that, instead of lessening foreign quite $11,000,000 would be required to bring them missionary work, we should strengthen it if we home. As the mission board could not honorably are to promote both at home and abroad the inter- cut off their salaries without making some pro- national mind and the spirit of world brotherhood vision for their support for a few months until which the foreign missionary enterprise in- they had a reasonable time to secure other em- culcates. . . .
ployment, a meager allowance of at least $500 "Your advocacy of peace, as essential not only per person for this purpose for 11,000 mission- to world trade but to all ,the best interests of man- aries would require $5,500,000 more for the whole kind, is an inspiration to us who have long had number. In other words, the withdrawal of sev- that cause in .our hearts."
enty-five per cent of the 15,000 American mission- aries, so far from liberating money for other uses, It may be that there are other well-meaning would not only ruin missionary work but would church members who think that missionary money involve an aggregate expenditure of approxi- should be diverted to other causes and who do not mately $16,500,000, nearly all of which would be realize the difficulties, the injustice and the tre- a total loss. mendous loss that would result to the Gause of "3. The money that has been given, and that is Christ and the welfare of humanity.-EDITOR.
Among Hindu Pilgrims*
–<111 By REV. RAJENDRA CHANDRA DAS III!o– TAST April a small group of twelve men met in was the same – they all centered in and around L fellowship, prayer and consultation in the the Cross of Christ. The converts, "born" Chris- United City Mission at Benares. They came tians, Europeans and Indians, had each a signifi- from different centres of Hindu pilgrimage in cant story to tell. Each one had a different ap- north 'and northeast India. A few of the local proach to Christ – the Saviour 'and Master. missionaries and Indian Christians also attended Among the converts were different types-social, some sessions.t This conference was composed intellectual, political, moral, spiritual, natural, of persons' who are either engaged in work among personal-every one with an emphasis of his own. pilgrims and other orthodox Hindus in religious There were also one or two who had many of these centres or who are running Christian Ash:r~ams motives combined in determining their Christian surrender. Yet in all this diversity there was a or are interested in the study of the faith and solid and wonderful spirit of unity which all appractice of Hinduism. preciated. It was a pleasant discovery that in a group of heterogeneous elements there could be The purpose of the gathering was threefold: so much understanding and fellowship. There First, fellowship in prayer and interchange of were men of Anglican, Baptist, Quaker, Methoddst experiences and ideas. It was an encouragement and Free Church affiliation and yet there was a to hear reports of how God is using men in differ- happy, joyous and exhilarating fellowship and ent fields. Everybody noted the mighty work of unity. Thank God for this wonderful blessing. the Spirit of God in the difficult field of Brindaban among the Sadhus and Vairagis. In Calcutta the The second object of this conference was the banner of evangelism is kept high among the edu- formation of a simple organization with a view to cated. The A.shram life of Puri is developing fostering this fellowship between different peralong the line of quiet study, meditation and sons and places through the publication of a small prayer, as well as personal evangelism. In Milt- paper and through occasional conferences, as well tra, Rev. R. Templin and some of his colleagues as by interchange of workers. After a discussion are experimenting on Christian life and work of several points it was agreed that a simple oralong brotherhood lines. ganization be formed under some such title as "T.he Association of Christian Ashrams" (work- The views and spiritual experiences, as narrated ers among pilgrims and orthodox Hindus in North by the different members, were as varied as the and Northeast India) – Bhartiya Khristakula men themselves, but the core of the experience • Condensed from The Indian Witness. Samity. A small quarterly paper containing re- t Mr. Abraham Khan came from Puri. He is In charge of the quests for prayers and thanksgiving and short re- Ishapanthy Ashram which was founded by the late Rev. B. C. Sirc,,:r, ~.A., the Y. M. C,. A. evangelist. The Temple of Jagannath ports of work was felt to be desirable. It was dewith Its annual Gar Festival draws hundreds and thousands of people cided that on particular occasions of festivals .from all parts of India. Rev. M. Moses of the Church of God move- workers would be exchanged between different ment represented Calcutta where thousands of pilgrims visit the centres like Puri, Brindaban and Benares as well Temple of Kali. The Rev. J. Y. Sidley of the Baptist Mission repre- as at other normal times. A retreat-conference sented Gaya where Hindus COme in great numbers to offer Pindas like the present one – is to be repeated at least once every two years at a centre and on an occa- (balls of rice) in the names of their relatiYes for the.ir full ant! sion when practical evangelistic work could be final salvation, and Buddhist pilgrims also come to visit the place done among pilgrims and Sadhus. where Buddha was enlightened. Mr. N. N. Das of Patna, retired from Government Secretariat service and associated with the Union This conference was called upon to consider the Church work, represented ancient Pataliputra and HindU bathing feasibility of inaugurating a school to study Hincentres in Bihar. Mr. I. L. Lawrence of the English Methodist duism, with emphasis on its practical, popular and orthodox side. A few of those actually engaged Church represented Ayodhya, the birthplace of Ram, one of the in preaching the Gospel to Sadhus, Sanyasis and great incarnations of the Hindus. The Rev. G. W. Maw of the pilgrims, Pundits and Priests, Mohants and Brah- Fri.ends' Mission, Itarsi, represented not only the pilgrim centres of mins have felt the need of a unity of purpose and RaJPutana and Central India but also the great Himalayan shrines practical knowledge and training in work. It was like Kedarnath and Badrinath. Mr. Maw, in a Sadhu's dress. has traveled far and wide with pilgrims themselves. Pandit Yamua Prasad Chowbey. professor of music. came from the TheologiCal Sem- Inary of .the Methodist Episcopal Church at BareiIIy. Mr. Dldar, a young Hmdu convert of the Methodist Mission, represented Muttra. Brindaban, a most important pilgrim centre especially for Valshnava Bengalees, was represented by the Rev. A. C. Chakravarti, B.D., of the Methodist Church, who has founded a Christian Ashram on his own responsibility in that very "orthodox" place. Benares, where the retreat was held and which Is the greatest centre of Hindu orthodoxy and learning, was represented by the workers and Inmates of the United Mission-the Rev. S. R. Holt, Mr. H. K. Dey and Rev. R. C. Das.
[196 ] unanimously felt that such opportunities would be politico-cultural organization. As a Hindu he saw highly appreciated and utilized by many. The no barrier in Hinduism as regards intermarriage Benares United City Mission offers any facilities and interdining. Coming from a man of his posiit has for such a purpose. A well equipped library tion, this was remarkable inasmuch as Christian was felt necessary and there is already a nucleus circles are not usually conversant with this uniof it at Benares. The study of the faith and prac- versal attitude of Hinduis.m, its orthodox and extice of Hinduism is necessary and important for clusive ideas and practices being more commonly a right approach to Hindus. It is unfortunate that met. almost all workers, Indian or non-Indian, do general work among non-Christians with no special We were convinced of many things, among qualifications to touch effectively either Hindus which the more important are: first, only pracor Moslems. A School of Islamics started a few tical and s,incere Christianity of the apostolic type years ago has rendered valuable service for the in the sense of converted and consecrated personal cause of Christ among Moslems. No less should life through the saving grace of Jesus Christ, as be done intelligently and sympathetically to touch effective in meeting this long-lived and virile Hindus. Hinduism we find in shrines and pilgrim centres; second, only collective witness and cooperative en- There was a paper from the Rev. R. Templin of deavor disclose the secret of the power of Hin- Muttra on the subject of "Witness and the Serv- duism; third, fresh methods of evangelistic ants of the Kingdom." Emphasis was laid on approach to Hindus based on understanding and (1) the need and importance of collective witnes,s; sympathy, must be discovered. Our supreme con- (2) the Kingdom of God rather than the church viction is that the presence of the Living Christ as an institution; (3) God seeks man through among us and the guidance of the Holy Spirit is Christ; (4) no faith without faithfulness.. essential in everything said or done.
The Rev. Atul Chandra Chakravarti, B.D., of ECLECTIC RELIGIONS Brindaban Christian Ashram, in an address on Hinduism, brought out the following points:: The By REV. J. CHRISTY WILSON, D.D., Tabriz, Iran study of Hinduism as a religion and culture is necessary: (1) for goodwill and fellowship with There is great danger in electicism in religion. our non-Christian friends; (2) to equip us better The Bahais are all inclusive and all things to for preaching the Gospel and in bringing out true all men. They will agree with Moslems, Chriscontacts and real differences between Christianity tians or Jews and claim to unite the best things and Hinduism. The following vital issues and from all faiths. practical questions were raised: Should we ag- From Iran the ancient Nestorian Church cargressively s.how the superiority of Christianity ried the Gospel with burning zeal to India, China and deficiency of Hinduism? Should we condemn, and the far reaches of Asia. Very few of the attack, criticize, and find flaws? How can we Christian communities they founded remain topreach Christ-the only Saviour-without arous- day, and one of the reasons for the failure of ing antagonism? How reconcile the claims of these Christian churches to survive, is that they Christianity with goodwill for Hindus? compromised with other faiths. Some advisers believe that missions should do The Rev. G. W. Maw, of Itarsi, speaking on the the same today-"Accept what is good and true Christian approach to the Hindu pilgrims, de- in all religions and work together." But Christ scribed how he lived like a Hindu Sadhu and says we cannot serve two masters, or as the com- Sanyasi, wore the colored robe with the distinctive mon Eastern proverb has it, "You cannot hold mark of the cross on it, lived and conversed with two melons in one hand." the pilgrims and traveled with them up and down When Israel took up idol worship they did not the highways of Indian pilgrimages in North In- intend to forsake Jehovah, they merely wanted dia and the Himalayas. to be broad and get along with other religions. The end was fatal and led to degradation and It was a very interesting deviation from the or- dispersion. dinary course followed among Christians when we Here is a lesson that Christians should take to heard Dr. M. D. Shastri, Principal of the famous heart. We who are working for Christ in the Government Sanskrit College of Benares, speak Bible lands must love men of other religions, but on "How Christ Appeals to the Hindu." He we must call them to worship only God as revealed stressed the Hindu position, viz., that every reli- in Jesus Christ. Men cannot live to the glory of gion has truth and is good for its own followers, God unless they are Christian. Christ must have so that there need be no rivalry or enmity between full and complete allegiance if God is to be glorireligions. The Hindus had no difficulty in rega~d fied.-The Presbyterian. ing Christ as a great teacher and incarnation, because Hinduism is essentially not a religion in the sense of a creed or a way of life but rather a socio-
A Missionary Vacation in Rural
A Letter from a Mother to Her Sons in America By MRS. T. W. B. DEMAREE Formerly under the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Oita, Japan -1889 to 1934 SIX of us left home on Saturday for Camp and Tuesday nights with a hundred or more in Nada Hachiman, about thirty miles from attendance. The railroad station master here is Oita. We had two cars in which to load our one of our Kitsuki Christians. He copied a hymn "junk." The girls rode in one car. We brought on a large sheet of paper; we tacked it up on a all the tent and fixtures. Our cars reminded me tree, built a bonfire for light and I taught them of California tourists. to sing. They responded and listened well. The The mosquitos are pretty bad here in evenings girls and I sang some special songs for them.
but we have our nets. The beach and sea bathing Even the old priest, who is at the head of the are perfect. Our tent is stretched in the pines big temple, has been to call and has attended the which grow along the beach as far as we can see. meetings with some of his colleagues. He ex- For this big round tent we need only a center pole pressed the desire to hear more.
and a few stobs and bamboo-quickly and easily Wednesday night, after supper, the members put up, especially where we have so many trees of our party put on their bathing suits and we to which to tie the ropes. went down to the beach. Soon we were joined by The Japanese were seemingly delighted to have the station master, and later a nice looking man us and everybody turned out to help. dressed in a white suit came up and introduced "What do you need?" they asked. himself, saying, "I live on a farm back in the "First," Daddy said, "we must have a center mountains and only heard today that a Christian pole-so long-some bamboo." missionary had come to this place for a few days. I have heard something about Christ and long to Off went a man on a bicycle and by the time we learn more. Have you time to teach me?" had our tent unrolled he came riding up with an ideal pole on his shoulder. Others produced the We came back to the tent and dressed and the smaller bamboo poles and all turned in to help. people continued to gather. I took a group to Talk about kindness, I never saw anything to one side and Daddy took charge of the inquirer.
beat it. Still they came. I spread down tent cloth and All day Sunday we had callers of all descrip- rugs and soon every seat was taken. There must tions: railroad officials, principals of schools, have been fully sixty earnest inquirers, and I teachers, school children, farmers from back in never saw more earnestness. Several times I rethe sticks, some of the funniest specimens. you marked that I thought they must be tired trying ever saw, with questions, questions. Then at to understand me but they declared they under- night a large .group came and asked for a Chris- stood perfectly and begged me to continue. When tian talk and Daddy must have talked for two they were gone Daddy and I were too happy to go hours. He promised to have a real meeting for to bed so we walked down toward the sea to look them tonight when he blows his cornet. at the beautiful full moon and its reflection in the sea, when seven young men came up on bicycles Today we have had rather a quiet day with very saying they had heard in their village, several few inquisitive gazers. The principal of the Kit- miles away, about our meetings and they had come suki girls' school where I once spoke called today with a large basket of fruit, lovely plums and to learn. They seemed much disappointed to learn natsu mikan, which grew in his own garden. that the meeting was over, and asked if we would *** not talk to them a little while, so Daddy took them I stopped to play some games with the crowd. in charge.
. . Now I am seated several paces. from the tent Before I was asleep some old drunken fellows in the shade of the pines with a wonderful breeze came by and made a big hubbub. One old fellow blowing from the sea. We had meetings Monday came into the tent (side curtains were all up) [198 ]
THE NEED OF FARMERS IN JAPAN
and called out in a big loud voice, "Obasan, obasan, real country but autos and autotrucks are conare you asleep? I want your address in Oita so tinually passing and an aeroplane passed over that I can come there and learn more about Chris- my head. tianity. I'm a little drunk tQnight because today we finished putting up the big stQne torii for Qur Day before yesterday as I sat peeling potatoes temple and we are celebrating. Yes, I'm a little for supper a boy was racing his pony al'ound the drunk but I want to. hear mQre." race track beyond our tent. The horse fell and we thought the boy was killed. Daddy and I both He and Qthers hung arQund until after one a. m. started toward him taking a bucket of cold water but we finally shook them off without even mak- from the well. After some working of the bQY's ing them mad. arms and plenty of cold water he began to breathe. Then Japanese came and carried him to. his broth- The man who came early last night from up in er's home. No. bones were broken, and today he the mountains came again as we were finishing is up and has been here, with his parents, kin and breakfast, bringing some beautiful dahlias and neighbors galQre, to. thank us for having saved pears. He was a hungry looking soul and Daddy talked with him for over an hQur. "0, how I wish his life. . . . . they could know there is room for them all and Yesterday the superintendent of the railroad, that Jesus bids them come." three principals of schools, an ex-army captain This is a perfectly wonderful place to spend a and other dignitaries called. . . . summer, and I've never run up against such an opportunity. There is no church near and it is After six days we came back home; we did not get much rest but we had a good time.
The Need of Farmers in Japan* By DR. TOYOHIKO KAGAWA, Tokyo I N JAPAN we have 140 large cities and 1,200 operative. The scale of health insurance is based tQwns and villages are rural. Only 4870 of on the income of the village. The more income the total population is rural. Each year more you have the more you pay. But the treatment than 100,000 people leave the rural sections and and the number of visits of the doctor are the same go to the cities. Five million seven hundred thou- no matter what fee you have paid. sand rural people live on six million hectares. of land. (One hectare equals two and a half acres.) The farmers can now buy good fertilizers be- cause of the cooperatives. They can also buy the Our first cooperative association for farmers lands they till. In 1931 the farmers of Japan sufwas introduced from Germany a few years ago. fered from a depression and a panic. As one re- Until then the farmers borrowed money from the sult many lost the ownership of their lands and loan sharks, with interest sometimes 2570 and today about 4070 of the 5,700,000 farmers are landless. Thirty per cent of them have a little sometimes 30 % per year. The government had a regulation that interest was to he only 20 % on a land; 70 % are tenant farmers; 28 % own small debt, but the loan sharks were able to squeeze the lands; only 270 of the farmers are well off. peasants for more. Today more than 14,000 co- Sixty-five per cent of the owners of farms live in operatives have been organized for the farmers of the tQwns and cities. Therefore, we are endeav- 12,000 communities. There is one central coop- oring through cooperatives to give back to the erative union. farmers the lands which are owned by city people. Each year there are about 3,000 cases of land dis~ Today we have 8,600 storages for rice based on putes-Iabor disputes are almost stopped, but not the cooperative scheme. Through these storages land disputes – because of what the Japanese and cooperatives the price of rice can be fixed farmers suffer from the city owners of their completely. About the middle of December, when farms. Last year the Diet passed a resolution we know about the rice crop, the rate is fixed for that an owner·of farmland can sell the land to anthe year. We can fix the price of silk also.. other person only with the consent of the tiller of the soil. If the tiller of the soil will consult with Through the cooperative plan that we got from the farm credit cooperative, he can probaJbly be Denmark, we have four different forms of insur- helped to buy back his land from the city owner. ance for the people in rural areas. We have a harvest insurance for the rice crop and the silkworm The lay leaders of the Christian churches, as crop; a livestock insurance; a health insurance individuals, are active in these organizations cooperative; and a national health insurance co- everywhere.
• From an address at the 1. M. c. meeting, Madras.
of Rural Life in Africa*
By IRA E. GILLET, Kambini, Portuguese East Africa I ~.- I Principal, Cenlral Training School ~=========================.
A MAN in India was showing me photographs; cupboards and doors. The 8,000 East Indians as he hurriedly passed over some of them residing in the colony handle the major part of the he said, "These are just ordinary villagers." retail trade, and their cloth and blankets are "Ordinary villagers!" I said in amazement, largely replacing the bark-eloth and skins of "why that is all we have in Africa!" former days.
Our people are all "ordinary villagers," exc~pt Protestant Work for a few who are adjusting themselves to the lIfe and work of Durban, Capetown, and the mining Protestant Christian work is almost entirely confined to the southern districts of the colony. areas of Rhodesia and the Rand. For more than Here six long-established and four more recently four million people in Mozambique, more than half established missions are at work under increasas large as the Union of South Africa, and ex- ing limitations. tending for fifteen degrees along the east coast, we have only one high school, and that is in the Speaking for one mission, we insist that mis- sionaries sent out by the Board be rural-minded. extreme southern end of the colony. A man who prefers a game of tennis to a shower when the land needs rain, who is glad to buy eggs A large maj ority of the able-bodied men of our for less than they are worth, or who is too dainty section are continuously away from home at work to touch the manure cart need not apply. in the gold and coal mines of the Transvaal, some of them going as often as eight or ten times for Since the general standard of living, of sobriety, of trustworthiness, and of education, is much shifts of eighteen months each. At the mines the higher in the Christian villages than outside, the unskilled laborer receives about six times as much local administrators are generally sympathetic. in wages as in the colony. Some of this eventually reaches the home village but this, residue is seldom We have a central training school, based on a put into permanent village development. farm and including a Jeanes school, in which church, hospital, farm,shops and classes work as The earthly possessions of most families con- an integrated whole, together with the surround- ing community. Student candidates are examined sist of a pole-and-earth hut, roofed with grass. In and recommended by the elders of their communi- ties whether they be men or boys. Men must the one or two rooms of this house there is little bring their wives and children and establisl;t self- supporting homes for three years, after which the or no furniture beyond a few baskets, pots and more capable ones are permitted to continue for a further period. The whole family attends classes, hgroaeis~', and immediately a fter harvest there is some tills the soil under the direction of the farm leaders such as peanuts, corn, beans and millet, and according to approved methods, shares in the worship and community service of the churchupon which the owner pays an annual tax of about both locally and at considerable distance from the school center. Surveys, preaching missions, agriten dollars. cultural fairs, institutes, and tours of farm-coun- selling are carried on with faculty supervision Because of constant moving to the mines, tribal within a radius of 150 miles – all within the life is badly disintegrated and home life is broken framework of the church organization. up. Where this has not come to pass and where there are sufficient male adults at home to attend In addition to their regular school classes, the the cattle and goats, there are still herds of in- wives are taught various aspects of home-making, ferior cattle, seldom (though increasingly) used simple nursing and midwifery as well as how to for plowing. Farming methods are slow and lead worship services. In fact, nothing that is wasteful. Villagers leave the worked-out fields vital to home and village life is foreign to our proand cultivate new land or old land that has grown up again to thickets. Undecorated clay pots, g~od baskets and mats of various kinds, a little tannmg of hides and a little whittling of wooden articles are the limit of general handicraft; carpentry of the European style is becoming popular for the more progressive, for the making of chairs, tables, • Notes taken by W. W. Reid at the Madras Conference. gram and interest.
[200 ]
RURAL CHANGES IN MEXICO TODAY
Gl'OUPS of Christian villages. are joined into a permanent residences. All church buildings and circuit which, from its own funds, supplemented parsonages and medical substations are built by in decreasing proportion by the mission, makes its the local church. own budget for evangelism, health services, instruction, bulk subscriptions for vernacular news- A family trained at the school goes to a new papers carrying Sunday school lessons, pastoral village or to an old one in need of help, and sets support, home missions and connectional funds. up a permanent home. The man begins his farm There are sixteen of these circuits, including 175 work, and his community visitation as time and villages. Each meets quarterly for inspiration and resources permit, and as need appears. The cirbusiness. To suggest that any of their needs of cuit may give him fl'om two and a half dollars to life do not come within the Church's interes,t five dollars during the quarter depending upon would come to them as a surprise. circumstances; so that he need not resort to the mines to get money for his tax. He and his wife An annual consecration of hoes, seed, and other preach, nurse, teach, farm, encourage, act as implements is held in the majority of these vil- peacemakers, and in short become "lights. in the lages, usually at planting time. Thank offerings world." at the time of the harvest festival bring in gifts according to the gladness-though not necessarily Missionaries visit these Ex-students as often as according to the wealth – of these farmers. In possible and confer with them concerning their spite of evident poverty, with very meagre educa- problems. As they are given larger responsibility tion, surrounded by SOl'cery and drunkenness, they are also taken through additional courses of these units of the Church look to their school at study; and short courses and private conference& the center; to this school they send their boys and are :&requently arranged. their families, and from it they receive help. The primary boarding school for young boys Happily the African in our colony is not the- seems to have contributed little to this whole deoretically the victim of the color bar in industry. velopment, and I am convinced that this luxury The opportunity is usually there for those who is too ineffective to be continued. It must give will take advantage of it. Moreover, by the de- place to more provision for day school instruction velopment of the land the African can make his of students who live at home and so are able to claim to it secure, so that he has not to depend transmit the school influence directly and immesolely on communal holding. Many of our Chris- diately to the home. Much of this can be done tian people are taking advantage of this to erect through some such plan as 4-H clubs and adult education over a wider area.
Rural Changes in Mexico Today* By PROF. G. BAEZ CAMARGO Secretary, National Evangelical Council of Mexico I N MEXICO we are going through a social Spanish seized. The ownership of these lands was change that is greatly affecting the rural life investigated after the Revolution and resulted in of the country. Our rural problems are due to the restoration of much of this communal land to the breaking down of a land system that pre~ the villages. But in the years many new villages vailed for 400 years. The old system of cultiva- had sprung up and they had no lands; for them tion was primitive in technique, and large areas the government bought land and gave it to the of land were in a very few hands. An extreme villages. case, yet illustrating the system, was that one landowner had an area equal to about half the size This ability to own land has made a tremendous of France. change in the life of the village and of the farmer. Before that the farmer had been getting a small In 1910 the Mexican Revolution began. One of wage for tilling the land; he was paid with tickets its main objectives was. the breaking down of the and had to buy his provisions with these tickets system of land holding, the distribution of land, from stores owned by the landowners. Now with and the making of small farms. The old Indian the allocation of land to the villagers., they must villages had communal lands which all the people work their own land, and they cannot count on a of the village cultivated together. These lands the fixed amount of income each week. But the gov- ernment is getting these farmers and villagers * Extract from an address delivered at the recent International adj usted to the new system.
Missionary Conference, at Madras.
Mahka La's Story*
I -..gf By GUSTAF A. SWORD, Kutkai, Burma I ~- SUBADAR MAHKA LA of Kutkai, Burma, Subadar until he saw the thick filthy black tar- was a nominal Christian but a slave to the strong drink and opium habits. More than like substance was being washed from his body. once did he try to break the habit but without success. Associating with one of the young Ka- Especially from the tips of his fingers came a conchin chiefs, who became a Christian ten years ago and who has experienced the power of God, the tinuous stream of filth and slime. The more they Subadar felt more disgusted with himself than ever before and asked the Christian chief for ad- scrubbed the better he felt. vice and help. The chief told the Subadar that the only way of help he knew was through honest After a while the mystical visitors gradually and persistent prayer to God. And so the Subadar began to pray as never before. faded away in the light. Then the light disap- One night he had a vision; a wonderful light peared and the Subadar awakened from his filled the room and his heart and he saw some supernatural beings. In the pure bright light the dream. A wonderful sensation filled his soul. He Subadar felt filthy, mean and unclean. He looked upon his hands and his body and saw that he was felt clean; he felt free, and happy. • black with a dirty substance like opium. One of the visitors came close to him and when he saw As the Subadar got up and walked about he the filth and misery he told the Subadar to wash himself and be cleansed. The Subadar answered: spied his old opium pipe and a package of opium.
"Sir, I am not able to wash myself. I have tried The sight and the smell of it was nauseating so he but this filth sticks to me, no matter how much I try to rid myself of it. Sir, if you will wash me set about to destroy it. He also poured out the then I will be clean." strong drink. Indeed he had been washed clean. Then this supernatural being called his comrades and they set to scrubbing and washing the It is now five years since this happened and the • From The Burma News. Subadar is now a deacon in the church. All who knew him marvelled at the change; today he is a living testimony to God's saving power.
A few years ago when I was in Kutkai building the new mission bungalow, the Subadar came one evening and placed something in my hand saying, "This is my gift for the new Kutkai chapel." It was dark, I could not count the money but as I came into the grass hut we had erected while we were building the new bungalow, I counted the money and found Rs. 150. Since then he has given me Rs. 350 more for the new chapel. He has also given Rs. 300 to the new Baptist Kachin Mission enterprise in Sumprabum.
OAN A OHRISTIAN BE NON-MISSIONARY?
There is no such person as a Christian who is not making a sacrifice to support the work of the Church at home and abroad. I am not the authority for this statement. Christ is, for it was He who said, "He who would come after me let him deny himself" . . . also "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." We can't escape the fact that He called us to be ready to make a willing sacrifice in order that all men everywhere might share the Good News. . . . Christ decided this nineteen centuries ago, and all we can do is to either prove our loyalty by heeding His command, or rule ourselves out of the company of those who are truly His followers. The work of Christ needs, and has a right to expect, the united backing of every man, woman and child in the whole Church. Furthermore, I do not consider a person worthy of being presented for confirmation unless he is ready and eager to make his pledge on both sides of the envelope for the work of the whole Church. It is time we stopped turning out these generations of church members, half of whom are ignorant as to their responsibility when it comes to the support of the work of the Church.
-Bishop Hobson.
[202 ] I Effective Ways of Working Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MISS GRACE W. MCGAVRAN, 5718 OAK AVE., INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA ~===============================I~ Not Too Early to Plan! light of present conditions. But mends: "The cost varies from here is a job for the Christians institute to institute, but runs to Plan what? To have at least of the world. I am coming to $25-$35 each, for the ten daysone member from your group believe that if enough Christians for room, board, and tuition. attend a Peace Institute this face this problem, we can condi- Tuition alone is generally $10, summer. tion the next generation to think which is the total cost to be and act in terms of world borne by persons from the neigh- You cannot afford to have brotherhood. borhood. your missionary organization, church and community without "I came away from the con- "Some churches are raising a the stimulation and inspiration scholarship fund to send delethat having a representative at ference, with a definite convic- gates. Women's organizations a Peace Institute will bring. tion that a free church has an might hold benefit teas or din- important function to fulfil in ners, planned in the interna- What values are there to be tional spirit with foreign cosgained? Let some of those speak this present world crisis. Our tumes, flags and posters. The who have gone to other institute American churches dare not money raised could be used to meetings. mark time. In this present crisis send the pastor of the church or the Church must challenge the one of the Church School teach- A woman says: "It was a thinking people of our country, ers. Here is a concrete project stimulating experience to have in terms of world responsibility. for those who ask, 'What can I such men as Samuel Guy Inman We must do it now while we are do for peace?' interpret South America to us; not at war – once war is deto have T. Z. Koo of China, with clared, it will be too late." "The institute is an invaluable all his charm, bring to us the experience. It affords an opporbackgrounds of oriental ten- A student says: "The spirit tunity to sit under internasions; and to have Hugo F. of fellowship was uniquely ap~ tionally known authorities; to Simon rub our thinking the mingle with people from many wrong way. Every course was parent in the way it dominated valuable in helping us to under- even the most bitter of the dis- backgrounds – ministers, teachstand underlying currents in an putes which sometimes arose out ers, librarians, peace leaders, ever-changing world. . . . We of our discussions. Therefore workers, students, religious eduleftNaperville 'instructed' and the two weeks was not only cation directors; and to receive 'inspired' to do something to help highly educational and very en- the stimulus of fresh ideas. bring about better understanding between the races and to joyable, but deeply inspirational "Then too-and not the least make this a better world for in its unity of purpose in the -there is the delightful summer others as well as for ourselves." face of sharply opposed opinions. campus on which the institute is held. All these elements com- A pastor says: "Well-out of "I must add that frequent bine to offer the institute-goer a the experience of those ten days, comments were voiced as to the rewarding time." I returned to my parish with the character of the leadership and renewal and deepening of cer- the staff members. The institute It is sound advice for all of us. tain convictions about life. I members were impressed by the Your first step is to write to your sensed anew the fact of the in- workers of the American Friends missionary or "social action" terdependence of the great hu- who were giving so much time board for information about past man family. I saw the similarity and energy to this cause. and future institutes. Second, of the problems which confront find out approximate costs for the different nations of the "As we left, we were not only the one nearest to you. Third, world. I was strengthened in keyed up to a peak of interest find the person most fitted to go the conviction that the one hope in getting out and fighting in the -your pastor, one of the leading for a way out of all this con- peace movement, but also in a laymen, an outstanding woman fusion is through world coop- feeling that groups such as the eration. American Friends Service Com- of the church-choose carefully. mittee and the Council for Social The person chosen must be able "This looks hopeless in the Action deserve our sincerest to provide leadership after re- support." turning. Do not send a simple The Missionary Herald (Con- gregational – Christian) recom- [203 ]
sponge, no matter how keen the eign Missions came to their hun- of the histo.ry of their "Christ- sponge may be to absorb it all. dredth anniversary, and wanted mas Tree in May" and presented You don't want .to. have to spend a new hymn to celebrate that oc- the plans for the celebration of time squeezing to get informa- casion, this one was chosen from it this year.
tion when your delegate returns! over two hundred hymns sub- The back page of the folder Fourth, lay plans fo.r pro.viding mitted. It was written by Dr. tells the story of the enterprise. tuition,transPo.rtation, board Jay Glover Eldridge of Moscow, and room and texts if needed. Idaho. We all rejoice with the HOW WE STARTED It is not too so.on to start plan- Presbyterian Board in its com- In 1921 Bethel Bible School sent its ning. It takes time to get infor- pletion of such a span of service mation, to secure funds, to de- and we find in the hymn an ex- first big Christmas Box to India. It velop interest, to find the best pression of our o.wn ho.pe and de- carried so much joy to the folks who sire; we therefore want to add received it that for fifteen years it to those hymns through which Bethel folks packed veritable treasure we voice our own aspirations. person to. send and to. complete stores of happiness into great wooden arrangements. Summer rolls The tune to which it is set is boxes and shipped them to India. Each around all too soo.n. * year hundreds of boys and girls, men and women, and leper patients in our mission station depended for their Display Gifts Before Sending fo.und in most church hymnals. Christmas remembrances upon the ar- It is the familiar and beautiful rival of this box. Clothing, school There is much satisfaction in "Hymn to J o.Y" by Beethoven, supplies, religious literature, toilet work completed; the value of the tune to which o.rdinarily we articles, toys, and literally thousands this we ignore when we allo.w a sing "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore of things crossed the ocean each year. co.mmittee to collect gifts, pack Thee." and send them, making a weak Several years ago an increase on verbal repo.rt, or even none. After using this hymn as a the "duty" which our missionaries had solo or qua.rtette, use it in the to pay made us decide to send the With the above procedure, next meeting as a hymn, sung by money instead of a box, thus saving contrast the following: the entire group. It should be the expense qf transportation and in- used frequently thereafter until surance. . The women who co.llected it becomes familiar. scraps for making bed covers for HOW IT WORKED flo.od relief were themselves ut- God of years, Thy love hath led us, terly amazed at the two beautiful Thou hast been our bulwark, strong, Our new plan has been highly sucand serviceable covers evolved cessful. Our members have responded from their contributions. They Wall of fire against the wicked, as loyally to this way of giving as will be ready to embark on a Sword of power against the wrong. they did when bringing articles in similar enterprise again. Christmas wrappings. In 1936 and Thou hast blest of old Thy servants 1937 we sent checks of $100, which The women who made gar- As they bore Thy message far; our missionaries have gladly turned men.ts for a migrant Christian into many useful and welcome gifts. Center, and those who had not We who follow in their footsteps joined in the actual work, were Evermore tpeir debtors are. On next Sunday, May 15th, each delighted and encouraged at the member of the Bible School will be sight of a clothes-line full of Onward lead, 0 King eternal, given a small colored bag into which pretty garments, flapping in the Lo, we heed Thy high command, to put a gift for our Christmas check breeze at their outdoor meeting to India. These bags are to be rejust before the garments were Bear good news to every people, turned on the following Sunday, May sent off. Far and near, in every land. 22nd, and hung on Christmas trees in each department as a part of our ob- Seeing the completed task Thine they are, Thy love doth seek servance of "Christmas in May." We gives a feeling of satisfaction so them, are counting on you! that in future similar tasks will be more readily undertaken. Thou wouldst bring them to the Before we turn to the other light; pages of the folder, please note No matter what your under- how skillfully joy of sending actaking, try to. give the entire or- Lead us on till darkness brightens, tual packages has been turned ganization a visual impression o.f On till faith is lost in sight. into happiness in sending a it in its finished state. money gift. Notice that the Lead us forth, a Church united, little bags in which the money is Strong, courageous, in Thy might. to be collected are bright-colo.red, They will take the place of the Lo, the fields are white with harvest, brightly wrapped packages on Sheaves to garner ere the night. the tree, and will have a dra- One our purpose, One our Leader, LeTSaodhusushsaTlohlny,loavCeh,Kuwricnohgrldseh-twealrilndean,le, vperervfaaiil.lt; The Summer Christmas Tree Enrich Your Devotionals Early in May, 1938, a fo.ur- matic value that mere envelopes for an offering cannot have. Here is a new hymn well worth page folder was distributed to adding to your devotional ma- the members of the Sunday But now let us turn to the first terials. It should be sung first school o.f a large church in page of the folder. It announces as a solo. o.r by a quartette. A Evansville, Indiana, It was not the idea – Christmas in May brief introduction may precede a surprise, of course, for they that Others May Have Christmas its first use, stating that when had for eighteen years been hav- in India in December. It is decthe Presbyterian Board of For- orated with a simple line draw- ing the fun of a Christmas tree ing of a Christmas tree hung in May. But it reminded them with bright-colored balls. That • All quotations are from The Missionary t Copyright by The Board of Foreign Mis- will be the bright co.lored bags of the offerings! Herold at Home ana Abroad and are used by sions of the Presbyterian Church. Used by permiSSion. permiSSion.
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
A little verse by the mission- their bright bags on Christ~as Reading for Children * trees small enough to be carned. ary in India closes, "whole In selecting missionary books Christmas in December, makes Then from each department, in all of us remember Him, whose for children, there are always coming brought Christmas for procession, headed by one ca~ry us all." two points to keep in mind. ing the tree, they come hack mto Perhaps the nicest part of this First tChheildarpepneaarraenceent~otlfedthtoe announcement folder is the in- the auditorium, where the trees book.' side two pages which carry a Mother's Day thought which bearing their gifts of love are beautiful books. By thIS I do links this observance of Christmas in May to a Mother and placed together on the pla~form. not mean expensive books, be- Child of long ago. Now the gifts are dedIcated. cause many less expensive bo?ks On Christmas night-long, long ago A mother's arms a baby held. It is recalled what joy ther.e will combine the good taste and SIm- A Child that was the Hope of man be in the use of the articles pur- plicity which are char~cteris~ic A prophet's dream at last fulfilled. chased with the money, or other of beautiful books-a hIgh pnce So many children since that day In many lands o'er all the eartJ:1 uses made of it, in that far-off does not necessarily guarantee Rejoice on Christmas Day and smg land of India. There is emphasis quality. But a book for a child Of Jesus and His holy birth. placed on the gift as a link of must be attractive to the eye as Yet many children would not know Of Him and what He came to be love between those giving and well as to the mind-its size and Except as men and women go those receiving. Carols are sung. shape, the siz~ and face of the To take His Word across the sea. Christmas in May is over. type the bindmg, the cover de- The Church a mother needs to be With arms outstretched to gently The groups which use the sign' and the jacket. hold Summer Christmas Tree idea The second point is the con- Each tiny soul close to her heart And with her love all babes enfold. have found that in this quieter tent. A beautiful appearance is "Christl1w8 in May" our slogan is time the carols are sung with worthless without value between "That Others May Have Christmas Too." fresh zest and enjoyment; that the covers. In judging the con- In May we bring our gifts of love there is opportunity for inter- tents of books for children, there To make their Christmas dreams come true. preting the Christmas message is one question to ask one's self: By poverty and sin oppressed to the world in terms beyond Is the content of the book with- Not many joys their own they call that of remembering the first in the ability of the child for A gift from you may make them know Christmas; that where gifts are whom it is chosen – are the That Jesus came and loved them sent more careful planning is words and the incidents within all. mpoosnseiby,le~' that where the gift is his understanding? 'Tis fitting then, this Mother's Day more generous gift is To think of India's children too The final question, which is available and eagerly offered. As real they are, though far away the deciding factor in a decision As your own children are to you. In trying any such plan it is to buy this book instead of that, In serving them, honor anew weU to remember that careful Mother and Child of Bethlehem. is : Is the content Christian? motivation is necessary. We Send Christmas cheer acros~ the sea Are Christian attitudes, sympa- To India's children-In HIS Name. cannot simply s.ay, "Lo! We will thies and conducts treated as So much for the folder. It does have a summer Christmas tree. motivate the enterprise nicely. natural and normal expressions Careful planning and work in Let everyone bring gifts for it." the departments togethe~ w!th of life? education about the destmatIOn Study the record of what this and use of the gifts comes to a In selecting missionary books culmination on the day set. church actually did, how it Each one from tiny child to for children a few factors must grandmother brings a little planned, and what its presentabright-colored bag to the Sun- be applied: (1) The facts about day school service. tions were. Work out your own other racial and national groups Everyone meets to sing carols plans with a definite reason for for fifteen minutes. Then they must be true. (2) The book go to departmen~s, wher.e a bri~f attempting it; think thoroughly service of worshIp culmmates m must not contain any statements through the introduction to it or illustrations that hold racial which you will use. ~ake ~he occasion a real celebratIOn, WIth or national groups up to ridicule.
enough ceremonial to bring the (3) Great world issues, such as atmosphere of Christmas into its disarmament, world peace, eco- observance. Do not attempt, nomic justice, and racial equal- hwohwicehvegr~ to imitate those things ity must not be minimized. (4) into the season itself, There should be no statements such as simulated snow, etc. by which children I?igh~ gener- Here is a chance to have a semi- alize and come to IdentIfy cer- tropical Christmas, such as a tain racial or national groups great part of the world has every with criminal offenses.
year anyway. Start with plans Many of the books which chil- not too elaborate, and if you find dren have been using as supple- the idea has values, let the ob- mentary readers in geography servance grow from year to are useful in this work of mis- year into one of those traditional sionaryeducation. Many secular affairs, ever recur. ring,.yet . ever publication h~uses are prod?c- new and ever mcreasmg m ing books whIch really are m- worth and value for those taking herently missionary.
hanging the gifts of money in part in its observance. • From Women ana Miss·Wn8.
A Story for the
By VIOLET WOOD, Missionary Education Movement THE GARDEN OF JOSEPH You hQnQr yourself in honoring can to make amends for my past OF ARIMATHlEA cowardness." him," said the boy. "It is the same as when Jesus NicQdemus plucked at his long Drawing their mantles about was born – no. place to. lay his them, Joseph and Nicodemus head. And nQw," Benjamin beard as he sat at the rough table went to Pilot and boldly asked wiped away la tear, "who will on which a flickering lamp for the body of Jesus. Receivtake him down from the cross? ing his permission, they went to Who will give a corner of his es- burned. It should have been still the hill called Golgotha, near to tate for the body of Jesus? He daylight outside, but a strange Joseph's burying ground, and said that he WQuld rise again. took the body from the cross. Oh, that he might rise in a darkness had covered Jerusalem Solemnly they wrapped it in garden such as that Qne of yQurs that afternoon. near to. Jerusalem, beautiful with spices and placed it in the new sunlight, flowers of lilies and "My trades will suffer if the tomb in Joseph's garden. Then palm trees!" Jews think that I am a disciple Qf the Nazarene," sighed Joseph. they rolled a great stone against Joseph of Arimathrea paced the entrance and went home to "Yes," a g r e e d Nicodemus, observe the Sabbath. Meanwhile "but perhaps we could take the Pilot placed a guard of soldiers body in the night and bury him secretly." Benjamin forgot that he was up and down as the boy was but a servant boy and cried to watch the tomb, and to prespeaking. Of all his servants scornfully, "All the wQrld will vent the body from being stolen. none was so loved as the young know where Jesus is buried. You The Sabbath passed in gloom. lad, Benjamin, because he was a cannot hide his burial pl1ace. I But on the third day a great fearless disciple Qf Jesus. Joseph have heard that he said he would commotion arose in the streets. was a believer, too, but in secret. rise again from the dead." Often the master and servant People said to one another: "The journeyed together as father "Your faith shames my grave of Jesus is empty, in spite and son. Benjamin was excused years," said Joseph. of Pilot's guard. The stone is from his work to go to the rolled away! Jesus' disciples say market and public pl1aces to hear The llamp on the table flick- Jesus speak. The boy would re- ered as the door opened and a that he has risen from the dead." turn to the inn where Joseph heavily veiled lady crossed the Hearing this rumor, Joseph, Nic- room and ran to Nicodemus, cry- odemus and Benjamin hurried to awaited him and would sit up ing: "Suchan evil day I have the garden; they saw the empty half the night telling the mer- tomb and marvelled. They also chant what Jesus had said and never seen, my husband. I have been the whole day following the heard the stories of the women done. crowds. Jesus has been cruci- who had gone early to the gar- den and were told how the fied."
A full day they had traveled "But he promised that he will guards had tried to defend themfrom Arimathrea to Jerusalem to live again," cried Benjamin. selves. the house of Nicodemus, a ruler "Judith, this ,child is a disciple "Look," cried Benj amin, "how of the Jews. He, too, was drawn of Jesus, and he would have beautiful this garden is! See to Jesus and had visited him by Joseph give the new tomb in his how the flowers are blooming. night to ask him many questions. garden outside the walls of Jeru- It is a holy place and people will "He gave all fQr me," mut- salem for the body of Jesus," ex- come to see it from over the seas tered Joseph, partly to himself, plained NicQdemus. and across burning deserts." "even his life. And I stand here "I beg it, too," said she as she Benjamin was right. Of all hesitant to give his crucified clasped her hands and turned to the gardens in the world the body a corner of my garden. Yet Nicodemus. "Let us give linens most famous in song and story if I went to Pilate, it would be and aloes to a hundred pounds." is the garden of Joseph of known that I am a disciple of She swung around to Joseph, ex- Arimathrea where the body of claiming: "I would not be Pon- Jesus was buried and where he Jesus." "Ah, but if you love him, J 0- tius Pilate for all the perfumes rose from the dead. seph of Arimathrea, you will of the East. He is uneasy in his count it an hQnor to have his soul tonight. He will not refuse Making Use of This Story body rest in yQur new tomb. In you." Children like to take part in pagthe years to come, men will "I will do it," said Joseph sud- eants, especially when they can be in denly, "for my heart tells me not costume and perform before adults. travel from far and near to see They like better often to take part in the place. 'Here it was,' they to be a coward." plays among themselves and to let will say, 'that the Lord's body "I go with you," cried Nico- their imaginations supply stage prop- was laid by his friend J Qseph.' demus, "and will do whatever I erties and costumes.
[206 ] BULLETIN Council of Women for 'Home Missions EDITED BY MISS EDITH E, LOWRY, 297 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y.
===============================~ "CAN CHRISTIANS BIND carry it out. It is hoped that Three members, each from the THE WORLD TOGETHER?" there may be a national radio The only answer to this is: we broadcast as a closing address. National Council of Federated can try. As we face a choice be- But for this the local papers Church Women, the Council of should be watched and local pro- Women for Home Mission-s, and tween Christianity and chaos, grams arranged accordingly. and there seems to be no other the Committee on Women's alternative, it is important that Last year the church women Work of the Foreign Missions of 414 communities in forty-four Conference. The activities and we should think and work to- states and Canada reported havgether. The National Committee ing h e I d interdenominational interests which have become the May Luncheons for the first responsibilities of its committees of Church Women brings this time. This is all the more re- include: (1) International relachallenge to the Christian wom- markable in that only one such tions, (2) World Day of Prayer, en of 77,000 communities in the luncheon was held in New York (3) May Day Luncheon, (4) The United States, and asks that they City each year during the years Church Woman (magazine), and unite in a nation-wide observ- 1934 to 1937 with an average at- (5) local programs. ance of the May Luncheon on tendance in the two hundreds. Thursday, May 4, 1939. To quote from a few of the re- The foundations for the organ- ports which came in last year: The May Luncheons may be "Westminster, Maryland. The ization of the National Commitheld wherever convenient – ho- most thrilling thing was the way tee of Church Women in its prestel, parish house, church gym- all seven churches cooperated in ent form were many years in the nasium or private home-as long arranging for the luncheon." laying. During the early part of as all "come together with one "Elmira, New York. Our main mind." It is suggested that plans address was broadcast for forty- the twentieth century a number five min utes over WESG." of community women's interdebe started immediately by a local "Lyndhurst, New Jersey. A nominational g r 0 ups were wo man's interdenominational committee was appointed to meet formed to further programs of group, a church woman's group, ten days after the luncheon to study and service. The year or some one woman. The coop~ make plans for further unity." 1924 found these groups related "Lawrence, Kansas. Twelve deeration of all Christian women nominations were represented." to the Council of Women for in the community is vital. "In- Home Missions and the Federaterdenominational" means not *** tion of Woman's Boards of Foronly members of the Protestant eign Missions, but evidencing a churches but of all churches WHY IS THERE A NA- desire to extend their programs which "accept Jesus Christ as TJONAL COMMITTEE OF into fields beyond these forms of God and Saviour," for so does CHURCH WOMEN? "Recogthe constitution of the WorId nizing the desperate need of the mission service so as to include Council define its membership. world for the leadership of Jesus all phases of the church's pro- in all areas of life, we hereby de- gram. In ord~r that church women clare that it is imperative that the country over may face the the womanhood of America be- In 1936 the National Council task unitedly, it is. essential (1) come a united force for bringing that the subject for the luncheon in the Kingdom of God and that of Federated Church Women be, "Can Christians Bind the this united body shall relate it- elected a Commission on Re- World Together?"; (2) that the self definitely to an inclusive evaluation to make a study of the I uncheon he interdenomina- united C h r i s t ian advance." whole movement of interdenomtional; and (3) that it be held These words embody the objec- inational cooperation and relaon May 4th. A program outline tive of the Committee which tionships. One of its recommenis being prepared and will be came into being January, 1938. dations was that a conference of Who constitutes the National all national Protestant interdesent to anyone on receipt of five Committee of Church Women? nominational women's groups cents in stamps.. (Address: The and denominational leaders be National Committee of Church [207] held. Out of that conference, Women, Room 63, 297 Fourth held at Lake Geneva in July, Avenue, New York, N. Y.) Local 1937, came the recommendation that a cooperative committee be leaders will have to be secured to formed. This was a,pproved by the two mission organizations,
members were appointed, and an without the aid of God, but I terms of human personality and initial meeting held September, KNOW . . . I KNOW . . . it the right of every man to be 1937. This committee was con- cannot be done without Him." treated as a God-created being stituted as the National Commit- whatever his race, color or tee of Church Women in J an- "How can we make you see," creed." uary, 1938. said he to the young people, "that this is the greatest cause you can "We need to make better use "This committee has taken dedicate your lives to today. All of our leisure time, devoting it only the first steps in cooperation about you, you see practices chal- to our cause and let people know and coordination," states its lenging your sense of right and we have a cause worth working chairman. "We dare not proph- wrong. All about you are signs for." esy as to its future, but we hope of an undermining of our prethis initial step may mean a cious heritage, the democracy in "We need to discover the truth steadily growing unity among which we live, founded in faith about monopoly control, selfish church women in purpose, pro- by our forefathers with the courgram and action, for only thus age of a real conviction." use of land which robs the soil can the respons,ibility in the of the power to bear fruit, selfish overwhelming tasks which are Where can youth find a use of privilege, exploitation of facing the Church and the church greater challenge than the call labor groups, the underpriviwoman today be faced and met." to heal the deep cleavage so ap- leged migrants,share-croppers, parent in human relations today. MABEL M. SHEIBLEY, Man's inhumanity to man, greed, tenant farmers, the unemployed, crime, oppression, strife, envy, city slum areas, the plight of the Member of the Editorial American Indian and the prob- and Publicity Committee, hate, and war, are these not ene- lems of Indian youth, unfair Council 0 f Women f.or mies enough to challenge any ad- practices in industry and race Home Missions. discrimination. All of us are in venturous soul? A "CAUSE" FOR AMER- Following Dr. Muste's ad- close touch with some of these ICAN YOUTH conditions. We may find that dress, five young people told very church people are in part respon- On January 8 there was held in Baltimore a conference for graphically what avenues of sible and therefore not willing young people, the purpose of service were open to· young peO- that our investigations should be which was to help them see a ple. made an issue. We shall need the little more clearly how they could make real the fact that Christian The young people then sep- courage therefore of our convic- Youth has, the answer to the vital arated and met in small groups tions, that is why it is important problems that face our world to- to discuss more intimately ways day. that we have convictions, and and means of participation in dare to live by them." Choosing as its theme, "Chris- the enterprises which offer optian Youth Has the Answer," the portunities for service. "We do not need to be minis- Young People's Committee of the ters or missionaries to put the Home Missions Councils spon- A number of very concrete Gospel into action." sored this conference for young recommendations were the repeople in connection with the sult of these group conferences, "We can form study groups, annual meetings of the Home some of which we enumerate: join a discussion group, plan and Missions Councils. carry out local projects, make a "We need to inform ourselves survey together, e x c han g e Dr. Abraham Muste, of the concerning conditions that are friendship invitations with for- Labor Temple, New York City, impoverishing and debasing mil- eign groups, offer our leisure was invited to pres.ent to youth lions of our fellow countrymen." his challenging message born out time to social service and recreaof a deep personal conviction "We need to demonstrate that tional centers, give voluntary that Christ is the only answer we are not willing to accept priv- service to City Mission interest man has with which to meet the groups, offer to sponsor a group challenge of present-day living. ileges and opportunities for our- selves and be content to ignore for under-privileged children, In his opening address, Dr. another's lack of privilege." but before all else, practice Muste stressed the fact of sin Christ-like living in all our perand the need of a recognition of "We need so deep a conviction sonal relationships." it as the deep seated cause for that existing conditions are our all the unrest and problems of responsibility that we shall feel "We need to give much more our day. "The Christ-way," said compelled to do something about time to prayer." Dr. Muste, "will face the fact of them." sin, man's need of God, his help- Thus did these young people lessness without God and his "We need a better knowledge express themselves. Has youth power when linked with the a cause? The greatest and Eternal. Once I too thought that of the Bible and Jesus' teachings grandest and most challenging man's way out could be found in order that we may approach existing problems in a Christ- cause in the world – one that manner." Christ died for, and one that we as young people must make ours "We need to begin by asking with a throbbing passionate con- ourselves-Am I truly Christian cern. in my attitudes and actions, in all my relationships?" JULIA HEINES, "We need to stop thinking Chairman, Joint Committee on about discrimination against one Young People's Work, Home particular race and think in Missions Council and Council of Women for Home Missions.
World–wide
A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events EDITED BY MRS. HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON, XENIA, OHIO !.'p'
INDIA, BURMA AND SIAM orable man. I have observed Conference at a meeting of its that you Christian people seem Executive Committee in Lahore. Persecution Raises Its Head to know how to do this." In response to this appeal, the Executive Committee passed the Mrs. John L. Goheen, Presby- Danger to be Avoided following resolution: "This Conterian missionary in West India, ference views with alarm the resays that the Hindu world at The following quotation from cent increase in the number of Sangli has blown wide open in Bishop Lapp's book, "The Chris- marriages in cases where the its determination to prevent the tian Church and Rural India," first wife is alive. It condemns Mahars from becoming Chris- emphasizes one of the difficulties the action of those educated tian. Nightly mass meetings in in Christian work in a Hindu en- women who, setting aside all the theater were held with well- vironment: standards of common decency known speakers exalting Hindu- and sympathy for their own sex, ism, attacking Christianity, de- Christian influence is spread out have consented to marry men nouncing the missionaries, and thinly and watered down to what it whose wives are still living. It warning people against going to is considered the non-Christian staff further appeals to. all women to Miraj and the Hospital. Daily and local non-Christian opinion will discountenance and socially boyarticles in the vernacular news- stand for. The compulsory method of cott all such marriages., and do papers were full of untruth and attendance at religious teaching is their utmost to prevent the celeinuendos. Members of the Hindu practiced, which too often imposes up- bration of such marriages in Missionary Society and others on the pupils an insipid form of re- future." descended upon a group of Chris- ligious instruction. No conversions to tians at night with gas torches Christianity are expected, and the ed- -Indian Social Reformer. and tried ,to terrify or cajole ,ucational training for both Christian them into renouncing their faith. and non-Christian students is given in Conference of Missionaries Few went back to Hinduism a secularized Brahmin atmosphere. to Moslems and those who have done so were One has called it partially Hinduizing all from places where Christian our Christian boys. . . . He compared In December, under the ausservices were infrequent. The what in his opinion are futile and pices of the Henry Martyn whole experience teaches the fruitful schools and supported Mr. School of Islamic Studies, a twonecessity of strengthening the Arthur Mayhew's view that quality of day conference of missionaries Christian life by means of daily work, personality, leadership and free to Moslems was held in Delhi. worship and by training leaders experimentation should characterize The delegates (61 in all) were for every village. This has led the Christian school in India. Our drawn from Turkey, Iran, Palesto the adoption of a plan for call as Christian forces is to do some- tine, Cairo, Korea, and from al-' holding classes to develop lay thing of the finest quality and embody most every part of India. A leaders. The high quality of the Christian ideals in every part of number of those present were on those who have come into the school life for the sake of the Chris- their way to Madras for the classes makes it plain that a new tian boys as future leaders in the World Conference. Under the door has opened. Church and in new India, and for the leadership of Dr. Murray Titus, non-Christian pupils and Indian ed- the delegates discussed "The Mrs. Goheen relates a signifi- ucationalists who watch our work, Christian Enterprise, and Its Incant incident in connection with and to whom the Christian Church fluence on Islam." One session the kindergarten at Sangli. A will be either commended or con- was devoted to the need for well known nobleman asked a demned thereby. He criticized the Christian literature for Mosmember of the Mission to take Western Church for building up huge lems. Miss Constance Padwick, his grandson into her home and institutions which represent methods of Jerusalem, told of present to bring him up as her own son, alien to the Indian eye and thought, trends in literature; Rev. W. A. saying – "I want him to be a and difficult for the future Indian Zoerner described an experiment good boy." Church to manage, in the day when in newspaper evangelism in the transfer of control and manage- North India. "But, you know," said the mis- ment into the hands of the Indian sionary, "I should have to teach Church seems so near at hand. "Lord's Acre" Plan in Katpadi him in the Christian way." Punjab Leaders and Polygamy "We are so poor; the rains "Teach him what you please have failed; our young men have and as you please, but make him Several prominent leaders of an upright, clean living and hon- the Punjab have characterized polygamy as the greatest social evil of India. Not long ago a spirited appeal was made to all women by the Central Punjab Branch of the All-India Women's [209 ]
had to go away to the tea estates progressive Maharajah who died pointment of a missionary the to earn cash to pay taxes. How recently, was to make an agree- next year. It soon undertook is it possible to double our ment to prevent alcoholic bev- w 0 r k among the depressed church contribution, if the Mis- erages from going to Bombay classes in Central Travancore, sion withdraws its help and we from his state which adjoins the from whom it met ready reare to pay our pastor his $25 a Bombay presidency. sponse. Within six years, it or- month ?" Total prohibition is one of the ganized the annual Convention at This was the response to the chief objectives of the Congress Mar3Jmon which is the largest news that the Arcot Mission was for an India which they hope to evangelical Christian gathering obliged to discontinue its annual make absolutely independent of in the world. The Convention grant of $150 to a rural church. England. Writing in his weekly which lasts for a week has been A meeting was called; the mis- paper "Harijan," Gandhi says conducted regularly for the last sionary explained the "Lord's the Congress has the right to ex- forty-four years.
Acre" idea, and it was agreed to pect the sympathy "of the best The audience, which often send month-old, purebred chick- minds in the whole world in this, numbers over thirty thousand, ens from the poultry farm toO perhaps the greatest moral listens to the GoOspel truths froOm some 200 village homes, to be movement of the century." famous evangelists. The activi- raised and later contributed to ties of the association oOutgrew the church. The plan took root, To Train Women Workers the boundaries oOf Travancore and Rev. J. J. ValoOis has set within which it was oOriginally down SoOme of the tangible re- Last year the Punjab governsuIts: The IoOcal income was ment launched a five-year plan confined. In its eighteenth antrebled; the pastor received his for rural development, and as a nual meeting it decided to undersalary regularly; everyone had part of this plan a domestic take missionary activities oOut- side Travancore, and then in a specific share in making the training school for women will Bombay Presidency. venture a success, and the spir- be opened in Lahore. One stuitual life was deepened; the dent from each district has been Membership is open to all selected. Christians without distinction, work was not a "flash in the It is claimed toO be the first at- and every member is expected pan," but interest has continued; tempt of its character in India. to be a witness. "N0 debts" is purebred poultry has spread to After receiving nine months another principle lately adopted. other villages; the project at- training these women welfare tracted attention of other vil- -National Missionary lages; and it was the Indians workers will be posted to their Intelligencer. themselves, not the foreign mis- respective districts and tour sioOnary, whoO made the plan selected villages. They will teach Gospel Transforms Primitive work. -Agricultural Mission women improved methods of Men cooking, sewing, knitting, ele- Notes. mentary hygiene, animal hus- Rev. C. U. Strait, of the bandry, fruit culture, gardening, Burma Baptist Mission, says PoOrt of Bombay Decreed Dry that on his first trip to the Chin cooperatives, maternity and wel- Hills fifteen years ago, the Dewitt MacKenzie, Associated fare work. The school will be Deputy Commissioner, a fellow Press correspondent, says that run on residential lines. passenger, bluntly asked him if Gandhi's crusade to make India he knew where he was going; -The Guardian (Bombay).
dry in three years appears to be Mar Thoma Evangelistic and on finding that Mr. Strait "going places." His latest tri- Association was on his way toO undertake umph puts the world famous missionary work, added: "Do port of Bombay on the dry list The Mar Thoma Syrian Chris- you know that the Haka Chins as from August 1. This cosmo- tian Evangelistic Association of are all drunkards-men, women politan city of about 1,200,000 the Reformed Syrian Church in and children?" They were not people has for centuries provided Malabar has completed fifty only drunkards, he found, but the means of quenching the years of missionary work. 'It dirty to the point of being filthy, thirst of wayfarers from all na- preceded the National Mission- and ignorant beyond belief. Povtions. ary Society of India by 17 years. erty, too, was the natural conse- Thus far, out of the 11 prov- It was in September, 1888, that quence. inces of British India, partial twelve men met in Central Tra- A review of what has happrohibition has been inaugurated vancore and decided to fOrllli an pened in a decade and a half is in half a dozen where the nation- association to take the Christian convincing proof of the power alists-that is, the All-India Na- message to their fellowmen of the Gospel. There are now tional Congress – have gained without distinction of caste, Christians in more than a huncontrol of the governments. Ad- creed or denomination. Every dred villages; four hundred or dition of the rich prize of Bom- member of the group was to con- more are baptized every year. bay to the list will give the move- tribute according to his means, Not many of these revert to ment much impetus. as well as to be himself a witness heathenism. Drunken f e as t s One of the last acts of the bearer. Growth in membership have given way toO the Commun- Gaekwar of Baroda, the famQus and funds made possible the ap- ion Service, and it is an in-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
spirational scene never to be for- tian Homes Campaign of the Hangchow College in Shanghai gotten, says Mr. Strait, to attend Chinese Church, which aims at the Communion Service at a making every Christian home a Dr. Clarence B. Day, of Hang- Chin Hill Association meeting. center of witness. Daily family chow Christian College, writes There twelve to fifteen hundred worship is insisted upon, and is that this college, driven from Christians come together from becoming the regular custom. Hangchow by the Japanese infar and near, and instead of hair Many Chinese Christians would vasion, is now carrying on in the pulling and drunken bouts, one be greatly surprised if they Continental Emporium (a bankobserves a very devout and con- came to America and found how ing and office building) on Nansecrated service. While all are rare a thing is family worship. king Road, Shanghai. St. John's seated closely together on the College was located here a year ground, the service is conducted Missionaries Help Victims ago and Soochow University and without commotion and with the Science Departments of the reverence and dignity. The NO'rth American News- University of Shanghai occupy paper Alliance adds its testimony space in the same building. Indian Church in Rangoon to the service rendered by mis- These temporary arrangements sionaries during the war. More have been made possible by Three years ago an Indian than 4,000 Americans have American contributions. These Church was established in Ran- joined about 3,000 missionaries institutions are working togO'O'n at Judson College. This of other Western nations in gether in class work and operate church now has 88 members, of forming a highly specialized a joint library and a student whom 64 are men and 24 are corps which constitutes the only cafeteria. There are about 2,000 women. During the past year prO'tection the Chinese have in men and women students that there were 16 baptisms. Pastor the dangerous and frequently tax the seating capacity of the Devadass devotes his time to the Iong interval between the retreat classrooms and crowd the elevachurch and evangelistic work of Chinese civil and military tors and stairways. The new amO'ng the Tamils and Telugus forces and the establishment of educational posters display the within the school and in the vi- law and order by the Japanese slogan: "War or no war, Chinese cinity. There are 83 children in invaders. Often they act as Pied Youth must be educated." the Bible school. Pipers to' lead hO'meless children O'ut of the danger zone. For Communists Less Hostile – Watchman-Examiner. more than two years, in addition to Christianity to their usual evangelistic, med- CHINA ical and educational work, they Dr. Earl Cressy, in China have undertaken such special Marches Toward the Cross, Building for the Future tasks as scouring the streets for makes the remarkable statement wO'unded, thrusting themselves that anti-Christian sentiment "Button your cO'at!" is an between drunken Japanese sol- among communists is disappearorder heard frequently on the diers bent 'On looting and raping ing. It is not to be concluded street of any Chinese city. It is their victims, and generally try- that all of them are becoming part of the New Life Move- ing to ease the blows of an occu- Christians, but there is a vast ment which is waging war upon pation by an army that is a law- change from the bitter spirit of untidiness, laziness, .vice and less mob. The conduct of the 1928. Freedom has been given dirt. Anyone slouching along the missionaries is adding a remark- to evangelistic bands of Chinese street with garments half on is able chapter to the history of hu- pastors to circulate among them likely to be told by a member of man heroism in the face of gall- and preach the Gospel. This the YO'uth Brigade to straighten ing trial. sweeping change is described by up his shoulders and keep on the Bishop Roots: left side of the rO'ad. But this is "Only nationals of a foreign not all. The New Life Movement nation can meet the invaders "A short time ago I invited to sends inspectors intO' homes, and and talk to them," is a statement lunch with me one of' the comlabels are affixed to dO'O'rs in- repeated over and over again. munist generals whom I had forming the public whether the heard of in 1930 as a determined hoones are clean or dirty. Every The actual number of mission- enemy of Christianity. After child in school is expected to' do aries on the field has decreased preliminary polite remarks, but something to improve his own by only about 10ro' since the war before he would eat, he asked particular surroundings. Armies began. Board officials report the me, 'Do you remember our past?' of fly swatters strive to see who frequent spectacle of mission- I replied that I remembered him can produce the largest number aries on field trips, caught by an as one who, some years ago, had of dead' flies in a given time. advancing Japanese army, has- carried some of my friends tening frantically back to their around with him as his prison- The O'ld and mid-dle aged in posts, from which Chi n e s e ers. To this he said, 'There were night schoO'ls learn to read how armies and refugees were as many misunderstandings then. a literate people can build a new frantically fleeing away. All de- The missionaries have helped China. The war with Japan has nominations and agencies report much in Shens,i and Shansi. We only increased the ardor of both a large increase in the number are sorry for the misunderstandold and young. Paralleling the of conversions. New Life Movement is the Chris-
ings of the past and want to black lacquer tablet with the JAPAN-CHOSEN work with them for the good of four Chinese words meaning "True Source of All Created Japan Sends Buddhist Priests China hereafter.''' – Watchman-Examiner. Things." The presentation was made in A subtle move on the part of Persecution and Destruction Japan is to send Buddhist priests style. There were musicians and to China, a piece of mission work Forty years of devoted, effi- bearers in gay uniform, some undertaken by the Japanese Budcient service in one of the hard- dhist Federation, whose memest fields in the world, Chinese fine speeches were made and the bership comprises 159,000 Bud- Turkestan, has been tragically usual picture taken. To ensure dhist priests. interrupted. Fourteen of the tha,t only good influences should seventeen missionaries who have Two hundred Japanese Budbeen working under the auspices prevail while the tablet was be- dhist priests have been chosen of the Swedish Mission in Sin- ing hung, the band dared not for the work. Their activities kiang Province (Chinese Tur- stop playing while it was hoisted began October 1 with an inkestan) have been compelled to and fastened in place high above tensive three-weeks' course in return home because of the per- the pulpit. the Chinese language, this course being provided by the Ministry -London Missionary Herald.
secution of the Christians and The Resurgence in the West of Education. Since both peothe practically utter destruction ples use the same characters, the of their work. During a Moslem China's Millions makes fur- acquisition of a working knowlrevolt the station at New Kash- ther comment on the significance edge of Chinese will not be an gar was burned; later the rebels of the westward trek of refu- insuperable task for these J apwere suppressed or driven into gees, which has included per- anese priests.-The Guardian. India. But local authorities re- sonnel of government departvived the persecution, scattering ments, leaders of education, or imprisoning the Christians finance and industry, seeking re- Korean Village Campaign and closing the printing office establishment in "free" China. The plans of the Oriental Misand the hospital. The British A government commission made sionary Society include the send- Foreign Office sought to remedy a survey of these western prov- ing of bands of students to the the situation, but as there was islands off the coast of Korea. no improvement only three mis- inces, and found that their rich- The islanders are very poor, as ness in natural resources is far sionaries have remained to beyond the imagination of those they suffer frequent drouths and watch developments. living in eastern China. They live chiefly on barley instead of Honoring the Church have remained unexploited for rice. Many of them live and die on the island where they were VVhen the Japanese forces lack of good communications, born, without ever making a trip but there are now strategic to the mainland, and therefore were attacking Tsinan, the UTa motor roads linking the large know nothing of such modern cities; one 1,400 miles long ex- things as railway trains and Huai Shu" Christian center shel- motor cars. The students were tered more than 1,000 women tends to the Burmese frontier, often mistaken for government and girls. for over a month, and and it was along this highway officials or police, and many fed those destitute. To show their gratitude, the citizens came that our American ambassador places they had to work for some made the first trip by private car time to assure the people that to the mission and said: "Let us it was all right for them to acpresent you with a red silk um- on his return to the United cept the Gospel tracts. which they States. brella on which the names of the were distributing. donors are inscribed in golden There is an astonishing num- ber of Christians among these letters." "VVhat could we do fleeing refugees, and like the with a red silk umbrella," the "scattered brethren" of the early As they journeyed here and church, they are "everywhere there they sometimes arrived on missionaries asked. "Then we will present you preaching the word." As to stu- an island at midnight, and would find all the inns closed and the with an inscribed tablet that will dents, a missionary writes: extol your virtues to a hundred "If you can imagine all the occupants asleep. They would generations," they said. school boys and girls and univer- then climb the rocks above the "That won't please us," re- sity students of England scat- sea and spend the rest of the plied the missionaries, "we don't tered over the capitals of Europe night praying for all those asleep want to be glorified. VVhy not you get some picture of the ex- below in sin and ignorance. buy a bell to call people to wor- tent, although not of the number, Statistical reports show that ship? If you must present a of refugee students." Another these bands walked 3,519 miles, gift, let it be one in praise of the missionary in Yunnanfu empha- dealt personally with 4,242 perheavenly Father who kept us sizes the spiritual changes that sons, held 218 open-air meetings, safe." So it was decided and have come about, and says that with the result that 918 persons these words were embossed on so strong is the national unity definitely sought the Saviour.
the bell: "The Bell to Rouse the that China can never be con- -Oriental Missionary VVorld." They also prepared a quered by an enemy. Standard.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
ISLANDS OF THE PAOIFIO NORTH AMERIOA ing to the religious faith of their families. The bill further pro- Going to New Guinea Is America Becoming Pagan? vides that pupils be credited with the time so spent, as if in The latest word from Captain Here are a few facts that actual attendance in school. Ellis Skolfield says that the pro- would seem to substantiate Dr. jected New Guinea trip of the William Adams Brown's claim A Nation-Wide Reading Poll Gospel Ship is now definitely that "America is progressively under way, and the Ship is now becoming pagan." Nearly half The American Institute of at J 010, the last outpost of the of our present population claims Public Opinion has recently com- Philippines b e for e entering no sort of relationship to the pleted a poll on the question: Dutch waters. At J 010 the bal- Christian Church. Ten thousand "What is the most interesting ance of supplies and oil are be- rural communities are church- book you ever ·read?" The aning taken aboard and the re- less, while thirty thousand have swers indicate that the Bible is mainder of the Ship's personnel no pastor in residence. Ap- still the most favored. However, are being awaited. proximately 13,400,000 Ameri- the age distribution is disquiet- can children under twelve years ing. The percentage of people In addition to a full crew in- of age receive no religious in- more than fifty years old who cluding two engineers, there will struction whatever. Many moun- preferred it was more than twice be Captain Skolfield, Dr. Culley, tain pockets and range regions as large as those between thirty Rev. Simon Meek, pastor of the of the South and West, back- and fifty; and six times as high Chinese Church in Manila who ward sections of New England, as those under thirty. will go along as interpreter and Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, the Chinese evangelist and Rev. Dakotas, and elsewhere, voice An editorial in the New York Percy Fraser, independent mis- urgent demands for adequate re- Times declares: sionary who has served in the ligious ministries. Utah has Navy and who will go along as seven whole counties without a Any comment on this may do no special helper to Captain Skol- functioning evangelical mission. more than betray the age of the comfield, also as an addition to the mentator; but it remains a plausible crew. Mr. Fraser is also an In Maine, 100,000 rural folk conjecture that if fewer of the young earnest soul-winner. In addition have no religious opportunities, people of today prefer the Bible it is to these men there will be sev- and throughout New England, because fewer of them read it. It eral Filipino evangelists in the contains not only about the best Engparty. only 40 % of the adults and 33 % lish prose ever written but a greater variety of material than can be found A special gift has made pos- of the young people are claimed in any other single volume on the book sible the purchase of a new life by any church or Sunday school. market; purely as literature, some of boat and some other needed A study of 11 townships of one the most widely read persons in all equipment. Michigan county showed 1,005 ages have found it better reading than children enrolled in 46 public anything else. Oentral Philippine Oollege schools, yet with no church or Sunday school. Another Mich- But in the days when it was uni- Central Philippine College at igan county reported that ap- versally read it was not read purely Iloilo has encouraged local self- proximately one-half its public as literature; it was read because it government since its beginning school pupils were unrelated to was the Word of God, the infallible in 1923, when four Filipino any church, Protestant, Catholic guide for life. If fewer people read members were elected to serve or Jewish. it now, that is to the lasting detriment with the seven missionary mem- of the cultural background of a nation. bers on the school's board of Moral Instruction in Schools trustees. By 1929 a majority of No such survey has previously the trustees were Filipinos. Mis- A bill introduced in the New been made, so that this one does sionaries' places were filled by Jersey State Legislature in Feb- not determine a trend. Some Filipinos in 1936 and 1937 when ruary proclaims in its preamble believe that an adequate apprea number of missionary terms that "One of the first requisites ciation of the Bible can only be expired. In accord with this of a harmonious, contented and acquired in later life, while policy, President H. F. Stuart prosperous state depends upon others say it can never be truly recently offered his resignation, religious tolerance and under- appreciated unless it has been expecting that a Filipino would standing." This bill would au- loved from youth. be chosen to head the institution. thorize public schools to provide The trustees felt that the time one hour of moral instruction In Behalf of Ohina had not yet come for this, and each week; and local boards appointed Rev. F. H. Rose as would be authorized-a permis- American interest in the sufacting president, while they look sive measure – to survey the ferings of the Chinese and the about for a suitable Filipino for religious affiliations of pupils. fate of China is shown by the vice-president, who may later With such information in hand, fact that there are eighty orbecome president. boards could then excuse certain ganizations in America working pupils to attend their respective for the relief of the Chinese suf- -Watchman-Examiner. places of· worship, there to re- ferers or to create practical sym- ceive moral instruction accord- pathy in their behalf. A direc- tory of these groups, published at 33 West 55th Street, New York City, includes all types of organizations, emphasizing va-
rious projects such as political young presbyters were conse- their disregard of the prior occuaid to China, the boycott of Jap- crated. It is patterned after a pation of a field by other Chrisanese goods, the promotion of similar venture started about tian workers. All Christians trade with China, friendly rela- eighteen months earlier in Nas- might learn some valuable lestions and relief of sufferers. sau and Suffolk Counties, New sons from the work of this ener- Eleven of the American organ- York. -New York Times. getic denomination.
izations are composed entirely of German-speaking Churches Chinese. They are scattered all The Seventh-Day Adventists over the country, from New York to California, and from The General Conference of German-speaking churches in Toronto, Canada, to Durham, Seventh-Day Adventists was or- North Carolina. ganized in 1863 – seventy-five the United States form the years ago. Today the work of Progress of Church Union largest foreign group in the Con- this Church is carried forward Those who wish to see denom- all over the world. The Church gregational- Christian Church. inational union will be interested was founded in 1845 and was to know that twelve such unions stimulated by a revival in Bible These have an aggregate memhave taken place in the United study on both sides of the At- States since 1906. Dr. E. D. bership of 22,166, and 109 pas- Kohlstedt, President of the Home lantic Ocean. The leaders em- Missions Council, lists them as phasized keeping God's law, tors. Most of these are in rural follows: especially the observance of the communities. Approximately 95 1906-Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., seventh day as the Sabbath, the and Cumberland Presby- imminent second coming of per cent are German immigrants terian Church. Christ and the judgment on un- from Russia, and the children of 1911-Northern Baptist and Free believers. In 1844 Adventists Baptist Churches. counted a thousand followers such parentage. Who are these and in 1863 there were 3,500 1917-Three Lutheran groups form members. In 1874 these had in- people? German colonists, after the Norwegian Church in creased to 7,000 and in 1894 to America. 42,763. Thirty years later there 1763, settled in southeastern were 70,000 members in Europe 1918-Three other Lutheran bodies Russia and became the object of form the United Lutheran alone with a total of 238,657 in Church. 5,393 churches in all lands. intense persecution. In the early There were then 8,679 pastors 1920-Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., and missionaries scattered to the seventies of the last century, the and Welsh Calvinistic Meth- odist Church. ends of the earth – in addition Czar determined to make Rus- to institutional workers. Today 1922-Evangelical Association and the Adventists report 28,029 sians out of them, and it was United Evangelical Church. workers in 385 countries and in then they sought America, the 1924-Reformed Church in the United 714 languages and dialects. They States and Hungarian Re- have a total membership of land of liberty. Emigration be- formed Church. 452,758 with 8,388 organized churches. The work continues gan at once, but it was not until 1924-Congregational and Evangelical to grow through 5,923 mission- Protestam Churches. after 1890 that they came in ary Volunteer Societies with a 1931-Congregational and Christian membership of 130,748. The large numbers, after which there groups are united. total denominational investment is reported to be $60,026,066. was a continuous influx until 1931-Three Lutheran bodies merge into the American Lutheran Two secrets of the progress 1914. By 1920 there were Church. of this Christian movement seem to be: (1) the missionary spirit 303,532 of their number first 1934-Evangelical Synod of North of its members; (2) the em- America and Ref 0 r m e d and second generation, in the Church in United States. United States. 1939-Unification of American Meth- odism. It is significant that the young Youth Presbytery in Brooklyn people are making little or no In Brooklyn, N. Y., twelve of effort to break away from the religious traditions of their elders. Although there is little opportunity for fellow s hip among these German Congrega- tionalists, since they are scat- tered over a wide area, they maintain their entity as if by un- seen ties, and hold to their mother tongue with great te- nacity. -Advance.
Why Work Among Mormons?
the 38 Presbyterian churches phasis on the Bible as the Word Recently a contributor to and missions have set up a pro- of God; (3) the tithing system Westminster College in Utah visional youth presbytery, made that produces a large and steady wrote Hans P. Freece, a repreup of delegates from young peo- income for church and mission- sentative of this College, and a ples' groups. Their purpose is ary work; (4) the wide use of former Mormon: "As Mormons to promote greater cooperation Christian literature; and (5) the no longer practice polygamy, and in religious work with members large number of volunteer we are led to believe they are their own age from churches of workers. highly educated, with a great other denominations. Members The chief criticisms of the deal of culture and refinement, are to be between the ages of movement are their undue em- just what is the purpose of mis- 15 and 30. phasis on the Old Testament sionary work among them?" To The project was formally Law-especially the observance which Mr. Freece replies :-"It launched in January, when 28 of the old Jewish Sabbath-and is true that polygamy is not now
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
openly practiced, but Mormons forc~ the law against selling liquor Colombian Missionary Society to mmors and to intoxicated persons say the Lord has only suspend- we would request the Territorial A correspondent in Colombian Liquor Commission to deny license re- Clippings describes a meeting of ed it for the time being and that funds to the town, and instead turn ~he Women's Missionary Society that money into the Territorial Treas- m the Central Presbyterian He will restore it in His own ury. Consequently the law was rigidly enforced and there was and is prac- Church of Barranquilla.. There time. God Himself has many tically no drunkenness. The mer- are the usual officers, with com- chant~ re~ort that many long out- mittees expected to have somewives, they say, and polygamy is standmg bIlls have been paid and that thing to report at each meeting. sales I;lre the largest in' years – for Roll call is answered with each practiced in heaven." ~rocerIes, hardware, paint and cloth- member repeating a Bible verse; mg. Mr. Troutman, the principal, de- there is a free will offeriXlg, and "Refinement and culture" are serves all the credit for his fearless a true prayer service. cooperation and determination to probelow the average in Utah. Some tect the natives. The society contributes to help support sick members, and paid better class Mormons send their Monday Morning says that al- the expenses for the hospitaliza- most every third door on the young people to Westminster main street of Sitka is a liquor tion of a faithful member. They stor~. This means sixty saloons also helped to purchase a horse College to get "refinement and servmg a population of less than and saddle for an itinerant mis- 3,500. Alaskan natives are so sionary. culture" ; also, high scholastic ,concerned about this situation attainments. Mormons do not know God nor trust in Jesus Christ, and Christian workers are needed in Utah for the same reason they are needed in China India and Africa. '
Indians On Their Own? that the Alaskan Native Broth- erhood, and Alaskan Native Sis- One of the recommendations terhood, at their 26th annual Among Primitive Indians on Indian work made by the convention, went on record as in favor of a system of governmen- The South American Indians Home Missions Council at its last tal control of liquor, similar to form one of the many groups meeting was a motion for the re- that in force in British Colum- that await the coming of the moval of certain Indian groups bia. missionary. These neglected peofrom the wardship of the Gov- ple range from healthy and ernment, particularly those who LATIN AMERICA friendly to degenerate and suscan well afford to meet their picious. They live in hidden vilobligations in taxation and other Cuban Workers Encouraged lages of the jungle, some orderly, elements of citizenship. some not, in primitive grass Several features of the Cuban houses. Other recommendations called work during the past year mark for the preparation of a state- advance, according to a South- The Inland South America ment setting forth the essentials ern Baptist report. Services are Missionary Union sent two of of a missionary program for In- more largely attended. Sunday their staff, with Indian guides, dians, involving trained leader- schools al'e larger. There are to survey the possibilities for more. frequent calls for cottage wo fo rtkh ea l omnigg ht ht iee sXt i ntgriubuRtiavreir~sonoef ship and one or more cooperative meetmgs. Places of worship are the Amazon. The first five days parishes for experimental work. taxe~ to capacity at ordinary were overland by mule back, Included in this statement is to serVIces, and are proving too attended by every possible diffibean appraisal of the Church's small for special occasions. culty connected with mule psywork in relation to other agen- chology. Then they reached the cies, and suggestions as to serv- The same spirit is manifest in river and the l'est of the trip was many different sections. At Co- by canoe, which sounds pleasant ices best performed by the lon, where people seemed apa- and peaceful but was not. The Church, as well as those best thetic a year ago, there are full canoes were crudely hollowed performed by other agencies. houses at all services. An evan- logs, shallow and heavily loaded. gelist who carried forty decision There were frequent and diffi- -Monday Morning. cards with him when he began cult portages. The sun was blaz- special services in Colon found ing and the insects biting. The Liquor in Alaska they were not enough. This Indian guides fished with bow steady growth calls for better and arrow. One of the men hung Much controversary has arisen trained workers. his clothes to dry on the ropes of the mosquito net one night, and over the liquor problem in Alas- The Southern Baptist Semi- in the morning found that car- nary, now in its third year, has rier ants had happened along ka, and the natives themselves seventeen students. Five go out and devoured most of his shirt. on Sunday to as many different deplore the laxness of law en- centers. Enrolment in the Mis- forcement. Rev. R. K. Wthheeelnear~ of Haines, writes t hat tives had success in their fishing last season, and knowing the peril they were facing he and the government school principal determined to prevent the natives sion School has reached 200 not The missionaries viewed their including seminary students: The hardships with a sense coofnhscuimouosr~ from squandering all their earn- name has been changed from and their perils with a ings on whiskey. He says: Cuban American College to Co- ness of God's protecting care. We notified the Town Council that legio Bautista (Baptist College). -Episcopal News Service. unless the town marshals strictly en-
Two Missions Merged been put up. After surveying the assemblies devoted to the enrich- situation, Mr. Everitt writes: ment of spiritual life. The two Presbyterian Missions in Brazil, the Central and At present there are about 150 In- One is inclined to believe that the South, have been merged for dians living at Poso Yacare and I the pr·esent lull in the battle administrative reasons, and will suppose 200 or more working at the against the Evangelical Churches now be called the Central Brazil cane fields, who will be shortly return- at present is based upon the Mission. Brazil is larger than the ing; there are also numbers of In- same theory as that followed by United States, and the lack of dians living in the vicinity. As there the Communists in Russia in the roads in the interior make it im- is plenty of forest here where they can earlier days of their antireligious possible for committees or collect wild fruits, plenty of fish in the activities: that of letting the administrative g r 0 ups from river, and fruitful ground for gardens,. "old fools" have their churches widely spaced regions to meet there is no reason why this should not so long as youth can be won for planning and organizing be a prosperous startion. -away. The choicest boys are bework. Although the lack of com- ing picked and trained as teachmunications is still a serious To cut down trees and put up build- ers, burgomasters, government problem, it is less so than for- ings is one thing, he continues, but to officials and army officers. They merly, and the two missions be- teach these people and lead them to are insulated as far as possible lieve that greater economy and Christ requires nothing short of a from all Christian influences. more effective work will result miracle. But we have seen miracles from the union. of this kind, and we know that God is -Advance. all-powerful. Lavras Agricultural College Nazification Objectives -Life of Faith. This institution, under the No comment is needed upon auspices of the Southern Presby- EUROPE the following quotation from an terian Church, has recently been address of Alfred Rosenberg, given a very distinct recognition Bibles at Glasgow Empire culture minister of the German by the Brazilian government, Exhibition Reich: having its diplomas accepted for official registration. This mission The great "Empire Exhibi- That the Catholic Church and also agricultural college was the only tion" of Glasgow was open from the Confessional Church, in their presprivate school in Brazil obtain- May to October, 1938, and was ent form, must disappear from the ing such recognition. While the visited by more than 12,000,000 life of our people, is my full convicgovernment realized that the people. Many opportunities were tion, .. , The Hitler Youth Organizaphysical equipment of Lavras afforded for distributing Bibles, tion is an absorbent sponge which was not on a full equality with and none more unique than nothing can withstand. Furthermore, the official government schools, among the dwarfs of "Midget the development of our teaching the outstanding work of the Lav- Town" in the Amusement Park. scheme in schools of all categories is ras graduates caused them to ac- A few of them were Germans, of such an anti-Christian-Jewish type cept the work of Lavras as being the rest Poles, so with a supply that the growing generation will be fully equivalent to that of its of German and Polish Gospels a forewarned against the black-coat own schools. worker sought permission to dis- swindle, , .. We have another means tribute them. He was told that of pressure also and that is the finan- For many years the school had it would be of no use, but the cial one. But here also we must prono more than 2'5 students, but little people were found to be ceed prudently, although systematisince the government recogni- eager to receive the copies. "Po- cally, so as to cut the financial arteries tion the number has gone up to li, Poli," they cried delightedly supplying those clergy whom we cannearly 100. Every effort is now as they retired to a corner to not win over. . . . Reasonable men being made to put the equipment read. will, under pressure, find themselves on a par with that of the govern- compelled to submit to National Soment schools. Some time later a second visit cialist leadership. was paid to "Midget Town," and -Agricultural Mission the visitor was not forgotten. The expected offensive against Notes. Polish Testaments were joyfully Catholic schools in Austria has accepted. The worker was asked been more rapid than was an- In Argentine Chaco to inscribe each copy, after ticipated, and the few Catholic which he was invited to have tea schools permitted to continue The South American Mission- with the midgets. Afterwards, function are those for defective ary Society has established a new it was found that these little station at Poso Yacare, Argen- people carried their Testaments children. * tine Chaco, and the people are about as if a precious possession. eager to learn about the Gospel. The Waldensians Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Everitt have Bible Sales Increase taken up permanent residence in Germany Torre PeIlice, the little capital there, and several buildings have of Italian Protestantism, might The three Bible Societies in be called "the Geneva of Italy." the German Reich (those of There are today 120 Waldensian Wurttemberg, Saxony and Prus- churches and missions through- sia) report an extraordinary in- crease in the sale of Bibles. In • The bulletin of the World's Student line with this is the increased Christian Federation states that on August attendance at Christian summer 19 the German press announced the sup- preSSion of the German Student Christian Movement and the German Women Student Christian Movement.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
out the land. Lack of funds has effect, and it is said that condi- establishment of international closed the doors of many of their order. schools. One in a remote part of tions are worse now than at that Sicily, with 250 pupils all from -Life of Faith. non-Protestant families, is kept time. Wandering Preachers in open by self-sacrifice on the part Soviet Union of the teachers, who continue Baptist Churches in Rumania without salary. This school has A magazine article recently a long waiting list. Parents pre- In spite of a government order published in Warsaw reveals fer to send their children to the permitting several B apt i s t that in spite of persecution, Or- Evangelical School, even though churches in Rumania to reopen, thodox priests and non-conforma small fee is required, while all churches of that denomina- ist preachers travel up and down government schools are free. tion remain closed; and will re- Russia, holding services and fuse to open even one unless per- evangelizing. They have been Every morning the day's work mission is granted to all. There begins with an hour's Bible are 1,602 Baptist churches in deprived of their parishes, and teaching. The work has far- Rumania. The Minister of the have no settled home. Most of reaching results, as shown by an Interior has given 0 r d e r s them have registered as craftsincident recounted by the pastor. throughout Rumania that no men, to shield themselves from Talking to a boy of nine, he more Baptists are to be arrested, persecution ; and earn their livasked him whether his parents and churchmen are pinning their ing by any kind of manual work could read. To his astonishment, faith to him. Some have it that ililteracy being high in the place, the Rumanian Government is they can find to do, sewing boots, the boy responded, "Yes, Sir." anxious to place itself in a favor- sharpening knives or laying "Where did they go to school?" able light in the United States, brick. Wherever opportunity was the next question, to which in view of the New York World's the answer came, "They have Fair, soon to open. presents itself, they minister to never been to school." Mystified, the spiritual needs of the people. the pastor asked, "How then did Eastern Orthodox Churches All this in spite of the fact that they learn to read?" "I taught in Soviet Russia only officially them," was the boy's answer. The Provisional Committee of registered persons may perform "Every day, when I go home, I the World Council of Churches, teach them from my Bible what meeting in Paris, decided to religious services, and only in I have been learning at school." stress particularly the Commit- chapels under constant super- tee's work among the Eastern vision of local authorities. Unquestionably, to evangelize Orthodox Churches of Russia Italy is to promote the peace of and the Balkans. A special depu- In a recent number of The Europe and of the world. tation was authorized to visit the Godless, the Commissar for Balkans with a view tci strength- Atheism has a curious observa- -The Christian. ening ties, and to develop relief tion: "Ever since the beginning work among the hundreds of Purge of Minorities churches suffering from govern- of the Revolution, no clergyman ment oppression. It was also de- fears the Internationale; where- A missionary in Rumania, re- cided to hold an ecumenical sem- as Bolsheviks even up to the turning from furlough in the inar in Hungary, for the benefit present day experience terror at United States, says that after of student pastors, ministers and the sight of the Cross." "the glorious freedom" at home lay leaders. the return to Rumania is like be- -Life of Faith. ing abruptly landed in another As for the possibility of callworld; and is confident that not ing a confel'ence to discuss the Jewish Home a Failure since the days of the catacombs economic and other causes of has there been such a gigantic war, as purposed by the Federal Ten years ago the Soviet plan to wipe out completely all Council of Churches, it was Evangelical Christianity as that pointed out that the demands of Union founded a Jewish Home being launched by the Govern- the rulers of Germany, Italy and ment of Rumania, unless one ex- Japan have gone far beyond in Siberia, near the Manchukuo cepts that of Russia. Threats, mere economic issues; and inbeatings, arrests and closed volve racial, political and im- frontier. It was planned to setchurches are the methods being perial ambitions which no conused. This missionary believes ference can deal with. Hope tle, on collective farms, Jews that the year 1939 is the time set was expressed that individual by Rumania to purge all reli- Christians may exert an in- from the Ukraine, White Russia gious minorities, and has set fluence to check the drift toward herself to the task in dead war; and general secretaries and other parts of the Soviet earnest. were asked to call together a small number of competent per- Union, to develop the rich min- This was written before the sons, representative of different decree withdrawing rights and nations and churches, who may eral resources and timber of the privileges of Baptists went into exchange their thought as to the region, and gradually to create a self-supporting economic unit.
It was thought that 100,000 Jews would settle in this 12,000 square mile area in ten years.
Later, Jews from other countries were to be invited.
There was some response on the part of Jews, but there has been a large exodus, for not more than 20,000 are now living there, and they are outnumbered by non-Jewish inhabitants, three to one. -Alliance Weekly.
Anti-Church Maneuvers beria, only remaining free ter- There are seven native pas- ritory, the Government has in- tors, 7 licentiates, 201 evange- The difference between com- vited the Mission to Lepers to lists, 152 teachers; and, with munism and lliaziism in their at- secretaries, a total paid staff of titude toward the Church seems cooperate with it and with the 368. Church gains are reported to be one of method only, and three main Missions there in a in all phases of the work. The may be summarized thus: "Rus- campaign to wipe out leprosy. parish has grown to 15,000 sia, the godless; Germany, the square miles and includes 26,249 Christless,." The last two re- In the Belgian Congo, in the Christians. maining Lutheran churches in heart of Mrica, government and Russia have been closed recently, missions collaborate fruitfully in Changes in Ten Years and their pastors thrown into all well established leper colprison, according to the New onies, and the funds supplied Mrs. John M. Imrie, a Presby- York Times. The Moscow Izves- through the American Mission terian missionary of Sakbayeme, tia announces that Christian to Lepers are supplemented by sees much change for the better church property amounting to public grants. In the French in West Africa. Polygamous $3,575,000,000 had been confis- marriages are dying out as a recated by the government since mandated territory of the Cam- sult of Christian training, and the war to exterminate religion eroun, a mandate very nervous happier homes are the order. began twenty-one years ago. Of and tense indeed these days be- Heathen men complain that they the 100,000 congregations, less cause it is a former German col- cannot get wives for missionthan 30,000 remain. At the same ony, the return of which may be trained girls will not marry time, the paper admits there are them. Son Mbok, one of the signs of religious revival in demanded as part of the price of towns, ten years ago had only 15 Russia. European peace, full facility is people desiring to learn; today, given the American Mission to Son Mbok has a Central School, A manifesto of German army Lepers.. a teacher, a catechist, an attendchaplains declares that one in ance of nearly 400 on Sundays, every fifteen Protestant pastors Development of Medical and 100 coming up for communis under arrest. Churches are Missions ion each time. The number of forbidden to organize recreation Christians at Ibon increased to for children, or train students To those who remember the the point where a new town, for the ministry; and the gov- difficulties of financing and staff- Maonk, was started to accommoernment claims the right to dic- ing mission hospitals in Africa, date them. Soon there was a tate the content of all Christian congregation of 1,200. This is preaching. the apathy of people toward such in a prairie country, where noth- work, the present scope of medi- ing can be seen but elephant AFRICA cal missionary work in South grass. The people seem to walk Africa is a cause for thanksgiv- out of the grass, but there they Leprosy and Nationalism ing. The recently published are. Christian Handbook for South Dr. Emory Ross, General Sec- Africa gives the following fig- A prominent chief wanted to retary of the American Mission ures as evidence of this changed become a Christian. He was held to Lepers, observes that so un- off for a time to make sure he selfish a ministry as work for situation: was in earnest, and not seeking lepers might be assumed to be the limelight. But Samuel Hiobi free from politics, but it is not Missionary doctors in kept insisting that he had given the case. In Africa a leper work the matter much thought and carried on for twenty years by South Africa ….. . 44 was anxious to become one of an effective American group has the "Tribe of God." At last he been completely stopped, the Mis s ion a r y nurses was accepted as a beginner. He property expropriated and those put away his wives, (keeping in charge caused to leave the (European) …… . 137 only one – the first one he had country. In two more territories married), and promised to care in Africa not only is official aid Nurses (Bantu) em- for them and their children, seerefused to well-executed leper ing that they have medical care work financed and staffed by ployed by Missions .. 54 when ill. He is an example of Americans, but heavy duties are the many who have rejoiced to laid upon chaulmoogra oil and Native probationers in find the better Christian Way of other medical supplies imported Life. for the treatment of lepers. All training ……… . 314 this has come about partly be- Cameroun in Jeopardy cause of clashing political move- Mission hospital beds . 1,605 ments in Europe, and the Afri- Dr. Emory Ross reminds us cans look on in bewilderment. Inpatients "(1937) …. 17,684 that the Cameroun has had more However, this situation does not languages, more governments, prevail in all of Africa. In Li- Outpatients (1937) .,. 270,264 more foreign adjustments forced Figures About Elat Elat parish of the Presbyte- rian West Africa Mission has 189 chapels with an average at- tendance each Sunday of 35,000; Christians 24,037. Of schools, it has 185 Village Vernacular, 15 Village French, 650 pupils, 1 Boys' and 1 Girls' Boarding School, 745 pupils, 50 teachers in training. In one decade of med- ical work: 110,662 sick folk treated, 5,216 won to Christ.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
upon it from abroad in the past with another 2,000 enrolment. In describing the contrasts besixty years than any other part (3) Pay salaries of 160 evan- tween then and now, Mrs. Emof Africa. First, English. Be- gelists, and 25 elders and pas- berson says: fore any foreign government tors; all missionary itinerating ruled, English trade, language and all office supplies. (4) Pay If we wished to visit our outstations, and customs dominated the coast for all repairs on buildings which our only mode of travel was by donkey and spread somewhat inland. deteriorate rapidly in that trop- and bush chair. The chair was pro- Second, German. German gov- ical climate and where white pelled on one wheel under the center ernment, language, trade and ants work destruction. Chris- of the seat, with a long "harness" in customs in the 1880's began to tians at home should not con- front to allow room for the "boy" to cover the country. T h i r d, sider their obligation ended with walk or run without knocking his French. The Versailles group of the payment of missionaries' heels against the step. Behind was a treaties consolidated military salaries. shorter harness which a second boy victories; French government, held, in an endeavor to keep the conlanguage, trade and customs Prison Visitation in Uganda veyance steady. Needless to say, there ruled Cameroun. Each succeed- were many bad moments for the pasing foreign influence has fought One feature of C. M. S. work senger when the boys made even a to root out the preceding. in Kampala, Uganda, and has slight swerve. been for some years, is regular During all these changes the visiting at the central prison Last year we started at 10 a. m. in Church has been almost the only twice each week. This is under- an auto to conduct a morning service uninterrupted, continuing for- taken by Rev. A. M. Williams, in one of our indigenous churches, eign factor in Cameroun life. It who has about 70 names on his about sixteen miles away. We found has pioneered in education, med- baptism record; many more 700 people waiting to hear the Gospel, icine, modern agriculture, man- than that number attend the and 200 of these people partook of ual training, spiritual regenera- services. Since most of the men Communion. Leaving this church at tion. It has brought thousands are there for a long term it is 1 : 30 p. m., we went on to ano,ther of Africans, through Christ, into possible to do a good deal with church some twenty-five miles in a closer human as well as closer them, and results are encour- difllerent direction, and found 1,500 spiritual relationships than they aging. Nearly all are illiterate, people waiting. There was insufficient have ever experienced before. It but all are taught to read and room in the church, so they all sat has interpreted and bound and write before they are baptized, under eucalyptus trees, to listen enmediated. It has taught Eng- except the very old. thralled to the same Word of God. It lish, then German, now French. was unforgettable and very touching, Some of the most effective to hear this crowd of people sing in It has been the largest factor leaders in the mission band have their own tongue, "Rock of Ages, cleft in stability and unity. And now been convicts, and it is not un- for me." After this service, once again Germany is demanding the re- common to find prisoners, after Ohristians to the number of 300 sat turn of Cameroun; Germany, their releas,e, going back to their down at the Lord's Table. whose officials oppose Christian- villages to engage in active evanity, forbid the fundamental gelism. We left them as the African sun teachings of Jesus Christ and quickly disappeared behind a mouncomplete loyalty to Him. Changes in Nyasaland tain, and reached the mission station at 5 p. m., having come into contact Making Ends Meet Rev. Wilfrid Emberson has with about 2,200 Africans on one Sab- spent 27 years of service in bath day. And this difference has Rev. James L. Jackson, of Nyasaland,and recently, because come about in eighteen years! Luebo, Congo State, says that of his wife's ill health, both have for the past eight years the mis- returned to England where Mr. When Mrs. Emberson said sionary budget has not been suf- Emberson has accepted the pas- good-bye, the oldest Christian ficient to meet the needs; and torate of a Baptist church in woman, gripping both of Mrs. by way of being explicit lists Kent. During their joint serv- Emberson's hands, said: "Don't what Luebo station is expected ice in Nyasaland, village schools cry mai (mother), we shall go to do for six months on $2,400. have grown from 40 to more on following the Jesus you have (1) Medical work: pay for all than 100. There are now seven helped us to know and love, and medicine in a hospital where indigenous churches. In the when He comes again for His 15,000 patients are treated and early days there was no building children we shall meet again, as many as 75 major operations in which the sick could stay for and in that day say 'Moni' (Good· are performed annually; pay healing, but, after a boy with a morning) face to face." for all emergency medical trips diseased foot had crawled five when gasoline costs 50 cents a days to reach the missionary, -The Christian. gallon, and quinine to keep mis- two mud huts were set apart as sionary families free from ma- a "hospital." During the first Juvenile Crime in laria. (2) Pay teachers' salaries year 7,000 patients were treated, Johannesburg in a school with 2,000 pupils; all and last year 19,229 sick folk reteaching material and entire sup- ceived treatment. Juvenile crime in South Africa is engaging public attention. In port for 14 outstation schools Johannesburg, it has increased by more than 53 per cent during the past year. An inquiry con- ducted by Dr. Ray E. Phillips names poverty as the root of the situation. Children steal because they are hungry. Other causes named are inadequate housing; unstable marriage ties, which means that children are not liv-
ing with parents; liquor con- tine is obvious. The Germans many encouraging facts. In sumption; lack of educational have established an Arab club Sweden, the number of schools advantages-more than half the in Damascus. An Arab doctor, and scholars has increased durnative children are not in school trained in Germany, goes back ing recent years; and their effibecause of lack of accommoda- and forth between Iraq and ciency is steadily improving. tion-and, by no means the least Damascus, and recently infor- Teacher training courses are significant factor – the separa- mation was let slip that he has held regularly, and junior work tion of families, because 300,000 been busy sending money from for girls and boys, who leave the native men are at work in the Germany to Iraq, to be for- Sunday school at fourteen years mines, and living in compounds. warded to Arab committees in of age has been organized. Palestine. A new motor road -World Dominion Press. between Syria and Imq furthers Progress is the keynote of Germany's plan for a "Greater Sunday school work in Esthonia. WESTERN ASIA Germany" to stretch from Ber- Much time has also been given lin to Bagdad. to visitation of German and Rus- Sunday Schools in Bible Lands sian Sunday schools in the vi- However,a write!r in Al Misry cinity of Tartu: here Sunday Many cablegrams during the believes that the Arabs under- school and Bible class work is year have informed the world of stand quite well the consequences being regularly conducted among bloodshed and bitter strife in the of getting into Hitler's power, Russian and German youth; and lands of the Bible, but most of and their officials are not much great enthusiasm is evident on the Sunday school news tells the impressed by Germany's appeals. the part of both teachers and story of a world of cooperation Arabs do not seriously consider s:cholars. and mutual enhancement among any scheme they do not fully men of diverse cultures. From understand. The report reveals that in Tiberias one writes, "The Sun- France, Holland, Hungary and day school is a movement of MISCELLANEOUS many other countries, the work world brotherhood. It is the is making steady progress. only place where Arab and Jew- The Bible and Education ish children meet in peace and World's Student Christian brotherhood in time of racial en- In an address at the Columbia Federation mity and bloodshed." Another Convocation in New York, comreport says, "In spite of war and memorating the 400th anniver- How to make this Federation rebellion, schools were conducted sary of the English Bible, the a force in America is the quesin Palestine with the help of Dean of St. Paul's, London, said, tion that faces the organization Moslem and Arab boys." In in the course of the address: as they look over the world and Jerusalem one thousand children see Christianity on the defensive. were enrolled in six vacation One cannot contemplate a falling "Not here"; one may say, "these Bible schools. away from the reverence and knowl- things can't happen in the edge of the Bible without seeing a United States." Well, can't they? The work of the Bible Lands great danger of national incoherence. There are movements on foot Union for Christian Erlucation In this modern time there is a great here that have already stamped isa unique demonstration of co- risk that the masses of the population out the Student Christian moveoperation in Palestine, Syria, may become, as it were, uprooted, ment in other countries. Transjordania, Lebanon, Iraq without secure foundation for their and Cyprus. Representatives of lives, that they may degenerate into Two things, says a writer in the Greek Orthodox, Armenian a swaying crowd with no common The Intercollegian, are essential Apostolic, Anglican and Amer- values and no continuing tradition. to promote the Federation: eduican Protestant churches carry The nations flourish or decay ulti- cation and funds. For the educaon 'a vast program of Chdstian mately from within. They flourish or tional program is sugges,ted: l. education. The ancient churches decay from the soul. An enthusiastic WorId Felloware adopting modern methods ship Committee to inte,rpret the for work with children, youth It is surely the duty of everyone Federation's aims. 2. Promotion and adults. The Christian con- who owes his own spiritual life to the of international Christian literaference grounds at Chouei"!', Leb- Bible to do his utmost to insist that ture. 3. Study groups. 4. Use anon, have proven to be a busy it shall take its proper place in the of bulletin boards and chapel center twelve months of the year education of the people; and con- speakers in colleges. 5. Estabfor leadership education, Chris- stantly to urge that no education, lish friendships with foreign stutian endeavor conferences and from the most elementary to the most dents. Correspondence with stuboys' camps. advanced, can be adequate which dents in other lands. leaves students in ignorance of this -World Sunday School fountainhead of all that is best in our Local experimentation is sug- Assn. News. common heritage. gested in the matter of raising funds. "Federation Friends" Germany Filters Into -Federal Council Bulletin. should be enlisted among faculty Near East members and others, and a The W. S. S. A. "Pledge Day" might be es,tab- The connection between Ger- lished. many and the troubles in Pales- The World's Sunday School Association is made up of 51 units, with two administrative centers, one in Glasgow, the other in New York. The recently published annual report contains
Missionary
Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information Directory of Christian Missions and obvious that women of different ing medical service, and assist- Churches in India, Burma and Cey- l"'aces and nationalities around ing in village uplift projects, lon. Introduction by Alexander the world have the same prob- convinced that this is a sounder, McLeish. 512 pp. National Chris- lems and interests. Each author because a more helpfully con- tian Council, Nagpur, India. writes from wide experience as structive process than trying to to what Christ has brought to change labels." This is the fourth edition of her own countrywomen. Taken the Directory since 1932 when as a whole, the chapters supply Aside from this bias against its publication was undertaken a valuable record of the trends Christian missions, the book by the National Christian Coun- of the Christian m 0 v e men t bears the marks of scholarship cil. It contains statistics and a throughout the world. It is and is the best account we have very complete list of approxi- clearly shown that Christianity of present-day Turkey. After mately 200 missionary agencies, is a stabilizing force for nations, describing the background in 61 2',000 stations, 7,000 mission- as well as for individuals. At a pages Mr. Webster deals with aries, 175 periodicals, and 2,500 time, when the whole Christian the struggle for independence institutions in India, Burma and world is menaced by systems and the processes of reforma- Ceylon. Anyone will be im- contrary to the tea,chings of tion and leadership under Atapressed by this vast number of Christ, it is important to point turk. The second and longest Christian enterprises but the Di- to His Way as the only force that part of the book (pages 162-2'89) rectory is of especial value to will cement the nations together deals with the ideology of the missionaries, editors and execu- on the basis of righteousness and present government, particularly tives interested in Christian brotherhood. H. H. FERGUSON. politics, the press, education, and work in India. The Christians the result of all this on the social of all sects and races now are The Turkey of Ataturk: Social Prog- structure, the rural uplift and estimated to number 7,500,000 ress in the Turkish Reformation. the life of the people. of whom about 7,000,000 are In- By Donald Everett Webster. Amerdians. In 1931 Protestants num- ican Academy of Political and So- The volume is beautifully illusbered over 3,000,000, a 50% in- cial Science. 337 pp. Price, $2.50. trated, with photographs, diacrease in ten years, and Roman Philadelphia. 1939. grams, and maps, all of them val- Catholics over 2,000,000. Hindus uable. We have also a gazeteer, number 240,000,000. There are The author was a short-term a full bibliography, and a care- 225 languages spoken, in addi- teacher in the International Col-. ful index. As a secular study, tion to many dialects. The Bible, lege, Izmir (Smyrna), and had one can desire nothing better. in whole or in part, has been other contacts with Turkey. His translated in only 120 of these. book describes the complex proc- S. M. ZWEMER. There are still many unoccupied esses which have as by miracle areas and unevangelized millions produced modern Turkey. Its The Wild Rue: A Study of Muhamin India. viewpoint is not political, nor re- madan Magic and Folklore in Iran. ligious, nor that of the journal- By Bess Allen Donaldson. Luzac & Women and the Way: A Symposium. ist, but that of the sociologist. Co., London. 216 pp. 10/6. 198 pp. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 The first sentence in the Intro- cents. The Friendship Press, New duction give the writer's view- Edwyn Bevan, in his Gifford York. 1938. point: "Turkey, no longer an Lectures, used "Symbolism and object of derision, pity, and Belief" as the general title. All What the ace e pta n c e of evangelization, now marches in races are fond of symbols for Christ's Way of Life has meant the vanguard of those nations their faith and superstitionsto the women of every land is a whose post-World War revolu- the Star for Judaism, the Cresquestion here answered by out- tionary processes are most as- cent for Islam, the Swastika for standing Christian women of tounding." At the close of the Buddhism. And so the learned many different parts of the book he remarks: "There are author of this excellent book on world. The list of authors in- still a few Protestant mission- Persian superstition has taken cludes such distinguished leaders aries in the country who do no for title "The Wild Rue," the as Madame Chiang Kai-shek, proselytizing, but spend their most common plant in practice Michi Kawai, Muriel Lester and time in teaching school, render- of magic, used like the mandrake others from home, church, politi- .in the Pentateuch. I know of no cal and professional life, It is [221 ] other volume better suited to give the background of daily life
in Iran. Reforms, social and in- was a deep student 'Of the Bible, captivating. After reading his tellectual, are the order of the which he accepte9. as the in- studies we feel that we know day but eighty percent of the spired word 'Of God, and he was these men and wish to know common people only hear of a preacher tD whom old and even more about them. Dr. them and live their lives under young, learned and unlettered Eastman not only shows us the the shadow of Islam, as in the delighted to listen. He knew men in brief compass, but he repast. That shadow includes a God as revealed in Christ and he veals their backgrDund, the spirit mass of superstition and magic. knew and understood men, be- 'Of the times in which they lived Here we have the key. and their influence 'On posterity. cause he himself was a man. The bODk includes chapters on These Bible notes are m'Ore It is an excellent bDOk for young "The Evil Eye," "Practices at than beautiful nuggets 'Of g'Old men and offers gDod illustrative Child Birth," "M a r ria g e," that Bishop Smith mined in his material for sermons and ad- "Death," and "Burial." We have days 'Of study and prayer, they dresses. an accDunt 'Of superstitions CDnnected with the seasons, the are living seed-thDughts that Evergreen and Other Near East Bible weather, the calendar, dreams Talks. By Abdul-Fady (A. T. Upand sleep; also we learn what came from the granary of God's pious Moslems are supposed tD revealed Word and are copied son) with foreword by Dr. S. M. d'O when they weep or breathe, sneeze or cut their nails and hair. from the Bishop's much used Zwemer. 120 pp. 28. Marshall There is alsD an aCCDunt of wide-margin study Bible. Are Morgan & Scott, Ltd. London. 1938. sacred places, saints and pilgrimages. This material might have nDt such thoughts. as the follDW- This little book of outline talks been better classified but the in- ing stimulating to dee per on the Bible is deceiving in two dex is fairly complete. The book thought, more earnest prayer ways. Its small size does not is written from a woman's view- give pr'Omise 'Of the am'Ount of point but it represents all the old and more Christlike living: life of Persia. As the author says: "Considerable attention "My God, my God, why hast thou real meat in it. And tDO, it gives has been given to religiDus cus- forsaken me" (Mat. 27: 46). This is tDms; this is because the super- hell ! the impression 'Of one of those stitiDns are firmly rooted in the religiDn. With the majority of "Whom God hath raised up" (Acts . devotiDnal books that one can the peDple their occult practices toss off in a day or so and go on. have become religious rites. It 2: 24). If this had been a lie the is to them that they pin their apostles would not have dared to Not so, fDr here is the considered faith, and to them they turn in preach it in Jerusalem – besides the times of trial and crisis. While Holy Spirit could not have blessed a result of years 'Of teaching God's the name 'Of G'Od is often UP'On Word, which fact in itself should their lips, all too frequently it, lie. get it a hearing. This teaching too, is merely a name with which "As for God, his way is perfect" tD conjure. (Ps. 18: 30). We cannot add to a was done in surroundings which perfect thing. To meddle is to spoil. must of necessity reflect them- The uninformed mind turns very "For all the promises of God in him naturally to something tangible in are yea, and in him Amen" (2 Cor. selves in the quality and the times of need. They are surrounded by fears: fears of sickness and death, 1: 20). Subject to no discount. flavor of the material presented. fears of drought and crop failure, fears of famine and flood, fears of "Thy Kingdom come" (Luke 11: 2). The occasional turns and evildoers and their wiles, fears of touches from the Near East save husbands and their relatives, and all Before me petition is allowed for self, this bo'Ok from being just ankinds of fears of the supernatural, and in their ignorance they have but foreign missions are to be rememsought the help of some "magical bered. power" in strange objects or symbols. "But when he was in Rome, he other book of Bible talks. It is sought me out very diligently and SAMUEL M. ZWEMER. clear that the authDr has been found me" (2 Timothy 1: 17). A good there. An instance is the ex- Gems from Bishop Taylor Smith's man is ever seeking people-worldly planation of the "sound of Bible. Compiled by Percy O. Ruoff. 142 pp. 28. 6d. Marshall, Morgan people for Christ; Christians for marching" in the vale of Re- & Scott. London. $1.00. Zonder- van Pub. House, Grand Rapids. Christ. 1939. Not only pastors and teachers phaim (page 38). Again the Bishop Taylor Smith was a re- but all Christians will find this reference tD the ripening of the markable character, with a keen Jaffa oranges (page 41) makes sense of humDr, spiritual dis.. vDlume richly rewarding. cernment, a heart of love and a us realize how much a knowledge faith that begets courage. He Men of Power. Volume III. Four of "the Land" is necessary to an biographies by F'red Eastman. 197 understanding 'Of "the Bo'Ok."
pp. $1.50. Cokesbury Press. Nash- ROBERT F. OGDEN. ville. 1939.
Benjamin Franklin the scien- Highways and Hedges. By William Wistar Hamilton. 119 pp. $1.00. tist and statesman, R. W. Emer- Broadman Press.. Nashville. 1938. SDn the pDet, preacher and essay- ist, George FDX the fDunder of These are brief stories of CDn- the Society of Friends, and verts in evangelistic work, writ- ten by some fifty Christian work- Charles Darwin the revDlution- ers. Some 'Of them are tDD brief ary scientist-all make excellent to make an impression but others subjects for sixty-minute biD- offer effective material for pas- graphical sketches. Dr. Eastman tors and Sunday school teachers who may unfDrtunately lack is a clear thinker and a dramatic these rich persDnal experiences. writer. The glimpses he gives A careful sifting would improve of their develDpment, their the vDlume. achievements and sources 'Of their power are stimulating and
' j I~~
Upptr Room _2_ April, May, June ~ "'! ,,' -II if.
"It 01 ;:t.
o:j 'S ~ '1 :l: '!J .l1 Spiritual Need -&1/121 "I~ :<!-7. Knows No 'Hi '".:s.~ Boundary Lines ';"51 ~ "'I !I'
A page from Korean Edition PERHAPS, as no other publication, THE UPPER ROOM has proved that men of all races, of all tongues, are in great need of the spiritual inspiration of a daily devotional guide. Because of this universal need for it, THE UPPER ROOM is now published in four languages-English, Spanish, Korean, and Hindustani. It can now be read by half the people of the earth in their own language and new translations are being added as the demand for them arises.
In response to requests from pastors who have been using the specially printed Christmas envelopes to mail copies of THE UPPER ROOM to members of their congregations, we are now offering A SPECIALLY PRINTED ENVELOPE FOR MAILING THE EASTER ISSUE This envelope carries an attractive design, printed in an appropriate color. These Easter envelopes are offered at 1 cent each, postpaid, in quantities of 10 or more, or we will mail a copy of the April, May, June issue, to address furnished, in an Easter envelope for 10 cents each.
THE UPPER ROOM is available, in quantities of 10 or more, at 5 cents per copy, post. paid, and on our consignment plan if desired. Yearly subscription, 30 cents postpaid, foreign 40 cents. Spanish edition at same price and on same terms.
The April, May, June issue is now ready for distribution. This is the Easter Issue. The cover is one of the most beautiful and suggestive that we have ever used. The interpreta- tion of the cover picture alone is worth many times the price of the book. Be sure that every member of your congregation is supplied. Place your order at once for prompt delivery.
Send all orders for English and Spanish editions to tbe Upper Room f,.~~=I====Do=c=to=rs=' =B=ui=ld=in=g======N=as=h=vi=lle=,=T=en=n=.==~,,~.~~ [223 ]
The Second World Conference on program in revolutiQnizing the B run n e r' s "Mediator," and Faith and Order, Edinburgh, 1937. method of missionary activity in Schweitzer's the "Mysticism o.f Edited by Leonard Hodgson. $2.25. the C. M. S. stations in northern St. Paul," but has not grasped o.r 386 pp. Macmillan. New York. Nigeria provide food for thQught been grnsped by their doctrine. 1939. The final report of the con- for any who may be interested in The tragedy of the post-war time ference includes six chapters: mission work in West Africa. has driven religious tho.ught and The last section of the book leads experience in this Western world (1) Introduction; (2) The up to the tragedy of his death in into a deeper, mQre mysterious, an airplane crash during his sec- Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ; ond term as assistant bisho.P in more transcendent cons,truction (3) The Church of Christ and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. of the thought of Go.d and of the the W.ord .of God; (4) The Com- grace of God, o.f the fact of sin, munion of Saints; (5) The L. K. ANDERSON. and of the manifestatio.n of God Church .of Christ: Ministry and in Christ, and of the deeds o.f Essential Christianity. By Samuel Go.d in Christ and histo.ry, than Sacraments; (6) The Church's Angus. 226 pp. $2.00. Macmillan. is represented in this book. Unity in Life and Worship. New York. 1939. R. E. SPEER. Here is evidence .of the present Let Us Build. By P. E. Burroughs, reality of the ideal which is Dr. Angus maintains the opin- Illus. 154 pp. 60 cents. Broadpursued. Certain manifestatiQns man Press. Nashville. 1938. of unity remain to be attained ion that Christianity is not a but here is a real unity .of the matter of opinion and he sets Building churches-both physspirit in the bo.nd of peace. The fQrth his opinion .of what essen- ically and spiritually-is a pro.bprayer of o.ur Lord for unity tially Christianity is. It is the lem. Fin an c e s, educatio.nal amo.ng His disciples, like the old self-contradictory circle. A equipment, worship, recreational man tells us that "It dQes nQt facilities are all involved-and unity of the Father and S.on, has how the problems are wQrked no.t been achieved but the dis- matter what a man thinks. It out may mean all the difference ciples are striving after it. only mrutters what he is." One replies, "You are ei,ther saying R. E. SPEER. what you think or you are saying Civilization-The Next Step. By C. what YOlU don't think. If the lat- between success and failure. . Delisle Burns. $2.75. 291 pp. W. ter, what are you? If the former, The author is educational and W. Norton & Co. New York. 1939. why are yo.U saying it if it does architectural secretary of the The author's desires and pur- not matter?" Southern Baptist Sunday School poses are of the best. The next Of co.urse Christianity is very Board and his manuscript has step sho.uld be more friendliness, much a matter of opinion, but been approved by forty-two. kindness, intelligence, equality few, if any, readers of THE RE- architects. The book includes and justice. But the philosophy VIEW will agree with Dr. Angus' forty-five plates to illustrate is the old humanism. Humanity opiniQn of it. "Christianity is an twelve building plans for various is to. lift itself by its own boot- sized churches and differing straps. A living GQd and the experience." It is not faith in costs from $7,000 to. $122,000 Christian dynamic are simply God in Christ. "It is faith in each. It is arranged as a textno.t in the picture. The tragedy bo.ok and contains many valuable o.f the world lies deeper than God like that of Jesus." The note and practical suggestions for this diagnosis. There is such a is the note of that pre-war liber- both churches and Sun day reaUty as sin and there is need alism which defined Christianity schools. Many of the plans are o.f a mQre powerful Saviour and as "the religion of Jesus" and de- very attractive and practical. a more radical salvatio.n than is cried "the religion about Jesus." Little attention is. given to social co.nceived here. R. E. SPEER. It deprecates the relatiQnship of and athletic .equipment and the essence of Christianity to which is so popular today in Guy' Bullen. By his friends. Illus. many churches. Maps. 136 pp. 58. Highway Press, "alleged historic facts o.f debat- able historicity (such as, the Vir- gin Birth, the miracles, the phys- London. 1938. ical resurrection o.f Jesus" the Hugo of the Blade. By Julius F. bodily ascension, the official and Seebach. 271 pp. $1.00. United This biography .of the late Rt.
Rev. H. Guy Bullen, As:sistant authoritative establishment of a Lutheran Publication House, Phil- Bishop in Egypt and the Sudan, Church by Him)." It rejects the adelphia. 1938.
is written by friends and aSSQ- deity of Christ. It accepts what This is a moderately interestciates who. pay tribute to the un- in the New Testament suits the ing novel of the Reformation peusual attractiveness o.f the man's author's o.pinion of essential riod, centering about the life of human chaI"acteristics and to his Chris.tianity and rejects what a printer and his descendants s'implicity and powe,r as a devo.ut does not. who were staunch supporters of Christian. Perhaps the least in- Dr. Angus' emphasis on the Protestantism. The "trimming teresting part o.f the book is the duty of Christlikeness, of obedi- blade," used in book binding, be- first section dealing with Bullen's ence and conformity to the Spir- came the symbol of truth and boyhood where an attempt is it o.f Christ, or unselfishness and freedom. This story won first made to relate youthful inclina- sacrifice and service and love is prize in the "John Rung Legacy"
tions to later powers in the mis- all to the go.od, but his subjective contest for 1938, for the best his- sionary's personality. The chap- humanJsm is a swan song of a torical narrative, educational and ters relating to his far-sighted declining Christism. He has read missionary. H. H. F.
from Many Lands: Stories for GOD'S PURPOSE :h:::'::~
Juniors. Illus. 127 pp. Paper, 50 erery day cents. Morehouse-Gorman Co., New York. 1938. A handy volume of 365 inspirational sermonettes written by distinguished Children will like these stories, clergymen of the English·speaking world. Arranged in calendar form. one and leaders of junior groups will find them helpful in creating an for each day in the year. one to each page. interest in the children of other races and lands and in promoting Cloth,60c; Limp Leatherette, $1.00; Art Leather, $1.50 a missionary spirit. In addition to the stories about children in COD'S MESSACE COD'S MINUTE far-away lands, there are tales about American Indians, Ne- 365 prominent clergymen have Here is a marvelous collection of groes and Mountaineers; also about ohildren of island depend- chosen their favorite Scripture pas- 365 Daily Prayers. each 60 seconds encies-Porto Rico, Hawaii, the Philippines. Following the fif- sages. With each as a text, they long. written by 365 of the most teen stories are six biographical sketches, in language children have written a Message that quick- eminent preachers and laymen in can understand, of stalwart Christian leaders, such as Bishop ens faith, and brings comfort. the world. Azariah of India. Cloth, 6Oc; Limp Leatherette, $1.00; Art Leather, 51.50 HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON. THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO., Winston Bldg., Phila. Master Thoughts for Victorious Liv- ing. Edited by Dumont Clarke. 72 The Spirit of the Shepherd. By M. Life's Cricket Match. Reginald pp. 25 cents paper; $1.00 leather- P. Krikorian. 8 vo. 125 pp. $1.00. Wallis. 43 pp. 6d. Pickering & ette cover. Paul M. Hinkhouse. Zondervan Pub. Co. Grand Rapids, Inglis. London. New York. 1938. Mich. 1938. Master Thoughts for Victorious These 285 quotations are from The Twenty-third Psalm is Living. Edited by Dumont Clarke. many different sources from the immortal and seems to be inex- 72 pp. 25 cents; $1.00, Leatherette. Bible to Mohandas Gandhi and haustible. The present inter- Paul Hinkhouse. New York. from John Keats to Robert E. pretation is by an Armenian Speer. They naturally form a shepherd who became a spiritual The Missionary Significance of the great mixture on over fifty topics shepherd and Christian evan- Lord's Prayer. Lee S. Huizenga. and are of varied value. Most gelist. His emphasis in this ex- 84 pp. Eerdmans Pub. Co. of them are very brief-one sen- position is on the revelation of tence – but they offer food for God as the Jehovah who pro- Revealing Christ. Percy Hortill. 71 thought and come from experi- vides, guides, gives peace, over- pp. Is. 2d. S. P. G. London. ence. To many public speakers comes and gives His people a they furnish material for apt Home forever. These character- Studies in Popular Islam. S. M. quotations. istics are all referred to in the Zwemer. 148 pp. $2.50. Mac- Hebrew names. The study is millan. New York. All Around the City. By Esther Frei- practical and interesting rather vogel. Illus. 95 pp. 50 cents paper than unique. The Turkey of Ataturk. Social Prog- and $1.00 cloth. Friendship Press. ress in the Turkish Reformation. New York. 1938. New Boole. Donald Everett Webster. 337 pp. $2.50. Academy of Political and Here is an attractive book on Christian Home Making. (Prepared Social Science. Philadelphia. the city for primary children. A for the Madras Conference of the "Primary Teacher's Guide" is I. M. C.) Edited by Mrs. Robert They Dared to Live. Robert M. Bartalso obtainable at 25 cents a E. Speer and Constance Hallock. lett. 135 pp. $1.25. Association copy. Miss Freivogel describes 141 pp. $1.50. Round Table Press. Press. New York. how children move to the city New York. from the country, their experi- The World's Religions. A Short Hisences at Christmastime, at the Canadian Journey. H. P. Thompson. tory. Charles S. Braden. 256 pp. Neighborhood H 0 use, church 69 pp. S. P. G. London. $1.50. Cokesbury Press. Nashville. school and at play. Pen and ink drawings and the story are de- The Church Faces the World. (Pre- Welcome House. Jessie Eleanor signed to interest children. The pared for the Madras Conference of Moore. Illustrated. 95 pp. $1.00, incidents of life will help them the I. M. C.) Edited by Samuel cloth; 50 cents, paper. Friendship understand other children, and McCrea Cavert. 133 pp. $1.50. Press. New York. to sympathize with many who Round Table Press. are undernourished both physi- John Wyclif and the English Bible. cally and spiritually. It is a Christians in Action. A Record of Melvin M. Cammack. 288 pp. $1.75. good book for children from Work in War-Time China. By American Tract Society. New York. seven to ten years of age. Seven Missionaries. 115 pp. $1.00. Longs, Green & Co. New York. Tales of a Waste-Basket Surgeon. Gordon S. Seagrave. 265 pp. $1.50. Green Timber. Esther Gerberding Judson Press. Philadelphia. Hunt. 220 pp. 75 cents. United Lutheran Pub. House. Philadelphia. The Two Ways. A Play in Six Epi- sodes. A. L. E. WilIiams. 53 pp. Hugo the Blade. Julius F. Seeback. Is. S. P. C. K. London. 271 pp. $1.00. United Lutheran Pub. House. Philadelphia. The W orId's Great Religious Poetry. Compiled by Caroline Miles Hill. The History of Christianity in Amer- $1.69. Macmillan. New York. ica. Frank Grenville Beardsley. 244 pp. $1.50. American Tract Why Be Good? James Reid. 191 pp. Society. New York. $1.50. Cokesbury Press. Nashville.
Historical Atlas of the Holy Land. The Holy Bible. Illustrated by Wil- Maps. 62 pp. $1.00. Rand Mc- liam Hole. 8vo. 1,252 pp. Eyre Nally. New York. and Spottiswoode. London.
Men of Power. Vol. III. Fred East- man. 197 pp. $1.50. Cokesbury Press. Nashville.
State Population Census by Faiths: Meaning, Reliability and Value. H. S. Linfield. 72 pp. $2. Hasid's Bibliographic and Library Service. New York.
'I(~ ,tI1zS .11WiteJ to. ,tItienci
THE NORTHFIELD MISSIONARY CONFERENCE JULY 3-10, 1939 A PIONEER PROJECT in Interdenominational Fellowship on the beautiFul CAMPUS of Northfield Seminary EAST NORTHFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS HUNDREDS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS have received inspiration and training for service in their home churches, their communities and beyond the SEAS Denominational Camps for the Girls SEPARATE CLASSES are held for GIRLS and WOMEN In Bible Study • Mission Study • Leadership Training A FEW OF THE LEADERS WHO WILL TAKE PART Miss Ruth Isabel Seabury Miss Hazel Orton Miss Marguerite Hazzard Miss Alice Murdock Miss Nona M. Diehl Miss Sue Weddell Miss Gertrude Schultz Mrs. Walter C. Stevens Miss Christine Wang Dr. Caroline Palmer Dr. Emily J. Werner YOUR CHURCH SHOULD BE REPRESENTED YOUR LEADERS SHOULD FEEL THE POWER THAT COMES FROM MEETING TOGETHER WITH HUNDREDS OF OTHERS IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST For further information address—MRS. WARREN C. TAYLOR. 38 Union Avenue W., Schenectady, N. Y.
THE MOILEM WORLD PUBUSHED BY THE HARTFORD SEMINARY FOUNDATION Editors: SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, EDWIN E. CALVERLEY Some Articles in the April Number Religion and Life • • • Edwin E. Calverley A Protestant View of Moslem Missions Julius Richter The Missionary Conviction and Approach • Robert E. Speer The Law and the Gospel • • • Laurence E. Browne Al.Ghazali and Arabic Versions of the Gospels Constance E. Padwick A Modern Revindication of Islam H. Kraemer Qualities of the Planets D. M. Donaldson A Variant Text of the Fatiha Arthur Jeffery The Traditions of An.Nawawi .. Eric F. F. Bishop The Moslem Doctrine of Sin E. E. Elder Book Reviews Current Topics Survey of Periodicals Sue Molleson Foster +0(-._ _.-~» SUBSCRIBE NOW 50 Cents a Copy. $2.00 a Year (postpaid) In combination with THE MOSLEM WORLD THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City $3.50 a Year. (Foreign Postage, 50 Cents.) British Agents: MARSHALL, MORGAN & SCOTT, 12 Paternoster Buildings, London, E. C. Price in Great Britain, Eight Shillings a Year, net