The Missionary Review of the World — October 1898
OF THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD OF TO-DAY
1. VICTORI.A, Empress of India. 2. 'YILHELMINA, Queen of the Netherlands.
• MUSAFER-E-DIN, Gllah of Persia. 4. ABDUL-HAMID II., Sultan of Turkey. 5. TSAITIEN HWAXGTI, Emperor of China.
6. NICHOLA~ II., Czar of all the RU8sias. 7. FELIX F..ntE, President of france. MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD: VOl•. XXI. No.l0.-0ld &rUs.-OOTOBER-VoL. XI. No.l0.-New Berie8.
THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD OF 'fO-DAY.
BY REV. SAlIUEL )I. Z'EMER, P. R. G. S., BAHREIN, ARABIA. Missionary of the Reformed (Dutch) Church in America.
Islam dates from 622 A. D., but the first missionary to the Mohammedans was Raymund Lull, who was dragged outside the town of Bugia and stoned to death on June 30, 1315. He was not only the first missionary to the Mohammedans, but the first and only Ohristian of his day who felt the extent and urgency of the call to evangelize the Moslem world. He was a martyr like Stephen, and worthy of so great a cause.t Had the spirit of Raymund Lull filled the Ohurch, we would not to-day speak of very nearly two hundred million unevangelized Moslems. Even as Islam itself arose a scourge of God upon an unholy and idolatrous Ohurch, 80 Islam grew strong and extended to China on the east and Sierra Leone on the west, because the Ohurch never so much as toucht the hem of the vast hosts of Islam to evangelize them. The terror of the Saracen and 'L'urk smothered ih every heart oven the desire to carry them the Gospel. When the missionary revival began with Oarey, the idea was to carry the Gospel to the heathen. Henry Martyn, first of modern missionaries, preacht to the Mohammedans; lIe met them in India, Arabia, and Persia; his controversial tracts date the beginning of the conflict with the learning of Islam. The tiny rill that flowed almost unnoticed has gathered volume and strength with the growth of missionary interest, until in our day it has become a stream of thought and effort going out to many lands and peoples. Neyer were there so many books written on the subject of Mohammedanism as in om day-never was the Eastern question more pressing, never the whole situation so fnll of anxiety, and yet so full of hope. Time and tide have changed manelously since Dr. Jessup wrote his little classic in 187~).t A single glance • This periodical adopts the Orthography of the following Rule, rccommemled hy tbe joint action of the American Philological A.sociation amI the Philological Society of England :-Change d or ed final to t when so pronounced, except when tbe c affects a preceding sonud.-PuBLISIIERS.
t Peroquet, "Vie de Raymund Lull," 1667. Low, "de vita R. L" Halle, 1830. Helfferich, " Ray. Lull." Berlin, 1858. H His Life and 'York. n D'ublin University JJfagazine. Vol. LXXVIII, 43.
t" The Mohammedan Missionary Problem." Rev. H. H. Jessup, D.D. at the map there given to illustrate Islam, shows how the unity and power of Moslem empire have been broken, and what God hath wrought for the Kingdom of His Son. When that book was written there were no missionaries in all Ambia, '1'unis, Morocco, 'l'ripoli, or Algiers. Christendom was ignorant of the extent and character of Islam in Central Africa; httle was known of the }lohalllllledans in China, and the last chapter ill the history of Turkey was the treaty of Berlill. The problem has greatly changed; old factors are canceled and uew factors have appeared. But we can still say with the writer: "It is our earnest hope and prayer that this reviral of interest ill the historical, theological, and ethical bearings of Islam may result in l: new practical interest in the spiritual welfare of the Mohammedan nations. It is high time for the Christian Church to ask seriously the qnestion whether the last command of Christ concerns the one hnlldred and seventy-ihe millions of the .Mohammedan world." Let ns face the problem, and the key to its solution may be found.
1. THE PRESENT }~XTENT OF T1n~ )lOHA)DIEDA~ WORLD.
Looking at the table, which is on the opposite page, we see that it is both geogr.1phical and ehronological. It tells when and where Islam came and saw alld conquered. Its present extent embraces three continents; from Canton in China to Sierra Leone in West Africa. III Russia they spread their prayer-carpets southward and tnrn to Mecca; at Zanzibar they look northward; the whole province of Yunnap, ill China, prays toward the settillg sun, au(l.in the wide Sahara they look eastward toward the Beit Allah and the Black Stone! }lohammed's word has been fulfilled: "So we hayc made you the (,enter of the nations that yon should bear witness to men." * Arabic is the language of the Koran, but there are millions of }Ioslems who can not Illl<1el'stand a sillgle sentence of Mohammed's book. They speak Russian, 'rnrkish, Persiall, Pashtu, Baluchi, Urdu, Chinese, Malay, Swaheli, IIansa, and yet other langnages. And not only is there this diversity of language, bnt an equal diversity of civilization in the Moslem world of to-day. The 'rnrkish effendi, in Paris costume, with Constantinople etiquette; the silllple Bedouin of the desert; the fierce Afghan mountaineer; the Russian trader; the almond-eyed :Moslem of Ylll111an, ChiJlese ill e'erything but religion; the Indian mollah, just graduated from the Calcutta university; and the half-clad Kabyle, of :Moroeco-all of them profess one religion and repeat one prayer. '1'here is vast difference in the stage of culture rcacht by Mohamllledans. This illlportallt fact has often been ignored and, sometimes, SIl pprest. It is one thing to affirm a fact concerning the Mohammedans of Syria or Egypt, it is quite another • Surah II, section 2, Sale's" Koran," pp. 16. I .H>IT-OR1ern I I I I thatl 11?taI, Pop lat n. ~I f(h'UlmrnedfLn p~.U'1~O_ f~ I,ern hT~mguage GTo'vern· ~Are1e1(}o/u,n0t1,OnJ~grreaI"IgnWtU€I')~. D (l te WI'/,en .T 18 amietn ere('('', ,um·l88W. n E'wfl'ort WDhaeten 'P_ Wroo_ rtk. ~ aMmi8o~ sn.gSM~ ooc.hl1_ 'm-_ ri&i1Jle Re.•mlt8. ~"-'en _ ______A. D'____ I'amonuM08lem8,1 begu1~ ___ _ _ __ POPUI((t''n. Countries. _ _ment'_1 – Roumania, Bul· 10,811,852 1,187,452 Slavon1e. I Independent' NOllllnal toleration. 1389-Convertsmadein.Ser· Indirect. 1859 lIIethodist Episcopal None among lIIoslellls Kingdoms. Greek state Church. via. garia, and Ser- J (North) and others.
via. 1463-Conversion of Bosnia. EUnOPE. 1Greece. 2'433'806 24,165 Turkish. Kingdom. Complete toleration. 1675-"NU111bers of Greeks None. turn Moslem. 5,811,61', I,Turkey in Europe. 5,711l)00 2,000,000 Turkish. Absolute Gua.ranteed by treaty. 1353-Turks enter Europc. Indirect hut imw1 1830 Am. Board For. "Miss. Bil)lc transl. Colleges, _____~RC-U-Sg.-.i-ain Europe. 9-1,188,7501 2,600,000 Hussian. Monarchy. Ihut actually a nUllity. portant. Foreign Chr. Mission. schools and churches. J-~~~~g~~. No fg;iN~~~~nI~~~~om 171~~tfJ~~i>~~~!~fa. go to None. lB. & F. Bible Society. – Turkey in ASia. 17,117,690 12,000,000 Turkish. Absolute Isame as in European 63-1 638 Conquest of Syria. Indirect but iIllw 1818 A. B. C. F. M. Presb. St.rategic points all Arabic. Monarchy. Turkey. portant. Board, N. C. ~I. S. occupied. Bible trans– lated. Literature, col~ leges, schools,church' es. Beirut Press.
Arabia. 8,000,000 8,000,000 Arabic. 7.! llnderTur· Outside Turkish rule 622-TuE HEGIRA 01<' :.10· Direct. lA85 Keith Falconer Mis.. Bihle distrib't.'n, meCl.· 1890 sion(Scotch).Arahian ieal work, preaching. key, ~ill(lep. and British influence HA1DIED. Mission Het. Cll. Am. Rescul'd slave schooL hardly any. Persia. 9,000,000 8,800.000 Persian. Absolute Practically none. 6-19-Conquest of Persia. Indirect. 1811 C.M.S.Presh.Board N. Bible transl. Schools. ASIA. Russia in Asia. 2B,O-t3,5fiO 8,261.000 Russian. Converts. :Martyrs. Monarchy. Recently dire('t. Bible translated. Absolute None for dissenters. 15iO-Kuchum Khan 1n1.1'0- None. Bible Societies. duces rslam to Sil)erilL 133,882,164 AfgiIanistan. 4,000,000 4,01:0,000 Pashtn. Monarchy. None. i2-t-AlJu Sayda preach/:,:-; Xone. Bible translated in Absolute Monarchy. in Transoxania. part. IBalucllistan. 500,000 500,000 Baluehi. British Prow Same as in India. 1000 (or earlier). Begun recentlj i1SOO C. Jf. S. Ma.tthew's Gospel teetion. translated.
IIndia. 2R7,223,·-1:~1 fii,H'21,16..- Hindustani. British Imw Entire liberty w1th l005-Shcikh Ismael in La· Direet lRl0 C.M. S. Presho B. Frt'l' Bible t.ranslated. perial. complet,e neutrality. hore. 1305-Pir Khandn- ell. of Scotl'd,::;. P. G. ~Ianystations,scho()18 yat in Deccan. Cont.roversy. Conv'tK.
ClIina. I •o-:!,nRO,OOO 20,000,000 Chinese. Absolute Xominal toleration, 'j..t2-First mosque built in SearceIyany Oll,IYarji,I1,c,·js·dseOnClj:aeltlj'Ye.o 1.))" BillIe translated. Monarchy. with strong antiwfor- North China. 0 I.J a va, Sumatra, eign feeling. Dired.. I 185q Tariow'! Dutch Soc., 'fore than l:l.000 ('on w Dutch, Brit~ Neutrality and tolera· 1276-Malacca. 1.'62 U,ll('nil'h ,!iss Sue., Y('rts m .J a ah)lw Borneo, Celebes, :35,575.000 15,000,000 Malay. etc. ish, French tion. Dutch govt. op- t606-New Guinea. and Barmen Soc. All agencIes at ork. land NlJW Guinc~L. Colonial. poses mission work.
Egypt. !),'j3J,.JO~! Arahic. British Oe~'~luch g-r(>ater than ill1640 OmitI' takes AlexUU:-f;ar~direet 1&14 CGU. itM(.'dSPl. 'aCbnhdYtCKlo'irtaln'8,t'n1r{e;.ontSrcohveorosl~si. itCeroanww cupation. Turkey. dl'ia. and import,allt. IZanZilll.lf. Afr!ca Mission. n~rts. Churchc8. lIo~- I 1875 ' l,""nivprsities' llisw pitals. ~Iorocco. 150,0001 1.0,000 SwallCli. Brit.andGer- ~ot yet eOlllpletc. gOO-~rahR from Oman Direct. r i Three Stations. lllanProteet. I'cae/t Zan7;ihar. sion. Schools. Hospital. AFRICA. Tripoli. 5,000,0001 -1-,911;1,00[1 Arabic. Direct. lS84 North Africa ~t.iS~. & "Iedical missions. 56,798,Otitl Tunis. 1,;]00,000 1,000 000 Arahie. Absolute Sone. 'otllcr,~Ulal},erlll,~Rsl'ns Preaehing work for Algiers. Inclireet. ncgio~l around Monarchy. ])irect. 1~B9 I women. Touring. lLake TciIau. Tu~~A~llat~o- Sauw as in Turkey. 6-t~;)!~~1~~rla~gi~2(~~~;;~ Dirp('f. l1 ~~~1~~~~~~' :~aJion: The Sudan. Frenell Co· ~ominal freedom Imt X one. nUmlH'f of converts. 1;;00 000 Arabic. H. (~: su~rem~~y. sword. 18.-;5 IUegion of Sokoto. Xone. .,429A21 3,((,>l,l.l Aral)1e. l.?niat I 188.:/. l1'lIe Sahara. 9,100,000 8,000,000 Hamitic. ~onf'. (}f~tr~e;~n:eiht,ilso1;r lOi'j-Founding of TiUlw 1 I huctoo. – None. ! Undefined 10Aoo.OOOj 10100 001 :rahie. and un· HiOO-17.00. Spread of ISlam JIausa. (German! certain. in Africa. 1"000000' 1s0.o0o0o0,0oo0o0:' I) I Influence. ! 1ROO – lt~~yival in Sudan 10:100:UOO Hamm. I i Bamitie. J under tlle Mahdi.
196,4-91 "T ——-,S-4- -,- ..–T-O-T- A- L-]- fO-S- LE-.M– Po-pr-L- A- TI- O- :;– ; – T~– Ti- ll<- ; –O- HL-D-. ——~— to assert the same of Moslems ill Java or China. You lllUst change your predicate. Syeed Ameer Ali, the learned barrister of Calcutta, who poses as the defender of MOllammed, would haruly recognize 'l'ippoo Tib as a brothel', tho he met him beside the Kaaba. :Moslem populations must be weighed as well as counted, otherwise we will be letI far astray by mere statistics. AmI yet "God hath made of one blood all the nations;" civilization is only the raiment that covers a common humanity. All Mohammedans have souls and are sinners. Put it as you will, and classify as you please, we stand before nearly 200,000,000 J{oltammedans, our brothers and sisters. This is a conservative estimate, and baseu on the best authorities possible.* N ow by considering the chronology of the chart, we find that these millions have been, almost without exception, for centuries shamefully neglected in the work of evangelizing the whole world. A comparison of the two columns of dates is very humiliating.
Islam was a missionary religion from the very start, and continues so to this day. We may say it has had, like Christianity with its apostolic, medieval, and modern missions, three great periods of aggressive growth. The dates given when Islam entered the different lanus where it now is predominant may be groupt into three divisions of time. 'fhat immediately after ~lohammed'8 hegira from A. D. 622-800; a later period under the Ottomans and Moguls; lastly, the modern missionary revival from 1'100-1800.
During the first period, tile apostolic age of Mohammedan missions, the sword carried Islam throughout all Arabia, Syria, Persia, Egypt, North Africa, and hy more peaceful means into Canton and 'Vestern China. All these regions had received the Mohammedan faith, and it ha<1 become deeply rooted hefore the year 1000 A. D.t Christianity was put under tribute and oppression, as in Asia Minor, or entirely swept away, as in Arabia itself, by the tornado-power of the Hew religion.!
Afterward came the fall of Constantinople and the rise of Turkish power. This was the second chapter of Moslem conquest. Afghanistan, Turkestan, India, Java, and the Malay archipelago became " converted." And lastly we can chronicle the modern Illissionary efforts of Islam by the apostles of the Koran from Cairo's lll1iversity, or the Muscat apostles of the slave-trade. '['heir work was in Russia, the Sudan, Sokoto, alld West Africa. In followillg these paths of cOllquest Oll the world map, it is of interest to note that Islam never , The population of the Yfoslem lands given in the chart is taken in nearly every instance frOlll" The Statesman'tj Yearbook for i898." In the case of China a. rnore rnoderate estimate was taken, as found in the" China Mission Handbook, for 1896." The population of the Sudan, Arabia, the Sahara, and other African regions is not yet accurately known. In India the Moslem population seems to be slowly but steadily increasing.
1" C. R. Haines' "Islam as a Missionary Religion." London: S.P.C.K, 1889. A valuable list of authorities is given, and the book itself is a marvel of accuracy and condensation.
:j: Thomas Wright, ' Early Christianity in Arabia." London, 1855. crost the great oceans, but for the most part traveled by land; Japan, Australia, South Africa, and America were not reacht. Nor has Islam ever made progress in any land where Protestantism was dominant.
The Mohammedan methods of mission work, that can be seen in all this wonderful conquest, are three: the sending of embassies, the power of the sword, and colonization by intermarriage. The last method was always couplecl with the slave-trade, partly as cause and partly as effect, and won for Islam nearly all of North Africa south of the Barbary States. China is a striking example 0 Eother methods. When Mohammed's maternal uncle, 'Vahab al Kabsha, went as an envoy to China, as early as 628 A. D., the camel's nose entered the tent. Another embassy was sent in '108. In '155 four thousand Arab soldiers were sent by Calif Abu J afir to succor the Chinese emperor against the Turkish rebels, and, as a result, these soldiers were establisht in the principal cities of the empire, and given a multitude of Chinese wives. Lastly we have the wild savages of the province of Yunnan all "converted" to Islam when the Mongol emperor appointed Omar from Bokhara their governor. To-day more than twenty million Moslems in China testify to the efficiency of these methods.* Another fact evident from the chart is that Islam had rooted itself for centuries in every land. before modern missions came to grapple with the problem. The Church was ages behind time, and lost splendid opportunities. Uhristian missions came to Persia one thousand years after Islam entered. In Arabia and North Africa twelve centuries intervened. In China Mohammedanism had eleven hundred years the start, and only this year has a beginning been made to evan- gelize that part of China. t In Java only jour hundred !fears elapst before work began .for these half-pagan Moslems, and it is not strange that here we find many converts. About one-third of the Hausaspeaking people of North Africa are Mohammedans. Prior to the Fulah conquest, about the beginning of the present century, they were all pagans; Islam is even now making conquests west of the Niger. And practically the whole of this field-long since white for * P. D'Abey de Thiersant," La Mahometisme en Chine." 2 vols. Paris, 1878. Chinese Recorder, Vol. XX, pp. 10-68. T. W. Arnold, "The Preaching of Islam" London,1896. See especially the valuable chronological chart at the end of the latter book.
t The India Witness states: "A number of British and German friends are subscribing to support a new mission to China. This new enterprise, to which we wish con1plete success, will have its headquarters in Kashgar and Yarkand, two cities of Chinese Turkestan, and the work is to be carried on not among the Chinese, but among the l'Iohammedans, who are in a large majority in that district. 'l'he new mission is interesting in that it is an attack upon China from the West. Two German missionaries, accompanied by a ooclor and a native Christian, will arrive in Kashgar next spring, and begin work. It may be added that the British and Foreign Bible Society is at present printing the four Gospels in the dialect of Chinese Turkestan, and that in all probability they will be ready before the new mission gets settled at Kashgar." the harvest – has been untoucht by missionary effort. Yet Charles Henry Robinson writes in his book, "Hansa-Iand:"
Although :Iohammedan~sm is making very slow, if any, progress in the Hausa States, it has recently made rapid progress among the Yorubas, who inhabit a country to the west of Rausa-land, which has for its capital Lagos. Its introducers are for the Illost part Fulahsthat is, the same tribe to whom the Rausas were indebted for their conversion to Mohammedanism at the beginning of this century.
The fatalism attributed to Mohammedans is not one-half so fatalistic in its spirit and operation as that which for centuries has been practically held by the Christian Church as to the hope or necessity of bringing the hosts of Islam into the following of Jesus Christ. There may have been reasons in time past for this unreadiness or unwillingness, snch as political barriers and fear of death from Moslem fanaticism. To-day we can not plead such excuse. There has becn no foreign missionary among Jfoslems who died for proclaiming the truth, in all lhis century of missions. Kearly all the political barriers against missionary occupation have fallen. Read it on the chart, and proclaim it upon the house-tops, that three-fourths of the .Mohammedan world are accessible to the Christian missionary-accessible in the same way as are all non-Christian lands, opening to the golden keys of love and tact and faith. Of two hundred million Mohammedans, only eighte(m million are directly under 'furkish rule. Under Hussian rule there are 10,861,000; under Dutch, French, and German rule, :24,580,000; while British rule or protection extends over nearly sixty-six IIIillion Mohammedans-a population as large as that of the United States. And yet men speak of l1:o:1lLmmedanism as if it were synonymous with Turkey, and of this missionary problem as if it could be 80h"ed by bombarding Constantinople.
Looking at the table from another standpoint, there are to-day only 41,560,600 :Moslems nnder Mohammedan rulers, i. e, in Turkey, Persia, parts of Arabia, Afghanistan, and Morocco; while there are 99,55:2,477 under nominally Christian rulers, and three-fourths of this vast number are subject to the Protestant queens Victoria and Wilhelmina. "-ell may Abd-ul-Hamid II. tremble Oll his tottering throne for his califate, when two" infidel women" hold the balance of political power in the Mohammedan world. This is the finger of God. And it does not require the gift of prophecy to see yet greater political changes in the near future pregnant with Llessillg for the kingdom of God. 'fhe deadlock of inactivity in the Levant can not last. The reaction will surely lead to action when the temporary revival of the proud, menacing spirit of the old swordfanaticism has done its work. But the failure to act for Armenia when the honr was ripe. may cost the powers of Enrope a still larger Eastern question. The editor of the official organ of the Barmen Under Christian Rulers D9,2DG,S41 POLITICAL POWERS OF THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD.
Under Turkish rule: Europe ……………… 2,000,000 Asia………………… 12, 000, O()() Arabia ……………… 3,000,000 Tripoli …………….. 1,000,000 – – – 18,000,000 rnder other Moslem rulers: Arabia ………. 5,000,000 Persia ……….. 8,800,000 Afghanistan …. 4,000,000 llorocco . . . . . . . .. 4,995,000 —– 22,795,000 17nder the Chinese Emperor ……………… . 20,000,000 1;ndel' African chiefs, etc………………… . 36,400,000 Under Christian rulers: Roumania, ek …….. 1,187,452 ([reece……………. 24,165 Russia ……………. 10,861, 000 Baluchistan and lndia.37,821,164 Malaysia ………….. 15, 000, 000 Egypt and Zanzibar .. "9,118,775 Tunis and Algiers …. 5,284,291 – – – – – 99,296,847 196,491,847 Mission, which has had so much success among the Mohammedans in Sumatra, writes: We have often been forced to observe that the whole Mohammedan world is connected by secret threads, and that a defeat which Islam suffers in any part of the world, or a triumph which she can claim either really or fictitiously, has its reflex action even on the work of our missionaries in the Mohammedan part of Sumatra. Thus the recent massacres in Armenia have filled the Mohammedans in this part of Sumatra with pride. They say to the Christians, "You see now that the raja of Stamboul (that is, the sultan of Constantinople) is the one whom none can withstand; and he will soon come and set Sumatra free, and then we shall do with the Christians as the Turks did with the Armenians." And it is a fact that a considerable number of Mohammedans who were receiving instruction as candidates for baptism have gone back since the receipt of this news.
And this leads us to considcr, next: II. THE PItESENT CONlHTION OF THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD.
Libraries have been written on the origin, character, and history of Islam, the Koran, and Mohammed. Views differ widely, extremes often meet, and authorities conflict when we examine the question, e. g. of Mohammed's preaching, or the influenee of the Koran on the lives of its readers. The apologies for all that is evil or incongruous in the system have been many and yet wholly insufficient to prove its integrity or truth. The result .of a century of critical study by European and American scholars of every school of thought seems to be that Islam is a composite religion. It has heathen elements; witness the Kaaba, the Black Stone, and endless superstitions and practises that find their origin in pagan Arabia. It has Christian elements, such as its recognition of Christ and of the New 'restament, 1vithout the card'inal doctrines of the (ltonement and the incarnation. It has Jewish elements. 'rhese are so numerous and have had such influence as to form the warp and woof of MosLem tradition and often the very texture of the Koran itself. * 'rhe Old Testament as inter- preted by the 'ralmud, is the key to many otherwise obscure words, i<1eas, and stories found in the Koran. Aud the entire Moslem ritual is an Arabic translation of Judaism as it existed in Arabia. Like Judaism, Islam glories in its grand doctrine of the unity of God. But altogether too much has been made of this part of the Moslem creed. 'There is ahundant proof to show that monotheism was well known in Arabia before Mohammed's day. 'rhe name of Allah, for the one supreme deity, occms even in the pagan poets. Moreover, there is no salvation in mere monotheism. "Thou believest that God is one, thou doest well, the devils also believe and tremble." 'rhe * " Literary Remains of Emanuel Deu-esch," London, 1874, and the unequaled essay of Abrahanl Geiger's, '" 'Vas hat lVIohamnled aus dem Judenthum iibergenommen? H Preisschrift for University of Bonn, lR33.
of Fh:lI1ing H. Rl!yell Co. From" Fordgn Missions and SocIal Progress."
MOSLEM PILGRIMS WORSHIPPING AROUND THE KAABA AT MECCA.
THE MOHAMMEDAN WORLD OJ<' TO-DAY
Mohammedan world holds this supreme truth in unrighteousness. It has not made them free. Fatalism binds back everything that seeks progression; formalism has petrified the conscience; social life is corrupt and morals are rotten.* The Rev. J. Vaughan, of India, says: "However the phenomenon may be accounted for, we, after nineteen years of mixing with Hindus and }[ussulmen, have no hesi- tation in saying that the latter are as a whole some degrees lower in the social and moral scale than the former." A veteran missionary in Syria says of the .Moslem population that" truth-telling is one of the lost arts, perjury is too common to be noticeu, and the sin of sodomy so common among them in many places, as to make them It dread to their neighbors." "By their fruits ye shall know them."
The jil'B }!1:rlars of the Mohammed[m faith are all broken reeds by the solemn test of age-long experience; because their creed is. only a half-trnth, and its "pure monotheism" does not satisfy the soul's need of a mediator anu an atonement for sin. Their prayers are formal and vain repetitions, without clemamlillg or producing holiness in the one that uses them.t Their fasting is productive of two distinct evils wherever observed; it manufactures an unlimited number of hypocrites who profess to keep the fast and do not do so, and in the second place the reaction which occurs at Sllnset of every night of Ramadhan tends to produce revelling and dissipation of the lowest and most degrading type. Their (tlmsgiving stimulates indolence, and has produced that acme of social parasites-the dervish or fakir. Finally their IJilgri1ll((ges to Mecca and }ledina and Kerbela are a pu lilic scandal even to Moslem morality, so tbat the'" holy cities" are hotbeds of yice and plague-spots in the body politic.
It has often been asserted that Islam is the proper religion for Arabia. The Bedouin now say: "Mohammed's religion can never have been intended for ns; it demands ablution, but we have no water; fasting, but we a1 ways fast; almsgi ring, but we have 110 money; pilgrimage, but Allah is everywhere." Islam has had fair trial in other than desert lands. For five hundred years it bas been supreme in Turkey, the fairest and richest portion of the old world. And what is the result? The }Iohammedan population has decreast; the treasury is bankrupt; progress is blocked; "instead of wealth, universal poverty; instead of comeliness, rags; instead of commerce, beggary-a failure greater and more absolute than history can else- where present." t In regard to what Islam has done and can do in Africa, the recent testimony of Mr. Robinson is conclusive. Writing of Mohammedanism in the central Sudan he says: Moreover, if it be true, as it probably is to some extent, that * Hauri, .. Der Islam in seinem Einfluss auf das Leben seiner Bekenner." Leiden, 1881.
t See article on" The Koran Doctrine of Sin," Christlan Intelligencer (New York), Sept. 2, 1896.
::: CyruR IIalnlin's .. Five Hundred Yearf.:: of Islam in Tnrk~y." 18~8. Mohammedanism has helpt for'ward the Hausas in the path of eiviliza- tion, the assistance rendered here, as in every other country subject to Mohammedan rule, is by no means an unmixt good. Mohammedan progress is progress up an impasse,. it enables converts to advance a eertain distance, only to check their further progress by an impassable wall of blind prejudice and ignorance. 'Ve can not have a better proof of this statement than the progress, or, rather, want of progress, in Arabia, the home of Mohammedanism, during the last thousand years. Palgrave, who spent the greater part of his life among Mohammedans, and who was so far in sympathy with them that on more than one occa- sion he conducted service for them in their mosqueE, speaking of Arabia, says: "'Vhen the Koran and Mecca shall have disappeared from Arabia, then, and then only, can we expect to see the Arab assume that place in the ranks of civilization from which Mohammed and his book have, more than any other cause, long held him back."
But it is not only indisputable that Mohammedanism is a hopeless system as regards ci vilization; it is hopeless for the soul. Whatever may be the opinion of those whose theology includes a larger hope and a second probation, to the evangelical friends of missions and "the chiluren of the Kingdom" Islam falls, with heathenism, under Paul's category-" 10ithuut Christ, lIJ1:tlIOUt hope." The awfnl sin and guilt of the Mohammeuan world is that they give Christ's glory to another. Islam, ill its final result, as well as in its essence, is anti- Christian.* Christ's name antI place and offices and glory have been usurped by another. Mohammed holds the keys of heaven and hell. Whatever we may think of the caricature of Christ in the pages of the Koran, it so influences the Moslem world that the bulk of Mohammedans know extremely little, anu think still less, of the Son of Mary-that Son of whom it is written, "~either is there salvation in any other."
III. THE OGTLOOK FOR THE )IOHAlIIMEDAN WORL]).
Nevertheless, there are certain hopeful signs to the eye of faith in this very hopeless system that ends in such social stagnation and spiritual ueath.
First of all, the great Mohammedan world is no longer a unit, either politically or religiously. As regards temporal power, we have already seen how that is and has been steadily uisappearing. 'rhe illustriolls califnte is hopelessly a thing of the past. Islam has no acknowledged pope. Since the Wahabee reformation at the beginning of this century, the increasing hatred for Ottoman rule in Hejaz and Yemen during the last decade, and English supremacy in Oman and the Persian gulf, all of Arabia looks to Mecca for a new c(ll(f, and not to Constantinople for the old one.
Spiritually, the Moslem world seems to stand on the tiptoe of expectation. The mahdi in the Sudan; the religious orders of the * See the lnasterlyexposition of this idea in Ko~ne'~ . Mohamlned and Mohammedanism. '1 London, lHR~~. Sanusiyah in Morocco and '1'unis; * the revolt against traditional Mohammedanism in India, and the rise of the Babi movement in Persia, all these indicate a stirring among the dead bones. Babism t alone is such a wonderful phenomenon that we are not surprised to learn that it already has SOO,OOO adherents, and spreads wider and wider. '1'here is m nch that is sad in the llew teaching, but it has opened the door to the Gospel as nothing else has done. Some one writes concerning its influence: It is computed that in many towns and villages half the population are Rabis. This is a clear indication that the people of Persia are already, in large measure, wearied with Islam, and anxious for a higher, holier, and more spiritual faith. Almost all through the country the Babis are quite friendly to Christians. The rise of this faith is in a large measure due to the spread of the Gospel, the best of their doctrines are borrowed from it, while they openly reverence our Scriptures, and profess to be ready to reject any opinion they may hold when once proved to.be contrary to the Bible.
Fifty years ago it might have been said with much truth of the Mohammedan world, spiritually, that it was "without form and void, and darkness npon the face of the deep." To-day we can add " The Spirit (~f God muves upon the waters." What else is it when there comes news of an ever-increasing demand for the printed Word from every mission-station in Moslem lands? What else is it when two learned Indian Mohammedans devote their time to writing a commentary on the Bible from a Moslem standpoint? What else is it when first-fruits are being gathered in even the most unpromising fields of labor among Moslems?
Not only is the soil being preIJared for the sowing of the Word, but that 'YOl'd – the good seed of God – has been translated and printed in nearly every Mohammedan tongue. The Arabic Bible will prove stronger in this holy war than any blade of Damascus ever was in the hand of the early Saracens. For Persian, Afghan, Chinese, Malay, JIausa, and Russian Mohammedans that Word of God is also ready in their own tongue. The Arabic Koran is a sealed book to them – since it may not be translated – but the Bible speaks the language of the cradle and the market-place. In this we can see a wonderful providence of God, giving the Church such vantage ground in the corning conflict that even her enemies acknowledge victory certain.
As regards the present status of missionary effort in Moslem lands, the bare statement of the chart must snffice. There is no room here for adequate treatment of the subject. The reports of the various societies that work chiefly or largely among Moslems tell the story of • See Indian Witness for March II, 1898. Article by Rev. E Sell. t "The Bab and the Babis." E. Sell. Madras, 1895. "The Episode of the Bab." E. G. Browne, of Camoridge. trial aull triumph. Especially worthy of study is the story of the North African Mission, of the Church Missionary Society in the Punjab, and of the Dutch in Java. In India many hundreds of the followers of Islam have pu blicly abjur~d their faith and been received into the Church. Half of the native clergy in the Punjab are from among the Moslems. In the Malay Archipelago there are tho:lsands of callverts. And yet even in these most promising fields the laborers are sadly few.
Rev. E. A. Bell of the M. E. Church writing from India says: Here is a great door-sixty millions of Indian Moslems, for whom all too little has hitherto been done. In the Madras Presidency are two million Mohammedans, and there are only two missionaries at work for them, both in the city of Madras. In Mysore are 200,000 Mohammedans, and in Ceylon 200,000 for whom no ordained missionary is at work. Missionaries to Hindus are numbered even by the hundred in these territories, but scarcely one of them knows even the language of the Mohammedans, Hindustani.
At the Lambeth Conference held in London 1897, the special committee on foreign mission work called attention to "the inadequacy of our efforts in behalf of Islam." "Until the present century very little systematic effort appears to have been made. As regards the work of the present century there have been the efforts of magnificent pioneers, bitt we need something more)' we need continuo1ts and systematic work, such as has been begun t'n the diocese of Lahore and some other parts of India."
" Inadequacy" is too weak a word to express the shameful neglect of duty in carrying the Gospel to the Mohammedan world.
There was a thousandfold more enthusiasm in the dark ages to wrest an empty sepulcher from the Saracens than there is in our day to bring them the knowledge of a living Savior. There is JJO Peter the Hermit, and no one girds for a new crusade. We are playing at missions as far as Mohammedanism is concerned. For there are more mosques in J ernsalem than there are missionaries in all Arabia; and more millions of Moslems in China than the number of missionary societies that work for Moslems in the whole world! Where Christ was born Mohammed's name is called from minarcts five times daily, but where Mohammed was born no Christian dares to enter.
America entertains perverts to Islam at a parliament of religions, while throughout vast regions of the Mohammedan world millions of Moslems have never so much as heard of the incarnation and the atonement of the Son of God, the Savior of the world. The Holy Land is still in unholy hands, and all Christendom stood gazing while the sword of the Crescent was uplifted ill Armenia and Crete, until the uttermost confines of the Moslem world rejoiced at her apathy and impotence.
Is this to be the measure of our consecration? Is this the extent
HOW ABD-UL-HAMID II. BECAME THE GREAT ASSASSIN
of our loyal devotion to the cause of our King? His place occupied by a usurper and His glory given to another, while the Church slumbered and slept; shall we not arise and win back the lost kingdom? J1issions to J{o~le?ils are the only Christian solution of the Eastern qnestion. "Father, the hour has come, glorify Thy Son." God wills it. Let our rallying cry be, E"ery stronghold of Islam for Christ 1 Not a war of gunboat;; or of diplomacy, but a Holy War with the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered. " Father, the hour has come, glorify Thy Son."
IImv A1W-UL-HAMID II. BECAME THE GREAT ASSASSIN.
Few monarchs have been so variously understood as Hamid II. lt the beginning of his reign, in 1876, he was regarded as weak and yisionary; It wilful despot. withon t any princi pIe of administration to guide him, ll;.ud ill deplorable igllorallce of the real condition of his empire. 'rhose who had access to him uniformly reported him a man of fascinatillg personality.
After 18 years of despotic rule, in which the poverty and misery of the empire slowly illcreast, he burst UpOll the world as tIle "Great assassin of the Bosphorus 1" To those who have followed his COlUS!3, the explanation of this malign transformation is not so difficult. He does not regard himself either as Hll assassin or a persecutor.
The guiding principle of his administration of power is that of Pall-islalllisJII. TIe probably borrowCll it from Hussia, whose PanslarisIll is known to the world. As the czar of Hussia was reducing all his Sll hjects to his Slavic churciJ, so would he, Abd-ul-Hamid II., reduce all hi;; subjects to Islam. It was absurd; bllt not to his view. He evidelltly resolred to do it by making it for the interest of every raya in the empire to become a ~Ioslem. In the days of the great sultans, thonsands every year entered into the "true faith," and became most loyal and faithful subjects, both in peace and in war.
The first fact that seellls to have excited his attention and indignation was the great llUlllber of rayas, chiefly Armenians, in government employ. They fillc(l the under offices of the cllstoms, of the public works, of the arsenal of constrnction, of the powder works. They were consllls ill European ports; they were employed largely in all the departments of the interior.
Abd-lll-Hamid would change all this. 'l'hese Armenians should all leave their places, unless they would become ~loslems. If they would enter Islam, they should retain their places, with promise of promotion. He did not doubt that there would be a large number who would choose the" true faith" and an honorable living. He was disappointed and indignant. Almost to a man, they received their dismissal, often involving want and distress; but they would not abandon their faith.
The higher officers complained that the Moslems substituted were ignorant, careless, and incompetent. He would change this also. Since then, it has been his constant care to build up Turkish schools everywhere, and to destroy raya schools.
But he saw that more effective measures must be taken. The mode of assessing and gathering the taxes, ill 'l'urkey, is such that the sultan can tax anyone to death if he chooses. 'l'his oppression was brought upon the Armenians, in the most cruel manner. Many thousands were unable to pay the amounts demanded, and were thrown into the vileEt prisolls, IV here hu man life is generally short. Petitions for relief were humbly sent. This has always been the privilege of every 'rurkish SlI bject. But now, the petitioner was seized and punisM, and the ear of the monarch was closed against his suffering snbjects. But it was always said to them, "Become Moslems and you will be free, and your taxes will be adjusted." A few poor villages yielded, to escape stanatiOll. But the conversions were too few to satisfy the sultan. He looked for thousands, and found only scores.
But he could easily strike a heavy blow and escape responsibility, using the Kurds as his instrnme1lts. They have always been robbers. It has been the policy and the iuterest of the Turkish government to repress them if they l1eseellded illto Mesopotamia. Hamid II. withdrew all repression in such manner as to gi ve them carte-blanche. They were not slow to use it, and still they reIllem bered that a village wholly annihilated can not be there to rob next year. And yet, all along up to 1898, villages were robbecl and burned, aud those who escaped were left in utmost poverty. During all this period of increasing persecntion, the Armenians were continually exhorted to escape it all, and secure peace and salvation by accepting the" true faith." As before, a few yillages yielded through fear of starvation, and were left ill safety and quiet, with all imam to teach them how to pray in Arabic.
Doubtless these cOllversions were multiplied when reaching the sultan's ears; but he was far from satisfied. He would use severer measures, and offer them Islam or death.
The Koran here stood right across his path, for it forbids the forcible con version of rayas. -While they pay their taxes they are to be exempt from persecution.
Russia craftily helpt him over this obstacle. She sent in the "Hunchagists," or "revolutiollists," Armenians with Russian passports, and therefore safe from arrest, to stir up the Turks to the barbarities they have committed. Altho the Armenians, as a people, would have nothing to do with them, Hamid used them to accuse the whole Armenian nation of being rebels, and, therefore, justly doomed to destruction. He prepared and armed the Kurds to cooperate in this pions work. Everyone who would confess" the faith" should be spared, the rest should be destroyed.
The bloody work began at Sassoon, in September, 1894. The world knows the awful history. 'l'he Armenians, filled with consternation, stood by their faith, and suffered tortmes and death by thou- sands and tens of thousands. Christian Eu rope lookt upon the awful scene of an ancient, innocent, and loyal people under torture and death in all revolting forms; upon women outraged and murdered, and little children put to extremest torture ill presence of their mothers, and not an authoritative word was spoken in their behalf !
With infinite patience and firmness they submitted to die rather than betray Christ!
Not less than 100,000 thus suffered. More than 600,000 were driven from their homes to live like beasts of the field. DoubUess another hundred thousand and more died from cold, nakedness, starvation, and typhoid fever during the years 1894-1897. Not only Russia, but Germany, to her everlasting disgrace, forbade any interference, and Abd-ul-Hamid was thus protected while he converted or destroyed the Protestant and Gregorian Armenians. 'rhe insurrection in Crete, and the consequent movement of the Greeks, drew the attention of the snltan to that laudable work. From some mysterious source he had money enough for the war and accom- plisht officers from the German empire-and poor Greece is under his heel! What he will next do depends upon his great neighbors.
We can now ask what he has accomplisht by this persecution and attempted conversion of the ArmelLians.
1. He has failed of securing any great llumber of conversions. A few villages have apostatized, waiting for better times.
2. He has inflicted a deadly blow upon the peace and prosperity of his empire. He has driven many thonsands of his most useful subjects from his dominions. Altho the ArmeniallS have a strong attachment to their nati 'e land, they abjnre a government that denies them every rigb t of hu manity.
3. He has destroyed mallY millions of property, ill the form of buildings, churches, schools, workshops, tools. and an the animals used in agriculture and transportation, as oxen, horses, donkeys, mules carried away. 'i'he German traveler, Lepsins, after long researches in the regions of massacre, reports 2,-!93 villages plundered and destroyed, also 568 churches and 77 monasteries.
4. He has rnthlessly destroyed the property of missionaries, and that accollnt he has still to settle with our government.
5., To sum up the whole, he has driyen two and a half millions of his faithful subjects iuto flight or despair, killed one hundred thousand with unspeakable torture, another hundred thousand by cruel exposure; has broken up all their indllstJ"ies, has takC'n from them all "possibility of paying taxes, and has written his name in history as the" Great assassin of the Bosphorus!"
THE GOSPl<]L IN PERSIA
THE GOSPEL IN PERSIA.* BY REV. W. ST. (,LAIH TISDALL, }I.A., JlJLFA, ISFAHAN, PE;RSIA.
Missionary of the Church i1Iissionary Society.
Persia is noteworthy as one of the few countries in which the attempt to stamp out Christianity was at last, after many centuries of intermittent but at times most ruthless persecution, crowned with fatal success. The heathen emperors of Rome knew by bitter experience the difficulty of such a task. Bn t alas! where the Roman emperors failed. the shahs sncceede<1. 'rhe once numerous and flourishing chnrch of Persia was finally elltirely destroyed, after an existence of many oenturics. Kot the slightest trace of it now remains save in the pages of Roman, Greek, Syrian, and Armenian historians. 'rhey have presened to us many names from the Persian army of martyrs, whose courage and faithfulness even unto death are recorded for the comfort and encouragement of their spiritual posterity only now to Le Lorn. We ItIay well Lelieve that even ill Persia the blood of the martyrs will yet spring np from the ground and bear an abundant harvest of souls won for Christ.
THE :BEGINNINGS OF PHOTESTANT )II8SIOKS.
If we pass over the futile efforts of the Roman Catholics in the 13th and 17th centuries, when they founded missions at 'riflis, Tabriz, El'evan, Samokhi, Gori, New JulIa, and other places, we find that the first attempt in recent times to spread the knowledge of Christ in Persia was that made by Henry Martyn in 1811. The version of the New Testament, to the preparation of which he. dedicated the last year of his busy and devoted life, is still circulated in the country, and has borne much fruit, tho it is now being gradually superseded by the far superior version made by Dr. Bruce.
To the Presbyterian Church of America is due the honor and privilege of having made the first really prolonged and in any measure successful attempt to win Persia for Christ. American missionaries occupied Urmi (Oroomiah) ill 1834, and from that center they have extended their work to 'raLriz, Salmas, ::rlosul, and many other places. some of which lie beyond the boundaries of the Persian Empire. 'rhese stations (alas that circumstances sllOultl have recently compelled some of them to be abandoned!) are oomprised under the appellation of the ,. Western Persia Mission." 'rheir" Eastern Persia Mission" was founded in 1835. The work in Teheran, the present capital, was hegun in 1872. Since then steady progress has been made year by year. Hamadan and Hesht have been occupied, and the Apostolic method of itinerating and preaching the Word everywhere ., The Rpelling of proper names is not entirely that of the author, but generally follow~ til; REVIEW system. throughout the whole country, as far south as the 34th parallel of latitude where the distriet assigned to the Church Missionary Society begins, has been faithfully and diligently carried into operation.
The work of the Chun:h Missionary Soeiety in Persia began in 18G9 with a visit from the Hl'Y. (now Dr.) Hobert Bruce, who, on his way to resullIe the work 110 11:(1 long clLl'l'ie<l on ill the Punjab, tarried for a time at "!'low .TulIa, lIOllr Isfahan, alHl fOllml so much encouragement from the spirit of religions inquiry manifested by Persians anxions to fiud a faith higher, purer, and more soul-satisfying than LOOKING OVER THJ<~ ROOl"S OF lKFAHAN.
Islam, that he remained there, bmlily engagCll ill the work of revising Henry }Iartyn's Persian translatioll of the New 'restamont. Not long after llis arrival Jlille Moslem converts prinLteJy receivecl baptism at his haliLls. Many Arlllenians also, leavillg the corrupt Gregorian Church, joined the Protestant Church of England. 'rhis, however, Dr. Bruce Llid llOt permit, 1Il1til every effort to work ill llarlilOllY with the Gregoriuns ana to bring their church back to tho simplicity of the Gospel hall failed. Tho great famine ill IS71, through the aid which tho liberality of European Cliristiulls ellabled Dr. Bruce to afford to tll e Sll fferers, sened in sOllie sl iglt t tlegroe to opell the doo)' fo)' the ell trance of tbe Gospel. But ussistallce ,ras ginm, as far as fUIHls allowed, to all ill lloed without distinction of race or creed. TIl 1875 the Parent Committee of the Church Missionary Society formally adopted the Persian mission which Dr. Bruce had hegun, and ill the same year the British and Foreign Bible Society commenced work from the same celltral statioll. Bagdad, tho in the Turkish Empire, was occnpicd as a station of the Church .Missionary Society Persia ~Iission in 18S:2. In the present year, ~Lfter lllllCh itinerant preaching of the (;osp81 throughout the country, work has been defillitely taken np at Kinnan alId Yezd, while preparations are being made tooccnpy other itllllOrtallt cities also throughont the whole of the country south of the 34th parallel.
The Roman Cathulic mission to the ".rmenians at ~ ow ,J ulfa, tho recommenceil some sixty years ago, is now once more ill a lIlol"ilJUnrl eOllllition. They haye abo newly estahlisht missiolls at Teheran, 'I'ahriz, Sal mas, and Oroomiah, but the ollly other societies of any imporbmce that share with the American Presbyterian and the Church Missiollary Society missiolls the work in the Persian Empire, are tho Amerioan amI the British and Foreign Bible Sooieties, the Lonuon Jews' Society, and the Arch bishop of Canterhury's Assyrian Mission in Azarbaijall. The last named association, tho connected with the Church of EnglalHl, unfortunately can llot be in any true seuse called a Protestant mission. Its members carefully refrain from making allY effort whatever to reaeh Mohammedans, and ill faot state pu blioly that they havc no intention of evangelizing them. The mission has been started" for tllO purpose of protecting the old "Nestorian Church from the Roman Catholics OJl the one side amI the i mericltll Presbyterians 011 the other.'" It iB llee<lless to point ou t that this sad breach of the comity of missions servos very materially to ad(1 to the obstaoles, already sllffieiently numerons, with wllich our "rnerieall brethren have to eon tend ill preaching the pure and simple Gospel of Christ to the people of that part of the country. The Homan Catho· lics in liko manner confine their efforts to the task of proselytizillg the lIlemhers of other churohes, while the Jews' Society is fully engaged in work among the Jews. But as the totalllumber of professillg Christians in the Persian :Empire probably doos not exceed ';'5,000, and as the Jews hardly amount to more than about 20,000, while Mr. CurzOll estimates the whole populatioll of Persia at uearly 9,0()0,000, it is evident that allY agency that confines its attention to the non-:Uohammedan population can hardly hope, at least for maIlY years to oome, to do very muoh in the way of winning Persia for Christ.
The great lllass of the population are Shiah Mohammedans, tho the numerous and increasing Babi-Bahai sects already number many hundreds of thousands of adherents, and in faot are by llIany competent judges estimated to comprise almost 1,000,000 of the people. It remains theu to inquire what is already being done aud what should be done ill order to bring all these millions Ollt of darkness to the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ.
Not a few people in Europe and America even now venture to assert that the attempt to convert the Islamic world to Christianity is an entirely hopeless one. Islam has in our age of sciolism found many warm champions, more especially-not to say exclusivelyamong those who have never devoted any really earnest study to the subject. Doubtless in many such cases "the wish is father to the thought." Anyone who has taken the trouble to investigate the subject with any care, must be aware that from the time of Henry Martyn to our own day, a very large number of individual cases of conversion from Islam to Christianity have taken place. The paper on " Christian Efforts among Indian .Mohammedans," which the Rev. Dr. 'Imadu'ddin of the Punjab (himself an eminent :Moslem convert) drew up for the" World's Parliament of Religions," held at Chicago some years ago, contains a long list of distinguipht converts from Islam in India, and this is of itself sufficient to refute the above assertion of the enemies of Christian missionary effort, if it really needs any serious refutation.
CONVERTS FRO)I ISLA)I.
With reference to the effect of Christian mi.ssions upon Islam, we may say what Galileo did to those who in his day as ignorantly denied the earth's motion, "Ifeel it move." The present writer has been privileged to labor for Christ among Hindus as well as amollg both SUl1ni and Shiah Moslems, and is therefore enabled by his own personal experience to assert that Islam, far from occupying tllC impregnable position claimed for it by its ill-informed admirers of the dilettante type, is in reality, alike on its intellectual, its moral, and its spiritual sides, perhaps the most vulnerable of the great religions of the world. In India the attempt to defend Islam by argument has, even in the opinion of its own champions, so hopelessly broken down, that Indian Moslems, finding their position nntenable, now endeavor not to prove that their own faith is true, but that Christianity is false.
The ollly effeetiye protection of Islam in Persia in onr own time, if we leave out of consideration the ignorance of the people which it has produced and the bigotry which it has fostered, is the sword. In accordance with the religions law of the land (that contained in and based upon the Koran), whieh no seeuJar ruler has the right to alter in the very slightest degree, any Moslem who may become a Christian is ijlso facto doomed to death, and his Christian instructor renders himself liable to the same penalty. In ancient times, as we have already seen, the Church ill this, as well as in other lands, was from time to time exposed to fearful outbursts of persecution. But after some years of suffering, it was always permitted to enjoy a quiet breathing-time, wherein to nerve itself and brace its energies to continue the struggle. But this is not the case under Mohammedan rule. From Mohammed's time to our own the death penalty has ever hung in terrorem over the head of everyone, man, woman, or child, who under any Mohammedan government dares to embrace the Gospel of Ohrist. This was very plainly stated by the grand vizir of Turkey in 1843 in an official letter to Lord Ashley.
"The laws of the Koran," he said, "compel no man to become a, Mussulman, but they are inexorable both as respects a Mussulman who embraces another religion, and as respects a person who, having of his own accord publicly embraced Islam, is convicted of having renounced that faith. No consideration can produce a commutation of the capital punishment to which the law condemns him without mercy."
Altho'Lord Aberdeen's decisive action in the matter, caused by the martyrdom of two persons w110, having been forced to accept Islam, had recanted and returned to Ohristianity, compelled the Sublime Porte to issue a document promising to prevent for the future" tlie execution and putting to death of the Ohristian who is an apostate," yet the law of Islam regards such a decree as 111111 and void, being contrary to the express command of the most merciful God contained in the Koran.* It is hardly necessary to point ont that the same religious law obtains in Persja also. Hence the proclamation of religious liberty, made by the late shah some six years ago, had to be explained away, and thus virtually withdrawn ver}' soon afterward. Accordingly when, after the imprisonment a11(1 murder of Mirza Ibrahim at 'l'abriz, in 189:3, Sir Frank Lascelles had an interview on the subject with the Sadr-i-A'zam or Persian premier, "the latter quoted to the British minister the old Persian or Mohammedan law, which made Mirza Ibrahim, merely by renouncing Mohammedanism and professing the Ohristian faith, liable to the death penalty. 'l'he Sadri-A'zam exprest his surprise that he had been placed in prison instead of being promptly executed."
Such facts as these serve to account for the comparatively small number of Moslems in Persia, who have as yet had courage to confess Ohristian baptism. Yet there have been such COllverts ill perhaps every single station of the American and of the Ohristian Mission Societies mission in this country. A few examples of these will serve to show the courage and zeal which such newly-won disciples of the Master sometimes display, tho for obvious reasolls we withhold their names.
In the neighborhood of New J ulfa a few years ago a young Persian woman llamed S–, after receiving baptism and endurillg with exemplary patience much brutal ill-usage for her faith, was obliged to H ""'hosoever of yon Rhall apostatize frOIu his religion, then he shall die, and he is an infidel.'· Surah ii. v. 214. flee with her infant to the Illissioll-Iwlli-;e fur protectioll from a mob intent upon murdering her. EYen there she was not safe, for the whole of Isfahan and its ell virons was stilTed up against her. The chief mnjtahid of the city encouraged a huge mob to proceed to Julfa and take her by force, in order to pu t her to death. Alarmed by the popular excitement, tIle IJrince-goYel'llor sellt repeated orders for her surrender, and at last compelled the acting British consul, an Armenian, to insist on her being handed over to her enemies, tho that official in the writer's hearing said that she would lIlldoubtedly be murdered ill the street at the very door of the mission-house, as soon as she was givell 11p. Only when he saw that the missionaries were quite resolute ill their rdusal to surrender her alld her chil!l on sllch conditions, and that they were determined rather to die with her in the threatened attack on tho house, than to han:l her oyer to the tender mercies of hor enemies, dill he at last consent to take her ullder his own protection. lIc at ollce handed her ovor to the chief Gunnch of the prince's ({1lI1a1'UIl or harem, obtaining the prince's written promise to protect her. Evell then she was by 110 meallS out of danger, for the nllljtahi<l three times sent to the prince to demand that he should surrender her for exe(oution ill accordance with the law of the Koran; but the prince on Olle excuse or another managed to avoid compliance. He himself, afterward informed the acting consul that, hoping to get the girl to deny her faith ill order to save her life, he informed her of the mujtahid's demand for her blood, and said, " Rut you are llOt a Christian, are yon? yon ha'e not been baptized?" To use the prince's OWJl words, when relating the incident he said, "I think she must be mat1; for, when I said that, illstend of denying her faith, she lifted up her eyes to heaven and then boldly replied, 'Yes, I am It Christian, nlld I have been baptized.'" It is a cause of thankfulness that her life was spared, and that she now enjoys greater liberty. N or is Rho by any means the only Persiall female convert who has suffered brutal scourging and incurred the most imminent danger becauso of her open confession of faith in the Crucified Ono.
Under similnr circumstances an aged lllollah, who had been baptised, was most cruelly lmstinadoetl and for some time irnprisonct1 beforo being expelled from Ilis hOllle. "But," he told us afterward, "I hardly felt the blows, because Illy heart was full of joy at being called upon to suffer for my Savior. I knew that these torhues were but a proof of that Christ had accepted me tlR His own." A Kurdish convert of the American mission, now engaged in assisting the writer in translating the Gospels into the Kirmanshahi dialect, was assaulted by his own father with a knife and by his mother threatened with poisoning for becoming n Christian.
These are but II few of many instnnces to show how COllverts bravely risk a cruel death for their faith. Snch first-fruits of Persia to Christ give us hope of an abl1ndant harvest in the future, when the Church of Christ awakens to the duty of striving in real earnest for the conversion of the Mohammedan worlel.
THE PRESEXT P]WTESTA:s'T )IISSIOXS.
The work of the American Missioll among Nestorians, Armenians, and Jews ha;; been largely owned of God. They have now no fewer than twenty-nine fully organized churches (four of them entirely self-supporting), 188 native workers, 142 schools, 3,210.") pupil;;, and over 2,400 communicants. At the four hospitals of the Eastern Persia mission more than 16,000 patients were treated during 1897, and over 14,000 others at the five hospitals and dispensaries of the ,Y(estern Persia mission during the same time. They haye fiye central stations and eighty-seven out-stations (in spite of recent reductioll;;), and a staff of sixty American missionaries, while no less than 287,640 pages of religious literature in the Syriac, Armenian, and other languages proceeded from their press during the year.
The Christian Mission Society mission is of much later date and much less fully manned. Hitherto we have had only one station in the Persian Empire, that at New Jlllfa, tho we now hope to extend the work to other places, and have even begun to do so. Our fourteen male and female missionaries (including wives), aided hy thirty-eight Armenian assistants, are at work. ,Ye find the Henry Martyn Memorial Press very useful in the preparation of Persian tracts and other non-controversial works. In our two schools we had 419 pupils in 1897. At the Julfa hospital and its two dispensaries last year 342 in-patients were treated, and no fewer than 21,526 visits from outdoor patients were received.
The British and Foreign Bihle Society circulated 4,8]0 Bibles and portions in Persia during 1897, in spite of the prohihition of the colporteurs' work during some months. Itinerating tours have been undertaken as far as Kirman in one direction and Bagdad in another, none being more zealous in this work than Bishop Stuart.
The American Bible Society's agents have carried the Scriptures throughout the whole of their district, from Mosnl as far as Herat.
'Vomen's work for women has been carried on incessantly, with a zeal and devotion beyond all praise, by the ladies of each of the different missions. Such steady work in many different forms is gradually leavening the country with the Gospel, and we already hear that the mollahs say that their faith is in danger of overthrow.
In spite of all this, and much more that might be written on the subject, the question arises, "Arc we Protestant missionaries in a position to state that, if the work continues to be carried on under present conditions, Persia will, humanly speaking, be won for Christ within a reasonable time? Are the ai tempts now being made to reach the large Mohammedan population of the country at all adequate to the requirements of the case P" It is sad to be compelled to return a decided negative to such qnestions, yet no other can be given. No adequate effort to evangelize Persia at large has yet been made, and what has been accomplisht is little indeed in comparison with the stupendous task still before us. Mnch seea has been sown in many places, 1m t all that has as yet heCli done is hardly more than a preparation for the accomplishment of the duty which God has entrusted to us to do. We have gathered in the first-fruits, hut the time of harvest is not yet.
Many, and great difficulties, remain to be overcome before we can say with the beloved disci pIp, "The darkness is passing away and the True Light already shineth" ill Persia. The view which American missionaries of experience take of the situation may be seen from the following passage,* which embodies much which they have written on the subject in recent years.
A direct and exclusive Moslem progaganda [or rather a free and full proclamation of the Gospel to the Mohammedans throughout Persia] is at present an impossibility. It would result in the expulsion of the missionaries from the country. On such grounds the government acted in its demands for the withdrawal of the German missionaries from Oroomiah a few years ago. . . A bold and exclusive assault upon Islam in Persia would result in many martyrdoms. . . . Yet there can and must be a resolute attempt to evangelize the 4,000,000 or 5,000,000 Mohammedans falling within our Persian field…. But the fact remains that nothing is being done for the evangelization of the Moslems commensurate with our present opportunities. At present we have freedom enough to ,do vastly more for them than we are doing.
The Church Missionary Society mission, tho inci dentally seeking to influence both Armenians and Jews, yet recognizes that the one great object of its existence is the evangelization of Moslems. Unfortunately the representatives of the British Foreign Office in this eountry, tho willing to do their utmost to protect the missionaries in the enjoyment of their rights in other respects, show no inclination to encourage them in this matter. No less than three times during 1894 was the present writer, when secretary of the C. M. S. mission in Persia, informed by the British minister that "the condition on which missionaries are allowed to reside in Persia is that they do not proselytize among lfussulmans." Needless to say, in each instance the condition thus stated was in writing firmly rejected in the Master's name. The American missionaries in former years experienced much the same treatment, tho it is a matter for regret that a less reso- Inte answer was at first returned. 'raking all these facts into consideration it is not to he wondered at that as yet no very large number of Moslems in Persia have openly confest Christ in Laptism.
Yet even in this, the most important part of the work, results have not been wantillg, as we have already seen. An American missionary of long experience writes to me from Teheran: Multitudes, in the course of the 26 years since this station was opened, have acknowledged in personal conversation with us the force of Chris- *Vide Mr. Speer's Report presented in 1897to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign llHssions (pp. 20-22), tian tl'uth as prest npon theil' attention. I believe I can pc,int to a score or more who have privately confest to me their faith in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, hut who are yet, like Joseph of Arimathea, disciples in secret for fear of their enemies.
Every C. M. S. missionary also, who has been for any length of time in the country, can confirm this statement from his own personal experience of a similar kind.
Tile Babi or Bahai movement, which is so widespread throughout the land, tho in large measnre founded upOll Pantheistic ideas derived through the early Gnostics from Indian teaching of the kind embodied in the Bhagavadgita, yet owes what it contains of the good and true to the circulation of P ersian Christian literature, more especially the Bible. . Th ese people themselves are in most instances bi tterly hostile to Islam, and most cordial in their r ecep tion of Christian missionaries and colporteurs, who visit them on itinerating tours. Even the mollahs in llot a few towns and villages are friendly, and in some cases even recommend their people to purchase and read the Bible. Wherever a missionary goes, he finds large numbers of Persians ready to visit him for religious discussions, and in tl1is way many Moslems every year hear at least some part of the Gospel message. Almost every missionary, as soon as he learns in any degree to speak Persian, is kept busy seeing inquirers who come for definite Christian teaching, often with aview to receiving baptism.
The great mass of the most hopeful and most earnest inquirers are from the Babi or Bahai com munity, tho not a few are Moslems. At l.N TH~ AM.KRICAN MldSlON liOSPITAL AT TEHERAN. an ordinary Sunday seHice in Persian in a mission church or chapel it is not at all an uncommon thing to find at least 40 or 50 Persians present who have come to hear the Gospel preacht, and whose close and earnest attention to the Word as read anrl spoken leaves little to be desired.
)Iedical missions haH~ proyed to be a most important means not only of establishing friendly relations with the people, but also of hringing them under definite Christian teaching. Whatever other department of mission work as at present conducted may have to be giYenup, t!Je experience of perhaps all laborers in this field shows that the medical mission llepartment Hhould not only be retained, hut largely extended, for as an e"angelistie ageney it "'0111<1 be ha]'(l to exaggerate its value anel importance. The preparation and circulation of a Persian Christian literature is being undertaken by the C. 11. S. especially, and this agency will elonbtless have far-reaching results in the near future. 'rhe simplicity, copiousness, and elegance of the Persian l~l1lguage render it a most nseful instrumentality for the diffusion of a kilOWloc1ge of the trnth.
XATIYE AGENTS I ~ PERSIA.
But the history of Christian missions in all lands and in every age shows clearly that lIO country has e"er yct been won for (;!ll'ist solely through the efforts of foreign missionaries. It was not until the Saxons of Ellgland and the Celts of Ire!aml themselves sellt forth teachers to men of their respective races, that Christianity finally preyailClI ill Great Britain and in the sister island. What, therefore, is the great desideratum at the present timc in Persia is the raising IIp of an indigenons Persian elmrch, which will gi"e the Gospel to the country at large. The only qllestion is how this result is to be obtained. I am convinced that the work will not be dOlle, humanly speaking, by the present Oriental churches. These are in such a low state spiritually, so corrupted with superstition, ignorance, aJHl idolatry, so addicted to the manufacture and sale of intoxicatillg liquors to the )Iohammedalls, aml to the abuse of them among thelllseives, am! so convinced of the hopelessness of endeavoring to COllvert 1I1eir lIoslem oppressors, that, in their present state at least, they must be regar<led as hindrances rather than helps to the evangelization of the country. Every attempt to reyi 'e a]](l reform these decayed c!mn:hes has hitherto failed, tho congregations of Protestant converts have heen ill many places gathered ont from among them. But even thesc cOllverts, as a rule-tho there are some noble exceptions-hare little zeal for the work. And even when they have the requisite zeal, their IlHlllller of life, and their difference of language, dress, etc., render them, in the opinion of Persians, as much foreigners as are Europeans ami Americans. '],he Oldy (lifference is thnt the former are despisc<l foreigners,
189S. ] '747
while the latter are relSpeete,l. Oil the other hawl the prospect of forming large and permallent Persian ehurches in the cities and villages, which are ullder the direct eontrol of the mollahs an<lmajtahids, seems at presen t a remote Olle. ·What then is to be dOlle ?
That nolJle and (levoted missionary, the late Mackay, of Uganda, has well said that a special effort should be made to gain over to the Gospel the strollg races of the .Asiatic alld Africall cOlltinents, ill order through them to win tlleir fellow-coun trymen for Christ. The result of ihis policy is viRihle ill the case of the Waganda, who are u]1(10ubte<11y 011e of the strongest races ill Africa. They hid fair to become the l'Yallgelisis of a large part of that dark land. In Persia there seem to lJe o11ly h;o strollg races, the KnnlB ill the American part of the field and the Hakhtiyaris in that of the C. M. S. Fierce, crnel, and IJloo(lthirsty tho they be, they are nevertheless lIIen in a sellse in which the arcrage Persiall can scarcely 1)0 said to be worthy of that appellation. 'rhey are far less bigoted Moslems, too, than are the inhalJitallts of the rest of"the country, and in many cases they know little of the faith which they profess. Over them lleither the mollahs nor the government have milch influence. If they could be won for Christ-as by God's grace they could, if the proper men were sent to them-these warlike tribes, Persiulls, and yet not degraded Persians, might be the means of making tho Christian faith honored throughout the land. Among them, too, by the Holy Spirit's ageney, might be raised up devote(l <1lI(1 courageous workers, who would go forth amI preach the Gospel far and wille. Bn t as yet little, if anything, has been done to reach these fierce hut brave and trustyrnces. ·Would it not he well fur Christian missionaries, while contilluing their efforts for the evangelization of the other part of the countr}', and presenting the truth as it is ill Jesus to lIoslems, Je,,·s, and nominal Christians alike, to make a special effort to hring into the fold these fine and warlike tribes? Sl1oul(l Persia ever be divided up between those two Enropean llations which are rivals for the empire of ·Western Asia, tho Kurds awl the Hakhtiyaris willllndonbtedly flock to their respective standards, amI form the most yaluahle and trustworthy material for the formation of their nativo regiments. Why should we not strive in like manner evell now to make them f;oldiers of Christ, and thus will Pc-fsi.. for the Ho(leemor ?
PRAYER IN THE TIGER JUNGLE. [Octolwl'
PRAYER IN THE TIGER JUNGLE.
BY THE EDITOR-I~-CHIEF.
"0 Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come."- Psalm lxv: 2.
In that charming book, "In The 'l'iger Jungle," * by that master of missionary narratives, Rev. Dr. Jacob Chamberlain, of Madanapalle, India, there is a most beautiful and impressive instance of answered prayer, which suggests again the thought so often emphasized in these pages, that an encyclopediv, of prayer might be gathered, if the scattered instances of God's remarkable dealings could be brought into one volume. Of course, it is not meant to suggest that the whole body of Christian history is lIot a volume of testimony on this subject. But in many cases the answers to prayer can be traced only by a believer, for they are realize(l in the plane a/faith and not of sight,. ami can be seen and known only to those who live on that heavenly level, as when Augustine's mother, Monica, besought God that her wayward and skeptical son might not go to Rome, where his temptations would be so much the more seductive; nevertheless it was the going to Rome, which led to his being sent as teacher of rhetoric to Milan, where he heard Ambrose, the bishop, by whose preaching and personal influence he was converted. God denied the spoken prayer of Monica that He might grant her heart's desire. So there are many prayers which in form are not granted that in fact they may be, by the fulfilment of that deep8r yearning, of which the request is the mistaken expression. And so, we repeat, many an answer is found in an apparent silence or refusal. Disappointment becomes "His appointment "-and the trusting soulliviug in the high plane of faith finds an answer in that high altitude, tho on a lower level none is to he seen.
Dr. Chamberlain himself frankly says of one of his remarkable experiences: "I do not give this as a sample of what usually occurs on Ollr preaching tours. God does not often lift the veil; He bids us walk by faith lIot hy sight. We often meet with opposition, or worse still, with indifference. We often wail with Isaiah, 'Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?' But now and then God sees fit to raise one cornel' of the veil and let 11S see what may occur in scores of scattered villages, of which we shall for the first time learn when we meet those redeemed ones in the land where all is known." t But, to return from this digression, the instance here given of prayer, answered in a very obvio11s and recognizable manner, enconrages faith to trust where no such obvious and visible answer is * Fleming H. Revell Co. tP.54. given; for the answer is as sure in every case. It would not be well for the discipline of faith to have the interposition of God always so manifest, we should walk too much by sight, if we had the seen to depend on; and it is thc hiding of God's power behind apparent disappoinment and failure that trains faith to uniform and undoubting trust.
Dr. Chamberlain graphically tells how in September, lSG3, nearly thirty-four years ago, he was going on a long pioneer journey into Central India, where no missionary had ever before gone. It rcquired a tour of twelve hundred miles on horseback, and four or five months time, awl was fraught with great peril, from jungle fever, and still worse jungle tigers. But this heroic missionary fortified himself by the command, "Go ye unto all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature; " and by the accompanying assurance, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age." Duty called and the promise was the shield of defense. 'fhe crisis of the journey is the point with which we are now mainly conccrued. 'fhe travelers had reacht the farthest northern point, up among the mountain gonds (01' khonds), who for centuries offered human sacrificcs, and they had turned to go baek by another route. They expected to find a government steamer, when they struck the Pranheta River, an affluent of the great Godavery. Bnt the heavy torrents of the monsoon had made the Godavery a stream of tumultuous waters, three miles wide. The steamer, in attempting to stem that fierce current, had broken its machinery and could not come to their aid, There was now no way out of their trouble but to march through the seventy-five miles of that deadly jungle, dare its fever and the tigers, and at the foot of the second cataract, reach the next steamer.
We pass by all the ad ventures of Dr. Chamberlain and his party, deserted by'the whole party of coolies, armed guard and all, in the midst of an uninhabited district. We shall not stop to describe his desperate bnt successfnl efforts to get across the wild flood of the Godavery, and his new start with another force of coolies, as t.he new caravan struck once more into the jUllgle, amid perils and exposure so great that only by intimidation could even those hardy men be compelled to go forward. At last a new and seemingly insurmountable obstacle lay in their way. Two huntsmen crost their track, from whom they learned that the backwater of the Godavery flood, thirty feet higher than usual, had made unfordahle the affluents beyond which lay their only safe resting-place for the night. And to their inquiries the answer was returned, that there was neither boat nor raft nor any floating material to make a raft, whereby to cross to the knoll, where they had purposed to encamp. The party were even then standing ill the wet alllI mud, as they snneyed their hopeless plight. 'l'he royal gnides aml native preachers, who were in th~ party, Vere disheartened amI at their wit's end; and the fierce hungry roar of thc tigers could he heal'll about them as the nig1lt began to fall.
At this poillt, Dr. Chamberlain rode apart to commit the whole case to Him who hath said: Call upon me in the day of trouble! I will deliver thee And thon shalt deliver Me.
This was the w bstallce of tbat prayer Oil the greatest strait of his life: " Master, was it llot for Thy sake that we came here? Did we Hot covenallt with Thee for tl,e journey through? Have we llot faithfully preacht Thy llame the whole long way? Have we shirkt any danger, have we quailed before all}' foe? Dillst Thou not promise, 'I will be with thee?' Now we neell Thee. We are in blackest danger for this night. Only 'l'hou Clmst tlave lUI from this jungle, these tigers, this Hood. 0, Master, }[aster, show me what to do!"
An answer came, says Dr. Chamberlain, not audible lJUt distinct, as though spokell in my ear by human voice: " Turn to tlte left, to the Go!lm'el'!), ((wl !Jon '/I'ill find TCSC1IC."
It was a milc to the river. lts bauks were all overflowed, a]](1 there was uo village within mallY miles, llor auy mound or rising ground on which to camp. So said the guides. Again, the leader of this caravan rode apart, alld lifte(l to God another prayer; and again came that inner Yoiee, unmistakable in its impression 011 the spiritual senses, then 8U pel'llaturally Oll the alert, "'rum to the left, to the Godavery, alHI you will filHl rellcue." cgain he consulted hill gnides, but only to meet new opposition. It would take half un hour to make thc experiment of reaching the river bank, ltnd they woukl ouly lose just so much precious time, and have to come back to the jnngle after all, leaving tllCmsel'es so lIlueh less time to press forward to a blnff six hours further Oil, antI it woull1 be lark-man-hour, aud thenthe tigers!
'Yith the deeperdarklless of Liespair falling OIl the whole compuny, agaill Dr. Cllamberlaill ro(le apart for prayer. 011ce more that inexplicable iuner respOllse, heard only by that praying soul, came with thrilling Liistillctness. "It £s (iod's Ililswer to III!) Jim!)!!!'," saiLi Dr, Challl berlain. "I can not dOll bt. I must act, 11l](1 that illstantly."
AnLi so he calleL! a halt, and, against all remonstntllce, commanded the colnnl1l to wheel about sharp to the left, and take the shortest way to the river. Ollly the sight of that fourteell-illeh re'olver ill the leader's haw1 sufficed to turn that column tOWltrcl the Godavery's flood. '1'0 the native preachers who lookt up into his face as tho to ask [1 solution of these strange lllm'elllcnts, Dr. Chamberlain could only respollll, "There is rCSC'lle at the l'irer." The word wellt round among the coolies: ,. The 11hora has heard of some help at the river." lIe had, indeed, heard of help, but it was all as much a mystery to him as to them what that help was to be. And yet the peace of God possest him. Anxiety was somehow gone, and in its place a strange, intense expectancy.
Just before reaching the river, Dr. Chamberlain cantered ahead, all his sellses keellly observant. Awl as he emerged frcm the dense undergrowth of bushes, there, right at his feet, lay a larye .fiat-boat, tied to a tree ({t tTte shorc-a large flat-hoat, with strong railings along hoth sides, with square ellds to run upon the shore. It had been built hy the British militaryanthorities ill troublous times, to ferry o'er artillery and elephants, but it belonged at a station high up on the north bank of the GodaveIT '1'wo men were trying to keep the hoat afloat in the tossing current.
" lIow came this hoat here? " said the doctor. '1'hey, taking him to be a government official who was calling them to account, begged him not to be angry with them, and protested that they had done their best to keep the boat where it belonged, but declared that it seemed to them possest. A huge rolling wave swept down the river, snapt the cables, and drove the boat before it. Despite their best Clldeayors, it was carried further and further from its moorings into the cnrrellt and down stream; they said they had fonght all day to get it back to the other shore, but it seemed as tho 'some supernatural power were shoving the boat over, and all hour before they had given up, let it float to its present position, and then tied it to a tree. Again they begged that they might not be punisht for what they could not hell" Dr. Chamberlain, who was clothed ,,,ith full authority to use any government property required on the journey, took possession, of conrse, and astonisht the whole party who lIOW came in sight, with a means both of safety and transportation, which no human foresight coulc[ have improved, " 'Yho "-says the grateful missionary pioneer -" who had ordered that tidal wave in the Illol'lling of that day, that had torn that boat from its moorings, and driven it so many miles down the ri'er (and across from the north to the south bank), and that had thwart811 every elldeavor of the frightened boatmen to force it hack to the llorth shore, and had brought it to the little cove-like recess, just at that point where we would strike the river? 'Yho, but He 011 who~e orden; we Im(l come; He who had said, 'I will be with you;' lIe who knew beforehalld the dire straits ill which we would be in that very place, on that yery (lay, that very hOllr; lIe who had thrice tolll me distinetly, ' '1'urn to the left, to the Godavery, alld you will find rpscll('?' I bowed my head :mcl ill amazed revereIlce, thallkt Illy Go<l for thiK signal lmswer to my pleading pJ'ayer," This answer llee(le<l 110 watcher high upon the 11101111taill top to Sioe
MORNING LIGHT D! ASIA MINOR
the diville interposition. .Kot only the native prea(:hers reverently said, "God has heard our call in our trouble and delivered us;" but the guides amI even coolies were struck dumb with amazement that the" dhora " should know of that boat being there and come right ont upon it. 'rhey were certain that they had 110 knowledge of such a rescue, and that they could not have found it.
Dr. Chamberlain closes his sketch of that pivotal and critical day wi th these solemn words: " ~othillg can equal the vivid consciousness we had that day of the presence of the Master; nothing can surpass the vividness of the certitude that God did inteneno to save us. Some who have not testeel it may sneor and doubt; vut wc ficc knolV that Clod heaT!! lI ra!leJ'."
MOHNIKU LIGHT I~ A~IA ;IIIOH.
BY RE". G. E. "'HITE, )IAHSOVAN, 'l'l;HKEY.
The great block of land known as Asia Minor constitutes the core of Turkish territory. The Ottoman govel'lllllent has valuable possessions in Europe, but their loss up to the walls of Constantinople would be, like the amputation of fingers or toes, incollvenient, but not destructive to life. The same is tru~ of Turkish territory in North Africa and elsewhere. But to lose Asia Minor would be like cutting out the heart.
Asia Minor is much larger than Italy or Spain, about equal to the area of France. It yields excellent crops of fine wheat, resembling the ".Ko. 1 hard" of :Minnesota, besides other staple grains, tobacco, cotton, rice, and hemp. If rotation of crops could supersede the system of freqnently leaving the land fallow, if improved methods of agriculture could be introduced, alld railways built to carry off the surplus, Asia MillOI' might easily take a foremost place among the great producing and exporting regions of the world.
This country has been swept by successive waves of conquest and colonization more than almost any other portion of the globe, and each has left its deposit in the conglomerate of the inhabitants. Six principal races are now to be distinguisht, each almost as separate from the others, as from Americans, viz., Turks, Georgians, Cireassians, and Kurds, who are all Mohammedan, and the nominally Christian Armenians and Greeks. Missionary work is chiefly among the two last named.
POLITICAL CAUSES OF DISCORD.
Because of her natural resonrces and for political reasons Asia Minor has been an apple of discord among the European nations. Rllssia is ~learest and has the most at stake. She might easily add to her territory by moving up a step from Batoum and Kars, at the eastern end of the Black Sea, or by stepping over the Slav principalities at the west England has been Russia's most determined foe to such aggressions, but there are signs that England's front is changing. English ship captains passing through the Red Sea are often heard to remark that some time England will attach Arabia. If she does, we shall have an interesting answer to the question whether she can conquer it, for while Asia Minor has been often swept by conquering hordes, a foreign army has never yet penetrated far within the deserts of Arabia. Since 18GO, when the massacre of six thousand Christians in the Lebanon led France to show her power in Syria, French influence has been in the ascendant in that province. But now Russian emissaries are laboring to connect the existing Oriental churches ill Syria with the Russian Orthodox Church, which indicates that Russia does not intend to spare Syria to France, should a division take place. German capital has constructed a railroad 300 miles long up the backbone of Asia Minor, from Constantinople to Angora, with a branch thrown off to Conia, the Ieonium of Paul. It was reporteJ in Berlin recently that another concession had just been granted, by which German capital woulJ construct a railway from Alexandretta, at the southeast corner of Asia Minor, up into the interior, to effect a junction with the existing line, which woulJ be extenJed from Angora to meet it, and would ultimately be pusht on to Bagdad, where water communication is establisht with the Persian Gnlf. If these railways are thus built, it will be understood that Germany is strengthening the hands of Turkey to keep the Russians out.
The Turks conquered the Armenians by the sword, and have held them till now only by virtue of their superior fighting qualities-for there is no discount on Turkish soldiers; they are splendid fighters. Several causes, however, have operated within the last decade to make the Armenians very restive under the 'rurkish sway. One was, the independence of Greece and of the Balkan principalities earlier iIi the century; another, the sixty-first article in the Berlin treaty of 1878, pledging European assistance in securing reforms in their government; further, there has been considerable general dissemination of the ideas of liberty and progress. Some influence must be attributed to tile perverted results of missions. Education is Jangerous to tyranllY. The Bible inculcates justice and equality before the law. The missionaries themselves take great pains, and often personal risks, in uniformly urging Armenians to remain loyal and quiet under the existing government, to "fear God, and honor the king." The English also come in for a share of the responsibility, for expressions of sympathy with the Armenians by such men as Mr. James Bryce, M. P., and the late Wm. E. Gladstone, were understood by them to mean that England would surely aid them, if they took the first desperate chance ill a struggle with the Turks. Finally, Russian ~ihilists, working in secret, fomented disturbance.
The Armenian hotbloods formed themselves into a secret revolutionary society. the" Hunchagists." They were favored more or less by a considerable party among the Armenians, who devoutly hoped that the hour of their deliverance was near. Thus the Hunchagists were enabled to work in secret from the officials, and they carried as high a hand as they dared, with the object of proving to the European powers that Turks could no longer govern Armenians. The story of their doings bas never becn fully written; perhaps the time may come when it will be given to the world.
THE TURKISH 1I1ASSACRES.
The Turks were exasperated ultimately beyond the bounds of their patience. They are by religion fatalists, lind, therefore, ha'e no real sense of moral accountability. They turned upon the Armenians indiscriminately, and cnt them down in the series of massacres, two to three years ago, in which, on a conservative estimate, 70,000 persons lost their Ii ves in the manner narrated in the press, and several times that number were left penniless, on the verge of starvation. The perpetrators of these deeds will be held responsible at the bar of public opinion, of history, and of a just God.
The misery of the surviving Armenians beggared description or exaggeration, and the response made by "Yestern Christians in their behalf is one of the finest testimonials to practical Christian brotherhood. The American missionaries were in danger at the time of the massacres (a bombshell exploded in the hom:e of one), but none of them fell, and no one left his post. 'rhey were made the chief almoners of the one million dollars for relief that past through the central mission treasury at Constantinople, as, indeed, their reports of the destitution were partly instrumental in securing the gifts. They gave directly to the needy, or more commonly gave, without sectarian preference, through the committees of the Protestant congregations. It is a pleasure to testify that, while part of the money passing through Oriental hands so often clings, to the fingers, while sharing in relief work with several Protestant committees, I never knew of a dollar misappropriated. I 'may also add that while 5,000 persons in the Marsovan field were aided, we did not know of any death that the use of a little money might have averted.
ARMENIA.N UELIEF.
Soon industrial enterprises partly took the place of giving outright. Rug weaving, gingham manufacture, and various forms of needlework were started in several cities to tide over leading industries of those regions temporarily prostrate, and to furnish work. In some cases funds have been turned over five to fifteen times, recovered from
A TYPICAL AR:VJ:i:N1A~ VILLAGE
llORNING LIGHT IN ASIA MINOR
the sale of the product on the common market, and then devoted to the support of orphans. Meantime these relief industries have indirectly somewhat aided in the reorgallization of usual business enterprises, and in most places they have now come to an end, because the rising tidc of business renders them no longer necessary.
III some of the worst devastated regions the people were helpt to rebuild their bUl'lled houses; one ox apiece was given to farmers who had no team; seeel-w heat was fUl'llisht those who had none; the sick were treated free; implements were given to artisans, and yarn was distributed to weavers, the object being ill each case to euable a man to eal'll his bread instead of receiying it as a dole. This, and much more, was due to agents of the ned Cross Society who visited the country, aJl(l to Germans who came there to reside.
A later phase of relief was the gathering of 4,000 massacre orphans into a score' of orphanages, funds being largely provided from Europe, and several persons from Germany or Switzerland now share with missionaries in supen isillg of the orphan homes. While some of the Armenian ecclesiastics ureaueu to haye wards of the nation come under missionary influence, lest it be made a Protestant propaganda, the people, as a whole, are full of gratitude for the care taken of their little ones, and are gratefnl for the Christian training which missionary su pervisioll will insure. Many of these children saw one or both parents killed, witnest scenes of horror from which it would seem that human spirits neyer coula recoycr, ana shared in privatiolls sufficient permanently to weaken their systems. But a great change has been wrought 1y the good homes alla comfortable beds, the plain but abnndant and wholesome food, warm clothing, and happy lives that they now ell joy. l£ach orphanage usually has a house-father and mother, teachers, cook, and such other service as is required. These persolls are all Al"lllenians, and have thrown themsel yes ill to this labor of loye with faith!,l1lness and zeal as rellaering glad service to some of Christ's little oneR. And the children respond to their inflnellce in remarkably obedient, well-ordered lives. They make rapid progress in study and character. They often say ill effect: "In my yillage I knew nothing of the Bible or of Jesus, saye His llame, and no 011e told me it was wrong to lie or steal or nse bad language, but when I came here I learned about .Jesus ana His love to me, and how could I help loving Him?" }IallY give the best evidence of childish COllversion. As they grow old enough they are learning trades-shoemaking, gingham or towel weaving, etc., besides the art of neat honsekeeping, in the hope that each one in time will return to his relatives with a good common-school educatioll, a trade by which he can live, and thoroughly grol111ded in Christian character. Some diamonds may be lookt for amollg them, who will shine for Christ ill that dark land.
Turkey politically is quiet to-day, tho it is impossible to tell when one storm may be followed by another. 'fhe Armenians, humiliated aud decimated, have spewed out the revolutionist, Hnd the alJathetic Turks have settled down into very much the same relation with the Armenians as before.
But it should be remarkt that the Armenians hase shown wonderf11 recnperative power sillce the massacres. They are not des- troyed as a nation; they have not disintegrated. The writer recalls a tOWll where sixty-four men were killed, one for every third Armenian house ill the place, and not a woman or a child among them. The agony of fear for months was so great that IIlany could not end lire it, aud went to other towns. Yet by degrees they crept back, reentered their looted houses, allll reopened their cmpty shops. Only two families can be said to have disintegrated, and this is. but a representatire case. The blow, awful as it was, ARMENIAN WOMAN SPINNING.
was no more staggering than other nations have sometimes suffered in time of war, and have recovered.
The Armenians were long ground between the upper and the nether millstone of contending Roman and Parthian; later they were gronnd ill the same way between Byzantine and Persian; they were troddell down by Tamerlane; for centuries now they have lived all the verge of destruction. But God has kept tlwm, it must be for some good purpose, not yet fully revealed. The faults commonly charged to them are such as are fostered in a subject race. They belong, like onrselves, to the Iudo-European family of men, speak a language distantly akin to onr own; have 110 Savior but Christ, no Baere(l book but the Bible. They stretch ou t appealing hands to us for sympathy and help.
FROTESTAXT MISSIONS.
In the land whose current history we have been sketehing, mission- aries have lived and labored for many years. 'fhe first reprcsentative of the Ameriean Board entered the Levant ill lSUJ, being especially commissioned to Jerusalem. For a dozen years the first pioneers were occupied ill tours of investigation, learning the Dative languages, and other preliminary work. By 1831 acquaintanee had been made with the Armenians, who proudly claim to have been the first nation to accept Christianity. But the Armenian, like the other early Oriental churches, soon settled down to a ritualism that illustrates the form of godliness without the power. When the first station designed especially to work for them was opened at Constantinople, in 1831, efforts were made for fifteen years for the Armenian National, or Gregorian Church, "if possible by reviving the knowledge and spirit of the Gospel to reform it." But the wine-skins of old form could not contain the new wine of fresh evangelical doctriJle. The Armenian hierarchy cast out of their flock those who exhibited evangelical ten- dencies, and drove them to the organization of the Protestant Chureh.
Thus in 1846 the first four Protestant churches in the O.ttoman Em- 1)ire were orgallizec1 under the imperial sanction, with a membership of about one hunured, representing a Protestant constitnencyof about 1,000. By the midule of this century the evangelical work among the ArmeJ;ians was fairly inaugurated.
Three ont of twenty missions of the American Board cover as thoroughly as possible all Asia Minor and the adjacen~ territory on the East. Such has been the success of these missions, anu such the need of the great world, that this region has been left in comity to the agents of thc one society, except that there are a few representatives of the Disciples at work. Scotch Presbyterians also maintain missions to the Jews in a few of the great cities, and the Bible societies will bc mentioned in a moment.. There are forty American gentlemen, most of them ordained, and half of them chiefly engaged in education in order to evangelization. There are half a dozen physicians and three or foul' occupied with pUblication. Besides the wives and mothers, often the most useful missionaries, there are some sixty lauy teachers.
These Americans are gronpt in 14 stations as their residences, frequently visit- ing, besides othor places, 2G5 on t- stations, plaCt'S where nat i Y e agents regularly labor. There are 50 schools of high grade with 1,:)00 students, 300 of common grad e with over 17,000 in atLendance, '; 0 orphanages with 4,000 chil- (11'en, a total of 'l'oeurXG J~ TURKEY. over 22,000 "of the princes of Xear a guard house on a mountain pass. the provinces" under instruction. The Sabbath congregations number over 30,000, the Sabbath-schools over 25,000, the church members over 11,000, the avowed Protestants over 48,000. These results are made possible only by the faithful labors of 800 native preachers and teachers, men and women with whom it is a pleasure to work.
EDL"CATIONAL WORK.
As the years ad vance greater stress is laid on the Christian value of higher education. Hobert College, at Constantinople, independent of but origiwilly growing out of missionary effort, Anatolia College at Marsovan, Ailltab College, in the city of the samc name. and Euphrates College, at Uarpoot, are clearly in the lead in the educational field where they are, and they have the influence that comes with such leadership. The faculties are chiefly composed of competent native gentlemen, many of them having pursued studies in Europe or America, and as influential over t11E'ir fellow-countrymen outside the schools, as over the students within. These colleges maintain a curric- ulum fairly corresponding to that of American institutions, English being the college language. Mathematics, the natural sciences, history, political economy, mental and moral philosophy, are among the branches taught. Bible instruction is made prominent. 'rhe majority of the students pay theil' college bills, as they do in this country. A few receive aid, either direct or in compensation for service in the industrial departments. 'rhe students are receptive, responsive to Christian influence. Many of the graduates, in at least one case more than half of them, are preaching or teaching in Turkey.
Missionaries to the end are foreigners. They can rarely touch the heart in preaching as they could at home. But the relation of teacher and pupil is very close. As was recently remarkt in the Review of Reviews: "The wealth of every nation in the last resort is to be measured in the charactet· and quality of its young men and women." French Catholics with their free schools have great numbers of children under their tuition, bnt God has given the distinct lead in college education in Asia Minot" to Protestant American schools, and it is one of the most hopeful omens for the future. Gregorian Armenians and Orthodox Greeks recognize the quality of these schools, and gladly entrust their sons to them for the sake of the moral and religious training given, no less than for instruction in books. 'l'hese schools have never been so crowded, nor has the collection of tuition ever been so easy, as since the massacre shockt people into a better sense of the investments that pay in this world.
Turkey is not up to coeducation yet, bnt colleges for girls at Scutari, a suburb of Constantinople, Marash and Harpoot, with such high-grade boarding-schools as are found in many places (as well as high schools for boys), provide an education for young women corresponding to that for yonng men, and provide competent teachers for the girls of 'l'm·key.
Another branch of education is the theological, instruction designed to prepare men to preach being given at four places. As the students usually all learn English, the treasures of English books are unlockt to them to aid them in bearing fruit among the churches. While the number of students is not so large as one could wish, better educated and more consecrated young men are coming forward for the minis- try than at other times.
'rhe publishing department at Constantinople issues books designed to hllip the people to read and understand the Bible, including such educational works as are not otherwise providcd, commentaries, Sunday-school lessons, stories, and other useful books. They also publish papers in Armeno-Turkish, Greco-Turkish, and Armenian, which, besides nourishing Protestant Christians, find their way into many homes all over the empire, where the Gospel is ncver preacht by any other ageney. Akin to this is the grand work of the American and the British and Foreign Bible soeieties. The Levant ageney of the American Bible Society distributes annually nearly 80,000 Bibles or parts in more than 20 different languages. The entrance of God's 'Yard giveth light.
)IEDICAL MISSIONS.
Livingstone used to say, " God had only one Son, and He gave Him to be a medical missionary." Five or six stations have medical missionaries, with dispensaries and more or less in the way of hospital facilities. Medical missions often remove prejudice, for when a man is sick, he will usually seek the physician from whom he has most hope of help. Every hospital is an evangelizing agency, because of the character of the doctors and nurses in charge.
No mention has been made of Protestant work among the Greeks, as separate from that among Armenians, but it is sometimes said that Christian work is not national, but international. The north and west coasts of Asia Minor have been from time immemorial almost as Greek as Greece itself, and ill recent years some of the new and bright evangelical work has been among members of this Ii ve young race. The Greek Evangelical Alliance, with headquarters at Smyrna, is an earnest, active home missionary society for the Greeks of 'rurkey.
But all Christian work ultimately finds its goal as its source in the Christian Church. When a country contains an evangelical church, under the divine guidance governing, snpporting, and propagating itself, then missionary work will be done, and not till then. Perhaps one can not now be sure what the future course of the Gregorian Church will be. Its creed is qllite satisfactory. If extraneous matters, like picture worship, could be chopt off, if the clergy could be men fitted to be spiritual leaders, if Christian character could be elevated above Christian ceremonial, the millennium would be at hand for Armenians. There have bllen many gracious signs of the Spirit's use of this church, especially since its people were chastized with the besom of massacre and plunder. None would rejoice more heartily than the American missionaries, if this ancient Church were to become new in the Spirit of Christ again. Meantime the existing Protestant churches are also disciplined, purified, and growing daily in strength.
Evangelical work in Asia Minor is as bright as arll the promises of God. In proportion as existing agencies and methods represent the Gospel, they are assured of ultimate success. Difficulties exist, to be solved in Christian wisdom and fraternity; discouragements, for those who care to dwell upon them. But in the language of the motto of A natolia College-Anatolia meaning Asia Minor-" THE MORNINft CO)fETH."
BABISM-THE LATEST REVOLT FROM ISLAM
n.-MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT.
BABISM-THE LATEST HEVOLT FROM ISLAM. * The founder of this cult was born in Shiraz, Persia, in 1819. His name was Mirza Ali ::fohammed, but he called himself at first "Bab el Din," the Gate of the Faith, afterward "Natek," the Point. He claimed to be a personal manifestation of the deity, and is described as a man of benignant countenance, dignified bearing, charming personality, and markt eloquence. His ethics were pure, and nc charges of insincerity have been brought against him. He met his persecutions and sufferings with courage, patience, and unselfishness. Hence the influence that he haR exerted in a land where such virtues are rarely met.
In 1843, after a pilgrimage to Mecca and a prolonged meditation in the Mosque of Kub, the reformer returned to Shiraz with a journal of his pilgrimage and a new commentary on the Koran. For severely criticising the mollahs he was forbidden to preach and was confined to his house. Here he systematized his doctrines, and instructed a very rapidly increasing circle of disciples.
Missionaries were sent into various countries and the followers of Bab became so numerous and so confident of success, that in 1848 they took up arms and declared their leader to be universal sovereign. Successful at first, they were soon crusht; the Bab was imprisoned for eighteen months, and in 1850 was put to death after the failure of many persistent efforts to induce him to retract. His death, however, seemed to inspire his followers with new zeal, and again rallying, they recognized Mirza Yahya, who was but sixteen years old, as the Bab. He assumed the modest name, "Eternal Highness." In 1852 three of his followers attempted to assassinate the shah. This led to a fierce persecution in which many cf the Babists were put to death with horrible tortures. Since then the Babists have been a secret sect principally in Persia, but extending into India and Turkey, and even into England and the United States. 'Yhile various claims are made as to their strength, no definite JlllnlOers can be given.
Even this recent and comparatively small sect is not united. The schism arose over the successor to Mirza Ali Mohammed. The Bab assumed the position of a John the Baptist in the new dispensation. After him was to come one who would make known a fuller revelation. He chose eighteen discipleE, called the" Letters of the Living," who with himself as the Point constituted the sacred hierarchy of nineteen. Within this circle were two brothers, or half brothers, Mirza Yahya (Sub-i-Ezel) and Mirza Hussein Ali of Nul', who is known as Beha, both of whom claimed to be the successors of the Bab. The former rankt as fourth among the prophets, rose to be chief after the death of the Point, and for about fourteen years was nominal head of the Babists, altho his rival took the most prominent part in the affairs of the order.
In 1867 the latter suddenly claimed to be "He whom God shall Manifest," and summoned all the Babists to acknowlege him as their supreme and sole chief spiritual adviser. The majority did so, and thus Beha, who has been called the Christ of the Babists, took the place of the Bab, and is regarded by his adherents as being superior to the latter. Mirza • From a paper read before the American Society of Comparative Religion, by the Rev. A. H. McKinney, Ph.D., and publisht in The PuZse.
MISSiONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT. [ Or,tober
Yahya resisted Beha's pretensions, and, altho exiled to Cyprus, retained a small following. A hymn in praise of Beha nine times contains this refrain: The temple of God's glory is none other than Beha : If thou seekest God, seek Him from Beha.
Investigators declare that the Bab was sincere in his denunciation of the evils of his times, and that, as Mohammedanism was a revolt against the religious degradation of its early days, so Babism is a recoil from the iniquities of a debased Mohammedanism, as well as an attempt to elevate the state. * It is not altogether a new cult, buta selection from what is good in Mohammedanism, Christianity, Judaism, and Parseeism. It is eclectic enough to embrace within its succession of apostles such names as Moses, Zoroaster, Mohammed, and Jesus. It is the natural fruitage of the speculations of those who recoil from the conception of a personal supreme being, and take refuge in Pantheism.
How was it possible for the Bah to gain a following so quickly, and for his doctrines to retain such a hold on a considerable number of people? Tho answer to these questions will be understood when two facts are clearly in mind. First, the Persians have long had a belief that the new imam would arise with a pure doctrine and peace for men. The Bab declared that he was the expected one. Giving due credit to the teachings of those who had gone before, as his claims were accepted he became more pretentious, assumed the title Natek, i. e., Point, and taught that he was the focus in which all preceding dispensations would converge. Secondly, like John the Baptist, he declared that he was to be sLcceeded by one greater than himself. This left open the way for the assumptions of Beha, who was the Christ of the Babists. And as there is always the expectation of a coming one, when the leader dies, there is continually a hope that his successor will he the long-expected one, and enthusiasm is constantly kept alive, while the iniquities of the religious systems by which they are surrounded give inspiration to those who are longing for a pure culture.
THE BOOKS OF RABISM.
The sacred writings must he studied before we can even begin to have an inkling of the doctrines and practises of the Bahis. t These writ· ings may be roughly divided into four classes: 1. The writings of the teachers of the Bab, Sheykh Ahmad Ashai, and Haji Seyyid Kazh'l, from whom the prophet derived the germ of his doctrine. II. The writings of the Bab himself, which are: 1. A journal of his pilgrimage to Mecca. 2. A commentary on the Sura Joseph, which is a mystical and often unintelligible rhapsody, containing as many chapters as the original Sura in the Koran does verses. 3. The Beyan (meaning utterance or explanation) is the Bible or Koran of the Babists, and con- * In lSU3 II. Cottrell wrote in The Academy, vol. 47, p. 220: "I have personal and intimate knowledge of the present leaders of the Babist movement in Persia, the four sons of the late Mirza Hussein, who are political prisoners in Akka, tho the shah within the last twelve months has repealed the penal laws against the sect, and is now very friendly. These princes have a large library of books, written by their father, on the peculiar doctrines of the sect, which aim at nothing less than the reconciliation of Buddhism, Christianity, and Mohammedanism. The father, in his will, directed his sons to transmit to a:l the sovereigns of Europe copies of certain of his works1 accompanied by an autograph bttcr."
t For the collection, collation, and trans::lation of t ~18se works we are under great indebtedness to Professor Browne, of Cambridge.
BABISM-THE I_ATEST REVOLT FROM ISLAM
tains all the later utterances of their founder. These include prayers, commentaries, scientific treatises, etc., altho originally the word was confined to verses. There are three Beyans ascribed to the Bab-two written in Arabic, and one in Persian. The chapters are arranged in groups of nine';een, which number plays an important part in this system.
III. The writings of J-Iizra Y ahya, which are of especial interest, in- elude: 1. Kitabu 'n-Nur, the Book of Light. 2. Ruh, or spirit, in twenty- six chapters, each having a special title. 3. A volume of letters.
IV. The writings of Beha: 1. Ikan (assurance) assigned to the Bab, and said to have been enlarged in 1862 by Beha. It is in Persian, and the only book of the Rabists that is printed. It is not for sale, but is given by Babists to those whom they think they can trust. 2. Lawh-i-Akdas (Most Holy Tablet) is the longest and most complete of the treatises of . Beha, after he had put forth his claim as "He whom God shall Mani- fest." It purports to have been revealed" because Beha had at different times received letters from believers asking for instructions as to con- duct, etc., which were now epitomized so as to be accessible to alL" It records the rules of the system, but gives no new doctrines. It deals with fasts, festivals, prayers, places of worship, pilgrimages, burial of the dead, rules for inheritance, and the advancement of civilization. 3. Lawh-i-Nasir is a defense of Beha's elaim to be the one foretold by the Bab. 4. Alwah-i-Salatin (Letters of the Kings) are thirty epistles to the King of Persia, the Pope of Rome, the King of Paris (Napoleon IlL), the Emperor of Russia, and Queen Vicooria, et al., in which strong pleas are made for tolerant treatment of the Babists, and explanations of their doctrines are given with exhortations to accept the truth.
DOCTRINES OF HABISM.
L God is one unmanifested, undifferentiated, unknowable essence. Nineteen mystically expresses the name of the Deity, and represents the manifestations of this essence. Nineteen times nineteen or three hundred and sixty-one gives the total of the manifested universe. All beings are emanations from the Deity. While Babism has borrowed from Chris- tianity, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism, it is Pantheistic in its doctrine of God.
II. Transmigrai'ion seems to be taught in the Beyan, but the Babists dE'ny that they hold it, and the explanations offered are so philosophical, that space can not be given to them here.
III. Abs01ptioJ!. All beings will finally be absorbed into Deity. . IV. The Coming One. The Deity consists of nineteen prophets who incarnate the divine nature. First in order of importance comes the Bab, then next in order his forerunners, Mohammed, Jesus, and Moses. The Bab was to be succeeded by one who would complete the partial rev- elation made by him. Beha assumed the office of this corning one, known as "He whom God shall Manifest.," and, having added to the revelation already given, died May 16th, 1892, to the great sorrow of his disciples, and was succE'eded by one of his sons. As the corning one might be lookt for at any time, or might delay his coming for 1511 or 2001 years, he is always expected by the faithful, who, in their gatherings, leave a vacant chair for him, and all rise from their seats when his name is mentioned. V. A Millennium is lookt for by the Babists. VI. A Universal Religion, which is Babism, is to ultimately prevail.
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
Efforts are to be made to convert others to this faith, but no violence is to be used, and under no circumstances are any to be put to death. What an advance is this teaching over the Mohammedan belief and practice in the same connection!
VII. Soteriology. Babists insist on the dogma: "'Ve know nothing whatever of our state after death, God alone knows it." Nevertheless, when Beha died in 1892, his son wrote: "The Sun of Truth hath bidden farewell to this earthly sphere, and now shines with a brightness which waneth not in the regions of Might and Glory." They believe in a judgment and in a future life, as the inner or essential. body survives the death of the elementary body. There is no hell after death, but belief is heaven, and unbelief is hell.
PRACTISES OF BABIS.
I. Prayers are prescribed for three times a day for individuals. Congregational prayers, except those used in the burial of the dead, are abolisht. So far as missionaries can learn there seems to be but little praying except on set occasions.
II. Fasts. For the nineteen days of the last month of the year a daily fast, from sunrise to sunset, is enjoined for all, except the young, the sick, the infirm, the aged, and travelers.
III. Festivals. There are two great festivals. 1. The anniversary of the manifestation of the Bab. 2. The anniversary of the manifestation of Beha, which is the principal festival of the Babists.
IV. ProhibitIons. These are numerous and excellent. They include prohibitions against murder, polygamy, concubinage, adultery, slandering, backbiting, mend.'1city, the use of wine and opium, theft, traffic in slaves, praying in the street, ill-treatment and overlading of beasts, and the use of images or pictures in places of worship. According to Rees the doctrine of legal impurity, which has done so much to keep Asiatics apart, is not admitted.
V. Injunctions. The following virtues are enjoined upon all: Hospitality, kindness, courtesy, charity (including brotherly love and courtesy to inferiors), forgiveness of enemies, education, cleanliness, marriage of all, tithes.
VI. Recommendations. The following are commended: Pilgrimages, the use of pleasant perfumes, the adoption of one language and one character by all mankind, and the abolishing of the veil.
VII. Regulations. The laws of inheritance, the laws of divorce, and the ceremonies connected with the burial of the dead are regulated. Asceticism is discountenanced, and generous living encouraged.
The following is a summary of the reforms proposed by Beha: 1. Abolition of religious warfare. 2. Friendly intercourse among all sects. 3. Recommendation of one general language, but permission to study others. 4. Support of any king who protects the faith of the Babists. 5. Cheerful conformity to the customs and laws of the land in which Babists dwell. 6. Promise of the "~Iost great Peace." 7. No restrictions as to dress. 8. Recognition of the good works and devotions of Christian priests. 9. Confession of sins to to be made to God only. 10. The Bab's command to destroy certain books is abrogated. 11. Study of helpful sciences and arts commended. 12. All must learn and practise some craft or profession. 13. The" House of Justice" to supervise the affairs of the commonwealth. 14. Pilgrimages no longer obligatory. 15. A republic is desirable, hut kings need not cease to exist.
SOMETHING ABOUT PORTO RICO
SO:YIETHING ABOUT PORTO RIUO.* COLONEL ~W. ,VIXTHROP, U. S. A.
The island of POl'to Rico, or Puerto Rico (Rich Port), is the fourth in size of the Greater Antilles, being exceeded by Cuba, San Domingo, and Jamaica. It is situated nearly in the center of the Archipelago of the Vest Indies, between the seventeenth and nineteenth parallels of north latitude, and the sixty-sixth and sixty-seventh meridians of longitude. The island, in shape, is an irregular parallelogram, being a little under 100 miles long by about one-third of that distance broad. It is some 270 miles in circumference, and contains about 3,600 square milas. (Somewhat less than the area of Connecticut.) Unlike its neighbors, this fortunate island has scarcely been disturbed by internal disorders. The movement in favor of a republic, which began in 1820, was checkt, without bloodshed, through the vigorous and From The Literart/Difled.
NATIVE HOUS~S IN PORTO RICO.
judicious action of the able Governor de In Torre. Vhen, more recently, in 1867, an insurrection, in sympathy with that of Cuba, was initiated against the Spanish Government, its projectors were so terrified by an earthquake that they were induced to postpone their adventure, and a fresh rising in the following year was easily supprest.
The surface of the island is broken and hilly. A low mountain ridge traverses it from east to west, ranging nearer the southern than the northern coast, with spurs extending northward. Of this ridge the highest elevation is El Yunque (The Anvil), a mountain rising from the table-land of Luquillo to a height of 3,700 feet above the sea, and visible to vessels some sixty miles off the coast. The country has two markt features-the many wooded ravines descending from the mountains, through which course streams of bright water falling to the sea; and intersperst with these ravines, extensive stretches of natural meadowland, which serve as pasture to herds of wild cattle.
The climate is healthful for the tropics. The constant running streams, with the absence of stagnant water, doubtless contribute to purify the atmosphere. The island, well aerated throughout, is appre- * Condenst from The Outlook,
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
ciably cooler and more salubrious than are the larger Antilles, or than the majority of the lesser Windward Islands, which have been termed the graves of foreigners. The mountain valleys, especially from November to April, enjoy a delightful climate which has been likened to a perpetual spring.
In the rainy season at the north of the island a sea breeze blows from 8 A. M. to 4 P. M., in the absence of which life would hardly be tolerable near the coast. The rains, which are frequent and plentiful in May and June, come down in August and September "with the fury of a deluge." On the southern coast there is much less rain; sometimes none at all cven for ten or twelve months.
It is in August and September that the climate at the north is least healthful, especially for foreigners. Fever, dysentery, and scol'butic diarrhea are then to be guarded against, and a change to the mountains is desirable. These are also the months of the hurricanes which have in some years proved so destructive and ruinous in their effects. "This dreadful scourge," writes Colonel Flinter, * "which often visits the West Indies, may be considered as a great drawback to the planter, and is a great deduction from the value of Vest Indian property."
Porto Rico is eminently an agricultural island. It is favored with a soil of unusual fertility, made up chiefly of a clay mixed with peroxide of iron or marl. The abundant supply of water keeps the soil productive; cven in the southern districts, where the rain is less and the ground seems parcht, water may be found by digging a foot and a half or two feet beneath the surface. The hills and valleys are luxuriant with verdure; the mountains are green to their tops and cultivatable at any height. Good timber, suitable for houses or ships, is abundant-a result owing in a measure to a wise prevision of the government early in the century, when it was formally ordered that "three trees should be planted for everyone cut down." Among the native trees the royal palm has been perhaps the most useful, not only on account of its wood and its fruit, but also for its leaves, which furnish thatching for the cabins of the poorer classes. The mahogany-tree has yielded valuable timber for export. The plantain a'.,d tIle banana-trees have furnisht food for thousands. Among the shrubs, the coffee-plant, grateful to sight and smell, with its glossy leaves and jasmine-scented white blossoms, grows almost spontaneously. The tobacco-plant yields a product not much inferior to that of Cuba. Sugar-cane is cultivated with profit, and best in the hot, arid regions of the south, where other crops requiring more moisture would not flourish. A considerable capital, English and Spanish, is invested in sugar plantations, Ponce being the centre of this commerce. A cotton remarkfl~ble for its length of fibre, tenacity, and whiteness is produced, and its culture might with advantage be largely extended.
The exports from Porto Rico have consisted mostly of sugar, coffee, tobacco, molasses, rum, honey, indigo, cotton, mahogany, cattle, mules, and hides. According to the most recent authority, t "latest returns" exhibit the three principal exports as follows: Sugar, 54,861 tons; coffee, 16,884 tons; tobacco, 1,807 tons. The sugar export has declined, having once nearly doubled the above quantity.
* An English officer in the military service of the Spanish Government, who in 1834 pub_ lisht "An Account of the Present State of the Island (,f Puerto Rico, " is still the best authority on its topography and its development.
t "The West Indies," C. W. Eves, London, 1897.
SOMETHING ABOUT PORTO RICO. ',67
The island also produces, in lesser quantities, flax, ginger, cassia, rice, and maize, with citrons, lemons, and oranges, and other fruits, which might well be made articles of commerce. Several banks of fine salt are workt by the government.
A late authority <- mentions that gold has been found both in lumps and dust in the beds of streams; adding that iron, copper, lead, and coal, have also been detected. The coal, however, used on the island, comes almost exclusively from Great Britain. Other main items of the British trade are cottons, woolens, jute for coffee-bags, metals, and rice; and codfish are supplied from the British colonies to the estimated value of £95,000. From the United States have heretofore been imported flour, grain, butter, lard, furniture, lumber, and staves for sugar hogs- heads and rum puncheons.
THE PEOPLE AXD THE GOYERXMEXT.
The popUlation of this densely-peopled island is abont 800,000 (three- eighths of them negroes). Eves states it, under date of 1897, at 813,937. A series of fortunate circumstances, in combination with a sagacious gov- ernment, has contributed to impart to the people a quality superior to any other of the Vest India Islands. In the first place, they have always been a purely agricultural people. Then, at an early period, the crown lands of the island were divided among the natives, who thus became a community of small proprietors, to which was given a new consistency and stability on their being formed into a body of disciplined militia. Further, the island has not suffered to the same extent as its neighbors from the curse of slavery. The slaves were permitted to purchase their freedom on easy terms, and they have borne but a small proportion to the mass of the inhabitants. Thus, in 1873, when slavery was finally abolisht, there were but few unemancipated persons left in the province. Valuable settlers have also come from San Domingo, Venezuela, and elsewhere. As a result, Porto Rico is one of the few countries of tropical America where the whites outnumber the blacks; and, it may be added, where the males outnumber the females.
There has thus also been insured for Porto Rico a peasantry of free laborers-an industrious and self-sustaining population. Even the poor white Xivaro of the mountains or the interior is no burden upon the government, but, with his cow and horse, his acre of corn or sweet potatoes, his few coffee plants and plantain-trees, he lives, with his family. an independent and happy existence. All the rural laboring classes, with entire simplicity of manners, unite in a frank cordiality and genuine hospitality to travelers and strangers.
The most popular vice appears to be gambling, especially in the form of cock-fighting.t There are no beasts of prey, no noxious birds or insects, no venomous snakes or reptiles to disturb the life of the inhabitants. There are, indeed, no indigenous reptiles, no monkeys, and few birds. Rats are numerous and destructive, especially on the sugar plantations.
Porto Rico has been governed on the same plan as the other Spanish * Reclus," Universal Geography," VoL XVII., London, abt. 1891.
t The Roman Catholic religion prevails in Porto Rico as in other Spanish colonies. It is characterized, as usual, by intolerance, ignorance, and superstition. The Methodists (North and South), the Baptist Southern Convention, and the American Bible SOCiety are planning to begin work there.
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
islands. A captain-general, with the rank of lieutenant-general, was the civil governor, and the head of the army as well as of the highest tribunal-The Court of Royal Audience. The island outside of San Juan, is divided into seven military departments, under the authority of separate commandan1s, with headquarters at Bayamon, Arecibo, Aguadilla, Mayaguez, Ponce, Humacao, and Guayama, respectively. Alcaldes, appointed from San Juan, administer the civil affairs of the towns. The highest ecclesiastical dignitary is a bishop, resident at the capital.
The resources of the government were derived principally froUl the customs; a lesser revenue accrued from licenses for lotteries, public gambling-ho'uses and cock-pits, p charge on the lands granted by the government, and taxes on certain sales and on stampt paper, and some minor items.
THE TOWNS AND HARBORS.
Besides the capital, there are some sixty or seventy towns and considerable villages in the island. Of these the most important are Ponce and Arecibo, each with a larger population than San Juan (that of Ponce being about 35,000 to 40,000, while that of San Juan is estimated at 25,000), Mayaguez (also larger than the capital) and Aquadilla, on the west coast; Fajardo and Humacao, on the east coast; Guanica and Aroyo on the south; and Pepino and .Cayey in the interior. Aquadilla is especially important as a rendezvous for communication and trade with Havana. Its extensive and safe harbor has a depth of 11-15 fathoms. The best harbor, however, which is, moreover, readily defensible, is that of Guanica. Jobos, also on the south coast, has a good harbor, available as an outlet to the rich agricultural sugar district of Guayama. Other ports furnishing a shelter during a large part of the year are those of Mayaguez, Salinas de Coamo, Anasco, Cabo Rojo, and Bahia Honda.
Among the more attractive villages or smaller towns may be specified Yubacao at the east, Toabago, in an "extensive and beautiful valley on the north coast, fronting the capital on the opposite side of the harbor," and Aybonito, on a table-land of the southern mountains, "enjoying a cool and delightful climate." In the country near Ponce are thermal baths serviceable for invalids.
San Juan, the capital of Porto Rico, stands on a tongue of land reaching northwestward from the main land. This tongue is, in fact, an island, being a coraline reef and separated from the main by lagoons crossed by bridges and causeways. The harbor is entered by a narrow channel, where a pilot is required. At the point of the tongue is the Morro Castle, or citadel, behind which rises the city, which has been described as a "minature Cadiz."
The city is scarcely more than half a mile long by one-quarter broad. * It is very compact, with six principal streets and five cross streets. These streets are narrow and steep, but the town contains good public buildings, the most interesting of which is the carefully preserved Casa Blanca, built in 1525 as a residence for Ponce de Leon, the first governor.
• The population of San Juan is estimated at 20,000 and most of the people live on the ground floor. The negroes and poorer classes are crowded together in the most appalling manner. In one small room whole families reside. The ground floor of the whole town reeks with filth. There is no running water in the town and the entire population depends on rain water. There is no drainage system. Epidemics are frequent and the whole town is alive with vermin, fleas, roaches,'mosquitoes, and dogs.
RELIGION IN
This, the oldest house in San Juan, is now occupied by the engineer corps. The other houses of the city are of all colors except white, and have flat roofs where rain-water is caught in cisterns, and the residents sit to enjoy the cool evenings. These houses have iron balconies, shutters, and jalousies, but no glazed windows and no chimneys, The site is a fairly healthy one, but subject to the visitation of the yellow fever, by which, however, foreigners are more liable to attack than natives. * RELlGIO=" IN RUSSIA.t BY FEDOR ZAKARIXE.
The Russian associates religion with all his acts, both public and private, and the feeling he has in doing so, seems to have preserved its primitive simplicity. Stop before a shop in the evening, at the time of closing. Observe the clerks, silent, in a row, like onions, while the master, for the last time, noisily adjusts the massive padlocks of the front door. That done, everyone takes off his hat, makes the sign of the cross several times, and prays the God of the czar to shield them from misfortunes, especially from burglary and fire.
At the corners of the streets, in the crossways, the passages, and the bazaars, including even the Jewish quarter, you see chapels with gilt domes, or simple images, before which are burning the sacred fires. The vestal of the place, an old sexton, with a rough beard, watches with scrupulous care the comings and goings of the passers-by. Every moujik uncovers respectfully before the holy images, and makes the sign of the cross three times; from right to left, according to the Greek rite.
There are, in the whole empire, more than sixty thousand churches or chapels of importance. Constantly, on the vast Russian plains, you see against the sky the profile of a temple on the horizon. The number of the clergy of these temples is considerable; the more, because missionaries selected from them overrun the distant parts of Russia, in order to convert to the Orthodox religion the peoples still lingering in idolatry.
Still more courageous apostles carry afar, even to Abyssinia, the Orthodox faith. Russia supports an Orthodox bishop, even in the United States. Despite the activity of this prelate, however, it does not appear that Orthodoxy gains much ground over the various forms of worship among which the Yankee population is divided. The Russian mission especially deplores the lack of native priests, acquainted with the country and understanding the needs of a population so different from that of Russia. To accomplish this object, Bishop Nicohs has undertaken to found seminaries; after a course of studies extending over several years, the best pupils will finish their instructions in Russia. That is the way in which he hopes to recruit a native clergy.
According to the terms of an imperial ukase, every religious festival implies the closing of all shops and places of trade until midday. There * There are 470 miles of telegraph and 137 miles of railway in the island, besides 170 miles under construction. There are also 150 miles of good roads. t Transl:;.ted and Condenst for The Literary Diqest from Le Correspondqnt, Paris..
MISSIONARY DIGEST DEPARTMENT
has even been discmlsion of the question whether it would not be proper to prevent the iron-factories' fires from being heated on Sunday. It will be readily understood what a disturbance such a prohibition would cause in metallurgy. Everyone knows that the great furnaces must burn without interruption.
The Orthodox Church celebrates, with great solemnity, the anniversaries of the imperial family. Te Deums are sung to celebrate the providential escape of the sovereigns from the catastrophe of Borki, and the anniversary of the emancipation of the peasants. In return the emperor manifests the greatest solicitude for the clergy. In the month of March, 1893, his majesty issued orders for the amelioration of the situation of the unfortunate popes of the interior of the Empire: "I shall be quite happy," he said on this occasion, "when I shall reach the point of giving an assured support to all the country clergy." In consequence of this declaration, the Holy Synod invited the head of each diocese to celebrate a Te Deum of thanks, with prayer, on his knees, asking for long life for the emperor and all the imperial family.
Pigeons multiply about the churches; they choose a domicile above the entablature, and nestle among the acanthus-leaves of the capitals of the columns, soiling, at liberty, the gold of the image-stands, the sconces, and the porches, just as the pigeons of Venice soil the flag-stones of St. Mark. In Russia the pigeon is sacred. The people regard it as the symhoI of the Holy Ghost, and will never consent to use it for food. One is hardly authorized to admit that, in the shadow of the night, opportunity may tempt some famished dvornik without prejudice. Doubtless the case is not the same with the Jews, who, with interested solicitude, provide shelter for the pigeons above their sordid stalls. We may suppose that the smell of roast pigeon perfumes the rear of more than one shop on the Sabbath Day. Moreover, if the pigeons treat the churches like conquered edifices, they have no more respect for the visage of the great Catherine, the horse of Peter the Great, the helmet of Nicolas, or the shoulders of Souvaroff.
One of the most curious spectacles to be seen in Russia, is the arrival of the pilgrims at the Laura of Kieff. This town, the" Russian J erusalem," one of the oldest in the empire, had four hundred churches not long after the epoch when Saint Vladimir introduced Christianity into the country. These were nearly all burned in an immense conflagration at the beginning of the eleventh century. Did the Laura, one of the four quarters of the Kievo-Petcherskaya monastery-the chief establishment of its kind in Russia-survive this disaster? vVas it erected more recently? I do not know; but at any rate, it is the rendezvous of a great numherof Russians (350,000 every year) who flock thither at certain times of the year. They arrive in long files, leaning on sticks with their wallets on their shoulders, from all parts of the vast empire. Some of them come five hundred leagues and more, from Archangel and Orenburg, begging from door to door the black bread which they dip in the fetid W:1ter of the marshes. These unfortunate creatures live in deplorable hygienic conditions; every year death mows down their crowded ranks. Happy are those who die on their arrival at the holy place. Happy are those who return to their country; for pilgrimage to the Laura, or the Russian Mecca, gives them, in the eyes of their brethren of the Orthodox <)hurch, the same respect as the Hadjis have among the Mussulmans, IlL-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Ohrist's Methods of Missionary Work. of 01l1ci88iun, and some have erro- neously inferred that the sins of REV. 'YILLIAlI X. BRE'YSTER commission wiII not be prominently considered at the JUdgment. But HING-HU.~, CHINA. that is a vcry unreasonable, and not at all necessary inference from Never before in this" century of this passage. Christ was speaking missions," has the subject of mis- to His disciples, not to the multisionary methods occupied such a tude. He would naturally describe conspicuous place as now. to them as representatives of the Church, what kind of judgment The books upon the subject of would be past upon His professed mission methods are multiplying, followers. The outbreaking blasand some of them are of great value. phemer, and worldling, will not be But there is no book that approach- surprised at his sentence, as these es the New Testament for value in people are represented to be. Those this respect. There we have the who hear the fatal "Depart from methods and principles that have Me," and wonder why, had been the sanction of divine authority. accustomed to count themselves as The problem is for us to interpret among His followers, who would these principles and adapt them to hear the glad invitation, "Come, ye present conditions. The object of blessed of My Father." this article is to do this in regard to one important passage in Matthew's It is fair then to assume that an Gospel, Chapter xxv. verses 31 to analysis of these sins of omission, 46 inclusive. In this familiar pas- and of the works which will be resage Christ pictures tile solemn wardcd, will give us some practical assize, when all men shall receive suggestions as to what lines of their just recompense of reward. Christian work will be favored with God's special blessing, both here The whole race is then to be di- and hereafter. Nor is it illogical yided into two great classes, the to assume that these principles will one to stand on the right hand, the apply as well to Christian work in other on the left; to the one the heathen lands, as to that in Amerinvitation "Come," to the other' ica or Europe. And perhaps this the fatal word" Depart." The ha- analysis will shed some light upon sis upon which this division is to the question, why progress has be made is of supreme importance been so slow and unsatisfactory in to every soul. In this vivid descrip- not a few foreign fields; slow espetion Christ gives us a brief account cially when compared with the exof a conversation between the tent of the task undertaken, to Judge and persons of theEe classes, "disciple the nations." It is a sig·· that is pregnant with meaning. It nificant fact that Christ does not is a matter of astonishment that rebuke these people for not having these words seem to have had so preacht and taught in His name. little weight or influence in direct- This does not necessarily imply ing the policy of the great army of that this line of Christian work is Christian workers, who all profess of no importance; but rather that to believe that they are steadily these profest disciples had not marching toward that judgment omitted this duty. This line of seat.
It has often been noted that Christ here speaks only of the sins work is being carried on with grea t would see such triumphs of the diligence and skill, in nearly all Cross in heathen lands, as have not Protestant mission fields. There is heen dreamed of by the most arpractically no difference of opinion dent and hopeful among them. as to its importance, as holding the chief place in the work of evangel- But how can these five lines of izing the nations. But our conten- Christian philanthropy he carrie(l tion is, that in the light of this and on upon anything like a large scale many other passages of Scripture. in heathen lands? it is a fundamental and fatal error to give it almost exclusive posses- 1. Food. "I was a hungered and sion of all the work and occupy the ye gave Me lIleat. " The half famtime and strength of nearly all the isht condition of millions of people workers, as it has done in IIlOst in Inc~ia and China is hecoming hetmission fields for many years. ter underRtood of late hy the Chris- tian nations. The great Indian The reward to the "blessed of the famine has done much to call atten- Father," is to be given to those tion to it. TIle illustrated papers who have ministered" to the least have Inade the harrowing spectacle of these Christ's brethren," in cnil real. The gener-al Christian public or more of five different ways. has responded nobly to appeals for aid; and missionaries on the field 1. Food. " I was a hungered and have rendered invaluable service, ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty and in honestly and equitably distribye gave Me drink." uting the relief sent. It is the tes- timony of missionaries, that this 2. Shelter. "I was a stranger practical aid in time of acute disand ye took Me in." tress, has been of great value, in opening the hearts of the people to 3. Clothing. "1 was naked and receive the C ospel. But the fact is, ye clothed Me. " that in these densely-peopled hea- then lands, the chronic state is one 4. Medical aid. "I was sick and of semi-famine for at least oneye visited Me." fourth of the population, and hun- dreds of thousands die of want 5. Help to the viciollS and crim- every year. inal classes. "I was in prison and ye came unto Me." Has the Christian public, that has been so moved hy the brief It is flying into the face of all famine of India, nothing to do with accepted laws of exegesis to spirit- this perpetual famine that has enualize these words away, into lnean- tailed many times more mispry ing simply going about among during this generation, than that poor, sin-cursed, poverty-stricken terrible scourge from which India humanity, speaking words, and dis- is just recovering? tl'ibuting tracts (;f comfort and exhortation. Such methods of Scrip- If I have succeeded in securing tural interpretation, if carried to the attention of any of the memtheir logical conclusion, and applied hers or secretaries of mission to the whole Bible, would make it boards at this point, I think I hear all an allegorical myth. a chorus of critics object. "If we hegin to give out rice to the hun- If the leaders of the mission gry people of India and China, we movement will calmly, and with would soon exhaust our resources, unprejudiced mind, face the teach- and have a gre~t crowd of 'riceing of this, and scores of other pas- Christians,' who would leave ns as sages of Scriphlre, and modify and soon us our 'daily ministrations add to their methods and plans of work so as to follow the inevi1iable conclusions that must be drawn from them, the twentieth century ceast. Surely our last state would work the same amount and quality be worse than our first." And of brains that successful business- many of the missionaries on the men use, we will find many ways field object even more emphatically of helping the underfed millions to any mission work that ministers in heathen lands to a sufficiency, to the temporal wants of the peo- without taxing the treasuries of ple, fearing that they will then fol- the missionary societies, but rather low Christ for "the loaves and lightening their burdens; the peofishes." Very well, what if they ple will be reacht in far larger do? They did in Christ's time, yet numbers than ever before; the nathat did not deter Him from multi- tive Christians will be more spiritplying the loaves and fishes once ual, self-support more rapid, and again, when He saw the multitudes above all the divine instructions ready to faint with hunger. Jesus for carrying on this work will be helpt the people over the existing followed. emergency. He did not do it to show His miraculous power, and To illustrate: the insufficient supthus prove His divinity. He dis- ply of food in this densely-peopled tinctly states the reason: "I have part of the Fuhkien Province in compassion upon the multitudes." southern China, is due in great part to insufficient and uncertain Oh, for more of this divine com- or irregular water supply for irripassion amollg the ambassadors of gation. Vhere the scarcity is Christ! the spirit of the Master, greatest is in regions dependent who could not look upon suffering upon wells. The Chinese know with indifference. If we have that nothing of the use of suction pumps. pitying love, we will find ways of Vater is laboriously drawn from relieving want, that to these be- wells for irrigation by long sweeps. nighted heathen will seem no less They can not be used in wells over divine than the displa'y of His mi- twenty feet deep. In many places raculous power. The next day it is thirty or forty feet to the wawhen many of them came to be fed ter. They have no way of lifting again, when they were where they the water so far, and such fields could buy if they wisht to, He did are not worth nlOre than one-tenth not repeat the miracle, but took the value of the land that is low the opportunity to preach one of enough to be irrigated. His most spiritual sermons, exhorting them" to labor not for the I have priced two pieces of land, meat that perisheth," and that both under cultivation,and as far as "the flesh profiteth nothing." Let soil is concerned not essentially difus learn of Him, follow His meth- ferent, and not more than 200 yards ods, and trust Him with the re- apart; the dry land was held at sults. $20.00 an acre, and the wet lanJ: at $200.00. Yet the only real differ- The objection above stated is well ence was perhaps fifteen feet in taken, if that were the only way to elevation, which the people with feed these hungry multitudes. But their crude appliances were unable it is not. to overcome. It is easy enough to see that the introduction of appli- Free distribution of food is allow- ances for irrigation, so common in able only in acute emergencies, and the western States of America, should seldom, if ever, be long con- would be a great blessing to the tinued and habitual. But if we people, and in the long run a source children of the light will only be as of actual profit to the one who sucwise in our generation as the chil- ceeds in doing it. But to accom· dren of the world, and put into our plish this is not the simple matter While something has been done in it would seem at first sight to be. these lines, yet it has received but scant favor from mission boards These machines are complicated except in rare cases; and it has and liable to get out of order, and heen left too generally to the uncertainly will need repairing. It is certain and irregular efforts of innecessary to haye a skilled machin- dividual benevolence. It is probist who will patiently and laborious- able, that if the missionary societies ly teach a few Chinese young men would take up this line of work how to use western tools, how to upon a large scale, commensurate set up a windmill, and how to run with the needs, and carry it upon it, and repair it. In short, if we practical industrial lines, employwould add to our school for boys, ing skilled and consecrated lay a department of Industrial Mechan- workers of both sexes to conduct ics, in charge of a skilled and con- it, that the sympathies of great secrated Christian machinist, with- numbers of people who are now in two or three years it would be giving little or nothing to missions, more than self-supporting, and would be so stirred, that the necesmultitudes of formerly half-fam- sary means would be forthcoming. isht Chinese would rise up and call The moral force of such institutions us blessed. This is not an isolated in all parts of the heathen world instance. The same principle will would be incalculably great. They apply in nearly all localities in the would stand as perpetual and unheathen world. In one place it is answerable witnesses to the mispoor cultivation, shallow plowing sion and spirit of Christ. that keeps down production; in another fertilization is not under- In our haste to build up selfstood; another, wasteful [t ppliances supporting churches in heathen for gathering or preparing for mar- lands, have we not too generally ket. All these keep down produc- neglectEd these helpless classes, and tion to the point that causes the thus failed in a measure to reprehalf-starved condition of a large sent our compassionate Savior to pel' cent. of the population in all the Christless nations? Let us read heathen lands. again, and ponder well His words. "Vhen thou makest a feast, call It is within the power of the the poor, the maimed, the lame, Christians of America and Europe the blind: and thou shalt be to do much to relieve this condition. blessed: for they can not recom- _ Hundreds of consecrated intelli- pense thee; for thou shalt be regent laymen would gladly come to compenst at the resurrection of the the foreign mission field to do this just." work, if the way were opened for them by a broader policy being 3. Clothing. " J was naked and adopted by the missionary socie- yeclothed Me." The savage races know nothing of the use of clothties. ing from a sense of modesty. But 2. Shelter. "I was a stranger the moment these savages accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, the and ye took Me in." A stranger, sense of shame is developt, and as whonl no one welcomes, and none the demoniac was soon clothed and cares for: the helpless ones, the in his right mind, sitting at the blind, the maimed, the deformed, feet of the Master, so the savages the lepers, the superfluous girl- of the South Seas, and of Africa babies, the orphans. Oh the cruel- have been clothed and transformed ty, the heartlessness, the selfish- by the power of Christ. What is. ness of heathenism 1 None who have not witnest it, can realize it. true of the naked savage tribes, is If the mission boards of Amer- partially true of all heathen races. ica would carefully study and Even the Japanese, who boast of learn the lesson of these practical their attainments in civilization, but far-seeing and devoted German are notoriously and shockingly missionaries, there would not soon immodest in dress. be another chorus of wailing from the missionary offices, "Relieve us Then, great masses of the poor in of this burden of debt;" and a heathen lands are scantily clothed, host of consecrated, skilled laymen because of their extreme poverty, as would soon be in all these great well as indifference to the claims of mission fields, laboring to receive modesty. The missionary to the the blessing reserved for those to naked savage finds himself driven whom it shall be said, "I was to consider this problem at once, naked and ye clothed Me." and imports cloth for his people, until the natural channels of trade 4. Medical aid. " I was sick and supply it. But in the semi-civilized, ye visited Me." The missionary great heathen countries, especially societies have done more work in China, the enormous amount of along this line than any of the labor necessary to making the others indicated in this passage. clothes of the common people, has The Church at home and in foreign much to do with the insufficient lands has been having a great supply. The common clothing of awakening of recent years to the the Chinese is mostly cotton. The fact that "saving souls" does not women make the cloth, spinning it, mean saving disembodied spirits. one thread at a time, with a small Our Lord's example, in ministering hand-spindle, and then weaving it to the sick bodies of men, is more in a clumsy wooden loom. A fully realized and followed now, woman can not earn more than than in any age since the days of one cent a day spinning this cotton the Apostles. yarn. The introduction of modern appliances to spin and weave this China and Africa furnish now cloth opens an unlimited field for the great field for medical mission mission industrial enterprise, which work. China is an especially inwould make mission work self- viting field. The Chinese are slaves supporting and be an incalculable to medicine. Yet their native mabenefit to the people. This is not teria medica is perhaps the most an untried experiment. The Basel vicious on the face of the earth. mission in India, has had spinning There has been for the past twenty and weaving factories for years, years or more, a rapid breaking and conducted them with prac- down of the intense prejudice tical German thoroughness, having against all things foreign.- And skilled laymen in charge. They now that the interior is sure to have won a high reputation all over open within the next few years, India. These industrial factories this change will be far more rapid are not only self-supporting but than ever before. support the entire educational work of the mission. And it is the testi- If the mission boards would take mony of Mrs. Osborne, of the Mis- advantage of this change, and start sionary Training School of Brook- medical work in many centers, by lyn, from whose account the above wise and careful management they facts are taken, that "It was here would become largely self-support- I saw the most comfortable native ing in a short time. There can be Christian homes." no reasonable doubt of this. Let the hospitals be commodious, but less expensively built than many that have been put up in the past; in China, is simply indescribable. let the rich be required to pay well As far as I have been able to learn, for the services rendered them; let no attempt has ever been made by the medicines be sold, instead of Christian missionaries, to have given away; let medicines be sold these barbarous customs changed. in small packages, with printed in- It might be of little immediate use, structions as to their use, to be as far as actual achievement is contaken to distant villages, and used cerned, but the mere attempt as needed in the family; and the would result in a great spiritual mission to the sick could be ex- blessing upon all who had a share panded indefinitely. Many people in it. And the agitation would in in America will give to this class time bear fruit. In the meantime, of Christian work, who do not take some mission work in the prisons much interest in the ordinary evan- would be permitted, and it would gelistic lines. If special appeals be appreciated by the poor unforwere made by the societies for this tunates. Experience in visiting important branch of work, it would and praying with a few Christian doubtless meet with very hearty men, imprisoned under false response. But instead of this, we charges, has shown that the blessrecently saw an appeal from a sec- ing of Christ is indeed upon this retary of one of the leading socie- kind of work. ties, for young men to go to China, which ended with this chilling sen- But in this class also would be tence: "Teachers and doctors need included the vicious and criminal not apply! " This is not the time classes who are out of jail, as well to retreat from advanced ground as those in it. The thieves, the already taken, but to push forward pirates, the harlots, the opiumtoward the fullest possible attain- smokers, and drunkards, have the ment of the blessing contained in same claim upon us, as they had the words of the Judge and Re- npon our Master, when He preacht warder of all good: "I was sick, and ministered unto them in Galiand ye visited Me." lee. He was so much among them that His enemies tauntingly 5. Help to the vicious and crimi- pointed at Him the finger of nal classes. " I was in prison and seorn, and said, "Behold the friend ye came unto ]Ie." The idea nat- of publicans and sinners!" Alas, urally prevails in mission circles that in our day, our critics have so that the heathen are so bad any- little occasion to repeat the way, that the best we can expect, reproach, which should be our is to reach and save only those who highest glory! are already feeling after the light. Yet this was not Christ's method. In China every station should He went not only to those who have its Opium Refuge, where needed Him, but to those who with prayer, and faith, and love, needed him most. The prisons and skill, scores could be saved in heathen lands, except when un- every year from the chains of this der the government of a Christian fearful habit. Every missionary nation, are places of indescribable who travels about much, in this filth and misery. In China they part of China at least, finds himadd to the agony of the surround- self constantly solicited by these ings, periodical torture by the at- poor wretches, with the piteous tendants, to extract money from question, "Can you help me break the poor prisoner. The cruel bar- off this opium habit?" It is iale barityof the treatment of prisoners to tell him, "Go and believe in Jesus, " without helping him to break it off, by a short time of iso- dent direct our plans, instead of lation from the poison, and from the example and instructions of his old companions, while under our Great Teacher. Shall it be wise, skilful, ltnd loving care. Not forever so? The Church at home a little has been done in this line is waking to the great truth that, by the medical missionaries, but it " The Son of Man came not to be is indeed little when compared ministered unto, but to minister, with the stupendous needs, and and to give his life a ransom for too little in proportion to other many;" and that, "The disciple is lines of work carried on. not above his l'Iaster, nor the serv- But it is objected, "The treasur- ant above his lord;" and that this ies are exhausted, and the present "ministering" is not unto disem- force of missionaries can not take bodied spirits, but to the bodies, as up these new lines of work without well as to the minds and souls of neglecting the work already Inen.
started." This truth is as real and vital to To this we would reply, "Christ the evangelization of the heathen, requires of His people no impossi- as to that of the more favored un- ble tasks, and if He has laid this believers in Christian lands.
upon us as a part of our duty to A Missionary Sanitarium in India. our fellow-men, it is not for us to stand looking at the Red Sea before· BY .JACOB CHAMBERLAIN, M.D., D.D. us, and Pharaoh's host behind us, and impotently cry, "Ve can Kodaikanal is, perhaps, of all the not," but ip reverent faith accept sanitaria of India, the one most ad- God's high commission to "au vantageous for, and the one nlOst for~card;" the waters will part be- patronized by missionaries. It is fore us. The Church has the about 7,200 feet above the sea, on money; there are hundreds of the summit of the Palani, or Pulney well equipt holy men and women, Mountains, which separate the who are ready to go carrying fertile Madura district of the blessing, and life, and light to the Madras presidency from the native heathen world. kingdom of Tra,vancore. " The Men of faith wonder why the Pulneys," as they are called, are conquest of the world is so slow; some 40 miles long by 20 broad, and men of the world tauntingly re- are a part of the mountain range, mind us, that after this century of reaching from near Cape COIllorill nlissions, th!,re are more heathen up to the north of Bombay, parallel in the world to-day than there with the sea of Arabia, and from were one hundred years ago. Some 20 to 60 miles from its shore, and say, "God so intended it. The world known in geographies as "The will go on getting worse and vv-estern Ghats." The Nilgiris worse, until the Second Coming and Mahableshwar are the more of our Lord." Others piously say, northern high elevations of the "Ve must not trouble about re- same mountain range.
sults; but leave them with God." Half a century ago two of the Vould it not manifest more faith missionaries of the Maduramission in God, if we honestly faced the of the A. B. C. F. M., whose sta- fact that our achievements do not tions were near the base of these fill out His promises, and fearlessly almost precipitous mountains, de- examine into the cause of our par- termined to accomplish their diffi- tial failure? cult ascent, to visit and preach to We have let prejudice and prece- the few mountaineers, and see what the climate might be, and whether few inexpensi ve houses had been it were not possible to have a sani- erected by the Madura missiontarium thus near them, in which to aries and the government officials take refuge sometimes in the burn- of the district, who appreciated for _ ingheat, or when ill, and thus avoid themselves, and especially for their perhaps, art absolute breakdown wives and children, the boon of and an expensive journey to the having within a night's journey a homeland for restoration. change of temperature from 1000 in the shade on the plain, to 60Q or Finding some of the hill people (J60 by the little lake on the mounwho had brought their wares to tain. the periodical market at the mission station at the foot of the This was the origin of the now mountain, they induced them to well-known sanitarium of Kodaipilot them, and carry for them a kana!. For many years its insmall amount of necessities up the accessibility to all but those in the difficult foot-path utilized by the adjacent districts militated against mountaineers. On reaching the its growth, for a journey of 350 summit they found a natural basin, miles by bullock bandy from Mawhose bottom was about 6,900 feet dras across the scorching plains to above sea-level, with numerous the foot of the mountains would springs of excellent water bursting prove too much for many an invalid, out of the sides of the hills that who might otherwise be saved and surrounded the basin, whose round restored by its invigorating climate; and grassy summits were 7,300 to and other sanitaria more readily 7,700 feet above sea-level, and on accessible were patronizedfar more. whose sides were groves of forest Now, however, there is a railway trees. from Madras to Tuticorin, near Cape Comorin, passing within 32 Choosing a site in a grove 100 feet miles of the foot of the mountain, above the little brook, fed by all from which bandies (covered carts) these pellucid springs, they erected drawn by relays of trotting bullocks a simple hut, with thatcht roof bring one by night in from 6 to 8 and "wattle and daub" sides, and hours to a little traveler's bungaspent some days in it, testing the low at the beginning of the ascent, climate, exploring the hills, and whence starting before daylight preaching to the people they found one can come up in a chair or dooly in the few mountain hamlets. It borne by 8 coolies, or can ride up were interesting to trace the ex- on a scrubby country pony, makperiences they had and their efforts ing the 12 miles' climb, including to find a feasible coolie-path or the 100 zigzags, in 5 or 6 hours. bridle-road, up which coolies with loads, and ponies with riders, and Rouses, built of stone found in donkeys with packs could come; abundance on the spot in broken suffice it to say that ere many years masses as tho already quarried, had elapst, by the aid of the dis- with red clay as mortar, have been trict government officials, a pass- erected among the trees on all the able coolie, ghat, and bridle-path hillsides around the lake, and have zigzaging up 12 miles from the foot been steadily creeping up from near had been constructed, and a dam the lake level until now the tops of built, at small cost, across a narrow the hills, 7,300 and 7,500 feet high, spot, turning the little brook into are utilized as building sites. The a beautifullake, three miles around government astronomer kindly inat the water's edge, into which fish forms me by a note to-day that were speedily introduced, and a the government reckoning of the height of Kodaikanal is 7,209 feet than fifteen degrees night and day, above sea level, which I take to be week in and week out. Essentially the mean height of the residential the same as the temperature during portion of this mountain resort. the hot months of the yertr, might The great government observatory be said of nearly all the great sani- for India now erecting is on a hill taria of India. There is not the 7,700 feet high, overlooking the real tonic effect of frost upon the lake from the west. system. It does not build one up who is much run down as a winter It is singular that nearly all the in the temperate zone d00s; but an great sanitaria of India, north and occasional change to one of these south, are at practically the same sanitaria is exceedingly helpful in elevation above the sea: Simla preventing the utter break-down being 7,116, Darjeeling7,168, Oota- that has wreckt many a promising camund 7,271, Kodaikanal 7,209; missionary career too near its bewhile Mussorie, Nynee Tal, Ma- ginning. hableshwar, Coonoor, and The Shevaroys are a few hundred feet Missionary societies have come lower. to appreciate the economy, both in health to the missionary and in Kodaikanal has less non-mis- money to their supporters, in havsionary visitors than other great ing a sanitarium where their missanitaria. Simla is the summer sionaries, jaded by months of incapital of the viceroy, Darjeeling cessant work in touring, preaching, of Bengal, Nynee Tal of the north- school work, looking after the sick, west provinces, Mahableshwar of working up more and more in the Bombay, and Ootacamund of Ma- languages of the people, and, what dras, and hosts of government offi- so burdened the Apostle Paul, "the cials with their families accompany care of all the churches," could the governors there, and other come for six or eight weeks of Europeans swarm those places. respite both from heat and from In tham all, and in others also, wearing work, and recuperate the – large and increasing numbers of worn physical and mental powers. missionaries too are found each It prolongs the years of service, it season, obtaining a new lease of saves the lives of experienced mislife for more vigorous work on the sionaries, and prevents the necesplains. sity of so rapidly replacing them by novices. It forestalls the cost Kodaikanal, however, is a smaller of many a long sea journey to the and more quiet place. There is native land to save a life that would less of fashion; it is less expensive; otherwise be sacrificed. it is more restful. Its climate is less damp than many of the hill sta- The "American Board, " the tions. Being nearer the equator, in leader in this wise movement, has latitude 10" 15" north, its climate va- been so convinced of this, that for ries but little in different seasons of more than thirty years it has the year. The thermometer 100 feet provided a sufficient number of above the lake never goes below 40° houses, inexpensive but comfortin the cold months; it never rises able, so that every member of their above 76° in the hot months. In large Madura mission can find room January and February frost is here through April and May, the seen on the shores of the lake, but two most trying of the eight hot never 100 feet above. In April and months of the year. These houses May, the hottest months here, I are then rented, as far as possible, have not seen the mercury above during the remaining hot months, 75 0 nor below 600 , varying thus less to others, usually the families of mand a good portion of the time of government and railway officials all who are able to work. and European business men, and thus the expense of keeping up the There is another most important houses is mostly met, and there is advantage here to the isolated misno drain on the contributions of the sionaries coming from scattered home churches for missionary pur- stations, who have little means of poses. Other missionary boards spiritual uplift through the year, and societies are fast falling into except in private study and in the line in aJIording these facilities, closet. considering it in the interest of the truest economy to do so. Every year there is held here, in May, a four days' convention for A missionary census of Kodai- the deepening of spiritual life, to kanal completed to-day shows that which we look forward with joy as there have come up so far, and are one of the chief blessings of our now in Kodaikanal, 170 missiona- sojourn. This year it was held ries, with 62 children, or 232 in all, May 7th to 10th inclusive, and was of missionary families, represent- under the stimulating leadership of ing fourteen different missionary societies, American, British, and Dr. V. 'V. Vhite, of Mr. Moody's German; in numbers the English being first and the Americans a Biblical Institute, Chicago, who close second; the Germans, Swedes, has been giving two years of ex- Australians, and Canadians being ceptional service to the young men fewer. of India. At each of our two daily sessions it was grand to see the It is not for a simple" play spell " earnest, joyous countenances of the that all these missionaries come missionaries that filled the Aineriup; some indeed come so run down can mission church, while we toand ill that they must have abso- gether considered the themes lute rest. Others come for change Christ, the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and recuperation with work, which prayer, and seemed to participate they are able to bring up with them. in the pronlised "fulness." The going over and valuing of hundreds of examination papers of This week the annual Kodaikanal the missionary colleges and schools missionary conference meets for whose spring term closes as their three days, for discussing imporprincipals and teachers come up tant missionary problems, preparafor the vacation, or the yearly tion for which has been made examination papers of our national throughout the year. The sessions assistants who, each in his own close with a united missionary village, carryon Biblical and theo- breakfast in a grove, at which logical studies through the year; above 150 missionaries will be presthe bringing up of arrears of corre- ent and partake together of food spondence and accounts; the pre- physical, and intellectual as well, paration or revision of vernacular in the after-breakfast speeches, and tracts and books; with young mis- draw closer the bonds of missionary sionaries, the more vigorous study comity and loving friendship ere, of the language; important com- next week, most of us go back to mitteework, that can be done better our more or less solitary stations, here than in the whirl of work with new vows of consecration to below; these and other matters de- Him who has given us so much of joy and uplift on these, His delec- table mountains, for His glorious service.
18D8.] FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
IV. -FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
BY DELAVAN L. PIERSON.
Turkey,* Persia,t .Arabia,t Russia and Siberia,s Greece," Mohammedanism," The Greek Church, ** Russian Progress and Missions. H question, what effect will her dominance in the East have upon Russia iH a mighty power, and is the mission work of Protestant nations, and especially in Man- leaping more and more to the front. dllU·ia, which has recently come under her egis. Her recent advance in China has Great Britain has devoted both been ra,pid and marvelous. Vhat- men and money, to a large degree, for the conversion of that vast ever may be the impelling motives province. The Presbyterians of Ireland and Scotland are much in- in her Eastern policy, she has cer- terested in their various missions there. They feel that they have tainly come into an enlarged area much at stake in view of the cer- tain advance of Russian domina- of control, and must be reckoned tion over, and in, that region, and are nluch exercised over the prob- among the dominant factors in the able outcome. Frorn Russia's past policy little can be expected in the determination of the future of the way of evangelical liberty. The Greek Church is as intolerant as oldest empire of the world. As the Roman Catholic. Russia per- mits no change of creed, unless for she goes forward 011 her aggressive its own benefit, within its domain. It is true that the growing power career, it becomes an ilnportant of the Stulldists is forcing the czar to a larger toleration than hereto- • See also pp. 60 (Jan.); 125 (Feb.); 734, 752 fort', but the Greek hierarchy is op- (present issue). posed to even this qualified tolera- tion, and curbs and represses as far NEW BOOKS: "" Ilupresslons of TUl'keYl n as circumstances will permit. It 'Vnl. Ramsay, LL D.; '0 EverywDay Lifp, in may be that the widening empire, TUlkey,H Mrs. Ramsay; "The Conversion of with its varied religious faith, may Armenia," W. St. Clair Tisdall. develop a more liberal govern- mental policy, but it is hard for the RECENT ARTICLES: [(. The American College "leopard to change his spots." for Girls at Const9.ntinople," Jtr:'ew England Accordingly our brethren of Great J}ayazine Oiar.). Britain are looking upon the situa- tion with sadness and dismay, and t See also pp 11,55 (Jan.); 737,761 (present see scarcely a ray of hope gilding issue). the horizon. [Russian policy in her colonies has, however, been NEW BOOKS: .. Persia-'Vestel'n Mission,'l more lenient than that pursued at S. G. 'Vilsan; H Persian ',,"omen." Isaac Malek home, and it is not expected that Yonan; Secretarial Report, H. E. Speer. foreign peoples under Russia's sway will be forced into the Greek t See also p. 721 (present issue). Church.] § See also pp. 919 (Dec., '97); 536 (July); 7ml (present issue).
NEW BOOKS: '" In the Land of Tolstoi II (Famine and Misrule), J. Standling and W. Reason; "In Joyful Russia;" "' SidelightB on Siberia," J. Y. Simpson.
RECENT ARTICLES: "Russian Humanity,"' Cosrnopolitan (Dec., '97); H Catholic Exiles in Siberia," Appleton's (Jan.); ., Conling of the Slav, I, Contemporary (Jan.); "Exiled Christ. in Christian Ru~sia," Arena C:~lar.); ~. Awakened Russia," Harper's (May); "The Czar's Empire," J/."LJarper's ~June); .. The Holy Season in Russia," Cha.nta'ltqnan (April); .. Baptist Exiles at Gerusi," BapU8t ~lissionarll May. (Aug.); H The S'Lundists,ll The NiiBsionary (Aug.): "The Convict System in Siberia," Harper's (A ug.).
II NEW BOOKS; "The Isles and Shrines of Greece, " S. J. Barrows.
RECENT ARTICLES: "The Regeneration of Greece," Cosmopolis (Aug.).
~ See also p. 721 (present issue). NEW llOOKS; ,. Tbe llible and Islam," H. P. Smith; ~'Moh'},mmedan Controversy," Sir Vrn. Muir; "The Preaching of Islam," T. W. Arnold; HMohammedanisrn: Has it a Future ?" C. H. Robinson.
RECENT ARTICLES: •• Babism and the Babs." New U""orld (Dec, '97); .. Islamhml," Progress l11ar. 6, '~8); .. Teachings of the Koran as to Bible," C. ,]1. Intelligencer.
•• See also pp. 769 (present issuel.
1'"t The P,·esbyterian, Philadelphia. The Evangelical Greek Church. * sold throughout the country last The Greek Evangelical Church year was greater than for many has not been unfavorably affected by the general excitement (of the previous years, showing a con- Greco – Turkish war), except that the financial embarrassment has sciousness of some spiritual need rendered it more difficult to sus- tain and extend our work. which can be met only by God'3 The services at Athens have been Vord. largely attended, and the attitude toward the evangelical movement Persian Notes. has been improved, since it became apparent, during the national The outbreak at IIamadan struggle, that those connected with against the Sheykhee sectarians is it are not wanting in patriotism, as but another illustration of the their enemies had formerly repre- growing intolerance of the Mosented them, charging them with hammedan leaders. Hitherto the being false to their country in Sheykhees, tho regarded as strainchanging their religion. ing the ordinary interpretations of the Islamic creed to support some At Yanina the pastor was im- peculiar mystic views of their own, prisoned on the baseless charge of have been allowed to worship in being connected with the organi- the same mosques along with the zation hostile to the government. so-called orthodox believers. But Through the good offices of the the present spirit of Islam is more British ambassador at Constanti- and more insisting on absolute uninople, he was releast after a formity of belief. Hence the inmonth. This imprisonment, of creasing persecution, as reported of course, interrupted his regular the Babees, who are an outgrowth work; but the time was not lost, of the Sheykhee creed. tho now far as he had new opportunities to removed from its mild form of bear testimony to the truth; and heresy. gained friends, not only among the prisoners, but also among the At a dinner given the last Turkish guards and officers, so that Fourth of July in Teheran, Persia, Bible readings begun at that time at the United States: Legation, by have been continued since, the good MI'. and Mrs. Hardy, British Miniseffect upon the conduct of the ter Sir Mortimer Durand and Mrs. prisoners being recognized by the Durand were the only guests beside officials in charge. the American missionaries. Mr. Hardy proposed a toast to President From Volo, Serais, Salonica, and McKinley, of whom he spoke Patras we have encouraging re- briefly but fittingly, and then ports. There has never been any added a beautiful tribute to Queen regular preaching in the last, but Victoria, whose name was coupled through the cfforts of successive with the president's in the toast. Bible colporteurs, an interest has Sir Mortimer responded very feelbeen awakened, and a few have ingly and eloquently, thanking Mr. declared themselves evangelical. Hardy for having done Lady In addition to the grants to the Durand and himself the compliarmy, the number of Scriptures ment of permitting them to be one with the AmericRns on that occa- * These notes from Dr. Kalopothakes, re- sion, and referring tenderly and forcibly to the growing feeling of cently appeared in the Quarterly Register, amity and good-will between the monthly organ of the Presbyterian Alliance. two nations, a feeling which he truthfully asserted he had for many years striven to promote. His eyes filled with tears and his lip trem- bled as he spoke. All present knew that every word came from his large and true Christian heart. Lady Durand is a worthy coad- jutor of this really noble repre- sentative of Great Britain and faithful servant in the Church of Christ.
1898.J EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
V.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
Two most interesting events now asylum for dismist people is now are attracting much interest of closed for poor Jews, and in Amer- Christian people, and of not a few ica, anti-Semitism is growing. unbelievers on this side the sea. First, the second Zionist Congress As to the czar's proposal, it is at Basel, which opened on Sunday, simply amazing, and seems incredi- August 28, and second, the amazing ble. A document having such pos- proposal of the Russian czar for a sible relation to the religious general disarmament, which was history of the race, as well as the issued on the 24th of the same progress of missions, ought to have month. a permanent place in this Review. The following is the communica- At the Z'ion'ist Congrcss about tion which Count Muravieff, on the 500 delegates were assembled from 24th of August, handed to all accre- all parts of the world, even as re- dited foreign representatives at the mote as India and America. The Court of St. Petersburg: parent and leader of the present movement is Dr. Th. Herzl, editor The maintenance of general peace, and a of the Nc'uc Frc'ic Prcssc, Vienna, possible reduction of the excessive armawhose work on "The Jewish State" ments which weigh upon all nations, present graphically treats of the political themselves in the existing condition of the martyrdom of the modern Jew, and whole world, as the ideal towards which the advocates the purchase of Pales- endeavors of all governments should be ditine and the organization of a neu- rected. The humanitarian and magnanitral state, under protection of the mous ideas of his majestYI the emperor, my leading powers. This book led to august master, have been won over to this the Zionist Conference of last year view. In the conviction that this lofty aim is at Basel, where from 200 to 300 took in conformiLy with the most essential interpart, and largely the commanding ests and the legitimate views of all powers, minds among the Jews. That con- the imperial government thinks that the gress went so far as to indorse the present moment would be very favorable to effort to secure legally a home in seeking by means of international discussion Palestine for Jews who can not or the most effectual means of insuring to all will not assimilate with existing peoples the benefits of a real and durable environments. * peace, and, above all, of putting an end to tbe progressive development of the present Dr. Herzl maintains that the only armaments. way out of their misery lies through Zionism; he upholds the In the course of the last twenty years the legitimate right of the Jews to Pal- longings for a general appeasement have estine, and says that Turks are con- grown especially pronounced in the convinced of the loyalty of the Jews. sciences of civilized nations. The preserva- Dr. N@lrdau, of Paris, vice-chair- tion of peace has been put forward as the obman, in speaking of the general jcct of international policy. It is in its name position of the Jews, says that in that great states have concluded between Russia it is awful, and in Galicia themselves powerful alliances; it is the ~etter dangerous. Englan'd's glorious to guarantee peace that they have developt in proportions hitherto unprecedented their ·On September 9th the Turkish Legation in military forces, and still continue to increase Washington issued the following statement: them without shrinking from any sacrifice. "The entrance into Palestine is formally All these efforts nevertheless ha ve not yet prohibited to foreign Israelites, and, con- been able to bring about the beneficent resequently, the Imperial Ottoman authorities sults of tbe desired pacification. The finanhave received orders to prevent the landing cial charges following an upward march pf immigrapt Jews in that province. n strike at public prosperity at its very source. The intellectual and physical strength of the nations, labor and capital, are for the major part diverted from their natural application and unproductively consumed.
Hundreds of millions are devoted to ac- quiring terrible engines of destruction which, tho to-day regarded as the last word of science, are destined to-morrow to lose alj value in consequence of SOlne fresh discov- time for all who love universal ery in the same field. National culture1 peace and all the blessings which economic progress1 and the production of follow in its train, to pray for God's wealth are either paralyzed or checkt in seal on the proposal. This is all the their developInent. Moreover1 ill proportion more significant at a time when as the armaments of each power increasp- so such vigorous efforts are making to do they less aTHI less fulfil the object which organize an Anglo-American allithe governlnents have set lJefore themselves. ance. The economie crises due in great part to the The general opinion, however, is systeIl1 of armaments /l outraJlce and the that the c7:ar's schellle is doomed to failure owing to the selfishness continual danger which Jies in this massing and natureI suspieion of European of war material1 are transforming the arlned powers. peace of our days into a crushing burden which the peoples have 11101'e and more diffi· All who have kept any track of culty in bearing. It appears evident, then, the great work among Italian that if this state of things were prolonged, it soldiers will he grieved to learn of would inevitably lead to the very cataclysm the death of Cav. Luigi Capellini, which it is desire(l to avert, and the horrors minister of the Evangelical miliof which make every thinking being shudder tary church at Rome, an account in advance. of whose serviee to Christ appeared in our August numher. He was a To put an end to these incessan t anna- mighty man of valor. ments, and to seek the lneans of warding off the calamities which are threatening the Ve would call the attention of whole ,,"orld, such is t.he supreme duty ,vhich our readers to the new feature of is to·day imposed on all states. Filled with the International Department. Dr. this idea, his Majesty has been pleased to Gracey will there undertake to conorder me to propose to all the governments duct an Information Bureau on all whose representatives are accredited to the topics hearing on the subject of imperial court, the rneeting of a conference missions of general interest to our which would have to occupy itself with this readers. Questions should be sent grave problem. rrhis conference would be, to him at 177 Pearl Street, Rochesby the help of God, a happy presage for the ter, N. Y., and, if of importance century which is about to open. It would and general interest, will be careconverge in one powerful focus the efforts of fully answered. all the states, which are sincerely seeking to make the great conception of universal peace Books Received. triumph over the elements of trouble and discord. It would at the same thne C81nent EVERY·DAY LIFE IN KOREA. Rev D. L. Gif· their agreement by a corporate consecra- ford. 12mo, 2Hl pp. Illustrated. $1.lIO. tion of the principles of equity and right, on Fleming H. Revell Co., New York and which rest the security of states, and the Chicago. welfare of peoples. KOREAN SKETCHES. Rev. James S. Gale. The matter of general surprise is 12mo, 236 pp. Illustrated. $1.25. The that sueh a proposal should ema- same. nate from the most subtle and aggressive power in Europe, in view FELLOW TRAVELERS. Rev. Francis E Clark. of the recent movements of Russia 12mo, 288 pp. Illustrated. $1.25. The in Ghina, etc., the ninety million same. roubles granted by imperial ukase for army expansion, the new orders 'VHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES. Rb'. R. A. Torissued for armed cruisers, torpedo rey. 8vo, 539 pp. $2 50. The same. boats, battleships, etc. But it is said that the czar hates militarism MEET FOR THE ilIASTER's U8E. Rev. F. B. and is sincere in his desire to abate Meyer, B.A. 16mo, 121 pp. The same. the horrors of war and the cost of standing armies, and is ambitious SELECT NORTHFIELD SERMONS. R. E. Speer, to shine in history as the Educator, H. 'V. Webb-Peploe, and others. 16mo, as his grandfather did as the 128 pp. The same. Emancipator. OUR INDIAN SISTERS. Rev. EdwardStorrow. Certainly, whatever the motives 12mo, 256 pp. Illustrated. 'fhree shillings. leading to such a proposal, it is a The Religious Tract Society, London.
A BRIEF NARRATIVE OF FACTS relative to the lIIiiller Orphanages. James Wright. 12mo, 75 pp. Paper. James Nisbet & Co., London.
1898.J EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
VI.- GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, D.D.
Extrar.ts and Translations From Foreign seminary, the young pupil would Periodicals. forget his hunger in devouring books of philosophy, of magic, of BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK. theology, and in developing his re- markable mechanical aptitudes, A REMARKABLE CAREER. constructing clepsydras and port- able dials, and doing every kind of BY G. APPIA. manual work. As priest of Our Lady of Irkutsk he soon distin- (Journal des Missions Evangeliques.) guisht himself by his devotedness. The bishop wisht to appoint him From St. Paul's time till now the almoner of the Russo-American whole history of missions demon- Fur Company. Ivan, whose name strates the importance of personal as priest was Wenjaminoff (son of activity and consecration. Permit Benjamin) refused, but a traveler me to cite, at some length, an ex- having described to him the spiriample chosen from the Russian tual desolation of the Aleutian is- Church. lands, he felt himself seized "and as it were constricted in his heart," Last July seventy adventurers took leave of his wife, and went were arriving in one of the ports of to establish himself among the North America, to place in sure Aleuts in Unalaska. hands the eight or ten millions of gold which they had gathered in There the sun and clear sky were Alaska. Forthwith there began to be seen but some twenty days in the exodus of one, two, some say the year, fogs were continual; volfive hundred thousand seekers of canoes thundered, and there were gold, who are already demanding a bellowings sometimes of the sea, railroad to cross the polar plains. and sometimes of terrible earth- 'Ve might perhaps have believed quakes. The Russian missionary, that for this once the thirst of gain a man of iron constitution, of gihad outrun the loving zeal of mis- gantic stature, was affrighted at sionaries. I t would be a mistake. nothing, put his hand to every- Nine missionary societies have been thing, and seemed to revel in diffilaboring in Alaska for several culties. He had already publisht years, and we often rediscover there the New Testament in the language the traces of the apostolic man, of the Buriats; he forthwith apwho was the first to bring the Gos- plied himself to the study of the pel to these frozen regions. Aleutian language, and to the translation of the Scriptures. After I van Popoff, son of the sacristan having built the first church in of Irkutsk, was, at the opening of Unalaska, he past over into Alaska, this century, a poor little orphan, resumed the same work, and soon whom an uncle, poor himself, had gained the hearts of the Indians by kept from perishing, but without his charity and his care of the sick. being able to give him more than a slender pittance. Being, when Feeling that he alone was not small, admitted anagnostes, or equal to his task, he repaired to St. reader of the church, he had to re- Petersburg and Moscow, to lay the peat, in a sonorous silver voice, the claims of the work before the Holy portions of the Gospel appointed for each Sunday. Admitted to the
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Synod, and especially before the cepted the new dignity, and became metropolitan Philarete, who gave during his six remaining years one him his best help, comforted him of the chiefs of the Greek Church, on the death of his wife, and ad- holding that see which, tho in rank vised him to enter a monastic order the third of Russia, yet as repreunder the name of "Innocent." senting a former patriarchate, may be rather accounted the first. As Returning to Alaska, Innocent he was breathing his last, in 1878, was chosen bishop, then archbishop he was heard to murmur: "Is of the immense diocese of Kam- there not something more to be chatka, the Kurile, and the Aleu- done?" Assuredly, his activity tian Islands. You might then have and his success had proved the imseen him traversing alone the fro- portance of the personal factor and zen stretches of Bering's Strait, of entire consecration for all the lying at length in his sledge drawn soldiers of the missionary army.- by dogs, sometimes not falling in Translated by C. C. Starbuck. with a human dwelling for twentyfive days together, inspiring by his MISCELLANEOUS. mildness and devotion to the populations of these polar regions a pro- -Erasmus has fared hardly befound attachment, mingled with ad- tween Catholics and Protestants. miration. His coffin-shaped sledge, The latter have sneered-at him, bedrawn sometimes by reindeer, cause he did not join himself to sometimes by dogs, traverst all the Luther, ultra-predestination and country. all; the former thought, not with- out reason, that if he did not Often he had to cross the sea in join the Reformation, he paved the all seasons. Once he was detained way for it. Yet if both sides had at sea twenty-eight days, without listened more attentively to him; seeing the sun a single hour. Food the great schism might have taken and water began to fail; the crew place all the same, but it would had to be allowanced, and water have been on both sides more hufound by melting the snow hang- mane and less fiercely self-satisfied. ing to the sails. Innocent was Erasmus preacht a simple, but without ceasing on the bridge him- not a shallow or unfruitful Chrisself, spreading the sails, watch- tianity. Ve are glad to see that ing over the rations, keeping up he was not, like Luther, indifferent the courage of his men, a veritable to missions. Says The Chronicle: St. Paul upon the sea. In the Sea "Erasmus, in his treatise on 'The of Okhotsk, during the Crimean Art of Preaching,' issued early in War, he was made prisoner by the the sixteenth century, called upon English, who treated him with the the Christians of his age to pray greatest consideration. Some years for the evangelization of mankind. later it became necessary to give Lamenting the decay of the Chrishim two coadjutor bishops. Chinese tian religion, and that it is now and Mongols respected the Chris- confined to such narrow limits, he tian faith as represented by such a goes on to say: 'Let those, then, man. It was then that there came to whom this is an unfeigned cause upon him a stroke as unexpected as of grief, beseech Christ earnestly undesired, the summons to the post and continuously to send laborers of a metropolitan of the Greek into His harvest. What, do I ask, Church. Philarete, of Moscow, do we now possess in Asia, which had designated him as his successor. is the largest continent-when Pal- The former little orphan-cantor, estine herself, whence shone the the Alaska missionary, humblyac-
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
Gospel light, is ruled by heathens? was attended, in a separate service, In Africa, what have we? There by seven cardinals and twenty- are surely in these tracts barbarous seven archbishops and bishops.
and simple tribes, who could easily -" It is a curious thing, but there be attracted to Christ, if we sent is a missionary chimera exactly opmen among them to sow the good posite to the chimera of mere civiseed. Christ orders us to pray the lization. Instead of separating civi- Lord of the Harvest to send forth lization from Christianity, the laborars, because the harvest is majority of missionaries confound plenty, and the laborers are few.'" the two. They can not conceive – We note that at the head of Christianity except under the exthe Roman Catholic celebration, at terior aspects of the society in Florence, of Savonarola's martyr- which they have grown up. They dom, stands a cardinal. We sup- thus precipitate the collision bepose this to be Alphonso Capece- tween the requirements of the latro, the present eminent arch- Christian life and the pagan habibishop of Capua. He is an Ora- tudes before the regenerated inditorian, and the Oratorians, next to viduals are sufficiently robust to the Dominicans, are peculiarly de- sustain this struggle, and to come voted to the memory of the martyr. out victors. They go even so far Capecelatro is thought by many as needlessly to provoke conflicts not unlikely to be the next pope. with national usages to which In that event he would probably Christianity is essentially indifferinitiate Savonarola's canonization. ent."-Prof. F. H. Kruger in Jour- Several popes have contemplated nal des Missions.
this, but the Jesuits have never – Professor Kruger remarks that been friendly to the project. Now, thus far no missionary society has however, they seem to be giving up a history so richly fortified by doc- their opposition. The present pope, uments, so detailed and so reliable, by giving free access to the Borgia as the Netherlands Society, founded secrets, has rendered it impossible at Rotterdam in 1798, the first free to defend the character of Alexan- association for this end on the Con- der VI. any longer. It is worthy tinent.
of note, that at their foundation – Buddhism is far enough from the Jesuits defined the limits of its end in Japan. There is one otedience to the pope in Savonaro- temple for every 540 persons, one la's exact words, tho probably priest for every 400. Buddhist worquoted from an older source. Say ship in Japan is computed to cost the constitutions: "Obedience must $10,000,000 a year. be rendered to the pope, and to other superiors, so far as is consis- – Weare pleased to acknowledge tent with charity," which is the the receipt of a number of the Bra- technical Catholic term for su- zil'ian Bulletin, organ of .Mackenzie preme love to God, and equal love College, Presbyterian. It is very to man. In a manner Savonarola interesting, various, and animated, is canonized already, as his por- dignified and temperate in tone, trait has stood on the walls of aiming at raising the intellectual the Vatican for nearly four hun- tone of Brazilian religion, but with- dred years among the fathers and out laying itself out to proselytize.
doctors of the Church. Brazil, probably, will remain Cath- Since writing this we find that olic, but such colleges as .Mackenzie the celebration of his martyrdom may well be as elevating and
GENERAL -MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
strenghtening to it, as Robert Col- years there was quiet and steady lege has been ~,Bulgaria. Such a progress. publication, by ~ontra:st, increai5es the disgust felt with some others "In the autumn of 1887 there was (not in Brazil), whose intemperate initiated-or rather, as these facts virulence, professing to do the show, revived-what is ·now called work of Christ, is really doing the the' Policy of Faith,' and the net work of Antichrist. number of missionaries (not includ- ing wives), after deducting deaths – The Church Missionary Intel- and retirements, which was 230 in ligencer for July has a leading ar- 1872, and 309 in 1887, is now 777. ticle, entitled: "The 'Policy of Faith' Forty Years Ago." It proves " Not another word is necessary." by abundance of facts and figures that" so long as the policy of faith THE KINGDOM. was boldly followed, the Lord honored the society, raising up the – Over the door of one of Dr. men, and providing the means. But Barnado's homes in London there so soon as the committee were is this inscription: " No destitute frightened by deficits, and began to child ever refused admission." The retrench in one way or another, the directors say that this assurance blessing was withheld, and both has been literally fulfilled. the men and money failed. -Rev. E. "V. Stenson has workt "Whence came the revival? G<'ld's own remedy was resorted forty-seven years in South Africa to-united and definite prayer, not without ever having before this for money, but for men. In 1872 year been home, or even seen came the Day of Intercession, orig- Grahamstown or Capetown. inally proposed by the S. P. G., and especially designed as a day of -Bishop Penick writes in the prayer for laborers. The result Southern Churchman: "Amid all was immediate. In the next few of the deeds of heroism done, none months both the S. P. G. and the perhaps stands more glorious than C. M. S. received more offers of ser- the story of our great hero, vice, than they had received in as , Schereschewsky,' as it was told many years previously. And what by one of the oldest and most of the funds? In the very next honored members of the Missionyear, 1873–4, the C. M. S. income ary Union. He is pictured as unreacht by far the largest amount able to speak plainly from a stroke ever known up to that time. of paralysis, unable to walk save by leaning his hands upon the " Then came a period of enlarged shoulders of his wife; unable to operations in many parts of the write, save with one finger, on a world. The next four years saw typewriter; and yet laboring on the East Africa, Palestine, China, through long years thus afflicted, Japan, and Northwest America this man has given the Bible to the missions greatly developt and ex- Chinese, perhaps in one of the best tended; also some of the agencies translations that has yet appeared in India; and Persia and Uganda be- and is there now supervising its came fields of new missions. But publication. " in 1878-80 there were fresh financial troubles, and men were again kept -Rev. L. C. Barnes recently gave back. In 1881 recovery was re- a most interesting and suggestive sumed, and in the next six or seven address with this as the theme: Napoleon and Carey, a contrast., and in which the Consecrated Cobbler is shown to be verily greater than the Conqueror. -The Euclid Ave. church of record is that of keeping back part Cleveland has undertaken to sup- of the price. The benevolent port its own missionaries. This .schedule, in its mildest sense, is the will require the raising of its pay- damning indictment of Chris- ment" to the American Board from tianity. The immense disparity $231 to $1,500 a year, independent between abilities and activities is a of the ,Voman's Board or the startling sign of the times, and yet Christian Endeavor Society. Ananias is not altogether blamable. He is, for the most part, living up -A writer in the London Mis- to his light. The rank and file of s'ionary Chronicle estimates the our churches have been educated in number of Congregationalists in what may be called the casuistries Great Britain and the colonies at of benevolence. The first duty of 1,000,000. "During the past twenty Christians is to emphasize the fun- years," says he, "these churches damental doctrines of Christianity. have sent into the mission field 317 Benevolence will never result from missionaries. ,Vere the Polyne- sentimental religious awakenings. sians to have acted in the same pro- In general, this is the most reli- portion, they would have sent gious age in the history of the during that period 12 missionaries, Church. Life is more abundant while as a matter of fact, they now than eve)' before. What it have sent 250, or twenty times as needs is arousal. It is time that many." we should raise up a generation of givers, for the world irreligious is – At the last Presbyterian laying the challenge of gifts at the Assembly Dr. Pentecost said that threshold of the Church.-Rev. C. in the division of responsibility W. Hiatt. among denominations 10,000,000 of the population of this country, -If giving were as systematic as and 160,000,000 in heathen lands, getting, the religious ana benevowould fall to the lot of Presbyteri- lent needs of the world would be ans, and added that on the less readily met. The few do not give than 500,000 of Greater New York at all, the many their spare change, who would, according to the pro- and the very few a specified amount. posed ratio, fall into the Presby- When men are putting aside a terian "sphere of influence," the certain proportion of their incomes Presbyterian Church spent last for food, clothing, housing, doctor's year $777,365, or about the sum she bills and other so-called necessities, spent on the 160,000,000 that fall to how many ever pause to think of her in the foreign field. religion as one of the necessities? How many ever give it the dignity – The early disciples furnish of being counted among the essenthree types of Christian steward- tials of life and happiness? And ship-Barnabas, who gave all he yet people who have never had a had; Ananias, who kept back part thought of it in their minds in the of the price; and Judas, who stole time of personal sorrow turn to it, all there was. Here is eulogy for even then without a thought of every saint and philanthropist like their distress, if it were not there Daniel Hand, the Barnabas of our to minister to them in the crisis. time. Here is denunciation for ,Vise business men who provide for every Christian plutocrat who has every other emergency that may smuggled the spirit of Judas into arise in their lives, who consider this Christian age. Here, finally, their children's schooling and estabis apology for Ananias. He stands for all the Christian disciples whose lishment in business and social Forty years ago these people were position, avoid persistently, almost naked savages.-lIfissionary Her- obstinately, the question of religi- ald. ous obligation.- Universalist Leader'. -The Presbyterian Board owns and operates 6 printing presses in -The Chur'eh Econom~ist has re- the foreign field. The press at ceived a letter from a suburban Shanghai, which stands in the very pastor to the state superintendent front rank of similar presses of the Congregational Horne Mis- throughout the world, printed last sionary Society in Illinois, which year 50,550,953 pages, while that at contains the following interesting Beirut printed 19,611,303. The itelll of "church work:" " An former has 700 volumes in the ver- ffort was made to raise money for nacular on its catalog, while the the horne missionary cause and one latter has about 500 volumes. The of his parishioners started in to total of pages printed last year by raise his tithe in the lines of poultry the (j presses was 77,041,938. economics. He promist a week beforehand that all the eggs his – The bicycle is destined to hens laid during the week he render important service in mis- would give to horne missions. The sionary work. In Great Britain it letter states that this man was is regarded as part of the mis- getting three eggs a day up to that sionary's outfit. According to the time, and that 'the daily average Belfast Witness, "four-fifths of the for that week was twelve;' and he departing missionaries take a says, 'the best of it is that the hens machine with them when they go do not know that the week is up, abroad." and they are still following the high standard.' " -These figures well illustrate in what numbers the heathen are -The church of Kusaie, one of transferring themselves to Chris- the Micronesian islands, has less tian lands, or within easy reach of than 100 members under the care the Gospel. In California and other of a native pastor. At one of the States are found some 100,000 missionary meetings in the girls' Chinese, .in Singapore 120,000, in .school the topic was India, and a Peru 50,000, in Hawaii 20,000, with few members of the church were 15,000 Japanese; in Natal 53,000 present, and were deeply toueht Hindus, 54,000 in Singapore, 15,000 •by the stories of starvation and in Trinidad, 10,000 in Fiji, etc. suffering among our India mis- .sions. They askt if they might WOMAN'S WORK. take the papers and pictures con- cerning the famine-stricken suffer- -In Moody's Ohicago Bible Intel's, to show them to their friends. stitute 1,038 women have beell Nothing more was heard from them students during the thirteen years until just before the sailing of the of its history. Morning Star for Honolulu, when several appeared at the mission -These are the words of Bishop premises to say they had taken up Newman of the Methodist Church: a collection for India, to be sent " There is nothing in the services of through the American Board. the church that breaks up the They brought $20 in money, and a fountain of my nature and stirs the package of tols (native cloth) which depth of my soul so much as when has since been sold for $20 more, I consecrate these deaconesses to the Master, for I consecrate them to a life of sllffering. There is all there is of it-not their own suffering, but the suffering of others; workers, while 11,000 girls and theirs for the Master in this regard. women are undergoing regular Henceforth you are to go forward instruction. where the sick are to be cared for, where orphans are to be watcht -Mrs. Andrew Murray writes over, where the sinner is to be re- from South Africa of vVellington claimed. You have given yourself Seminary: "'Ve have now nearly a glorious mission; it is a conse- 200 young women and girls living cration to a life of suffering. And in our school homes, besides which to-day you leave the world, its we have lately begun an Industrial pleasures and its honors, and before School for poor girls, which is God and His holy angels and this mainly a work of faith, having no congregation, you consecrate your- support but free gifts beyond a cerselves to this life of suffering. God tain sum given by governmentbe with you!" £12 for each girl and some help toward salaries of the mother and -An urgent invitation has come teacher. We have already 27 girls to Mrs. Mary H. Hunt to visit training as mother's helps, dress- Japan next year to introduce scien- makers, laundry workers, and shop tific~perance instruction into attendants. We hope in time to the public schools of the empire. make the institution self-support- Until lately the minister of edu- ing." cation, upon whom so much depended, was not approachable-was – Certainly no woman in the infactanti-foreign, hut Hon. Hamo, United States has done more for former president of the Imperial the relief and comfort of the sol- University, now holds that office diers than Helen Gould. She is and is most desirous of introducing devoting her entire time to the Western methods and teaching. work of the Woman's National The door is open-they want the Relief Association, of which she is text-books on temperance phys- president, with headquarters at the iology used in this country and 'Vindsor Hotel. Miss Gould left they are waiting for a leader. her beautiful home on the Hudson early in July, shortly after the -The number of American Pres- battle of Santiago, and came into byterian women laboring on the the eity, where during the unpreforeign field is 426, of whom 241 are cedented heat she has been working wives of missionaries, and 185 are night und day, collecting money, single, ~O of the latter being medical buying supplies, distributing them missionaries, and the remainder among the hospitals, fitting out teachers and evangelists. relief ships, and doing other work which one would think ought to be -This is the record of progress done by the government. She has made by the vVomen's Missionary sent 3 shiploads of ice to Santiago Association of the Scottish Free at her own expense and is now hav- Church: At the close of 1887 the ing 2 more loaded with cargoes of staff of its European missionaries 3,000 tons each. She has fitted out numbered 32, 20 in India and 12 in 1 relief ship at her own expense, Africa, and these were assisted by has personally visited and inspect- 187 native Christian women. Since ed all of the hospitals within the then such an adv'Lnce has heenmade limits of Greater New York at that the society has now 65 Euro- which soldiers or sailors are lying, pean missionaries-U in India and and if they have not been furnisht 2t in Africa. vVith these are asso- with every comfort that money ciated nearly 400 native Christian can buy it is not her fault. She New York, and treasurer in Tosent a check for $100,000 to the ronto. A plateau in Nyassaland president, as will be remembered, at has been chosen as the field, reacht the outbreak of the war, and those by ascending the Zambesi and who are familiar with her work in Shire. To start the work and carry the hospitals believe that her ex- it on for 3 years $12,000 are sought, penditures have not been less than and 2 suitable men as pioneers. $50,000 up to date. – Chicago Record. -The Swedish-American Luther- ans raised $6,297 last year for -::1rs. Addis lately died in India foreign missions, and the United at the age of 90. Vhen 4 years Norwegian church $12,000, the latold she was taken by Mrs. J ndson ter working in Madagascar. to Burma, and remained with the family for ten years. Her hands -Again let Mr. D. O. Mills be embroidered the cover to the Bible set down among missionaries, who which Dr. Judson took to Ava to to his New York Hotel No.1, so present to the king. Her earliest complete in all its appointments, missionary work was, as a child of and so marvelously moderate in its ten, to teach some poor men and charges for rooms and board, has women the Burmese alphabet. For added No. 2 possest of the same 30 years she did excellent ,vork as features. And may his tribe ina missionary's wife at Coimhatore. crease! Since 1870, when her husband died, she has kept a Bible and tract de- -The Rev. H. B. Frissell, principository at Connoor, and a shop pal of Hampton Institute, in a where mission goods from all recent publication says: " The quarters have been sold. In that North and South are working totime she collected for the Madras gether for the negro, for whose Bible Society over 10,000 rupees. education the latter has given, in taxation, since 1870, about $60,000,- AMERICA. 000, and the former in donations, about $25,000,000. About $1,000,000 United States.-Among the start- a year comes from the North, and ling events attending the progress over $3,000,000 yearly from the of the late Spanish-American war Southern States for negro schools." must be set the conference of missionary societies as to a united -Hon. J. S. Sherman, chairman, and cooperative plan of campaign in carrying the Gospel into the of the Indian committee, in a 1 West Indies and the Pacific Isles. All unseemly rivalry and tres- speech at Hampton Institute repass are to be avoided as irrational cently, said: "Thirty-five years and unchristian. Cuba is to be ap- ago there was hardly an Indian in portioned among 7 denominations the United States in school. Towhich wish to enter; Porto Rico day, outside of the five civilized among 3, and the same number are tribes, we have 20,000 Indians in to receive an allotment in the Phil- school, more than 5, 000 in industrial ippines. Behold how good and schools like Hampton and Carlisle, pleasant, etc. and 20,000 heads of families living in houses." A new building now -A new "Self-supporting and being erected at Hampton for the Self-propagating Industrial Mis- teaching of domestic science will sion" for Africa has been lancht, give Indian and colored girls better with a secretary in Newburgh, opportunities for learning trades and all branches of housekeeping than they can find elsewhere in the country. Already among her 500 15 to 20 million dollars have been Indian students who have returned collected. " to their tribes, Hampton can point to many home-makers who are cen- -The women of Antofagasta, ters of light and civilization in their Chili, have banded together and little communities. formed a society, the object of which is "to raise woman to the -Alaska has 10 Presbyterian position she deserves, and which mission stations, 8 Greek Catholic, God gave her at the creation." 5 Roman Catholic, 4 Moravian, 4 Among the rules are these: All con- Episcopal, 3 Swedish Evangelical, versations or discussions on poli- 2 Methodist, 1 Baptist, 1 Congrega- tics, religion, or lineage, are strictly tional, and 1 Quaker; upward of 40 forbidden in the society's halls; in all. also the members when attending the meetings must be scrupulously South America.-During the last clean and wear dresses of "elegant 3 years the American Bible Society simplicity," avoiding any extravahas expended $229,543 in Latin gant display, and quite in keeping America, and of this amount $144- with the age and rank of the 038 went to South America. Dur- wearer. ing that time 302,437 volumes of the Scriptures were circulated in the EUROPE. same countries, of which 196,682 volumes went to South America. Great Britain. In the August Last year the society sent colpor- Mission Field (S. P. G.) the mind teurs to Ecuador, and in 5 months of Rev. R. H. Walker is in "perone man sold in Guayaquil 2,000 plexity" as he notes how the Stuvolumes, of which 600 were com- dent Volunteers, and the Dissenters plete Bibles. Every copy was sold, generally are full of zeal in pushing the proceeds amounting to $1,068. the Kingdom, and he queries as follows: Is Christ divided, we -Sixty years ago the civil author- might ask with St. Paul? Is it the ities of Ecuador banisht the agent will of our Head and Chief Captain of the American Bible Society at that Baptist, Presbyterian, Westhe request of the Bishop of Quito. 1eyan' and other forms of Chris- Eleven years ago a cargo of Bibles tianity should be reproduced in was refused entrance into the coun- Asia and Africa? Is the strife try through the same influence. among Christians and the conflict Now, however, since the recent between the Anglican and Roman revolution, which has brought re- churches to reappear among conligious liberty, the American Bible verts of other races? Even in In- Society has again been able to en- dia, where, perhaps, as it is under ter, and without let or hindrance English rule, we are quietly believcirculates the Word of God, and ing that the Church of England even the president has bought a must be well to the front, we are of- Bible. cially told by the Bishop of New- castle that 12 American non-Epis- -In a recent issue of El Callao, a copal societies are gaining upon the leading paper in Peru, attention is Church of England. In 1881 the 12 called to a friar who is going about American societies had 119 missionthe suburbs of Linares advertising aries, 86,145 converts, 32,797 comhimself as a "redentor de aImas " municants; the Church of England -redeemer of souls-at 50 pesos a had 144 missionaries, 180,681 conhead. "He has redeemed so many verts, 40,990 communicants. In poor souls," says El Callao, "that 1891 these numbers were: for the 12 American societies. 186 mission- preaching in specified districts, aries, 151,430 converts, 61,544 com- without marrying or settling down municants; for Church of England, until after his period of service. 203 missionaries, 193,603 converts, Two evangelists and two Chinese 52,377 communicants. The gain is helpers will usually journey to- very evident, and it means that the gether, preaching and selling vague form of Christianity which Scriptures and Gospel tracts, and they represent is being more ar- returning after a time to the cen- dently propagated than that which tral station, where the missionaries we believe to be the better way. will pursue their Chinese studies, and the native workers will receive -The variety and extent of the systematic Bible teaching. Mildmay Missions is something surprising. These are but a frac- -Since Dr. Barnardo's Homes tion of the names which represent were establisht in 1866, 33,368 boys the work': Deaconess House, Train- and girls, from babyhood to an ing House, Nursing House, Memo- average adult age, had been rescued. rial Home, Memorial Cottage Hos- There are now 86 separate Homes pital, Convalescent House, Or- connected with the institutions, phanage for Girls, Bible Flower and 24 mi!;sion branches, spread all Mission, Victoria Park Medical over the United Kingdom, the Mission; 14 London missions in Channel Islands, and far away in all and 7 country missions, be- Canada. Up to date 9,556 boy and sides 3 medical missions abroad, in girl emigrants have been sent to Malta, Jamaica, and Palestine. Canada and the colonies, of whom over 98 per cent. have succeeded in -The Salvation Army celebrated the struggle for independence. its 33d anniversary recently. Gen- eral Booth reported that in the -The Friends' Mission in India spring of the present year the or- has now 850 orphans under its care, ganization possest 15,019 officers of whom the greater proportion are attacht to 6,231 corps and outposts. famine waifs. £4 per annum will There were also 33,662 local officers support one of these little ones a,nd voluntary officials, 14,500 until they can earn their own liv- bandsmen B,nd 1,6407 officers en- ing, and funds are urgently needed gaged in social work. This social for this object. At Seoni Malwa work shows 86 women's homes 37 of the older boys recently made with accommodation for 1,7540 and their public confession of faith in 1,227 inmates; the total number Christ. admitted during the 12 months was 4,769. There are 15 prison- -The Missionary Record of the gate homes, 15 farms, 108 slum- Scottish United Presbyterian posts, 28 food depots, 101 night Church for August gives these fig- shelters, with accommodation for ures, relating to missions in Man- 11,307; 38 workshops, 14 children's churia, which include the work of homes, and 24 other social institu- the Irish Presbyterians, as showing tions. the" enorInous advance: "
-J. Hudson Taylor is arranging Pastor ________________M__ay 1897, May 1898. , for a forward movement in China, 1 1 in the form of a special itinerant Ehlers__________ _______ 17 27 evangelistic band, composed of con- secrated young men, who are will- Deacons_________________ 171 294 ing for Christ's sake to devote 5 Chapels___________ ______ _ 104 181 years of their lives to itinerant members 'adult' _________ 5788 10,255 Candidates ______________ 6,300 9,442 Schools________ ______ ____ 59 64 Sch?lars-Jl~fs~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~ Collections____________ TH, 15.667 Ts. 52,645 £261 £877 About Is. 8d, (40 cents) per member. The Continent.-Early in July were: ·one girl 11 years old; two, there was celebrated at Halle, in 12; four, 13; eleven, 14; twenty- Germany, the bicentenary of the eight, 15; thirty-six, 16 years old. founding of the famous Francke The cost of this work was but 177,- Orphanage, founded by Auguste 000 marks ($44,250). Hermann Francke, a man who has probably exercised as strong an in- -The 16 German missionary fluence upon the religious life and societies (of which the Moravian, activities of the past two centuries Basle, Berlin, Rhenish and Heras almost any other man. Coming mannsburg are the 5 largest) have under the influence of Spener, the work at 471 stations and outstations, Pietist, he was more efficient, and with 751 European missionaries, his practical power was even 121 ordained natives; about 110,000 greater. He was noted as a philan- communicants, 70,000 in the schools, thropist and as an educationalist. and an income of nearly $1,000,000. His orphanage was the nucleus of a remarkable group of educational – The Naples Society for the Proinstitutions, and at the time of his tection of Animals has done good death, in 1727, there were over 2,000 work during the past year, as the children in his various schools. following statistics will show:- In addition to this Francke was in Carts, to which more animals were a great degree the founder of mod- attacht, 41,330; of which the load ern missions. It was to him that was diminisht, 13,117. –Confis- Zinzendorf largely owed the im- cated: Sticks, 35,374; stakes, used pulse that started the Moravian for beating, 4,936; spikes on curbmissions, and it was an intimate chains, 1,162. Convictions: W orkfriend of his who inaugurated the ing in an unfit state, 2,848; beating, Danish Tamil mission. It was after 1,595; over-loading, 768. Of the his death that "Vesley visited Ger- drivers convicted for beating during many, but the influence of the the last two years, 13 had knockt Halle school upon him wa,.; most out their animals' eyes, and 4 had markt.-Independent. beaten their horses until they fell dead in the street.-London Chris- -The last annual report of the Berlin City Mission states that 47 Nan. missionaries, 10 young ministers, and 10 deaconesses were at work ASIA. during 1897. Regular services are held in 13 large halls distributed lslam.-The agency of the Amerover the city. A little pamphlet ican Bible Society for the Levant containing a sernlOn, a hymn, and comprises three countries, Bulgatwo prayers are distributed by vol- ria, Turkey, and Egypt. Its genunteers, every Sunday to about eral depots are at Constantinople, 70,000 people, who are unable to Beirut, and Alexandria. The toattend church. Several religious tal issues through these depots last Sunday papers have been issued in year were 79,20± Bibles, Testalarge editions. A special branch ments, and parts of the Bible. of the work is the care for releast The total issues for the last 40 prisoners and to lend a helping years amount to 1,600,983 copies. hand to prostitu tes, 855 of the latter The total distribution during the having been under the care of the last year in Bulgaria, Turk'lY, and deaconesses, of which number 152 Egypt has been 59,258 Bibles, Teshave been saved. Among the latter taments, and parts of the Bible. The agency has employed 15 men who have been engaged exclusively in this work, and 23 men who have combined other business with this. It has assisted correspondents to poor lunatic is chained, his feet employ 49 men, who have com- fastened in the stocks, is constantly bined with Bible distribution other beaten and half-starved, with the work conducted with the missions. idea that if badly treated, the devil will the sooner leave him. And -The Hon. Oscar Straus, who then, as a last resource, when the goes again as United States Minis- friends have grown tired of even ter to Constantinople, is said to have this unkind care of their relatives, learned to read in a Baptist Sun- the lunatic is given freedom in the day school in Georgia. Altho a desert. His hands are tied behind Hebrew, we may be sure he will his back, and he is led out into the warmly befriend Protestant mis- desert, and is never heard of again. sions in the sultan's dominions. There are no homes for the hlind and crippled, and none for the in- -From the Missionary He1'ald curable, in this land. " we learn that one of the theological students at Marsovan, Turkey, India.-It is impossible to repress recently went as a guest to the home a smile on reading a complaint sent of a Greek priest, to which he was by some Hindus to the officials at invited by the son of this priest, Bombay concerning the desecrathis son being connected with Ana- tio!} of their temple, and the lacertolia college. After a time the ation of their feelings because of student was invited to preach in this fact. It seems that a woman the Greek Orthodox church, and he doctor had entered the temple in began to labor with the people day search of cases of plague. That by day. Tho there were not more the religious sensibilities of this than 1 or 2 Protestants in the people are very acute, will be seen place, the student made such head- from the following quotation from way that he was invited to return their petition, which says: "The and labor in the village during the lady did not comply with our relong summer vacation. The inci- quest, and against our most serious dent illustrates the breaking down remonstrances entered into the of the wall of separation between temple and desecrated the same, those who bear the Christian name and rendered it unfit for worship in the Orient. and for other religious purposes for which the same was establisht. -A letter from Tabriz, Persia, By the aforesaid unlawful conduct where a hospital room in memory of the said lady, your petitioners of the late Theodore Child has been and their coreligionists have sufequipped by his friends, says that fered considerable mental affliceverything, down to the screws and tion, and their religious sensibility the tools used to put the hospital has been rudely and unnecessarily appliances into place, has to be disturbed. Your petitioners furtaken from England and America, ther state that the efflcacy of the as such objects are unknown in said temple as a place of worship Persia. and religion having been destroyed by the desecration aforesaid, it will -An English missionary in Per- cost a considerable sum of money sia, in speaking of mercy and love to celebrate the ceremonies and as the fruits of Christianity, perform the religious rites necesdescribes the state of affairs in Per- sary to purge the said temple from sia, where there are no hospitals, its desecration aforesaid, and to no dispensaries, and no lunatic make it available again as a place asylums. The treatment of insane people is thus described: "The of worship and religion, altho not the West speak of markets, of in its pristine state."-jfissionary territory, of "the open door," of Herald. forts and ports, of districts of in- fluence; but the living men and – The missionaries at Panhala women, some four hundred millions had been diligent in evangelistic of them, are treated as a negligible itineration. In one village no cart quantity. This selfish, materialiscould be obtained for the baggage tic way of dealing with countries of the evangelistic party. On being is too common among statesmen in askt why they had no carts, the all ages; but a change will come people replied: " We worship the in the case of China, for its people goddess of carts, and she would be are too numerous, too powerful, angry if we kept any." "What do too intelligent, to be dealt with as you do when you yourselves need slaves. The West will have to a cart?" "Oh, we hire one from reckon with them as men sooner or another village." later. The presence and diffusion of the Gospel in the land is in itself -The King of Nepal, the moun- a guarantee that the human eletainous independent state north ment will in time be considered from Bengal, lost his queen. She more precious than commerce; and had been terribly pitted by small- commerce will not be thereby inpox, and committed suicide in dis- jured, but improved.-John Thomgust' at her loss of beauty. The son. king, in his anger at her death, first revenged himself on the doc- -According to Bishop Graves: tors-flogged them and cut off their " The greatest lack of the Chinese right ears and their noses. Next is in the region of the moral and he rounded on the gods. He set spiritual. Without religion as the loaded cannon in front of the im- living exercise of a spiritual conages, and ordered the gunners to viction, they are grossly materialfire. The men, in terror of the istic. Their society, their art, their gods, refused to obey. Some of books, are alike in this, that they them were killed by order of the are fast bound by the things of irate monarch, and then the can- sense. Through the thick cloud non were discharged. Down fell which hides the spiritualfrom their the gods, the whole pantheon being eyes hardly a gleam of the beautidestroyed. ful, the eternal, seems to find its way. Nothing is more saddening –The Tibetan Mission Band, than the lowness of tone that perunder the lead of C. Polhill-Turner, vades all Chinese writing, and is now occupies 2 important stations universal in Chinese social life. on the confines of the great closed The two words that most conland, viz., Songpan and Dachienloo, stantly strike the ear are •cash' and is on the point of opening a and 'rice.' It is a type of the third station at Batang, a town of tone of thought of the people. considerable size and importance High or low, rich or poor, learned on the road to Llassa, and just on or ignorant, they live for the things the frontier; whilst, as soon as re- of this. world only. One will live enforcements can be obtained, a long in China before he meets men fourth station at Atentze, south of who are thinking high and pure Batang, might also be opened. thoughts or living for the good of others. One finds in the best China. It is painful to observe Chinese writer.s plenty of wit and how the Chinese people are ignored in the political changes now affecting their country. The rulers of wisdom, of clever things set down matics and kindred sciences. A in perfect literary form; but he few days ago, 6 B. A.'s called to in- will not find the great thoughts quire if we could secure for them a that move the world, the high teacher qualified to instruct them aspiration and beauty and sincerity in these new subjects." of the writers who have been formed under Christian civiliza- AFRICA. tion." -Rev. Mr. 'Vilson Hill writes in -The English Wesleyans OfWll- the Church Missionary Gleane1': chang report that "the most "The chief of one of the biggest astonishing increase has taken towns (on the Upper Niger) has place in the region through which begged us to go and teach them. the river Han flows. At Tsaiten He has twice sent a messenger the and Kao-chia-tai the work has been long journey, but we could only carried on by native colporteurs, give the one answer that we have supported by a grant from the to give to all invitations, to all en- Upper Canada Religious Tract So- treaties, 'We have no one to send, ciety. Six miles above the latter and can not corne ourselves.' , Just village a work has sprung up in a one!' I do not know the number town notorious in time past for its of the invitations we have had utter indifference to the miRsion- from Basa towns to send one aries who from time to time visited teacher, 'just one!' They say it so it. There are now 3 centers where persuasively. But the work we weekly services are held, where have already in hand is more than twelve months ago there were no enough to engage all our care and signs of a movement toward Chris- attention. " tianity. Instead of a weakling church of a dozen Inembers, con- -There are 11 missionaries con- tributing practically nothing to nected with the Southern Presbyte- the church expenses, we have now rian nlission, 7 men and 4 women. 60 or 70 baptized members. There During the year 4 communicants are as many on trial, and the local were added to the church at Ibanj, expenses are very largely met by 47 at Luebo, and 12 at Dombi, mak- local contributions." ing 63 in all. This gives a total of 169 members. -" The missionaries at Chang-te- fn have been kept very busy for -The statistics of the South some weeks," writes one of the African Conference show the re- Honan staff, "with the number of markable progress made by the visitors, chiefly students writing in Methodist Church of South .Africa. examination in_the city, so that in The English membership is 5,882; three days over 600 called. But on trial, 388; in junior classes, 700; a market in the north suburb in- total, 7,066. Native membership, creast the pressnre, so that in one 46,024; on trial, 22,156; in junior day there were over 1,800, besides classes, 10,948; total, 79,128. The women and children. Books were total membership is 86,194, being a freely distributed among the stu- net increase on the year of 6,182. dents. At the recent prefectural Eight years ago the total member- examinations, the literary chancel- ship was 43,510; that is, the mem- . lor astonisht the candidates by say- bership has practically doubled ing that at the next provincial ex- since 1890. amination they would be required to have some knowledge of mathe- -There is a remarkable increase of population in British Central Africa, since the protectorate was establisht. Formerly the country -That the work done at Uganda was desolated by constant inter- is genuine is prpved by the fact tribal wars. The stronger peoples that when Bi/lnop Tucker recently raided the weaker, killing thou- visited a populous district some sands every year, and carrying 200 miles from. Ug/Lnda, where no thousands more into slavery; The English missionary ever had pene- poison ordeal was frightfully com- trated, he found the king already mon. On the slightest charge of baptized and with °a Christian witchcraft sometimes an entire church at his capital. Native village was compelled to drink the evangelists had visited the tribe poison, with the r!)sult that the and made Inany converts. majority died. A missionary has described how he has seen rows of -Along the banks of the Zam- corpses lying outside a village, besi and Lower Shire, there is a killed by the poison, and left there large and rapidly increasing poputo be devoured by the hyenas. But lation, left almost entirely to the all this is now changed. The ad- missionary effort of the J esuits. ministration have subdued and These French fathers put Protesremoved most of the turbulent tant missionaries to shame by the chiefs. They have forbidden the heroism of their work. They have poison ordeal under the heaviest gone into the country for life, with penalties, and now almost through- no expectation of returning home out the protectorate there is a again. They have chosen some of sense of security. Villagers, who the most unhealthy and dangerous had taken refuge in marshes, and localities for their parishes, ignorinaccessible ravines, are returning ing death if there are souls to seek. to the open country, and on the They have now a mission station very war paths of their old enemies at Shupanga. are building villages, and hoeing gardens. The introduction of ISLANDS OF THE SEA. liquor is forbidden, so that British Central Africa is saved from the -Some painful charges are being greatest curse of South Africa. brought against the conduct of the -Donald Fraser. Dutch Government in Java. It is said that a dread is felt of the – Several years ago an Arab emancipation of the Javanese, of slave ship was captured north of whom there are over 20,000,000, and Zanzibar, as it was seeking to trans- that, in co'nsequence, their evangelport some slaves from the Galla ization is discouraged. One can country, including a large number hardly believe it to be true, but this of children, to the Asiatic coast, was stated lately at a missionary and 64 of these freed children were conference held in the island, that sent to Lovedale to be under Chris- "all native officials must be Motian training, in the hope that some hammedans," and that "if one of of them might ultimately return to them becomes a Christian, he is at their native country bearing the once removed from his post." Chrismessage of the Gospel. It is now tian missionaries, it was added, reported that of the 64 who went are prohibited from working in to Lovedale, 12 have completed Netherlands India without the govtheir course of study, of whom 10 ernment's permission, but "no have been trained as eachers or ar- restriction whatever is placed on tisans. Many of j-hem have made the movements of Mohammedan profession of their faith in Christ. propagandists. "
-The Rhenish Missionary Society has lost one of its pioneer missionaries in Sumatra, P. H. Johannsen. !-<ion station, to be introduced to a An extract from one of his letters girl who had been taken possession describes the extraordinary change of by the police at a cannibal feast which has taken place in the Suma- with a human bone in her hand, tran mission-field in his lifetime. which she was picking with enjoy- This change is largely owing to his ment." own labors. For 20 years he gave the greater part of his time and -Rev. G. V. Lawes, in speaking work to the training-college for of advancement in New Guinea, native teachers, and the healthy says: "After 22 years, although growth of the Sumatran mission is much still remains of heathenism, largely due to the cooperation of a great and manifest change is apthe 160 Batta teachers and the 20 parent. From East Cape to the Fly ordained pastors whom he had River in the west, covering a distrained. tance of 700 miles, are many centers from which light is being diffused, -The American Bible Society while 90 churches are dotted like has taken an advanced step in lighthouses along the coast. The respect to Bible distribution in the appearance of the people has Philippine Islands. In view of the changed-the wild look of suspicion prospect that these islands may has gone. The Sabbath is observed soon be opened for new forms of even in many heathen villages, Christian work, the secretaries while 1,350 men and women are prowere authorized to request the Rev. fest followers of Christ." John R. Hykes, the society's agent for China, to visit Manila, to in- , -The friends of temperance will q,iire into existing facts and condi- rejoice to know that a complete and tions, as a help to prompt and vig- successful system of prohibition orous action in case there should be obtains in Fiji. The rum manufacfit opportunities for circulating the tured at the sugar factories has to Scriptures. To meet the expenses be sent elsewhere, as anyone giving incident to his journey and to pre- intoxicating liquor to a native is liminary work, an appropriation of fined £50 and imprisoned 3 months. $1,000 was made. It was also de- This penalty is doubled for each recided to inaugurate Bible work in peated offense while in the colonies. Porto Rico at the earliest moment, and to resume the operations in -The New Hebrides may not be- Cuba which were suspended two come a university center, but most years ago. of the world's universities had a smaller beginning than has the -The Australian Methodist Mis- New Hebrides Training Institution sionary Society is supporting a for native workers, teachers, mission in New Guinea with 4 male preachers, etc., of which Rev. Dr. missionaries, 4 female missionaries, Annand has charge on Tangoa. It 24 teachers, 35 school-teachers, 30 is quite a family institution, as local preachers, 28 class leaders, 193 many of the students are married, native members, 165 probationers, and their wives are with them. 1,414 Sunday-school scholars, and These also are taught by Mrs. An- 9,318 attendants on worship. nand and Mrs. Lang, and together with their husbands learn some of -Mr. Wardlaw Thompson says: the ways of civilization. Writing "It is still the stone age in New in January, Dr. Annand says: Guinea. Cannibalism here is hardly "The number of students in attenddead yet. It was rather a shock to ance is 65, wives 21, children 10, us, on our first visit to the first mis- equal to a family of 00."
The Missionary Review of the World — July 1896
MARTYN MEMORIAL HALL, CAltIBRIDGE. BISHOP HANNINGTON JlIEJllORIAL HALl., OXFORD (before remodeling
IJENRY MARTYN MEMORIAL HALL (interior). HENRY MAR'l'YN MEMORIAL HALL (interior). MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIX. No. 7.-0ld &ries.-JULY.-VOL. IX. No. 7.-NeuJ &riu.
THE MISSIONARY BAND AT CAMBRIDGE AND OXFORD.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
To have the great centers of thought and learning pervaded by the spirit of missions is a matter of world-wide. s.ignificance. Nothing, in the tour which I am now undertaking among the cities and towns of Great Britain, has awakened an interest so profound and a gratitude so great as the intercourse enjoyed with the godly and consecrated students of these two conspicuous universities.
The number of such young men in these great centers of university training is not large, but in such things numbers alone do not represent influence or measure power. We must weigh, not count, when we estimate spiritual force. And the very fact that the atmosphere of these seats of learning is rather intellectual than spiritual, perhaps even skeptical rather than scriptUl~al, only compels more separation unto God on the part of those who will live godly in Christ Jesus. Accordingly, those who serve God at all serve Him with a peculiar and devoted spirit in the midst of these surroundings. The Student Volunteer Movement finds its nucleus largely in these two great commanding universities j and the splendid bands of men who have the field of the world in their thought and prayer should have the sympathy and support of all praying disciples.
At Cambridge, the" Henry Martyn Memorial Hall" is a singular incentive and inspiration to missionary enthusiasm and heroism. It has been built now for about nine years, having been erected in 1887, by the gifts of friends of missions under the lead of Mr. Prior. It is erected on a site immediately adjoining the church of Rev. Charles Simeon, a very fit place for a hall in memory of Simeon's beloved friend Martyn. The memorial structure is not large-perhaps forty to fifty feet by twenty or twenty-five-and its principal features are a hall for general meetings, with a small anteroom used as a janitor's room and library. The outside is plain and modest, and would call no attention architecturally or otherwise j but the interior is a model of good taste and adaptation to its purpose.
As you enter the principal hall you find at the left hand of the doorway
THE MISSIONARY :BAND AT CAMBRIDGE AND OXll'ORD
a large antique open fireplace, with quaint fixtures of wrought iron. Opposite, at the extreme end, a platform with chairs, table, and parlor organ ; and midway a secretary's desk or table, chairs being arranged on each side of the aisle. The windows are small and high, leaving the side walls for a high wainscoting of wood surmounted by small panels filled with white painted scrolls bearing the names of men who have gone forth to mission fields, followed by the names of their particular colleges and the date of their departure for the field, and, if deceased, the date also of their departure from the field for a higher service above.
No student can come into this hall for a daily prayer service or an occasional missionary meeting without thus being compassed about with a great cloud of witness bearers, whose constant and pathetic pleading for more laborers to enter the wide harvest field he cannot but hear. Such a hall is the most effective and eloquent missionary advocate one can ever hear, and it is bound to make new missionaries so long as it stands.
I have taken pains to copy the tablets, partly for the sake of making this description more vivid, and partly for the sake of permanently identi- fying these missionary heroes with the university whence they went forth.
The inscriptions are given below in their exact order, beginning at the right hand of the platform end of the hall, and proceeding toward the right until we come back to the point of starting. First of all we meet an inscription : .. Ye have entered: into his labors.
And underneath : Henry Martyn. St. John's. North India. 180.5-12. James Hough. Corpus. South India. 1816-26.
Around the top of the wainscoting on the right-hand side runs the in- scription: " The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few."
Wm. Jowett. St. John's. Richard Taylor. Queens. Mediterranean. 1815-30.. New Zealand. 1837-74. Fred. W!brow. St. John's. John Chapman. St. John's. North India. 1837-42. South India. 1840-53. "Thos. Ragland. Corpus. Bp. Parker. Trinity. South India. 1845-58. Nyanza. 1878-$. David Fenn. Trinity. South India. 1852-78. Bobt. Noble. Sidney. Bl'. Paley. St. Peter's. Masalipatam. 1841-65. West Africa. 1861-64. Rich. Lamb. Trinity. Frank Nevill. Trinity. North India. 1846-57. West Africa. 1884-90.. Bp. Mackenzie. Caius. J. W. Hill. Corpus.
Zambesi. 1860–64. East Africa. 1890.. Arthur Harrison. Trinity. Bp. Mountam. Trinity.
West Africa. 1861-64. Quebec. 1836-63. J. D. Cotter. Trinity. Bp. Roylston. Trinity. East Africa. 1890- Bp. Perry. Trinity. Mauritius. 1855-90.. Melbourne. 1847-76. Bp. Speechly. St. John's. Bp. Dealtry. Cath. Travancore. 1860-89. Madras. 1849-81. 'Sp. G. E. Moule. Corpus.
Mid·China. 1857- Beneath the chimney and over the fireplace : " Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature."
Bp. Jell. Trinity & Christ's. Bp. Machray. Sidney. Madras. 1862- Rupert's Land. 1865- Bp. Bickersteth. Pembroke. Bp. Titcomb. Peterbo. Rangoon. 1877-87. Japan. 1879- .. Allauthprity hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth."
Bp. Cotton. Trinity. Hen. Whitley. Queen's. Calcutta. 185S-67. Ceylon. 1854-60. Matt. Fearnley. St. John's. Rich. Creaves. Corpus. China. 1855-60. North India. 1856-70. Hen. Shackell. Pembroke. Bp. Selwyn. S. John's. New Zealand. 1841-68. North India. 1857-78.
" Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations."
Roger Clark. Trinity. Robt. Bally. Emman. Punjab. 1859-62. Punjab. 1860- Basil Taylor. Queen's. Chas. Vines. Trinity. New Zealand. 1860-77. North India. 1862-79. Bp. Broughton. Pembroke. Geo. Gordon. Trinity.
Australia. 1836-04. India. 1866-80. Geo. Shirt. Unatt. Edwd. Griffith. St. John's.
Slnsh. 1866-86. Ceylon. 1867-90. Rich. Trench. Trinity. Bp. Middleton. Pembroke.
North India. 1868- Calcutta. 1814-22. Thos. Brotherton. Corpus. Arch. Hubbard. Caius.
Tinnevelly. 1848-69. Delhi. 1854-57. Herb. Blackett. St. John's.
Delhi. 1878-88.
Over the platform, to which we have now again come round, on the left: " One soweth, another reapeth." Beneath: David Brown. Magdalene. North India. 1786-1812.
Daniel Corrie. Bp. Clare & Trinity Ball. North India. 1806-23. Madras. 1834-87.
Over the center of platform : Claudius Buchanan. Queen's. North India. 1796-1808.
Thomas Thomason. Magd. & Queen's. North India. 1808-29.
Beside these individual tablets, curiously numbering an even fifty, there are portraits j flags representing respectively Japan aod China, Palestine and Persia and Armenia, Northwest Asia and Africa, New Zealand, India and Ceylon j and fresco devices with symbols for St. John, St. Philip, St. Bartholomew, St. Paul, and the other apostles j also a large colored chart showing the missionary statistics of the world, a picture of the Cambridge Nicholson Institution, Cottayam, Travancore, South India, etc.
In a word, this hall has been designed and admirably adapted to feed and foster an intelligent and devoted type of missionary heroism. Money was perhaps never better spent than in its erection and furnishing. Nothing is extravagant and unduly elaborate or expensive. No impression is made of any attempt at display, but the whole outlay is marked by sancti- fied common sense and ultimate reference to the glory of God.
Oxford students are moving in a similar direction, and are to have a "Bishop Hannington Memorial Hall." The site is purchased, and, in fact, the building-one already on the site, and which needs only re- modeling within, as the walls are strong and well adapted for the shell of the building. Partitions are to be pull~d down, a good staircase built, and a large hall, which will be some sixty feet by forty, will be surrounded by library and other rooms, with dormitories for a few students above. The hitch just now is in the lack of funds. The students have made a very noble effort to secure what is needful; but, after most economical out- lay, about £2500 more ($12,500) will be needed to complete the interior for use j and if those who have the means could foresee what un- told blessing such a hall will be in Oxford, as a rallying point for all the devoted Christian young men of the university and a radiating point as well for all holy effort, a week would not pass by before all the money would be freely contributed by willing givers.
A concise statement of events and progress in the securing of present site and building fund is appended for the sake of completeness.
In 1890-94 but little headway was made, owing to difficulty in obtaining freehold site. In 1894 prayer was offered specifically that the hall site might be provided within that year; and in the autumn a site fell vacant, and in the spring the purchase deed was signed and the money (£2500) guaranteed within six months and paid in the following summer.
It is interesting to note the progress of the funds: January, 1890, to May, 1895, £1000 j in June, 1895, £2000 j in November, 1895, £3000 j in January, 1896, £3500. Thus the students have, besides the money appropriated for purchase of site and present building, over £1000 for reconstruction and alteration. But £2500 are still needful, and the work seems just now at a standstill.
Nothing extravagant or lavish is contemplated. The hall is convenient to most of the colleges, and will need little transformation save within. The main assembly room will run the whole length, and on the ground floor will be a smaller hall, library, and care-taker's rooms.
The large hall is to be used for weekly missionary meetings and all evangelistic services for university men, as well as for Mr. Chavasse's weekly Greek Testament classes, at which the attendance is already too large for the present room where it is held, and constantly increasing. A 'missionary library is very much needed for university men, hoping to go to foreign fields, and especially as a center for the S. V. M. U., and to provide information for missionary bands, etc. Donations of books would be most grateful if sent to the Missionary Union, care of R. H. Matthew, Esq., Wadham, Oxford, England. Would not authors and publishers who read these lines gladly send copies of books to such library, where the influence of them will be boundless ~ The editor has only to add that any parties disposed to send money or books to aid in this grand enterprise may, if so disposed, call on him for any aid in carrying out their kind intentions. We cannot sufficiently em- phasize the importance of this work, which has so impressed us that photographs have been made specially to accompany this editorial article.
We add a list of Oxford men already in the mission field, * and who are working under the Church Missionary Society, as taken from the C.
M. S. Report of 1893-94 : West Africa: Rev. H. n. Dobinson, M.A., sailed 1890; T. E. Alva- rez, B. A., sailed 1893; Rev. W. E. Godson, B. A., sailed 1894; Rev. G. R. Elwin, accepted for 1896.
East Africa: Right Rev. A. R. Tucker, D.D., sailed 1890; Rev. W. E. Taylor, M.A., sailed 1890; Rev. N. R. Sugden, B.A., sailed 1893.
Palestine: Rev. C. T. Wilson, M.A., sailed for Nyanza, 1876 ; Palestine, 1883 j Rev. J. H. Sedgwick, M.A., sailed for China, 1874 ; Palestine, 1893; Rev. D. M. Wilson, M.A., sailed 1894; Rev. J. G. B. Hollins, M.A., sailed 1894.
India: Rev. W. Hooper, D.D., sailed 1861 ; Rev. G. E. A. Pargiter, M.A., sailed 1863 ; Rev. R. Bateman, M.A., sailed 1868; Rev. W. A. Roberts, M.A., sailed 1869 j Rev. F. A. P. Shire:l, M.A., sailed 1873 j Rev. G. B. Durant, M.A., sailed 1876 ; Right Rev. E. N. Hodges, D.D., sailedforlndia, 1877; Ceylon, 1886 ; Travancore, 1890; Right Rev. J. A. Hariss, M.A., sailed 1886 ; Right Rev. H. G. Grey, M.A., sailed 1887 ; Right Rev. T. R. Waltenberg, M.A., sailed 1889 j Rev. H. F. Wright, M.A. (deceased), sailed 1890 j Rev. A. J. F. Adams, M.A., sailed 1890 j Rev. W. C. Penn, M.A., sailed 1892; Rev. W. A. C. Fremantle, M.A. (deceased), sailed 1893; Rev. W. H. Dixon, M.A., sailed 1893 ; Rev.
n. F. Rowlands, sailed 1896 ; Rev. R. Welchman, sailed 1896.
Japan: Right Rev. R. Evington, M.A., sailed 1894. New Zealand: Right Rev. O. Hadfield, D.D., sailed 1838 j Ven. Archdeacon W. L. Williams, B.A. (Bishop 1895), sailed 1853.
Before closing this paper, the editor ventures to appeal to friends of missions in America to furnish a moderate sum of money to erect in this country, say in New York: City, a building for the use of student volun- teers as a sort of rendezvous. If in New York City or Brooklyn, it would serve as a rallying-point for departing and returning missionary students, and might have, like the Henry Martyn Hall at Cambridge, the names of all who have gone abroad as such volunteers enrolled on its walls and tab- lets. What an inspiration would such a meeting-place be to all missionary service and sacrifice! Let it be called the " Brainerd Memorial Hall," or the" Judson Memorial." We prefer the former, as a tribute to that great leader of all missions, whose life among our Indian tribes was the inspira- tion of Jonathan Edwards, S. J. Mills, Adoniram Judson, William Carey, and a host of others. . Who will take the lead in providing this new nucleus for missions among our devoted young men and women ~ woo • Two or three others have sailed since this report was published. Nor at" th08e have 8ailed under unde1W'l1linationaillOOietie. Mre tnclu<k4.
MISSIONS TO THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA
MISSIONS TO THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA.
BY REV. ALLAN W. WEBB, GEELONG, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.
No country on the face of the globe has become the possession of the Anglo.Saxon race with as little loss of life to the colonist as has the island contin,ent of Australia. Tho upon the first appearance of the paleface the swarthy children of the bush have been roused to antagonism, and the lonely settler, usually a shepherd, has sometimes paid forfeit of his life in fulfilling his avocations, yet in a very little while the aboriginal has become pacific in his attitude and glad, in return for such small recompenses as flour, meat, and tobacco, to help his new master with the flock or his master's wife in the menial duties of the home. In the aggregate the loss of life which has attended the occupancy of the beautiful and fertile parts of Southern and Eastern Australia has been very small.
On the other hand, the early settlers, in their reprisals for cattle speared or shepherds murdered, frequently treated the blacks with ruthless cruelty and injustice. The guilty and the innocent alike fell before the rifle. Whole tribes were swept away, partly slain in revenge and partly by the adoption of the white man's vices ere any work of evangelization could be effectively done.
When at length the work was initiated, their vocabularies were found to be so destitute of words suited to express Divine thoughts that " pigeon English" had to be used in order to instil the simplest facts of a religious kind. It was inconceivable that Christians could see these children of the wilds pass away from the lands which were naturally their own without an endeavor to give them the Gospel j and some of the earliest settlers sought, not without distinct encouragement, to illuminate with the light of truth their gross darkness.
The notions of the aboriginals of Australia about the supernatural are exceedingly crude, and it is affirmed by some that they have no proper object of worship. Universally the spirit of evil is an object of dread, and consequently they are in a state of con~tant fear. The shadows of the night are believed to be haunted by demons who, they say, attack all natives who come in their way. After dark they will not move without a fire stick as a protection against their malignity. They are full of superstition, and believe in witchcraft.
Among the earliest efforts made to systematically evangelize them was a mission in New South Wales, on the shores of Lake Macquarie. The Rev. Mr. Threlkeld was for years their missionary, and was sncceeded by the Rev. William Ridley, M.A., a scholarly man whose philological labors in connection with the aboriginals of New South Wales must be of permanent value to those who wish to study the tongue of an extinct race.
Twenty-five years ago the writer sawall that remained of that earliest effort to systematically reach these children of the wilds in the shape of a number of tenements falling into ruin. The men in whose interests they had been erected were all dead.
At Poonindie, Port Lincoln, South Australia, under Archdeacon Hale an effort was made to work an industrial mission with considerable success. But that too has passed away with the departed race.
At Point Macleay, South Australia, a non-sectarian mission still exists, sustained by the Aborigines' Friends' Association of South Australia. The objects of this association are to teach the natives useful trades, to instruct the native and half-caste children, and to preach Christ's Gospel in its broad and undenominational aspect. This mission has been in existence thirty-seven years, has ten or twelve agents directly engaged in evangelizing the aborigines, and has about a thousand square miles occupied by the natives engaged in pastoral or agricultural pursuits.
The settlement at Point Macleay is a village of some importance, with its church, school, dispensary, and wool-shed. The cottages tenanted by the blacks have been built at the cost of private individuals, and each one bears the name of its donor. A Christian church with a membership of 65 and a thriving Christian Endeavor Society attest the vitality of spiritual things under the management of Mr. Thomas Sutton, the superintendent.
At Lake Condah, in Victoria, the Rev. Mr. Stahle, a Moravian clergyman, carries on very similar work for the Church Missionary Society. At Lake Kalapuk the Rev. Mr. Hagenhaur has devoted his life for many years in directing a like enterprise for the Presbyterian Church of Victoria. In Northern Queensland the Australian Board of Missions (Church of England), under the Rev. E. R. Gribble, conducts a mission at Bellender Ker, among tribes at present less affected by European surroundings than they are nearer the more settled districts of the south. The Moravians have a mission in the far interior.
But little remains to be done now among the remnant of the native race still surviving among the white population. Hence the Church is looking toward those portions of the land where settlement has not begun on which to inaugurate missions. The northern parts of Australia are inhabited by large tribes, described by travelers as being physically superior to those of the southern shore. Among these the Presbyterians have within the last few years instituted a mission having its center on the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria, at a place called Mapoon. The Rev. James Ward, a Moravian minister, was put in charge of this new venture of faith. .A more undesirable position could hardly be assigned to a man. In the midst of physical discomfort, lacking many necessaries of life, amid hostile and uninteresting savages, and with tbe plagues of tropicallife-fiies, fieas, mosquitoes-abounding. Yet bere cbeerfully, heroically this devoted servant of Chris1i labored with his faithful wife beside him till January, 1895, when, stricken with fever, he succumbed after a few days' illness. His helper, Mr. Hey, has told most pathetically the story of the close of his heroic life. Owing to the utter breakdown of the entire missionary band, they had to leave the mission in the temporary charge of Mr. Hodges, while they sought recuperation in the more genial climate of the south. They have now returned, Mrs. Ward insisting that she must continue in her widowho~d the work in which her husband laid down his life.
This interesting mission is now in full working order, and will doubtless grow in power and importance and become the pioneer of other missions on the northern shores of Australia. Here is virgin soil for the seed, uncorrupted with the weeds which the English settlers impart in the shape of the vices of unchastity, intemperance, and blasphemy.
One great difficulty has been and must be experienced by all who attempt work among the aborigines of Australia : it is in keeping these inveterate wanderers under their influence for a period sufficiently long to benefit them.
Their nomadic instincts are apparently ineradicable, for after they have known the comforts and elegancies of civilized life, they will return to the "wirley" (shelter of bark and boughs), the wallaby rug, and the chase. The man who a few weeks ago was strutting about the streets of a town, shaven according to the last fashion, attired in broadcloth, and nicely shod, may be met in the bush with a black pipe in his mouth as the only reminder of the civilization which seemed to have claimed him as its own. It has been the conviction of some that only one effective method could possibly meet the masses of the blacks, and that was to follow them to their native wilds and accompany them in their wanderings. Long years ago the Rel". D. Mackenzie gave expression to this conviction, and urged that " the Church at home should appoint some missionary of apostolic zeal and self-denial, of robust constitution and unconquerable enterprise, to accompany the blacks in their wanderings and accommodate himself to their savage mode of life." It was in pursuance of this plan that the Rev. James Reid, a man of eminent piety and superior attainments, came to Australia. He left a pastoral charge in Scotland to undertake this novel mission. The foundation of his intense piety was laid in McCheyne's Bible Class. He was author of a work of a philosophical cast called" The Sheaf." At his own expense, moved with pity for the perishing tribes of Australia, he landed in South Australia in 1861, and from that time till that of his death, in 1863, he itinerated among the Murray blacks.
He was one of the most simply childlike of men, committing himself to God amid all kinds of danger. His escapes from peril were so extraordinary that they conveyed the impression that he was supernaturally guarded. He was accustomed to sit in the " wirIeys" among the poor . blacks with a Scripture picture-book on his knee, and by the eye as well as by the ear he would seek to convey the saving truths of the Gospel and the incidents recorded in the sacred narratives.
This was an experiment by a man full of heroism, but lacking many qualities which alone could have made the experiment very successful. He lived, however, to see some fruit for his toils, and a heathen wai baptized by him bearing his own pre-nomen (James), who survives to-day after having for thirty years been a preacher of the Gospel to his own people, his name in full being James U nipon. A very pertinent question will sug- gest itself here-viz., What real benefits have resulted from the various efforts, personal and systematized, among this degraded people?
The writer remembers one of the most remarka,ble revivals which com- menced on the Murray River at about the time of Mr. Reid's ministry and James Unipon's conversion. '
There seemed to be no discoverable cause, such as special services, for this awakening, which spread through the camps, influencing chiefly the young. The old heathen fathers were intensely hostile, and threatened to kill any who became Christians. The young men were so stirred that they could not sleep, and were to be heard during the night praying in sup- pressed tones under their blankets.
They were wont to assemble at a godly settler's house for prayer-meet- ings, and his testimony to the poverty of their own vocabulary was this : that when they tried to address the mercy seat in their own tongue, it was so ludicrous as to cause laughter. They had no fitting words, and were obliged to fall back upon" pigeon English" to carryon their meetings.
One remarkable fact connected with this movement was that they saw visions; and it has occurred to the writer that possibly in many cases the unsophisticated heathen may have had Divine facts made patent to them in this way.
James Unipon manifested a change of character which was typical of the work at that time. He was hostler at a bush hotel, and was accus- tomed to spend his earnings in drink. He became rigidly abstemious, and devoted his earnings to secure comforts for his decrepid heathen'father.
His call to his work was narrated by him in the following terms : He was wont to sleep in the bar-parlor on a sofa. He had laid down and was about to fall asleep when he saw the room fill with his heathen companions, and there came a voice to him which said: "Who will go and tell them of Jesus~" His response was: "I will, Lord." He became a pupil of Mr. Reid's, and ultimately a preacher among his people. The latest tid- ings which I have of him are, " James Unipon is still living and a mem- ber of the Church; his son is a deacon of the Church, and plays the organ very well." The convictions of sin at the time of this gracious visitation were very intense ; they could not rest under them; and when at length they found peace in believing, they literally danced for joy.
Many unpaid and private workers have devoted a large amount of time to the evangelization of this race, and among the most successful of them was Mrs. James Smith, of Gambiertown. She has embodied her knowl- edge of the natives of her own district in a small but interesting volume which was published at the expense of the government of South Australia.
The second part of her narrative she devotes to the question of " the capa- bility of the aborigines for evangelizing and civilizing," and she gives sev-
M:APOON
eral interesting memoirs of this people who gave evidence in life and death of a genuine and personal knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Another witness to the reality of the change which grace can work in their hearts is Mr. Matthews, of Meloga. Through his and his wife's labors many have been brought to the knowledge of " the truth as it is in Jesus." Some of these converts can address fluently and acceptably Eng_ lish audiences. If the result of the missionary work is to be gauged by the completeness of its civilizing effects, some would not appraise it at a high rate. The aborigines like, even after adopting English habits, a freer mode of life. They are clothed but loosely; they prefer to go unshod; they do not care to settle at regular labor. The law of heredity operates to produce such results. But that they do' love the Savior and manifest that love by "the fruit of the Spirit" is beyond doubt. The old Gospel operates with its accustomed power when apprehended by the poor despised black fellow of Australia. Once in the thick bush the writer came upon one who had been baptized by James Reid. He was on the wallaby track, and following his tribe ; but when questioned as to his faith in Jesus, his responses were clear, and gave evidence that tho still a wandering black fellow, he was a sheep of Christ's fold.
The race will soon have disappeared. No Tasmanian aboriginal survives, and another century will probably see the entire aboriginal population of Australia as extinct as is the moa of New Zealand. What is tv be done for them must be done quickly.
MAPOON.
BY THE REV. PAUL DE SCHWEINITZ, NAZARETH, PA.
What is Mapoon ~ Mapoon is the native name of one of the newest mission stations of the Moravian Church, or, rather, it is a station of united Presbyterian and Moravian work, as shall be explained in the course of the narrative.
If the reader will open his atlas at the map of Australia, he will find on the northeastern coast of this huge island, or diminutive continent, as you may choose to call it, a deep indentation named the Gulf of Carpentaria. The eastern boundary of this gulf is formed by the Cape York Peninsula running out from the colony of North Queensland almost to the island of New Guinea, from which it is separated only by the Torres Straits, which are, however, studded with islands. These straits have acquired considerable importance, as they constitute the regular passageway from the eastern to the western ports of Australia, as well as from the eastern ports of Australia to Java and India itself; in fact, it is the main waterway from the Indian to the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Thursday Island, in Torres Straits, is a port. of call, and there resides the English Governor of North Queensland, Sir John Douglas, a noble friend of mISSIOns. About one hundred and fifty miles south from Thursday Island, along the western coast of this Cape York peninsula, is a good harbor opening into the Gulf of Carpentaria, called Port Musgrave, into which the rivers Batavia and Ducie empty. The headland enclosing this harbor is named Cullen's Point, and here on the Batavia River is situated Mapoon, 12° south lati- tude and 142° east longitude from Greenwich. The geography of Mapoon has been given in such detail because experience has shown that even those fairly well posted in mission matters find it difficult to locate the stations accurately. This description also clearly reveals that we have to deal here with a distinctly tropical station, with all its dreaded fevers and plagues of insects and reptiles, which so greatly add to the difficulties of missionaries from the temperate zones.
While the native Australians are rapidly dying out in the southeastern colonies, in North Queensland they still roam at will in the interior, as there is only a fringe of white settlements along the coast, and Cape York peninsula is practically in its primeval state. Some five years ago there were supposed to be about twenty thousand" black fellows," as they are called, in North Queensland; but the experience of the missionaries has led them to believe that this estimate is entirely too high.
The aborigines of Australia were Papuans, and they and their descendants seem to be without exception the most degraded people on the face of the earth. The original white settlers for a long time refused to acknowledge them as human beings, and deliberately hunted them and shot them down like wild animals. As is well known, the first sixty years of the colomzation of Australia brought to its shores only theoffscourings of England, and it is not surprising that these whites did nothing for the welfare of the natives; on the contrary, they treated them with unspeakable cruelty. They added to their heathen vices drunkenness and abominable and systematic immorality, so that the poor Papuans sank ever lower and lower into indescribable depths of degradation. In the early part of this century_attempts at missions were made among them, opposed, as usual, by the men who saw their foul practices hindered thereby, and by better men with the stock assertion that these people were too sunken to be reached by the Gospel. And, in fact, all missionary attempts by various societies up to the middle of the present century proved complete and total failures. Finally, at the request of Australian white Christians, in 1849 two Moravian missionaries undertook the task; but their labors were frustrated by the wickedness of the gold miners, who, in 1852, came into the land in hordes-at one time fifty thousand coming in fifteen days. In 1858 a second attempt was made by the Moravians William Spiesecke and Augustus Hagenauer, and on August 12th, 1860, the first convert was baptized. These mission stations-Ebenezer and Ramahyuk-were and are in 'the colony of Victoria, in the extreme southern portion of the island continent, and since then the Moravians have been working there with wonderful success, and God has used them as His agents in changing these degraded Papuans into civilized and Christianized heings. But salvation came too late to save the race. The seeds of decay had taken too strong a root, and it is only a question of a comparatively few years when they will have disappeared altogether from the colony of Victoria. The veteran missionary Hagenauer is still at the head of the work, and, if we mistake not, has been appointed by the Government as its chief agent in all its efforts in behalf of the aborigines.
While the Papuans are thus dying out in Southeastern Australia, in North Queensland, as stated above, they still exist in large numbers and in their savage state. While they are there not at the mercy of cruel exconvicts and licentious gold-diggers, yet their modern" civilized" enemies are the pearl fishers, who press their men and boys into service, debase them still more with liquor, and secure their women for immoral purposes. If a white man is killed, a descent is made upon the coast whence the murderer is suppoRed to have come, and without any attempt to secure the guilty party, a raid is made upon whatever black fellows can be found, and these mercilessly shot down. Before the advent of Moravian missionaries, no attempt was made by the Government to control these outrages. But the consciences of the Christians of Australia about ten years ago became aroused in regard to the deplorable state of these northern Papuans, and the Lutherans and Presbyterians, witnessing the success of the Moravians in Victoria, petitioned the Moravian Church to undertake the mission, agreeing to furnish the pecuniary support. Various delays, due principally to governmental complications, hindered the beginning of the work at that time. But five years ago the United Presbyterians of Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland renewed their petition and offer. Missionary Hagenauer made two exploratory tours. He founeJ the Papuans naked savage blacks, wild, cruel, treacherous, superstitious. The advice given to the young pioneer missionaries afterward appointed was, "Never let a native get behind you j he cannot resist thrusting his sp~ar into you." The Queensland Papuans, like their former Southern brethren, are likewise cannibals, and have been surprised in the midst of their horrible feasts, so there can be no doubt of this awful fact. Hagenauer says, "that the abominations of their heathenism surpass what he was painfully familiar with in the early days of the mission in Victoria. He speaks of their corroborees, or nightly dances, as immoral orgies j nor could he venture to describe some of the cruel and abominable ceremonies by which their youths are introduced to manhood."
Finally, in 1891, James Gibson Ward, who had been pastor of the Moravian Church in Ballinderry, North Ireland, and his wife, and Nicolas Hey, from the Moravian Missionary Institute at Niesky, Germany, who afterward married the sister of Mrs. Ward, undertook this perilous mission. They landed at Cullen's Point in November, 1891, and began putting up the mission house at Mapoon. This remote place was purposely selected in order to be, all far as possible, removed from the baneful influence of the white settlements. What a sad commentary is that on Caucasian civilization! The expenses of this mission have hitherto been borne almost altogether by the Presbyterians of Australia, with some assistance from the Lutherans sent direct to the mission. Sir John Douglas, the governor mentioned before, has been exceedingly helpful, and has constantly placed the Government steamer at the disposal of the missionaries.
And now began for these brave young couples a life of heroic endeavor, the heroism of which can .be appreciated only by a careful study of the details of their life during the four years which have passed since then, which detailed study is impossible in an article of this compass.
An idea of the trying climatic conditions may be gained from the fact that after putting up the mission house Hey was so enervated that a period of recuperation in Brisbane was an absolute necessity. Both missionaries have had to frequently take such furloughs, but never to rest, for no sooner were they among white people than they at once began preaching missionary semons, and arousing fresh interest in the evangelization of the neglected black fellows.
Those first months at Mapoon were times that in very truth try men's souls. At night they would hear the continuous howling of the treacherous savages, who, only two months before their arrival, had killed and eaten two white men at that very spot. But the two missionaries went bravely to work. Altho they knew not a word of the Papuan language, they at once began holding services, hoping to impress the natives in some way, and seeking by the aid of the broken English which·a few of the natives spoke, and by the words they gradually picked up, to tell the blessed story of the Saviour who died to redeem these degraded, half animal savages from their living death. Schools for young and old were likewise immediately started right on the open ground, and amid incredible difficulties bravely kept up. Mrs. Ward, who did the teaching, describes one gathering thus: "There were about eighty women and girls sitting in a semicircle, most of them quite without clothing. Such a spectacle ! Many of them full of sores, and, oh, so repulsive!" No wonder the brave young woman's heart sank within her, and a longing for home came over her! But, such is the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, in time He gave it to her to love these poor black women. How touching to see her write home less that a year after that, "Jesus seems to be nearer and dearer to us now than He ever did before I"
Thus the work went on. How it all came about only the Lord can tell; but in a year's time the missionaries had so won the confidence of these savages that they could go in and out among them with practically perfect safety. Ward often went into their camps, separated them in their fights, stopped their abominable dances, and thus gradually secured a wonderful control over the natives. They learned that the missionaries Were their friends, and would protect them against the abuse of the pearlfishers. These latter found that the influence of the missionaries was hindering them in their immoral practices, and so they tried to induce the natives to move their camps beyond the sphere of the missionaries' influence. But Ward followed them and literal1y spent whole nights in their camps, by his personal presence thus preventing evil, tho surrounded by enemies, black and white.
The results of less than four years'labor have been wonderful. No converts have been baptized as yet, but the regenerating influence of the mission has been felt for miles around. Four years ago no nnarmed vessel dared to put into Port Musgrave, owing to the reputation of the Batavia River blacks for savagery and cannibalism. Now they come there to make repairs. About two years ago a party of shipwrecked sailors were rescued from cannibal blacks, fed and cared for and led through miles of jungle to Mapoon by the mission Papuans without the knowledge of the missionaries until they arrived there. The blacks protect themselves from outrages by claiming that they belong to the missionaries, and have rescued some of their women from the pearl-fishers by the threat, " Missionary catch you. " The blacks have been taught hymns, and now even on the pearl-fishers' sloops the name of Jesus is sometimes heard in the hymns the black fellows sing while at work.
On the other hand, the missionaries have stopped the high-handed proceedings against the natives en masse when they have committed crimes, lind have insisted upon punishment being restricted to the guilty parties. All this has been accomplished with no other white men settled nearer than Governor Douglas on Thursday Island, one hundred and fifty miles away, and reachable only by ship. Even in the interior, when the missionaries approach the wild blacks, and they hear the words " Mapoon," " missionary," they leave their spears behind them and come out of the bush to the missionaries for a friendly palaver. Witness the power of love!
As said, no converts have been baptized, but these preliminary advantages testify anew to the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through devoted men to reach and influence the lowest and the vilest.
This paper cannot be closed without adding a record of deepest pathos. In December, 1894, Missionary Ward seemed to redouble his efforts for the Papuans. He, as well as Hey, made extended missionary tours into the interior; he labored incessantly in the native camps in the immediate vicinity of the station, risked his life in stopping debaucheries, taught school, preached the Gospel-in fact, labored beyond his strength, and fell a victim to the insidious tropical fever. Delirium soon set in. The nearest doctor, one hundred and fifty miles away, unreachable for the lack of a ship, reveals a situation which makes us in the midst of our civilization shudder. Finally one day the delirium broke. Ward insisted upon seeing all the blacks that could be gathered together. First all the men were admitted to his room, then all the women. His fellow-missionaries begged him to desist, but with superhumau strength he bore his dying
1896·1 A DARK CORNER OF THE
testimony in the native language with such power and pathos that none present at that almost unearthly scene can ever forget it. The Lord gave him just that brief period of consciousness, and, like a faithful soldier of the Cross, he used his last breath to testify of his Lord's love for fallen men. A night of frightful delirium and suffering followed, and the next morning, January 3rd, 1895, he awoke to consciousness just long enough to greet his faithful wife before passing into the more immediate presence of his God and Saviour, in the devoted service of Whom he had offered up his young life. The three remaining missionaries were so broken down in health that they all had to leave the station j but they have since returned., and a new couple (Edwin Brown and his wife) left England in September, 1895, for this station. At her own request, the widow of J ames Ward has been permitted to return to Mapoon tc resume her work among the Papuan women. There's the true devotion of the genuine missionary!
Bearing such a record as this, shall we, in comfortable homes, surrounded by abundant conveniences, talk about making sacrifices for the Lord when we give a few paltry dollars to some mission cause ~ Oh, for a spirit of true consecration that would send abundant men and means into the fields, crying so loudly for the harvesters !
A DARK CORNER OF THE EARTH.
BY EDWARD S. LITTLE.
As far as nature is concerned, one of the finest and prettiest portions of the globe is found in the Philippine group of islands. These islands, numbering some twelve hundred or more, are all mountainous and of varying sizes, from three hundred miles long-the length of Luzon, the largest island-to a few yards, as in some of the smallest rocky islets. The archipelago is situated a few degrees north of the equator, in the Pacific Ocean, off the southeast corner of Asia j the chief' city is Manila, with a population of 300,000, while the population of the entire group is many millions. The islands are under the government of Spain, tho England has also a claim upon them to the extent of £1,000,000 sterling. and to her they would revert if the present power were to relinquish her hold upon them. To maintain that hold, the Spaniards keep up an army of more than 20,000 men on the station, and ships of war are always in the bay. It is by force and force only that they are maintained, for they have done nothing to gain the affections of the people by improving or instructing them; the policy seems to be not to elevate them, but to crush the life out of them and make any resistance impossible.
Poverty, which brings suffering such as occurs in Europe and America, is unknown. The cold has no terrors, for it never comes here; the climate is tropical, and clothing is only necessary to cover their nakedness and not to keep the body warm, and the houses are built with a view to shade and not to ward off the frost j as for food, that is plentiful and cheap enough. A man need only work a few days in the month in order to provide himself and his family with all they need ; the rest of the timc he may sleep and amuse himself. As a result, the people are indolent to a degree, and will not do more than they are absolutely compelled.
The Spanish officials are appointed only during the tour of thc home ministry, and their stay varies from three years to three months, or even less. The sole aim of each one is to fill his pockets with gold in the least possible time and get away home again, regardless of the welfare of the colony. Every conceivable device is resorted to in order to extort money, and impossible laws and regulations are made, so that each infraction may yield the excuse for the infliction of a punishment by the levying of a fine as heavy as the circumstances will admit. There is much oppression and little liberty. Everywhere one meets with uniformed officials or military, and fighting seems to be going on all the time. Trade is throttled by suicidal customs regulations, and all enterprises are strangled in their birth. Altogether they are in a very fair way to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. The mountains are filled with precious metals, iron and coal, and the land bears crops in abundance; but any attempt to develop these natural resources of the country is resisted by the Spanish officials. There are no roads, and the only railroad was built by an English company after great opposition; and the obstructions continually put in the way of the company make it a losing concern. Commercially one could not well conceive a greater failure or a more blind and self-destroying policy than that pursued by Spain.
The religious and moral condition is not a whit better than the commercial. Roman Catholicism is supreme, and no other system is permitted; by law all are Christians of the Roman persuasion. Churches are everywhere, and they are far and away the best buildings in the place. The finest in Manila is that of the Jesuits, which is most handsomely constructed and fitted throughout with the hardest and most expensive wood and marble, all exquisitely carved. It took twelve years to complete, and must have cost over $1,000,000. In the city of Manila the Romanists have fine schools, in which some 2000 boys and girls are taught, and a liberal education is given them. In connection with the schools there are a fine observatory and a museum. The schools and the work done in connection with them seems to be about the only good thing the Church does. Everywhere else is seen its blighting hand, and even in the schools the training is of such a nature that the youths are absolutely in the hands of the priests not only while they are under instruction, but through life. It was repeatedly said by residents in the islands that the priests are very impure and immoral in their lives, and that by means of the confessional the women are completely in their hands. I have not the proofs at hand to substantiate this statement, but history has again and again proved its truth; and here, where there is not the slightest fear of obstruction or criticism, it were wonderful if it were not true. No English newspaper is published, and every item of news published in the Spanish papers must first be submitted to the archbishop for his approval. No Protestant service of allY kind is permitted. A marriage service between two British subjects in the consulate was the cause of a good deal of trouble. I was asked not to go ashore in clerical dress, because the priests and officials were so bigoted that it would certainly arouse suspicion and provoke inquiry. During the Sunday we were in port I conducted a service on board and preached. Some people from the shore-Englishmen-came off to worship with us, and said afterward that that was the first Protestant service held in the islands since they had been there.
To illustrate how little has been done for the native Indians, it is only necessary to say that a few miles from the settlement they are savages, men and women going naked, and are without instruction. Spanish soldiers go through the country, shoot down those who oppose, pass on, leaving things even worse than they were, and call it government. The priests alone are wealthy, owning all the best property, and they alone are free to do as they please, altho in recent years the powers of the archbishop have been curbed a little; yet even to-day no cargo may be worked in harbor on feast days without his special sanction, and no music is allowed in any house or at any port after ten P.M. except with his permission; and, as stated above, the press is muzzled by him and at his mercy.
The most exciting feature of life in the islands seems to be the great Manila lottery, whose tickets are sold throughout the East. There is a monthly drawing of prizes ranging from $80,000 to $5. As the time of drawing comes near there is a rush for tickets, and rich and poor compete excitedly for the prize. The goveruor and his high officers are present at and preside over the drawing, whieh brings in a monthly revenue of more than $200,000, for the lottery is a goverument monopoly. It is said that were it not for the lottery Spain would, through inability to raise funds, be compelled to dispose of or abandon her colony. The people are watching with interest the progress of the Cuban rebellion, and if it succeeds, it seems probable the smoldering fires of revolt will break out here also, and the native army would probably throw in their lot with the rebels. The officials do their best to keep news from the people, and cause glowing descriptions of victories to be published, but never a word of release. However, an idea has gotten abroad that everything is not as reported; they know that their former governor is now the general in charge of the operations in Cuba, and other officers have left for the war; a number left by the Spanish mail while we were there.
The condition of these islands affords an illustration of what Roman Catholicis~ can do when left to itself, and also indicates what it will do if it ever obtains the upper hand and power in our Proteitant lands. The
WORK AMONG TRB B8KIKOS 011' CAPE PlINCB 011' W.lLB8
result so far in the Philippines ills a very dark page. Look at the list : a great government gaming institution, teaching all, both young and old, rich and poor, to gamble, and placing before the people an official example of an evil life of unhealthy excitement j trade stilled; extortion that would make a Chinese mandarin jealous j liberty dead; conscience destroyed; pres.'! muzzled ; oppression of the people; God and righteousness unknown j a bigoted Roman Catholicism triumphant and walking roughshod over aU-this is an nninviting but true picture of this dark corner of the earth nineteen centuries after Christ came bringing light. Is this to continue forever? Is not the light of the pure Gospel to shine here and scatter the darkness? Is not the.Word of God to be given to the people ? An attempt has been made. Four years ago the British and Foreign Bible Society sent an agent there, and with him went a converted ex-Roman Catholic priest. The latter was promptly killed, being poisoned, so it is confidently stated, by the priests; the Bibles of the agent were confiscated, and he himself barely escaped with his life. Christ's army seems to have been defeated. No other attempt has been made. Who will avenge the Christian missionary's death by taking the Gospel of love and salvation through Christ to these who so much need such a message 1 It will be a difficult and· dangerous undertaking, and more than one messenger will doubtleRs be called upon to lay down his life for the Savior who died for the world. But such terrors have never hindered the onward march of the Church, which is a Church militant. Where are the soldiers of Christ who will go in answer· to the cry for help which arises from these so long neglected, and where is the Church or missionary society that will equip and support such soldiers ?
WORK AMONG THE ESKIMOS OF CAPE PRINCE OF WALES. * BY MRS. HARRISON R. THORNTON.
The natives of Arctic Alaska are Eskimos, and, in most respects, differ from the Indians who inhabit the country south of them. They are not, however, unlike the Siberians, their near Asiatic neighbors, or the Finns, who, from recent ethnological researches, have been found to be allied to them.
There is every reason to believe that settlements exist all through the northern part of our country, following along the" northeast passage,"
• A great deal has been written concerning Arctic Alaska by those w~o have cruised in Arctic waters, and gathered what information they could from the natives that crowded on hoard the Government andwhaling ships. :Much doubtful material has also been gained from the yarns of adventnrons and nnscrupulous men, such as are usually the real pioneers in any new country. Also much that has been written has been 80 exaggerated, so colored, so overdrawn, that what follows may seem commonplace and nnlnterest.mg; but coming from one who has "summered and wintered" in the largest knoWD. Eskimo settlement in Alaska, the words may possess, at least, the element ot truth.
ESKIMO FAMILY, CAPE PRINCE OF WALES
ALASKAN DANCERS AND lIfFSICIANS IN A YILLAGE " KOSYE ,. OR DANCE HOUSE. out to the eastern coast. That the Alaskan, Labrador, and Greenland Eskimos are one and the same race is proven by the almost identical language. This statement will be readily attested by a comparison of the Eskimo-German grammars published by Bourquin, a missionary to the Labrador Eskimos, and by Kleinschmidt, a missionary to the Greenlanders.
Cape Prince of Wales is by far the largest and most characteristic Eskimo settlement in Alaska; and it was here that the first missionary home was established in Arctic Alaska. The native name of the place is Kin-ne-gan, and comes from the Eskimo verb that means " to sec." The sightly position of the place, too, would naturally suggest such a name.
In the village there are about 550 people with whom we were in daily contact for more than a year. Being thus in a position to speak of them from an experimental knowledge, it may be possible that, in presenting this field to the readers of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, some hearts may be warmed toward this stolid, unimpressionable people.
Our house-the only one above ground-was built for us by the American Missionary Association, under whose auspices we were to labor as missionaries. We arrived in June, after a twenty-eight-days' voyage on a whaling ship, bringing with us our household goods and Qur supplies for a whole year, for we were north of Sitka two thousand miles, and had left San Francisco, our most accessible market, three thousand miles behind us.
Here we found a dark-skinned, straight-haired, savage. looking people, dressed wholly in skins. They were all bareheaded, the men and boys with heads shaven around the top, reminding one of tonsured monks.
Perhaps the most striking thing, however, in the appearance of the men was the labrets worn by them. Their under lips were pierced by large holes, protruding floom which were pieces of walrus tusk, cuff-buttons or glass stopples. The women were tattooed down the chin with three stripes radiating from the under lip. Their noses were pierced, but no ornaments were worn, the hole being utilized sometimes for carrying needles. These were strange sights; but looking at this custom from an unprejudiced standpoint, it is no more barbaric than is ear-piercing in our own country.
The people live in dark underground houses, so stifling and hot, even with the thermometer outside at 35° F. below zero, that the natives, while in their igloos (houses), are naked to the waist.
The Eskimos are polygamous when they have acquired property enough to become so. There is always the" favorite wife," the others occupying very much the position of servants. The largest number of wives a Cape Prince of Wales native has is four. After children are born to them marriage is as permanent as with white people; but previous to that it is very common for the men to exchange wives.
The Eskimo women, as a rule, are kindly treated, and their small, wellshaped hands show how little real drudgery they do. A greater part of their time is spent in making the fur garments worn by the family, altho they do some fishing through the ice in winter, and occasionally drive the dogs that drag home the seals after hunting.
The presence uf the missionary, the establishment of the day school. the institution of the Sabbath, with its services-all these have greatly brightened the lives of this desolate people; and were it not for the counteracting influences from without the Gospel might have " free course and be glorified even as it is with you."
It is certain that the moral condition of this people would be vastly above what it now is had they not been contaminated by vile, unprincipled white men. No words were ever truer than those of Rev. James Alexander, in his" Islands of the Pacific," that" the saddest thing for a heathen people is to come in contact with civilization without Christianity." Like all inferior races, however, the Eskimos strive to imitate, and this is the hope as well as the bane of the missionary in his work among them.
The hindrances to missionary work among the Cape Prince of Wales Eskimos are many, and some of them are: 1. The apparent lack of resources in the surrounding country to give employment to the natives. The summer season is too short to produce even the most swiftly maturing vegetable, hence the diet of the Eskimo must necessarily be exclusively meat and fish. The resources that once came to the Eskimos through ivory from the walrus and whalebone from the whale have all been taken from them by ships sent out by trading companies from the States. Should an Eskimo be fortunate enough to get a whale or walrus, he too often barters it for whiskey when it should have been exchanged for flour and cloth. Thus, on account of this lack of native resources, the missionary loses the opportunity, afforded in some countries, of teaching the people habits of industry and thrift.
2. Prostitution of native women by traders and whalers. The people are so poor that the inducements offered to women by those who wish to seduce and degrade them look like fortunes. One so-called chief forced his sister to become the mistress of a whaler just for the rifle and cloth offered. Instances of young girls-one not fourteen years old-being seduced, locked in whalers' cabins and carried north on their whaling expeditions, have occurred.
3. General counteracting influences. On Sunday the missionary goes before his unenlightened audience with the "Thou shalt nots" of the Decalogue. On Monday these natives go on board the ships to trade, and they see and hear nearly all these commandments broken. The poor Eskimo, not knowing how to distinguish between the good and the bad, naturally follows the example of those who wHi bestow on him the largest amount of worldly goods, thinking them his best friends. Not all Arctic traders and whalers are thus devoid of uprightness and principle, but the number of those who are is large enough to hinder the work of the missionary.
ESKIMO SHOWING BY PANTOMIME THAT HE WOULD RATHER STAB HI1I1SELF
INJURE THE MISSIONARY.
CAPE PRINCE OF WAI,ES NATIYES IN "KYAKS " OR SKI:'> ('OYEREn (,ANOF.S.
THE PRJilSENT OUTLOOK FOR lIIISSIONS IN TURKEY
But for the promise that " One of you shall chose a thousand," we might despair of ever counteracting these evil influences j but already there are hopeful signs in this mission that is only just in its infancy ; and if we will support the consecrated workers there who have left behind them the luxuries of civilization, who hear from home people but once a year, who are willing to suffer cold and endure hardships, we may soon see dark faces and darker hearts lighted up by rays from the Sun of Righteousness.
THE PRESENT OUTLOOK FOR MISSIONS IN TURKEY.
NOT BY A MISSIONARY.
God's work never suffers from a baptism of fire. His methods of dealing often seem wrong to man's mortal eye, but with the eye of faith we can still see Him triumphant and His kingdom ruling over all. It is of supreme importance in such times as these to keep this fact in mind; for, once let go our faith, and aU is blackest night. Wherever we look to.day, all over the eastern section of this land, devastation and death confront us j but for our Master's word of comfort, one could see nothing ahead but absolute ruin of all missionary work, past and present.
It is not necessary to our purpose to enter here into a catalog of all the horribJe details of the past months. The world has read the accounts of the various massacres till its heart was sick, and it turned away in horror; but for the heroic missionaries on the scene of carnage, there has been no chance to turn away, even tho their hearts were bursting with sorrow and sickness. The wails of distress all about them have constituted an incessant and heartrending demand for relief, which they have done all in their power-yea, and beyond their power, too-to supply. Little time has been left them for the many letters they would write, and very much of the story of each city and district yet remains untold for lack of time to till it j but when those indefatigable workers do get a chance to look around them on the ruin of their years of labor, it takes the stoutest heart some moments to recover from the shock.
The damage done iIi the recent massacres to direct mission property, aside from the incidental bullet-marks on the Girls' School Building at Marsovan, and some articles lost in other places, consisted in the burning of the Theological Seminary at Marash on November 19th, and the looting of all the mission buildings at Harpoot and the burning of eight of them on November 12th. The fire at Marash probably saved the lives of the missionaries, as it recalled the plunderers to their wits and frightened the government by fear of indemnity. But now the indemnity demanded is not forthcoming. In the Harpoot affair, the duplicity of the Turks is well illustrated in the reply they give at different places to the indemnity demand. In Harpoot the officials declare that the buildings were fired by the Koords, and that they themselves were powerless to prevent it because of the overwhelming numbers of the attackers. In Constantinople the United States Mipister is met by the objection that it was the Armenians who set fire to the premises, and then tried to turn the guilt off on the innocent Turkish soldiers; and meanwhile word is sent to the European papers that the whole story of burned buildings is false, that no fire has .occurred, and that the missionaries at flarpoot as everywhere have always been fully protected by the government. Under such circumstances, and in the face of such wholesale official falsehood, it is rather hard to see how the value of the property is ever to be collected; but still the brave missionaries work on in faith, believing that at the right time the walls will be rebuilt. Meanwhile, the work is cramped and crippled.
Much more terrible has been the destruction of churches, schools, and parsonages all over the land. It has been absolutely impossible thus far to get a complete list of places of worship or schools destroyed ; but in large districts, like the province of Diarbekir, scarce a single church remains standing, save one or two now converted into mosques or stables. In many cases the church was the pyre of hundreds of Christian martyrs, who refused life at the price of denying the Lord that bought them.
More heartrending still is the long list of the dead. The very life of the Church seems to have been aimed at and struck in the butchery of so many pastors and teachers, and such numbers of their flocks. The details are not yet all in, and doubtless a large number of places can never be reported till the last day; but itemized lists are already at hand telling of the butchery of at least twenty Protestant pastors and many times that number of Gregorian priests, and of 37,085 Christians. Of this number most are Armenians, with a very few Syrians and others. At first sight, this, too, would seem a great blow to the cause of Christ; but the Church in all ages has found the blood of its martyrs to be most fertile seed.
A very much more serious problem coming before the Church to-day is with reference to those poor wretches forcibly converted to Mohammedanism; for there have been many whose courage wavered when given the alternative of Islam or the most cruel and lingering of deaths, and they chose to live. These" converts" are now fed and housed, in many instances at government expense, and are being taught the tenets of their new faith by those who but yesterday shot down their fathers and violated their daughters; 40,950 such conversions are known of; the number is probably far too small, but these poor victims of weak consciences are now eagerly watChing for the moment when they can again confess Christ and live. Tho they hold to the outward forms of Islam, these thousands are still praying to Jesus in heart. This problem is the one at present claiming all the attention of Sir Philip Currie and M. Nelidoff, the English and Russian ambassadors. Judge not these poor Armenians, oh ye who kneel on velvet cushions to pray in a land of religious freedom ; our Lord forgave His Peter, tho he denied Him thrice for fear of a maid·servan~'s tongue j and who dare say there is no hope for these poor, hounded, homeless, hungry beings ~ The terrible want and destitution all over the land is being made clearer as the months wear away. In many places the winter has been a mild one, and this with the relief distributed by the missionaries has saved thousands of lives j but now comes the sowing time, and there is no seed; the garners are all empty, and even money will not buy the corn that doesn't exist. How these poor myriads are to get any fresh start is a problem that is difficult of solution.
As a natural result of such horrid crimes, the surviving Armenians as a class throughout the country have lost their confidence in everybody, and are in a poor mood to be approached by, any foreigner. They have no trust at all in the Sultan, for they all know what the world has been so slow to believe, but which is perfectly well established now-that the Sultan is himself personally responsible, having ordered these massacres, and that he has rewarded the obedient tools who did his bidding. They no longer look to England, for she-poor, craven England I-has officially * denied her responsibility toward them as well as her power to help them.
Russia, too, has proven herself treacherous and doublefaced ; and according to the statement of one of her high officials, "wants Armenia, but doesn't want the Armenians." The other" powers" are not large enough, and the United States is too far away, so the more cool and calculating Armenians can see nothing ahead but blank despair. The more desperate spirits say they may as well die fighting as be slaughtered, and you have immediately the revolutionary party in its most reckless form. Encouraged, on the contrary, by their success in blinding Europe's eyes, the Turks gloat over the blood shed and the booty already obtained, and promise themselves still richer harvests while Europe sleeps. There are those among them who are ashamed of the deeds of the past months, and who wish to see order re-established in the land without the elimination of the Armenian j but, as a race, the Turks have no very friendly spirit toward Christianity, IIOnd the tiger once roused within them cannot easily be quelled when absolutely no punishment follows murder, robbery, rape, and arson.
The recent publication of the tardy British bluebooks on Turkish affairs have given official publicity to what has already been well understood in Turkey for years, and which has been mentioned before in the REVIEW.t Only the wily Northern Bear is aiming not only at the Protestant work here, but at the Gregorian Church as well, and prefers to make a cat's-paw of the Turkish government now rather than exterminate and exile the Armenians herself after taking possession of Armenia. That the Sultan has been aided and encouraged by the Russian ambassador in Constantinople, M. Nelidoff, in his delays and refusals to institute reforms, * See Lord Salisbury's speech to the Nonconformists. t See November, 1894, p. 821. there is no doubt j and the dastardly policy of Russia. is daily becoming clearer. Add to this fact the other one, that there is to human view nothing to prevent Russia from taking all the six so-called Armeruan provinces when she chooses, and that in all probability England herself will soon request her to do so, and the present outlook for missions and missionaries is not a brilliant one. We must also look at the physical condition of the missionaries themselves. They have all been through an awful strain, with no let-up for months, and the effect is naturally begin- ning to be felt. It will be necessary for quite a number of them to get away for a rest and change this coming summer, but will they be allowed by the Turks ever to resume work at their posts ~ Of course, Russian interests demand the removal of every missionary. Will Turkey, then, exclude all who go 1 She has already begun to do so. She has notified the United States Minister that two or them, now in America, will not be allowed to return. She has accused another of complicity in murder and revolution, simply in order to get him out of the country. She has like- wise brought false charges against others also, but such as even her own false witnesses could not sufficiently prove. May our own Government. not be hoodwinked into allowing such disregard of treaty rights. Butall these actions indicate the commencement of a policy of persecution that is calculated to hinder and retard the missionary work for some time to come. God grant that some other solution may be found for this vexed qriestion, and that Russian orthodoxy may not be the successor of Moslem fanaticism !
It is, indeed, a gloomy outlook that has here been pictured j and were this all, and could no silver lining be discerned, well might the mission- aries sit down each under his juniper-tree and request for himself that he . might die. Thank God, even under these most trying circumstances there are elements of hope, and a brighter day is sure to come in God's own time for this poor land. First among the encouraging signs may be mentioned the increased attention centered on this land and its Christians, and the loosening of purse.strings in the Anglo-Saxon world for these Armenian sufferers. Man is a selfish animal, but where he does give his wealth, he gives also his sympathies and prayers j and thousands of hearts are turned to-day toward Turkey in loving petitions that will not be unanswered. The missionaries have, time and again within the past five months, been deprived of all hope in everything but prayer j but God's answers to their petitions have been so wonderful as to greatly increase their faith and zeal, and they now feel more than ever before the value of united, fervent prayer on their behalf all over the world.
Another reason for courage is the open expression, on the part of scores of Turks, of disgust at the horrid methods employed by their sovereign against their fellow-beings, and of sympathy with their suffering. Many a Moslem has risked his own life, and some have lost their lives, in a gal- lant defense of Christians from the frenzied mob of Turkish soldiers and Koordish cut-throats. Notable instances of this kind come from Hadji- Keny, Aintab, Kara Hissar Sharki, and other places. It means more than mere friendly interest when a Turk thus endangers his own neck to save some ghiaours j it means the presence, deep in his heart, of the true Christ-spirit of nnselfish love for right. Such examples prove that the death-blow has not been struck to missionary effort, even among Turks.
Further, a great point has been gained in connection with the work of relief which has its center at the capital. The Patriarch and the Gregorian Church as a whole have been convinced that the missionaries are really the friends, not the foes of their race. Unable to send his money in any other way, the Patriarch has sent large sums through the mission, and has expressed his pleasure at the method of its distribution. What a wonderful difference in tone between the fierce anathema of the patl'iarch in 184'1, excommunicating all evangelicals, and the recent words of his present noble successor, Mgr. Matteos Ismirlian, to a party of Armenians: "Yes, we all owe a great debt of gratitude to our missionary brothers for their work of relief!" Gregorians and Protestants have for months been working side by side, making garments to send to the destitute, while in the interior the missionaries are the great distributing centers, whose guidance and assistance the Red Cross Society will find absolutely necessary in their work. In spite of the despicable meanness of the government in some quarters, where the inhuman tax-gatherers take away almost every piastre given for relief, or throw the starving refugee in prison because, forsooth, he can pay no taxes when his house and vineyard have been destroyed by these same men-notwithstanding all imaginable opposition and discouragements, the grand work of relief goes on j and though hundreds, perhaps thousands, have died of starvation and cold, thousands more are living to bless the missionaries for their relief work. The very fact that at such times of personal danger these faithful servants of Jesus have stuck to their posts and endured with their people the loss of earthly possessions will make it easier hereafter for them to reach the hearts of those whose suffering they have alleviated and whose lives they have preserved.
Another fact calling for thanksgiving is the spiritual quickening of the Christians in many places. In Sivas, a weekly prayer-meeting started among the women at the time of the massacre has an average attendance of three hundred. Similar gatherings for prayer are held in many other places as a result of these butcheries, which have taken away all other sources of hope, and have strengthened faith in prayer. The stories of their martyred fellow-countrymen and women has stirred up the lethargic souls of many who have consecrated themselves anew to the service of Jesus. Of course this has not been the case in all places. Abject terror and rebellious anger sometimes still hold sway and embitter the soul against the God whose ways al'e so mysterious; but is this strange? Pray for these pitiable afflicted servants-yes, still servants of our Master,
THE WEST AFRICA GIN TRAFFIC
spite of their stumbling and falling under sore temptations-that their faith fail not.
The present outlook for missions in Turkey is not a bright one. Seldom has it been so terribly dark; but the workers are not discouraged, tho in tears. They only cling with a more perfect trust to the hand of their loving Father, while they look out through the mist of carnage and blood and pillage and fire over the seas to the friends afar, and plead for succor for the distressed, and for such a stream of united supplication at the mercy-seat as shall prevail over all the efforts of the evil one, and bring this whole country to the feet of its Lord and Master.
THE WEST AFRICA GIN TRAFFIC. * BY REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, A.T.S.
A vigorous discussion has been carried ;on during 1895 in British circles upon the extent of the liquor traffic ravages in Western Africa, and the most effective means for curtailing it. Following a striking article in the London Times of March 8th, entitled "Spirits in Africa," there appeared on June 4th in the same columns shocking revelations of the gin traffic in West Africa from the pen of Herbert Tugwell, Bishop in Western Equatorial Africa. He observed that" gin and rum are being poured into the country in appalling quantities and that almost without let or hindrance," resulting in a lamentable obstruction to native civilization. This powerful rejoinder was a reply to an apologetic letter stating that altho the quantity of spirits imported was considerable, it was spread over a wide area, and, consequently, the individual consumption was small and practically harm- Jess. Per contra Bishop Tugwell describes his recent observations.
Early in 1895 the lady missionaries of the Church Missionary Society in Abeokuta could not visit the native women in the compounds on account of the prevailing drunkenness. Respecting the outlook in an interior town one of the society's agents informed him: "The people are quiet. Kidnapping, murder, and human sacrifice are dying out under t,he * Since the above article was written a cable advice of date October 18th, from Lagos, states that the import duties in that colony on spirits has been doubled-viz., from 18. to 28. per gallon, by the Lagos Government. There is every probability that this measure has been urged by the British home authorities inconsequence of thepowerfnl agitation during the past year against the wholesale snpply of drink Imd its disastrous results in British West Africa. This resolution, which may be enacted in the Niger Coast Protectorate, is viewed with mixed feelings by British merchants, who fear that it may drive the trade both in spirits and other goods into the neighboring colonies.
The apathy of the German authorities to join in the West African drink tra1Ilc agitation has some explanation in the fact that nearly the whole of the spirits are manufactured in Hamburg and Rot- terdam, and admitted into the German colonies of the Cameroons and Togolam at the shamefully low duty of 9,..d. per gallon. All honor to the British for this humane and, eventually, economical step, which will secure the nniversal approbation of the friends of the African race. J. J. influence of British jurisdiction, but drunkenness is increasing-the people are taking to this gin." The bishop candidly states that the Church Mis- sionary Society missionaries, the Roman Catholic, and the preachers of the Lagos native church have utterly failed to evangelize certain districts near Lagos, implying that the drinking habits of the people were mainly responsible. In the compound of a village chief the bishop asked him: "What makes the hearts of your people so hard and their houses so shabby~" The chief answered by pulling aside some bushes, and told the bishop to look beneath, where he saw" hundreds, if not thousands, of empty gin bottles." On another occasion he says that, reaching the market town of Igaun one evening last January, he wished to hire a canoe to take him over to Lagos, but was informed that he could not cross the water that night, as "he would find all the town drunk," a testimony, alas ! which he confirmed. The bishop was a pained witness of revellings in the market-place: women dancing wildly and men quarreling in drink. A merchant visiting lbadan for the first time told Bishop Tugwell that he was struck in the town and market-place with the absence of English goods, altho the natives brought down large quantities of palm oil, kernels, sheep, goats, yams, etc. The bishop replied that wholesale exchange in spirit, represented the development in trade !
To minimize these statements, Sir Gilbert Carter, Governor of Lagos, attempted a refutation, which indicates the attitude of one civil representative of Great Britain toward the drink question in Western Africa. Admitting the trade in spirituous liquors an evil, he does not, however, think that there is as much drunkenness as in many English towns. This observation may be met by a reply of Mr. Chamberlain to a member of a deputation waiting upon him in reference to West African railways on August 23d last. It was remarked that on the Gold Coast during 1894 " the consumption of alcoholic liquors by the natives was far less than it is in the United Kingdom." "Yes," retorted Mr. Chamberlain, "but that does not amount to much. I should be very sorry if all the natives in Africa consumed as much per head as is consumed in the United Kingdom. " Sir Gilbert says that the natives visiting Ibadan and Abeokuta do not take more than a friendly glass and avoid excess. Then he continues: " Personally I should be sorry to see the spirit traffic abolished in West Africa, because I happen to be charged with the duty of finding the necessary funds to carryon the machinery of government in one of the West African colonies, and I know of no more satisfactory means of obtaini14g money than by a duty on spirits. " He also denies the poisonous nature of the gin imported, which, if adulterated, is generally effected by water. Again he says: "I fail to see why the import of spirits into West Africa should be prohibited any more than the manufacture of spirits should be prohibited in Europe. Here lies the root of the matter-it is a question of human freedom. Like the candid but indiscreet bishop, 1 prefer freedom to sobriety, especially when it can be proved that sobriety can be attained without prohibitive measures from an economical point of view." Sir Gilbert finally observes that it is in Mohammedanism that an antidote can be found t.O drunkenness, inasmuch as its path of conquest in West Africa is marked by its converts from paganic;m discarding the gin bottle, whereas Christianity fails to win by its abstruse tenets, and, therefore, its agents usually lay the blame on the gin and allied compounds. He even lauds the self-respect and dignity of the Mohammedan convert to the utter disparagement of his Christian brother.
As might be surmised, this extraordinary epistle called forth many replies. One writer said: "The gin traffic is identical with the cause of human freedom!" The people of Abeokuta may be denied the right of self-government, kept from the ballot·box and hustings, compelled to obey laws which they never made or be imprisoned, etc., "but the cause of human freedom will be shamefully betrayed, and in their case utterly lost, if you dare to prohibit the gin traffic!" On the Mohammedan aspect Mr. Morton Smith, honorary secretary of the Bishop of Sierra Leone's Diocesan Fund, writes: ".To those who do not know Sir Gilbert Carter's views on Mohammedanism, his letter to the Times must seem strange. To advocate a religion which has produced the Armenian trouble, which is gradually disappearing from Europe, and which is the cause and preserver of slavery in Africa, hardly appears consistent with tbe ordinary views of Christians j but these are just the views which Sir Gilbert publicly advocated in Lagos when he assisted, on July 28th, 1894, at the opening of the mosque in that town." But suppose Mohammedanism had complete success in Western Africa, Sir Gilbert would lose bis duty on spirits and be obliged to find his revenue from another source. To Sir Gilbert's letter of extenuation Bishop Tugwell sent a further reply, containing fresh dis. closures, a copy of which appeared in the Times of August last.
Previous to considering the humane and economical phases of the subject, the wise and statesmanlike utterances of Colonel Cardew, an official of superior rank, to Sir Gilbert Carter in West Africa, may be quoted. These were made before the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce on August 1st, 1895. "He expressed the hope that the traffic in spuits would give place to other sorts of commerce. There could be no doubt that the importation of spirits into the interior did great harm. Wherever he had found a drinking chief, there also were signs of neglect and destitution. This conclusion was fully borne out by independent official testimony. He questioned, indeed, whether the traffic did not, in fact, injuriously injure our commercial interests. Its entire prohibition in the West Coast was impossible, but if by concerted action between the powers having possessions in the coast a higher duty were imposed on liquors, the demand would decrease, and other wants would be created, which would more than make up the volume of trade. Possessing a large population of superior and Chl'istianized natives, Sierra Leone and the district presented a particular fa.vora.ble field for commercial and railway development." Such a frank declaration from an official of high station will have distinct influence in the not distant legislation affecting the drink tratlic in West Africa.
Tho the colony of Lagos, as elsewhere, must be self-supporting, it is folly, if not contemptible, to fall back upon revenue from drink. Even if the situation is relieved for the present, " it is at the price of ruining legitimate trade and cutting away the roots of all future prosperity." Most conclusively has it been shown that in dealings with native markets the development of the demand [or liquor kills the demand for other goods. Proof -of this may be obtained from many sources. If, as is argued, in regard to Lagos, that the value of the imports of gin and rum into Lagos for 1893 only amounted to £93,508, while the value of other imports was £749,027, yet the sum spent on spirits is enormous when compared with the poverty of the natives in the requirements of civilized life. On the other hand, the Niger Company, whose territory is ten times as large as that of Lagos and the Niger Coasl, Protectorate together, shows that it is possible to keep out the drink practically and yet maintain an effective administration without the" stinking" revenue that drink produces. Its annual import of spirits is 163,000 gallons only, as against 2,000,000 gallons imported into the Niger Coast Protectorate and another 2,000,000 into Lagos, while the governor of the company says that during 1894 no spirits were known officially to have entered their territory.
The unreasonableness of the demand for revenue from drink has a powerful object lesson from Basutoland, South Africa, where, by the fact of its geographical position, its absence of a white population, and the enforcement of a law of prohibilion, the development of trade and the elevation of the race has no parallel in any other native community in whose midst liquor is freely admitted. Of the whole import trade with British West Africa it is said that one fifth consists in spirits, plus the duty paid by the native consumer, about one third, but, subtracting that portion of the trade which is created by the wants of the while population, it is undeniable that fully one half of the produce brought to market by the natives is bartered in exchange for spirits. In scathing terms Major Lugard exposed, in the pages of Blackwood last June, the rottenness of the revenue plea and of the other one, that if Britain did not import the poison France and Germany would. Notwithstanding that the greater part of the spirits imported by the West African colonies are of foreign manufacture, there is no excuse for this wickedness being tolerated by the English Goverument, by whom the welfare of the native populations are supposed to be protected. A policy of either total prohibition or the enforcement of uniform and far heavier duties throughout the West African settlements is imperatively demanded. The present condition of an unrestricted liquor traffic with a moderate duty is not less vile than shortsighted. Mr. Fox Bourne, of the Aborigines Protection Society, says that if prohibition is "scarcely possible," two thirds of the whole distance toward prohibition may be accomplished by raising the duties with a dimi-
HOPEFUL SIGNS IN OHINA
nution in quantity of spirits imported. Wherever the interior from the West African seaboard has been opened to commerce, etc., it has been noticed that the volume of the liquor traffic has increased out of all reasonable proportion with general trade, which makes the agitation for England's cooperation with France and Germany in equalizing an increased rate of duties upon their portions of the coast a bare matter of justice and foresight, not to say humanity. Especially is this appeal made to the Anglo- Saxon speaking world on behalf of the native population in British West Africa, which alone reaches, according to latest calculations, 40,060,000 of souls. In Darkest Africa, whatever may be the case in Europe, spirits are destructive of the body and soul of the much-sinned-against African. Those who are acquainted with the effects of drink on the negro declare that the moral guilt of the white importer, whether in Boston, Liverpool, or Hamburg, who makes a profit out of this hideous degradation and deeper barbarism, is no less than that of the slaver j while to some it seems that the drink traffic in Africa to-day is a greater curse than the slave trade j therefore from many lands , Give prayer and purse To stay the curse, Whose wrong we share, Whose shame we bear, Whose end shall gladden heaven I"
HOPEFUL SIGNS IN CHINA.
BY REV. GILBERT REID, PEKING, CHINA.
Criticism may be truthful but not always correct. It can be biased as well as flattery. During the past year China has been maligned as never before. Her weak points have been exposed, and no strong points have been taken into the account. China has appeared as the foe of missionaries, while her mandarins have been accused of heading the opposition. Such being the unfavorable aspect of China, I desire to indicate some of the favorable aspects. Baving personally experienced during the year many acts of kindness, especially from the nobles and mandarins, whose acquaintance I have tried to cultivate, it is only fair that I reciprocate the kindness by a few words of appreciative testimony.
In the first place, we should not minimize, as many have done, the favor of the Government to missionaries in the interior. While no treaty as such has stipulated that missionaries could reside or secure property away from the treaty ports, yet in 1864 regulations were made between the Chinese Foreign Office and the French Minister, whereby the Roman Catholic missionaries could purchase property in the name of the Church, while requiring that notice of intent to purchase be previously given the local authorities. On the basis of " the favored nation clause" in all treaties, all nationalities have secured for their missionaries similar favors. This year, when China was in extreme weakness, France seized the opportunity and rescinded the regulation requiring that notice be given to the authorities, and demanded instead that missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church be no longer hindered in securing property. Such is the present favor by law of the Central Government. Hence missionaries, either Protestant or Catholic, are found in everyone of the provinces.
The criticism often passed is that missionaries, in spite of the law, are annoyed, opposed, and frequently attacked and maltreated. The execution of the law is not equal to the law. In this is China the only country at fault 1 There are two ways in which we may view this legal regulation. One is, that it shows wonderful favor and toleration of a non-Christian ruler; and such being the case, missionaries should seek to respond to the favor and be lenient on little matters rather than too exacting and recriminating. Another view is that these privileges have been forced from China against her WIll. In such a case missionaries, for the good of their religion as distinct from political interference, should appreciate the difficulties of China, and again be lenient rather than severe.
Japan has often been magnified of late to the discredit of China. and yet Japan never allowed foreign missionaries to go as such into the interior or to purchase property. They went only for travel or scientific investigation. For no other cause were passports allowed. Hence the missionaries appeared, first of all, as educationalists, and commended themselves to the educated classes. In China the interior has been covered by all kinds of missionaries, many of whom made light of education, and very few of whom have commended themselves to the literati. Should we blame China too severely if here and there opposition arises ~ Even Spain and Austria will not allow Protestant Christians to build churches as do the Catholic Christians, while Russia excludes and persecutes Romanist, Protestant, and Jew. Why do not zealous people agitate for a protectorate or dismemberment of those countries ¥ In fact, the toleration of China, a non-Christian nation, toward Christian workers of all creeds and grades is a matter of surprise. Where is there an equal except Siam ~ If missionaries are considerate and courteous as well as zealous and aggressive, there is no reason why the spirit of toleration may not grow rather than die away.
A second favorable aspect of China is the growing demand for reform. I do not say that reform of all kinds will come, but there is certainly a demand for it and much talk about it. The most striking illustration is right here in Peking, where, if anywhere, reform should begin. Owing to a close personal acquaintance with the most active movers, I am able to speak with a certain amount of enthusiasm. The movement has originated among the younger men, and especially from the Censors and Hanlin, men who heretofore have been regarded as anti-foreign and anti-progressive. Early in the summer I had long conferences with two intelligent young men who have been the real leaders in the cause of reform. They first urged me to at once start the scheme which I had in mind; but as I delayed, they decided to go ahead themselves. They have seen the growing danger of the country, and have determined on new measures. Their present effort is in the line of enlightenment. They want to spread abroad knowledge, science, education, literature. Their reform is, therefore, intellectual in its kind. More is no doubt needed, but the critics of China, who have declared that she will make no change, should be the first to praise this change, however incomplete. An association for general enlightenment, or a reform club, has been actually started in conservative Peking, and Viceroy Chang Chih-tung, of Nanking, has contributed to it 10,000 taels, or some $8000.
I may say that these young men are by no means hostile to moral or religious reforms. Their main advisers among foreigners thus far have been two missionaries, Rev. Timothy Richard and myself. I have, furthermore, been invited to act as their foreign secretary or assistant j have been invited to stop at their headquarters, and have received their endorsement of a mission among the higher classes to be connected with their scheme, if in the future it should be deemed feasible.
The highest officials are now discussing more than ever measures for reform. They realize that if China does not reform now she will, erelong, cease to be.
In conclusion, I would give a call, not for ministers, but for Christians. In all the new spheres of usefulness what we want is the presence and blessing of educated men, moral, clean, upright, and Christian. Not merely the preaching part of Christianity is needed, but the varied beneficent living of Christianity. I would be glad to hear from young men who are willing to aid China and the cause in any of these lines of beneficent intelligent service.
The crisis is here; may the good Lord send His own messenger, to meet the need and help save the land !
Men used to object to sending missionaries to the interior of China because they said the doors were not yet open. They seem to think that the servants of the Prince of Peace must go to war with the Chinese, and blow the people to pieces-perhaps force more opium upon them ; and then, when the devil has done the devil's work, it will be safe for missionaries to go in there. If the Apostles of old had waited until there was a treaty between the Pharisees and Sadducees, on the one hand, and the Roman Empire on the other, to allow the peaceful propagation of the Gospel, the world would not have been evangelized to-day to the extent it is. We need not expect to find a door open until, like Peter, we come up to the great gate; and then God can cause it to open of itself-as, in point of fact, the door of Inland China did.-J. Hudson Taylor.
NINE CENTURIES OF BUDDIIISM
NINE CENTURIES OF BUDDHISM-IV.
BY F. B. BRAWE, LADAK, 'fIBET.
The last chapter in Subhadra's catechism treats of " The Brotherhood oj the Elect"-i.e., of the priests or lamas.
QUe8tion 159. What applicants are refused admission into the order? A1I8W6r. All those suffering from infectious or incurable diseases, . . • all debtors and persons answerable to the law, etc.
The" religion of love and compassion" has no hope to hold out for the leper, the blind, the maim, or the deaf. They are incapable of attaining saivation. The statement about "persons answerable to the law" does not tally with facts. Until the Dogra invasion put an end to Ladaki independence and the rule of the :lamas, criminals were regularly received into the monasteries, which enriched themselves from their lands.
Que!tion 164. What are the ten vows of the Brotherhood 1* 1. Not to kill orinjure any living being.
The disregard of this rule by the lamas whenever obnoxious heretics are concerned has been referred to above. Such deeds are indeed carried out by the laity; but the laity would not stir if the lamas attempted to restrain them instead of urging them on. The fact that their hands are not literally stained with blood is quite sufficient to put any qualms of conscience on the part of the lamas to rest. But they even go further than this. In the early times of Buddhism in Tibet, King Ralpachan persecuted the priests, until a disguised monk assassinated the king, and gained lasting honor to his own name by the foul deed. Nor are the lamas more tender-hearted when punishment only is intended. Pushing pins under the finger-nails is, if the Ladaki are to be believed, a not uncommon punishment in Tibet. Capital punishment is inflicted by drowning, as by this means the actual shedding of blood is avoided. In Ladak itself thieves used formerly to be punished by being beaten with thorns prior to being driven out naked into the desert. The king of Ladak was obliged to keep a specially well-paid clerk for documents intended for Lhasa. If a single spelling fault was discovered-and Tibetan orthography is extraordinarily difficult-orders were received that the writer's hand should be cut off. The Ladaki also state that if a man makes himself obnoxious to the Lhasa authorities, he is politely invited thither, treated most handsomely during his stay, and dismissed with presents. Unfortunately such people usually either fall into a river on the return journey or die of some mysterious disease, and it is an open secret that they are • The first eight are the same as five obligatory and three volnntary vows of the laity. We must again go into detail, but can be briefer, for it will in many cases be 1!U1Ilcient to llOint out that the lamas are no better than the laity. either treacherously pushed into the water or poisoned. I know of one man who received such an invitation, and promptly fled into British territory. Tibetans are reputed to be adepts at poisoning, and there can be no doubt that several Dalai Lamas have met with their death by this means. Only a few years ago some of the inhabitants of a village near the borders of Kunawar were lax in payment of revenue. The Lhasa government thereupon ordered the thigh bones of defaulters to be broken, a sentence which was actually carried out on those who did not succeed in escaping over the frontier. For these orders the Chinese suzerainty is in no way responsible; they emanate solely from the government of " the sinless and compassionate" Dalai Lama.
The practice of the lamas with regard to animal food has also been already noticed. The treasurer of the great Hemis monastery can give accurate statistics of the numbers of sheep and goats annually slaughtered for the consumption of the priests. Visitors of importance are presented on behalf of the monastery with one or more sheep, altho everyone knows that they will be slaughtered and eaten. In both these cases the lamas themselves are not the actual butchers, but this fact rather increases their moral guilt, inasmuch as they force laymen to do what they consider to be in itself wrong. * 2. Not to take aught not one's own or that is not freely given.
I have many times heard complaints from laymen about the grasping nature of the lamas. No bread, no tea, no butter is good enough for them. For whatever thing they express a wish, the laity have to fulfil it ; if they decline, the lama refuses any further services. In addition, many lamas are notorious thieves, and laymen are afraid to leave a lama alone even in the private chapel of each house. But in no case is any complaint made. The lama possesses power over demons, and fear of this power makes the laity submit to all insults and deprivations. Not even the letter of the law requiring a free gift is fulfilled, much less the spirit. As the individual lama, so also the" Brotherhood" in its corporate capacity. I have in my possession a set of legal documents relating to the history of a family in Leh. In nine cases out of ten they relate to unlawful attempts made by the monasteries to put themselves into possession of lands, houses, etc.
3. To live in absolute continence.
But many lamas, especially among the red sects, are married and have a family. This is, indeed, tho not according to Buddhism, yet a welcome * I was once tra.veling in the company of a number of lamas. In fording a stream, one of a 1Iock of sheep they were driving was carried away by the water, and In imminent danger of drown- Ing. Seeing the lamas standing by helpless and apparently afraid, I rescued the be8l!t for them. To my surprise, my servant afterward informed me that I had not done them a very good tum, for they would have been better pleased if the sheep had been drowned, and they could have made Ii feast oU the carcass I deviation from the rule, for it tends to guard them from the irregularities into which celibate lamas often fall, as is abundantly attested by their own confessions, by the unanimous statement of the laity, and by my own observations as to the prevalence of disease in monasteries.
4. To speak the truth always.
The lamas are no better than the Jaity in this respect, not only individually, but in their corporate capacity. When the land-tax in Ladak was revised, the monasteries represented that they devoted themselves to the free education of the people, thus gaining a permanent exemption from four-fifths of the tax levied. Their assertion about free education is, however, a sheer lie. It is notorious, and has been told me scores of times, that the lamas only educate young monks. Laymen have to provide themselves with such education as they can get.
5. Not to use intoxicating drinks.
It will be remembered that, according to Subhadra, the strict observance of this rule is incumbent on priests. But the monasteries are the chief distilleries of a powerful barley brandy. Tipsy monks are no rare spectacle.
6. Not to eat at unseasonable times.
I believe that this rule is fairly well observed in most monasteries, but there are exceptions.
7. Not to take part in dancing, singing light songs, frequenting public shows, nor any other worldly dissipation.
Almost the only public shows in Ladak are the entertainments in the monasteries, in which dancing by the lamas (the so-called" devil-dances") are the chief feature. It cannot be urged that this is a part of religion. The people d.esignate the entertainment by the same word as they apply to a military parade, a juggling perfqrmance, or a fight. In their opinion it is all a " show," nothing more. Moreover, when the Wazir of Ladak gives a dinner to any European visitors, the lama-dance is a regular item in the evening's amusement. The lamas not only attend public amusements, but themselves give dttncing entertainments to the public.
8. Not to wear ornaments, use secrets, oils. cosmetics, or whatever else tends to vanity.
Altho lamas and nuns do not wear earrings and other ornaments, they use whenever possible the best cloth and Rometimes even silks for clothing.
9. Not to use soft and luxurious beds, but to sleep on a hard, low couch.
By observing this rule the lamas do not in any way distinguish themselves from the laity, becanse beds are quite a new thing in Ladak, and are only a:ffect~d by those who have been very much influenced by Indian customs. The people, including the higher classes, sleep on a couple of felt rugs spread on the ground, using their clothes as covering.
10. Not to live otherwise than in voluntary poverty.
This rule is only laxly obeyed in the letter and flagrantly transgressed in the spirit. The monasteries of Ladak are the largest landholders in the country, besides drawing an immense revenue from the offerings of the faithful. Any visitor to a monastery can convince himself by actual experience of the eagerness with which a bakshish is clamored for by the monks. The bakshish should also, in their opinion, stand in relationship, not to their services, but to their supposed position in the social scale. Of course this money is kept by the monk who receives it. On one occasion I offered a monk a bakshish, which he declined. He called, however, later on at my tent and claimed his reward, explaining that on the previous occasion a superior lama had been watching, and would have taken two thirds of the gift for himself.
This cursory examination of the chief rules as applied to and carried out by the clergy leads, therefore, to precisely the same result as when the laity are considered. The men who ought to be leaders, themselves transgress the most fundamental rules. I know of only one exception to this state of affairs. The monks of R– monastery are universally reputed to be far above the rest. They allow no meat near the monastery, eat their meals according to rule, and tho they do not decline money offered, no lama keeps it for himself, but places it in t.he hands of the common treasurer. The monks themselves have a more intelligent expression than is usual, while the monastery is kept beautifully clean and neat, which is more than can be said of any other Ladaki establishment. Altogether the monastery of R– made on me the impression of being a place where an honest attempt is made to carry out at least a portion of the rules. * But R– monastery is an exception, only showing that the lax state of affairs in the other institutions is not solely due to ignorance, but to deliberate disregard of the rules.
In answer to II. 166, Subhadra says That Samana (priest, lama) who disgraces the robe he wears by some grave transgression of the vows is liable … to expUlsion from the order.
Precisely so ; he is liable, but only liable. Even for adultery this penalty is rarely exacted in Ladak.
Que8tion 167. Are the brethren free to live wherever they like? Answer. No; they are enjoined to live in monasteries or as hermits. Ani a note: Of course the women members of the order live in separate VikaraB. They are not allowed to live alone in hermitages.
In Ladak, however, many lamas live continually in the villages, free * I consider it advisable not to give the name of the monastery in full. It is at present nnknown to Europeans, and I should be sorry to do anything toward turning the stream of tourists in that direction, as rapid demoralization would infallibly ensue. from all monastic restraint j and nuns are allowed to reside in hermitages, sometimes in the proximity of a male hermit. The result has been sufficiently indicated above.
Question 168. In what relation does the Brotherhood stand to the laity? Answer. Their mutual relation is a. purely moral one, free from all outward obligation. • .. The brethren are to be to the laity a living example of self·control, self-denial, and charity. When desired to do 80, they are to explain and expound the doctrine to the laity, and be ready at all times to give them spiritual advice and assistance.
As a matter of fact, the Buddhist clergy is an example of purest selfindulgence and selfishness. A lama never does anything except for payment. Is he required to perform any ceremony, food and money must be provided. Is he to exorcise demons, " cash down" is the rule. Is he to read the doctrine, he has a regular tariff of charges ready. A lama never carries a load j not even the holy books or gifts for his monastery will he himself bear away. A brisk trade is carried on in charms and amulets. A bit of clean rag-value less than one-tenth cent-is tied into a knot, the lama mumbles over it, spits on it, ties it to the man's cap, and : " 50 cents, please!" In this way a lama of reputation can on a good day earn several dollars an hour. As for expounding the doctrine, they are absolutely unable to do so. Stupidity is written on the faces of most of them, and they understand the dialect of the books very:little better than many of the laity. One asks in vain for any explanation of a difficult word, while definitions of religious or philosophic terms are quite beyond their powers. At the same time, they never confess their ignorance, but seek to hide it by voluble disquisitions on all manner of things except that under discussion. Sometimes you may succeed in getting a lama narrowed down to the real question at issue, only to see him escape with the bland remark: "Oh, that's a mystical term. Only the Dalai Lama knows what that means." They mumble and gabble the books rapidly enough, but as far as understanding is concerned, it might as well be Choctaw. There must undoubtedly be a sprinkling of really learned lamas in Tibet, and occasionally a clever man appears even in Ladak ; but the average lama is as ignorant as the ordinary layman. Many Ladaki lamas, after "completing their education" in the great monasteries of Tibet, return more conceited but as densely ignorant as before. I once asked a lama about the Pratimoksha Sutra, which contains the chief rules of discipline for monks, and should be solemnly recited twice a month. He not only did not know the contents, but denied that such a book existed, and was only convinced when I pointed it out to him in the library of his monastery. And yet he had just returned from twelve years' study in Lhasa, and had no donbt rattled it off scores of times. If a lama can read, write, and recite certain passages from memory, his education is completed. It is hard to see how such people can" give spiritual advice and assistance." QuelJtion 169. How are the laymen to behave toward the Brotherhood 'I A1l8WI!1'. They are to show the members of the order due respect and reverence, and provide for their daily sustenance. By so doing they are gaining merit, and they are promoting their own happiness. And in a note: Buddhism teaches that it is not the Bhikshu (monk, lama, priest) who should be grateful for gifts received from the Upasaka (devout layman), but the latter to the first, because the recipient affords the donor an opportunity to gain merit by a charitable act..
Let the reader pause to consider what this means. A class of men intellectually and morally as debased as the surrounding population, possessing no recommendations of any sort, doing no work, and profiting no man, are so far elevated above the rest as to be released from all feelings of gratitude for being well fed, clothed, and supported in their lazzaroni existence. Nay, the very fact of their being lazy and accepting what they should have earned by labor, causes the donor to be placed under an obligation. Such clerical pretensions are absolutely unparalleled in any other religion.
Question 170. Does the order possess any spiritual power over the laity? Answer. No. . . . But the order repudiates all connection with an Upasaka who has been guilty of some grave moral offense, or who has spoken contemptuously of the Buddha, the doctrine, or the order.
Translated into facts, this means that the lamas hold friendly connection with every man who can pay, whether he be a criminal or not. As soon as a man cannot pay, or refuses to pay, l,he lamas blast him by their curse. And here lies the real secret of the lama's power. He alone is possessed of the means to ward off the innumerable demons lying in wait for the layman. Should he refuse his assistance or use his power against him, the layman sees himself delivered helpless into the hands of evil powers. His crops will fail j his cattle will die j he himself and his family will be attacked by loathsome diseases. This belief, carefully fostered during generations by the lamas, renders the laity powerless. The lamas are neither loved nor respected j their power is due to fear, and fear alone. As an example of the supernatural influence ascribed to the lamas, it may be mentioned that they are supposed to be able to control the weather, a belief which is firmly held in spite of constantly recurring unseasonable rains and droughts, which the lamas were unable to prevent. A missionary in Kunawar informs me that at the time of the last Sikkim campaign it was currently stated that the English had, by means of the wind, sent a large number of paper soldiers into Tibetan territory. The lamas, however, caused heavy rain to fall, and completely destroyed the paper army. One could hardly credit such childiRhness, even on the part of followers of the African rain-doctor and medicine-man j but it is true of a country which has for nine centuries been illuminated by the effulgence of the " Light of Asia."
(To be concluded.)
JOHN KING, THE APOSTLE OF SURINAM
JOHN KING, THE APOSTLE OF SURINAM.* BY PROFESSOR HENRY E. DOSKER, D.D.
The history of John King is so unique and his conversion so forcible an illustration of the possibility of the direct and immediate operation of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and consciences of the heathen, that it appears worthy of a wider notice than has hitherto been accorded to it.
This brief sketch purposes to set forth, in their order, the facts of the life of John King, as they are reported by the Moravian missionaries of Surinam, whose veracity no one questions. Dutch Guiana is hemmed in between British and French Guiana, and covers a territory of some sixty thousand square miles, of which all but one fifteenth part is an unexplored and impenetrable wilderness.
The sources of the Surinam are still veiled in mystery, and explorers are deterred by the deadly malaria of the upper-river regions. The mixed population of Dutch Guiana is estimated at about sixty thousand, exclu- sive of some eighteen thousand bush negroes and an uncertain number of Indians.
These bush negroes are the descendants of runaway slaves, and they inhabit the dense jungles of the interior. There are three tribes of themthe Aukanians, the Saramaccans, and the Bekon or Moesinga. All have lapsed into complete heathenism, but there are some traces of a former connection with Christianity. As chief god they worship Gran-Gado (great God), whose wife is Maria, and whose son is Jesi Kist. They are, however, polytheists, and worship forest gods, water gods, air gods, etc.
The country they inhabit is called by themselves the land of the shadow of death. The climate, especially in the rainy season, is pestilential, and the swift and turbulent rivers are practically unnavigable.
In the heart of the maiden forest, on the banks of the Saramacca, lies the village of Maripastoon, and here the Lord called and ordained John King for the special work for which He had destined him.
When the Moravian missionary Calker, in 1869, represented his Guianan field at the General Synod, he read a curious epistle of John King, which in part runs as follows: " I, John King, your humble servant, whom the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has given in your hands, send to all the great masters and their wives my heartfelt greetings. I am John King, whom the Lord Jesus at Maripastoon has raised from the sleep of death. It was there that, in the midst of other heathen, the Holy Spirit began to work so powerfully in me that often I did not know where I was. At that time all, even my sisters, considered me a miscreant. No one would have anything to do with * The French rellgious press tells an interesting story concerning the work of an unknown and humble servant of Christ, who, by his untiring labors in a well-nigh hopeless environment. has earned the title of apostle ofDutch Gutana. me. Yet I lived five years among them to admonish them. It seemed as if the Lord Jesus Hi.mself lived within me and in my house, and yet He had not yet sent us masters from the city. And thus it happened that, for a long time, He was our only Master at Maripastoon. He HimselI has taught us and opened our understanding. At last, however, 'He sent us missionaries. " v Who was the author of these lines 1 A coal-black negro, a perfect matuari, born in 1830 at Paramaribo, from the third marriage of his mother Ademsi to a negro named Au"ka. In 1846 they settled at Mari· pastoon, where they lapsed into complete heathenism.
The bush negroes of Surinam are fetish worshipers in the fullest sense of the word, and they conceive their safety largely to depend on the number of beads, pieces of colored glass, strands of rope or buttons which they possess. No sacrifice.is considered too great to escape the spell of a conjurer (wintimken), who is dreaded worse than death itself Under the influence of demoniacal possession (winti), the victim loses all self-consciousness and dances on glowing embers, grasps red hot irons, or swallows broken glass without any pain. The relatives of these unfortunates surround them, and cry out in the utmost distress: "Father, do not harm us! Mercy, 0 Father! We will give what thou mayest ask !"
Such was the environment of the early life of John King. The children of Ademsi were held in great esteem at Maripastoon, and soon rose to a commanding position among the bush negroes. This may have aroused jealousy, for, when a pestilence swept the forests, the family was accused of sorcery. As the disease seemed to originate in the water, they were impoverished by compelled sacrifices of their household goods to the river god. John King, however, seems, from his early boyhood, to have been a white raven among his relatives and daily associates. In vain efforts were made to bring him nnder the influence of the " winti." He was persecuted and tortured; for three months at a time he was manacled hand and foot, and rubbed with sharp, aromatic herbs-all to no purpose. At last the" Gran-winti" declared that he had no power over King, because his heart belonged to the God oj heaven. King had become a changed man, but how 1 It is almost impossible to conceive that in the astonishing experiences through which he passed there has not been a leaven of early, be it occult and inexplicable, influences. He left Paramaribo as a mere boy, and there he had apparently never come under the power of Christianity. From his thirteenth year he had lived among the lowest type of heathenism ; all his relatives were swept along by the current; he alone remained separate from the rest. He was converted by agencies which are wholly in line with those dominant characteristics of the negro race which are met with wherever the negro is found, whether before or after his conversion, in Africa, in America, in Surinam, or anywhere else-viz., an apocalyptic and ecstatic tendency in religious matters.
King was apparently changed by dreams and visions. Day or night he might be found lying under a tree in a cataleptic trance, in which the strangest things passed through his mind. They touched on heaven and hell, or, rather, their equivalents in the hazy spiritual atmosphere which appeared to surround him; on his own sins, and those of his environment; on present duties and future rewards.
When he met the Moravian missionary Staehelin in 1893, he told him that the first vision came to him about 1850, when he was about twenty years old.
Let him tell his own peculiar story.
" I was," he says, "sick, nigh unto death. " My relatives surrounded me, and groaned and yelled by turns. At last a silence as of death ensued, and I lost consciousness. Then I saw a beautiful land, and before me I saw large tables filled with cups of chocolate and other delicacies. With great diffidence I approached, but the guests urged me to come and lartake of their repast. Then the scene changed. An Indian came an motioned to me to follow him. He brought me to a dreadful place, and pointed to large tubs filled with oil. , There are,' he said, 'those who atone by fire for the sins they have committed. They stand up to their knees in burning oil.' "All around me I saw fire; my whole body seemed to glow and my feet to burn. " , Do you feel the heat ¥' my guide asked. " , Yes,' I answered, 'and it hurts me. ' " , Now, then,' he continued, 'when you shall have returned to the earth, tell your people what you have seen, and say: "If you do not repent, this will be your fate." , " , Where am I ~' I asked, and he replied, , You are in hell.' " Then he disappeared."
In this remarkable dream King further was shown" the being who had brought all evil in the world," and who was in great torments and pain. In unspeakable agony of soul King began to moan and wail, which his friends considered to be his death struggle. Finally all his suffering found vent in the one great cry, "0 Gado, savi mo vi I" (" 0 God, have mercy on me I") Hardly had this cry passed his lips but a vision of light appeared-a being with glistening arms and eyes like flames of fire, and a soft voice was heard, " I am the Mediator between God and man. Go to the city and tell the missionaries what you have seen, and they will teach you to read God's book and to write. And now return to the earth; from this moment on thou art My servant." Consciousness then returned, and King slowly recovered from his mortal illness.
There seems to be no reason to doubt the veracity of this strange story. It seems to have been an actual experience in King's life, and it certainly was the beginning of a new existence. Staehelin and the other Moravian missionaries who knew the character and piety of King never doubted the story.
As a psychological php,nomenon the dream is, however, astonishing, since there seems to be no harmony between it and the religious knowledge he then possessed.
This trance was followed by others of a similar nature, and King stedfastly refused to further join in any idolatrous practices. His tribesmen, however, wanted to compel him to bow to an idol, but King said that the Lord spoke to him, "If thou kneelest to the idol, thou shalt die. But I will save thee from their hands. Fear not, I am with thee." The turbulent, frantic heathen closed about King, and a martyr's death seemed to confront him, when suddenly he knelt down and prayed aloud: " My Savior, if I do this in my own strength, then may my words have no effect at all ; but if Thou hast elected me to bring them to Thee, help me, then, o Lord, to convert them to Thee, and cause them to see that Thou hast sent me." When King arose after this prayer his tormentors were stealthily leav- ing the place, and unhindered he returned to his own house. With great zeal King now began the work to which he felt himself called. He went to Paramaribo and visited the Moravian missionaries, who taught him to read and write, and instructed him in the truth of God. He advanced rapidly, while the mysterious visions and dreams continued.
The missionaries warned him not to trust in them nor to be puffed up on their account, and King accepted their admonitions with the utmost humility.
According to a model which had been given him in a dream, King built a chapel at Maripastoon on his return there. He now began actively to antagonize the fetish worship of his tribe, and showed the baselessness of their superstitions by doing everything which the "winti" forbade. Thus the backbone of heathenism at Maripastoon was broken. The little chapel soon became too small, and when the Spirit began to drive King into outlying districts, Trans Bona, a distant relative of King, was called from Koffiekamp to be pastor at Maripastoon.
Years passed by, and the mission was greatly blessed. The greater number of the inhabitants of the village were baptized. King himself always held back, mainly through a deep conscionsness of sin and uuworthiness. At last, in August, 1863, he received the sacrament. His face shone with a supernatural glory, and his only desire was to be with Christ. But God had a different plan with him, for till this very day he works in the vineyard of the Lord. At his baptism his heathen name, Adiri, was changed to John King.
When, in October, 1863, the first missionaries, Calker and Bramherg, arrived at Maripastoon, they were received with every manifestation of joy. Apparently every trace of heathenism had been effaced; order and prosperity prevailed; men and women were decently dressed; Maripastoon was a Christian community. The calling of John King had not been in vain.
From Maripastoon as a center the power of the new movement was felt far and wide among the bush negroes.
In 1874 the old octagonal church building of King was replaced by a more commodious structure, while a new church was established at Kwattahedde. Great stress was laid by King on the necessity of keeping the Sabbath Day holy, in obedience to the command of God. At Kwattahedde everything which could remind of the old idolatry was destroyed before the church was organized.
King now pressed far inland, and even into the mountainous districts of High Surinam j from Maripastoon he radiated up to the banks of the Cottica, or to the territory of the Auka negroes.
Surrounded by ever-thickening dangers, and yet evermore, as by a miracle, escaping them, he made an indelible impression wherever he went. To him life, with all its ambitions, and hopes, and sufferings, and joys, was comprehensible only from the angle of salvation. Christ can be truly said to be "his only passion." He is the Henry Martyn of Surinam j and, as numerous souls were won for the Savior, his name became a household word in the forests of Dutch Guiana.
And yet the cross was laid on him, as on all God's children. At a critical period in the history of his missions, fever and ague kept him from acting his part j his constitution became a wreck j at Maripastoon an inexplicable reaction in favor of heathenism asserted itself j the pharisaical conduct of his brother, Noe Andra"i, nearly broke his heart j and when the latter died, not King, but the heathen Alafanti, was elected gran-man of the tribe, thus extinguishing the fond hope of King of being enabled to help the cause of the Gospel from this high station. Undaunted, however, the aged missionary extended his operations still farther into the unexplored wildernesses of Surinam, where the worshipers dwell of the god Grantati. There he was laboring when Staehelin and Richter, the Moravian missionaries, arrived at Maripastoon in 1893, who heard this wonderful story from his own lips, and have given it publicity. They werc deeply impressed by the" faithfulness, honesty, uprightness, zeal, simplicity, and wonderful courage and love for the Master" which characterized John King. His visions had not puffed him up j he was timid rather than forward, and simple as a little child.
INTERNATIONAL DEPABTJoIENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
BDlTED AND OONDUOTBD BY BEV. I. T. GBAOllY, D.D.
The Japan of To-day a.nd To-morrow. ness. I know of churches that have dropped all services, except, perhaps, BY REV. J. H. PETTEE, OKAYAMA, one on Sunday evening, and many of whose members work nearly as hard on JAPAN. Sunday as during the week. All of the great manufactories rest only twice a Japan is, perhaps, the most homo- month, with occasional other holidays. geneous nation on earth. She is cer- It is, of course, very difficult to compete tainly, in proportion to her size, the with these and ordinary shopmen if most kaleidoscopic. What she is to- Sunday is strictly kept. Drinking day she is sure not to be to-morrow. habits are on the increase among Chris- What she is this moment in Tokyo she tians as a whole. The labor problem is not in the provinces. And yet she is begins to loom up like a dark cloud on one nation, ever swayed throughout her the horizon. entire length by the same impulses, the same crazes. Per contra, the evangelists who have stuck to their posts are showing a depth Without stopping to explain this d conviction and intensity of devotion seeming contradiction in her make-up, seldom seem in former days. There are and calling attention to it mainly for more men in the ministry to-day because the purpose of setting up a shield in called of God to be there-men who will case arrows of criticism are fired at the starve in their tracks rather than yield image of Japan about to be unveiled, I to selfish, sordid motives-than ever bewill proceed at once to the pleasant task fore. of describing her as she appears to me, a single individual. Be she hag or Moreover, some who have left the beauty, demimonde or semi-angel, I ministry have done so with a high purleave to each to decide for himself. pose, and have started or are purposing to start Sunday-keeping, honesty-loving I. And first not to waste time over industries. minor matters, she has caught the commercia.l spirit of the age. Business is Again. many asylums, industrial the craze of the hour. New manufac- schools, and other forms of practical tories are springing up on all hands. A charity have been organized, and simulsilk thread weaving mill with a plant of taneous training of the heart, hand, and $2,ooO,OOO-an enormous sum for this head is now a recognized and perhaps non-wealthy country-is just going up the most prominent feature of Christian within an eighth of a mile of my home, activity. I have the statistics of eighand it will soon be impossible to live teen orphan asylums under Protestant anywhere in the land out of sight of and seventeen under Roman Catholic factory chimneys and out of sound of influences. Also of six: other homes of steam whistles. refuge for various classes, sixteen hos- pitals and dispensaries, and thirty-six: Now. this great wave has inundated night or industrial schools. The actual the Church as well as the world, and facts go far beyond these figures, as it one question of the hour is, Will the is exceedingly difficult to secure full Church ride triumphantly on this mighty statistics of this sort-a thing, I may wave over the sea of Japanese life, or add, I am, however, now attempting will it be swamped and sink in the todo. depths? I could obtain easily the names of a dozen men, perhaps give U. A Buddhist magazine has lately them offhand, who have Jeft the minis- stated that there are not less than two try the past two years to go into busi· hundred societies working in the inter- the kingdom of heaven; are welcomed est of social reform. Some of these are everywhere.
under Buddhist and some under Chris- Inquirers are on the increase, semi· tian auspices, but their inception is Nicodemuses who exist by the hundred due undoubtedly to Christian sugges- if not thousand among thoughtful men tion. In short, indications abound that in the land, are coming out of their re- Japan has caught the full force of the tirement. I met one such the other present great movement in the West day, a disciple a quarter of a century away from dogmatic to practical Chris- ago of Thompson and Carruthers, two tianity. The Kumiai (Congregational) early Presbyterian missionaries. He pastors and laymen, at their now fa- told me he still kept his Bible, and read mous meeting in Nara last October, is- it when he had leisure.
sued a manifesto which attempted no There ha;e been more additions to definition of the personality of Christ, the churches the past six months than and made no reference to the Bible, but during the previous year, or perhaps laid the main stress on the fatherhood year and a half. Everyone, friend and of God and religious living, especially foe alike, has an undefined feeling that in the matter of family purity. But Christianity is the only and sure solvent the meeting touched a high-water mark for the mighty problems coming up be- of true Christian feeling and devo- fore Japan. There is almost a revival- tion. istic spirit in several cities.
III. And this leads me to say that the We are disappointed in individual turn of the tide seems to have been Christians and particular churches or reached in matters theological. De- institutions. Japanese enthusiasm runs structive criticism and negative preach- into some lamentable excesses, but what ing are at a discount. Men must have of that? It were better for the pot to a positive meosage, even if it be not the boil over sometimes than not to boil at .whole Gospel which they feel called of all. The experience of the past five God to proclaim. There is, of course, ycars has been that indifferentism is far much experimenting still concerning more fatal to true progress than hot- Christian doctrines and Christian deeds. headed blundering.
The publication of the ReTiiew of Relig- As I view it, the greatest hindrance ious ReTJieW8 by some Christians and the to the Japanese church of to·day is, not general acceptance of the doctrine of the loose theology of some among her evolution are prominent evidences of an members nor the opposition from unbe- eclectic tendency in religious thought, Jievers, but the conduct of what may while the non-observance of the Sab- be termed the outer rim of Christian bath, the very wide fellowship of the church-membership. Many of these churches, and the yielding to the mate- professed disciples have denied their rialistic spirit of the times are equally Lord and His Gospel by flagrant acts of significant signs of the movement along unrighteousness. I can think of six practical lines. places at this moment where it seems The simple truth is, Christianity as a well-nigh impossible for earnest evan- fad has had its day. As a foreign re- gelists to get a hearing solely because ligion it is no longer welcome. The call of the disgraceful conduct of professing is for a Japanese Christianity; and peo- Christians. There was nothing askew ple at large are beginning to feel that about their theology, but their lives Christianity is adapted to Japan, and were frightfully BO. I deplore loose may now be considered naturalized and thinking on vital themes; but loose liv- fitted to do its work in the Far East. ing is far more disastrous to the faith of Christian men of earnest faith and common people. There is, however, a marked personality, who are genuinely healthy toning up in both the theory interested in annexing New Japan to and practice of Christian doctrine. A refreshing emphasis is being laid on the can and English brethren. But the con.
fundamentals of Christian truth. ditions are such that the foreigner on IV. I deal,lastly, with that most deli- the ground must do some things that cate of all factors in the problem, the might as well be left to natives, and a foreign missionary. And, first, one per- great deal of his best work is done sonal word. For years I advocated through Japanese.
strongly a large increase in the foreign In a word, it is time for foreign mis- force. I was chairman of the commit- sionary work to come to a close and tee on new missionaries in my own mis- home missionary work to take its place.
sion, and have perhaps written more let- The foreigners who can fit into the new ters to possible candidates for missionary conditions and do strong work are service in Japan than any other worker needed and will be welcomed. But the in this country. I have given very average foreigner is so handicapped for careful thought and examination to the direct personal work that it seems to whole subject, and my conviction is me far better as well as more economi- clear that I cannot longer advise men to cal to commit the work to the Japanese come to Japan for the ordinary sort of as fast as possible and rely for the for- missionary work. eign contingent on occasional visits of I believe there is still a work, and will men with an established reputation, be for many years to come, for the for- whose every word counts, and who, by eign missionary here; but the work as reason of their brief sojourn in the coun- a whole is entering on a new stage, and try, are not expected to conform to the probabilities of true success for the Japanese ways of thought and methods ordinary foreigner are too small to j us- of life. The Japanese want the best, tify American churches, in view of and if it is not brought to their shores larger claims upon them, planning for they will seek it out for themselves, and a wide extension of their work here. pass by what they deem second-rate.
There are at least one hundred highly I yield to none in admiration of the educated Japanese Christian writers in missionary fraternity in Japan, but I the city of Tokyo alone. There must also recognize its limitations. I do not be over two hundred young men in the forget the vast millions yet unreached.
empire more or less closely associated I simply press two points: with Christian movements who have 1. it is quality, not quantity, that is been educated abroad. I have a list of needed in the foreign contingeney. It seventy such connected with a single would be better to reduce the foreign ecclesiastical organization. Even the force one half or two thirds, give those teaching of English is now passing into who remain carte blanche to unite and the hands of natives, and they are pub- economize, than to go on in the present lishing books, newspapers, and maga- thoughtless, competing fashion, each zines in the foreign language. The denomination plauning to possess the best literature of the world is at their whole land, or large sections thereof, command. The simple fact is, the field while far vaster countries than little of the foreign missionary's activity, ex- Japan have next to no knowledge at all cept in the case of specialists and mem- of Christ and His wondrous Gospel.
bers of very young missions, has been I am not opposed to a variety of steadily narrowing. "There is no fu- sects; but denominationalism is a lux- ture for the foreigner in Japan" applies ury that should not be encouraged in with some modifications to the mission- foreign service. When the Japanese ary as well as the merchant. can support their own work let them Let me not be misunderstood. Per- have as many kinds in each city as they sonally I never was busier than I am to- may elect. Until then the fewer the day. I am pulled three ways at once, better.
and the same is true of scores of Ameri· 2. Owing to the rapid advance of the work, the foreign missionary has lost Let us rejoice in what God hath his leadership in one thing after an- wrought, trust Him to perfect that other. His last and strongest position, which He hath fashioned, and tnrn the that of character and all round judg- channel of distinctively foreign mission- ment, is now being assailed. Japanese ary service to needier wastes beyond.
leaders are springing up here and there who in point of personal worth and whole souled devotion to the cause of Recent Public Movements in Japan. Christ are worthy to rank beside their foreign brethren. They and their fol_ BY REY. H. LOOMIS, YOKOHAMA, JAPAN.
lowers are the ones who must in the na- The recent session of the Japanese ture of the case assume the main re- Diet was the most harmonious and suc- sponsibility for the conversion of Japan. cessful of any yet held. Some of the They should be sustained by the pray- former assemblies have been character- ers and -sympathy, gifts and service of ized by so much wrangling and confu- foreign friends, but in steadily diminish- sion, that the question has not infre- ing quantities so far as the last two quently arisen whether the time had agents are concerned. If neither cod- really come for a constitutional govern- dled nor controlled they are nearly ready ment.
to assume this large responsibility. Ever since the formation of a parlia- It will require an unusual degree of ment the Cabinet has been the object courage and trust to pass over the eter- of constant and bitter opposition. It nal destinies of millions into their still has unfortunately had no political party feeble hands; but heroism offaith on the to uphold and press its policy, and as part of Western (Jkri8tendom supplement- a consequence has at various times been ed by heroism of 8ervice on the part of criticised and condemned by all. The Eastern (Jhristiana i8 equaZ to the task. result has been that so many proroga- A Japan that can win great victories tions and dissolutions have taken place on the field of battle, that nearly that legislation has made slow progress, doubles its income in the year following and what has been done has not given a protracted war, that bids fair to rival general satisfaction. Measures of im- the West with its industries, its educa- portance have been passed by or merely tion and its large national aspirations, discussed and abandoned, because of may safely be left under God to work the want of unity and the constant ten- out its own salvation in things that are dency to strife.
spiritual and eternal. The war has been a boon to the gov- I write in no caustic spirit. I recog- ernment in many ways. It has rallied, nize that much may be said in defense of like nothing else, the whole country to a contrary position. I would not wound the support of the Emperor, and those the feelings of a single brother who may who have been associated with him in see things differently. I am address' power have shared the benefit. The ing not the world at large but a band skill and efficiency of the administra- of God's choicest noblemen who believe tion hilS also won the admiration of with all their hearts in foreign missions. many of those who have hitherto been I am full of the joy of the Lord in my its enemies, and prepared the way for chosen work. I love Japan and hope a new and more satisfactory arrange- to give her many more years of the ment for the conduct of affairs.
gladdest service; but my conviction is For years past the Liberal Party has clear and strong that the seed of the been the strongest political power in Word is securely planted in Japanese the country. Its leader was at one soil. The kingdom is coming here in time a prominent member of the Cab- all the might and glory of Christ's inet, but did not agree with his associ- royal presence. ates as to the policy to be pursued, and withdrew from office to become the Japan. The baBis of morality was Budhead of a party that demanded more dhistic, and it was thus intended to liberty and equality among the people make the school system of the country and a cabinet responsible to and not a medium for extending the teachings independent of the Diet. of Shaka, and by preoccupying the minds of the rising generation preclude The result has been that Count Ita- the teachings of Christianity. The gaki has won the esteem and confidence proposition did not meet with the apof the people throughout the land to proval of the progressive and leading such an extent, that his influence and men; and, much to the chagrin and cooperation have been felt to be neces- disappointment of its advocates, it failed sary in the successful conduct of affairs. of adoption. He has spent all of his fortune in the advocacy of his views, and several at- But one of the most unfortunate tempts were made to take his life. things for Buddhism that could have Whatever may be thought of his opin- happened in Japan has been the conions, it is conceded on all sides that no duct of Viscount Miura, who is a special man has shown more devotion to his representative of that form of religious principles and a greater desire to pro· belief. His appointment as Minister to mote the welfare of the country than Korea was evidently only as a tempo- Count Itagaki. Just as he was a hero rary affair, and to satisfy the great mulwhen fighting for the restoration of titude of the Japanese who are stillll.rm power to the Emperor, so he has been adherents to that system of faith. Owequally brave and self.sacrificing in the ing to their numerical strength the govadvocacy of ideas that he regarded as ernment felt obliged to make some con· essential to the welfare of the people. cession to their clamor for official po- sition and patronage. It is not at all Improbable that the difficulties which other statesmen have That Viscount Miura should plot to seen to the adoption of his ideas may murder the Korean Queen, and then be become evident to him as he attempts so unconscious of the heinousness of to put them into practice ; for it is a his crime as to think that it was possinot unfrequent experience that those ble to condone it, was something that who advocate radical theories become the men who had given him the office quite conservative when put into a po- had not dreamed of. Count Inouye sition where they become responsible had long and persistently labored to for the consequences. promote the peace and welfare of Korea. His policy was one of conciliation, and It is yet too soon to decide what will quite the reverse of that of his succesbe the result of the appointment 01 sor. To have seen all his efforts to pro- Count Itagaki as Minister of Home mote harmony among the various op- Affairs. While he is not an avowed posing factions come to nought, and Christian, some of his most intimate the long increasing influence of Japan friends and associates are. It is prob- swept away by one rash and barbarous able, therefore, that his accession to act, must have been a most bitter expower will be favorable to the work of perience to Count Inouye. By his wis· missions. dom and skill the Japanese had ob- tained a controlling influence in Korea. For some years past the Buddhists But now they are everywhere hated, have been striving to retain and in- and in many places they have been crease (if possible) their influence and either killed or driven out. Whether power. One of their recent schemes they will ever regain their former pres· was the introduction into the Diet of a tige is exceedingly doubtful. Russia measure for the adoption by the gov- has gained what Japan lost, and it is ernment of a certain text·book that was not at all likely that Russia will fail to professedly prepared for the purpose of teaching morals in the schools of retain what it will be of so much inter- In former dynasties in China the em- perors of the T'ang-Sung. Yuen and est to her to hold. Ming, having learned that the object of Christianity was to do good, issued Just at this time tbe cbaracter of tbe Edicts, granting land and temples for various religious teachings is being carefully observed, and the men wbo the teaching of the doctrines, just the are at the helm of Japanese affairs have same as to the other religions of China. In the beginning of the present dynasty, become too enlightened to entertain the too, the Emperor Kang-hi not only gave idea that tbe end justifies the means. to Christianity, as he gave to other re- While they have not expressed their ligions, but was particularly kind to views in public in regard to the conduct Christians. In Yung Ching's reign the government changed its former policy of Viscount Miura, it is known to many and forbade the propagation of Chris- that they regret and disapprove of it tianity. After that missionaries ceased most heartily. It is highly probable to come. In later years Treaties with foreign nations have been made and that the murder of the Korean Queen missionaries have been authorized to will do more to make Buddhism un- come again. But, unexpectedly, in popular than we can now realize. 1870 there was a terrible uprising, In the mean time the work of the when over twenty missionaries were massacred in Tientsin. missionaries in Japan is like that of an In 1891 along the Yang-tsze Valley army in the siege of a city. It is not chapels were burned and missionaries making rapid progress, but moving murdered. This year in Szechuen trou- steadily forward toward the citadel. ble has sprung up again. Altho there were plenty of government soldiers One by one the strongholds are being close at band there was not one to go undermined. On every side there are forth with his weapons to stop the mob.
indications of success. The workers The officers sat down quietly and let are generally hopeful. Converts are the mob do whatever they liked, for- bade no one and seized not a single culbeing received in considerable numbers. prit, and over a hundred Christian and leading men among the native teachers were in imminent peril of their preacbers are becoming more and more lives for many weeks after. reconciled to the acceptance of the car- Before the Szechuen riots were settled there sprung up the Fukien riots. Here dinal doctrines of Christianity as they the missionaries had lived long in peace, are held and taught by the missionaries. when suddenly, without any provoca- In many ways we can see that God is tion, eleven were cruelly murdered and with us and the final victory is assured. five others wounded, so that we are troubled beyond measure. Inquiring into the cause of these ris- ings, we find, on reading the Imperial Memorial to the Obinese Emperor on . Edict of 1891 and the memorials, both in Peking and from the provinces, that Ohristian Missions. they rightly agree in attributing it to We. the undersigned Protestant mis- the circulation of false and evil reports sionaries, on account of foolish and against Christians, and, altho four years wicked people slandering our religion are passed since then, we have not heard and destroying our cburches, respect- that any of the slanderers have been fully present a memorial to His Majesty punished according to law. nor have we the Emperor of China, in the hope that heard that the books which slander and the root of missionary riots may be re- deceive the people have been forbidden, moved and that an end forever may be so the cause of the evil is still left to put to missionary troubles. take root in the people's mind. In this It is well known in all nations that way how can riots not arise again ~ government and religion are mutually Seeing this state of things, and being dependent on one another. Where suit- unable to endure it any longer, your able relations exist between these two, memorialists, according to our custom troubles are unknown, but where such in the West, unite in begging Your do not exist the government is in eon- Majesty's favor to command the Tsungstant danger; for if one party appeals li Yamen (the Foreign Office), in confer· to force and the other to conscience ence with the missionaries, to speedily division is inevitable and anarchy may devise means to protect the Ohristians. If this is d{)ne, then not only will misfollow. sionary troubles be averted in the fu· ness with goodness, ignorance with ture, but China's other troubles will knowledge, poverty with plenty, and also be considerably lessened, both at by leading men also to seek the eternal home and abroad. joys of heaven. This we know is a fsr larger aim than anyone government, We consider China an illustrious na- eastern or western, has before it; theretion, and long ago she knew that to fore it cannot be easily or soon accomhave a right understanding with relig- plished. But all Christians are persuadion was of the first importance; there- ed that such is the will of heaven, fore for a thousand years-from the therefore they believe it will be accom- Tang dynasty till the present time-as plished some day, and that, indepen- Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Mo- dently of any particular nationality. hammedanism, and Christianity arose So in regard to all national and interin China they were all alike protected, national affairs they endeavor by every and just regulations were made, by means to promote peace, and teach that which the people lived together in per- in disputes there should be a settlement fect peace. by arbitration instead of war. They set apart one day in seven to teach all But in these days the Christians, in men the will of heaven, to show men spite of Imperial Edicts and proclama· how their hearts may be renewed, so tions, are never allowed to live in peace. that they may love all men of all races as brethren. The missionaries show We believe this comes to pass, be- their care for the poor by establishing cause of the republication of such books hospitals, homes for the aged, orphanas the. King Shih Wen Si1 Pien, Hai ages, etc. They also show their care K'IJJOh Tu Tsze, etc.• which contain slan- for the ignorant by establishing colleges ders against the Church and scandalous and schools, where everything that is reports about Christians, in order to ex- for the good of man is systematically taught. They also aim to remove all cite the masses. These are repeated evil practices not only of one country over and over again in order to excite but ot all nations, and to help all, espethe readers, while the good deeds done cially the weaker ones. The regulaby the Christians are altogether ignored tions of the Church are indeed 80 strict or misrepresented as having some very that no drunkard, liar, gambler. or bad motives. so that the readers may re- licentious person is admitted; if at gard them as an Upas tree to be kept at times bad people may have found their a safe distance. way into the Church, it Is her practice to expel such whenever they are dis- Of late, moreover, these books have covered to be so till they repent and rebeen republished in a cheap form and form. widely sold throughout the whole Empire, and as these charges are contained Nor are the aims of the Christian in a collection of most important official Church empty aims. It has a history papers, not only the common people, but even many of the high mandarins of nearly two thousand ;rears, which and scholars, cannot but believe that may be examined. Christianity has they must be true. ~Iany other mis- been of incalculable service to Eurochievous authors therefore copy these pean and .American nations, improving charges into their books, and thus the the material, moral. and social condi· minds of the people are everywhere tion of their peoples. Many of the greatly stirred up to anger against most illustrious statesmen of the West Christians, and serious riots have oc- are often also most earnest about the curred in provinces, resulting in loss of spread of the Christian religion. life and destruction of property. In .Africa peace and enlightenment of But the highest mandarins must know the people had completely failed till Christians took the matter up. these slanders to be false. Those who wish to know the real aim In the &uth Seas and Pacific Islands the people were barbarous cannibals till of the Christian Church will find it in Christians went there and civilized them. the New Testament, which contains the teaching of our Saviour Jesus Christ In .Asia the unparalleled progress of and of His immediate disciples. Gen- the Indian Empire during the last cenerally speaking: it teaches that God is tury is due to the influence of a Christhe ruler of all nations and father of tian nation. all; that men should regard each other as brethren; it teaches obedience to In Japan the English language and lawful governments; filial and fraternal Western sciences are very largely duties, and that all should endeavor to taught by the missionaries. follow the Saviour Jesus Christ and carry out the will of heaven by remov- In China also the missionaries have ing the sin and suffering of all nations, by replacing war with peace, wicked- translated Western sacred books, his· tory, science and arts into the Chinese they are not behind any on the face of language, and Chinese sacred books and the earth? The gfl~ve charges in these history into Western languages. They anti-Christian books must therefore be have engaged in famine relief in Shan- calumnies invented by wicked men to tung, Shans! and Manchuria. Altho deceive the ignorant, or by men them- several died in doing this work, there selves ignorant of the history of the were others ever ready to take their world. But whatever the motives of the calumniators may be, nothing but places. harm can come from the spread of such Some missionaries are engaged in calumnies-harm both to the govern- ment and peopJe. showing how .the causes of famines, floods, poverty and weakness may be If China does not consider it most removed, and how there need not only urgent to devise means to protect the be no more suffering from these things, good and punish the evil, nations will but each province in China may be en- come and protect their own people, and riched annually to the extent of many it is difficult to say where that will end. millions of Taels and China made many times stronger than she has ever been Nevertheless no missionary desires before. Knowing all the forces which that the discussion of the relative merits make all other nationa prosper they of different religions be stopped; on would gladly have saved China from the contrary they greatly rejoice in it, her present humiliation, and are still and consider that when it is carefully prepared to save her from further hu- carried on the good in these religions miliation whenever China wishes it. will be more valued than ever and the This is what the missionaries are doing worthless will be thrown away. But groundless charges are forbidden alike in China. by the laws of China and the West. Generally speaking, government and China forbids all other calumnies. How is it that only those against Chris- religion are mutually helpful. Wher- tians are allowed to be circulated with ever true Christianity has flourished impunity? What we fear is that this that nation has prospered. Wherever will result in more riots and injury to true Christianity has not been allowed life, ending in international troubles. to prosper that country has not pros- This would greatly grieve us, therefore pered. we are anxious to put away the cause of danger, so that all nations may con- But missionaries are in no respect the tinue to live in peace and good will. agents of any government, but they are trusted, respected, and protected by Our missionaries carryon their work, their governments. because they are whether preaching, healing. or teach- always engaged in doing good. In ing, in a perfectly open manner, do not Christian worship prayer is regularly fear the strictest investigation, but on offered for Your Imperial Majesty. for the contrarY,: invite it. Should there, the officers of the government, and for however, stIll be anything not under- the prosperity of the Chinese nation, stood it can be easily explained to any precisely as is done for other nations one anxious to know. According to and peoples. We desire the good peo- the custom of the West rulers constant- ple of China to join us in carrying out ly invite the leading religious teachers the will of heaven and ridding all na- to their presence to preach and teach tions of their sufferings as soon as pos- Christianity with its bearing on the weI sible; but if they cannot be persuaded fare of nations as well as on individuals. to join none are coerced to follow. In Nor is this the custom of the West all history, from the beginning of the alone. From the 'fang dynasty to the • world till now, there never were such present the Emperors of China also in- gigantic philanthropic efforts in behalf vited Christian teachers into their pres- of all nations as are made by the Chris- ence to explain their religion. It is only tian Church of to-day. If China co- operated in it she would soon be made in late :rears that the practice has been again one of the greatest powers in the discontmued. world. Those who oppose men doing good are either very ignorant or very And should the great ministers in bad. Surely great China will not op- Peking, or the Viceroys and Governors pose goodness I or any officials or gentry anywhere in the Empire, have anything that they do If Ohristians practised the evil deeds not understand let them follow China's they are accused of in these Anti-Chris- former custom and the rule of all other tian books, how could so many great nations and freely meet the missionaries nations believe and honor Christianity, and inquire of them; then all doubts and how could noble statesmen do the will be at once removed. Only good same? How could it transform so and no harm can comtl out of this. many barbarous nations, so that now But so long as there is no free inter- hind to rank among small nations course and clear understanding, there China should rank among the greatest will be riots ; and so long as there are in the world, and her many troubles riots there will be danger to China from will be changed into means of countforeign nations coming to defend their less good. own people. Not to have intercourse is If Your MaJesty will graciously grant clearly to get only harm and no good. our request It will not only greatly We therefore pray Your Majesty to gladden the hearts of all Christians graciously issue an Edict for publica- throu&,hout China, but the hearts of tion throughout the Empire command- ChristIans throughout Protestant Chris· ing three things-viz. : tendom. Not only will China rejoice 1. The real expu1'gation of the pas- that her missionary troubles have forsages slandering Christians from the ever ended, but all continents will re- Hai KUJoh Tu Tszc, King SMh W8n SU joice over the better understanding Pien, and from all other books, acCO'l'd- between China and other nations, and ing to Ohine8e law. the Christians will more than ever daily 2. Make known that missionaries are pray God to bless China and give her no longer to be considered as belonging lasting peace. to a heretical or depraved sect, as they Herewith we also present a small have come to help in everything that is book on The Ohristian Religion in for the good of China, consequently if Ohina, prepared by a committee spe· any mandarin8 or people wish to enter ciaUy elected for that purpose, for the the Church they are really free to do 80 perusal of Your Majesty, in the hope without interfering with any of their that all riots shall be stamped out and Christian customs or to be regarded in an end for ever be put to missionary any way different from other subjects. troubles. 3. Now that all nations are in treaty Signed in order of arrival in China by : relations with China let the mandarins W. !Iuirhead, D.D. (London Mission) ; and gentry of each place find out the W. Ashmore, D.D. (American Baptist excellencies of each nation, and finding Union) : J. S. Burdon, D.D. (Bishop Enganything that will be for the good of lish Church Mission); J. Hudson 'l'avlor the people of China let them unite with (Director China Inland Mission); Grifthe mi~sionaries in carrying these out, fith John, D.D. (London Mission); and thus show their real desire fm' peace Young J. Allen, LL. D. (American Methand good will. odist Mission, South); H. L. Macken- All the missionaries and Christians zie (English Presbyterian !Iission); desire most heartily to thank the Em· C. W. Mateer, D. D. (American Presbyperor for the successive Edictil already terian Mission); J. Wherr;v, D.D. issued for our protection, and for all the (American Presbyterian MissIOn); Da- friendly officials for their kind protec· vid Hill (Chairman of Missionary Con- tion. But still there are many people ference, English Wesleyan Mission); in every province who say that these V. C. Hart, D.O. (Canadian Methodist Edicts are only issued under pressure Mission) ; George Owen (London Misand not from free will ; hence the riots sion); James Bates (EngliSh Church do not cease, and the missionaries of all Mission); H. H. Lowry, D.D. (Ameri- nations find no peace. We therefore can Methodist Episcopal); D. Z. Shefhumbly beg that Your Majesty will field, D.D. (American Board); Timothy make it plain tlJat you command the Richard (English Baptist Mission); mandarins of all the provinces to see E. Z. Simmons (American Southern that these three things are thoroughly Baptist MisEion); G. Reusch (Germa}! carried out, then all the people will Mission); C. P. Scott, D.D. (Bishop know that it is Your Majesty's own Anglican Church Mission): Gilbert wish, and they will gladly obey, and Reid (Mission to Higher Classes in missionary troubles will be at an end. China). (Mainly Seniors of the various Both the missionaries and native Protestant Missions in China.) Present- Christians have loyal hearts, and should ed to the Tsung-li Yam~n (Foreign never have been allowed to suffer all Office) at Peking by J. Wherry and this wrong. If this wrong is removed, Timothy Richard, November 14th, 1895 then heaven's blessing will follow, the many benefits of Christianity which other nations have enjoyed will soon From Our Mail Ba.g. be reaped by China. China from of old has been a great Rev. J. F. Clarke, writing from nation, and all nations honor her. Samakov, Bulgaria, says: "Political With her vastness, her resources and changes, important and great, seem apher virtue it will be easy to make vast proaching. Russian influence seems to improvements. Instead of falling be- be encompassing Bulgaria, and the future Booms dark ; but God will overrule hear. There are earnest seekers after all for the greatest good; 80 we will Christ to be found in nearly all, if not work and trust and wait. Our last an· all the out-stations. Twenty were bapnual meeting was a time of much per- tized March 1st; one March 8th. There plexity and anxiety, which will not are nearly as many more who have apcease at once. If there be no brighten· plied for baptism, but who have not ing up we may be forced to close an yet been examined. The prospects for , institute' and stop a paper which a rich harvest of souls were never brighter." have been continued for about thirty years and been ·of great benefit to this Rev. J. Wilkie, of the Canadian lilisnation. In' darkness' that we • feel' sion College, Indore, India, writes: there is yet the glorious light of God's promises. Christ shall reign, and· we are at work in His service."
Rev. G. J. Schilling, of Pegu, Burma, " India to-day is in a specially interestsays: .. There is only one spiritual life, ing stage. The awakening from the and when a Buddhist is born again he fatalistic sleep of the past has led to a becomes a new creature as much as a forsaking of much of the past, and an converted nominal Christian. Yet we eager grasping after what seems better are apt to marvel more when we see the because at least new. 'Young India' Christ life in a former idol worshiper. is neither man nor boy, presenting many possibilities, but also many un- I was in Mandalay last week and saw pleasant features, and requiring espethe leper asylum of Rev. Winston, of cial care that we may mold and train aright. But of this you will hear more the English Wesley-ans. There were fully from those fresh from the field, many fearfully distorted bodies. I and I need only repeat the cry, • Pray talked to them of Jesus and the land for us that we may be worthy to underin which there are no lepers. I found take the tremendous task. ' The people then that I told them no new story. are worth getting for Jesus, and I be· They had been well instl'ucted before, lieve the signs of the time all point to and then they began to sing 'I need the day when Iudia shall be a Christian Thee every hour.' Some throats were land." touched by the disease and literally rotting away; but they sang. And then Anna McGinnis Sykes, of the Southone man, whose hands and feet were ern Presbyterian American ~Iission, already half gone, told how he loved Jesus. It was a marvelous testimony from one who was formerly a Buddhist. He loved God, the same God who smote him bodily; and his eyes told well that he spoke the truth. Are missions a failure 'C"
Rev. Henry T. Perry, of the Ameri. Wusih, Kiangsu Provinc.e, China, can Board Mission, Sivas, Turkey in writes; "Just at prese~t we are much Asia, says: .. Weare all in good health interested in wearing Chinese clothes; here at this station, and are very full have all adopted native costume in the of many kinds of work. OUf congre· last few weeks, and are delighted with gations are crowded with people who the result. Our station is a new one, come more interested to hear and obey and we have only four church·memthe truth than formerly. Tho our pas- bers, but we believe them to be faith· tor was killed, the lay element in the ful. The first missionaries to settle in church has come nobly forward to at- Wusih were inexperienced and paid too tend the services of preaching and much for everything, and it will be prayer." years before we get the idea that the , doctrine' has some connection with • cash.' The average Chinese thinks Rev. N. D. Reid, of the American we pay anywhere from three to twenty Baptist Mission, Henzada, Burma, dollars a month to those who enter our writes: "The work on this field is , religion,' and we could have any num- doing fairly well. In the district and ber for one dollar a month, perhaps out·stations the people are anxious to less, if we wished."
il'mtD OF MONTmv SURVlllY
III.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
BY DELAVAN L. PIEBSON.
Isla.nds of the Sea,* Arotio Missions,t Amerioa.n Indiand ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC. § most to the extent of pantheism, for The Pacific islands have only been nearly every object in nature was in known to the civilized world for about their eyes a god of good or evil portent. one hundred years, altho some of them Their religious 'ceremonies were accomwere tlrst discovered three hundred panied with sorcery, human sacrifices, years ago. The Pacitlc Ocean covers and bestial orgies, such as might charthe vast area of nearly 68,000,000 square acterize the infernal regions. But in miles-more than one quarter of the the midst of all this some elements of earth's surface-and contains thousands humanity remained, and many instances of islands scattered over its waters are recorded that sho,w nobility of charchiefly the southern half. Most of acter and strivings after higher things these islands are beautiful and fertile in the political and social spheres. with warm, temperate climate and man; The degraded state of these islanders, facilities for containing a high degree as, alas I has been the sad history of so of civilization. The inhabitants of the many other pagan peoples, was ren- Oceanic Islands comprise Polynesians, dered still worse by the imported vices from more enlightened nations. Trad- Papuans, Fijians, and Micronesians. ers and adventurers in sailing around For ages these oceanic races lived se- from the A.tlantic into' the Pacific cluded on the islands of their watery domain, a world by themselves. The "hung up their consciences off Cape very salubrity of their climate and pro- Rom. " These men revelled in the ductiveness of their soil, and the abun- heathen immorality, imported rum dance of fish in their waters, tended to wherewith to frenzy the natives, and keep them from advancing in civiliza- oftentimes caused them to lose even tion and morality. Wars almost exter- the little sense of honor and duty which minated the popUlations of some of the they had possessed. It was the murislands; the immorality was appalling; derous treachery of some of the white from one fourth to two thirds of the men that produced distrust and hatred children were strangled or buried alive; in the natives, which resulted in the cannibalism was frequent, and the sick murder of Rev. John Williams and and aged were usually killed rather other missionaries and inoffensive trad- ers_ A. captain of a vessel would somethan left to die a natural death. In religion they were polytheists al- times impersonate a missionary, that he might gain the confidence of the na- • Seealsopp. 65 (Jannary); 124(February)' 342 tives, and then kidnap them to be sold 495 (present issue). New Books' as slaves.. (h MIBayla) n;d~48o6f.4t9h0e, PaClfic," Rev. James M. Alex:' ander ; Heroes of the Sonth Seas," Martha B. These and many other influences, na- Ba~~s. Recent Articles: .. Fiji and its Peo- ti.ve and foreign, have made extremely ple, Sunday at Home (November and Decem- dIfficult the task of evangelizing the ber, 1895); "Australia as a Strategic Base" people of the South Seas. What won- Nineteenth Oentury (March, 1896). ' ders have been accomplished in this Books- line in the Fiji Islands, New Zealand, "HtaSnedeboa?ls~o .op~. 498 (present issue). A. Woo and elsewhere have often been told in Arctic Discoveries," these pages and elsewhere, but the story TG.re~erleenyf;ell.VikAmrgtiBcloefsT:"o-Icdealya"ndLaanbdraditosr)'pWe~ of these marvelous transformations pIe, The.C:~autauquan(December,1895; Janu- never grows old. ary, 1896), Rugged Labrador," Outing (January, 1896); "In the Land of the EBqnimaux " The perusal of Cook's Voyages Fortnightly Review (March, 1896). ' awakened the interest of English Chris· :I: ~ee p. 186 (February). Books:" Oowaka- tians in this part of the world. It was pan., ~gerton R..Young; "Story of a Western oCflatI~me ,A pSa. c C. GIlman. Article'" The Home he, " Lend a Hand (April, 1896). § The blands o~ the Pacific," by Rev. J amet! Y. Alexander, and' Heroes of the South Seas" by Martha BUIT Banks. New York: The American Tract Society_ $2.00 and $1.25. this book that fired William Carey with ited the Society, and returning home induced their countrymen to renounce a desire to carry the Gospel to Hawaii, idolatry and begin Christian worship. The work on these islands is now and led him, in the face of much oppo- in charge of the Paris Missionary sition, to found the first Foreign Mis- Society. The first missionaries to the Pearl sionary Society of Great Britain. Will- Islanida were their own inhabitants reiam Carey went to India. but not long turning from exile in Tahiti, where they came under the instruction of the after (September 23d, 1796) the London missionaries. Some y"ars later Com- Missionary Society sent out twenty modore Wilkes visited the islands, and missionaries to Tahiti. on the Duff, un- says: "Nothing could be more strik- ing than the difference between these der the command of Captain James natives and those of the Disappoint- ment Islands (of the B8me group). . . . Wilson. (See pages 15, January, and If the missionaries had eJfected nothing else (than the changing the savage na- 342, May, of REVIEW for current year.) ture of the people), they would deserve the thanks of all who roam over this Tahiti is one of the Societt/ Ialanda, a wide expanae of ocean and incur its many unknown and hidden dangers. group consisting of thirteen islands Here all shipwrecked mariners would be sure of kind treatment and a share with an aggregate area of about 650 of the few comforts the people possess. " France has now possession of these square miles, and inhabited by Polyne- islands also, and the Paris Society is in charge of the work. sians. Physically. the natives of these The Marqueaaa Islanda first heard the islands are powerful and symmetrical, Gospel story from missionaries from Tahiti, and are now reinforced by and in disposition are affable, light- workers from Hawaii. These islanders were, like the inhabitants of the Socihearted, and generous, but fickle. and ety Islands, of fine physique, but vile morals, bloodthirsty disposition, and under provocation, irritable and brutal. without any form of civil government. It was only after repeated attempts and The missionaries found them a warlike many narrow escapes that missionaries finally established a station among people, and quick to learn the art of them. This has been quite as danger- ous a people to labor among as any in manufacture. They worshiped innu- the Pacific, and what with long inter- vals of from twelve to thirty years, merable idols, accompanied with horrid when no work was carried on, and the usurpation of the islands by the French, orgies and human sacrifices. Immoral- the three Hawaiian missionaries station- ed there, "faint. but persevering," are ity, polygamy, and infanticide prevailed able to report but little progress.
to an incredible extent. One chief con- Concerning the wonderful transfor- mations from cannibalism to Christianfessed to having murdered all of his ity in the Fiji Islands and elsewhere. much has already been written. The nineteen children. Captain Cook said: story is fascinating. and is an ever-liv- ing testimony to the SUCC6SS of foreign " There is a scale of dissolute sensual- missions. ity to which these people have descend- As to the future of the Pacific islands, ed wholly unknown to every other peo- Rev. James M. Alexander writes: " We have noticed in the islanders of ple, and which no imagination could the Pacific certain developments of possil,Jly conceive." good that promise a future conquest of It was only after sixteen years of their barbarism by Christian civiliza- tion. . . , We cannot make much acmuch peril, hardship, persecution, and count of the influences of mere civiliza- tion apart from Christianity. . .. The discouragement that the missionaries influences of ciVilization have never had power to cause the moral renovation began to see any fruit of their toil. that is essential for the beginning of Finally, however, the natives learned true civilization, as well as tor its conto trust the messengers of God and to lose faith in their idols. The king became a Christian, and many of his subjects followed his example. There are now in Tahiti sixteen Protestant churches with 1663 members, and this in spite of the baneful effects of the French rule and the influence of French immorality. Persecutions in Tahiti caused the dispersion of Christians and the establishment of missions in Moorea, where there are now 360 church·members, and in the Leeward Islands. where 1500 have confessed Christ.
The Austral Is7,anda. situated 350 miles south of Tahiti, first learned of Christianity through natives who vistinuance and development. It has been ing man physically, civilly, morally, true of the people of the Pacific, as of and spiritually. The light will also be all heathen races elsewhere.· that they borne from island to island, enlightenhave needed provision for their spirit- ing and enlivening the nations roundual wants before they would accept about, until the Isles which" wait for civilization. • •. But the influences His law" learn to love and obey it. of civilization have not only been use- less, they have been actually harmful Among Labrador Fishermen.* when not accompanied by Christianity.
They have only awakened cupidity, in- The peninsula of Labrador bas an stigated robberies, murders, and pira- area of about 420,000 square milescies, and have been accompanied by an equal to the British Isles, France, and immorality that has been more degraded Austria, or nearly ten times the size of and deadly than heathenism itself. . • • the State of Pennsylvania. It is in part It is evident that the only cause of the under the government of Newfoundgood heretofore developed in the Pacific land and in part under that of the Provislands, as also the only and all·suffi- ince of Quebec. Sterile and forbidcient hope for their future, is in Chris- ding, it lies among fogs and icebergs, tianity.• " It is evident also that famous only. besides, for dogs and cod. Christianity has operated only where As an abode for civilized man, Labrahuman agencies have introduced it•• dor is, on the whole, one of the most The only way, therefore, to evangelize uninviting spots on the face of the these benighted races is to employ con- earth. Work as he may, one man cansecrated men and women to bear to not here keep the wolf from the door. them the light and blessings of the Gos- The Eskimos and Indians are fast dying pel. out and the white set~lers can only make a reSIlectable 11ving with the help "From past history we learn that of sons and the aid of all the modern mission enterprises, when once begun, hunting and fishing appliances. Labrashould be persistently and continuously dor has a population of about 13,000, pushed forward at any cost. • ., Also including some 7000 whites on the where fields are occupied wholly by native laborers, it is necessary for foreign St. Lawrence and Atlantic coast, 2000 missionaries to long continue to super- Eskimos also on the coast, and 4000 vise the work. • ., Christian schools Indians in the interior. Besides these, should most earnestly be promoted. in May and June every year the coast is Without them evangelistic work is liko visited by from 20,000 to 25,000 fishercasting seed into a jungle instead of men, women, and children. No signs into carefully tilled soil. • .• Men of material civilization arc to be seen in from civilized countries, as well as the heathen in the Pacific, should be more Labrador; settlements contain from 10 looked after in future; . • • also that to 150 inhabitants; liquor (strange to international agreements should be say) is sold only in three or four harmade to stop the trade with the na- bors and no jail ruolre,pollaiwc-ea?eix~isitn.g, The tives in spirituous liquors and firearms, people are, as a. but and the 'black-bird traffic,' or slave crimes go unpumshed. ChrIstIan work trade. . . , We also learn that the re- (teaching and preaching) is carried on ligious denominations should not foist in a few places by five or six Methotheir sectarian strife upon the little dists, Presbyterians, and Church of Eng- land workers from Canada and Newchurches in the Pacific. foundland ; the Mora vians work among "If, now, in accordance with these the Eskimos; the Salvation Army, the British Bible Society, and the SOciety lessons from past history, the influence for the Deep Sea Fishermen send men of Christianity is wisely, faithfully, to work among the fishermen in the and earnestly promoted in the Pacific islands, we may hope for a sublime future era for this part of the world. It summer-time. Most of these workers is well to view this prospect as an must cover a very large circuit, travelideal at least of what should be striven ing by dog sled or in canoes to the small for. • .• As at the rising of the sun hamlets on the coast or inland. The the mists and shades of night flee away, medical work accomplished by the so the various evils of the primitive Deep Sea Fishermen Society workers has been especially important, for there heathenism and those also of barbarous are no resident physicians. The spirciviliza.tion must in process of time dis· itual good accomplished has also been appear before this influence. . • . As marked, and promises further progress. the sun not only dispels darkness, but also causes light and warmth and beau- * "Vikings of To-day; or, LIfe and Work t.'!', and sets in motion all the activities of nature, Christianity will also cause Among the Fishermen of Labrador." By Wilfred positive good in the Pacific"-redeem- T. Grenfell, M.R.C.S.E., L.R.C.P. Fleming H. Revell Co. $1.25.
1896·1 EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL .DEPARTMENT.
" The question is often asked," said conveyable without words, like the an acute Scotchman of Edinburgh, in progress of missions, the ratio of con- presiding at one of our meetings in the verts, native workers, etc., to the popu- Free Assembly Hall, .. whether mis- lation, and mission force, and striking sions pay, and the exact cost of a con- commendations from high authorities.
vert is reckoned with mathematical pre- The whole plan is marked by great wis- cision. It might be well to ask wheth- dom and adaptation to the ends that er a convert costs more than a hO'I'S6 are sought, by the committee of which trained /01' the Newmarket races, and Dr. Pagan is chairman.
worth while, perhaps, to compare the results generally; in the latter case Rev. Dr. Kellogg, formerly a missionthere is a crop of gamblers, and a whole ary of the Presbyterian Board in India, group of evils which the highest states- returned to India two years ago to take manship is incompetent to grapple part in the work of making a new transwith." lation of the Scriptures into the Hindu language. Now the North India Bible Rev. Dr. John Pagan, of Bothwell, Society has invited Rev. Theodore S.
Scotland, has devised a method of in- Wynkoop, pastor of the Western structing the people of the Established church, Washington, D. C., but for Church of Scotland in their own mis- years a missionary in India, to become sions, which is certainly to be com- its secretary, making Allahabad his mended for both originality and effi- place of residence, and directing the en- ciency. He prepares lectures in outline tire Bible work in Northern India from upon each of the mission fields, which that place, at the same time giving him lectures are intended to accompany permission to engage in evangelistic lime-light views, which are obtainable labors as the way may be opened. Mr.
for use at a moderate rental. These Wynkoop has accepted the invitation, ouUine lectures with the lantern slides, notwithstanding the trial he will ex- which they are prepared to explain, are perience in leaving a people warmlyat- loaned to ministers, etc., for use in con- tached to him and among whom his gregations. S~ far the plan is not labors have been greatly blessed.
wholly new, perhaps; but in examin- ing the method more in detail, I found News of the destruction of a mission that the slides are interspersed with and the disappearance of two English printed matter, which can be thrown missionaries in the Solomon Islands has on the screen and read by the observer. been brought by the steamer Monowai, Statistics, not easily bo:rne in mind by a which arrived at San Francisco on May lecturer, quotations from missionaries, 10th. The reports are somewhat in- travelers, and writers on missions, and definite, but it would appear that the any other literary matter helpful in edu- mission was attacked by the cannibal cating the people in the missionary his- natives, and that while some of the mis- tory of the church are photographed sionaries succeeded in making their es- on slides and used like other photo- cape to Sydney, two are missing, and graphs as a part of the lecture. In this it is feared that they have been killed way, for example, there will be views and eaten. The inhabitants of the Isl- of the mission premises in India, and ands bear a bad reputation, and many of the various workers in the field, the white men, traders and sailors, have habits and customs of the people, their fallen victims to them at various times.
temples, idols, superstitions, and cere- The mission there it is believed belongs monies; and with them carefully pre- to the Protestant Episcopal Church, pared printed statements of facts not and was established by Bishop Se!!yn in 1857. The islands lie to the east of leading six children, from five to twelve New Guinea and northeast of Australia. years old, barefooted and almost naked.
The price of a child, if intelligent and Another riot occurred in China on attractive, is two yen ($1.06), the ugly May 12th, when a mob attacked the ones bringing only a few cents. The English mission at Kiang Yin and loot- slave broker gives guarantee to the ed and burned the buildings. We are purchaser that the child's parents will thankful to say that the missionaries never again claim or acknowledge the escaped injury; their work, however, child sold.
has been seriously interrupted. The direct cause of the outbreak seems to Much discussion was aroused at the have been the refusal of the missiona- late meeting of the General Assembly ries to surrender to the mob a child of the Presbyterian Church (North), in which had been brought to the mission Saratoga, N. Y., as to the advisability for medical treatment. .. Why do the of continuing to hold and occupy their heathen rage" against their benefac- new building in New York. The chief tors? The ignorant and hostile dema- objection to this seems to be its effect gogues of China still stir up the mobs on the minds of those who are either with stories of the inhumanity of Chris- opposed to worldly possessions or who tians. think that this property indicates great We learn with sorrow of the murder wealth or great extravagance. The of Dr. Charles F. Leach, who, together true question to be considered is whether with his wife and seven-year-old son, or not this is a safe and profitable inwere brutally killed by a ~Ioslem mob vestment of the funds in the hands of at Sfax, near Tunis, North Africa. Dr. the missionary societies. An able com- Leach was only thirty-six years of age, mittee of business men have been apbut he had rendered valuable service to pointed to make an investigation and the cause of Christ as a medical mis- report.
sionary. He was born in Burma, and The Oong-regationaZ Horne Mimonary, educated in New York City, where he which held its seventieth anniversary was a member of the Amity Baptist in New Haven, June 2d-4th, reports Church. He went first to Algiers and the receipts of $148,973, from which then to Tunis as an independent mis- grants have been made to 142 churches sionary. No cause for the murder is and missions, and 138 missionaries have known, and the assassins have not been been supported among French, Geridentified. mans, Italians, Swedes, Norwegians, As a direct result of the Chinese-Jap- Finns, Armenians, and Greeks in the anese War, the slave trade in Man- United States•. There was a falling off churia has been aggravated. Farmers this year of nearly 10 per cent. from comprise a vast majority of the resi- the receipts of last year.
dents of Manchuria, and since the war they are suffering from famine. The Bishop Thoburn writes to Tlte Ohris- selling of children is always more or tian Advocate saying that the Methodist less prevalent in China, but the war Episcopal Church is close on a mis- and consequent famine are driving sionary crisis. The crisis has indeed many more parents to sell their chil- already made itself felt in some foreign dren than formerly. Buyers collect the fields, and will soon be felt in all. It poor little fellows just as keepers of is largely the result of success, and registry offices collect coolies. The " yet it none the less threatens ruin to merchant who gives this statement to our foreign !l1issionary work, unless the press saw in Manchuria a woman dealt with speedily and effectually." It seems that four missionary families ture life. he will fail to produce convicon furlough from Southern Asia have tion of the truth strong- and fast in the been told not to return, and nbe other minds of the' converts,' and he need families are to be retired from the not be surprised that just such things work. It is also proposed to discon- occur a8 are reported to have occurred tinue one of the missions in Chint-, in Japan. The first requisite of a miswhile other mission fields will share the sionary is that be be convinced, and be same fate unless tbe churches put forth firm in the conviction, that only the m01'll strength-i.e., give more liberally. Gospel is the power of God unto salva- •• The cost of the mission work has been tion."-The Journa~ and M688enger reduced one half, while its success has (Baptist, Cincinnatt). been increased fourfold." The broad truth is that the development of mis- The Irish Presbyterian Church began sionary work all over the world de- mission work in India in 1840. In the mandil a new standard of giving on tbe two provinces of Gujarat and Kathiapart of the churches; it is the Divine war (Bombay Presidency) they have antidote to the love of money which now 8 central and 12 out-stations, 13 orthreatens them with such serions evils, dained missionaries, 3 native pastors and should be accepted with gratitude. and 136 other native Christian helpers j communicants number 462 and adhe- .. The unrest which the deputation of rents 2227. They have a mission press tbe American Board found to exist and a training college with 14 students. among the churches in Japan founded In Manchuria, where mission work and nurtured by its missionaries, and was begun in 1867-70, they are now known as the Kumi·al churches, seems making rapid progress, in the last seven to be almost or quite unknown among years their converts having increased those of the other missIons-the Pres- from 76 to over 1000 (446 communi· byterians and the Baptists. Rev. J. L. cants). They have 5 stations (17 sub· Dearing, one of our Baptist mission- stations); 10 ordained, 3 medical misaries, writing to Hev. F. S. Dobbins, sionaries, and 61 native agents. One says that • not one native preacher,' convert recently made light of walking outside of the Kumi-ai churches, or in 25 miles in a busy season to recei I'e bapany olher denomination than the Con- tism. A jungle tribe's mission and gregational, can be named as preaching zenana mission are also carried on under the' new theology.' Neither the Pres- the auspices of this Church. byterians nor the Methodists are troubled by that heresy, and' the Baptists China: progress in missions from have no trouble with it at all.' All 1807 to 1896. nearly ninety years, as re– that the deputation of the American ported by Mr. Gibson, of Swatow : Board found so disappointing and distressing among the missions seems to Work begun in 1807; in 1843 bnt 6 communigrow out of the lack of sound and evan- cants. gelical teaching on the part of the missionaries. It is the Andover semi-Uni- 1853, 350 commnnicants, rate, 34 per annum. tarianism that is doing the mischief. 1865,2,000 communicants, rate, 140 per annum. There is no occasion for surprise be- 1876, 13,035 commnnicants, rate, 1,003 per ancause of it. • What a man sows, that shall he also reap.' If the missionary num. goes with a half-formed, half-cherished 1886, 28,000 communicants, rate, 1,496 per andoubt as to the final doom of the heathen, half persuaded that he who 'has num. not had a fair chance in this life' may 1889, 37,287 communicants, rate, 3,076 per anbe allowed another chance in the fu- num. From 1876 to 1889, 24,252 increase in 13 yelll'S.
It will be seen that the rate of increase has constantly grown. In the twenty- four years between 1865 and 1889, the number multiplied from 140 to 3076 per year, about twenty-two times as some great boards send out the cry rapid. At the same rate, in twenty- "Retrench !" throughout the mission four years more the yea.rly accession field, while the superfiuities and luxuwould be by 191:i1 nearly 68,000 a yel!.l', ries of Christia.ns so far outweigh the and in a half century more than a mil- gifts to missions, that if B small fraclilm and a half converts a year. In tion of the money thus spent could be other words, the total number of con- economized and appropriated to the' verts by 1940 would be between fifteen Lord's work, the missionary income and twenty millions, and before another would be doubled and trebled. Shall century had expired at the same rate of we ever have a financial basis laid for progress the converts would three timea mission work in a sound Scripture exceed the present population of the practice of stewardship in property ? globe I We acknowledge the receipt of $50 Publications Noticed.
from Mrs. Elizabeth Cochran, of New The whole of the civilized world has York, for missions in China. been interested, painfully but pro- The scene of Turkish atrocities has foundly interested, in the heart-rending changed from A.rmenia to Cr~te, where story of murder, rape, fire, and plunder the Turkish soldiers have been mas- which has come from Armenia. Thou- sands of papers and periodicals have sacring Christians without the slightest written of it, and have received funds provocation. for the relief of the suffering survivors, Armenian relief funds forwarded by and millions (we hope) have contributed us to the distributing agents have been to the relief fund. The story of these received from the following: ~ atrocities are sure to go down in his- tory, to the everlasting disgrace of Sul- Ira H. Stoughton, San BernardinO, Cal•…• $1.00 tan Abdul Hamid II., and will be read Y. P. S. C. E. of the Baptist Temple, Fall by posterity with horror and disgust.
River, Mass………. " …………….. 5.00 E. J. H., Pic]mway, West Ya………….. 5.00 The most complete, accurate, and vivid Clara A. Beck, Centre Square, Pa………. , 1.00 story of this reign of terror yet pub- Red Cross Savings Bank Fund, Roger Park, lished is that recently edited by Rev_ Edwin M. Bliss, editor of the Encgclo- Ill………………………………. 10.00 pedia of Mill8i()'fl,8, and contributed to by E. M. P ……………………………… 1.00 Mrs. Harriet Kemp, Pittsburg, Pa………. 1.00.
Mrs. Meyn, Brooklyn, N. Y……………. 1.25 Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, the honored Turk- A. B. Smith, Marble, N. C…………….. .26 ish missionary, Dr. Benjamin Labaree. Rose Shenston, Judsonia, Ark……… …. .25 of Persia, and other Oriental missiona- Mr. and Mrs. W. P. WinD, Judsonia, Ark.. .50 Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Smith, Judsonia, Ark.. .50 ries and scholars. This book * contains W. Strohmeier, Lake Mills, Wis……….. 1.50 nearly 600 pages, and is illustrated with Miss R. Gonld, Quogue, N. Y…………. 3.00 a colored map and many interesting Rev. O. F. PiBtor and friends, New Britain, photographs. The object is not mere- ly to set forth the present situation in Conn …………………………… 13.40 Sir Michael Hicks.Beach, in present- Turkey, altho that is ably done, but it ing the Budget in Pl!.l'liament, shortly is to trace the influences that have pro- since made the statement that 1,000,000 duced it and the present outlook for the pounds sterling is annually wasted in future. We bespeak a wide reading the ends of cigan and cigarettes thrown for this history that a clearer knowledge into gutters in Great Britain. While of the situation may be had by Chris- the Christian Church gives about one tians and non-Christians. It is a story and a quarter million pounds yearly to of persecution, of robbery, of martyr- missions in all lands, nearly an equal • "Turkey and the Armenian Atrocities." Edited by E. M. Bliss. The Hubbard Publishsum is trodden under foot and swept into the sewers as refuse! To-day ing Co.• Philadelphia. 81.50. dom which the world will Dot soon for· thor of a book of deep interest in regard get. This book should make the prayer to the work among the lepers of India* for the coming of the kingdom of God and Burma. Only those who have ascend to the throne of grace from every seen leprosy in its advanced stages can heart with increasing fervor, and should imagine the suffering of the poor vicspur on every soldier of the cross to in- tims. No more Christlike work exists creased activity and self·denial,that the than the ministering to their bodily and knowledge of Christ may be spread spiritual needs. A few asylums and abroad in every land and in every hospitals have been established, but heart. what are these among the 500,000 lepers in India? In "The Vikings of To-day"* Mr. Grenfell has given us an exceedingly The American Board has issued a readable and able picture of life in the pamphlet entitled" A Chapter of Missterile and uninviting peninSUla of Lab. sionary History in Modern Japan,"t rador. He vividly describes the hard- being a sketch of the work since 1869. ships of the life of the white settlers in Rev. J. H. Pettee, the editor, conthose regions, and the great need for tributes an exceedingly interesting chapmedical and spiritual work among ter on "Now and Then: 1869-1895," them. There are chapters deaUng with. and Dr. D. C. Greene one entitled the natural features of the country, its "The Message of the First Quarter vegetation (almost ni0, its bird and ani- Century to the Second." Other chap· malUfe, and the fish which swim in its ters are contributed by missionaries fawaters. The life of the fishermen is miliar with the work of the various denovel if not inviting, and the descrip· partments. The contrasts presented in tions of missionary work contain many "Now and Then" are striking. Then inspiring and thrilling incidents, which the Government of Japan was on the should awaken the interest and sympa- nominal basis of a pure absolutism centhy of men and women who are sur· tering in the Mikado; now it is a well· rounded by the comforts of home and organized constitutional monarchy. civilization. The illustrations which Then Shintoism was revived and all accompany the volume add to the in- European innovations condemned; now terest of the description and narrative. Japan is foremost among Oriental na- tions, and is absorbing the best and 'Heroes of the South Seas" t is a latest the world can offer. Then there compilation of stories connected with were no railroads, telegraphs, lightthe progress of Christian missions in the houses, steamship lines, banks, mints, islands of the Pacific. Each chapter is Sabbath, educational system, or newsa narrative of some heroic Ufe, some papers; now there are all these, with marvelous transformation, or lIome bat- hospitals, asylums, Red Cross Society, tle with hardship and disappointment criminal and civil codes, 3,500,000 stuin the far-off corners of the globe. dents in the various schools, and an an· These histories are extremely interest· nual foreign commerce of nearly $150,- ing and helpful, and make excellent 000,000. Then 20 Protestant missionsubjects for missionary meetings. aries and 8 baptized natives in all Ja- pan; now 600 Protestant, with 200 Ro- Wellesley C. Bailey, the secretary of man and Greek Catholic missionaries, the Mission to Lepers in India and the 40,000 Protestant church-members, be- East (Edinburgh. Scotland), is the au- sides 73,000 Catholic adherents. Then * "The Vikings of To·day. :By Wilfred T. * "Lepers of Our Indian Empire." John Grenfell, M.R-C.S.E. Fleming H. Revell Co., Shaw & Co., London. New York. $1.25. t For sale by Mr. C. E. Swett, at the rooms t "Heroes of the South Seas." By Martha B. of the American Board; price, 40 cents. Banks. American Tract Society, New York. $1.25. no Christian literature, except Bibles in 22 industries. The principle of selfimported from China, and half a dozen tracts; now the whole Bible in Japan- help is especially prominent, the pupils ese, with more than 1,000,000 copies of at least one Testament scattered doing all of their own work, and having through the land, not less than 40 weekly, monthly, and quarterly news- built many of their own bUildings. A papers and magazines under Christian management, together with hundreds strong religious atmosphere prevails, of works covering every department of Christian truth. Surely these pictures and many of the students have become show that Christ has come to Japan, and that His spirit is working mightily successful pastors and teachers. in a thousand ways for the regeneration of the Orient. A letter from King Menelek of Abys- The Scotch Free Church Livingstonia sinia to Mr. F. S. R. Clark, an Engli~h Mission has been laboring in British Central Africa for over twenty years. missionary, appears in Le Figm'o of During that time many noble men and women have laid down their lives for February 3d. It is translated in the their brethren. One station has increased to seven stations with many Ohristian InteUigencer. more out-stations and commanding a range 500 miles in length. Five Chris- " You are mistaken in believing tbat tian congregations have been formed, I do not care for your prayers. All and there are, besides, large classes of prayers of believers are dear to me, even inquirers. Seven languages have been when they come from the children of reduced to writing, and are now a Europe. Not all are ag~ressors in my medium for Gospel truth. There are kingdom; not all comnut the iniquity 40 Christian schools, with over 7000 of attacking those whom they hope to scholars, and above 100 native preachers find weaker than themselves; not all are engaged as itinerating evangelists. have bent the knee before Baal, the god Like other stations, however, the very of destruction and the slaughterer success of this mission is a cause for of brothers. Many, I am sure, still perplexity, since increase of funds do truly adore the God of the cross, tbe not keep pace with the increase in the God of justice and of peace. With demands of the work. them I feel in perfect communion of faith, and I am happy that they pray Much attention has of late been attract_ for me, for my household, and my peoed to the Tuskegee Normal and Indus- ple. trial Institute through the able addresses by its principal, Booker T. Washington. "I only wish that they would make This institute is founded on right prin- truth dwell in the sanctuary, and that ciples, and is accomplishing a great instead of a mutilated Gospel which exwork in the upbuilding ofthe negroes in plains the confusion and the infidelity intelligence, prosp€rity, and true Chris- of tbe peoples of Europe, they would tian character. During 1895, 480 boys return and lead others back to the true and 329 girls have been in attendance, Gospel which began with the creation coming from 17 States and 1 Territory. of the world. They average about eighteen years of age, and receive instruction by 66 teach- "By what right do they efface the ers in normal and literary branches and whole portion of it which precedes the coming of Jesus Christ, and have they done away with what God established for all time?
" What you caU the Old Testament is as true as the New, and what is con- tained in it must be respected and ob- served by those who follow Jesus and the apostles, announced b:y the prophets.
" Never did Jesus abolish the distinc- tive mark of His race, since He was subjected to it by His holy mother on the eighth day. '1'0 suppress thus what God established 'from age to age and from forever to forever,' is to weaken the faith, Is to furnish the same specta- cle shown by the Christians of Europe. It is not only without that they use vio- lence, but also within, against the Jews who are, nevertheless, Christian souls, and to whom we owe our Savior. There are more than 300,000 of them in my kingdom, and, tho they enjoy al-
EDITORIAL
most complete independence, they are ment in Singar Fu? A missionary. obedient and industrious subjects. Who discovered the still more famous They never conspire, pay all tributes, Moabite stone? A missionary. Who and respect our alntna as much as do discovered the Hittite inscriptions? A the Christians. If they are worse in missionary. " Europe, it is because the Christians, too, are worse. Our Lord Jesus forgave The universal adoption of the 2-centthem on the cross. Why should we a-week plan by the Christian Endeavor persecute them? You, at least, do not societies would bring to-day $3,000,000 persecute them. May the other Chris- into the mission treasuries of the varitians of Europe imitate you. ous denominational boards. China, it is said, spends $300,000,000 annually on .. What you need is to return to our worthless, idolatrous practices, because God, to observe all His ordinances, to every idolater gives regularly and conno longer separate Moses and the proph- stantly about 2 cents per week to defray ets from the apostles or St. Peter from the expenses of idol worship. St. Paul. Whoever wishes to serve God must humble himself and obey. The adoption of this plan by the You know that, envoy of God. Teach Christian Endeavor societies of the it in Europe and Asia. I am having it world would support an army of 1000 taught in Africa.
"May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
"MENELEK."
The Evangelistic Training School foreign missionaries and 20,000 native planned last summer by the World's preachers, who would reach yearly Woman's Christian Temperance Union 25,000,000 of hearers.
is at work with excellent results. It The Burmese write prayers on slips has a non-resident class of about fifty. of paper, and fasten them into slits made Its resident students, as a .. College Set- in wands of bamboo. These wands tlement," are doing noble service in with the prayers at the end of them are one of the worst parts of New York then held up before the idols in the .City. They carryon a meeting in the Buddhist temples and waved to and fro. chapel every evening, a Sunday-school, boys' meetings, girls' meetings, a Young In some parts of Africa they make Woman's Club, free kindergarten, etc. marks, signifying prayers, with a burned The work is sadly in need of funds. stick on a board. The marks are then (Address J. Fowler Willing, 463 West washed off, and the water with which Thirty-second Street, New York City.) the board is washed is given to the sick, who are supposed to get the good of the In setting forth the debt of science prayers.
to missions, Dean Farrar offers these In Tibet they have round boxes which interrogatories, with their answers: revolve by means of a string. Into .. Is it nothing that through their la- these cylinders they put written prayers, bor in the translation of the Bible the and whenever they feel disposed, take German philologist in his study may them up and spin them, imagining they have before him the grammar and vo- are praying. Even on a journey, on cabulary of two hundred and fifty foot or on camel-back, Tibetans are languages? Who created the science often to be seen, it is said, with such a of anthropology? The missionaries. whirligig in one hand, vigorously pull- Who rendered possible the deeply im- ing the string with the other.
portant science of comparative religion?
The missionaries. Who discovered the .. The British Syrian Mission" re- great chain of lakes in Central Africa, quires lady missionaries at once to take on which will tum its future destiny? charge of districts where urgent ap- The missionaries. Who have been the peals have come from the people them- chief explorers of Oceanica, and Ameri- selves for schools. (Apply to Mrs.
ca and Asia? The missionaries. Who Auriol Barker, Camano House, Ton- discovered the famous Nestorian monu- bridge.)
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED :BY BEV. D. L. LEONAllD.
Extracts and Tra.nsla.tions from Foreign of the,Word must themselves form their Periodicals. own conception of Christ. We must hereafter build up without foreign help, BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, believe in Christ as Japanese, study theology and preach as Japanese." MASS. Of this the Missio1UJ-Blad remarks: JAPAN. .. In these utterances there are undoubt- edly considerable elements of truth, if -The~DanBk Missions-Blad has mis- they are 'only applied in the right way. givings as to the soundness of some of Unquestionably the national peculiarithe positions taken by our esteemed ties of the Japanese cannot and ought brother and friend, Rev. J. T. YOKOI not to be excluded from the form of (formerly J. T. Ise). Not having :at Christianity in their own land. And hand the original English, we retrans- Protestant missions certainly appear to late Mr. Yokoi's remarks out of the have this in view when they labor for Danish: "In the last three decades the independence of the congregations Christianity has made steady progress and the Introduction of as many Japan. in Japan. From Sapporo in the north ese as possible into the ministry. But to Kagoshima in the south there is the author of the article seems, by , J apscarcely a town or even considerable anese' Christianity, to have in view a village where there are not more or less form of development which may reasonof believers. In spite of the reactionary ably enough cause us some misgivings. movement, which a short time ago went He says: 'The development of Christhrough the land, and in spite of all ex- tianity in the world hitherto has been acertions to repress the new religion by complished on the foundation of Greek the revival of Buddhism, the people literature and of Roman Law. Chrishave now more than ever come to the tianity, as it is about to al'ise in the recognition of the fact that the regen· East, must rest upon the religion of erating power of Christianity is neces- Buddha and the philosophy of Conlusary to the elevation of morals. There· cius I' fore I do not entertain the least doubt that Christianity will finally be accept- "This might easily turn out a very ed by the mass of the people, and that dangerous amalgamation for Christianit will constitute the most significant ity. And why, precisely, should it reelement in the new civilization of Japan. sult in a genuine Japanese Christianity? Nevertheless, the Christianity which is Buddhism is originally from India, Connow in Japan is the only too faithful fucianism from China. The young copy of English and American Chris- clergyman talks a little as if he had a tianity. Of Japanese Christianity hith- rush of blood to the head. They pererto there could be nothing said. Our haps need for quite a while yet considchurches are in truth like so many for- erable guidance at the hands of deleeign colonies I There is a wholesale gates from the old evangelical denomiimportation of foreign ideas and habits I nations. A really original Japanese But if Christianity does not divest her· Christianity, according to the view of self of her foreign garb and attire her· the article, independent of the stored.up self as a Japanese, she will never reach truth of the elder denominati9ns, and her aim in this land. There are to be with its own conception of Christ, might found in our church a whole company easily prove more heathen than Chris· of capable men who are adequate to the tian. May the evangelical missions remost responsible task. . " The time ceive grace to go forward in the sound is come when the Ja~anese messengers
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
way with the pure and undefiled Gos- taken in possession a domain reaching pel. May the ministers and congrega- far beyond the boundaries of the world's tions of Japan be preserved from postal union, and who, as pioneers of haughtiness and aberrations, so that culture and national development, octrue Christianity can reign more and cupy an honorable position even in the more among them. Thus they will at- eyes of the world. Then total contributain to all due emancipation from for- tions each year of a few hundred thoueign elements and come into possession sands, now spontaneous offerings of over of a spiritual development which shall 50,000,000 marks. Then a missionary be at home in Japan and yet genuinely result of at most a few tens of thousands Christian. " of Christians from the heathen; to-day a company of some 8,000,000, a capital MISCELLANEOUS. which each decade increases at com- peund interest. Then here and there -Missionary Berg, of the Danish So- an isola.ted, independent congregation ciety, has a good word to say for our from among the heathens; to-day thoucountrymen in the Miasions-Blad,' "It sands of organized congregations supis a pleasure to be in company with porting themselves and furnishing from Americans; for altho they speak Eng- their midst teachers and preachers, inlish they have none of the stiff, short, deed, here and there already passing reserved way of English people. They into national churches I This is verily neither recognize English class feeling a Divine legitimation of the missionary nor the pronounced Scotch clannish- commission, that it should, 1800 years ness; but for the language, my Ameri- after it was given, as it were, rise out can companions might just as well have of its grave and set in motion a movebeen Danes, 80 plain and straightfor- ment of the world's history which has ward were they in their whole de- made this century a missionary cenmeanor." tury. "-Allgemeine Miasi01Ul Zeitachrift_ As Mr. Brace remarks, the Scandina- -" And yet the ma.in citadels of vian blood of the east counties of Eng- heathenism are hardly besieged, far inland is peculiarly strong in America, deed from being taken."-Idem. especially in New England, and many of us show it in our Danish names, in- -" The invitation, ' Come over into cluding our editor-in-chief. Macedonia and help us,' is a pregnant, significant word. Sometimes, however, -" The well-known book of Gundert, it is so ill applied as to work more harm •Evangelical Missions, their Lands, Peo- than good for labor in the kingdom of ples, and Labors,' closes its review of God. There is always a retribution the present state of the evangelical mis- when anyone heedlessly wrests words sionary work with the words: ' A litt18 or narratives of the Scripture out of beginning has been made; the earth is their true connection, or overlooks some yet 'OO1'1J full of night.' It is true, if we important circumstance, or in any way compare the condition of missions to- does violence to a passage. For Inday with that of one hundred or even in stance, in order to move the hearts of part of fifty years ago, we must admit people in Christendom and to warm 8 great adva.nce. Then a world closed them into interest for missions among to the Gospel of Christ; to-day one the heathen, It has been only too cusopened to it. Then a world sleeping in tomary so to generalize Paul's vision as rationalism, to which missions appeared if it were true that the people of aU or as a folly ; to-day a mighty missionary almost all heathen lands were weary of spirit breathing through all divisions idolatry and the service of sin, and were of the Church. Then scanty even as to longing for something new, for truth, numbers, a little troop of inexperienced were standing on the shores or borders missionaries ; to-day a stately army of tried heralds of the faith, who have
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELI.IGENCE
of their territories wringing their bands human that might be named. Careful and calling out to every Christian, to and judicious methods and appliances every white man, • Come over and help of combined action He uses; but these us I' The heathen were imagined to are inefficient when we compare with be disgusted with their own darkness, them the power latent in character.
and to have a receptiveness for the mes- Eliminate biography from the records sage of the Gospel, which did not at all of the Gospel's advance, and little his- exist. If, then, a youthful missionary, tory remains. And of this it may be filled with such erroneous imaginations, expedient to remind ourselves in the arrived among them here or there in the day's tendency to ~ubordinate much to world, and encountered unreceptiveness, organization. A society can never do obduracy, hostility, instead of being re- the work Christ allots to the individual ceived with open arms, as he had hoped, Christian. Let the work of the Refor- there resulted lor him a cruel disap- mation have been handed over to a re- pointment and severe inner conflicts. forming committee, and how many such And, moreover, the friends of missions committees would be needed to make, at home, finding themselves deceived in rolled together, one Luther? For a their hopeful expectations, would be- Paul, with heart on fire and a purpose come discouraged and lukewarm; many of steel, substitute a board of missions, of them would even wreak on missions worked from Antioch, and how long at large the displeasure arising from the would such a board have taken in exaggerations of their representatives, • turning the world upside down' 2 and would turn away from a cause The greatest things that have been whicb seemed to them to be half a swin- wrought for Christ in the world have dle. Let us, then, declare in aU the been wrought through the instrumen- baldness of sober truth: Apart from talityof strong individuality, and this rare exceptions, which, on close exami- the spirit of life and liberty quickens, nation, usually reveal the working of does not crush."-Ohurch Missiona1"1/ some predisposing cause, we find neither intelligencer.
individual heatben nor heathen peoples, whose temper of mind, before they had -The intelligencer, remarking on the come into closer contact with Christian- progressive views of Mr. Justice Ameer ity, could be said with any truth to find Ali and Bome of his fellow-Moslems in expression in the appeal, • Come over India, says that he and they, living un- and help us.' On the other hand, their der the freedom of a Christian govern- usual attitude toward an incipient mis- ment, and under the strong, ethical in- sion is at first one of thorough indiffer- fluences of Christianity, are endeavor- ence or aversion; thereby betraying ing to give to Islam a moral elevation the full hideousness of their pagan ob- which is not intrinsic to it, and which scuration. Indeed, it is hardly the most the sure instinct of the body of Moham- grievously sick that call for the physi- medans rejet:ts. Indeed, these gentle- cian. It is the hidden and opprobri- men betray their sense of this by giving ous disease that for very shame' will to themselves the name of Mutazilas.
not be known, tho it were for healing. Now Mutazila is equivalent in Moslem Paul's vision sets forth the scattered use to Freethinker. It seems to have children of peace for whom the mission- in an aggravated degree the same mean- ary is to seek and from whom, as from ing which in Christianity Rationalist a center, his work may spread."-Mis- has in general acceptance. The orig- sions Blatt der lJriUergemeine. inal Mutazilas, it is remarked by the Intelligencer, .. belonged to a sect ot -" Be it said, God's cause in the Freethinkers, who made strong efforts world employs personal character for to rationalize Islam in the early days of its propagation more than anything else the Baghdad Kaliphate. It was a move-
ENGLISH NOTES
ment which bid fair at one time to rev- cepts, and, what is more, succeeds in olutionize the Islamic system, by strik· bringing them into practice. But this ing directly at the orthodox views of is not enough to make it an ethical re- inspiration, the nature of the Divine ligion. It was the glory of the Muta- attributes, and the questions connected zilas that they endeavored to raise it to with free-will and fate. It was, un- this character; but their effort struck doubtedly, a great intellectual move- at once upon the rock that must ulti- ment, a revolt against a system already mately wreck it, the jiaJed characte1' of become hard and fast; but it lacked I8lam, firud e'IJen then; nay, .firud even the moral and spiritual element, and so from tTte out8et. Hence, too, the fact utterly failed. Ibn Khaldun, the great- that their fall was followed by no resur- est of the Arab historians, says' it was rection.' "-EDWARD SELL, in Ohurch a pernicious dogma which has worked Mumona1'Y IntellioenCl!ll'.
great evils.' In due course orthodoxy reasserted its power, and the Mutazila movement failed. The final blow was English Notes. given by AI Ashari. • The Mutazilas,' it is said, ' held up their heads till such BY JAMES DOUGLAS.
time as God produced Al Ashari to the May Mi8sionary Meetinos.-The an· world.' As a young man, this famous nual meetings of the Baptist Missionary theologian had been a follower of the Society were marked by a tone of en- Mutazilas; but one day, standing on couragement amounting at times to the steps of the pulpit in the great jubilation. Having regard to the spir- mosque at Basra, he threw away his itual side of the work, the ground for kaftan, and said, '0 ye, who are met satisfaction was considerable. Large together I Like as I cast a way this gar- additions to the native churches in In- ment, so do I renounce all that I for- dia, China, and on the Congo were re- merly believed.' He soon became a ported: the elementary day schools person of much influence. He over- show an increased attendance, while the threw the liberal school, and his prin- Sunday-schools manifest a still more ciples and methods have ruled the marked advance in numbers. Fourteen greater part of the world of Islam ever new missionaries have been sent out since. This is to be regretted, for it in- during the past twelve months; and as, tensified in Islam its unprogressive na- in various quarters, native churches ture and led to its present stagnation, have become, in supervision and support'
thus rendering all hope of social, moral, independent of English aid, the society and political reform vain. The deeper has been able to turn its energies to reason for the failure of the Mutazilas, fresh fields.
a reason which equally applies to mod- A pleasing feature in the treasurer's ern movements toward reform now, is statement was the welcome announce- well put by Dr. Kumen: ment that the heavy debt, amounting, " • The caprice of a tyrant may have roughly speaking, to $120,000, had been been the occasion of the overthrow of extinguished. The secretary, A. H.
the Mutazilas, but its real cause lay Baynes, Esq., appealed for more mis- deeper, in the essence of Islam, which sion laborers, and announced that no the popular instinct had apprehended suitable candidate who had offered him- justly. The masses were not competent self as a missionary had been refused to follow the discussions of the schol- during the past year. The Rev. Dr.
ars, but they felt that the defenders of George S. Barrett, ex-President of the the uncreated Quran were upholdin,g English Congregational Union, having the absolute claims of their religion, just returned from Jamaica, bore a and must therefore be right. The law splendid testimony to mission work of Islam contains admirable moral pre- from the results that have accrued in
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
the West Indies. Among the missiona- sides, what is wanted is a fuller conse· ries that took part may be mentioned cration of the native teachers; more the Rev. E. C. Smyth, of Chou'ping, men like David. the Tamil, who is North China, and the Rev. S. B. Drake, full of the Spirit. "We have been," of Cheefoo, North China, both of whom he said, "carrying our converts too testified to the growth and diffusion of much; but now we must teach them to interest in the Gospel message in the walk on their own feet. We need the districts where they labor, as well as to outpouring of the Spirit upon our peomore palpable fruit; also the Rev. J. A. ple for work. It has been borne in Clarke, of the Upper Congo, whose upon me that much more might be done missionary experiences in the Dark by prayer. • .. We have the oppor· Continent were listened to with breath· tunities and the open doors; therefore less interest; and last, but not least, the PRAY." Rev. W. A. James. of Madaripore, Eastern Bengal, and the Rev. Thomas Frank Anderson, Esq., of the Stu· Evans, who for forty years has labored dents' Volunteer Missionary Union, in the northwest provinces of India. cited the fact that since the late Liver· Of the meetings this year, it may be pool convention the S. V. M. U. had said that they have been among the seemed to get a new start. Taking as most crowded and enthusiastic on rec- his topic the motto of the institution ord. named, .. The evangelization of the world in this generation," Mr. And6r· Ohurch Missiona'l'1J Society.-At'the son enlarged on the possibility of the annual meeting of this society, J. Mun· fulfilment of that watchword, and the ro, Esq., presided, and observed that lines along which the work was to be the proper subject for a missionary accomplished. In his judgment, one meeting to-day is not, What we have of the main lines was enrolment of a done; but, What we have not done. student force in the heathen world, and In his view, no missionary station is as already in India this was being done. yet fully equipped and manned. Too Another line of no less moment was the long we have looked upon missionary development of a deeper consecration in work as for a few and not for all. In the Church at home. order that God may give the blessing, let us bring the whole tithe to Him. The Rev. C. J. F. Lymons. of Mid· China. compared the situation to Paul's The annual report, of exceptional in· vision of the Man of Macedonia, coupled terest, was read by the Rev. F. Baylis, with the miraculous draught of fishes. secretary. The figures show large spir- Like the Man of Macedonia, the Chinese itual gains, the converts numbering were calling, " Come over and help us ;" 7000, or nearly 24 a day. In Uganda and so, like the disciples who beckoned to 200 native evangelists are supported by their partners to aid them in their haul the converts. Mr. Baylis concluded by of fish, the Chinese converts beckon saying, "I believe we can move Eng· us to make common cause with them in land as she has never been moved be· securing the spoils that need hauling in. fore if we but go the right way to work. We want more infO'l'mation and less ex· We may say, in closing, of this meetlwrtation; above all, more definite pray- ing, which was crowded. that it was of er at home and in our meetings." a markedly incisive character and spiro itual tone. The C. M. S. is now within The Rev. E. S. Carr, of Tinnevelly, three years of its centenary. obeerved that only one in twenty- are Christians in Tinnevelly. The main THE KINGDOM. difficulty is to gain the ear of the Hindus so that the Word may take effect. -Two thirds of the population of the Schools are a great means to this. Be· globe is under the sway of 5 rulers, and this fact greatly simplifies the problllm of missions. The Emperor of China sions. God's books are never closed.- governs 400,000,000. Queen Victoria The Standard.
has control of 380,000,000. The Czar -A church that gel'.erously supports tyrannizes over 115,000,000. France, missions will support everything else with all her dependencies, numbers 70,- which ought to be supported. 000,000; Germany. 35.000,000; Turkey,40,000,000; Japan, 40,000,000; and -A recent visitor to our sanctum was Spain, 27,000,000. a subscriber who receives his mail but once a year. Such is one of the disad· -Dr. Cust has issued a .. Table of vantages of life in Alaska, but all the Quinquennial Progress of Bible Trans· disadvantages pale when compared with lations 1891-95." which carries on the the glory of the privilege of teaching register since his book on Bible transla- the Gospel to those who know it not.- tions was published. In the 1890 list The Cong1'egationalist. there were registered translations in 269 languages and 62 dialects; total, 329. -This largeness of mission is what Dr. Cust now adds 41 languages and 11 we ought all, laity and clergy, to realdialects, making a total to 1895 of 381, ize. We must get out of parochialism, in which portions of the Bible are trans· out of diocesanism, out of provinciallated. Among the new ones are Chagga, ism. into the spirit of our Lord and Giriama, Sagalla, Taveta, and the Mom. Master, wlio came to those who are far basa form of Swahili, all from C. M. S. off as well as those who are nigh, and East Africa missions. Of the 52 new bade His disciples go to all nations as translations, 29 have been published by His witnesses and teachers,-The Spirit the British and Foreign Bible Society, of Missions.
and the Test by other Bible or mission- -By character I mean all those ten- ary societies in Scotland, Germany, dencies that make for truthfulness, sin- America, etc.-Intelligence'!'. cerity, loyalty, courage, honesty, and a -An English journalist was very fine sense of honor, in a wider interpremuch shocked lately to find that it cost tation of that noble word-the honor at. least £1000 to convert a Chinaman. that will make us live up to our own He drew straightway the inference that best convictions and ideal standards.- missions were a failure. A religious Contributors' Club in Atlantic Jfonthly.
journalist gave him the facts about the -Said Rev. J. S. Dennis, in one of British invasion of interior Africa. his lectures at Lane Theological Semi- That cost $750,000 and many brave nary: "The influence of personal ex- men-a prince of the royal household ample as exhibited in the characters and among the number-laid down to bring lives of missionaries and their converts King Prempeh to order. Was that is a potent factor in regenerating sb- expedition a failure also? And besides, ciety. Christian family life and the in- it does not cost £1000 to convert a fluence of Christian women are essential Chinaman, or $1000, or $500. features in the social value of missions.
-There are no .. fiscal years" in mist A Christian mission lays the foundations sions. Missionary societies must neces· of a new social order by giving a stimusarily make their annual reports and lus to new national aspirations and new make known the amount secured to ideals of government. The whole Ori- carryon the work entrusted to them by ental world is responding to the awakthe churches. But because we did not ening touch; an era of social transition make our contribution "before the is at hand."
books closed," that by no means re- -The plan of foreign missions is: leases us from the obligations of the First, to send out living men and wom- great commission for a year. It is never en, the best and the best educated that " too late" to make an offering to mis- can be found, to teach and preach and live the Gospel. Second, to equip them, Crosby writes from Micronesia: "I just as mercantile agents and explorers was telling some of our new scholars of are equipped, for the new climate and the meeting, and one asked, • Where is conditions in which they have to live, the American Board?' I replied, • In and to furnish them as far as possible Boston;' and he went on, • How big a with the strongest weapons of civiliza- city is it? Is it as big as Boston?' I tion-the printing press, the school, the explained what the American Board is, hospital. Third, to draw into the work and he was much surprised. • Why. as rapidly as possible an army of native we all thought it was a big city, and workers, that the Church in every land you all lived there when you were in may belong to the people of that land America I' That will do to go with and embody tbe Christ life in their own another question one of them asked me forms of thought and speech. Fourth, before: • Are the United States in Bosto administer the enterprise on sound ton, or is Boston in the United States?' " business principles.-Rev. Henry Van Dyke. -Tho it is five years since he died, it seems fitting that there should be some -The Oongregationalist says that a Bort of obituary notice of a warm canine Maine pastor recently obtained a con· friend of the Church Missionary Society tribution for the missionary debt from in Sheffield, named" Tas." He was a every member of his church by preach· collie, and being able to perform a ing a special sermon, and afterward number of clever tricks, was much in calling personally on every church-mem- request at the Sunday-school and parober who was absent when the sermon· chial teas which are so popular in that was preached, and by emphasizing the town. At the conclusion of one of his fact that mites were welcome. But, tricks, his master, a clergyman, was acthen, those same church-members ought customed to remark, … Tas' has a to be everlastingly ashamed of them- C. M. S. box," and the result was ususelves that the pastor was obliged to ally a shower of coppers. The reports spend his time and strength on such a of the Society show that the sums in tl:..e task. It reads lik.e the story of Dr. box of this C. M. S. dog during thfi Jacob Chamberlain's horse who always years 1885-91 amounted in all to no less refused to go until he had been " wound than £64 17s. 4d., an average of over up." £91-0hurch Missionary lntelligencer.
-A woman in England has put in a -In the course of a ten days' mission striking way the good which might be tour in Africa, Dr. Steele visited 19 vilaccomplished if all Englishmen would lages, held 20 meetings, gave medicine deny themselves only one tenth of the to 320 patients, extracted 20 teeth, and alcohol which they now consume. With preached to more than 2000 people. It the money thus saved she would send took 11 men to carry his luggage, 2 men out missio~aries, and allowing as much his tent, 2 his magic lantern, 2 his bed, as $1500 as the salary of each, she says bedstead, box of clothing, chair and she would, from this saving alone, be table; and the cost of the entire tour able to send out 45,000 additional mis- was less than $6. And yet they say sionaries. that missions are expensive.
-'Tis the first step which costs. It WOMAN'S WORK. is said that during eighteen years after the opening of the first mission of the -" Reported from Africa that the American Board in Bombay, the num- • new woman' has reached Efulenber of missionaries who died was great- Mrs. Johnston-and welcome she was. er than the number of Hindus who were She walked two thirds of the way from converted. the beach." Thus far from Woman's -Where is the schoolma'am? Miss Work for Woman. And as for the all other African foods I can now eat co new woman" of that sort, may she with the relish of a full-fledged Afri- multiply and replenish the earth and can. We have all the necessities of subdue it, especially in heathen climes. life, and have not made so great a sacri- -Helping Hand laments and exhorts fice as we were willing to make, nor as follows: .. Let it be remembered that suffered so much deprivation as we had after twenty-five years-successful years expected. The lizards, fiies, and moswe call them-we have not attained the quitoes I do not find to be liuch pests as ideal with which we started-' two I had antiCipated. In this I am happily cents a week from every woman in our disappointed. It is true that lizards very churches.' While many have learned often cross our path, and not infrequentboth to give and pray for the conver- ly come into the house, but they are not sion of the heathen, and find they can the repulsive-looking animals of Amerby no means limit their giving to two ica. They are good-looking little felcents a week, there are still those who lows, and we rather enjoy them, and say, , Weare not interested,' and refuse would be lonesome without them."
even this pittance for their sisters in -In the Old World also, so rough darkness. We are thankful that so ~nd hard, woman is forging ahead, for many have joined us, but we must not m the last final examination 01 the cease effort and prayer till all are won. Agra, India, Medical School, out of 17 Sincere interest can only come through young women who passed their exam- intelligence. Let us scatter far and inations, 13 were Indian Christians.
wide our missionary literature." One, Miss L. Singh, achieved won- -Of the Indian women who live in derful success in the last M.A. exthe settlements of the Hudson Bay Com- amination, as she stood second in the pany, in northern Canada, C. W. Whit- university. This advance of Indian ney writes in Hu,rper'aMagaeine: .. They Christian young women is a very resleep and dance and smoke, but their markable development of the age. Insleeping comes as a well-earned respite stances can be multiplied where such after the day's toil; their dancing has take the lead. Miss Sorabji, in Bomthe outward appearance of a sacrifice, bay, is one well-known example of that to which they are silently resigned; which is happening allover the Contiand smoking is an accompaniment to nent. The municipal school for nonwork rather than a diversion in itl!elf. Christian women in Lahore has for its The woman is the country drudge. Her two head-mistresses two sisters, the work is never finished. She chops the daughters of a retired Christian medical firewood, dries the fish and meat, snares officer in the Government service. Their rabbits, and carries her catch into the third sister is in sole charge of the medipost on her back; makes and embroid- cal work at an adjoining mission staers with beads the mittens, moccasins tion, while several other Indian women and leggings; yields the lion's share of fill important medical posts in thevicinthe scanty larder to her husband when ity. Another lady was inspectress of he is at home luxuriating in smoke and schools in another adjoining district till sleep, and when he is away gives her the time of her death.-Intelligencer.
children her tiny allowance of fish and -The Zenana Bible and Medical goes hungry without a murmur." Mission employs 122 Europeans, 175 -This sister, whose name is Mary C. native Christian teachers, and 79 Bible Archer, a United Brethren missionary women. The income last year was at Rotufunk, West Africa, must be of £14,716.
a contented mind, or else be possessed -The Woman's Foreign Missionary of a faith which changes mountains to Union of Friends in America held its molehills. Hear her; "The rice and third triennial conference in Wilmington, 0., May 14th-17th. The attend· -The library of theYoungWomen'B ance was large and the spiritual quality Christian Association in New York is a of the sessions was very tine. One boon to a very large and important class does not often hear such prayers. The -the self-supporting women of that editor of this department of the Mrs- city. It contains 24,407 volumes, and SIONARY REVIEW occupied one evening has nearly 5000 regular readers. It was with an address. desired to increase the number of books, and to this end the Library Committee YOUNG PEOPLE. recently held a book reception, each guest being requested to bring 1 book -Christianity has made immense for the library. gains in the attention and devotion of young people. It has identified in new -The Christian Endeavor Missionary ways Christian character with good citi- League of the Reformed (Dutch) Church zenship. It is more aggressive in its has one admirable method that may well spirit and more inclusive in its aims. be commended to organizations of other There is a much wider interest in apply- denominations. They send one free ing Christian principles to the solution copy of the mission organ of the deof problems affecting the present happi- nomination, The Mi8Biun Field, to every ness and mutual helpfulness of man- society whose contributions to denomikind. Interest in missions has broad- national missions during the year ened, not lessened. Inquiries concern- amount to $10 or more. ing the person of Christ and men's relation with Him are more numerous -The Catholic Review wishes that it and more earnest than ever before. "could transfer a little of the Endeav- There seem to be good evidences that orers' enthusiasm and intense zeal and the Christian conscience is, in some devotion to the tepid, half-hearted posidirections, not less sensitive, and is more tion of our own people who are mere outspoken to-day than in the last gen- nominal Catholics. There is no use in eration.-The Gung'l'egationalist. pooh-poohing, much less in ridiculing this grand moral movement. Their aim -Concerning the Student Volunteer and their motives are good. For the :Movement, the most cheering tidings present they seem to be doing a good come from India. During the past three work. Any organization of earnest, months 5 conferences have been held, zealous, Christian people who aim at at Bombay, Lahore, Lucknow, Calcutta, stemming the tide of corruption, puriand Madras. The aggregate attend- fying politics, elevating the moral tone ance at these conferences has been over of communities, and encouraging a more 1000, representing 127 colleges and decided type of Christian citizenship, schools. So far as results can be tabu- certaiuly is not to be despised. Nor lated, it has been ascertained that 128 need we be ashamed to emulate their students have volunteered for mission- zeal, their enterprise, and their aggresary work. sive devotion in laboring for the good of their fellow-men." -To perform all services as silently 88 possible, not to talk about them un- -The total number of societies in the less it is necessary, in order to stimulate New York City Christian Endeavor others to do likewise, to forget the good Union is 135; the total membership is done as quickly as possible, and move 6500. The Presbyterians lead, with 42 forward to the next opportunity-these societies; the Baptists follow, with 25 i· I!,re among the rules of the King's the Reformed (Dutch), with 19; the Daughters. Let us have just as many Methodists, with 13; the Congregation- King's Daughters (if of that kind) as alists, with 10; the United Presbytepossible, and of both sexes. rians, with 4; the Reformed Presbyte- rians, with 3; the Disciples, with 8; and miscellaneous, 16. Ninety-five of -The TriJJune Fresh Air Fund was these societies report missionary com- started nineteen years ago, and has in· mittees, and 83 report $7405 as the creased year by year in efficiency and amount given to missions during the usefulness. This fund has ministered past year. Several societies, which since its establishment to over 300,000 made no return in figures, reported the children, at a total cost of $347,830.
support of a missionary; this would The good accomplished and the amount probably run the amount to about of happiness it has been the means of $9000. There are 97 junior societies, bringing into thousands of homes can- with a membership of about 3000. not be calculated in figures. It is -The Mt. Vernon Place, Washing- planned to carryon a yet greater work ton, D. C., society has 120 members this year, the management assuming pledged to the two·cents-a-week plan, and hoping that there will be no lack and raised $100 for missions last year. of contributions and olIers of hospitality for the children. -In Liverpool, England, a Baptist Y. P. S. C. E. missionary committee has -Were all Hebrews of the stamp of been formed by several societies, and Nathan Straus, and could we trace the they have undertaken the support of a Good Samaritan quality to their relig· foreign missionary. Rev. C. 1_ Dodds is ion, it might not be so bad to raise the their representative, who is doing ser- cry, " Back to Moses '" The coal yards vice on the Congo. He is himself an maintained by this lover of his kind not Endeavorer, and is a member of one of long since were closed for the season.
England's earliest societies. The first During the season more than 14,000,000 year of this missionary committees' pounds were distributed, at the rate of work resulted in gifts of more than 30 pounds for 5 cents. In addition to $250. The other gifts of the societies this, a large quantity was given away make the total almost twice that amount. to the needy on orders distributed for Mr. Straus by the managers of the UNITED STATES. recognized charitable agencies. On May -W. T. Harris, the Commissioner of 1st the branch depots for the distribu- Education, has issued his fifth annual tion of sterilized milk were opened for report. It shows that nearly a quarter of their fourth season. The main depot at the entire popUlation-an aggregate of No. 151 Avenue C was in operation all 15,OOO,OOO-is enrolled in schools and col- winter, and an average of 1000 bottles leges. There are 235,000 schoolhouses, of sterilized milk: a day has been disvalued at nearly $400,000,000; 260,000 tributed at a nominal price of 1 cent a female teachers were employed, as bottle.
against 122,000 male teachers; school -~hank God, some thousands of expenditures during the year amounted good Indians still live. As witness the to $163,000,000. It seems that theologi· record of the Pilgrim Congregational cal schools are more heavilyendOWtld Church of t,he Santee Agency, Nebrasthan any other class of institutions. k~, a mission church. It has a resident -The Reformed (Dutch) Church is membership of only 62, those being the to be congratulated on having a mission- missionaries and the Ind'ians among ary so gifted and devoted as Dr. Jacob whom they labor, and yet last year this Chamberlain, and it is in the writing of church contributed $560 to 5 of the de- tracts that his literary skill is at its very nominational societies, to the Dakota best. It would be difficult to find racier Native Missionary Society, and to aid 2 missionary reading than is supplied by sister churches, besides raising $137 for his "Winding up a Horse," " Break local expenses. No wonder Secretary Cocoanuts over the Wheels," and Ryder writes: "If the churches " How those Cobras Squirmed." throughout the country would even approach the generosity of this church, -Not many missionary magazines the debt of the American Missionary saw the light during the month of May Association would be raised at once. that were so full of interesting and Think of it! An average of more than profitable reading as the Spirit of MiB· $9 per member for distinctively mission- sions. Let our brethren of the Protary activities outside of the church it- estant Episcopal Church not fail to self and more than $11 per member for read, note, mark, and inwardly digest the spread of the Gospel and the main- the contents from the first page to the tenance of church services! last.
-The work of the American Board -'Tis a well-known law of physics in its 3 missions in papal lands was be- that large bodies move slowly, or, at gun in 1872, nearly twenty-four years least, it takes them a long time to start. ago. Of the 10 ordained missionaries And so when two full years ago the in these 3 missions, 2 are in Austria, 1 Methodist preachers of Chicago began in Spain, and 7 in Mexico. The 3 mis- to stir up His Holiness the Pope over sions now embrace 35 churches, with the persecutions of Protestants in South 1913 members, while 28 schools of all America, and urge him to secure for grades are maintained, having 1672 them the freedom which Catholics enjoy pupils under instruction. These figures in this land, it was not reasonable to exare not large, but they indicate good pect the relief would come soon. It growth in view of the force employed, took one year just to get a letter from and they seem specially promising when Chicago to the Eternal City. Then Leo it is remembered that the seed has been was in doubt if there was aught to comvery widely distributed and may be ex- plain of down there, and later he learned pected to bear fruit in many parts of that the civil power was supreme, and the wide field which these missions have if that happened to be tyrannical and attempted to cover.-Missionary Herald. persecutive, he could not help it, for he never meddled with politics. Surely, -Secretary Speer, of the Presbyterian not Ii greatresult for Ii tug of two years. Board, has these words of appeal for his denomination: "We have taken pos- EUROPE. session of more of the world than any other Church, and we do not yield our Great Britain.-At a meeting of the ground. We have 27 missions full of Nyanza Committee of the Church Misbrave people. Of Japan's 40,000,000, sionary Society, held in Uganda on July one fourth is our share. We were first 22d, 1895, a resolution was passed askto enter upon the 12,000,000 of Korea. ing the parent committee of that society We have 4 missions in China. The to supply for the ensuing year in the whole of Siam, 2,000,000 of India, Revised Luganda Version 3000 New 9,000,000 in Persia, and 2,000,000 in Testaments, 5000 St. Matthew, 2500 Syria-160,OOO,000 the share of the St. John, 600 Four Gospels and Acts Presbyterian Church of these United in one volume, 500 New Testaments States. In Colombia there are 27,000 lep- witb references, well bound; 200 Pentaers, with no one to tell them of Christ. teuch, 200 Isaiah, 1000 Bibles-in all, There are 721,000 villages in India, to 13,000 books. They anticipate that a the one-hundredth part of which the similar quantity will be required each love of Christ has not been told. To year for the next five years. Upon this Presbyterians in this country belong the committee passed a resolution ask- $3,000,000,000, with annual increase of ing the British and Foreign Bible So- $100,000,000. We manage by great ciety very kindly to grant the large supeffort to raise $1,000,000 for foreign mis- ply asked for. At the meeting of the sions (and did that but once), one three- Bible Society's committee on March 2d, thousandth part of our wealth. a vote of these books, to be carried out by instalments as fast as the editorial and for some time a member of Livingand printing departments can supply stone's famous Zambesi expedition. In them, was passed. 1860 he joined the Universities' Mission to Central Africa, and was associated -More than 30 of the younger clergy- with the first bishop, Bishop Mackenmen of the diocese of Durham, England, zie. The latter part of his life Mr. have addressed a communication to their WalIer spent as rector of an English bishop (Dr. Westcott), placing them- country parish, but his voice and pen selves subject to his direction as to were always at the service of the Dark going into the foreign mission field. Continent. They say:" We think that those who stand at the Church's watch tow- The Continent.-The McAllMission ers may be willing to organize and di- has had its share of suffering from lack rect us if they are once convinced that of funds to carryon its regular work. we are willing to obey orders and thank- So great was the deficit at the close of ful to have them to obey." its last financial year that it was decided to close the four halls in Lyons and give -Some 750,000 patients were treated up the meetings in other towns. The last year in the Dufferin hospitals of news comes from Lyons, however, that India or in other hospitals officered by the Baptist and Presbyterian churches women. in that city have come to the rescue, pledging themselves to support the four -For some years the adult baptisms stations. One of the most encouraging in the Church Missionary Society mis- features of this mission is the increassions have been between 3000 and 4000 ing interest of the French Protestant a year, or an average of about 10 per churches in its work. A new hall has day for every day in the year. In the been opened by the evangelical church past year this average has been main- in GrenelIe, Paris, which meets all the tained without including Uganda; but expenses of the enterprise, and several in Uganda so large a number of adult pastors have succeeded in interesting converts have been baptized in the year, their young people in practical service that the ordinary total is nearly doubled. at the McAlI salles. Among the items are : West Africa, 325; East Africa, 116; India, 2013 (the -In connection with the death of largest figure on record); Ceylon, 133 ; Baron Hirsch the (/lm'8tian Advocate China, 659 (503 in Fuh-Kien alone, even employs such phrases as " liberality unin such a year I) ; Japan, 292. Then bounded" and" a career without a parfor Uganda the number returned is allel," and declares that" since 1890 he 2971 ; and the grand total cannot be has dispensed in beneficence over $15,- much under '7000. There have also 000,000 a year." And certainly the been over 8000 baptisms oj' the children world never before saw combined such of Christian parents.-Intelligencel'. ability and such disposition to bless hu- manity by bestowing such vast sums. -The great society named above has 975 Europeans as its representatives in -Waldensians, English Wesleyan, the foreign field, and 311 native and American Methodist, English and Amer- Eurasian clergymen. The communi- ican Baptists, Free Italian Church, cants number 57,779 and the adherents, Plymouth Brethren, Unitarian and Re- 212,640. formed Catholic are all at work in Italy. About 250 missionaries, pastors, and -The natives of the Dark Continent evangelists are engaged in the work, or have lost a devoted friend by the death in the proportion of 1 to 150,000. Mulof Horace Waller, whose sagacious titndes of Italians have not yet heard counsels on African affairs were never the Gospel as preached by evangelicals, darkened by the shadow of self-interest. tho all might hear it. According As a youth Mr. Waller was an engineer, to the latest statistics, about 6000 are administration,' and he went on to say connected with the various churches.- that he desired lir. Terrell to write Mi8sion Journal. President Cleveland and ask him to sup- press them. 'Why,' replied the envoy -An Odessa correspondent states: extraordinary and minister plenipoten• .. The South Russian press is again tiary of the United States,' there are urging the Government to take speedy 35,000 newspapers printed in the United measures to prevent the growth of States, and everyone of them gives Stundism in the southern and western you fits every morning.' " provinces. It is stated that this great movement among the peasants has not -In the March REVIEW it was stated been destroyed by the severe enact· that 1000 copies of an Arabic translaments directed against it, that the efforts tion of " Angel's Christmas" were to be of its leaders have been only diverted publlshed at Beirut for free distribution into secret channels, and that unless in- among the Sunday-schools of Syria. stant steps are taken to counteract it the The further statement is in order that movement is certain to spread to the this work is done by the Foreign Sunlarge towns, and to Great Russia, where day-school Association of Brooklyn, it will be almost impossible to grapple N. Y., and with funds furnished by with it. Mrs. Walter T. Hatch, who has also given money to publish for a similar ASIA. use 1000 copies each of " Christie's Old Organ" and" Saved at Sea." Islam.-What are the causes that have led to our decline? Want of edu- -Dr. J. C. Young, of the Keith-Falcation has been assigned as the main coner Mission at Aden, reports his cause, but want of school-teaching is l1rst baptism in the difficult field of more the consequence of social deca· South Arabia. This mission was planned dence than the cause. Our social de- in 1885 by the gifted and consecrated generacy must be mainly ascribed to man whose name it bears, was started our inability to accumulate wealth and by him the next year, and in 1887 he inability to preserve property. Both died in the midst of his toils. And it is Hindus and Mohammedans are living now, after the lapse of a decade, that under the same government, but while the harvest begins. My word shall not the Hindu community is accumulating return unto Me void. Their works do wealth and gaining in social importance, follow them. we have lost the wealth and the property that we had when the English peo- India.-Notwithstanding all that the ple assumed the sovereignty of India. English people have done to benefit In- The time is rapidly coming when, in dia, the missionaries have done mOle spite of individuals becoming judges or than all other agencies combined.-Lora magistrates and barristers or advocates, Lawrence. the great majority of the Moslem population will become hewers of wood and -The Government of India cannot drawers of water.-Moslem (Jhronide. but acknowledge the great obligation under which it is laid by the benevo- -A Washington correspondent is re- lent exertions made by missionaries, sponsible for this story: "Mr. Terrell whose blameless example and self·denyis said to be on very intimate terms with ing labors are infusing new vigor into the Sultan. As they were recently din- the stereotyped life of the great populaing together at the palace his imperial tions placed under English rule.-The majesty remarked that he regretted to Secretary of State for India. learn that there were • four newspapers in the United States which had pub- -In addition to all other sources of lished articles seriously reflecting on his wealth, India is blessed with vast beds of coal. One region is named covering 500 square miles, and containing 14,000,- tileries. M. Oehler, the director of the 600,000 tons, and another with 200 Basle Missionary Society, in answer to square miles and 465,000,000 tons. the objection that a bait was thus offered to conversion, wrote: "The end which -Says the Indian Witnes8: II The we aim at in our industrial enterprise is following extract from a private letter not to rouse in the heathen the desire of written by the Rev. Dr. Parker, for being converted. We only aim at mak- more than thirty-six years a leader in ing it possible for those who have this the missions of Oudh and Rohilkhand, desire to carry it out. One great obsta- deserves careful perusal: 'The Salva- cle to conversion in India is removed if tion Army agents are a strange people. we can offer our converts a means of They are at work in Oudh and opened gaining their bread, which they lose in Bareli. They have taken our people when they are converted. The tileries, wherever they could get them. The with their hard work, which is consid- Thakur work near Panahpur has been ered degrading by the Hindus, with the nearly swept away by them and a num- strict discipline exercised over the ber of the Panahpur and Ramapur peo- workmen, and the slender wages they ple have left and followed them. They receive, has very few attractions for took over 300 of our Hardoi people, and men who were in comfortable circum- after getting them reported in the War stances before their conversion." The Cry dropped many of them out of the capital for these industries was ad- ranks again. If they are going through vanced by friends of the society, who our Rohilkhand missions in this way bear all the risks, giving the society the they will do the most cruelly destructive entire profit.-Revue dea Mi88i0n8 Con- work for Satan that has been done any- tempm·aines.
where for a very long time.' " -The Kaukab-i-Hindhas some inter- And this further charge calls for esting figures regarding self-support in the Methodist missions of North India. attention from the General: "The Rev. In the Northwest Conference 21 native R. Gillespie, a missionary in India of preachers, and in the North India Conthe Presbyterian Church, has published ference 43 men are supported entirely a statement showing that after carefully from local collections. But the proporinvestigating the reports of Commis- tion of small salary men on self-support sioner Booth-Tucker, he finds that many is greater in the latter conference. of. the army corps, officers and soldiers The number ~f Christians in the Northreported by him had no existence in west Conference is 41,019, and they fact, but only on paper, and that his give 4782 rupees; in the other conboastful statements of large numbers of ference there are 48,814 Christians, and natives converted by the Army were the amount received from them is only either erroneous exaggerations or entire- 4348 rupees, showing a higher aVE'rage ly unfounded. lIe gives names, places, of giving in the Northwest Conference. and dates, and quotations from Booth- Tucker in the War Cry, and challenges him to produce 100 members of the -By the last report of Lodiana Pres- Army in Gujerat, where he claimed to byterian Mission it appears that 566 have 10,000, and that he will pay a Bouls were received to the church last rupee for each one." year. There are 19 ordained native -The industrial establishments of men, 15 licentiates, 23 Bible women, 20 the Basle Mission in India brought in a churches and chapel buildings where profit to that society in 1894 of over services are held, 10 hospitals and dis- £4640. These establishments consist of pensaries in which over 90,000 patients three weaving rooms, one carpenter's were treated.
workshop, one machine shop, and five -A representative Hindu daily paper declares that there is scarcely an edu- "It is not good for the Christian's health to cated man in India who has not read hustle the Aryan brown, the Bible, and that it is impossible for For the Christian riles, and the Aryan smiles, a Hindu not to feel a profound respect for it. and he weareth the Christian down; And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, with the name of the late deceased, -For the :first time in the history of And the epitaph drear: • A fool lies here, who university education in India, a native tried to hustle the East.' .. of India has been appointed an examiner -Rev. IJ. IJ. Moore.
in English in the examination for the China.-There is at the foundation of Mastet of Arts degree. The recipient the ChinElse civilization and of the Chiof this distinction is Lala Madan Gopal, nese national character a nucleus of M.A., barrister-at-Iaw, and a fellow of moral worth and intellectual capabilities the Punjab University, who was recent- "'Vhich may come to the front again. ly made a Rai Bahadur. He has been When the walls break down which appointed one of the examiners for the separate China from the rest of the M.A. examination of the Punjab Uni- world, so as to give the Chinese a chance versity. He is a distinguished alumnus of learning from us all they can, it is of the old Delhi CoIIege.-Civil and very doubtful what the result of a free Military Gazette. competition with the Chinese would be.
-Mr. Haffenden reports the baptism Their imperturbable patience, their en- of a real Malay on January 5th as the durance, their steadfast character, their direct fruit of the Bible Society's work pious reverence, their respect for learn- in Singapore. About three years ago ing, should not be underrated. If these he bought the Gospel of St. Luke from virtues are but turned in the right a native colporteur in the streets of direction and tempered by that breadth Singapore. Since then he has read the of mind'which is indispensable for prog- book, understanding some parts and ress, the Chinese will soon recover; and others only partially. He was struck nothing is more apt to produce a na- by finding Jesus spoken of as both the tional rebirth than hard times, trials, Son of God and the Son of Man, and and humiliations. China is offered in this he could not understand. He was her recent misfortunes the chance of a at the time head fireman on board a spiritual rebirth. Should she avail her- steamer plying in the Straits. He was self of this opportunity she would, with often abused by his companions for her 400,000,000 of inhabitants and her reading the book, but still he continued untold virgin resources, at once take a to do so. Going one day to buy medici- prominent rank among the nations of nal oil at the house of a Chinese Mo- the earth; and her civilization might hammedan whom he had known years become strong enough to influence and before as a native doctor, he saw a text modify our own.-IJr. Paul Oarus in on the wall and spoke about it. This The Monist.
led to a talk about the Gospel, and he -In Chinese families one of the most asked to be taken to some European regular attendants at church is pretty teacher, and thus his baptism came ceTtain to be the baby. If the mother about. His face was beaming. When goes she never dreams of leaving baby asked if he had got anything by becom- at home, and in any good-sized congreing a Christian, he said, "Yes, I have gation there will be a considerable got a light heart."-Bible &ciety Re- sprinkling of these small creatures. porter. When they are good and go to sleep -The missionary who wants to live (the best of babies can't do beUer in long in the East, and succeed, must cul- church) they are probably laid carefully tivate patience. Rudyard Kipling puts on their backs on the bench, or even on it well in these lines: the fioor, while mamma fans the little half-yellow, half-pink face and listens diet, and lard is not used in cooking.
as best she can to the sermon. When There are no goats or mules or don- they are naughty-and what with heat, keys.-Popular Science New8.
mosquitoes, and Chinese singing, even -In Japan the Kumiai (Congregaa celestial baby can be exasperated into tional) churches lead all Protestant naughtiness-they rave and scream and bodies in numbers, with a membership refuse to be comforted, much 8S non- of 11.162 ; next come the Presbyterian celestial babies sometimes do at home. bodies, with 11,100; next the Metho- -During last year 150 Chinese con- dist, with something over 8000, and then verts were baptized by the Rev. Hopkin the varied Episcopal bodies, w,ith more Rees, a Welsh missionary of the Lon- than 5000. During last year the Meth- don Missionary Society, located 8t Tien- odists led in the number of baptisms, tsin. with 699; the Presbyterians came next, -The general statistics of the Pres- with 686; next the Episcopalians, with byterian missions in China for 1395 are 585, and then the Congrega~ionalists, as follows: Ordained .A,merican mis- with 527. The total of adult baptisms sionaries, 58; unordained missionaries, were 2516.
including medical, wives and single AFRICA. women, 119. Total American workers, 177. Natives ordained, 80; native -The following striking expressions licentiates and helpers, 518. Total na· used by native Africans indicate the pos- tive agents, 548. Churches, 74; com- session of poetical ideas: The Mpongwes municants added on confession of faith, call thunder .. the sky's gun," and 844. Total number of communicants, morning" the day's child." The Zulus 6922. Schools, 233 ; number of pupils, speak of twilight as .. the eyelashes of 4386; native contributions for self-sup- the sun." A native from West Africa, port, $2284. Medical work during the when he first saw ice, said it was past year: Canton hospitals and dis- " water fast asleep. "-American Board pensaries, 5; patients, 52,052; Peking Almanac.
hospitals and dispensaries, 4 ; patients, -" No amount of preaching against 25,557; Shantung hospitals, 2; pa- the climate will retard the development tienfs, 42,446; Hanian hospitals and dis· of Africa," says Mr. Stanley. "Civili· pensaries, 2; patients, 10,985. Total, 181,041 patients. zation has grasped the idea that it must enter in, and now that it thoroughly Japan.-This is a land without the realizes the fact that the sine qua non domestic animals. It is this lack which for securing that possession is the railstrikes the stranger so forcibly in look· way, I can conceive of nothing that will ing upon Japanese landscapes. There prevent the children of Europe finding are no cows; the Japanese neither drink out for themselves whether they can milk nor eat meat. There are but few permanently reside there or not. " horses, and these are imported mainly for the use of the foreigners. The -Rev. E. F. Merriam, editorial sec· freight-cars in the streets are pulled and retary of the American Baptist Mission- pushed by coolies, and the pleasure car- ary Union, gives the ,following interest- riages are drawn by men. There are ing account of the results of mission but few dogs; and these are neither work at one of the stations on the Con- used as watch dogs, beasts of burden, go: "One of the most remarkable in- nor in hunting. There are no sheep, stances of rapid growth toward an inde- and wool is not used in clothing-silk pendent, self-sustaining and self-propa· and cotton being the staples. There are gating Christian church 'in Africa is no pigs; pork is an unknown article of found at Lukunga. Fourteen years ago the Gospel had never been preached in them by its bonds. Heathen marriage this district, and, so far as known, not is more accommodating; a man mar. one of its numerous people had ever ries and divorces a wile at pleasure, heard the name of Christ. Progress only to marry and divorce another." was slow at first, and the increase in M. Coillard is obliged to take a furlough membership was less rapid than in the at last. He has been so ill that it is neighboring station of Banza Manteke, doubtful whether the long journey but to-day in the churches of this field south to Basn,toland by way of Bulnthere are about 600 Christians. The wayo,Palapye, and Mafeking be not most remarkable development, how- too much for his reduced strength. If ever, has been in the line of self-sup- all goes well, however, he will stay a port. The churches not only maintain few months at Lessouto before returntheir own pastors and evangelists, but ing to Europe.-.Record. have formed a' Missionary Society of Lukunga,' which l'll.ised about $300 in -Between his arrival in Uganda in 1895. Two missionaries were support- October and February 17th, Bishop ed and 2 branch churches were assisted Tucker confirmed 1200 candidates, and in paying the salaries of their native at lasl, accounts was about to visit the pastors. There was a class of 25 can- Sesse Islands for further confirmation didates under instruction for various services. Within the last year the adult forms of religious work, and a self-sus- baptisms seem to have exceeded 3000. taining school of 40 scholars." Mr. Pilkington thus summarizes the position: " One hundred thousand souls -A recent traveler in the Transvaal brought into close contact with the Gosdeclares in the London Ohristian,' "It pel, half of them able to read for themshould be remembered that the section selves; 200 buildings raised by native of the Reformed Dutch Church to which Christians in which to worship God and President Kruger belongs-the 'Dop- read His Word; 200 evangelists and pers' -makes much more of the Old Tes- teachers entirely supported by the natament line of things than of the New tive church; 10,000 copies of the New Testament-has no sympathy with the Testament in circulation; 6qOO souls natives, believing the colored races under eagerly seeking daily instruction; statisthe curse of Canaan, whose destiny and tics of baptism, confirmation, adhedoom it is to be hewers of wood and rents, teachers, more than doubling drawers of water, under the lash, for yearly for the last six or seven years; the benefit of the more fortunate white the power of God shown in changed man. They regard them as animals, lives; all this in the center of the thickand treat them so, for be it noted that est spiritual darkness in the world I" there is no recognition of marriage in the Transvaal between colored men -The main difficulty between Italy and women. A Kaffir cannot there and Abyssinia seems to arise out of a have his lawful wife, for the Transvaal determination of the former to put down Government refuses to such a relation- slavery. The German Missionary Flad' ship a legal status." writes that according to the doctrines of their church the Abyssinians may en- -Ti1ings of awakening and revival slave prisoners of war captured from come from the French missions on the the heathens around them, but may not Zambesi. Not a few are professing to trade in slaves. He inherits them, or be willing to serve God, and to this is receives them as presents if he does not largely due the new interest in the capture them in war. Every Abysthings of God that is so noticeable. The sinian has one or more slaves, and these great practical stumbling-block is the do all the work. King Menelek has marriage queRtion. "Christian mar- given a written promise that slavery riage," says M. Coillard, "frightens shall be taken in hand.
The Missionary Review of the World — January 1894
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4 .k¥~..L-~, Ittr If!} MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVII. No.l.-OldSeries.-JANUARY.-VoL. VII. No. 1.-New 8eriu.
THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION AT CHICAGO.
BY THE EDI1'OR-IN-CHIEF.
At the World's Fair the seven wonders of the world met to hold high carnival. The metropolis of the great Northwest achieved a grand success. To describe the superb splendor, the vastness and variety, the architectural and resthetic attractions, the overwhelming grandeur of this Exposition, is impossible. All adjectives fail, and even superlatives are weak. "Aladdin's lamp" may now be relegated to the oblivion into which the most gorgeous fancies retire when outdone by facts. The common verdict is, "The half was not told me."
Symmetry, in hug0 columnar and statuesque forms, here on every side saluted the beholder; and the combination of the colossal with the exquisitely delicate, of the original and the unique with the refined and poetic, left fal' in the distance any previous triumphs of human genius. When, at night, the electric lights illumincd and glorified the massive structures and allegorical figures that surrounded and adorned the Court of Honor; when the golden statue of Liberty, in lustrous robes, confronted the Administration Building, with its garlands of light and its coronal of glory; when the electric fountains shot rainbows skyward, and all this unearthly beauty and radiance was reflected and repeatcd in the mirror of the lagoon, it seemed reverent to ask whether the dream of Paradise were not become a reality, and the " Vhite City" were not at least the forecast of t.he " City of God."
Connected with this imperial display of the world's inventions, discoveries, achievements, and material civilization, there have been held several congresses, to three of which the pages of this HEVIEW might properly advert: The Parliament of Religions. the Congress of Missions, and the World's Evangelical Alliance. The daily press m{d religious weeklies have so far dealt with detail!'! that at this distance of time nothing remains but a re-view, II backward glance whieh lIIay serve to gather up and crystallize into permanence the impressiollfl of the geuel'lll ellaradcr and rCimlts of these three conferences.
THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION AT CHICAGO
As to the l'arliament of Religions-of which especially this paper treats -there was something thrilling about the conception of gathering into one fraternal assembly the representatives of the various religious faiths of mankind, and hushing all discordancies in one universal harmony. Charity seemed to have come down from heaven to sit upon her throne and sway all hearts j and yet, as to the utility of such a parliament, there were in many minds grave doubts which events have not dissipated. Of course in an open field, with a fair showing, Christianity has nothing to fear from competition with any other so-called" religions j" bllt such a parliament leaves on the popular mind impressions which are misleading and mischievous. Superficial people naturally infer that, as all the great religious systems of the world claim to have their" sacred books," and" sacred persons," and most of them their" incarnations," it is simply a matter of comparison and competition whether or not Christianity shall, in the race for the prize, come out ahead! There is, in the concession of a common platform-to which Brahmans and Buddhists, Confucianists and Taoists, Parsces and Shintooists, and representatives of every other typc of rcligious doctrine and practice are admitted upon an equality-something which looks very like the virtual abandonment of thc position held for centuries by the evangelical disciple, that there is but one divine religion, and that so unique as to defy all comparison or competition.
On the same platform, in the Hall of Columbus, were to be seen Christians of every name-Roman Catholic and Greek Church dignitaries, as well as leading Protestants of all denominat.ions; theosophists and materialists and deists, as well as theists; followers of every creed, however sublime or absurd-a great throng all gathered in one hall and rejoicing in the unity of their diversity, and that all-embracing bond of " charity." It was pronounced a " wonderful and impressive sight," even by the unimpressible newspaper reporters! Cardinal Gibbons delivered an invocatory prayer, and addresses followed from a Presbyterian" president," a Universalist female preacher, and a Roman Catholic archbishop; and everybody was supposed to be happy because the millennium of " peace on earth and good will among men" was at last inaugurated! Here,for seventeen days, those who glory in the" universal Fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man," and the universal affinity of all religious faiths and cults, sat down together at their banquet of love. According to the conditions of the Parliament, the principles of each faith were to be set forth by special advocates, without reply, rejoinder, controversy, comparison, or any form of counter attack, so that, as every mouth was muzzled, there was no room on that platform even for the exposure of error, sophistry, fallacy, or even falsehood. Such refutation must find its opportunity and facility outside the Parliament, if at all. No wonder if that competent and cultured Arabic scholar, Dr. George E. Post, of Syria, when he heard false statements made as to the teaching of the Koran, could not keep silence, but broke' through restraint and started for the platform, with an open copy of the Koran in hand, to refute the falsehood by reading from the book itself !
There is room for grave suspicion as to the final outcome of this Parliament. Many of the best men still question whether " charity" was not made to cover extremes of concession and unwarrantable fellowship; whether such levelling of alllandma.rks between creeds and cults was not a dishonor to the Christian faith and the Christian's God; whether the ban put upon all " controversy," and even rebutting testimony, did not leave error to run its race unhindered, and hamper truth in overtaking it, by compelling a resort to tardy and uncertain methods of exposure; whether the ultimate result will not be to countenance an unwholesome tolerance of false teaching, and open the door-as in fact is already the case-to a new era of propagandism of Buddhist, Mohammedan and other "mysteries" even in Christian lands j whether we are in no danger of misreading the motto, "Liberty, equality, fraternity" into "Laxity, apathy, and compromise. "
" The Moslem Wodd is a Mohammedan paper recently started in New York City, whose editor thinks the United States a'n excellent missionary field, and hopes to make many converts to the doctrine of Islam. He thinks the people here ripe for conversion, and that American women in particular will embrace the doctrine, because it makes woman free and independent. Islamism, the editor avers, will lessen licentiousness, purify the marriage relation, and banish adnltery! The morality of Mohammedanism will, he says, compare favorably with the morality of Christianity. He makes the Islam heaven appear very roseate. His paradise is beyond description, ineffable, iridescent and glorions. A Mohammedan may have as many wives as he can p1'ovide for: no more. That's good news. This prevents adultery, etc. With two hundred million Mohammedans already upon the face of the earth, what may we expect ?"
So says a contemporary journal. It is not strange if doubts of the expediency of such a Parliament will not" down atone's bidding." There is but one "religion" worthy of the name j only one "Sacred Book," sealed with the" seven seals" of God: fulfilled prophecy, general accuracy, faultless morality, exalted spirituality, divine originality, consistent unity, and saving efficacy. No other "religion" gives man a Saviouf? anointed of God, competent as prophet, priest, and king, the way of God to man, the way of man to God j no other faith, however ancient, and boasting however many millions of adherents, can supply such a firm standing place fOf life, slich a pillow for the dying head, as Spurgeon found in those "five words," which Paul would rather speak with the understanding than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue : " CHRIST DIED FOR OUR. SINS."
Bacon's maxim was, that it is not worth while to discuss a matter with any man who does not agree with you upon first principles. ",Vas there no risk of an impression, even on those invited to present thllir " religion" in such a Parliament, that Christians do not regard their divergences from themselves as radical or fundamental 1 And is this a true or tenable position 1 Is it possible for an idolater, a polygamist, a materialist, a deist, a pantheist, a theosophist, a worshipper of Brahm or Buddha, or of 'his own ancestors, to have real concord with one who holds all idol worship to be sin, polygamy to be a perversion of marriage and the panderer of an unhallowed lust, and that he who denies the Son of God denies the Father also 1 Charity is not laxity. It covers a multitude of sins, but it is not to become a mantle of snow, concealing a fatal crevasse. Let us, as Augustine said, cultivate "unity in essentials, liberty in non· essentials, and in all things charity j" but, without unity on the essentials, liberty becomes lawlessness and looseness, and charity another name for the carelessness that' compromises with error and is indifferent even to vital distinctions. John was the" apostle of love," yet his pen wrote: "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God j and this is that spirit of Antichrist" against which the New Testament thunders perpetual warning. Even the apostle of love would have made a poor president of such a " Parliament j" he was too intolerant; for he protests, " If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him 'Godspeed,' for he that biddeth him 'Godspeed' is partaker of his evil deeds" (1 John 4 : 3 j, 3 John 10).
It was that same Paul who drew that sublime portrait of charity that still stands unrivalled in God's gallery, who asks, " What concord hath Christ with Belial 1 what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness 1 and what communion hath light with darkness? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel 1 and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols 1" And ihis same Paul enjoins: "Be not ye unequally yoked together with unbelievers" (2 Cor. 6 : 14.:..16).
Forbearance with errorists and evil-doers must not degenerate into toleration of their error or evil-doing. 'With cordial concession of the poetic beauties, moral truths, and even lofty models found in the false " religions" of the world, we must still insist that the unique charm and claim of Christianity are found in this, that it gives us the only infallible Book j tho only perfect Personality, and the only Saving Bond between the sinner antI his Saviour. 'What is religion but, as the word hints, the binding back of the alienated sonI to God, j and what other religion ever wrought snch reconciliation? and yet wlmt is- any religion without salvation? There may be room for comparison and competition among ethical systems and humanitarian theories j but there is "none other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved," but that of Jesus. And, as a fact, no other religion has ever yot answered the question, ". What must I do to be saved 1" This defect is so radical that to gloss it ovor is to daub a falling wall with nntempered mortar.
It is vain to pretend that the divergences between Christianity and other faiths are not radical. Mrs. Besant's definition of theosophy makes it " consist of three affirmations: 1. The universe is fundamentally spiritual, and matter is only an expression of spirit. 2. Law reigns everywhere, in morals as much as in physical nature-that is, every act and every thought produces its inevitable result, against which no prayer and no vicarious atonement is of the least avail. 3. The doctrine of reincarna- tion, declaring the persistence of intelligence which passes from life to life, thus gathering experience as it goes, and ever building up a higher type in man." What signifies it, if with much of this teaching the Christian faith is not fundamentally at variance, since at some points the believer must part company with such teachers ! We believe the Creator still rules creation, and that physical laws are but His modes of working. Call nature" clock work" if you will; but remember that an intelligent being may reverse the ordinary movement of the hand on the dial, apparently reversing also the law of the clock's uniform motion, and yet not damage or even interrupt its mechanism!
Without impugning the lofty motives of the projectors of this Parliament, one impression, already produced, especially upon these representatives of foreign faiths, is that Christians are ready to concede that theirs may not be the only J)ivine religion. Swami Vivakananda, in his orange robes, was emboldened to Iilay : ,. Much has been said of the common ground of religious unity. I am not going just now to venture my own theory. But if anyone here hopes that this unity would come by the triumph of anyone of these religions and the destruction of the others, to him I say: 'Brother, yours is an impossible hope.' Do I wish that the Christian would become Hindu q God forbid. Do I wish that the Hindu or Bnddhist would become Christian q God forbid. If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity, and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion would soon be written, in spite of their resistance : 'Help and Not Fight,' 'Assimilation and not Destruction,' 'Harmony and Peace and not Dissension.' "
One of the last voices heard in the Parliament was that of Reuchi Shibata, of Japan, High Priest of the Zhekko sect of Shintoists. Here are his concluding words : " What I wish to do is to assist you in carrying out the plan of forming the universal brotherhood under the one roof of truth. You know unity is power. I may help you in crowning that grand project with success. To come here I had many obstacles to overcome, many struggles to make. You must not think I represent all Shintoism. I only represent my own Shinto sect. But who dares to destroy universal fraternity q So long as the sun and moon continue to shine, all friends of truth must be willing to fight courageously for this great principle. I do not know as I shall ever see you again in this life, but our souls have been so pleasantly united here that I hope they may be again united in the life her'lafter. Now I pray that eight million deities protecting the beautiful cherry-tree country of Japan may protect you and your governmentforever, and with this I bid you good-bye."
How will that do for a Parliament projected by Christian believers, one of whose first truths is, " There is but one God," and who hold that poly- theism is therefore treason against Him?
Bishop Campbell, who attended the conference, expressed publicly his regret that he had been identified with such a gathering, and says that "the answer of the Archbishop of Canterbury t.o the invitation was the one which all Christian ministers should have made: " 'The difficulties which I myself feel are not questions of distance and cOIlvenience, but rest on the fact that the Christian religion is the one religion. I do not understand how that religion can be regarded as a member of a Parliament of Religions without assuming the equality of the other intended members' and the parity of their position and claims. ' "
Bishop Campbell adds: " Whatever profit may have been derived from the meeting, we have to face the fact that, by participating in it, Christians have stood upon a platform from which the Lord Jesus Christ as ' the truth,' , the true light of the world,' and the only revelation of the Father, has been excluded. For the purposes of this gathering, followers of Jesus Christ as the only true God have practically admitted that Christianity is only one of many religious systems, and that Jesus was one of several religious teachers. The object of the Congress seems to have been to find common ground upon which the religions of the world can meet, and this I conceive to be an impossibility, so long as the inclusive and exclusive claims of Jesus are admitted. This meeting placed Christianity on a level with the heathen religions. "
As Christians, how can we consistently recognize any man as on a common platform with us, religiously, who does not accept at least three basal truths : The Bible as the rule of faith j the atoning work of Christ as the ground of salvation j and the Holy Spirit as the author of the new nature? Christofora Jabara, of Antioch, urged the appointment of a committee to investigate the claims of all great religions and formulate a creed which shall embrace the .truth in each and be acceptable to all. He particularly argued that the reconciliation of the Mohammedan and Christian religions is an easy matter. He maintained that the Koran is an inspired book, and that the Bible cannot be understood without it j and that God has allowed Islamism to endure because it is destined to correct the errors of Christianity. A new idea certainly! Hereafter we must have the Bible and the Koran printed on parallel columns, that each may be a commentary on the other! !tis as appropriate then to invite missionaries from Moslem soil as to send them to the followers of the Prophet of Mecca !
This is but one of many utterances at the Parliament openly advocating the " harmonizing of the great religions of the world upon the basis of common central truths," not only Buddhists and others who represented heathen faiths, but American clergymen pleading for such a broad plat- form! A new and universal creed. whose grand base blocks are to be the Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man. Professor W. C. Wilkinson, when discussing the "attitude of Christianity to other religion..," said unpopular but true words : " These erring religions the Bible nowhere represents as pathetic and partly successful gropings after God. They are one and all represen.ted as groping downwm'd, not groping upward. According to Christianity they hinder, they do not help. Their adherents' hold on them is like the blind grasp of drowning men on roots or rocks that only tend to keep them to the bottom of the river. The truth that is in the false religion may help, but it will be the truth, not the false religion. The attitude, therefore, of Christianity toward religions other than itself is an attitude of 1:tniversal. absolute, eternal, unappeasable hostility, while toward all men everywhere, the adherents of false religions by no means excepted, its attitude is an attitude of grace, mercy, peace, for whosoever will."
The suppression of truth and the repression of all contradiction and correction of falsehood are to some minds a fatal blemish and blotch upon the Parliament of Religions. The Pope's portrait over the platform and his letter of special blessing on the gathering, with the warning from His Eminence's emissary that no words must be uttered offensive to Catholics, served to put the Parliament well nigh into the hands of Romanism to begin with. And when the brilliant Japanese priest railed against the missionaries who, half a century since, incited his countrymen to rebellion and carnage, no voice was raised to protest that it was Jesuits and not Protestant missionaries who were 1eferred to, and Romanists were more than content to have the obloquy rest on Protestant shoulders!
On the whole, Humanitarianism, Unitarianism, Universalism, and Romanism triumphed at the Parliament, or we do not read the signs of the times. The creed that emphasizes nniversal brotherhood, human 'charity, alms deeds and culture, passes by the atonement, and holds to an ultimate salvation hy evolution, can of course clasp hands with heathen priests, ratlOnalists, free thinkers, and idolaters. Why not 1 But such a creed means a surrender of every vital doctrine, or a vague, misty faith fit only for a new sect that might well be called, Oonjusionists.
Two remarks will close this already extended paper. First, all religions are to be judged practically, not theoretically. Mr. Leightley ventures to say that" the attempts made to Christianize India are pure foUy. The Hindu has as elevated and noble a religion as Christianity, and he really assumes to know and understand more about the fundamental principles of religions than most Christians." It might be well to set opposite such estimates the remark of a very celebrated traveller, that" to discuss Buddhism ten thousand miles off, theoretically, in a Parliament of Religions, is one thing; but seen near by, it is the worst compound of filth and fanaticism, idolatry and ignorance, superstition and sensuality I have found anywhere. " An acute observer remarked that the sufficient answer to tbe Parliament of Religions was the "Midway Plaisance. " There is a story of a priest who used a walnut as his object-lesson to show the vast superiority of his own church. He stripped off the tasteless, worthless shell-that was one nominal body of believers; then the skin, nauseous and disagreeable-that was another; and now for the real kernel, the very meat, his own church. He cracked the nut, and out fell a rotten, worm-eaten mass! A cough to cover his embarrassment and a hasty dismissal of the congregation concluded tIle object-lesson.
Our second remark is that such a Parliament of Religions puts new hindrances in tbe way of Christian missions. "Vith what grace or consistency can we conduct a crusade for Christ against faiths whose followers we welcome to a common platform with us and salute as factors in the great" religious unities" and" seekers after a common goal" ~ A common platform must mean agreement on fundamental truths. Are we then henceforth to treat the distinction between evangelical Christians and esoteric Buddhists, Moslems, and fetich worshippers, as belonging to nonessentials ~ If these religions are fragments of one universal faith, or at least preparations for one ultimate faith; if the Shastras, Vedas, Zend- Avestas, Koran, are inspired of God, and Zoroaster, Confucius, and Gautama Buddha are apostles, and even incarnations of God, it is presumption if not insult to send missionaries to these peoples. But if Christianity is right in asserting a sublime monopoly; if Christ was true when He said, " I am the way, no man cometh unto the Father but by Me;" if these religion-s are only seductive theories, corrupted with gross error, and having no saving power; if even the truth they contain has never actually uplifted the peoples which tenaciously hold them j if we are to judge Mohammedanism and heathenism, not by essays in the Art Palace, but by the " Street in Cairo" and the" Dahomey Village," it may be our duty to wage uncompromising war against any religion that betrays men with false hopes of salvation.
One speaker thought he scored a victory because so few of his hearers were found to respond openly when he asked how many had read Buddha's life. No doubt many more had read it who did not choose to be put to a test which might prove the snare of a wily orator. But is it necessary always to read the lives of men in order to judge of the practical drift of their teachings and the actual influence of their systems 1 Zeno and Epicurus were both superior men, and their philosophies were in many respects lofty in moral tone; but the Epicureans and Stoics became awfully degenerate. Buddha was a heroic and unselfish Oriental saint, but when his personality was withdrawn his system sank to a very low level. It is the miracle and glory of Christianity that, when its Founder withdrew into heaven, there was and still is a Personal Presence whose influence is felt to the ends of the earth; and even the corruption of human nature has not essentially depraved the religion Hc taught nearly two millenniums ago Are we in no danger lest the new god of this age, Oivilization, may be another colossal image of gold, which all men are now called upon to worship, and may not another firm protest be the duty of God's holy children 1 This Parliament of Religions recalls a familiar incident, in the reign of Solomon, which seems almost a parable of the present day. The faiths of the world are all confessedly dead-have no vitality or saving power. Into the court of human opinion the one living faith is brought j and there are those who would lULVe it divided: they seem to think that, if the supernatural could be eliminated and the ethical left, if atonement by blood and regeneration by the Holy Spirit could be left out, the rest might stand. We could, perhaps, induce the world to accept one half of the body of Christian truth j but the true believer sees that this is like cutting in twain a living child-dissection is vivisection, division is death-and his heart yearns for the old. faith as it is, and will not consent to any compromise with error or any surrender of the truth as revealed by God. With the utmost " charity toward all and malice toward none," he still believes that nothing can be settled until it is ReWed aright j that all peace or fellowship that is not founded upon submission to God and acceptance of His dear Son, lacks firm foundation j and that partnership with those who teach error and practise idolatry is a sanction of what is wrong, and helps to blind their eyes to their sin and risk. It is not true that" it matters little or nothing what one believes, so long as he is sincere.' , Never was a maxim more a devil's lie, gilded over with the charm of apparent charity. Were this proverb a right axiom, it would no more be worthwhile either to search diligently to find the truth, or to embrace and obey the truth when found. If God has given us the Truth, and Jesus is Truth incarnate, we who possess this truth and know this Jesus, are bound to go into all the world, face error in teaching and unrighteousness in living, and bring the works of darkness to the light, having no fellowship with them j and proclaiming to men everywhere that the wrong, however sincerely held, is degrading, depraving, damning j that in none other is there salvation save God's appointed Saviour. If this were not so, the Bible would not be God's Book, for it would become the father of falsehood j Jesus could not be God's Son and the world's Saviour, for He would be setting up a baseless claim j and Christian missions would be unsound, unpractical, and even impertinent, for they assume that all ot.her "faiths" are false in essence and fatal in tendency.
Paul expresses the whole matter in a few words: "For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there be gods many, and lords many j but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him j and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him" (1 Cor. 8: 5, 6). These words were written calmly, but with no hesitating hand, with reference to forms of religiout; faith prevailing in Paul's time, and substantially identical with those now claiming recognition; and this inspired testimony may well be repeated by us with even increased emphasis. The tendencies of our times are toward a fellowship broader than the Word of God allows. Paul might have formed a parliament of religions on Mar's Hill, but he could not meet, without a courteous rebuke and firm remonstrance, the errors of Epicureans and Stoics; and so the conference broke up speedily. He might have formed another parliament at Ephesus, but his uncompromising hostility to idolatry set the whole city in an uproar, and brought his own life into risk. James warns us that overtures for the friendship of the world IIlay become hostile assaults on that relation of a believer with God which, like marriage, allows no allegiance to another, no division of devotion. John incarnated love, but boldly called him " liar" and "Antichrist" who denied the Father and the Son. It may be doubted whether" orange robes," or " priestly" dignity, or " Demosthenic" oratory, or courteous suavity, or even a hiding of error behind half truths, could have prevented the beloved apostle from calling things by their right U:l.mes had he been present at the late " Parliament."
The convictions which find utterance in this paper we dare not keep back, for silence is sometimes treason and heresy. Edmund Burke, before the electors of Bristol, defending himself against the charge that he had pursued in Parliament a course opposed to the wishes of his constituency, nobly said: "I obeyed the instructions of nature and reason, of truth and conscience; I maintained your interests as against your convictions." Intrepidity and independence demand in these days an unswerving witness to the old trnths, which are in serious danger of being swept away before the advancing flood of a "new theology." In no age have the landmarks which inspired apostles set up, been more recklessly and rapidly removed. It seems to be taken for granted that whatever is new is true and whatever is old is false, or at least needs improvement; and that the goal of the gospel itself is reached when all men are united in one religious faith, even though it be a Christless creed. With solemn but unalterable conviction we write it, as before God: The Captain of our salvation leads us on in a holy war, in which the Word of God is to be used as a sword, and love itself is armed for the fight and goes forth not for compromise, but conquest. The Stone, cut out without hands, that grows into a mountain and fills the whole earth, takes up into itself not even the best material of human systems, but alike disdains the iron and clay, and the silver and gold j not assimilation, but comminution-all to be swept away together as chaff. There is to be no new and universal religion, an eclectic combination of what is best in all existing faiths. He who sublimely says, "I am the Way, the Truth, the Life," is the only 'Way, the perfect Truth, the sole Life; and our mission is to tell men that any path that goes not by way of the Cross leads to darkness, danger, death-· VIA CRUCIS VIA LUeIS.
"HREE WEEKS WITH JOSEPH RABINOWITZ
THREE WEEKS WITH JOSEPH RABINOWITZ.
BY A. J. GORDON, D.D.
Perhaps there is no man living whom the writer has more earnestly deRired to meet face to face than this Israelite of the New Covenant. Professor Delitzsch wrote several pamphlets and documents concerning him, evidently regarding his as possibly the most remarkable Jewish con- version to Christ since that of Saul of Tarsus. "Ve have followed with the profoundest interest the reports of his work in Russia since his confes- sion of Jesus as the Messiah; and we have read with no less interest his sermons and addresseR which have appeared from time to time in print.
Going to Chicago in July last, for a month's service in connection with Mr. Moody's W orId's Fair Evangelistic Campaign, we found ourselves at our lodgings placed in the next room to a Russian guest whose name was not yet told us. Hearing in the evening the strains of subdued and fervent Hebrew chanting, we inquired who our neighbor might be, and learned that it was one Joseph Rabinowitz, of Russia j and thus to our surprise we found ourselves next neighbor to one whom we would have crossed the ocean to see, with only a sliding door now between us. Introduction followed, and then three weeks of study and communion together concerning the things of the kingdom, the memory of which will not soon depart.
Before we detail the story of our summer Hebrew school at the feet of this Christian Gamaliel, let us repeat the story of his conversion as we have read it before, and now heard it verified by the man himself.
Joseph Rabinowitz was a lawyer residing in Kischineff, Southern Russia, a man of very wide and commanding influence among his Hebrew brethren as a scholar, a philanthropist, and a lover of his nation. . From a young man he had been a most diligent and painstaking student of the Hebrew Scriptures, of the Talmud, and of all related Jewish literature, so that at the age of forty, he says, "I was like 3 man living in a house furnished with every article of furniture which money could buy, and yet the shutters of that house closed and the curtains all drawn, so that I was in the dark, and knew not the meaning of my own learning till Jesus, the Light of the world, came in and illumined all as in a flash."
About ten years since Mr. Rahinowitz was selected, in connection with certain colonization efforts, to go to Palestine to secure land for planting Jewish emigrants, who desired to flee from Russian persecution. When fitting himself out with guide-books for his contemplated journey, he was advised to take a copy of the New Testament with him, as furnishing an admirable directory to the sacred places of Jerusalem and the vicinity. He did so, and while walking about Zion and gazing upon its historic sites, he carried in his pocket this yet unopened treasure. Going one day to the brow of the Mount of Olives, he sat down on that sacred hill and began' <:ontemplating the city as it lay at his feet. Then came a train of reflection and questioning: "Why this long desolation of the city of David ~ Why this scattering of my people to the ends of the earth? vVhy these fresh persecutions breaking forth against us in almost every country of Europe?" While he pondered these sad questions he gazed toward the reputed Calvary, where that holy prophet of his nation had been crucified.
As he did so his eyes were opened j he looked upon Him whom his nation had pierced. In a flash the truth entered his heart: " We have" rejected our Messiah! hence our long casting off and dispersion by Jehovah!"
He believed j he cried out to Jesus, " My Lord and my God," and almoRt as suddenly as Saul of Tarsus Joseph Rabinowitz, from being a Hebrew of the Hebrews, had become an Israelite of the New Covenant, a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth. He took out his New Testament, a guide-book in a sense undreamed of, and read the first passag~ that fell under his eye: " I am the Vine, ye are the branches. Without Me ye can do nothing." "I saw it in the twinkling of an eye," said he j "our Jew- ish bankers, with their millions of gold, can do nothing for us j our scholars and statesmen, with all their wisdom, can do nothing for us j our coloniza- tion societies, with all their influence and capital, can do nothing for us j our only hope is in our brother Jesus, whom we crucified, and whom God raised up and set at His own right hand. 'Without Him we can do nothing.' "
We may imagine the sensation which was caused in Russia when this emiuent Hebrew returned home and boldly announced far and wide, pub- licly in the synagogue and openly in the columns of the press, his accept- ance of Jesus Christ as his Saviour and Lord. Persecution and obloquy were poured upon him from every quarter, and they of his own household became his foes j but he had counted the cost. He joyfully and boldly maintained his testimony, till little by little the enmity was softened.
Now he rejoices that one after another of his own family have joined him in confessing Christ, and preaching Him to their neighbors. By permis- sion of the government, surprisingly granted, he has built a synagogue, where he assembles a large congregation to listen to the Word of God from his lips j and he says that his entire time is occupied from morning to night, week in and week out, in answering letters from Jews who are distressed in mind concerning this great question, and in meeting inquirers coming sometimes hundreds of miles to talk with him of Jesus of Naza- reth. What wonder that such a conversion, attended with such results, should have led Professor Delitzsch to hail the event as " the first ripe iig"
on the long barren tree of rejected Israel, and as a cheering sign that for that people "summer is nigh." "Ve quote from this eminent Hebrew professor these strong words : "The movement of Kischineff is cp.rtainly a prelude of the end. No doubt the final conversion of the nation will be preceded by such testimony proceeding from individuals raised up by God and filled with His Spirit. Voices will be heard in Israel calling to repentance, to a return to God and His Anointed (Hos. 6: 1-3; 3: 5) ; many shall awake to new life, and from that portion of Israel to which blindness is happened a Jewish-Christian congregation will be gathered. The religion of the Messiah will then prove the Divine power which penetrates the spiritual and social life of the nation. Joseph Rabinowitz is a star in the firmament of his people's history. God keep this star iu the right path and continue its light in truth and brightness! One thing is certain, the history of the Church caunot reach its consummation until the prophetic and ap0stolic Word, predict,ing the conversion of the remnant of Israel, is fulfilled, an event which will bring an abundance of spiritual powers and gifts for the revival of the whole world."
It seemed to us as we talked with this Israelite without guile day after day, and heard him pour out his soul in prayer, that we never before witnessed such ardor of affection for Jesus, and such absorbing devotion to nis person and glory.vVe shall not soon forget the radiance that would come into his face as he expounded the Messianic Psalms at our morning and evening worship, and how as here and there he caught a glimpse of the suffering or the glorified Christ, he would suddenly lift his hands and his eyes to heaven, in a burst of admiration, exclaiming with Thomas, after he had seen the nail-prints, "My Lord and my God!" So 'saturated is he with the letter as well as the spirit of the Hebrew Scriptures, that to hear him talk one might imagine it was Isaiah or some other prophet of the old dispensation that was speaking. "What is your view of inspiration~" we aRked him, in order to draw him out concerning certain muchmooted questions of .our time. "My view is," he said, holding up his Hebrew Bible, "that this is the Word of God; the Spirit of God dwells in it; when I read it, I know that God is speaking to me; and when I preach it, I say to the people, ' Be silent, and hear what Jehovah will say to you.' " "As for comparing the inspiration of Scripture with that of Homer or Shakespeare," he continued, "it is not a question of degree, but of kind. Electricity will pass through an iron bar, but it will not go through a rod of glass, however beautiful and transparent, because it has no affinity for it. So the Spirit of God dwells in the "Word of God, the Holy Scriptnres, because these arc His proper medium, but not in Homer or Shakespeare, because lIe has no affinity with these writings." This sentence gives an instance of his vividness of illustration, of which he seems to be a natural master.
We spoke just above of his striking Hebrew diction, the lofty prophetic tone, tempered with exquisite pathos, with which he pleads with his people coucerning the Messiahship of Jesus. The following, selected from one of his sermons, will illustrate our meaning : " Lift up your eyes, my brethren, unto Mount Golgotha, and behold there the ransom which delivers our souls from the curse of God, prollOunced on Mount Ebal, and which bestows upon us the blessing on Mount Gerizim. Only behold the Cross of the Messiah, and you will sec clearly that here is the gate of Jehovah, into which the righteous shall enter; the only access opened unto all men, be they Jews or Gentiles, that in one Spirit they may draw near to our Father in heaven. Open your eyes and behold the Lord of glory, Jesus the crucified j how glorious is this High Priest, who Himself is the propitiation for our sins. How beautiful, how lovely is the Great Shepherd of the flock, who Himself is the Lamb of God, which beareth the sin of the world, and who comes as our Messiah, bringing peace to them that are afar off, and to them that are nigh.
" My brethren, if you esteem your souh~ precious, and if you desire to be citizens of the city, and to be numbered among the saints, and in the household of God, then bow this day your knees before the King of Glory, before Jesns, crowned for you with the crown of thorns j smite your breasts and confess your sins and the sins of your fathers, and the iniquity they have committed against the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah. Say then, 0 house of Israel, ' Surely we all, like sheep, have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way. but Jehovah laid on Him the iniquity of us all j for the iniquity of His people was He stricken. For only with Jesus, the Messiah, is redemption, and He shall deliver Israel from all his sins.' "
Some of Mr. Rabinowitz's expositions and explanations of Scripture were exceedingly interesting. "Show me a photograph of Kischineff,"
he said one day, "and I can tell instantly whether it is correct, for I have lived there all my life. So when I read the New Testamerit, how vivid are its pictures to one who llas lived for years in Jewish history and tradi- tions!" Opening to Rev. 16 he read: ., Behold, I come as a thief.
Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." "This admonition of the Lord affected me very deeply when I first read it," he said, " for I knew at a glance its meaning. All night long the watchmen in the temple kept on duty.
The overseer of the temple was always likely to appear at unexpected hours; to see if these were faithfully attending to their charge. 1f hc came upon any watchman who had fallen asleep, he quietly drew his loose garments from him and bore them away as a witness against him when he shouid wake. My Lord is liable to come at any moment. He may come in the second watch or in the third watch, therefore I must be always ready, lest coming suddenly, He find me sleeping, and I be stripped of my garment."
"Do you know what questioning and controversies the Jews have kcpt up over Zech. 12 : 10?" he asked oue day. '" They shall look upon Me -nN-whom they pierced.' They will not admit that it is Jehovah whom they pierced. Hence the dispute about the whom j but do you notice that this word is simply the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph Tav? Do you wonder, then, that 1 was filled with awe and aston- ishment when I opened to Rev. 1 : 7, 8, and read these words of Zechariah now quoted by John : ' Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also that pierced Him;' and then heard tho glorified Lord saying: ' . I am the ALPHA AND OMEGA'? Jesus seemed to say to me, 'Do you doubt who it is whom you pierced? I am tho Aleph Tav, the Alpha Omega, Jehovah the Almighty.' " Rabinowitz is as clear as is Paul in the eleventh of Romans as to the Divine order and plan for the bringing the nations to God. After the present Gentile election and outgathering he holds that the Jews are to be converted and restored to God's favor in connection with the second ad- vent of our Lord, and that then will follow world-wide salvation and the universal ingathering of the Gentiles. He is very positive, therefore, as to the meaning of the passage in the fifteenth of Acts: "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of tltem a people for His name." "That is what is now going on," he says. " During Israel's rejection the elect Chul'ch is being gathered." "After this I will return and build again the tabernacle of David that is fallen down," etc. "This is very plainly the conversion and restoration of Israel," he says. And when I urged that many spiritualize the words and apply them to the Christian Church, he replied: "It will not be easy to make a Jew believe that, when the words in Amos which are here quoted plainly refer to the restoration of Israel; and especially since the Jews have been praying this prayer from time immemorial, always repeating it at their yearly feast of Tahernacles, ' 0 Thou Redeemer, prosper those who seek Thee at all times: raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, that it may no longer be degraded.' "
" After the tabernacle of David shall be rebuilt and national Israel saved," he continues, " then and then only will come the times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, in which all nations will be brought into obedience and SUbjection to Christ." Such is his strong conviction, and the reader may find that he appears to agree with Peter in Acts 3 : 19,20 and with Paul in Rom. II.
Indeed this Hebrew prophet is proclaiming most solemnly the impending advent of our Lord. He contends that without a clear proclamation of the second advent Christians have no common ground on which to meet the Jews; that to spiritualize this doctrine as many do is fatal, since the predictions are so clear of a glorious and conquering Messiah as well as a suffering Messiah. If you spiritualize the second advent you must allow the Jew to spiritualize the first, as he is always ready to do, and you have no basis on which to reason with him. Mr. Rabinowitz's view on this point is shared by another remarkable Hebrew Christian preacher, Dr. Adolph Saphir, recently deceased. In his valuable book just published, "The Divine Unity of Scripture," he says: " I will speak freely on this subject. It is the second advent of our Lord, when lIe will return with His saints, and when He will make Himself manifest to Israel and to the whole world, not in order that the last judgment may be held, but that another historical period may be ushered in, when God's will shall be done upon this earth as it is in heaven, and when Jesus Christ and the transfigured saints shall come to be seen and acknowledged, and then there shall be fulfilled the promises which God has given from the beginning of the world. vVhen He comes Israel will say, 'It is Jehovah, and it is His first advent.' The Church will say, , It is Jesus, and His second advent.' Israel will say, 'He has come to take possession of the throne of David, and Jerusalem wiII be glorified and will be His nation.' And the Church wiII say, ' He is glorified in the saints and admired in all them that believe, and we whom He has redeemed with His blood shall reign with Him on the earth.' This is what all the apostles taught and taught constantly, 'Looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. ' It is Jehovah who wiII appear to Israel. It is Jesus who appears to His Church-the same thing-' the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.' "
Nothing could be more thrilling and pathetic than to hear this latter- day prophet of Israel dilate on the blessedness and glory of his nation when it shall at last be brought back into favor and fellowship with God . •, The Gentile nations cannot come to their highest blessing till then," he says, "nor can our rejected and crucified Messiah see of the travail of His sons and be satisfied till His kinsmen according to the flesh shall own Him and accept Him." Then, with a dramatic fervor and pathos impos- sible to describe, he said the following beautiful thing: "Jesus, the glorified Head of the Church, is making up His body now, my brot.her. Think you that my nation will have no place in that body ~ Yes; the last and most sacred place. When from India's and China's millions and from the innumerable multitudes of Africa and the islands of the sea the last Gentile shall have been brought in, and His body made com- plete, there will still be left a place for little Israel-she will fill up the hole .in His side, that wound which can never be closed till the nation which made it is saved."
Many other sayings of this remarkable man might be quoted had we space to insert them. He declares most confidently that the Spirit is moving on his people as has not been the case since their dispersion. lIe is full of joy at the prospect of their speedy turning to the Lord. Emphatically he preaches that there is no hope but in the crucified Messiah. He must be received; His blood must cleanse; His mercy must be gained before the Jewish nation can ever have rest. In one of his sermons he compares Israel to a little ship which has witnessed the wreck of many a proud craft-Assyria, Babylon, Greece, and Rome-while this is the one nation that is never to perish, because of the unchangeable covenant of Jehovah. He says: " Two centuries a.go it was wrecked; broken were its malolts, bnt up to the present day it sails among modern nations-a strange, weird-like ship. Its mariners are often in despair, when the waves seem to swallow up their fragile vessels; many from among Israel seek to join other ships and find a home there, and try to partake of the treasnres of culture and modern development which adorn them. But soon the men of other nations rise against the mysterious strangers from the old Oriental ship, and not willing to tolerate them, fling them back into the waves, so that with difficulty and trepidation they return to the old wreck, on which the tears of their fathers have fallen abundantly. The storm rages, the clouds are dark, the hearts of the mariners fail them, they cry out, ' Lord, ~lwe us, we perish!' But the hour is coming wIten He who long ago rose ill the
IEMORIAL
TIIJ:o: Hon.r; 0 1" Pn.-YKlt. BETIHmK.ll. Synagogue of Congregation of hruclHl'~ of the }I;' cw Covenant at Kischt'neff, Bcssarabia.
'1894.] THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE WORLD
little ship on the sea of Galilee shall rise in the midst of them; He shall rebuke the wind and the waves-it will become perfectly still, and some shall sink down before His feet with the cry of Thomas: 'My Lord and my God!' And immediately Israel will be in the Haven of Rest, which is still remaining for the chosen people of God. "
It would not be possible to put on paper Rabinowitz's fervid and dramatic exposition of Christ's farewell to the temple: "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate; and verily, verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me until the time come when you shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of. the LOl d." He pictured a Jew sitting in the door of his lonely house in the evening. Suddenly he catches sight of a beloved and long separated friend approaching. He rises up and shouts out his salutation to him : "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." So shall Israel do when the Spirit of grace and of supplication has been poured out upon them; and they shall see Him whom they pierced coming to them. As they once cried, " Crucify Him! Crucify!" now they will cry, "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord."
So when on parting I asked for his autograph, he wrote this in Hebrew as his farewell word, " Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord."
THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE WORLD.-I.
BY JAMES DOUGLAS, M.A., BRIXTON, LONDON.
In attempting a general survey of government as mirrored in the present condition of the nations of the world, it is needful, for the sake of perspective, to note certain broad lines of difference that distinguish the civilization of to-day from that of the old-world period. Beneath much that on the surface lies now politically apart, there is a kinship which shows a line of direction that is common, and a unity in spirit more significant by far than a unity in letter or name. The ideas at the base of modern polity are different in kind from those which were the recognized and controlling forces in the days when Sparta and Athens flourished. The political wheel rotates now in an opposite direction.
Broadly speaking, the individual is to-day a unit, whereas in ancient systems he was but a cypher. Leaving out socialism and other kindred movements which loom darkly on the horizon and constitute a menace of all government as at present in force, the trend of government, in all communities which are up to date, tends more and more to the recognition of the rights of the individual both as one who has person and property to be protected and a voice to be heard. It was not so in the old-world epochs; no, not even where absolutism was set aside and monarchy deposed. Ancient republics did not turn 011 the pivot of the individual. Under them, hardly less than under absolutism itself, individual rights were grouud down. The common weal, philosophically interpreted ann clothed with all-inclusive authority, was drawn, as a kind of Juggernaut, remorselessly over every form of individual right. The State in ancient days was not, as with us, a power that gives fixedness and protection to the complex organizations which modern civilization has engendered and is continually reforming; but it was a unifying machine in which all indi- viduality was sunk, and upon the shrine of which it was the citizen's honor to be sacrificed. The ancient republics, indeed, were patriarchal in spirit, only in their case it must be remembered that the philosophe1's were the patriarchs. Hence while intelligent moderns have come to regard with comparative indifference any variety of constitutional Iorm that admits of equally broad individual rights, the ancicnts, attaching small importance to the individual, separately viewed, merged thought and feeling in the comparative estimate of their respective political systems as philosophically deduced and fitted to render the State cohesive alike to make or repel attack. It was for this reason the philosophers of Greece were accounted the rightful politicians, to whose enactments the citizens of the varied States, willingly conceding the authority of law, complied.
All this, time, or, as we venture to think, the insensible action of Christianity, has changed. A man is now a man. He is no longer to be spirited away or philosophized into a chattel or a thing. ·Whether a king reign or a president rule, the position of the individual calls for recognition and demands respect. That minute jurisdiction which the State exercised, even under the freest forms of ancient government, to the curtailing of the liberties of the citizens has paRsed from the scene. The like applies to State exclusiveness. In ancient times, it is true, patriotism was intense, on the principle that that for which a man sacrifices everything must be dear to him indeed; but, on the other hand, such patriotism was extremely narrow and unjust. It acted as a grievous gag to commerce, and stifled all cosmopolitan feeling. There could be no fraternity on the basis of government as anciently conducted. There is not much of it in our OWR times; but who can deny that along with the right of the individual to be considered, there has begun to dawn among the nations a sense of their community and common humanity? These are aspects in the case which are like glimpses of azure in an otherwise murky sky. The governments of the world are very varied; and some, though Christian in name, ignore the cry for liberty, or seek ruthlessly to stifle it; still the record, on the whole, is one of surprising advance. ,Vhat is tantamount to a -revolution has taken place. Now, in contrast with early sentiment, it is generally held that there is a region of individuality, of subjective freedom, a wide circuit of opinion, action, and example over which the citizen should himself rule; and that so far from civil restraints furthering man's development, and being the effective means of perfecting the body politic, these ends are best consulted wherc State interference is reduced to a minimum, and scope is given, consistently with conscience and mora1ity, for the free play of individual powers. Summed up in a word, the modern trend in government has underlying it the conviction that the citizen everywhere has in him what the Greeks/ would call the ovra.(.w;, or capability of all positions. Such an idea was foreign to Aristotle, foreign to Plato, foreign to the schools. Christianity in its secret influence-and it is only as working in secret that Christianity retains its purest spirit-is to be credited with the find. As expounded by the philosopher, government was caste. The place of the many was to submit to the few. The masses were regarded as if they had no reason, no spirit j as if they were a compound of appetite only. Sueh an assumption Christianity, with its Gospel for all and its doctrine of "no difference," insensibly but surely sapped. The philosopher is not all reason j nor are the common peoplfl-the profanum vulgum-all flesh and no spirit. Humanity is not to be classified by a psychological law into ruler, warrior, craftsman, answering to reason, will, and brute impulse. Humanity is of the same blend under all suns and nnder all conditions. Intelligence is not to be conceived as if dead in the many and only existent in the few j nor is executive force to be viewed as the monopoly of a class for the enslavement of the multitude and the carrying out of the behests of the few. No. The dunamis of all positions is common to the race j and the gatherer of sycamore fruit may, after all, be the man for the times, even as Amos was God's prophet to the nation.
While writing the above we would not be understood to mean that there are no ominous signs in the political sky. There are. And were it our business to furnish a political horoscope, or to deal, either argumentatively or prophetically, with the schemes that would raze modern govemments to their foundation, we should have something to say to those who dream dreams, who think to redress inequality of condition at the expense of manhood, who foment anarchy and imagine that government can serve in lieu of Christ, or that unrighteousness between man and man can be stamped out by governmental portents j but this is not our object. Rather it is to show what the governments of the world are to-day in their varied forms and in their superficial and more radical discrepancies.
1. The governments of the world may be classified broadly nnder fonr heads: Monarchies, absolute and constitutional j republics and protectorates, including dependencies. The absolute monarchies embrace many oldworld forms, and are still represented in the councils of the leading nations.
In RUSSIA government is absolute. In the Czar all power, legislative, judicial, and executive, is vested. He is " the head of gold," for his will alone is law. Beyond the fact that the Czar may not appoint his successor, the succession being determined by regular descent, with preference of male over female heirs, and the further fact that the reigning monarch must be a member of the Orthodox Greek Church, there are, theoretically, no limitations j the Czar reigns in his own right.
There are four boards for the assistance of the Emperor in the administration : the first, a Council of State, in which the princes of the imperial house have seats ex officio. The number of members in 1889 was sixty, who hold their seats by appointment of the Emperor. This council is divided into three departments-legislative, civil and ecclesiastical, and financial. Their functions, however, are consultative alone, and are con- fined to the examination of projects of laws, the discussion of the budget, ~nd the arrangement of the expenditure.
The second board is the Ruling Senate, to whom belongs the right to promulgate laws. This buard is divided into nine sections, and at the head of each is a lawyer of distinction, who represents the Emperor, and apart from whose signature no decision has force. The third board, called the Holy Synod, has charge of all the religious affairs of the empire,' and consists of leading ecclesiastics alone; but the Emperor's will is supreme, for all the decisions require the Emperor's sanction and go forth in his name. The fourth board is composed of a Committee of Ministers who are heads of departments and communicate directly with the sovereign.
The Government of TURKEY is likewise autocratic, only on a more modified scale. The Sultan of Turkey is more conditioned, both by usage and religion, than is the autocrat of Russia. The probability, however, is that he realizes himself more in his limit than does his more powerful rival. For one so conservative in type and stereotyped in faith as Moham- medans usually are, it will doubtless be a small hardship to be bound by the accepted truths of the Mohammedan religion, or to govern in accord- ance with the " Multeka," a code of laws based on the supposed sayings .; and opinions of the false prophet. The Sultan's Government has been somewhat disturbed by the attempted introduction of IJtte years of forms of government after the model of Western Europe, but the results of the experiment have not been encouraging. The patch of new cloth on the old garment has rather made the rent worse. If the old spirit remain, experiments in government are worse than useless. There is no means of rejuvenating the old man politically or carnally. He must die to live.
Under the Sultan's direction the legislative and executive authority is exercised by the Grand Vizier, the head of the temporal department, and the Sheik-ul-Islam, the head of the church. The former is assisted by a Privy Council consisting of ministers of departments; and the empire is divided into vilayets or governments, subdivided into provinces and dis- tricts, and further parcelled out into sub-districts and communities.
In CHINA an old-world form of absolutism, based on the government of the family, is maintained. The Emperor's person is sacred, and well- nigh invisible. He appoints his snccessor, and has full control. There are seven boards: The Board of Civil Appointments, the Board of Revenucs, the Board of Rites and Ceremonies, the Military Board, the Board of Public Works, the High Tribunal of Criminal Jurisdiction, and the Ad- miralty Board. Over these boards is the Grand Council, in whom the f'npreme directioll of the empire is vested, while the Hdministratioll is under the direction of the Neiko or Cabinet, comprising four mcmbcrstwo of Manchu and two of Chinese origin-besides two assistants from the Hanlin or Great College, who have to see that nothing is done contrary to the civil and religious laws of the empire.
A feature of the times is the rapidly growing extent to which the absolute monarchies of to-day are being conditioned from without. The fate of AFRICA supplies the most notable instance. In that great continent there are still a few independent States of note that pursue their career untrammelhid by European intervention. Bornu, for example, the most populous Mohammedan State in Central Soudan, is governed by a Sultan under the official title of Mai, commonly spoken of as the Sheik, who is in principle an absolute monarch, and is assisted in the administration by a council of military chiefs together with members of the reigning family. The like applies to the Sultanate of Wadai, which is the most powerful of the Central Soudan States. This Sultan has a council of administration and also a college of Ulemas, by whom the Koran or Law is interpreted. The army is employed, in times of peace, as sheriff officers, to levy tribute in kind from the provinces and vassal States; but for the most part Africa is now partitioned into protectorates which have been ratified by treaty between the powers concerned and the varied Sultans, and made accessible to the civilizing, commercial, and evangelizing influences of European nations. Great Britain, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, and Portugal have not only their colonies and possessions in tIle Dark Continent, but for the most part their Hinterlands also and vested rights in regions where their actual influence is as yet but distantly felt. When we speak of Africa's absolutism, we must remember the countercheck that is thus supplied. In what we see to-day there is the dawning promise and potency of, Africa's political redemption. Zanzibar, for example, while retaining its Sultan has now. by arrangement with England, under whose protectorate it has been placed, a regular government, consisting of a president and a responsible head for each department. On the mainland the Sultan's authority is virtually in the hands of England and Germany, who utilize it in his interests and their own, and make their power felt far into the interior, acknowledging, indeed, no limitation save that of similar appropriations. The change of government ~hich all this bespeaks is not seen so much in name as in spirit. The government is despotic still, but the spirit of it is progressive and the ends contemplated remedial.
Thus throughout the extensive possessions of the Imperial British East Africa Company, ceded by the Sultan of Zanzibar for an annual monetary consideration, slavery is being gradually abolished, while the chiefs and people are settling down to husbandry and to the recognition of the company as their rightful rulers. It cannot be doubted that similar results will accrue from Germany's protectorate. Abyssinia and Shoa, the political institutions of which were of a feudal character analogous to those of medireval Europe, are now under the protectorate of Italy, as are likewise the Sultanates of Abbia and of Mijertain Somalis. The Congo Free State is rapidly being modernized. Nominally ruled by the Kiug of Belgium, this State has a central government at Brussels, consisting of the king and three heads of departments, and a local government consisting of a govern1rgeneral, a vice-governor-general, a State inspector, a general secretary, director of justice, director of finance, and commander of the forces. The governor is further aided by white subordinates, who as chiefs of provinces administer affairs. There is also a native army officered by whites, besides a flotilla of row and sailing boats.
The colony of Mozambique, including the province of Louren90 Marques, is progressing toward self-government. Though as yet under the crown of Portugal, and administered by a royal commissioner appointed for three years and residing in the capitals of the provinces alternately, it was constituted as the Free State of East Africa on September 30th, 1891, and it is hoped that, with the development of the country, the basis of self-government may be laid.
MOROCCO may still be rcgarded as a monarchy, both free and absolute, though within the recognized range of French influence. This empire, which is ruled by a Sultan, has three capitals, and is the westernmost and largest of the Barbary States. The Sultan's rule is absolute, but the tribes south of the mountains are semi-independent, and, indeed, scarcely acknowledge his authority, being governed each by their own chief. The Sultan has six ministers, by whom he carries on executive duties. These are (1) the vizier, (2) secretary for foreign affairs, (3) home secretary, (4) chamberlain, (5) chief treasurer, and (6) administrator of customs. There is a <lisciplined standing army of cavalry and foot soldiers, besides militia and regnlar forces.
The Government of PERSIA has features similar to those of Turkey. The Shah ranks as vicegerent of the prophet, and on this high ground he exacts submission. Of late years the method of administration has been somewhat modernized. Instead of the Grand Vizier and the lord treasurer, by whom the executive government was formerly carried on, there is now a ministry consisting of nineteen members, eleven with and eight without portfolios, over whom the Minister of Posts presides. There are also governors-general set over the twenty-two large and ten small provinces into which the country is divided ; and nnder them as required, and at their appointment, are licutenant-governors, who are immediately answerable to the central government.
The kingdom of SIAM, now being shadowed by the power of France, partakcs of absolute features. The influence of "Vestern ideas, however, is becoming yearly more marked, and "centralization is being largely introduced. "
In AFGHANISTAN the government, while absolute, is unstable, and depends greatly on the executive force of the hereditary prince. Of foreign powers England lIas now the leading sway iu the councils of this kingdom. Looking at absolutism generally, it is evident that its run is rapidly sinking in the political heavens. Absolutism has no footing in the great continents of America, and with the exception of Rnssia and Turkey is banished from the Continent of Europe, while in the great continents of Asia and Africa its power is being more and more conditioned from with- out, modified by Vestern ideas, and put under tribute to governments that breathe a freer atmosphere. Notwithstanding, absolute monarchies have their clearly defined place in the governments of the world. They meet the felt need as regards barbarism, with all its chaos and consequent indi- vidual weakness. They are the first step in the ladder of civiliz'ation j hence the universality of absolutism among all peoples that are but one remove from the bottom of the scale. There is another gronnd that ex- plains the befittingness of this government under suitable conditions, and that is its ideal character. Hence in the Book of Daniel the most precious metal is taken to denote it, the reason being that this kind of rule gives a scope to kingly display and prerogative snch as is found nowhere else. It is as King Absolute the desire of nations shall come.
But, further, for the very reason that absolutism has this ideal char- acter, it eminently suits all nations, such as China, which are non-progres- sive in type, and which look upon the foreigner ill the light of an inferior creation. Accordingly, for absolutism to be at all settled as society now is, the scale of civilization must be either very low, as in Africa, or stereo- typed and non· progressive, as in China j for either this form of govern- ment represents escape from chaos, or it answers to the natural conceit that imagines that the kingdom of heaven is set up within its borders.
History, ancient and modern, bears witness to this. In order to the security of absolute government, one of two things must exist-either human thought is rudimentary or non-critical. This explains why Russian abso- lutism has such a stern warfare to wage. Criticism has awakened in the Czar's dominions, and refuses to give up the ghost j hence, though the crown of gold be still worn, uneasy is the head that wears it.
The same law applies to the Mohammedan power all over the world.
The influence of Mohammedanism lies outside the pale of progressive ideas, for there is nothing in the Koran to stimulate the intellect, but everything to palsy its powers and, by its philosophy of fate, to induce somnolence and decay.
(To be {)()ncluded.) Of the 1,500,000,000 of the earth's inhabitants, the Emperor of China holds sway over 405,000,000 ; the Queen of England rules or protects 380,- 000,000 j the Czar of Russia is dictator to 115,000,000 j France, in the republic, dependencies and spheres of influence, has 70,000,000 subjects j the Emperor of Germany, 55,000,000 j the Sultan of Turkey, 40,000,000 j the Emperor of Japan, 40,000,000, and the King of Spain, 27,000,000-tU'o thirds of the population of the globe under the government of five rulers.
THE MEETING OF THE AMERICAN :ijOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
THE MEETING OF THE AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMIS- SIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS AT WORCESTER, MASS., OCTOBER 10-18, 1893.
BY REV. C. M. SOUTHGATE, WORCESTER.
Three times before this, its eighty-fourth annual meeting, the Board has met in Woroester. A simple mention of the dates suggests striking contrasts. In] 864, instead of a world thronging to celebrate the discovery of America in an international exposition, the nations were watching the strife which was to determine whether there should be a United States. A resolution on the state of the country aroused great enthusiasm, the whole body rising and bursting- into "My country, 'tis of thee." 1844 carries us back to the year of the first electric telegraph and the annexation of Texas, when the railroad was a curiosity to the great majority. At this meeting three petitions were presented on the matter of slavery. But most impressive was the gathering in 1811. The Worcester of to-day, with its more than 90,000 inhabitants, was a vill~ge of 2500. It was the year after the organization of the Board. A single boarding-house entertained all attending, and its parlor sufficed for their deliberations. Here were examined and approved its first missionaries, Judson, Newell, Nott, and Hall. Famous fathers of famous sons are named-Jeremiah Evarts, father of William M. Evarts, Senator and Secretary of State; Dr. Jedidiah Morse, father of the inventor of the electric telegraph. One of the two pastors of the town was Dr. Aaron Bancroft, whose son George was to become the nation's greatest historian. An item of business was the appropriation of $100 toward the education of Eleazer Williams as a missionary to the Coghnawaga Indians, which was intrusted to Rev. Joseph Lyman, D.D., of Hadley, and Dr. Richard S. Storrs: the one represented here eighty-two years later by the eloquent preacher of the annual sermon, Dr. A. J. Lyman, of Brooklyn; the other, grandfather of the Board's honored president, who is ~he third of that name to render it distinguished service. This Eleazer Williams never went on the mission proposed, but became noted by his claim to be Louis XVII., the lost Dauphin of France. Many will recaJI the magazine article concerning him entitled "Have we a Bourbon among Us?" Note a Christian name prominent in these beginnings. Three of the five students who gave themselves to this work under the famous haystack at Williamstown in 1806 were Samuel J. Mills, Samuel Nott, Jr., Samuel Newell. The two divines who, in 1810, driving from Andover to Bradford, after consulting with the four students wishing to go as missionaries, formed the scheme of the A. B. C. F. M. and secured its adoption by the Massachusetts Association of Congregational Ministers, were Samuel Spring and Samuel 'Vorcester. The striking coincidence is but an illustration of the historical fact that modern missions had their origin in a pouring out of the Spirit upon godly parents. The lesson has meaning for to-day. Mechanics Hall welcomed the multitudes this year, its 2000 sittings being none too many. Even an outline of the four days shows the meeting to be memorable. The treasurer's report gave receipts, including bal- ance from last year, as $680,014.92, of which $205,683 came from the three Woman's Boards, and $14,000 from Societies of Christian Endeavor. For twenty years the average cost of administration has been but six and one tenth per cent-more than 93 cents in every dollar given going directly into the work. Expenditures of $768,333.66 left a debt of $88,318.74, chargeable, not to the falling off in regular donations, which was only about $2000, while those from the -Woman's Boards were $8000 in advance, but to the variable element of legacies, which were less than last year's by $103,000. But painful retrenchment has been necessary, and the Pruden_ tial Committee call for $250,000 beyond last year's gifts. A most pathetic documeut, entitled "The Cry from the Missions," presented the protests and appeals from men in the fields that their work might be not crippled, but advanced.
The report of the Home Department makes mention of campaigns among the churches to carry information and inspiration ; the preparation of lantern slides for illustrated missionary lectures, and helpful material to meet the growing demand of Christian Endeavor Societies and others for monthly concerts. Tlie Eastern Secretary, Dr. Creegan, also arranged for sixty-two addresses by Dr. John G. Paton, which secured to him $7500 for his work in the New Hebrides. " The Y. P. S. C. E. is doing a most important work in the way of educating the young people in the principles and facts of missions. " Gifts from these societies and the Sunday-schools have more than doubled during the year. Seven new ordained missionaries, one of them a physician, with twenty-nine assistant missionaries, have gone out since the last annual meeting, and thirty-six more have returned to their fields after periods of rest in this country. The annual survey by the foreign secretaries, Drs. N. G. Clark and Judson Smith, shows that the Board has under its care more than 1200 strategic points, amid a population of not less than 100,000,000 souls; engaging the efforts of 557 missionaries and 2738 native helpers; including 442 churches with 41,566 members, of whom 3570 have been received in the year; 48,585 pupils in schools of all grades, from kindergarten up through high school and college to the theological seminary; medical relief administered to 120,000 patients; the Bible and Christian literature distributed by millions of pages. The native contributions reported amount to $112,507, most of it given out of deep poverty.
The three secretaries presented, as usual, papers from the Prudential Committee. That of Dr. Alden was upon" The Personal Factor in the Missionary Problem"-the Personal Leader, the enthroned Lord; the Personal Messenger, the individual men and women who have each received a personal call from the personal Lord, and who have been by Him trained by special providence and grace, each for his particular service; the Personal Recipient of the Message, the salvation of the individual soul being the one definite thing for which the messenger is sent; the Personal Source of Supply, which is to provide and support the messengers. And especially "we want not only auxiliary societies, associations, conferences, churches, to be brought into direct fellowship with the administration of this trust, but more than all else, and pr8ctically including all else, every individual believer." Dr. Clark considered" Two Unsolved Mission Problems." First, Industrial Education, as supplementary to the spiritual work "More important than any result achieved in the lines proposed has been the lesson learned that civilization in any form does not precede but follows the Gospel." But this hm; been of great service in developing the native converts, whether as pastors or as business laymen in their communities. "Let education, including industrial education, keep even pace with the preaching of the Word, and a Christian civilization will mark the progress of the Gospel." "A possible unity in the presentation of the Gospel to the unevangelized world by so many denominations and schools of theology," was the second problem discussed. Christ crucified is the one mcssage to which all else must be subordinated. "Let the life that is in Christ have its free development and take on a form for itself, according to the characteristics and intellectual endowment of each separate people. Let there be no more jealous rivalry of denominational interest, no more waste of men or means in building up separate sects, but one Gospel, one Christian life, one united movement on the part of all evangelical denominations. Then would the Church be one in her mission enterprise; then would she arise and shine, the glory of the Lord being risen upon her." The impressive utterance gains redoubled force when we remember that it is from one who for long years has watched the working and progress of missions with a statesmanlike sagacity and apostolic devotion. The paper of Dr. Judson Smith took up the work of the American Board in Africa, showing how inevitable and how successful has been the share of this organization in one of the most fascinating chapters of modern history. "Amid all the 'stir and activity, in politics and commerce, in exploration and occupation, by which the leading powers of the world are vying with one another to cover and appropriate to themselves the resources and power of Africa, this aggressive advance of evangelizing forces is the supreme movement of the times, and holds in its plastic hands the long and growing future of the nations that one day are to fill and adorn these lands with a varied and progressive life and with a Christian CIvilization. "
The Woman's Boards crowded a great church with enthusiastic auditors of the story of efforts and achievements. Their specific work dates from 1868, when the Board at Boston and that of the Interior at Chicago were organized, followed five years later by that of the Pacific. Their present annual receipts are over $200,000, and their total contributions more than $2,000,000. It has been already noted that their gifts for the last year, instead of falling off, have increased by $8000, so that no re- trenchment has been necessary in the work under their charge. It is not strange that the Board voted to grant unmarried lady missionaries an equal voice and vote with men in affairs of their missions, and that the Pruden- tial Committee was instructed to inquire what changes in the constitution were needed to make women eligible on that body of central control.
The intimate relation of missionary work to international problems appeared in the vigorous discussion of complications with foreign nations, such as the unwarranted attack upon missionaries in Turkey and the burn. ing of college buildings j a strong resolution of protest to our Government against the Geary act j and an appeal for annexation of the Sandwich Islands, which the work of our missionaries lifted from barbarism to become the most productive spot of land in the reach of commerce. Men whose lives have been wrought into these achievements were present to discuss the questions with knowledge from the inside.
The greatest immediate interest and excitement gathered about" the Noyes case." It is now eleven years since, at the Portland meeting, the Andover Seminary teaching of a possible future probation for the heathen was denounced as being unsound and tending to " cut the nerve of missions." The first grcat discussion took place at Des Moines in 1886, leading to the adoption of a resolution condemning the doctrine as " divisive and perversive and dangerous to the churches at home and abroad," supporting the action of the Prudential Committee in carefully guarding the Board from any approval of that doctrine by appointing those holding it, and advising the continuance of that caution. At Springfield the next year, after a determined struggle by the liberal party, this position was reaffirmed by a vote of 95 to 43. The meetings at New York in 1889 and Chicago in 1892, while abounding in warm discussion, made no distinctive change in this position, although at the latter the Prudential Committee was requested to interpret the position in a liberal spirit, and to reopen the case of Mr. Noyes. This gentleman, while a student at Andover, had applied for appointment, but been rejected on the ground of statements concerning probation which were held unsound. Four years ago a council called by the Berkeley Temple Church, Boston, ordained him, and he was 'sent out as an independent missionary to Japan, where he has since then been supported by the church. A year ago the missionaries of the Board in Japan requested that Mr. Noyes receive appointment from the Board, affirming the value of his work, his earnest Christian spirit, and that if he held any peculiarities of doctrine, they had never appeared in his work or utterances. After correspondence with him, this appointment was voted by the Prudential Committee, accompanied with a minute stating that they understood him to withdraw from the position previously objectionable. Mr. Noyes replied that he chose not to withdraw that statement, but that he felt it had been interpreted more unfavorably than was warranted. Upon this the Committee withdrew its appointment, holding itself bound by the statement already upon its minutes. His own words before the Berkeley Council should be given: " Of the intermediate state I hold no positive doctrine. I do not know what effect physical death will have upon character. What I dread for my fellow-men is spiritual death. T am confronted with the tremendous fact that without the Gospel they are dying. Character tends to fixity. The Spirit of God will not !'ltrive with men forever. Then woe is me if I preach not the Gospel at once! ,,yith the Gospel message I believe there comes the decisive opportunity and obligation to repent. God help me so to present this message that men shall be saved by it and not lost!
" Those who do not hear the message in this life I trnstfully leave to God. I do not claim to know God's method of dealing with them. But I do not refuse to think about them. I entertain in their behalf what I conceive to be a reasonable hope that somehow, before their destinies are fixed, there shall be revealed to them the love of God in Christ Jesus. In this, as in every question to which God has given no distinct answer, I merely claim the liberty of the Gospel."
In a letter to the Prudential Committee of the American Board under date of June lOth, 1893, Mr. Noyes writes: "In regard to my general theological position, I suppose the vote appointing me was taken on the basis of my statement of belief made to the Council which ordained me. This is quite satisfactory, for that statement essentially represents my present position."
With all the documents before them, the opinion had spread widely among the churches that, although the Prudential Committee might have acted consistently with its records aud instructions, it was entirely competent for the Board to make this appointment upon the present aspect of the case. At the first session memorials from local and State bodies came in requesting such action. A special committee of fifteen was formed, to which all such matters were to be referred without debate. On this were placed men of differing views and most positive convictions. Should they come to an agreement, it was felt that all could agree, but few counted it practicable. They were in session continuously for fifteen hours, considering all memorials and hearing all parties who wished to appear, finally bringing in a unanimous report, with this as the crucial resolution: "that this Board, in response to the expressed wish of its missionaries in Japan, and in recognition of the successful labors of the Rev. William H. Noyes in that empire, requests the Prudential Committee to offer to him an appointment as a missionary of the Board. The Board declares that this action is not to be understood as in any way modifying its former utterances on the subject of future probatitln."
The session of Thursday morning was devoted to the report and discussion, and the resolution was finally adopted by a vote of 106 to 24. Some who had signed a conservative protest voted for the resolution, and others since then have recognized in it a safe gronnd for union. Within the last months a party of moderation has come to the front, composed of men wholly evangelical in faith, liberal in spirit, and wofully tired of a struggle so plainly disastrous, and, in their view, needless. Upon the declaration of the vote, a feeling of intense relief and profound gratitude to God for the manifest guidance of His Spirit was apparent. Eager declarations of loyalty to the Board came from all quarters, an earnest of which appeared in five subscriptions of $1000 each toward the special needs of the treasury. A solemn sense of responsibility and a prevailing conviction of spiritual brotherhood were apparent. No partisan victory was sought or gained. The votes of the strong conservative majority alone made the action possible. It is felt that the Lord Christ Himself has led this Board, with its glorious history and unmeasured opportunity, through a place where two seas met, and that its best years are now to come.
The report included a resolution that the Prudential Committee be in- creased to fifteen, to be elected in three classes for three years each, nine years being the limit of continuous service. A vote taken at another time was in the same direction of keeping the Board in close touch with the churches, by providing that the number of corporate members be increased from 250 to 350, nominations being made in part by State bodies.
Not wholly disconnected with the decision in the Noyes case was the resignation of the Home Secretary and two members of the Prudential Com- mittee. Secretary E. K. Alden has given nearly a quarter of a century to the Board, carrying into it the supreme devotion which marked him as a missionary pastor in his important church in Boston. Dr. A. C. Thomp- son, late Chairman of the Prudential Committee, has the perhaps unprece- dented record of forty-four years' official service. His wide journeys, always at his own expense, covering not only this land but foreign fields, and his remarkable command of its general history and minute events, coupled with unswerving loyalty to his convictions, have given him great influence. Mr. Elbridge Torrey has illustrated for seventeen years the value of a Christian layman in such a position, sacrificing the interests of a large business to bring to the committee the practical sagacity so essen- tial. The hearty testimonials and strong resolutions which recognized the power of these services indicate in part how noble are the gifts of life and spirit devoted to this work of missions, the quintessence of Christianity.
Mention should be made of the prayer without ceasing which antici- pated this gathering, and was evident in prayer-meetings and devotional exercises; of the communion services ; of the stately sweep of song in the great congregation ; of the high intellectual order of addresRes, from the opening sermon to the closing words of the president; of the impressive words of missionaries j of the pervading sense, usually apparent, of acting as under the Master's eye. Fitly chosen was the closing hymn, .. " We are living, we are dwelling, In a grand, an awful time; In an age on ages telling.
To be living is sublime."
AUSTRALASIA'S CONTRIBUTION TO MISSIONS
The closing prayer by Dr. Goodwin carried souls direct to the throne, and the benediction of peace pronounced by the president has its echo in thousands of grateful hearts.
AUSTRALASIA'S CONTRIBUTION TO CHRIST'S CAUSE IN FOREIGN MISSIONS. * BY REV. ANDREW HARDIE, RICHMOND, VICTORIA.
How far has Australia obeyed the last command of Christ ~ (Matt. 28 : 18-20).
Australian Christianity has, from the beginning of colonization, endeavored to keep in touch with the grand missionary moyements of our age. The early settlers kept up their connection with missionary societies in the home land till the colonial churches felt themselves strong enough to take up fields of their own. Whether their efforts have been as earnest, enlightened, and enthusiastic as they ought to have been, we can only decide when we know what has been done. We had hoped to be able to give a complete and accurate answer to the question, but have not quite succeeded. For as you cannot realize how great Australasia is till you have travelled from Melbourne to Cape York, from Sydney to Perth, and then taken the round trip, visiting Tasmania and New Zealand, so you can have no idea how numerOUll are the agencies for foreign missions now existing in Australasia till you have tried to get into touch with all. We can only present the inf~rmation obtained and make an approximate estimate from the known to the unknown in order to furnish a reasonable reply.
In the fulfilment of Christ's last command, the Wesleyan Conference takes a first place among Australian churches, if not in date of start, yet both in money spent and results seen. Her mission work was begun by the British Conference of 1815, and was largely sustained and entirely directed by that body till 1855, when the Australian Conference took full responsibility and control. Besides assisting in the evangelization of the aborigines and Chinese resident in the various colonies, the Conference spread her wings and carried the glorious Gospel to the <;annibal islanders of the South Seas. Employing 22 European missionaries, 95 native ministers, and a host of lay preachers and other workers in her mission churches, her expenditure last year came close on £16,000. Results of the most gratifying character prove that the Lord:s with her in the work. In 6 Chinese stations she has 150 members and upward of 400 adherents. In her latest enterprise (British New Guinea) she is aided by 20 native teachers drawn from Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji. In New Britain, New Ireland, and Duke of * A paper read at the United Missionary Conference, held in Melbourne, Aus- tralia, June, 1893. York islands churches are established, schools well attended, and over 500 are communicants. New Zealand gave golden harvests among the Maoris; but it is in the Friendly Islands and Fiji that the most conspicuous triumphs have been obtained. There the entire communities have been Christianized, settled governments established, and Fiji has become a British colony. In less than fifty years 100,000 savages, who found their highest joys in horrors of which we dare hardly think, have been made to sit at Jesus' feet j have exchanged the club, spear, and feast of human flesh for the tools, trade, and social joys of civilized life j and many of them stand ready to brave danger and death in carrying the standard of the cross to other islands. Well may this awaken new songs of praise, new hopes of victory for our glorious King all the world over!
Almost contemporary with the Wesleyan Conference stands the London Missionary Society. Through the Rev. S. Marsden, Church of England Chaplain, as agent in New South ·Wales, help began to be given to this noble, God-honored society about 1816. Since then contributions have steadily increased. In 1885 the Australian auxiliaries obtained the privilege of recommending candidates for service, and have fOent 8 missionaries from the colonies. At a cost of over £5000 a year they support 20 missionaries, who labor in Shanghai and Pekin, China j Salem, India j Raratonga and New Guinea, and" make their influence felt not only in the mission field, but iu the life of the churches sustaining them."
The British and Foreign Bible Society appears third in the race, so far as our information goes. From the diary of Rev. ·William vVaterfield, first pastor of Collins Street Indf)pendent Church, ~felbourne, and first secretary of the Victorian auxiliary, we learn that this society was formed in the Scots Church school-room, July 14th, 1840, Mr. Latrobe presiding. Rev. James Clow (Presbyterian) moved the first resolution, a committee was formed, and £16 collected. Since then £15,540 have been sent home as free contributions and £31,081 paid for Bibles. Auxiliaries exist in each colony, and together raise some £5000 per annum j 170,000 jubilee Testaments and large grants of Bibles have been distributeJ.. Seyeral translations of the New Testament into the languages of the New Hebrideans have been carried through the press by this society in Sydney and Melbourne.
The Church of England occupies the next position in chronological order of organized work, although she doubtless helped in mission work from the beginning of her history. Having no federal union, and apparently no central board of missions in each colony, it is difficult to ascertain all that she is doing. 'Ve have only secured returns from 8 missions-5 Victorian, 1 New South Wales, 2 general. lIer great Melanesian mission is supported partly by England and partly by Australasia. There are 6 white clergymen, 9 native ordained clergy, and 93 native teachers at present engaged. At the college on Norfolk Island 29 students are supported by New Zealand, which contributes some £1500 a year to the mission. England gave last year £1897, while the colonies raised £3763. There is an endowment of £35,000, to which the martyr Bishop Pattison left £13,350, so that the expenditure of £6266 for last year, though exceeding the contributions, is provided for. Good work is done at the training college j the workers are very devoted, and a goodly number of the islanders are walking in the light of life. In 1853 Victoria established 2 mission stations for the aborigines at Lake Condah and Lake Tyers. These have been carried on with satisfactory results, at a cost of about £550 a year. Two years later she started her mission to the Chinese, which has now 7 stations, 5 missionaries, and costs £744 pcr annum j 350 converts have been received into church-fellowship, most of whom stand fast in the Lord, some 8 of them being now ordained clergy or catechists laboring in China.
For the last fourteen years New South Wales has had a mission to the Chinese in Sydney and suburbs which employs 3 missionaries and spends £400 a year. Of 68 converts, 40 have been confirmed and 25 are now communicants. A Chinese has been ordained to the ministry. 1891 saw a united effort made to start a mission in New Guinea j 3 missionaries and several native teachers are now at work there, but find the diversity of dialects a hindrance to rapid progress. Victoria has contributed £2000 to this enterprise.
In 1892 a Victorian zenana mission was formed to work among the women of India and China, and 10 lady missionaries with 37 Bible women are now supported by it, at a cost of £1227 last year.
Mr. Eugene Stock this same year was instrumental in forming an association to work in fellowship with the Church Missionary Society, training and sending forth colonial missionaries to India. Victoria has spent £100 on the training of 4 men. New South Wales has also a similar association.
Probably the greater portion of the Church of England missionary effort still goes privately to help the Church Missionary Society j and all know that for many years the Rev. H. B. Macartney has shown what one earnest worker can do in this communion for Christian missions. To support native teachers, schools, and other agencies in India, China, and Ceylon, our brother raised last year £1259. Combining these missions, we reckon that over 200 paid agents are employed, at an annual outlay of under £11,000.
The Presbyterian churches have also about 200 agents, costing nearly £12,000 a year. On April 8th, 1859, the various sections of the Presbyterian Church in Victoria were happily united. Their first act was to ap- a point committee for Sabbath-schools, their next a board of missions.
Attention was first directed to the Chinese, for whom there are now a fully organized church at Ballarat, of which the Rev. James Cline, a Chinese convert, is pastor, and 7 mission stations at Little Bendigo, Beaufort, Ararat, Beechworth, Bairnsdale, Warmambool, and Coburg, with trained catechists in charge. A goodly number of adherents has been gathered, and many communicants show by their godly life that true converts make splendid Christians. For the aborigines, who were next taken up, the services of that able and zealous Moravian missionary, Rev. F. A. Hagenauer, now inspector-general for all the aborigines of Victoria, were fortunately secured. His mission station at Ramahynch, Gippsland, is a pleasing picture, well worth seeing, and the history of the mission has been full of interest-an interest, however, tinged with sadness, for the aborigines are a doomed race and are fast disappearing. But many of them die " in the Lord" and in great peace and joy. After these missions, the New Hebrides were adopted as a third field, and one of its missionaries, the now world-renowned Dr. J. G. Paton, has proved a mighty power for good. His thrilling adventures on Tanna, his successful evangelization of Aniroa, and his untiring advocacy of this field in all the colonies, the homeland and America, have greatly helped the growth of the missionary spirit. The Rev. D. Macdonald, at Havannah Harbor, Efate, has added hundreds of converts to the Church and trained EOme noble teachers, and at 5 different stations other men have done good work. But diversity of languages, races, and customs, entire absence of unity of a political kind and other causes have hindered the speedy conquest of these islands for Christ.
Aided by her Young People's Fellowship Union, the Church has begun a mission in Corea. Her first missionary, Rev. J. H. Davies, lies buried in Fusan, but his monument is the mission house ereded there, and now occupied by Rev. I. H. Mackay, M.A. There the Presbyterian Women's Missionary Union placed 4 workers, who are succeeding beyond expectation in winning the women and acquiring the language. This society has also 2 ladies at work in India and 2 among the Chinese women and children of Melbourne, and though only in their third year, are spending about £700 a year.
When the Presbyterian churches of Australia and Tasmania were federated about three years ago, the memorial erected was a new mission to the aborigines of North Queensland. For this 2 Moravian missionaries (Revs. J. G. Ward and N. Hey) were obtained from home, and have made an excellent start at Cullen Point, Batavia River, York Peninsula, among a very destitute and degraded people. As yet only ordained ministers and trained catechists have been employed, but medical missionaries and lay agents will be engaged as opportunity is found; 20 missionaries and 40 teachers are maintained at about £5000 a year, New South Wales joined in the New Hebrides Mission in 1869, taking a station on Malo. In 18'13 she opened a mission to the Chinese in Sydney and subnrbR, and for five years has carried on another to the same nationality at Newcastle. She also helps in the Federal Assembly's mission, and raises about £1300 annually.
From] 854 Otago and Southland Presbyterians in New Zealand sent help to the Free Chlrch of Scotland foreign missions, till in 1869 they beg'an work among the )JaOl·is. Having tasted Lha blessedness of direct effort, they took up both the Chinese and New Hebrides, and now support 5 missionaries and 70 native teachers, at a cost of £2000 a year. Their work has been abundantly successful.
North New Zealand Presbyterians have taken up the same three fields, and last year spent £200 more in the work than their brethren in the south. Tasmania and South Australia each began work in the New Hebrides in 1882. Their fields are a great contrast in results. South Australia has reaped but little fruit on Tanna. On Epi, Tasmania has sent 2000 gathered into the fold; they each spend about £350 per annum. South Australia also works in India, and both help in the Federal Assembly's mis- SIOn.
Queensland only took up mission work as a church in 1888, with one mission to the aborigines and another to the Kanakas, adding recently the Federal Assembly mission. But individual congregations were working among the aborigines at an earlier date. Especially among the Kanakas good fruit has been plentiful, and the interest in the work has been extend- 'ed by the pleadings of the Ormond College Missionary Society. This church raises about £400 a year.
Among the Baptist churches the Rev. J. Price claims for South Australia and Tasmania the honor of being the parents of all the colonial Baptist missionary societies-" the Furreedpore Mission, East Bengal, having for twenty-eight years been supported by the prayers and offerings of the colonies." Whether this claim is admitted we do not know; it is certain, however, that Victoria was then,' if not earlier, sending help through the home society for native teachers in East Bengal. In 1885 she sent out 2 zenana missionaries, and in the following year organized her own society. She now employs 6 missionaries and 9 native teachers. Some 80 converts have been admitted to church-fellowship, and the work in the girls' school is most hopeful. Annual expenditure for this and Furreedpoor £1200 each. New South Wales took up the same field in 1887, and spends £500 in supporting 3 zenana missionaries, 1 Bible woman, and an evangelist. Queensland followed in 1888, and has 2 missionaries, 1 native preacher, and 2 teachers, with an organized church. She raises £250 a year. Total, 40 agents; cost, £3150 a year. 1890 brought to our shores the Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, of China. His wonderful work of faith and love in the China Inland Mission awoke deep responses in the colonies, and led to the formation of councils with many branches. The centre is in Melbourne; a5 missionaries have already gone from Australia, and the society is spending £3000 a year. At one place in China a church of 120 members has already been gathered, and the grace resting on this work gives bright hopes of glorious harvests of souls.
Yet another new organization has found a home here-the East African Industrial Mission. Its special aim is to teach the arts of useful industry. This is well worth Christian attention, and has been too long overlooked for some fields, though there are others where it is unnecessary.
A MISSIONARY
Thus far we have presented facts-giving an aggregate of some 650 paid agents and an expenditure of £53,000. But remembering the many denominations Dot noticed and societies not reached-e. g., Church of England work among the Kanakas of Queensland; independent missions to the same people; the missions of the minor Methodist bodies; Bible Christians; Salvation Army, etc.-we may safely reckon that Australasia employs some 800 missionaries and teachers in the foreign field, and raises every year some £70,000 in response to her Lord's last command. In itself this is a gratifying and gladdening fact. But is this all that Australia could and therefore should do ~ Only consider the gloom of the heathen, the good of the Church, and the glory of Christ, and snrely you will say, " Forward," "Amplius." Think of the aborigines! Tens of thousands in North and Western Australia are still uncared for. Ought not· their present misery and prospective doom to urge us to do more, and that speedily, for those whose goodly heritage has become our own? Think of the 30,000 Chinese living among us-strangers set free from the pressure of ancestral traditions, with the heart hungering for sympathy, and readily responsive to kindness. Why let slip the opportunity of winning these for Christ? Think of India's child widows, of a million a month dying unsaved in China, and say, " Have we done enough ~"
Then recall the results of mission work. What heroic characters it has developed in Carey and Livingstone, Judson and Moffat, and thousands more! What blessings it brings to the churches supporting the workers! Would it not be well worth a greater effort to get more of this benefit?
Above all, remember Christ, His great love, His magnificent selfsacrifice, His earnest longing to fold humanity in the embrace of everlasting forgiveness and fellowship. Remember He has trusted us to place Him on the throne. The King cannot come again till we prepare the way before Him. Oh, if Australia transferred to her Lord her enthusiasm for sports, the millions she spends on strong drink, the love she has for gold, how soon she would become" the King's daughter, all glorious within, her garments of wrought gold," her attendant maidens, the converts of the missions, waiting with her, ready to enter into the King's palace and be forever the beloved of the Lord! May He grant her yet this glory !
A MISSIONARY HEROINE.
BY MARIA A. WEST, NEW YORK CITY.
There is a missionary lady whose story of entrance into Thibet and months of sojourn in that hitherto closed country thrilled every Christian heart that heard it, while she tarried a few days in New York, on her way to England, having come directly from Thibet and China.
Miss Annie Taylor was born and reared in London. The child of wealthy yet worldly parents, and without any special religio'us training in early life, she was led of God to turn away from earthly aims and pleasures and choose His service when but fourteen years of age. At that time she united with a Congregational church, but later with the Presbyterian Church, under the ministry of Dr. Sinclair Patterson. After some years spent at school in Germany, and in Italy, where she gave herself to painting, she began a systematic round of Christian work in district visitation among the p~)Or, for the Master's call continually sounded in her ears. This was also connected with medical study and attendance upon a hospital, when her rich clothing was gladly laid aside for the garb of a nurse. All this was not pleasing to the parents, who sought in vain to turn her heart back to the joys and pleasures of this world. But God was preparing His ." chosen vessel" to bear His name far hence to a people sitting in the densest darkness. Miss Taylor received her diploma for midwifery, and studied dentistry enough to aid in her future work. In God's own time the door was opened for her into a foreign land. Her parents, finding it useless to oppose her, gave a reluctant consent, and the joy of her soul was well expressed by a member of the council of the China Inland Mission: " It is like a burst of sunshine when she comes into the room."
Miss Taylor went to China, donned the dress of the people, learned their language, and then, led by the Spirit of God, settled alone in one of the villages on the Thibetan border, and began the study of that language, with the view to labor in that land. This step was not approved by her missionary associates, who deemed the undertaking rash and presumptuous, especially for a woman. Having means of her own, she was, in a sense, independent j and believing that God had called her to this work, she went forward in the face of dangers and trials that might well have appalled the strongest man.
After some time spent at Kansuh, in 1886-7, she went to a Thibetan monastery at Kumbum, and mingled with the Thibetans living there, wearing the dress of that people and studying them as well as their tongue. While there her health failed, and she visited Australia, where she met her mother, who was but recently converted. On her recovery, Miss Taylor was providentially led to Darjeeling, on the Thibetan border, in India, and there continued her study with a native teacher.
Visiting England for a few months, she returned to Darjeeling, in the hill country of lndh, and lived alone in a Thibetan village for five months, going later with six or eight Thibetan coolies, horses, tents, and provisions to Sikkim, a part of Thibet not yet made over to the English. She was taken prisoner by the government officials and most of her supplies seized, leaving her destitute and alone in that strange land. They tried in vain to turn her back, but nothing would induce her to retrace her steps. The hill men who callle with her built a hut of green bamboo for her shelter, and then went ou their way. Finding that she could not be persuaded to return, the chiefs endeavored to poison her, and almost succeeded several times. Finally she said she would go, but by another route, which took her through a wide portion of the country ; and most of that fearful journey, sometimes in the rain or snow, and often intense cold, especially at night, was made on foot, twenty and even thirty miles a day, without a fire at night to dry the wet clothing or warm the chilled frame, sleeping in a hole dug in the ground (sometimes with ,a layer of frozen water underneath), and often without food at the close of a long day's tramp. Yet He who feeds the sparrows never failed to send something sooner or later to His child when she cried to Rim. Her breath was one continual prayer going up to heaven; every place upon which the sole of her foot trod she claimed for God in Thibet! She was within three days of Gaza, the capital at one time. Being a woman, her life was spared-for womanhood is reverenced in Thibet-and her medical skill served her for many a good turn. Sometimes the women would secretly bring her a little food hidden in their garments, when the chiefs had forbidden anyone to sell it to her. Sometimes their popped corn would be strewn by the wayside, and she would pick it up like the birds of the air, thanking God for the timely supply.
And amid a people notoriously immoral, when she had no earthly protection by day or by night, God shielded His dear handmaiden from insult or harm. Day by day she was attended by an invisible guard, and the arrows of the Evil One were turned back by His shield! Unscathed by the enemy, 8he came out of that dark, dark country, having sown in some hearts the precious seed of the kingdom, * and bringing with her the " first fruits" in a converted young Thibetan, whose feet she had washed and bound up when he was suffering from a long journey, having fled from his chief; a native of Lhasa, where the people are hig-her in civilization, and where life is far more endurable, so that it can be made a centre for missionary operations in the future when the door .is widely opened.
Mter this entrance on the side of India, Miss Taylor went in on the Chinese side, and met with similar experiences. I may have confused the two, but it matters not. She will doubtless give the world her own story in due time; and this, which is by her permission, will only serve to whet the appetite of God's children for the full narration. I will add that Miss Taylor goes to England to secure at least ten or twelve men to go out and learn the Thibetan language at Darjeel.ing, India, so as to be in readiness for the work when the door of Thibet is opened to their entrance, as it must be soon. Rome is making preparation for its occupation; and why should the Christian Church be behind in obedience to its" marching orders" from the Commander-in-Chief? God hasten the day!
* The Moravians had prepared the New Testament and part of the Old in Thibetan; also a good dictionary. Blessed pioneers in making ready the way of ,the Lord are these Moravians I
THE RESPONSIBILI'l'Y OF YOUNG PEOPLE FOlt MISSIONS
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF YOUNG PEOPLE AND THEIR SOCIETIES FOR MISSIONS. * BY REV. FRANCIS E. CLARK, D.n.
One of the most hopeful signs of the present day is the wonderful quickening of interest on the part of young people in the work of foreign missions. Mission work is no longer a novelty. The rosy light of romance has been largely stripped from the squalid wretchedness of heathenism. It is understood that missionary life involves not so much of adventurous iucident as of hardship. The days when Sabbath-school children dreamed of the missionary as sitting under a fruitful cocoanut-tree while the eager natives pressed around him to hear the Word of Life, while his own existence was a kind of happy combination of the life of Robinson Crusoe and the exemplary parent in the " Swiss Family Robinson," have largely disappeared.
Even the boys and girls have come to know that missionary work in foreign lands is very much like Christian work in any land so far as the spirit, and purpose, and determination, and grinding attention to details is concerned. It is frequently a life work in the slums, plus the deprivation of friends and pleasant neighbors and the joys of patriotic citizenship, plus isolation and loneliness.
The idea of physical hardships and romantic sufferings which used to inhere in the thought of mission life has also largely disappeared; there has taken the place of these romantic hardships the far truer idea of steady, constant, monotonous work among degraded classes, with the awful and appalling inertia of heathenism as a constant and discouraging background to all elforts.
Yet in spite of all this the tide of enthusiasm among young people for mission work has been steadily growing. This is indicated by the remarkable Students Volunteer Movement, which has spread into England as well as swept over America, and which enrolls UpOIt its lists thousands of those who are desirous, God willing, to carry the Gospel to other lands.
Moreover, this rising tide of enthusiasm is very plainly indicated at the conventions of young people which have been such a remarkable feature of the religious life of the last decade. It has been noted over and over again, at the huge international conventions of the Society of Christian Endeavor, that the most interesting sessions are those which are devoted to mission work; that the stirring missionary addresses called forth the largest enthusiasm, and that the eyes of the young disciples who represent this army, which is now nearly a million and three quarters strong, are fixed not only upon their own prayer-meeting, on their own consecration service, and their own committee work, but look out with an intense long- • Read at tile Ccngre•• of Missions. Cblcago, October 2d, 1898. ing upon the uttermost parts of the earth with the hope and prayer that He whose right it is may reign.
But this most gratifying enthusiasm should not surprise us if we study the trend of the times. It is the natural and normal expression of the religious life. ",Ve ought to be surprised if we find any other spirit manifested by these devoted young hearts who, in the freshness of their youthful zeal, by the hundred thousand every month renew their dedication to Christ.
The responsibility for missions of these young people and their societies rests upon several natural reasons. First, they, in common with all the world, have received the great commission j they too are under marching orders j to them as well as to the oldest veteran were the words written, "Go ye into all the world." They cannot escape if they would from Christ's command, " Disciple all the nations." But a peculiar responsi- . bility rests upon them because they are young. This is pre-eminently the mission century. More than all the sixty that have gone before it, is it the age in which Christ's command has been heard by all the world.
Uttered though it was eighteen hundred years ago, by some modern spiritual audiphone the command has been repeated, and emphasized, and broadened and thundered out, and heard and heeded as never before.
The young people who have been born in the latter half of this nineteenth century could not help hearing this command as their fathers never heard it. They have been actually enveloped in the sound waves of this mighty audiphone. Their responsibility is greater than the responsibility of their fathers, on the principle that to him that " knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."
" Weare," says Dr. Josiah Strong, "it seems to me, even more favored than those who are to follow us. Some one has said that he would rather be his own grandson than his own grandfather, and so would I; but I would rather be myself than my latest descendant, because I would rather have part in the glorious work of creating the Christian civilization of the people than to bask in the full radiance of its glory."
The millionaire has m;re responsibilities than the pauper. Every dollar is an added means of doing good, and for every dollar he must give account. All the light which has broken in upon this wonderful century adds to the responsibility of every man and woman whose birthday falls within it, and the responsibility is an increasing one as these birthdays draw near to the closing decade.
Again the responsibility of these young people's societies is indicated by the very nature of these modern organizations. The Society of Christian Endeavor may, without presumption, I suppose, be taken as the type of the modern young people's religious organization. Born but little more than twelve years ago, it has now spread throughout the world, has nearly twenty-eight thousand branches and an actual membership of not far from one million seven hundred thousand. Formed with no wisdom of man, but by the purpose of God, its scope and real mission are becoming more and more plain every day.
Its fundamental principles are CONSECRATION, LOYALTY, FELLOWSHIP. Its consecration is expressed in the weekly pledged prayer-meeting and in the monthly consecration service. Its loyalty is indicated by the fact that' the societies are always under the control of their own churches, and that the purpose of every committee is to do just what its own church and pastor desire to have done. Its interdenominational fellowship is exemplified by the vast union gatherings which bring so many of them together in loving accord upon the broad platform of service for the one Lord.
But all this consecration, loyalty, and fellowship must mean and does mean missionary zeal unless the very purpose and spirit of the movement is strangely perverted. The consecration of these yonng disciples means that they will go where Christ would have them go, that they will do what He will have them do, that they will be only and altogether what He would have them be. The true missionary spirit cannot be divorced from the true spirit of devotion. Their loyalty to Christ means the same thing. It is a mere empty profession if they do not hear His -command to " disciple the nations. "
Their loyalty is not only to Christ, but to the Church, their own Church and denomination, and part of the work of every church is the mission work. All worthy denominational activity is expended at home and abroad in furthering the kingdom. Loyalty to these interests inheres in the very nature and constitution of a modern young people's movement.
Loyalty to the Church involves loyalty to the denominational missionary treasuries. Not merely a passive wish that they may be full, but an active effort to fill their coffers. It is hoped and expected that during the coming year the Christian Endeavor Society will make a thank offering of not less than a quarter of a million of dollars for missionary purposes. This money will go through the regular church channels into the denominational treasuries, to be used as their own boards see fit. It will be a tangible expression of the genuine zeal which fires these youthful hearts.
Moreover, the world-wide fellowship promotes this same spirit. These soeieties are not confined to the narrow limits of one denomination or hemmed in by the boundaries of a single nation, but their line has gone out into all the earth. Eleven evangelical denominations in America have adopted or endorsed the Christian Endeavor Society. Four in England have done the same thing, and as many more in Australia and in Canada, and it is largely found in all the denominations in all these countries which have not formally endorsed it. A United Society of Christian Endeavor with many branches exists in China, still another in Japan, with its monthly periodical and its useful literature. In India the work is progressing with equal rapidity ; and into Tamil and Telugu, Hindi and Bengali, Marathi and Hindustani and Oordu the constitution has been translated, and the society is making its way. Into the Sandwich Islands and Samoa, Madagascar and South Africa, Burma and Siam, Persia and Syria has the socitlty spread. The cruel tyranny of the Sultan is not sufficient to cru~h it out of the Ottoman Empire, while in France and Spain and the nations of modern Europe it has been found to be, so far as it has extended, help and inspiration for young people.
In England and Australia the society is moving on with the same rapid increase as in the land of its birth. This broad and ever broadening fel- lowship must have its effect upon the hearts of the members of this organization in increasing their brotherly love not only for their fellow- members, whom they have seen, but for those of different climes and dif- ferent complexions, whom they will never see.
In the blessed interdenominational and international felbwship of this movement is found one of its chief incentives to missionary enthusiasm, for its members feel their peculiar kinship with Endeavorers everywhere. The motto which is engraved, not only on the ban,ners and the badges of this youthful host, but upon their hearts as well, "For Christ and the Church," really means, " For Christ and the Church and the world," for the Church is for the world, and the world is destined to be for the Church.
It is worth noting in this connection that the origin of the first Society of Christian Endeavor was closely linked with mission work. The organization which preceded the first society, and which was to an extent merged into it, was a mission circle, and the mission idea has never been foreign to the Endeavor idea.
Another point of contact between young people and missionary work is found in the innate heroism of their youthful natures. Every generous boy is an incipient hero. Every pure young girl is a heroine in embryo. The sordid world often makes sad havoc with these early aspirations, but with rare exceptions among those who are rightly trained they are sure to be present: The ideal heroes and heroines for which their minds blindly grope, as the morning-glory turns toward the rising sun, are found to-day very largely upon the mission field. The Moffats and the Livingstones, the McKays and the Patons and the Morrisons are the real knights of the nineteenth century. If in these piping times of peace stories of valor in a righteous cause can anywhere be found, they will be found in these lands to which our brave missionaries have gone.
All this is felt by the young disciples whosc lives are dedicated so completely to the Master's service. As the camel's foot is fitted to the desert's sand, as the bird's wing is adapted to cut the air, so the hearts of the young people of the present day, stimulated and stirred as they have never been before, are adapted to the heroic service for Christ, which in its highest manifestations is found to-day in mission lands.
Again, their responsibility for missions is indicated by the fact that their own spiritual life can flourish only in the atmosphere which is created by the enthusiasm for the salvation of the world. It has been truly said, " An enthusiasm for humanity is what we most need, not only that the world may be saved, but that we ourseh'es lllay not miss our salvation. Civilization is compelling an interest in others for our own sakes. Christ inculcated an interest in others for their sakeE. Christian brotherhood springs from something higher than common interest. In an ocean steamship the steerage and the cabin passengers have a vast deal in common during the voyage. If the steerage goes to the bottom, so does the cabin. If a deadly pestilence breaks out in the former, the latter is im- mensely concerned; but all this may be without one brotherly heart-beat between the two. Modern civilization is fast getting us aU into one boat, and we are beginning to learn how much we are concerned with the concerns of others. But the higher social organization of the future must have some higher and nobler bond than an enlightened selfishness. Even such a love for one's neighbor as will fulfil the second great law of Christ."
This" enthusiasm for humanity," of which Dr. Strong so eloquently speaks, which is but another and broader name for enthusiasm for missionary work, is necessary to the continual life and growth of these disciples who are banded together in these young people's societies. The spiritual law of self-preservation must compel their interest in these large concerns of the kingdom.
A few years ago the Christian people of Australia felt that their religious life as a nation was at a low ebb. The affairs of the kingdom Ian" guished within their borders. The demands made upon them to subdue and civilize and people a vast island continent occupied all their energies, and spiritual matters seemed to drop out of sight. Leaders of religious life were alarmed, I am told ; but just then came the thought, not, "'Ve must spend all our energies upon ourselves," not, " We must evangelize our own broad domains first," but, "We must do something for the nations beyond, for these vast heathen islands which lie around us, which are sunk to the lowest depths of superstition and cannibal ferocity." "We owe something to them as well as to ourselves."
So the island of New Guinea was partitioned between three or four of the evangelical denolllinations, and recruits were called for to carry the Gospel thither. It was known that going meant hardship and privation, and very likely death; that the missionaries would find no honored graves even, but, in all likelihood, would be served up at cannibal feasts.
It was known that a shipload of Chinamen, who had been wrecked on the coast for which this mission was bound only a year before, had all been killed and eaten; and yet, when the call came for volunteers, not only the four white men who were first asked for came to the front, but five times as many ; not only the forty natives of the South Seas who were immediately desired heard the call, but four times forty.
Those who were chosen were esteemed the fortunate ones, and the tears and the sorrow were all expended upon those who could not go, but were obliged to stay in their comfortable homes. From that time I have been assured more than once in many sections of Australia the work of many churches revived, the spiritual life of the people was quickened, and those who were willing to lose their own lives not only found them, but a great people renewed their spiritual zeal and lighted once more their torches at the altar where this missionary fire of devoted consecration had been kindled.
So it will ever be in America, as in Australia, among the young and the old. Those who would have life must give life. Those who would gain inspiration for larger service must be willing to expend all they have on present duties. Those who wo~ld fit themselves for larger things-yes, those who would escape spiritual atrophy and death must continually kindle anew their enthusiasm for humanity, their. love for the world for which Christ died.
It is becoming more and more evident, I believe, to .all these young people in societies of Christian Endeavor that they must" go or send ;" that there is no compromising with Christ; that His command cannot be trifled with, and that if for good and sufficient reasons they cannot dedicate themselves to this service, they must remember their responsibility for sending some one who can go. They have all been drafted into this war, and if they cannot personally fight the battle in other lands, they must fight at home and send their substitutes across the sea.
This sense of responsibility directly affects their pocketbook, and makes, the matter of proportionate and systematic giving a very real and vital thing. "When this sense of responsibility touches the pocketbooks of men, when every dollar that a Christian earns he feels is mortgaged for the advancement of the kingdom, then will come the glad day when" holiness to the Lord" will be written on the bells of the horses, and when the smallest things will be dedicated to Jehovah.
That glad day is coming, I believe. We can already see its early dawn in the East. One of these days there will be a vast revival in gh'ing. The purse strings of the world will be unloosed. God grant that the young people who are handed together in common forms of service may feel this quickening t011ch, may realize their responsibility more and more, and may know that upon them depends the fulfilment of Christ's prayer, " Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done."
The progress of the Christian Endeavor movement has been remarkable in its extent and rapidity. In 1881 there was one society and 48 members. Six years later, in 1887, there were 2314 societies and 140,- 000 members, and in 1892, 21,080 societies and 1,370,200 members. The progress will be much greater in 1893 than in any previous year, as a result of Dr. Clark's tour around the world. It is estimated that there will be about 30,000 societies and 1,700,000 members reported at home and abroad.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEY. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
David Zeisberger, the Friend of the fish and hunt, and found pleasure in the American Indians. hardy life of the pioneer. Near the Forks of the Delaware in Pennsylvania BY ARTHUR C. KEMPTON, ROCHESTER, a site was selected, and here they erected the first log-cabin of what has since N. Y. been known as Bethlehem, the centre of Moravian influence in America. It Let us leave the present and look waS in: this place, with its strong religupon America as it was two hundred ious sentiment, that Zeisberger was years ago. converted. His friends were one day singing a hymn, when Zeisberger sur- I. A Land of Da1'7cness. prised them by bursting into tears and What we now know as Chicago, the leaving the room. In the shadows of Queen of the West, was then a trackless the forest he struggled with the angel swamp; New York was only a small until he received the blessing, and in town; and no white man had yet seen the very hour of his conversion he rethe land of the Golden Gate. The solved to consecrate his life to the cause " settlements" scattered here and there of missions among the Indians. along the coast consisted merely of a few log huts in the midst of a small II. The Dawning of the Day. clearing which bore a scanty crop of In the following year he and another potatoes and Indian corn. The interior young man left their homes to live was a great Unknown. among a friendly tribe of Indians in Coming apparently from the west, the the Valley of the Mohawk, so that they red man had spread himself over the might learn their language. As a rule country, until the whole continent was missionaries are more hindered by their sprinkled with the ashes of his camp- own countrymen than by the heathen fires. Numerous tribes were engaged themselves, and this is certainly true in in unceasing warfare. The war·path the life of Zeisberger. These young was the Indian's delight, and in cruelty men had only entered upon their noble he found his greatest pleasure. work when they were taken prisoners Such was the country which David by the authorities of New York, who Zeisberger saw from the deck of the pretended to believe that they were ship which had brought him from Hol- French spies, but who in reality were land, and such were the people among moved by their hatred for missionaries. whom he was to spend his life. He But their hearts were not daunted. was now only seventeen years of age, Like Paul and Silas, they made the jail and was fresh from the Moravian ring with songs of praise and the voice schools of Germany and Holland, where of prayer, and covered the whitewashed his parents, who had crossed the ocean walls with verses from their hymntwelve years before, had left him to be book, as an expression of their faith in educated. But God was leading this God. After a period of two months they young man, for though he was not yet were released and returned to Bethleconverted, it was in these forests of hem. America and among degraded tribes It was several years before another that he was to accomplish a work effort of this kind could be made. for Christ that has seldom been sur- Zeisberger entered heartily into the passed in the history of missions, and work around Bethlehem, but he longed rarely been paralleled by Christian work to be among the Indians of the Six Naamong the Indians. tions. At the first opportunity he Zeisberger was delighted with his home in the new world. He loved to I).gain set out with the avowed purpose lips swelled with unearthly shrieks, and of living among the Indians until he their hands clutching the empty air.
had mastered their language and be- As Zeisberger rushed up the ladder they come familiar with their customs. He tore it from under his feet, but he thus lived for five years [1750-55 near grasped one of the cross·poles of the Cayuga Lake] in one of the huts of an roof and swung himself into his retreat.
Indian village in Western New York. Here the missionaries stayed till the At first he met with considerable prej· mad revelry was over; then they es- udice, and was exposed to constant dan· caped, while the exhausted savages were ger. A drunken Indian is a fiend in· lost in drunken sleep.
carnate, and these Indians were drunk These are but instances of the dan- a great part of the time. Frcquently gers to which they were constantly ex· Zeisberger and his comrade left their posed, yet they refused to give up their hut and fled to the forest, hiding some· work, and we see them kneeling to- times for days before they dare return. gether in the shadows of the forest and On one occasion the drunken savages vowing to be faithful even unto death.
burst into their lodge, and when the So month after month passed by. At young missionaries fled the Indians fol- last the barriers of heathen prejudice lowed with wild war·whoops, sending were broken down. Zeisberger became bullets whistling just over the head as familiar with the Indian langullges first of one, then of the other. This and customs as were they themselves, cruel sport continued for a mile or two and they esteemed him as a brother.
before the savages returned. They showed their confidence in him At another time, while on a preach- by making him keeper of the belt and ing tour, they came to a town (now wampum which comprised the entire Geneseo) in which the entire population archives of the Grand Conncil. His in- was intoxicated. Two hundred men fluence in the nation was great, and it and women in a frenzy of drunkenness seemed as though success was near; seized them with dark looks that boded but it was further from them than they no good for the missionaries. At last thought. An Indian war broke out, they tore themselves away from their and Zeisberger was compelled to return tormentors, and hid in the loft of one of to Bethlehem (June, 1755). Thus end· the huts. Here, almost suffocated with ed his work in New York State. For heat and burning with fever, they spent five long years he had labored and not the night. In the town cask after cask a single sonl had been converted, but of rum was drained, devilish laughter in those years he had gained an experi- and yells filled the air, and all the ence and knowledge that fitted him for abominations of heathenism made tlJat future trials and for future victories.
summer night hideous. When at last III. Olouds give plilce to Sunshine.
the morning came Zeisberger's compan- During his absence in Ncw York his ion was in a raging fever. His thirst fellow-missionaries in Pennsylvania had became so agonizing that Zeisberger reo founded several Christian villages solved to risk every danger to relieve among the Indians in the vicinity of his sufferings. The nearest spring was Bethlehem. Into this work Zeisberger half a mile away. He stole out, reached entered with zeal, and so~:m the clonds the spring in safety, and was returning are broken and dispersed by the bright with the needed water, when suddenly snnshine. Having he::trd of a distan!
he was set upon by a troop of naked Indian village that desired to hear the savages. Doubling his fists, and dealing Gospel, we see him with a single Indian blows to the right hand and the left, he . companion tramping through tangled drove the squaws aside, and ran for the forest,s and pathleRs swamps, until at hut. The Whole party followed, their last they reached the town. Here they long hair streaming in the wind, their found no time for rest. The Indians flocked together to h~r the Gospel. them. Zeisberger watched over them Da'y after day was spent in telling of with loving care, but during that sad the love of Christ, and in teaching the winter over half of their number were natives to sing Christian hymns in their buried in the Potter's Fleld. With own language. A deep impression was heavy hearts those who yet remained made. Tears rolled down the cheeks started for their forest homes as soon of dusky warriors as for the first time as peace had been declared. It was an they heard of a Saviour's love. Amid awful journey. They were so wasted the shadows of the forest, where the by disease that many were scarcely trees spread out their branches and able to walk. Their food-supply bebreathed gentle benedictions, Zeisberger came exhausted, and the heart of the baptized his first converts, and rejoiced poor missionary was rent with the cries more over them than if he had inherited of famishing women amI children. At a kingdom. another time they were almost con- sumed by a forest fire; but at last they But at the very time these Indians reached the blackened ruins of their were shedding tears of penitence and villages, and at once laid out another blessing the white man who had brought town. Again in their forest homes, to them the Gospel, the hatchets of the converts were filled with gratitude other fierce warriors were reeking with and joy. The new town which sprang the blood of palefaces. As the Indians into existence rang with the melody of watched the white men pushing stead- praise, and was named" The Tents of ily westward, clearing plantations and Peace.., Soon the first baptism took building cabins until the wilderness was place, and this was but the beginning dotted with fiourishing settlements, they of a great revival. From far and near feared that all their hunting grounds the Inuians came to hear the word of would be taken from them, and now salvation, and went their way to scattribe after tribe had joined in a mighty ter the seeds of truth in their own tribe. effort to exterminate these invaders. Hundreds listened as Zeisbergerstood in some forest sanctuary beneath the They were terribly in earnest. Nu- shade of the arching trees, and promerous scalping parties attacked the claimed the Saviour of the world. frontier settlements. Farms were laid Many a poor wigwam thus became a waste, homesteads burned, defenceless home of peace. and many a dying hour women and children butchered, and all was cheered by the Christian's hope. the horrors of Indian warfare prac- Some of these fierce warriors, whose tised. It was contrary to the ~Ioravian belts had frequently been hung with principles to fight, and the Christian scalps, were now seeu weeping silent Indians were threatened with extermi- tears. These were bappy days for nation, for by their neutrality they won Zeisberger. Many were baptized, and the enmity of both Indians and settlers. the town continued to prosper until it One night a band of hostile Indians at- excited the admiration of every visitor. tacked one of the villages, brutally It was a wonderful instance of the civmurdered ten of the Moravians, and. ilizing power of Christianity. Comleaving the town in flames, went off fortable houses were surrounded by with the bloody scalps as trophies of gardens and orchards stocked with their dp.ed. Again several Christian vegetables and fruit-trees. Stretching Indians were treacherously murdered down the river valley lay two hundred by the enraged" settlers," who accuseCl and fifty acres of plantations and meadthem of being in league with the other ows, in whose grassy pastures were Indians. At last Zeisberger appealed seen large herds of cattle. to the government for protection, ann his Indians were taken to Philaddphia. This peaceful town was now left in lIere they were crowded into the bar- the care of another missionary while racks, and small-pox broke out among Zeisberger went to win new victories often lasted until midnight. Many for Christ in mOfe' perilous places. came as champio;s of heathenism and When his friends told him of the des- went away as humble servants of Jesus perate character of the tribe to which Christ. Old and young were converted he was going. and plead with him to re- and baptized, until the mission num- main with them. he replied: "No harm bered one hundred persons. This was can befall me if my God does not per- the second triumph that had crowned mit it. Are the Indians very wicked? the effort of this master missionary.
That is just the reason why I ought to IV. Great Victories and Great Defeats.
go and preach to them." Having ar- This completed Zeisberger's work in rived at the village, he sent his two Pennsylvania. A messenger had come companions to announce a religious ser- from the Indians of Oltio asking for I!.
vice for the evening. An immense teacher, and he reso].ved to go. Ac- crowd gathered round the camp-fire, companied by sixteen canoes full of and as Zeisberger arose every eye was Christian Indians be started on his fixed upon him. Some most desperate journey stilI farther west, April 17th, characters were there. ruffians and mur- 1770. They paddled along the streams derers, noted even among the Indians and rivers until they reached their des- for their wickedness; but no one knew tination in Central Ohio. It was the better than he how to speak to savages. valley of the Tuscarawas, the place He told of the Saviour's love with such which was to be the scene of their great- power that his hearers did not dare to est victories and their severest trials.
oppose him. Some of their faces showed They laid out their town in the form of a the subduing power of the Gospel. while cross, and called it "Beautiful Spring."
some grew black as with the darkness While building it many Indians visited of hell. the place, and here Zeisberger preached On the following morning the inhab- the first Protestant sermon ever preach- itants of three villages crowded into the ed in the State of Ohio. He was so council-house, and Zeisberger and his eager to instruct them that he fre- companions preached from dawn of quently laid aside his axe, sat down day till midnight. His life was com- upon the tree that he had felled. and pletely in the hands of the villainous told them of the Redeemer of the world.
crowd, and a score of times did they Two towns arose amid the prayers of threaten to murder him, yet he con- the people, and the Spirit of the Lord tinued fearlessly to condemn their sin. God came upon both places. Zeis- Plot after plot was formed against his berger's plans for the future challenge life. but God protected him. When his our admiration. He aimed at nothing enemies were most violent and death short of a Ohristian Indian State. He seemed near, he calmly wrote: "They would establish a centre of religion and will certainly not succeed, for He that civilization whose benign influences is with us is stronger than they." His would stream forth and enlighten the faith was victorious. The opposition whole land. He would build for the was gradually overcome, and six fam- Gospel a stronghold from which it could ilies took their stand in favor of the not be driven. He would have all the Gospel. One of the Christian Indians, tribes acknowledge that a people of the called Anthony, became so zealous a living God had arisen among them.
worker among his friends, that Zeis- An old Indian chief named White berger said of him that he "was as Eyes was his chief supporter. With eager to bring souls to Christ as a hunt- tears running down his cheeks this man er's hound is eager to chase the deer." of war and blood plead with his people So was the power of heathenism to accept the Word of God. " We will broken, and a mission established in never be happy," said he, "until we this seat of Satan. Inquiry meetings are Christians." A season of unparalleled prosperity in front of him, and saved his life at now dawned upon the mission. The the peril of their own. At another Grand Council of the Delawares de- time an Indian entered Zeisberger's creed religious liberty. The Gospel had house with salutations of friendship, free course, and was glorified. Upon but suddenly he drew his tomahawk, this outward prosperity the consistent and crying, " You are about to see your life of the converts set a crown as fra- grandfathers," was in the act of strikgrant as the evergreens of their valley. ing the fatal blow, when one of the con- Indian visitors flocked to their town verts sprang forward and wrenched the from all the surrounding country. The weapon from his hand. Then Zeischapel at Beautiful Spring would hold berger sat down by his would-be assasfive hundred persons, and yet it was sin and spoke to him with such tenderoften too small to accommodate the ness and love that he was convicted of worshippers. These Christian settle- his sin and accepted Christ as his Savments were famed throughout the en- iour. tire West. Their plantations covered hundreds of acres along the rich bot- The oon/ve1·ts also bore these trying toms of the valley, and herds more nu- circumstances with great fortitude. merous than ever roamed through the One day a savage attacked one of them, forests or were pastured in their mead- and, aiming his rifle at him, cried, ows. Men coming from the Eastern " Now I'll shoot you. for you speak of colonies were filled with astonishment when they beheld Indians not only civ- nothing but Jesus r" But the convert ilized, but growing rich. But forces were at work which combined to crush stood firm and replied, ., If Jesus does this noble enterprise. The rumblings not permit you, you cannot shoot me." of the American Revolution had beeu The man dropped his gun and turned heard for some time, and now the away in silence. storm·clouds burst in all their fury. Their neutrality placed the missionari~s Zeisberger now found himself be· in great danger, but in the face of al- tween two great powers, the British and most certain death they resolved not to the American, each of which considered desert the converts. Their towns were him an enemy. The British fitted out continually filled with painted warriors, an expedition from Detroit, which was and their escapes were simply miracu- commissioned to utterly destroy the lous. Once the savages had cocked Christian villages and to take the mistheir rifles and were on the point of sionaries prisoners or to bring back their shooting down the missionaries, when scalps. This expedition was placed in their chief was seized with an unac- charge of two noted villains, and soon countable impulse of mercy, and per· reached the villages. They pretended suaded his men to spare their lives. to be friends, and were hospitably reo ceived; but their true purpose soon be· Even the settlers accused Zeisberger came apparent. Encouraged by their of being an accomplice with the Indians, leaders, the savages filled the towns and sent out a party of desperadoes with drunkenness and ruin, running with the express purpose of killing him. around with terrific war·whoops, danc- They met him all alone in the open for- ing and singing, and shooting down the est. "That's the man," cried their cattle for merc sport. The next mornleader, pointing to Zeisherger ; " now do ing was resolved upon for the destrucwhat you have been told to do." He tion of the towns and the massacre of heard the clic1dng of their rifles and the inmates. Death seemed certain, commended hi~ spirit to God, when but Zeisbergel' did not waver. "I care suddenly some Christian Indians burst 110t for myself," he cried, "but oh, my through the hn·,lwR, placed themsclves poor Indians r" As the appointed morning dawned, he ordered the chapel bell to be rung for the usual early ser· vice. Its clear notes sounded far out into the surrounding forest. The dis- of cattle were in the woods; their gartant scouts guarding the trails heard dens were loaded down with fruit, yet them, and wondered if that morning's they were mercilessly dragged away prayer would be the last the mission- and left without food or homes in the aries would ever offer; converts and midst of the forest at the approach of warriors heard them, and bent their winter, and this by order of the British steps toward the sanctuary. When authorities! The winter was the most Zelsberger entered the church it was severe that had been known for years, filled to overflowing. The converts sat and their sufferings were terrible. with solemn faces; the warriors looked Scores of them perished from starvagrave and sullen. Deep silence per- tion and cold. Corn was so scarce that vaded the entire assembly, but when it sold for $8 a bushel, and through Zeisberger announced the hymn there lack of food the missionaries were reo followed such a burst of song as never duced to mere skeletons. At last their before had been heard within those cruel captors showed some signs of walls. All were conscious that heaven mercy, and one hundred and flfty of was near. Taking Divine Love for his the converts were permitted to return theme, Zeisberger then preached a won- to their deserted villages, that they derful discourse. The Spirit of the might gather the corn which had been Lord God was upon him. Surrounded left in the fields. by his enemies, he fearlessly condemned And now we have to relate the IIlost their sin, and lovingly pointed them to heart·rending incident of this sad his· the Saviour of the world. Then, turn- tory. The Indians had reached their ing to the converts, he urged them to towns and were busily gathering the place all their trust in God, and He corn that they might bring it to their would not forsake them. Deep feeling starving families and teachers, when agitated the entire congregation. Tears the Americans heard of their arrival, of joyful trust in the Lord were shed and, with unreasoning hatred, sent out upon every side; eV4in the savages a body of militia under Oolonel Will· bowed their heads in shame. The meet· iamson with the avowed purpose of uting closed with a fervent prayer, in terly destroying these Christian se,tle· which missionaries and converts were ments. They were only too successful commended to the protecting care of in their work. They told the Indians their Heavenly Father, and His bene- that they had been sent to help them in diction invoked upon their enemies. their trouble, and that they would con· God heard that prayer, and saved the duct them to a place of safety, where lives of His children. The hearts of they should have plenty of food and the savages had been so touched, that clothing. The IndianR, thrown comthough their officers both bribed and pletely off their guard, placed themthreatened them, they could not be per- selves entirely in the hands of the solsuaded to stain their hands in the blood diers, even surrendering their weapons. of these servants of God. Thus thwart- The soldiers professed to be Christians, ed in the plans, the hatred of the offi- and the Indians gave them a Christian'S cers found vent in taking the mission· welcome. That night murderers and aries and the converts prisoners. For victims slept side by side like brothers, eight years they had labored in this val- the one dreaming of scalps and bloodley, and the towns which they were shed, the others of lIew and happy forced to leave have rarely been equalled homes. In the carly morning, at a. in the history of the Indians. As they given signal, these fiends arose and were marched away they looked back seized their helpless victims. Taken and saw their homes in flames. Five wholly by surprise, they were crowded thousand bushels of unharvested corn into two houses and strictly guarded, were standing in the fields; hundreds while the soldiers hesitated as to the mode of execution. Some wished to love for the Indians grew only the set fire to the houses in which they greater as his sufferings and disappoint· were imprisoned, and burn them alive; ments increased, and shone brightest others desired to tomahawk and scalp when the end was near. A few years them, so that they might have trophies more the devoted missionary struggled of the campaign. It was finally put to on, and then he was called to enter into vote, and scalping was decided upon. rest. As he lay upon his bed the Ind- ians gathered around his couch and No protests of innocence, no appeal sang in their own language, which had to their friendly services in the past grown so sweet to him, songs of the availed the helpless prisoners. They Redeemer, and of heaven until he fell were allowed until the next day to pre- asleep in Jesus, and then they sobbed pare for execution. Shut up in their aloud. prisons, they began to sing and pray and to comfort one another. At the first In an old, forgotten cemetery in dawn of morning their eager enemies Pennsylvania you will find his grave, asked if they would soon be ready. marked by a single marble slab as sim- .. We are ready now," was the an- ple as was his life; but underneath swer: .. we have committed our souls that stone there lies the dust of one who to God, who has given us the assurance was far more a hero than many whose that He will receive them." And now names are more familiar upon the lips converted heathens taught their Chris- of men. And when the nations shall tian slayers what it means to die tri- be gathered from north, and south, and umphant in their Saviour. They were east, and west before the Great White tied together two and two, dragged to Throne, among them will be hundreds the place of execution, slaughtered and who were led toward heaven by him; scalped. One man felled fourteen to and in that city where all sorrow shall the floor with a cooper's mallet, which be turned to joy few shall wear a he then passed to another ruffian with a brighter crown than David Zeisberger, brutal laugh, saying: .. My arm is the friend of the American Indians. tired I Go on in the same way! I think I have done pretty well !" Mass Movements in India.
Tomahawk and war-club, spear and BY REV. GEORGE w. JACKSON, WELscalping-knife did their awful work till the bleeding bodies of ninety-six Indians LAND, ONTARIO, CANADA. were piled in heaps upon the floors. Of these twenty-seven. were women and That large numbers of the people of thirty-four children, twelve of the lat- India, chiefly from among the poor, ter being infants. Two lads alone es- have become enrolled among the folcaped, one of them being scalped and lowers of Christ, is not only a matter left for dead; the other hiding in the for rejoicing; it is more: it is a fruit· cellar of the house where the blood of ful subject by which we may discover his parents streamed through the floor the methods to be employed, the prin. upon him. Search the annals of his- ciples involved, and the dangers to be tory and you will find no more hellish avoided in this great work of conquest deed than this massacre at Beautiful for Christ, so much of which remains Spring, yet it was carried on under the to be done. And just in passing let me 'stamp and seal of a " religious nation. " note the similarity which seems to exist between the silent, secret, and rapid V. Sun8et and Evening Star. spread of the information and plans Neither Zeisberger nor the mission which led to that almost universal and ever recovered from this blow. He simultaneous rising of the native army was now an old man, and his closing and people at the time of the Indian years were years of sorrow. Driven Mutiny, and the present apparently unihither and thither by his enemies, his versal interest of the poor of India in of concentrated evangelistic work in the Christian religion. Somehow, and connection with the London and Church no one seems to know just exactly in of England Mission stations in Tin- what way, the same class of people in nevelly and Travancore, and In the all parts appear to begin to listen ear· German mission of Chota Nagpore.
nestly, to receive favorably, and to obey And (3) the more recent and similarly more readily tban formerly the Gospel large ingatherings, as the result of pre- of Christ. Is there some secret means vious hard and comparatively fruitless of· communication by which word is toll, in the Baptist 1I1ission of Ongole passed from one people to another? among the Telugus, and the Methodist Or is it rather because the missionaries and Presbyterian Missions in North- in all places, after long years of patient western India. Other cases which toil among others more difficult to reach, might be named woulJ probably fall have only now begun work among the under one of these three divisions.
poor? In cases of famine and distress noth- It seems necessary to remark that ing seems more Christian and therefore those who have never had the honor of more natural under the circumstances taking part in the work under review- than that missionaries should hasten to I mean that of actually accepting for assist in supplying relief to the perish.
baptism large numbers of people from ing. and provide for the maintenance among the heathen-should be careful and education of the children thus left not to hazard opinions or offer criti- orphans. This was more especially true cisms unkind or adverse. Putting our- in earlier times, when the Government selves for a moment in the place of of India was not so fully prepared as it those who have had the above-named now is to deal with the flood and fam- honor, we shall feel that only on the ine. Such evils as have arisen out of spot and during the occasion for action these forms of missionary effort, and could all the circumstances be taken caused bDth distress to the workers im- into account. The public know afler· mediately concerned and occasion for ward how great actions should have complaint to those who are only too been fought better than the men who eager for such occasion, are no doubt did the fighting, or at least they think common to the work at home as well as they do. The public can teach diplo- to the work abroad. We, therefore.
matists the right home or foreign policy propose to pass over this first class of which should have been pursued in movements with the remark that tIle given cases, and this under the guid- next generation will be in a better posi· ance of newspaper editors; and such tion to appreciate all the results and opinions change with each additional fruits of that devotion to the training item of information received, and of orphans which has marked the lives would, no doubt, be radically altered of not a few of the best Christian work· were all the circumstances fully dis- ers in India.
closed. We, then, looking at these Passing on to the second class of marked events in the India mission- movements-viz., those resulting from field, should seek to learn rather than a definite and continuous evangeliza- criticise. tion of a particular tribe or tribes within These movements seem to be capable a given area, as in the aforementioned of a kind of classification: (1) There missions, the following remarks from were the earlier movementA, resulting, Bishop Caldwell's "Lectures on the partly at least, from famine relief and Tinnevelly Missions," pp. 166, 167, its accompanying work, in Krishnagar, should have full weight as proceeding Bengal; in the Madras Presidency; from one who was a most active worker and in the Mysore. (2) Next to these in the field under review: "Wherever may be named the now famous results we have gone we havc preached to the people the Gospel of Christ, in accord· mohullahs or district!', a special caste.
ance with Christ's own command; we In rural evangelistic work results sel· have known nothing nm:mg them save dom follow the general proclamation to Christ and Him crucified, and it is un· the assembleu populace; but when, questionable that the Gospel, without whether in a city mohullah or village the help of any extraneous influences, para, we address a distinct caste, our has again and again proved itself mighty aim being directed toward definite re· through God to the pulling down of sults as to that caste in particular, suc· strongholds. Still it is equally true cess more surely follows. Definite di· that in the greater number of instances rection in methods of work leaus to con· the conversions that have taken place tact with the poverty and oppressed have been the result, not of spiritual condition of the poor, and the most motives alone, but of a combination of vexed problems in this connection seem motives, partly spiritual and partly to be : (1) How can missionaries fulfil secular, the spiritual motives predomi. the demands of philanthropy in cl<ses nating in some instances over the secu· of oppression and injustice, and at the lar, in others the secular predominating same time keep strictly to the principle over the spiritual; aud this holds true of not holding out any temporal induce· not only with respect to Tinnevelly and ments to the acceptance of the religion the missions of the Church of England, they preach? And (2) how can they but with respect to every rural mission avoid repelling sincere inr}uirers, who in India, with whatever society it may profess good motives, while seeking not be connected, and whatever may be the to encourage those whose motives ap- idea of its condition which is commonly pear to be purely worldly?
entertained. May I not add that this has " Rhenius," says Dr. Murdoch, in held good of every conversion of tribes his "Indian Missionary Manual," p.
and nations, as distinguished from the 289, "employed a native lawyer to conversion of isolated individuals, plead the cause of thc oppressed con- which the history of the Church has verts. This, with the favor for a time … recorded?" of one or two of the European officers Coming now to the third and last class of TinneveIly, had a powerful influence of movements mentioneu, we have under in inducing people to place themselves consideration one of the most recent de· under Christian instruction. " And velopments of modern missions. Long. again: "In the early stages of the er periods of regular organized work of Travaucore Mission the secular element every variety preceded these move· was largely present. One of the mis· ments than any of the former. Schools, sionaries, till it was disallowed by the orphanages, bazaar preaching, and home soclety, acted as a judge; slaves evangelistic tours, combined with tract who became Christians were not com· distribution, medical work, and per· pelled to work on Sundays." This sonal effort, were sllstained ycar after practical philanthropy on the part of year with patient persistencc, and now the earlier missionaries, resulting as it the natural results appear in large num- did in large numbers of baptisms, is at bers of accessions. It remains to bring the oppositc extreme from the careful· out the reasons why similar results havc ness of those who would repel all who not followed in some other missions- need temporal assistance, which action for instance, -the English Baptist Mis· may account for the apparent sterility sions along the Ganges Valley. I will of some missions.
only venture to express the opinion Having thus glanced at some of these that direction needs to be added to the mass movements, and suggested some methods employed in order to insure of the methods, in conclusion I ask, success. In bazaars or business streets, Does the missionary experience of the there is always a mixed multitude; in past warrant any society in expecting a large and healthy and rapid growth of 'si~ht of me!l and her judgment of af· faIrs only lllustrate what an ewiOWthe Church apart from previous pioneer ment of common sense can come from unmixed religious consecration and work, which has been 80 faithfully per· spiritual" high·living. "
formed in the missions now so blessed -Bt01'ies from I"d'ian Wigwams and Northern Camp-fire8 is a second volume with success ? We know that some of experiences and observatiolJs among the Indians of far Northwest America, have done the pioneer work without by Rev. Egertvn R. Young. His .. Canoe and Dog Train" at once made reaping its results; but may new mis- a reputation for Mr. Young as one of the most fascinating story-tellers, and sions fearlessly look for immediate reo this volume is so much a continuat.ion of the same sort. that all who know the suIts from virgin soil in which heathen· first volume will wish to read this. The greatest audiences of Exeter Hall and ism has remained hitherto undisturbed? Chautauqua have been charmed by Mr. Young's narratives. It is profusely ilor do the facts of recorded experience lustrated. (Hunt & Eaton, New York; Charles Kelley, London; William indicate that ploughing must precede Briggs, Toronto.) sowing and reaping in spiritual hus- -Answered Prayer, published by the Fleming H. Revell Company, New bandry? York and Chicago, is a suggestive and helpful blank form prepared by 'Dr. Book Mention. Arthur T. Piersou, with columns for " Date of Prayer Begun," " Particular -Rev. I. G. John, D.D., Secretary Prayer asked of God, " "Particular of the Board of Missions of the Southern Promises Pleaded," and "Date and ~1ethodist Episcopal Church has pre- Circumstances of Answer." It will be pared a valuable Handbook of "Methodist a revelation to many devout people if Missions. It is published by the Board they will procure one of these booklets of Missions of the 1Ilethodist Episcopal and keep the memorandum and mark Church, Soath, Nashville, Tenn. Bish- the results when they find prayer rising op Hendrix in the introduction quotes to the plane of power. Emerson's saying, "Coal is portable climate," anJ he adds, "a handbook -Foreign Missions Afttr a Oentury, like this is portable zeal." It sum· by Rev. James S. Dennis, D.D., of Beimarizes English Methodist missions, rut, Syria (Fleming H. Revell Comthos~ of the Methodist Episcopal Ohurch pany, New York and Chicago), is a and bf other Methodist bodies, but gives volume of lectures delivered at Princeover 500 pages besides to the missions tOLl. Theological Seminary, 1893, on the of the Methodist Episcopal Ohurch, J". ,is of the students' lectureship on South. This book will be a vade mecum n,i."iolls. They are remarkable for of value far beyond Methodist linei!. th(,jr order of thought. Qlearness of slyle, and the freshness of facts stated. -All. Autobiography. The Btory of the Lord's dealing with Mrs. Amanda -Hindu Litemtu1'e, 0]' the Ancient Smith, the Oolored JjJcangelist (Meyer & Book.~ of india, and Persian Literature, Brothers, Chicago), contains an account A'l'.cient and .Afodern. Both these volof this ex slave's life-work of faith, her umes are by Elizabeth A. Reed, and travels in America, Great Britain and published by S. C. Griggs & Co., Chi- Ireland, India and Afriea. Bishop cago, These present popular and read- Thoburn says he has learned more from able aecounts of the~e literatures. The Amanda Smith that has been of actual guarantee of their accuracy is that they value to him as a preacher of Christian have had the revision of eminent spetruth than from any other one person cialists like Max Muller. The ablest he has ever met. He also says that reviews have not hesitated to speak of during 6eventeen years in Calcutta he them as fascinatin~ presentations and had known many famous strangers to strong analyses. For those who canvisit that city who attracted large audi- not make original re~earch ther cannot ences, but he never knew anyone who fail to be helpful and entertaiUlng. could dmw and hold so large an audio ence as this devout and soiritual·lllinded negro woman. The strange extremes in her fortune remind one of those of Bishop Crowther; her hold on God by earnest prayer and faith is a spiritual tonic. We do not belbve anybody can read this story, told in her untutored style, without spiritual help. Her in-
FIELD OF )!ON'l'aLY SURVEY
I1I.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
Topics for 1894. estant missionaries, men and women all included, are now sent out by the January-The World. churches of Christendom. In England February-Chinese Empire, Confu- alone, with a population of 27,000,000, cianism. and in the Established Church alone March-Mexico, Central America, West Indies, City Missions. as there are two and a half timea many April-India and Burma, Hinduism. May-Siam and Malaysia, Unoccu- clergymen. The Moravian Church pied Fields, Buddhism. sends out into the foreign field one in June-Africa, Freedmen. 60 of its members, while other Protes. July-Islands of the Sea, Arctic Mis- tant bodies in general give only one in sions, North American Indians. 5000. August-Papal Europe, Romanism. September-Japan, Korea, Shintoism, As to destitution.-Thibet, almost aU Medical Missions, Chinese and Japanese of Central Asia. Afghanistan, Beloochisin the United States. tan, nearly all of Arabia, the greater October-Greek Europe, Moslem portion of the Soudan, Abyssinia, and Lands. the Phillipine Islands are still without November-South America, Frontier a mISSIOnary. Besides this large dis· Missions in the United States. tricts of Western China and Eastern December-Syria, The Jews, Educa- and Central Congo Free State, large tional Work. portions of South America, and many of the islands of the sea are almost or Facts and Figures from Many Lands. altogether unoccupied.
BY THE MANAGING EDITOR. China's population is variously esti- mated at from 350,000,000 to 500,000,- One tlwusand m'illion souls, two-thirds 000, and counting women, there are of the human race-heathen, pagan, about 1100 missionaries from Protestant Moslem-most of them have yet to see churches. Should the missionaries a Bible or hear the Gospel message. there bear the same proportion to popu- lation as in London, there would be As to religion, the world's popUla- more thanjifty times the present force. tion is divided about as follows: In India there are more objects of Protestants". . . .. ••…..•••..•. 120-1150,000,000 idolatry and false worship than there are inhabitants. RomlUl Catholics ……….. , … , 175-210,000,000 In Japan, for every Christian disciple Eastem Chnrch (mostly Greek).. 84-99,000,000 there are two Buddliiat priests and six Shinto temples, and 10,000 more head Jews…….. .•••…••..•…. …. 7-10,000,000 priests of Buddha than the entire num· ber of followers of Christ. Mohammedans….. .•….•. . … 1fO-200,OOO,000 Africa is not only the Dark Continent Confuclanistst. .• ••………… 80,000,000 still, but perhaps, on the whole, most destitute of all the continents in relig- Buddhists …..••….. , ..•••…•. 340400,000,000 ious teaching. On the West African coast the habitations of cruelty still Hindus .•..•…….•••……• , .. 175-220,000,000 abound. Near Lagos 200 human beings were lately offered in sacrifice! Chris· Shintoos ….•.. ………… ….. 14,000,000 tendom has introduced 70,000 gallons of rum to every missionary. In the Pagans •…..••.•………….•.. 200-2150,000,000 great Congo Free State there are 100 drunkards to one convert. Under the To the thousand millions of non- maddening infiucnce of intoxicating Christian peoples less than 10,000 Prot- • These numbers probably more correctly represent those liYing in Protestant countries and not otherwise designated. There are only about 40,000,000 Protestant communicants.
t There are probably 400,000,000 of the Chinese and Koreans who accept Confucian ethics, but m~ny of them are also Buddhists and Tao· l.ts. drink sent from New England 200 Con· was but one new translation for every goans in one day slaughtered each other. sixty-six years, while from 1880 to 1890 One gallon of rum caused a fight in the average wasfive in one yea1' by the which 50 were slain. British and Foreign Bible Society alone, and in 1892 nine new translations were Medical missions are found especially begun. helpful in China, Korea, Persia, Syria, India, and Africa, where native physi- At the beginning of the century the cians are unskilled and often barbarous Bible was within the reach of only one in their treatment of even the simplest fifth of mankind; now it is accessible, as cases. Many of the acts perpetrated by far as translation into native tongues .. medicine men" among the heathen and dialects is concerned, to nine tenths are in thelll8el yes piteous appeals to us. of the earth's inhabitants. In Africa children are scored with a sharp knife from head to foot to cure During this century over 160,000,000 them of a slight illness. In the Friend- copies of the Word of God have been ly Islands delirious patients were buried printed in over 350 different llillgl1ages alive, and in other parts of the South and dialects. No very important tongue Pacific incisions with a knife are made of the earth is now unrepresented. to let out pain. In 1892 there were distributed, at More than one half of those who die home and abroad, by the American, in Calcutta have no medical attendance British, and Scotch Bible societies whatever, and not more than one fourth 6,000,000 copies of the Bible in whole have attendance of physicians who de- or in part-more than there were in existserve the name. If the supply of phy- ence one hundred years ago. sicians in India were in proportion to that of England there would be a medi- Dr. David Abeel said, forty years ago cal force over 190,000 strong-at pres- and more, that wherever he went, in ent there are less than 150 foreign and China or in Java, in Siam or anywhere Eurasian doctors. else on heathen ground, he met always one missionary, who was neither Pres- Taking the non-Christian countries as 1:yterian, Congregationalist, Methodist, a whole, there is but one medical mis- nor Episcopalian, but Who combined sionary to a population as large as New the excellencies of all; always ready York City, While the heathen are dying to speak, and to speak for God; never at the rate of 40,000,000 a year. doubtful in the utterance of truth; never offensive, but always ready to be In the Report of the General Mission- silent if those around preferred, but ary Conference at Allahabad twenty who was always ready to witness for years ago, it is stated that a .. grave the Divine Master and for the heavenly theological professor considered it neces- kingdom; in which missionary he had sary to enter his protest against the cor- more satisfaction, on the whole, than rupt and immoral system, which had in any and all the others he had met; (or its object the bribing of the heathen and that one missionary was the Bible /" and Mohammedans of India into becoming Christians by means of a dose Educational work is found especially of castor oil and epsom salts." Il1Iadia useful in Turkey, South America, Afrito-day to be able to add medical to mis- ca, and India, and has played a very sioTmry is like placing a cipher after important part in Japan. another figure-it increases the value tenfold. Upward of 200,000 patients There were in 1892 over 700,000 are annually treated in mission hospitals scholars in 17,500 schools, carried on by and dispensaries. the missionaries of America and Eu- rope. Bible translation and distribution has been wonderfully increased of late Oontributiona to all benevolent puryears. l!'rom 100 to 1500 A.D. there poses by Protestant Christians of the United States amount to about $85,000,- 000 annually. Only one seventeenth of this is given to foreign mi~sions. If the rapid emergence out of centuries of gifts in proportion to income of church- midnight darkness. Thirty thousand members equalled that of the Japanese children are gathered into Sabbath- converts, the contributions would be schools. There are about forty soci- increased at least tenfold. eties at work with over 7000 ornaincd The Japanese workmen average less missionaries. In 1868 the numoor of tha'!l 12 cents a day wages, yet the con- communicants was 20,000; last year tributions last year from converted na- the number of converts added was over tives aggregated over $100,000. 20,000.
'l'he training of a native mini8t1'Y is The question has been raised by some everywhere the most important work as to Whether the Africans can be really of the missionary. Clllistianized. Bishop Crowther, a na- Within half a century mission sta- tive African, was sold as a slave and tions have multiplied more thau tenfold " afterward emancIpated, converted, edu· ordained missionaries with same ratio, cated, and has been a roost successful but native laborers and assistants have bishop of the Church of England in increased thirtyfold. Western Africa. .
If the last eighteen years be divided Professor Smith says that the 80,000,- into three periods of eight years each, 000 natives of Central Africa are" as the Baptists during the first sent out 67 good stuff to make men of as were the missionaries; during the second, 70; ancient Britons of England." The trans- und during the third, 175, or 150 per formation that has taken place among cent advance. In other denominations many of the Zulus and Hottentots has there has been similar increase, and it been marvellous.
is probably owing largely to the Stu- In Cltina. has begun a new era of the dent Volunteer Movement. Six hun- railway, telegraph, and scientific ad- dred and thirty volunteers have already vance. Before modern civilization idol- gone out, and 100 ure under appoint- atr.v and superstition must gral1ually ment. . recede as darkness before light. Some Africa has an area of over 11,000,000 time ago the nati ves in Central China square miles and a population estimated objected to the building of a railway, between 150,000,000 and 200,000,000. on the ground that the laying of the If the present missionary force were railroad ties would disturb the graves equally distributed throughout tne con· of their ancestors and anger the guard- tinent, each ordained missionary, native ian dragon which surrounded their city.
and foreign, would have a parish as They were obliged to yield, however, large as the State of Connecticut. before the authority of the governor of As late as 1851 the President of the the province. Science may destroy idols Royal Geographical Society said: "All and dispel superstition and breed scep- beyond the coast of Central and South ticism as to non-Christian creeds, but it Africa is still a blank on our maps." cannot in itself reveal God nor create Twenty years ago the Congo nati ves faith ill Christ. This only the Bible had never seen a steamer; now a fleet cando.
of twenty ply the waters of the Upper In 1842 the number of communicants Congo. Railroads are being built from of Protestant churches in China was 6 ; south amI east toward the centre; a in 1865, 2000; and in 1892, 50,000.
telegraph line from Cairo to the Cape; It is estimated that the Chinese spent steamers ply the waters of many of its every yea~ $130,000,000 in ancestral rivers and lakes. worship, and the Protestant church- A chain of mission stations r:eaches members of the United States spent but from the mouth of the Congo to the $85,000,000 for benevolent purposes of Equator, and Africa is beginning to the church.
surpass many other countries in her In Foochow alone 800 opium smokers knelt in a place of worship anI! prayed the total tract circulation was only half God for deliverance from the chains of a million; now one society alone circuthis soul-enslaving habit. There are lates more than 12,000,000. By the 150,000,000 opium smokers ill China. action of the government education is spreading among the masses, and it is India has a population of 288,000,000, of vital importance to social and religand an area of 1,554.000 miles (one half ious life that the appetite thus created ai large as the United States). There should ha"ve healthy food. are still thousands of towns with populations of 5000 and upward which have The Christian Vernacular Educanot a single missionary. tional Society distributed over 1,000,000 books and tracts last year. When Carey landed in India Protes· tant Christianity was represented by India has 21,000,000 widows and one feeble mission in the south with a 50,000,000 zenana prisoners. No wonfew thousand converts. In 1851 there der that a society of native women in were 91,000 converts. Now there are Bombay hDS for its motto, " The world 40 societies represented which support was made for women too." 1000 ordained, 71 medical missionaries, and 758 women. The communicants An educated Hindu was lately asked number 250,000, and the adherents what in modern missionary effort made about 1,000,000. The number of con- him fear most for the stability of his verts last year was 24,000. There has own religion. 'He replied: "We do been a gain of one 7~undred and forty per not greatly fear your schools; we need cent in the last ten years. not send our children. We do not fear your books; we need not read them. A Sunday.school procession number· We do not much fear your preaching: ing over 80,000 children, all either of we need not listen. But we dread your Hindu or Moslem parents, recently women, and we dread your doctors; marched in Lucknow, the scene of the for your doctors are winning our hearts, awful Sepoy massacre in 1857. India and your women are winning our has eight Christian colleges and 26,000 homes; and when our hearts and our schools and 3,000,000 pupils. homes are won, what is there left us ?"
'I'here are 18,000,000 girls of school Japan has an area of 147.655 square age, and only one in 60 attends school. miles, and consisis of nearly 4000 isl- This leaves 17,700,000 to grow up in ands. The population numbers 40,- ignorance. 072,000.
The Hindu Vivekanandaasked at the Twenty-nine societies are represented Parliament of Religions why those who with 604 missionaries. The adult memwere so fond of sending missionaries to bership of the 365 native churches is save the souls of heathen did not do 85,584. In 1892 there were 8731 consomething for thcir starving bodies. verts added. The Western Recorder replies, that Christians have contributed $40,000,000 It is said a larger proportion of the to famine relief funds, besides estab- people can read than in any other counlishing in India hundreds of hospitals try in the world. There Bre 28,000 and asylums, whereas the heathen have schools with 72,000 teachers and 8,410,- never established one of either. Only 000 scholars. Besides this there are 607 6 per cent of the people of India can Protestant Sunday-schools with 22,777 read or write, and that percentage in- scholars. The theological schoolsnumcludes all English residents. ber 16, and the students 542.
There is a great awakening of the Korea has but oue missionary to every mental and moral forces, and it rests 800,000 people. 'There are three sociwith the Christians of Englaud and eties there and 177 communicants. America to prevent this from developing into agnosticism. Thirty years ago Turkey in Asia has an area of 509,289 square miles and a population of 15,- 608,055. There are 230 missionaries (including women) and 13,513 com· of over 3,1,000,000, there are but 325 municants. Protestant missionaries from 17 soci- eties. The number of communicants is Pliney Fisk went to Syria in 1818. about 15,000. One half of the popula- He died in 1820, and by his grave in tion is not within reach of the pure Beirut was planted a little cypress·tree. Gospel. There are no .missions in Now this tree, planted in the suburbs of Bolivia, Ecuador or Venezuela. Ro· a town of a population of 8000, has manism in its worst form-only a step grown to be a stately cypress in the removed from :heathenism – prevails very centre of a city of 90,000 people. there. The educated classes are in a Overlooking it, says Dr. Jessup, is a transition state from Romanism to female seminary, a large church edifice, scepticibm. a Snnday.school hall, a printing house which sends out more than 20,000,000 As to negro instruction in the United pages annually,. and contains 30,000 States, where only twenty-seven years electrotype plates of Arabic Scriptures. ago no colored child was legally per- Within a radius of four miles are 4 mitted to read, there are now 25,530 Christian colleges, 7 female seminaries, schools in which 2,250,000 have learned 60 boys' day schools, 31 girls' schools, to read, and most of them to write. In 17 printing·presses, and 4 large hos- the colored schools there are 238,000 pitals. pupils and 20,000 colored teachers. There are 150 schools for advanced edu· The great triumphs of the Gospel in cation, and 7 colleges administered by Turkey are the gaining of religious tol- colored presidents and faculties; and eration, the elevation of woman and the of the presidents three were formerly family, educational advancement, and slaves. It is also noted that there are the progress in Bible translation and 154 colored editors, 250 lawyers, amI distribution. 740 physicians, and that there are 247 colored students now educating them· In the Ottoman Empire arc 892 Prot- selves in European universities. estant schools with 43,027 pupils. In the Islands of the Sea there are 211 Sixty thousand copies of the Bible stations occupied by 190 missionaries. are sold annually in the Turkish Em- Twelve societies are represented. The pire. converts number 100,000.
Difficulties in mission work arise A little over one hundred years ago chiefly from the opposition of the gov- the population of the Sandwich Islands ernment, whose policy is" Turkey for numbered 400,000. Through what we the Turks." They are hostile to the call" civilization' " there remaiu now Protestant schools, and large numbers hardly 30,000, and instead of the fine of converts emigrate to America and phySical specimens of manhood, with elsewhere, thereby causing a loss of their extensive tracts of valuable land, teachers and pastors. The boycotting there is hardly a wealthy native left. of native converts makes self.support Their lands have been seized by the ad· in the churches extremely ditlicult. In venturer and the speculator. spite of these difficulties, however, the success of Protestant missions is secured "Gem;ral" Booth says, with more by the Protestant educational institu- severity than exaggeration, that "the tions, wide distribution of Bibles and day has gone by when the priest and other Christian literature, and the deep- the levitc are content simply to pass by rooted faith of the native converts. the wounded man. Some of them must Protestantism as a principle is steadily needs turn backaud punch the head of growing in the land. any good Eamaritan that ventures to come to the rescue of the man they South Amll'l'ica is called the "neg· neglect." lected continent." With an area of 7,000,000 square miles and a population
EDI'l'ORIAL DEPAlt'l'MEN'f
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The leading editorial article, in the T. C. Horton, H. N. Frost, James E. November issue – " Thy Kingdom Come"-was the outcome of personal Mathieson, Bishop Baldwin, H. 11. and prolonged studies of the Word of Parsons, Robert E. Speer, Robert P. God; and if the views therein expressed Wilder, Sir Arthur Blackwood, F. S. may at first have struck auy reader as Curtis, A. B. Simpson, George MUller, extreme or unwarranted, the editor hopes and James Wright, Andrew and Hora· that judgment may not be pronounced tius Bonar, George E. Pentecost, Henry hastily, but only after such careful ex· Varley, Lord Radstock, F. B. 11:eyer, amination as the writer himself has and hosts besides, have held, in sub- given the subject. The paper was pre- stance, the same opinions which this pared, in substantially its present forlll, obnoxious paper upholds; and not only for the ~Iildmay Conference in London so, but the writer has himself heard in June last; then, with some modifica· most of them affirm that their zeal in tions, it was given at the Congress of missions dates from their acceptance of Missions in Chicago in October. Partly these often 1'idiculed views. This is because of its historical interest, as con- something at least to think of. May nected with these two great gatherings, not the common views of the kingdom it was thought best to give it a place in be largely traditional and historical, this REVIEW; but, while the views rather than scriptural and spiritual? therein expressed bind no one, even of the editorial staff, but are purely those The author of this paper confesses of the editor-in-chief and, he may add, that these were not the sentiments of of his beloved colleague, Rev. A. J. his earlier ministry, but these views . Gordon, D.D., there is no hesitation in came purely through biblical studies, affirming that these are substantially the correcting previous opinions by scrip- views of the majority of workers on the tural standards. Hence he holds these foreign field, as actual extensive corre- views not as tentative nor theoretical, spondence with missionaries shows; as but as final, and unassailable on scrip. Mr. W. E. Blackstone, of Oak Park, tural grounds. He therefore once more whose acquaintance with missionaries affectionately commends this discussion is as wide as that of any man in Ameri- to those Who love the Word of God and ca, asserts. The whole question is, wait for the kingdom of God. however, one not of previous bias or personal notions, of tradition or phil- He felt constrained to gi ve his testi· osophy, but ultimately a question of mony concerning the "Parliament of What the W01'd of God teaches. The Religions." But before he ventured to article is meant to be purely expository, put this paper in its final form on the and must be met and answered on a pages of this REVIEW, he submitted it biblical basis. to the judgment of some of the best and wisest men of his acquaintance. Some of our contemporary journals From one of these-a man who for wise affirm, as was anticipated, that the views judgment, apostolic charity, and gen· therein expressed "cut the nerve of eral beauty of character has, among all missions. " Well, it is very strange his wide acquaintance, no superior-he that so many men, most devoted to mis- received the following: sions, such as Hudson Taylor, Spencer Walton, A. J. Gordon, C. H. Spurgeon, " Your article in full on Parliament Dean Alford, S. H. Kellogg, W. G. of Religions was received. I am great- Morehead, E. P. Goodwin, D. L. IV pleased with it. It is strong and Moody, D. W. Whittle, J. H. Brookes, righteous, yet sufficiently tempered. The more I see of the fruits of that blasphemous love-feast, the more I am convinced that it was really originated and managed by the prince of • the power of the air, the spirit that now an understanuing as to the means of worketh in the children of disobedi- publishing reciprocally the dogmas of ence.' " the different religious beliefs. An un- derstanding of this kind, it is true, Rev_ C_ C. Starbuck has sent to would have implied the right of propa- the editor some exeerpts on the Parlia- I("ating the Asiatic religions in our Christian communities; but this right ment of Religions, translated by him, already exists, at least in our Western countries, and we should have no occaas follows: sion for uneasiness if it were put in practice, "The Parliament of Religions at Chicago opened its sittings at the ap- " For instance, Fung Quang-ju, Secpointed date, September 11th. It is retary of the Chinese Legation at Washknown that the idea of thus confront- ington, officially delegated, as appears, ing with each other the representatives by his government, presented an essay of all religions, in order to bring to on < Reciprocity' according to Conview the points which these men may 11ave in common and the differences fucius. This virtue consists in not which separate them, has not met with doing to others what we would not bave universal approbatk'IL others do to us. What an excellent op- portunity this would have been t.o come "The Ki1'chenfl'eund feds bOll nd to call to an understanding with him as to the it' an empty aud stllpid comedy.' The measures tending to obviate the inces- Archbishop of Canterbury has refused sant and often bloody collisions of the to take part in the sessions; the En!!;- Confucianists with the messengers of lish braneh of the Evangelical Alliance t.he Gospel; as to the meaIlS of bringing ha~ abstained from appearing. Tlle into agreement the declarations of re- Sultan. acting IlS Commander of th!! ligions tolerance emanating from the Faithral, has even forbidden the Mos- throne, and the vexations measures of lems to attend the gathering, and has addressed the same prohibition to the the provincial authorities, which render Christian church dignitaries of his em- these futile I pire. " But in pla.ce of taking pains to turn "The promoters of this aspIrIng these religious assemblies to account in (grandiose) enterprise, however, were such ways, it seems to have been animated by the best intentions. Their thought enough, as in similar 8J[!semcirculars assign, as the purport of their blies previously, to exchange complienterprise, the desire to develop the ments and felicitations, and to applaud spirit of human brotherhood among re- one another beyond measure. It ligious men of the various cults; to would, however, have been better to bring into clearer publie conscious- make rejoinder to a certain Buddhist ness the distinctive doctrines of each priest, named G. H. Dharmapala, who religion; to bring into recognition proposed this question to the assembly, that theism has inexpugnable founda- < How many of you have read the life tions, and that man has serious grounds for believing in immortality; to rein- of Buddha?' and wbo, when only five vigorate the forces which are striving hands were raised (which does not absoagainst materialislil; to demand of each lutely prove that these were the only religion the light which it is capable of furnishing to the others; to make out readers of this biography present), exexactly the present situation of each reo claimed, with an accent of profound ligion ; and finally to persuade all the disdain: 'Only five! Four hundred peoples of the earth that they onght to and seventy-five millions of human have more friendly relations with each bein gs profess our religion of hope [of other. despair would have been more exact] and of love; you, who call yourselves "Beyond doubt. if our missionaries a great nation, you do not even know and those whom they e..-angclize were the history of the founder of this religa.lways animateu by the largeness of ion, and you pretend to judge us!' temper breathing in this programme, the labor of the former would be facili- No one seems to have taken pains (pertated in many cm,es. But in order to haps the rules were against it) to conput these principles in practice, it would tradict the eloquent advocate of Budhave been necessary that the r-epresenta- dhism, and to bring him to note that tives of the various Asiatic religions he obtains his formidable Dumber of which figured at the Congress sllould Buddha's adherents only by including llave held personal conference with the the Chinese among them, something represcr:tatives of the various mission- which be bas not the least right in the ary societies lahoring in the midst of world to do ; that tbe countries where their coreligionists, in order to arri ve at Buddhism is the dominant religion, like Siam, Burma, Tbibet, are the most de- generate of all Asia, vegetating ina.. dreary marasmus; that if they seem to A. That the Prudential Committee be at present reviving, it is because be increased at once to fifteen members Chl'istian civilization is beginning to (including the President and Vice-Presiinfuse into them a new life; and that dent). if the island of Ceylon makes an exception, it is only because it is subject to a B. That, beginning at the annual meet- Christian government. ing of 1894, the members of the Pruden. tial Committee shall be elecred in three .. These observations have been sug- classes, one class to serve three years, gested to us by reading the report of one class two years, one class one year; the opening session of these remarkable that at U;e cxpiration of these terms assemhlies; but we do not believe that members shall be chosen in classes for the subsequent sittings are likely to terms of three years each. It is further bring any modification of our judg- recommended that rio member wbo has ment. The' Parliament of Religions' served three full successive terms shall will have no practical result; it will be, be eligible for re·election till after a to the very end, merely a simple curi- year has passed. osity, like so many others which are airing themselves at the Chicago Expo- O. Autborizes means to secure legal sitton."-Revue des Missions Con tempo- authority for this" change in the cbarraines (Basel). n. ter. " Again, and in an un~elfish spirit, the Resolved, That this Board, in re- sponse to the expressed wish of its miseditor appeals to the benevolence of his sionaries in Japan, and in recognition of the successful labors of the Rev. Willreaders for help in the gratuitous circu- iam H. Noyes in that empire, requests the Prudential Committee to offer to lation of this REVIEW among students him an appointment as a missionary of the Board. Tbe Board declares that for the ministry and especially "volun- this action is not to be understood as in any way modifying its former uttertecrs for the field, whose poverty and ance on the suhject of future probation.
self-denial make it impracticable to pay A, B, and o were carried unanimous- ly, and the vote on n was 106 to 24. the price of the REVIEW. These arc the men of all men who need the stimu- lus, the information and inspiration it The editor has hitherto sedulously re- afl'ards. This" volunteer fund" has frained from any utterance on matters fallen of late into neglect. It is a long of the A. B. C. F. M., fearing further time since any considerable amount has to embarrass its action when already been paid into its .. treasury." The complicated with many difficulties; but editor gratefully acknowledges the fol· it seems to us that in this its final issue lowing donations: there has been a distinct concession in lIrs. McEwen, of Italy…….. $25.00 favor of the broad and loose theology Mrs. Grace Passmore Green- of the time.
wood, of London………… 15.00 There is no use of denying that there Benjamin I. Greenwood, Esq., is a drift within the evangelical church in exactly opposite directions. There of London. . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . 33.00 are conservatives who hold to the old $73.00 theology, and cannot and will not give The fund still is overdrawn some $202.. up the full inspiration and inerrancy of 14. Would not some whose hearts are the WonI of God, and the doctrine of stirred in behalf of these poor young future retribution as therein set forth.
men, who are devoting their lives to Others arc advocating the views of missions, take up this ministry to saints? higher criticism and a modified view of and is there not some one person who future punishment, with the .. eternal will send direct to the editor a check for hope" theory of Archdeacon Farrar.
this deficiency? This REVIEW has made its choice, and stands upon the old platform.. As to Tho following is the important por- the future state, if there be any essen- tion of the action of the American Board, tial change in the soul's condition after by which the revolntion in its constitu- death, it is not revealed. If any man tion and policy was effect!ld : will indulge a hope unwarranted by Scripture, why not at least keep it to each a shirt, and told them something ltimseif, and preach only what is clearly of this story of Jesus. He asked if they authorized in the Word of God? It is could l'emember the name, and they said, one of the worst evils of our day that "Yes, it was Paton." Thirty.three men, and even preachers, seem to con- years before he had in his evangelist sider it duty to give utterance to their tours stopped at this island for a few doubtR, theories, and speculations. Why days; and here, so long after, was the not confine Ollr testimony to certainties fruit. The calico shirts had been worn and verities, and convictions based on but once a week, carefully preserved a plain decIaration-a thus saith the for the Lord's Day. and the only way Lord! Then if a man hold any view to keep the day which they knew was or have any notion, not in accord with to meet others and tell what they could Scripture or justified by its direct teach: remember of the wonderful story I ing, it works little harm beyond himself What shall Christian disciples say at at most. There is no power in any the great day with regard to the shamepreaching as such which goes beyond ful neglect of perishing millions? the limits oj instructions>" ambassadors mllst keep within the bounds of the When Hudson Taylor first went out Divine message or they lose all author- to China it was in a sailing-vessel. ity. Very close to the shores of a cannibal island the ship was becalmed, and it We cannot but think that a separa- was slowly drifting shoreward, unable tion is finally inevitable if the present to tack about, and the savages were divergence of opinions continues and eagerly anticipating a feast. The capincreases. Already fellowship is ques- tain came to 1<lr. Taylor and besought tionable both as to its expediency a'nd him to pray for the help of God. " I even possibility. The A. B. C. F. 1L will," said Taylor, "provided you set is a venerable and beloved institution, your sails to catch the breeze." The and this division in its ranks is doubly captain declined to make himself a disastrous; but any unanimity which laughing stock by unfurling sails in a is at expense of principles involved is dead calm. Taylor said, " I will not a greater disaster still. undertake to pray for the vessel unless you will prepare the sails," and it was Dr. J. G. Paton tells an affecting done. While engaged in prayer there story of a visit to a neglected island in was a knock at the door of his statethe Pacific, where he found to his room. "·Who is there?" The capamazement, though no missionary was tain's voice responded, "Are you still there or had been sent there, there was praying for wind ?" "Yes." "WeII," a sort of Sabbath keeping. Two old said the captain, "you'd better stop men, who had a very little knowledge praying, for we have now more wind of the truths of the Gospel, were keep- than we can well manage." And, sure ing track of the days, and on the first enough, when but a hundred yards day of each week they laid ordinary from shore a strong wind had struck work aside, put on a calico shirt kept the sails and changed the course of the for the purpose, and sat down to talk boat, so that the cannibals were cheated to those whom they could call about of their human prey. them, and in a simple way recited the outlines of a wonderful story they had Was it not Augustine who said, "I once heard about one Jesus. Dr. Paton need a whole Christ for my salvation, It inquired where they had learned this whole Bible for my study, a whole truth, and they answered that long be- church for my fellowship, a whole fore a missionary had visited the island world for my parish, that I may be It for a week or two, and harl given them true Catholic andnot a sectarian" ?
EXTltACTS AND THANSLATIONS. G3
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign husband. the late minister of Abercorn.
Periodicals. was one of the first to take an interest BY REV. C. C. STAltBUCK. ANDOVER, in the founding of the Blantyre Mission, MASS. has arrived, and now graces the apse. It is well colored, and the corona of AFRICA. seven lights adds to the beauty of the -" When, in the year 1853, the sec- church. It is pleasant to reeord that ond twelve pupils entered the Her- . twelve years ago Mr. Playfair made a mannsburg mission house, there was valuable gift to the mission of meteoro- found among them a prosperous young logical instruments." "We have now farmer, already married, who made over hung the central lamp, the gift of the to the mission his whole farm, compris- laundry workers. A central chain is ing three hundred morgen of land, with suspended from iron cross-beams, which all its appurtenances, and then. with in light scroll work stretch from four wife and child, entered the mission faces of the octagonal drum of the dome.
house as a simple pupil. That raised a This supports a cluster of twelve lamps great uproar at the time; the young from a height of thirty-six feet. The farmer was declared to be out of his lightness of the grouping of the lamps head; and Lewis Harms, who had ac- in black iron scroll-work is the most cepted his high-minded donation, was marked feature in the structure."
denounced as a fortune-hunter. This -" With a civil service for Africa; a farmer is now the senior missionary of hall of learning at Blantyre; ecclesiasti- Bethany, in South Africa-Herr Beh- cal, civil,naval, military, and geographirens. He has never repented of having cal degrees, we shall soon be a comin earlier times forsaken everything and munity of kings and knights and profollowed Jesus, becoming His servant fessors, with not one among us who in the foreign missionary service; his does not boast a spur, or a hood, or Lord has rendered him, therefore, a rich some other peaceful weapon of inspirrequital of blessing."-Allgemeine Mis- ing awe. And it is quite as it ought to sionB-Zeitschrift. be. We need kings for Africa, and any -The Presbyterian Church at Blan- kings going a-begging may apply-only tyre has been described as "a genuine we need real kings."
Central African cathedral." Life and -" The King of Mukori, in West Work (printed at Blantyre) gives some Africa, was present at tbe baptism of interesting particulars of the interior four converts. He afterward told the furnishings. "An oak prayer desk, a missionary' his whole desire was to obgift to the church from Mr. Patrick tain everlasting life,' and that he had Playfair, minister of Glencairn, has ar- prayed to God for grace to renounce rived. It is carved by himself, and is a polygamy. He has since made this rebeautiful piece of work. We value it nunciation openly before his people, highly." "The communion table is suminoned for the occasion, and has very light in structure, of oak, with placed himself under instruction."- thistle-leaf ornaments. The design is Awake (C. M. S.). taken from an old table in Holyrood.
The window-sills and heads of doors are -" The last half-yearly report of Cap- carved in native wood by the boys from tain Lugard, recently made public by designs by onrselves." "A stanuard the r. B. E. A. Company, though it lamp, the gift of Mrs. Playfair, whose does not add much of special note to
MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
our knowledge of events in Uganda, is kingdom, now winning its way slowly a document of extreme interest and im. through sore struggle and conflict towportance. It sweeps away the last ves- ard Christianity and civilization, of tige of fOUIIdation for the reports cir- forces that will paralyze all further deculated by the French mililsionaries, and velopment and destroy existIng work." puts the recent tangled events in clear -Church Missionary Gleaner. and simple sequence. But most of all does it tend to show how closely na· MISCELLANEOUS. tional interests and national honor are implicated in the present crisis. Cap- "Dr. Rigg, President of the Westain Lugard has found within the sphere leyan Methodist Conference, England, of British influence fresh articles of com- preaching recently at Truro, remarked merce anll further facilities for transit. upon the definite Christian character of ' He also emphasizes the state of districts leading English statesmen of the present where the people, trembling before the day, and the lack of Christian faith devastations of the Mohammedan Kab· among many of the great statesmen at urega, who ravaged their land and en- the beginning of the century. Both slaved them, had gladly hailed his ad- Mr. Gladstone and Lord Salisbury are vent, and had accepted with joy his decidedly religious men. Dr. Rigg also assurances that the new power had pointed out that the last ii,e Lord Chancome to stay. They see no distinction, cellors of England, the present Chanhe tells us, between the British power cellor included, were all not only pro· and the C()mpany, and have regarded fessors of religion, but earnest, practical him throughout as the direct represent- Christian men. "-Indian Witness. ative of the Queen. This hopeless confusion in the minds of the Waganda and How will it be when Mr. John Mor· neighboring peoples, not only of the ley comes to the throne? Company with the Government, but of the English missionaries with both, has – " If we are looking for the converadded much to the perplexity of the sion of the world before the return of situation. If all outward manifestations Christ, we shall hear with joy of thouof British power, having once been sands of baptisms and try to think that given, are withdrawn, Uganda will be if they are not all born again of the Holy left no longer' a fairly concrete native Spirit now, many of them will be after kingdom, but one rent asunder by inter- fnrther teaching, and that their children nal political strife, fostered all too clear- will be true Christians. If, on the other ly, alas I by those who should always hand, we understand the Scriptures to , make for peace. ' Uganda will speed- teach that the Lord is now gathering ily fall a prey to encircling enemies, and out of the nations a 'people for His the English missionaries and Protestant name' (Acts 15: 14; Rev. 7: 9), and converts, looked >n as the weak re- that at His coming nations will be mainder of a withdrawing power, will, brought in instead of individual converhumanly speaking, inevitably be as- sion!!, as now, we shall be earnestly de. sailed. It is not a question whether our siring that better day, and shall rejoice brethren there are willing to remain at as we '800 these things come to pass' the risk of their lives, or whether the by which we 'krww that the kingdom committee are prepared to expend funds of God is nigh at hand' (Luke 21 : 31). in a region without British protection- Those who look for the Lord's coming these questions have been unmistakably are not pessimist missionaries, as some answered in the past history of Ugan- suppose, but optimists: the outlook is da. We have put our hands to the full of 'hope for the Church and for the plough, and dare not look back. But world, when the King comes to establish it i~ a question of the flooding into a His kingdom. Until He comes the evangelization of the world i3 ,thtl wtrl"k of thc Church, and' the King's business
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
re~uireth haste.' Prophecy shows the nature, and he carefully points out that uj'gency of missions: "So MUCH THE nations lose their name and their place MORE AS YE SEE THE DAY APPROACH- in the world if they begin to live only ING."-H. DE ST. DALMAS, in Indian for these lower ends. This is ' sound Evangelical Review. teaching,' really wise and healthy coun- -Eleven years ago the Jesuit Father sel, and we commend it to all our read- Colberg, quoted in the Allgemeine Mis- ers. WcaIth has its place and power; sions-ZeitscMift for November, 1892, pleasUI;e, too, has its fUnctions; but writes of the people of Ecuador: "The nations that try to live by and for these simplest teachings of our religion are to things alone will not make very fruitthem unknown things. What shall we ful history; or, if they make fruitful say of the parish priests who take up history, it will only be by way of feartheir quarters in Quito or other cities ful warning rather than of noble and the whole year through, remote from inspiring example. "-Australz'an Ohristheir congregations, and merely ride out tian World.
to them once or twice, when the time -" We which are alive and remain" comes to gather in their church dues, till the coming of the Lord. With this and who only at such times, as it were, hope did Saul of Tarsus go forth to acby the way, administer the holy sacra- complish, within the compass of a huments? The moral state, up to the man life, his work of bringing every most recent period, has been the worst knee, in the name of Jesus, to bow to in Quito itself. What astonishes me is the honor of God the Father. The hope that the faith has not utterly perished. of the great decision as very near did A terrible responsibility rests on the not cause him or primitive Christendom ministers of the Church, and, above all, to esteem the work of missions superon the once so numerous monks. And fluous. Such a position, it is true, in the remaining republics, from Mexi- does not rest upon a shrewd computaco to Peru and Bolivia, matters are a tion of feasibility. It is the love of good deal worse." Christ which gives the impulse and the consciousness of having become, Surely it is time that 80mebody carried through saving grace, a debtor to all them the Gospel.
-" Mr. Justice Hodges, of Mel- men. The world being crucified to Him bourne, does not give a very flattering and He to the world, this may no longer account of the way in which Australians, interpose itself betweell Him and any at all events Victorians, live. Speaking man. It is not only the lust of conquest as chairman at a pleasant Sunday after- or of gain which makes the world ap- noon meeting in Prahran, his honor de- pear small, and will let no corner of it clared that he had lived thirty-eight seem too remote or uncouth to abide in.
years in Victoria, that he had not To whomsoever the horizon of eternity been more than a few weeks out of the has disclosed itself, to him all this is colony all that time, and that he has yet far more certain, and for him the been compelled to conclude that the measures of time also shrivel up. All great majority of the people lived for policy, even church policy, even mis- two objects chiefly-viz., 'gain, and sion policy, can but calculate and strive wild, exciting pleasures.' Mr. Justice after the attainable. The love that pro- Hodges despises neither wealth nor ceeds from Christ is governed by an- pleasure, but he properly thinks that other law; it takes hold of those small they are not the be-all and end-all of details of labor, evidently of themselves life. And this mad love of gain and of of slight account, believing the seed pleasure is, he remarks, common to all corns of the kingdom of God to have a ranks. His honor pleads for a higher vital energy which cannot be sup- life, for the culture of man's spiritual pressed, and to which no limits of
GENE:!tAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE. [,January
earthly chronology are appointed. entirely devoted."-Sir C. EWEN SMITH, Whenever and wherever Christendom in Ohurch Missionary IntellifJence1'. and Christians, in firm confidence of the eternal goal, renounce the thought of -" The logic of faith. In the sumbeing at home in this world and of con- mer of 1892 therl:! occurred a violent verting this world into a home, then earthquake in one of the West Indian and there stirs and develops itself their islands, arousing universal terror, espeworld·conquering power, a power to be cially among the colored popUlation, displayed, not for themselves, but for who completely lost their heads. There Him who was not of this world. "-Dr. was, however, one old negress who dis- MARTIN KUHI.ER, in Allgemeine Mis- tinguished herself nobly from her counsions-ZeitscMift. trymen. The visitation, which shook the faith of others in shaking their -The Moravian brethren, in their re- homes, only confirmed her faith. One ports of the Labrador Mission, make of our missionaries, visiting her Boon mention of the visit of the agents of the after, asked the devout old woman, Chicago Exposition, to secure the visit whom infirmity had fettered to her ruinof a company of Eskimos to the Fair, ous hut during the earthquake, whether which we know was accomplished. she had not been greatly alarmed. Half The brethren acknowledge that these wonderingly, half reproachfully she re.. gentlemen gave them earnest assurances plied: 'I terrified! How couid I be, that they would do all in their power to when I have a God strong enough to secure the best good of the Eskimos in shake the earth?' "-Mis8ions-Blatt au.~ every way. Indeed, they strongly urged that a missionary should accom- der Bl"ildi3rgemeine. pany them, which, however, the brethren declined. Being convinced thnt the -It appears that it is not the body of dangers, both to health and to the moral the Hanover and Hermannsberg Free and spiritual life, of so long a continu- Church that has separated from the ance among the mixed throngs of such Hermannsberg l,[ission, as was at first a show, were much greater than any supposed, but only a fraction of it, possible benefit, they strongly discour- which, we are sorry to see, has also agcd the project, so that the Eskimos opened opposing missions in Africa and who actually went we may assume to New Zealand. The temper of these debe those wbo were least under mission- vout but extremist Lutherans seems to ary influence. be singularly like that of the extremist Presbyterians of Scotland in the seven- – " 0 ne good missionary is worth ten teenth century, in exaggerating into the indifferent missionaries. You must re- first importance points which appear to member that the personal character- most Christians of little significance. istics of men who lJave to deal with The Covenanter disputes, however, were natives, and especially with ignorant distinctly intelligible, while, according natives who are plunged in the depths to Dr. Warneck, even Lutherans find it of superstition, not only influence the hard to make out what these ultrapeople among whom their lot is cast for Lutherans are contending about. the time being, bnt they leave traces behind them that may continue for years; -It appears that the British Governso tbat, while a good man may leave ment-" thereby acknowledging that the his memory green to blossom for years, . anti-opium fanatics' were right after an indifferent man, or one who does not all"-has decided to prohibit the posunderstand the natives, or who rouses session or use of opium in any form by the prejudices of the natives, may hin- the Burmans. It groundS this prohibider for years the progress of that enter- tiOl'! on the law of Buddhism, thereby showing, as the Olturcl. Missiona;ry Inprise to which I am sure aU here are so telligenCe?' remarks, a regard. to the pre- cepts of Buddhism which is rarely
ENGLISH NOTES
shown to those of Christianity. In this clergy, who use every effort, it is said, case, however, as it remarks. the good to prevent the people from going to hear is a matter of joy, whatever the ground. evangelical preaching. Still there is sign of power in the movement. " If I -" George Fox said to Friends in go to your assemblies," said a man, " it A.merica in 1679: 'If you are Christians is not that I am against the priests, vou must preach the Gospel to Indians. against the Church-it is because there ~egroes, and all others. Christ com- they preach the truth." A poor widow, mands it. "-The Mi8sionary. s devout Catholic, said, "I do not find peace for my soul in my ow.n religion. British Notes. I go to your meetings; that so goes to my heart that I cannot desist." One of BY REV. JAMES DOUGJ,AS. the ladies who befriended her threat- ened to throw her off altogether if she The Fiftyjiftlt Report of the Evangeli- persisted. " Madame," answered she, cal Society of the Christian Missionary " there they preach the Gospel, and that Church of Belgium is now before us, is of far more moment." from which we translate a few items. It comprises 29 churches and stations. The German Buptist J1fission in the In 99 localities the Gospel is regularly Came?'oons.-This mission, to which we preached, and occasionally in 56 others. referred recently, has lately sustained a Colportage is carried on in 325 com- great loss in the exodus of Pastor A. munes. At Amoy, in the middle of Steffens. A young man, he went out Huy, colportage has led on to prayer- with his wife a few years ago to carry meetings. "Our friends had heard on the good work which the English several speak of prayer-meetings which Baptists were obliged to relinquish. evangelical Christians hold. ' We His record is that of a missionary afire should like, we also, to learn to pray,' with God ; and in his brief career he has said they to the reader, 'and to have succeeded in gathering many precious gatherings like those.' A first attempt sheaves. In 1892 the Lord granted a was made, when several ventured with rich increase to the church of 376; and subdued and timid voice to give thanks in June of the present year Mr. Steffens to God for the work done among them. wrote rejoicingly" that the work of the These gatherings are continued week- Lord is progressing steadily. baptisms ly ;" and the need of instruction also taking place nearly every Sunday, more becoming felt, a service of teaching has than 200 having already been added in been organized. the current year." On the morning cf July 4th, at nine o'clock, his earthly In the province of Namur, the move- course was run. In his last letter, ment which began at Morville fifteen which he dictated the night previous, years ago for long hung fire. No he says, "The Cameroons Mission and progress was perceptible. and the meet- the native people I have loved with all ing-house was almost empty. Lately my heart." His poor young widow has this work, so long struggling, has taken elected to remain and carryon the work on an aspect quite new. The constancy they began together. of the little band and the perseverance of their prayers have prevailed, and to- Pro.qre88 of tl,e Gospel in Ireland.- day their wishes are realized. They The work of Mr. Connellan, formerly a have now a worker staying in their Roman Catholic priest, is making its midst, and the meeting-house is lined mark on his fellow-countrymen; and with hearers. The Gospel seems likely so serious is the defection from Rome to extend its conquestR among the that the Roman Catholic bishops have neighboring villages. The work ill been consulting as to the best method Brnssels itself is sadly hindered by the of stemming the tide. Evidently}'l:r._
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Connellan has been raised up of God, late them to take up the work they are endued with wisdom and courage, to already beginning." do a great work in Ireland. He has all the ve1'!le of a born leader of men; and be- Baptist Missionary Meetings at Reading an Irishman to the core, and versed ing.-Four new missionaries have been in the system from which through appointed for service in India. Mr. grace he has found deliverance, he J. J. Hasler, B.A. (London), is desigknows how to insinuate his way into nated for educational work in connecthe hearts of the people, and to turn the tion with the native Christian training flank of the enemy. His method is con- institution in the great mogul city of structive mainly. Where a hearing can Delhi. Mr. A. E. Collier goes forth to be obtained, nothing is so effectual as to work, as soon as his probationary course give the pith of the Gospel. If Jesus in Delhi is finished, in the densely popu- Christ Himself be received, believed in, lated district between Agra and Delhi. and known, the cerements of supersti- Mr. F. W. Hale is to be associated, as tion must soon fall off. The central companion in labor, with the Rev. light will banish the darkness. There J. G. Potter, of Agra; and D. Laurie are, however, many cases where Bible Donald, a Scotchman, is designated for statements will not be listened to, where Bengal, and will serve, during his prothe Bible is not regarded as the rule of bationary course, with the Rev. W. R. faith; and in such cases it is necessary James, of Madaripore. to undermine their boasted refuge by shaking their faith in the Romish The valedictory address to missiona- Church. The Protestant outlook in ries, new and returning, was given by Ireland is brightening, and despite ter- the Rev. W. Medley, M.A., classical rorizing, hundreds of ex-Roman Catho- tutor of Rawdon College, Yorkshire. lic men are to be met with in Dublin Space may be found for a brief paraand elsewhere who glory in their seces- graph: "Whatever may lie' before us sion. hidden and veiled, there is one thing that lies here before our eyes and hearts Rev. W. Holman Bentley oj the COr/go.- unveiled, a certainty; clear, bright, and This Baptist missionary has of late done absolute is this: God is 1'edeeming the a most valuable piece of work. In May world by Jesus Christ. Yes, He, not last he completed the translation of the we; bu. a share in this redemptive New Testament which has been printed work is offered now to us-to you; as by the British and Foreign Bible So- large a share as our hearts have room ciety. In the future Mr. Bentley hopes for, for it is here that lies the true measto work at a translation of the Old ure of our opportunity; not so much in Testament. His wife is an efficient our poor estimates of time, or space, or helpmeet. She has translated "More area, be they long or short, large or about J esns," of which the Religious small; of gifts, be they more or fewer, Tract Society has printed 500 copies, of lengthened or of shortened life, of and are now bringing out a revised edi- connted items of things achieved, but tion of 2000 copies. The same society as old it Kempis says, 'God weigheth has also issued a translation of" Peep' more with how much love a man workof Day," the work of a native assistant. eth than how much he doeth.' , He Mr. Bentley says, "It is . our great doeth much that lovetb much.' " desire to see an earnest, aggressive native Church. The handful of mis- Touring among Telugu8.-Mr. W. G. sionaries can do little toward the evan- Scott, writing from India, gives an ingelizing of so great a country. We teresting account of an evangelistic tour must look to the natives to do this; and among the Telugns. Hundreds of miles it is our aim to do all we can to stimu- were covered and the Gospel preached in 250 towns and villages. A spirit of hearing prevailed, and thousands of -Eugene Stock, of the English tracts, books, and Scripture portions Church Society, based a recent missionwere sold. Many confessed the sinful- ary addres~ on thc two words not and ness of idolatry, and said, " We have but occurring ten times in the second forsaken the true God of whom you chapter of First Corinthians, and with have told us. We want the love and the following hf:)ads: "1. Not the sofavor of God, and to dwell with Him ciety, but the Lord. 2. Not a pet misforever." Mr. Scott believes that there sion, but the world. '3. Not money, but are thousands who, though they have men and women. 4. (For the past) made no profession of faith in baptism, , Not unto us, 0 Lord, 1Wt unto us, but have lost all confidence in idol worship. unto thy name give praise.' 5. (For The fields in that land are white al- the present and the future)' Not by ready unto harvest. might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.' " 'rHE KINGDOM. -At the Missionary Congress in Chi- -" The idea that all dark skins are of cago a committee of ten was appointed a race innately" lower, " in the sense of to prepare a memorial and address to all being unfit for progress and civilization, missionaries with the view of calling is an idea born of imperial insolence, an together an international congress of inhuman religion, and a narrow concep- missions for the purpose of reorganiztion of human progress."-JiTrederie ing the missionary. forces of all lands. Harrison, in the F01·tnightly Review. The especial object in mind is the pre- vention of the waste of funds in mission -" The world will never become fields by different societies overlapping wholly Greek, nor wholly Roman, nor each other. If at this point thorough wholly Protestant, but it will become and universal reform could be had, and wholly Christian, and will include every also in respect to the unseemly strifes in type and every aspect, every virtue and the foreign field between Christians of every grace of Christianity-an endless different names, the good cause would variety in harmonious unity, Christ go forward with rapid strides. being all in all. "-Philip Sehaff. -Locate the statement in any other -And such is poor human nature! land and it is just as true. A mission- "My hand was nearly shaken off and ary in Japan writes that the hindrances my hair nearly shorn off for mementoes to mission work come from natural deby those who willingly let missions pravity, religious training, practical die !"-Jud8on. moral difficulties, and unconverted church-members. In reference to the -We must not pervert Scripture effect of religious training he says: precedents. The story is that a man "We speak of God, and the Japanese called upon a rich friend for some char- mind is filled with idols. We mention ity. "Yes, I must give you my mite," sin, and he thinks of eating flesh or the said he. "Do you mean the widow's killing of insects. The word holine88 mite?" asked the solicitor. "Certain- reminds him of crowds of pilgrims ly," was the answer. "I shall be satis- flocking to some famous shrine, or of fied with half as much as she gave," some anchorite sitting lost in religious said his friend. "How much are you abstraction till his legs rot off. He has worth?" " Seventy thousand dollars." much error to unlearn before he' can " Give me, then, your check for $35,000 ; take in the truth." that will be half as much as she gave; for she, you know, gave her all." -An Egyptian native deacon (Copt), at a village sixty miles south of Cairo, -" Personal consecration should be suspended ten of his members for such written purse-and-all-consecration." things as bad di3positions, vanity, stingi- annexed the islands of the Pacific to ness, and not allowing their wives to go civilization. Many of tIwm have been to weekly prayer-meetings. ·Where- completely transformed by the mis- upon the L1ttlIRran Observer is moved to sionaries, whose labors alone have cxclaim, "What a thinning out there given them commercial importance."
would be if such things were pcrmitted And General Lew Wallace this to the to have weight in the United States !" men themselves; "I have often been asked, ' iVhat of the missionaries of the -Shall we hope or fear, rejoiec or East, are they true, and do they serve lament? Wc have read much of late their Master?' And I have always concerning the desire and determination been a swift witness to say, and I say of the Japanese Christians to think and it solemnly and emphatically, that if act for themselves, and their restive- anywhere on the face of the earth there ness under any attempts at control on exists a band of devout Christian men the part of the missionaries or societies. and women, it is these. They live and And now a similar state of things is die in their work. Their work is of reported from the Presbyterian Mission that kind which will be producti.ve of in Brazil. No doubt great peril is in- the greatest good."
volved in all attempts to break leading strings, but (1) anything is better than -~Iaharajah Dlmleep Singh, son of a perfect Willingness to be guided and Runjeet Singh, born heir to the great carried forevermore; (2) independence kingdom of the Sikhs and to the match- must come some time, or the native less Kohinoor, died in Paris, October church will never do its work; and (3) 22d, of paralysis, aged 55 years. In neither missionaries nor secretaries are early life he exchanged his throne in the infallible, nor do they always know just Punjab for a pension of $250,000, rank what is for the best. On the whole, let among the highest nobility of England, us give hearty thanks while we pray for and two large landed estates; became wisdom. thoroughly English in tastes and habits; united witb the Church and long hon- -'Tis a consummation devoutly to ored his profession; married a most be wished that all missionary societies gifted and devoted Christian Egyptian would make haste to codify and unify girl in a Cairo mission school, and their very diverse systems of gathering made annual gifts to that mission, and reporting statistics, and also to adopt amounting in all to $100,000. Sad to a common nomenclature, so that word relate, in later days he lapsed into evil would have the same meaning with all. habits and sold himself to treasonable A half dozen or half score of items undertakings in behalf of Russia, and might be agreed upon which all would seemed to make general shipwreck of set forth. And what is meant by " for- faith and virtue. At many points in eign missions," and by" missionaries," his life truth is far stranger than the and by" churches" (is it buildings or wildest fiction.
organizations ?), or "members" (is it communicants, or what ?), and by" schol- -Perhaps the most famous distribu- ars" (does it include those in Sunday- tor of Bibles in the world was Deacon schools ?), etc. ? William Brown of New Hampshire.
He began the work in 1849, and kept it -The Review of Reviews bears this up until his death last year at the age testimony to the civilizing power of of 76. During that time no less than missions; "It is our brave contingent 120,000 copies of the Scriptures were of missionary teachers, and not the given out by him, and in 2 years pre- present greedy squads of German and ceding his death he canvassed 239 towns Spanish traders and officials, who have and visited over 80,000 families. WOMAN'S WORK. have a new name-to wit, Ovm' &a and Land. Thus its nineteenth birthday is -" Let the beauty of the Lord our to be celebrated. God be upon us" was the motto of the last year's graduating class at the Trip- -The Methodist women continue to oli, Syria, girls' school. push the Lord's work. During 24 years about $3,000,000 have been gath- -Women are displaying a remark- ered, and during the year ending Octo. able capacity for organized philan- ber 1st the income was $277,290, an in. thropy. Their recent Congress brought crease of $11,948. The number of mistogether a large number and an infinite sionaries supported is 145. The society variety of societies. It is estimated that has 4533 auxiliaries, 723 young women's there are some 20,000 women receiving societies, and 713 children's bands, with salaries in England as officers of benevo· a total membership of 150,738. lent organizations and 500,000 giving themselves in a semi'professional and -The agitation of the rights of worn· continuous way to such work. en, and most properly too, has reached the missionary societies where, from the -The Rev. Sumantrao V. Karmar- beginning, the brethren have had things kar, of Bombay, writes in the Mission- all their own way. The wives of mis· ary Herald (American Board), "The sionaries have for the most part been too home of the missionary has done more little accounted of; have often been to forward the progress of the Gospel omitted in the reckoning. And worn· in India than any other agency. To an's worth as a money-gatherer was see a woman, intelligent yet womanly, long unsuspected. The latest case of presiding at the table, voicing her opin· becoming feminine self·assertion is seen ions and ideas freely, assisting her hus· in the recent request of the Congrega· band in his noble work, managing dili· tional Woman's Board that, since al· gently her own household, and conduct. most half of the contributions are deing faithfully her special work among rived from its efforts, a fitting proportion women, is a novel and most interesting of its members may be possessed of vot· sight to a Hindu. The oosthetic and ing powers in the American Board. ' Christian environments of such a home have so impressed the minds of our peo- -The New York State Branch of this ple that they are endeavoring to adopt same Woman's Board has commenced this ideal home life as far as practi. the publication of TlwMessenger, aquarcable." terly, with Patchogue, L. 1., as head- quarters, and Mrs. C. S. Colton. editor. -A deaf and dumb woman in Man· churia, having applied for baptism, ! made her confession of faith in this -The Scottish United Presbyterians fashion: She drew on a scrap of paper have on hand a most importunate call for a crooked line, and pointing first to her- several women to go at once to Man· self and then downward, indicated what churia, where upward of 1000 women her past evil course had been. Then, are literally famishing for the truth, drawing a straight line, and pointing to with Lone to minister to them. her heart and looking upward, described the highway on which she was now OUR YO"GNG PEOPLE. travelling -First, all the giving for missions -Ohildren's Workfor Oltildren(Pres- was wholly by the churches as such, and byterian) is to be enlarged from 16 pages through t.he annual collection. Next, to 24, is to contain news from the the women organized by themselves and home and the foreign fields, and is to sought pledges of definite sums. Now, it looks as though the process of differ· entiation was to be carried another step, THE UNITED STATES. and the boys and girls, the young men and maidens, were to be banded to- -Every Sabbath the members of the gether to work, in a sense by them- Church of Christ Endeavor Society of selves, and in their own way. And cer- Elyria, 0., visit the jail to hold a pray- .tainly somehow from early childhood er-meeting, and the good-literature and onward there should be steady and per- flower committees carry reading and sistent training in the grace of giving, flowers to the prisoners. and toil for the advance of the kingdom. There b a serious defect if only the fa- -The college secretary of the Interthers, or the elders of Isrlte1, bear the national Committee of the Y. M. C. A_ bnrdens. Almost from the cradle let publishes a valuable table of statistics the pennies be saved and consecrated. relating to the religious condition of the colleges of North America for the col- -These three sentences set forth the lege year 18!l2-93, and not including fundamental ideas and principles of the young women or students in profes- Epworth League, the Methodist coun- sional schools. It appears that 147 colterpart of the interdenominational So· leges have the English Bible in their ciety of Christian Endeavor: Motto: curriculum, of which 68 are in the "Look up. Lift up." "I desire a Western States and 31 in the South: league, offensive and defensive, with Number of associations, 441; active every soldier of Jesus Christ. "- WIl8wy. members, 20,856; young men, 70,419 ; "We live to make our own Church a Christians, 38,327 ; non-Christians, 32,- power in the land, while we live to love 092 ; conversions, 2850; studying for every other Church that exalts our ministry, 4892; studying for foreign Christ."-Simpson. missions, 1115.
-" One cent per day for mISSIons -Charles Bathgate Beck, after varifrom each member of our church, " says ous bequests to persons, leaves $10,000 the Epworth Herald, "would give us to Columbia College; $10,000 to the more than $7,000,000 annually." One Home for Incurables in the city of New cent per day from each of the members York; $10,000 to the Society for the of the Presbyterian church would give Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; more than $3,000,000, or three times as $10,000 to the Society for the Prevention much as was contributed to missions of Cruelty to Children; and $5000 to during the past year. the Peabody Home for Indigent Wom- en, and directs that all the rest of his -Six societies of Christian Endeavor, estate shall be given in equal proporwhose members gave each two cents a tions to Columbia College, the Board of week, reached last year 15,000 persons Home Missions of the Presbyterian in Southern China with the Gospel, Church, the Presbyterian Hospital, the 2000 of them with medical aid. Society for the Prevention of Crime, and the New York Hospital. This resi- -An Australian" sunshine commit- due will give them $900,000 each, as tee" has bought an invalid's chair which the estate is not expected to fall below it loans to the sick. It was used for the $5,000,000. first time by an old gentleman who had not been out for six years. -In spite of eminent poetical author- ity to the contrary, the good that men -" I thank God for the Christian do lives after them. Take this capital Endeavor Society," says a Methodist case as an example: The Peabody gift Endeavorer in an Australian Methodist of $2,100,000 for the purpose of projournal, "for through it I found my moting education in the South was made way into the class meeting." in 1866, and in 1869 the donation was Carlisle, Pa., has ended the fourteenth increased to $3,500,000. Mr. Peabody's year of its existence, during which time previous donation to the cause of edu- 2361 students were admitted, of whom cation amounted to $1,250,000. 1483 were boys and 878 girls. These came from 59 different tribes; 1597 have -More than 60 graduates or students left, of whom only 60 graduated, all of the Ohio Wesleyan university are since 1889; 131 died at the school, and now in foreign missionary service. Nine 633 still remain. members of the last graduating class are candidates for the foreign field. -Out of 50,000 Sioux, over 4000 are The university has now somc 25 stu- now members of Episcopal, Presbytedents who are preparing for missionary rian, or Congregational churches. Many, work. A good record, and one which if not most, of these have become citiit is said no other Methodist college can zens_ The contributions of those conmatch. nected with the Episcopalians amount- ed to $4100 last year, while the women -Home missions find no mean field raised $2210. in Chicago, according to the figures relating to its population. The latest re- -The Free Baptists have receu.t1y tums give these nationalities: Ameri- sent a reinforcement of 7 missionaries can, 292,463; German, 384,958; Irish, to India, and they sailed in one party 215,534; Bohemian, 54,209; Polish, from Boston. 52,756; Swedish, 45,877; Norwegian, 44,615 ; English, 33,785; French, 12,- -Secretary Coit states that the 968; Scotch, 11,927; Welsh, 2966; Rus- Fr6nch-Canadians constitute fully one sian, 9977; Danes, 9891; Italians, twelfth of the population of Massachu- 5000; Hollanders, 4912; Hungarians, setts, and that in Worcester County 4827; Swiss. 2735 ; Roumanians, 4350 ; there are 9 towns with a population of Canadians, 6989; Belgians, 682; Chi- 41,395, of which these immigrants from nese, 1217; Greeks, 698; Spanish, 297 ; Quebec furnish 20,6411. The Congrega- Portuguese, 34; East Indians, 28 ; West tionalists have 8 churches among them, Indians, 37; Sandwich Islands, 31. 4 missions, a weekly newspaper, and a Total, 1,248,763. French Protestant'college -How much shall the negro be edu- -The Lutheran General Council nas cated? Three answers are given to this a mission in Eastern India with a force question in the South. The first is that consisting of 4 men with their wives, 2 he should not be educate€! at all, for it zenana workers, 2 native pastori, and would lift him above his station. The 96 evangelists, catechists, teachers, etc. second is that he should have education The Gospel is preached in 146 villages. enough to make him a better servant, The number of communicants is 1141, laborer, or mechanic. The third, held by and of pupils 1608. The number of the few more liberal-minded Southern baptisms was 600 last year. people, is that he should be educated as the white man is, for he is a man, and -Zion's Herald (Boston) is publishing must be prepared for all his duties and a series of exceedingly interesting letresponsibilities to his country, the world, ters from Rev. William Butler, the and to God. And somehow the last founder of Methodist missions in the reply seems to be most benevolent, most Northwest Provinces of India, who went Christian, and most truly American. out in 1856, and reached Bareilly just in time to taste the horrors of the Mu- -The Indian Industrial School at tiny, barely escaping with his life. Statistics of the Missionary S')cieties of the [THESE tables include only Missions to non·Christian and non-Prote,tant people., and so they omit in the United States. The figures are derivpd almost wholly from annual reports, and relate in the main possible blanks, and hence where official figures were not at hand, conservative estimates have been IIIis.ionary Income. Missionaries. Native Helpers. <i — ., ., .c 'C. '"0 0 ., ~" NAMES of SOCIETIES. -'–.0,.,",~, .c . .~ .,; 'O!r:i .~§ .-c2o ",,, S …. '0 l3 oj .~ ~ .. … 'C I::S 'g H ~"~ :«.:0.=.:. s:i.l '" 0 "~0 ~ 31'« … ~ " £ 0 p 0 E<. -183 1 "2 18 1:85 7 1 i 8 -2-,59 1 1 American Board ………………. 1810 -$679,286 $11=.507 2 Baptist Missionary Union ……..•. 1814 990,341 179,2S0 161 18 140 102 246 1,273 3 Southern Baptist Convention …… 1845 154,686 5,368 39 .. … 35 18 21 57 4 Free Baptists ………… ……… 1836 5 Seventh-Day Baptists………….. 1847 34,913 387 62 8 8 5 13 6 Christil>.U (Disciples) …………… 1875 3 …… 7 American Christian Convention …. 1886 6,610 ………. 19 3 3 …… 1 8 8 Lutheran, Geueral Synod………. 1837 9 Lutheran, General Coundl. …….. 1869 69,355 ~5 '0" …… 16 12 3 44 … 10 Methodist Episcopal …..• …. 1832 3,160 105 8 …… 1 1 1 12 4 …… 59,200 1,625 235 80 62 5 182 16,474 50 4 2 2 B9 993,592 104,038 184 100 214 1,971 11 Bishop Taylor'. Missions … …… 1885 36,961 . ……… 51 …… 80 12 37 51 12, Methodiilt Episcopal, South…….. 1845 227,027 12,700 46 181 37 6 20 105 5,300 1,640 99 13 AfrIcan Methodist Episcopal. … .. 1876 12 8 …… 7 14 Protestant Methodist….•……… 1882 14,711 290 54 3 3 4 5 15 Wesleyau Methodist…………… 1887 3,000 200 2 …… 2 3 …. 10 16 Protestant Episcopal ………….. 1835 282,499 8,288 94 …… 53 33 47 251 17 Pre.byterian………………….. 1837 1,014,504' 42,347 214 42 230 137 187 1,460 18 Presbyterisn, South …………… 1861 127,812 6,.~06 48 13 37 25 32 91 19 United Presbyterian …………… 1859 115,893 11,418 28 3 25 26 24 496 20 ReCormed Presb. (Covenanter)….. , 1856 20,839 700 43 6 7 …… 56 21 Ref. Presb., General Synod……… 1836 6,000 40 5 .. … 5 2 …… 28 22 Associate Reformed, South. 1879 4,182 261 2 ….. 2 2 3 Ii 23 Cumberland Presbyterian …. ….. 1820 36,568 1,386 6 …… 6 9 2 8 24 Reformed (Dutch)….. , ………… 1836 136,688 9,034 24 :I 26 1<1 36 356 25 Reformed (German) …………… 1878 . 2'>,015 3,047 4 …… 4 II 9 22 26 Evangelical Association…….. , …. 1876 , 14,889 1,127 7 …… 7 ….. 5 24 16,484 275 6 …… 7 German Evangelical Synod…• …. 1883 …… …… 28 28 United Brethren in Christ ……… 1853 25,000 1,111 5 …… 5 5 …… 44 29 Friends………………………. 1871 8,303 ………. 13 …… 7 12 .. – … !2 30 Canada Baptist………………… 1873 43,345 1,039 18 ….. 12 9 15 160 31 Canada Congregationalist …….. 1881 2,487 ……… 2 .. -.0. 1 2 …… 2 … 82 Canada Methodist.. ………… 1873 122,010 4,559 77 •. " .. 60 …… 16 40 33 CanadB Presbyterian……… ….. 1844 134,291 2,719 ~I 31 8 30 27 2 100 7 293 1 21,4 34 Twelve other Societies …………. …… , .. 585,877 32,672 87 84 1,156 9,793 1 1,448 1.19311,050 Totals ……………… $6,089,4021 $544,734 Unitod States and Canada for 1892·93.
work done in uon·Catholic Europe, while cO"cring that in behalf of Indians. Chinese, and JajJanese to 1893, though sometimes the year includes II part of 1892. The aim has been to leave the fewest made.
~ w§ ~:::s. i ~ ~"1=1':i~3ii 'AS~~~. ~:g ~~.~S !.;:J~:; ,f..)-.'S6 Conntriesin which .~~ o~.i Missions are Sustained. ~0 S~ ~~ ~~ ilr~..c : :l w a:I Q:$ ""' L"I 8 ~ ~~III '" '~0 g ~ '" ~Sill ,g'§ 0 3,215 1,224 442 ~ 3,750 135,000 1,147 –48,585 Africa,-'l'nrkey, India, China 1 Japan, :Micronesia, Mexico: Spain, Austria.
1,929 1,061 770 102,4.5 7,560 220,800 1,213 24,688 Africa (Congo), India, Burmah. 2 Assam, China, Japan, France, Russia. etc.
170 185 75 2,923 395 7,300 16 598 China, Japan, Africa, Italy, 3 42 13 11 860 :Mexico, Brlll.zil. t 59 1,470 95 3,865 India (Bengal). " ,4 15 2 30 …… 80 70 China (Shanghai). 5 97 ,45 20 788 127 1,500 10 960 China, Japan, India, Turkey. 6 17 27 4 199 37 350 2 20 Japan (Tokyo, etc.). 7 203 12 135 8,082 848 20,000 196 5,309 India (Madras), West Africa. 8 101 153 3 1,441 125 3,000 89 1,608 India (;lfadras). 9 2,784 352 366 26,296 2,337 51,200 326 13,053 China, Korea, Japan, Africa, 10 S. America, Mexico, Italy, 181 50 7 400 …… 214 106 99 10,733 947 Bulgaria, Mdaysia. 40 12 10 110 Africa (West Coast, Congo, 11 356 76 1,000 2 etc.). 3,076 China, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, 12 21,000 51 Anlerican Illdians, 800 5 257 West Africa, Westrndies. 13 21 3 2 217 11 400 4 241 Japan (Yokohama). .14 17 2 1 250 10 400 5 208 Mrica (Sierra Leone). 15 478 244 50 5,441 160 12,000 110 3,792 Greere, Africa, China, Japan, 16 2,470 758 398 31,324 3,452 77,500 725 Baiti, Indians.
246 132 35 2,702 391 6,500 26 28,983 India, Siam, China, Japan, Ko· 17 10,641 929 26,000 264 rea, Africa. Syria, PerEns, S. 602 223 41 241 20 600 31 America, Mexico, etc. 76 15 3 1,363 China, Japan, Korea, Africa, 18 Greece, Italy, Mexico, Brazil. 12,068 Egypt, India (Northwest Provo 19 inces). 618 Northern Syria, Asia Minor. 20 40 9 117 40 250 3 60 India (Northwest Provinces). 21 14 10 9 248 41 350 5 110 Mexico (Tampico, etc.). 22 31 10 10 615 85 8.10 4 150 J apl&n, Mexico. 23 459 217 55 5,799 457 14,000 172 5,099 China, Japan, India (Areot). 24 41 37 12 1,842 168 4,500 3 236 Japan (Tokyo, Sendai, etc.). 25 43 16 5 568 80 1,300 1 18 Japan (Tokyo, Osaka). 26 38 9 5 356 1 800 14 520 India (Central Provinces). 27 60 282 25 7,000 1,000 10,000 9 415 Africa (West Coast, Sherbro, 28 54 40 18 21<1 24 32 etc.). 643 Mexico, China, Japan, Jamaica, 29 651 ….. , 1,500 19 Alaska.
2,978 386 7,000 68 l,OOS India (Telugus). 30 7 1 ……………….. . 12 2 75 Africa (West Central). 31 192 95 40 7,607 …… 12,000 40 2,500 Japan (Tokyo, etc.), Indians. 32 198 145 75 2,082 291 6,000 144 3,751 China, India, New Hebrides, 38 West Indies.
– – -2-35 – – – – -2-65 …………… . – -62 – – – 2,530 — —- 14,389 5,749 2,766 277.027 23.783 645,452 4,867 146.652 EUROPE. out of heathenism by the humble in· Great Britain.-Dr. Barnardo's last strumentality of the Moravian Church, report shows that the income for the is the steady increase in the number of year, amounting to £133,000, was con- its members who devote themselves to tributed by 74,543 donors, two thirds service in the foreign field. During the of the amounts being in 49,004 sums past year no fewer than 36 have gone under £1 each, and that· less than 1900 forth, bringing the total of European were of sums of £10 and above. And missionaries to 392. At the same time, it is sai:! that half of the income of the the number of young men in training Salvation Army is collected, chiefly in is unprecedented.
pence, from the poor people who attend -This from the irrepressible Chap- the services. lain McCabe: "Don't you believe it?
-The Missionary Herald (Baptist) for Then listen. Twenty-five years ago, if November gives an excellent illustra- a traveller should come to the gates of tion of what admirable results the mod- the city of Rome with a little Testa- ern art of picture·making is able to ment as big as his thumb in his pocket, achieve. The life-like faces appear of the gendarme would search him, and 14 missionaries about to depart for their on the principle that a little fire would fields; and how much easier it now is do as much execution as a big one if it to follow them with our prayers! only has time enough, he would take the Testament. from the traveller, keep -A clergyman lately wrote to the it for him till he came back, and then Church Missionary Society stating that return it to him. Now, the Methodists, no less than 27 of his people-all of on a lot 95 feet wide and 155 feet long, them working men and women except in the heart of the city, right opposite one Cambridge undergraduate – had the War Department of the kingdom spontaneously and simultaneously offer- of Italy, are laying the foundations of ed for foreign missionary service; and a building that is to cost $100,000, and he asked that some one would go down in it they will soon have two or three and see them. Some are young, and big power presses at work printing must wait two or three years before Bibles and Testaments and religious coming forward; but others were rec- tracts and books by thousands; and ommended to offer definitely whenever they will also have here a school for they were able to do so. If half the boys and one for girls, and a church for number eventually go out, it will be an the people. There is a very long dis- unprecedented event in the history of a tance between the ostracised Testament parish. of 25 years ago and the Italian Method· ist Book Concern which is soon to be." -The Mildmay Mission is altogether unique among beneficent institutions, combining home and foreign work, and ASIA.
carrying on good deeds in great variety. Realms of Islam.-It reads like cut· Thus in London and near by are main. ting sarcasm, or like the extravagant tained 2 hospitals, 3 medical missions, fancies of a humorist, but the Montreal 20 missions, a training home for 40 Witness, in a recent issue, has a grave young women for the home and foreign editorial headed "Young Turkey," field, an orphanage, a probation home, speaking of a liberal movement, not yet 2 convalescent homes, and an invalid quite a party, and quoting from a mani· home; 40 buildings are occupied in the fe~to in pamphlet form which details various works connected in this society. the host of evils under which the em- The Continent.-Side by side with pire groans, how to remedy the same, steady growth in the numbers gathered and warns against the catastrophe in store if something radical in the way of ers, and 178 are women, many of them reform is not speedily taken in hand. wives trained to toil with their hus- bands. -The chief mosque of Damascus, which was destroyed by fire on Septem- -It comes out in official documents ber 14th, was one of the most famous now first published by the Calcutta and interesting in the East. On a com- Government, that after all the Sepoys manding site, its great dome and tall were justified in 1856 in charging that minarets were the first objects seen by the cartridges were greased with tallow, travellers to the oldest city in the world. and that somebody in the Ordnance De· The mosque was built more than a partment deliberately nnd persistentlf thousand years ago on the site of an lied when the fact was denied. And early Christiau church, the old walls hence came the Mutiny, one of the chief and many of the columns of which were horrors of history. Truly that was a permitted to remain, and was an object costly falsehood. of great veneration by the Mussulmans, for about it were clustered many sacred -Robert N. Cust is nothing if not traditions, among which was one that honest and plain spoken and forcible within its walls rested the head of John when he utters himself. And commonthe Baptist. ly, when he resorts to tongue or pen, if we do not believe, we do well to read, -Ten years ago Arabia was one of mark, learn, and inwardly digest what the unoccupied fields of the world. In he alleges, even when he expresses 1884 the Church Missionary Society the conviction that the dogmas and began work at Aden, and the English practices of Christian life are brought Baptists at Jeddah. About the same before the people of India " in the most time Keith Falconer, a Scotch noble- occidental, unacceptable, and unattracman, opened a mission at Sheik·Oth- tive form which can be imagined by an man. Three years ago Thomas Valpy alien and self-asserting European and French began his labors in Muscat, and American agency, despising and eVen about the same time an American mis- insulting the time-honored customs of sion was founded at Busrah and Bah- an ancient people who were civilized at rein. There are at the present time 7 a time when the Anglo·Saxons were Europeans and 4 natives working among still savages." He thinks the converts 10,000,000 people. The cities of Jed- are shamefully kept under. dah, Aden, Muscat, Bahrein and Makalah, each the centre of a province, are -The native kingdom of Mysore is open, and most of them have already to have marriage" reform." That is, begun to be occupied by the heralds of from henceforth no man over 50 shall the Gospel. marry a girl under 14; a man over 18 may not marry a girl not over 8; and -The cholera scourge, for which the the minimum age for marriage is 14 Meccan pilgrimages are largely respon- for a boy and 8 for a girl. sible, is to come to a final end, if the statement is true that England has -Rev. Jacob Chamberlain tells in the served a notice on the Sultan that if he Golden Rule of an exciting adventure does not see that this pest-hole is puri- with a tiger, and of a set-to with a tenfied, she will see that the pilgrimages foot snake occurring only a few days are prohibited. later.
India.-The Bareilly Methodist Theo- -Upward of 60,000 attendances were logical Seminary in 20 years has sent registered at the Amritsar hospital and forth 499 Hindu gospel workers, of its branch stations during the year. As whom 200 are missionaries, 61 are teach- regards out-patients, Dr. H. M. Clark claims that it is the largest medical mis- -Dr. Griffith John gives the story of sion in the world. The central hospital a notable Chinese convert named T'ang, comprises out· patients' department, who in his youth sought to become a waiting and consulting rooms, dispen- Buddhist priest, but was prevented by sary, operating·room, dark-room for the largeness of the entrance fee. After· eye-work, dressing·room and private ward he began to attend the preaching room; in separate buildings are store- of the missionaries, and was converted. room, servants' houses, students' quar· His house was five or six miles from ters, and in·patients' department bath· Hankow; but every Sabbath for six· room. Branch dispensaries are at Naro· teen years he regularly attended the ser· wal, Jandiala, Sultanwind, and Beas. vices, bringiug with him an ever·in· creasing number of neighbors whom he -The Health Officer of Calcutta re- had influenced. By and by he was ports that during the years 1886-91, out made a deacon, and became a preacher. of 49,761 persons who died in that city, But his business allowed him for a time 31,221-more than 3 out of every 5- to give only an hour a day to the work. had no medical attendance whatever in His usefulness, however, grew to be so their last illness, and less that one third evidellt that his brothers and other rela· were attended by those possessed of any tives resolved to set him free for it en· European training in medicine. In the tirely; and now, being supported by villages multitudes are blind, deaf, them, he gives his whole time to the dumb, lame, diseased for life because mission gratuitously. in infancy the simplest remedies were not to be had. -Fong Chung, a pure·blooded China· man, is now actiIlg as United States China.-Bishop Auzer, the chief of Consul at Amoy. As such he has the German mission in the province of power to try Americans resident in Shantung, has received a very high dis- Amoy for breaches of United States tinction from the Chinese Government. law. He was educated at Yale· Upon the advice of Prince Tshing and "Would that Mr. Geary could be the Tsung·li-Yamen (minister of foreign forced to visit Amoy and there become affairs), the emperor has conferred upon plaintiff in Rcase before Judge Chung!" the bishop the rank of Mandarin of the Third Order, an honor which has as yet -The Chinese haveanill·wiII against never been cxtended to a missionary. aU foreigners, but Roman Catholics The bishop is thus in rank next to the seem specially hated-the chief reason governor, and bears the title tas·yen (ex· for this being the extreme closeness of ceIlencY).-l1iilzer Zeitung, 8peye?·. their methods of work. They have sere vices for communion, etc., at which -We call the Chinese heathen, and none but converts are admitted. The yet they have some customs that would Chinese mind. which usually knows do credit to a Christian people. On everything about everybody's business, every New Year's morning each man cannot understand this, and the evil· and boy, from the emperor to the low· disposed can easily invent some bad est peasant, pays a visit to his mother. story, which is swallowed. He carries her a present, varying in value according to his station, thanking -" Behind I'chang are hills, low and her for all she has done for him, and covered with graves for miles-1,000,. asks a continuance of her favor for an· 000 graves is no exaggeration of thc other year. They are taught to believe number. The reason is that the' fungo that mothers have an influence for good shui ' (supernatural influence!!) are sup· over their SOIlS all tllrough life.-Pield posed to be specially favorable at News, I'chang, and so funerals come from great distances to bury. " -It is related that in the dead of to the Congo for use in the service of winter, with piercing winds blowing the mission. fiercely from the north, on a wheelbarrow a blind woman was transported 470 -The white ant is a pest almost bemiles by her husband and another man yond conception. In Africa their houses that she might be taught to read from are dome-Shaped mounds, often 18 feet raised letters, and so be fitted for work high. These insects erect pyramids one as teacher in connection with the Eng- thousand times higher than themselves! lish Baptist mission! ! In their travels the ants so conceal their approach that their presence is not sus- AFRICA. pected until the damage is done. They usually tunnel into any object which -The life and work of the late Bish- they attack, often reducing it to a mere op Crowther, the first African bishop shell. In this way they have been of the Church of England. will soon known to ascend within the leg of a be commemorated in Sierra Leone by table, devour the contents of a box upon the erection of a Crowther Memorial it, and descend through a tunnel bored Church. in another leg, in one night.
-Rev. T. J. Marshall, a native min. -One of the problems confronting ister, is engaged upon a translation of the Germans in East Central Africa, as the Bible into the language of Daho- a result of their progressive colonization mey. The New Testament and the policy, is what to do with the liberated Psalms are already finished. slaves. At first, after liberating expe- ditions, these were distributed among -Nyangandi lives in West Africa, the mission stations; but within the near the Ogowe River. She was going past year or two the number has inaway from the missionary's house on creased considerably, and the difficulty Saturday afternoon, where she had been of providing for them grows proporwith bunches of plantains to sell, when tionately. The missionaries, who were his wife said: "Now, you must not thus heavily taxed, put in a claim for forget that you promised to come to- State aid, and were granted a yearly morrow to chnrch." "Yes," the girl sum in support of each child. But this replied, "I will surely come, if I am does not solve the problem of what is alive." But the next morning she to become of the adult ex-slaves. In found somcbody had stolen her canoe, his report last year the imperial goverand no one would lend her one to go to nor said it was impossible to make them church in. But she had promised to support themselves, as they &re for the go, and so she felt that she must. She most part physically weak, and had swam all the way! The current was never learned and did not desire to work. swift, the water deep, and the river fully a third of a mile wide; but by -The Berlin Society has gathered swimming diagonally she succeeded in 11.456 communicants in South and East crossing. Africa. The Rhenish Society has com- pleted a half century of work in Nama- -Rev. George Grenfell, Baptist mis. qualand, and the results appear in 10 sionary, while acting lately as frontier stations, 2000 communicants, and 5000 commissioner in the interests of the native Christians. Congo State, travelled more than 1000 miles on a bull's back, his wife using -Among the popUlation of Cape the same means of transport. They Town are found 17,000 Malays. Two have found oxen in this respect so ser- English women are laboring in their beviceable, that they are taking four back half, and 6 more are needed. -Whatever may be the immediate has been done so largely by the native result of the struggle with the haughty Christians. Thus in the years 1872-91 Lobengula and his warlike Matabele no less than 52 coupies were sent from followers, there can be no doubt that in the Raratonga mission to toil in New the end great gain will inure to civiliza- Guinea, and of these 4 men and 3 womtion and Christianity. Cecil Rhodes is en were killed by the savages, and 17 a statesman of a high order, and he is men and 23 women died of fever. Last laying the foundations of an East Afri- year 38 more were sent from Samoa, can empire. Niue, etc.
-Alfred Casalis, a missionary of the -Dr. Gunn, of Fotuna, in the New Paris Society in Basutoland, reports in Hebrides, tells a distressing story of how the London Ohristian that in his dis- that island has been desolated by an epitrict there are 6 schools, one with 200 demic of dysentery. Medicines were pupils, 9 native schoolmasters, 7 native almost useless, and one fourth of the catechists, 730 church-members, and popUlation fell victims, including most over 300 catechumens. of the children and youth. Two were taken from his home. ISLANDS OF THE SEA.
-A missionary of the London Society -After sixty years of help and overin Madagascar sends to Tl~e Ohronicle sight the English Baptist Missionary Soan account of a native young man, who ciety is about to withdraw all pecuniary had been a wild lad, but who something assistance from the Nassau and Bahamore than two years sincQ gave himself mas churches. This district, which now to Christ. He was much impressed assumes self-support, includes 19 islands with the Saviour's command to his dis- having 94 native evangelists, who are ciples to preach, and was convinced that superintended by 1 European missionthis command ought to be obeyed not ary. After four years of gradually deby a few, but by all, and not on Sun- creasing grants, San Domingo, Turk's days alone, but every day_ Though a and Carlos islands are also to be thrown plain woodcarrler, as soon as his wood upon their own resources. These conwas sold he would go about the market, tain 14 stations with 2 missionaries and Bible in hand, preaching as long as any 40 evangelists. The same course is to one would listen. Finding that his be taken in the near future in Trinidad, trade interfered with his giving as much with its 20 stations, 2 missionaries, and time to preaching as he would like, he 13 evangelists. gave it up. One day he told the missionary that he had preached 7 times, It is with deep sorrow that we learn but thought that "so little." Ordi- of the death of two of our editorial narily he preached from 10 to 14 times_ correspondents, whose names are fami- When asked to go into some of the liar to all friends of missions. Rev. Dr. churches and preach, he declined, say- Steel, of Australia, died on October 9th, ing, "I should get comparatively few and Rev. Dr. Nevius, of China, on or to hear me, whereas in the market when about October 26th. A fuller notice of I raise my voice and call out, 'Oh all these two able advocates of Christ's ye people, God is waiting to be recon- cause will appear in our next issue. ciled to you to·day ! ' 400 or 500 people can hear me, and stop to listen. "
-One of the most notable features of the progress of the Gospel in the South Seas is found in the fact that the work
The Missionary Review of the World — December 1892
THE TRUE "FORWARD MOVEMENT."
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XV. No. 12.-0ld Series.–DECEMBER.–VoL. V. No. 12.-New Series.
THE TRUE" FORWARD MOVEMENT;" OR, A HIGHER STAN- DARD OF CONSECRATION.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
The most prominent watchword which has thus far been suggested for the new century of missions which is just opening, is the phrase, " Forward Movement." This motto is taken up with no little enthusiasm by the various missionary boards and societies, and has awakened a hearty response, especially in the great public gatherings incident to this centenary year. The forward movement contemplated has reference especially to the following particulars: First, a decided advance in gifts to missions and a permanent increase of donations and subscriptions to the treasury; secondly, a decided increase in the force of laborers at work in the field i and, thirdly, the furnishing of larger and ampler facilities for the prosecution of the educational, medical and other work so inseparably connected with missions.
We have thought a true forward movement will include much more than this. First of all the occupation of hitherto unoccupied fields in the regions beyond-nothing is more imperative than that there should be no part of the world-field absolutely lying in neglect; and, secondly, a true forward movement will include the rapid and world-wide proclamation of the tidings of redemption, evangelization in distinction from conversion, and the various machinery of an organized Church of Christ. The first need of the race is to hear the Gospel message, and when this has once reached every creature, then the way is open for a more thorough work of conversion, organizat,ion and education. And, thirdly, a true forward movement will include systematic and united prayer on the part of the constituency at home for definite results on the individual fields of missions.
But the object of this article is to call attention to what may be referred to as a much deeper need than even those of which we have spoken. It requires but a superficial knowledge of medical science to know that there are three great sources of disease : First, disorders of the nervous system i second, a defective chem.istry-for instance, in the blood; and, third, a defective vitality of tissue. We are not to judge disease simply by external symptoms, but we are to trace it to constitutional defects and difficulties; and it is so in the Church of Jesus Christ. All efforts t9 perfect external organization and superficial methods will prove not only ineffective, but even disastrous, unless the spiritual vitality is quickened. There must no longer be disorders at the very nerve centres of Christian life j there must no longer be a defective chemistry in the very constitution, or a defective vitality in spiritual tissue. No problem is of more consequence than this: How shall a higher standard of piety, of prayer, and of power be secured in the Church of the living God ~ This is the true forward movement which secures advance in every direction. How can the Church unitedly move all along the different lines of missions g-that is the supreme question of this centenary year. It will never be adequately answered by great popular meetings full of the eclat and enthusiasm of an excited throng that responds with hurrahs of loud applause to the voice of popular eloquence. Popular meetings have their purpose, and they serve that purpose, especially in the dissemination of information and the arousing of interest in the great SUbject, but oftentimes in their permanent results they are delusive and illusive. There are thousands who on these occasions give vent to their aroused emotions in cheers and encomiums, who go away to forget their obligations to a dying world, and smother the claims of the cause upon their active sympathy and effort until another annual meeting comes round.
What, then, are the supreme needs of the Church of Christ in this critical hour of the age ~ First of all we need the spirit of obedience to our Lord's great command. We call ourselves disciples, but a disciple is a follower. He is a disciple who calls Jesus S.aviour and Lord, who looks to Him not only for salvation, but for sovereignty, who accepts Him not only as his redeemer from sin, but as his leader in his whole life course. We call ourselves soldiers, but nothing is more characteristic of a soldier than immediate and implicit obedience to the marching orders of his general-in-chief.
" • Forward!' the captain's cry ; Theirs not to make reply, Theirs but to do and die."
If in song we thus celebrate the heroism of those who, in obedience to an order which was really a blunder, rode into the" valley of death," can we do less than emulate such obedience when the orders of the Captain of our salvation come to us and nobody has " blundered" ~ Francis Bacon says that it is not worth while to argue with any man if you cannot agree with him on first principles, and we assume that those whom these words address are confessed disciples and soldiers of Jesus Christ, and that they' therefore accept His last command and commission, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature," as settling forever beyond question the duty and obligation of the Church of Christ. 1£ there be any among our readers who dispute or doubt as to this obligation, these words are not – meant for such. vYe can expect from them no active co-operation in the work of foreign missions, for they themselves are practically heathen, and present in themselves a field for foreign missionary labor, for they need to have the Gospel of faith and obedience preached first of all to them.
But assuming as beyond dispute that this is the bounden duty of the Church, to bear. the Word of Life to every nation and every creature, even within the bounds of the present generation, we again affirm that the supreme need of the Church is immediate and implicit obedience to the Lord's command. If Abu Taher with five hundred rebel Carmathians could repulse the thirty thousand soldiers of the caliph because every one of his five hundred would instantly sacrifice life at the command of their imam, what could our Lord Jesus Christ do with a few thousand men and women whose will was so absolutely merged in His that they had no purpose bnt to complete His purpose ~ With five thousand such men and women the flag of the Cross could be borne to the summit of our Satanic strongholds. The fact is that the Church, as a whole, has never yet undertaken to obey her Lord's commands. Two thirds of the human race are yet without the knowledge of God. There are vast districts on the surface of the earth, thousands of miles in extent, where no missionary has ever yet borne the good tidings j millions of souls congregated in thickly settled districts have yet to look upon the face of the first missionary of the cross. The destitution and desolation are appalling, but not more appalling than the practical indifference of forty millions of Protestant church-members who calmly look on such a scene of spiritual want and woe and still immerse themselves in selfish indulgences. We must by repetition inculcate and impress upon all disciples of Christ that this individual obligation to obedience cannot be relegated to any board or society or organization, that it still fastens itself upon every individual believer with a tenacious hold that cannot be relaxed ; it demands that every man and woman who believes shall look the question in the face as a personal question, shall look upon every human being as one who is his brother and of whom he is the keeper. If one can go, he ought to go ; if one cannot go, he ought to send, and the self-sacrifice in sending should be not one whit less than the self-surrender in going. If we cannot throw off this responsibility upon any band of men, so that we shall be delivered from the obligation of going, neither can the payment of some small pittance of money relieve us from both the obligation to go and the obligation to send. The time is coming, we cannot but believe, when men will dispose of whole estates, as Robert Haldane did of Airthrey, that they may give the entire proceeds to the erection of new mission stations and the sending forth of new missionary laborers; when men shall dare great things for God, as they do even now for the perishable things of this world, when families will be trained as much to consider that foreign missions represent a service due from every believer, as they are now trained in the most consecrated homes to look upon faith as an essential condition of salvation.'" That word" obedience" should be sounded round the whole horizon of our Church life with the loud voice of a thunder peal. The faith which begets obedience is the true faith, and the obedience begotten of faith is the sign and seal of the genuineness of the faith. If acceptance of Christ is the essential of justification, obedience is the essentIal of that higher salvation which is the complete COllilllmmation of the work begun in justification.
Secondly, we need the spirit of enterprise. No word is more indefinable, and yet no word is more generally understood. " Enterprise" implies a daring, dashing spirit; it ventures something, it ventures everything, for the accomplishment of results. We must dare something for our Master and His call. When Thomas McDonough was appointed to the command of the navy on Lake Champlain there was not, as he quaintly said, " a tub afloat," but he started up and exclaimed, " I will make my own navy!" and with one hundred men he went to the woods, cut the timbers, and in forty days launched the first boat. It was no wonder that such a squadron, under such a commander, could not well be defeated!
" The men of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light." It is so, but it ought not to be so. The men of the world dare everything for the sake of appetite, avarice, ambition, self-emolument Ilnd glory, fame, honor, reputation, a place on the historic scroll, or for the advancement of science and art, of commerce and of civilization. Why should men pierce malarious forests and dangerous jungles and confront all perils to life and limb for ivory tusks and ostrich plumes and diamonds and gold while we who belong to Christ hesitate when souls are the treasures to be discovered and borne in triumph to the feet of our Master 1 If to-day some new discovery or invention could be announced to the race, which enfolds within it the promise of a higher material prosperity or social advancement in temporal and material interests, with what incredible swiftness would its agents belt the globe with their systematic efforts to acquaint men everywhere with the new facilities for progress! Steam, tram-cars, electric lights, and palatial hotels may Le found to-day on the islands of the South Sea, which half a century ago were given over to the control of savages. From present appearances the Congo Free State will be crossed by a network of railways and telegraphs before the Gospel herald has borne the good news to its forty millions of people. We find no fault with the enterprise of men in behalf of what is called "social advancement," but we earnestly contend that this spirit IIhould be emulated and imitated by the children of light.
In 1 Cor. 15 : 34 Paul says, "For some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame." The passage is emphatic-for Iilome haTe yet ignorance (agnosia) of God; to your shame I say it; (entropen), means a turning back upon one's self, a kind of self-defeat, chagrin; and we may boldly ask, is it not a shame to disciples that in the year 1892 some of the human race are yet agnostics as to God, and that not so much from wilful scepticism as from the darkness of superstitious ignorance? Is there assignable or reasonable excuse for our allowing such unwilling ignorance longer to exist ~ For a generation Japan, China, India, Burmah have been opened to Christian missions, and for fifteen years Africa has invited the heralds of the Cross. Modern progress is the giant with seven-league boots. It almost seems as though. there were an unconscious prophecy hidden in that myth of yore. An ordinary stride may measure twenty-one inches, but human invention makes and marks at one stride seven leagues, or twenty-one miles-that is to say, we can move three thousand times as fast in these days as men could in the remote days of antiquity. Ahasuerus sent out his entire proclamations throughout the entire empire from the Bosphorus to the Indus inside of seyen months, and he did this three times in succession, because he considered the matter urgent; but we, with all the aids that more than two thousand years have brought us since Ahasuerus, have never yet overtaken more than one third of the habitable earth with our proclamation of Gospel tidings. There is guilt on our garments, and there ought to be the blush of shame on our faces and in our hearts, for such neglect of man is both dishonor and disobedience toward God.
Thirdly, we need the spirit of heroism in the prOlilecution of missions. What is heroism but the child of a holy enthusiasm. and the parent of holy self-sacrifice! Froude tells us that the Knight Templars enlisted three hundred of the very flower of human society in the vain attempt to rescue the Mepulchre of Christ from profanation, and these three hundred never came back from Palestine, but left their bones in its sacred soil; yet nobody raised remonstrance against such waste of life, though life were wasted on vanity. We must stop counting lives and counting converts, putting sovereigns over against souls, and estimating the benefits of missions on a financial basis. When Abraham Lincoln was condoled with on an apparent defeat in his struggles in behalf of the emancipation of American slaves, the noble reply prompted by his loyalty to truth and to political duty was, "Defeat! If it were not one, but a hundred defeats, I should still pursue the same unchanging course." And it was that same heroic man who, when some timid visitor expressed his hope that in the War of the Rebellion the Lord might prove to be on the side of the North, replied, " About that I am not at all concerned, but only that we should be on the Lord's side." What is life good for, and by what standards is it to be estimated? Who has the noblest soul but he who is wedded to the noblest, greatest, and most unselfish purpose, and who to work out that purpose would, like Jerome of Prague, offer up his soul in flame; like Luther, face devils, though they were as plentiful as tiles on the houses; or, like Ignatius, welcome the lion's teeth by which as grain of God he was crushed and ground to make bread for God's peopie.
Such heroism transforms duty into delight, and a bed of living coals into a bed of roses. "The Cross of Christ," says Samuel Rutherford, " js the sweetest blJ,rden that ever I bore. It is such a blJ,rden as win~s are to a bird, or sails to a ship, to carry me forward to my desired haven." Lieutenant "Villoughby, in the great Mutiny of the Punjab, blew up a magazine and himself with it to keep it from falling into the hands of the rebels. Noone can contemplate such an act without admiring such heroism. Why should we not seek more of such a spirit in the work and service of our Master, who counted not His own life dear to Himself, but died as a young man at thirty-three years of age, after three and a half years of public life, that He might set us an example, and that He might Ilhow us that that life is long which answers life's great end!
The difficulty that besets us in the work of foreign missions will never be either reached or properly recognized until we have learned the neces- @ity of the reformation and transformation of our whole inner spiritual life. There are four forms of intoxication which have always characterized the human race-the intoxication of the nervous centres, the sensual impulse, the imaginative faculty, and the acquisitive impulse, and to these four forms of intoxication, which are nourished and cherished in the corresponding forms of human idolatry, all the remissness and even rebellion of men may be traced ultimately. Take, for instance, the acquisitive impulse: is there anything which has, even on the average Christian disciple, a more terrible hold than the greed of gain g There are some men that, by their devotion to money. seem to become metallic men, changed into a coin, and they drop into their coffin with a chink. They make us think of that late so-called triumph of science, by which Frenchmen have actually plated a dead child, producing a faithful statue, truer to life than any sculptor could have hoped to have achieved. The metallic shell ean withstand a shock, the skin being prepared by a bath of nitrate of silver, and the silver reduced upon it by the vapor of phosphorus and then electro-plated by copper, aluminium, or gold; but Satan has been doing the same work for ages. Unrecognized, he has plated with gold the dead form of a nominal piety, and given us statuesque disciples that have the form without the power of godliness. ., I recently saw in the home of the late Mr. Spurgeon, at " Westwood," a curious specimen of the Sphoreia Robertsii from New Zealand. It is a caterpillar transformed into wood-fibre. A spore or seed is swallowed or becomes lodged in the folds of the neck of the caterpillar; when it burrows in the ground that seed or spore- begins to grow, absorbs the entire – substance of the insect, and actually fills out the caterpillar's skin with solid woody fibre, while the plant grows from the folds in the neck. How many nominal disciples there are that in the sphere of spiritual natural history present very much such specimens! The acquisitive impulse has absorbed· them, taken up their tIssues so that there is nothing left but the skin of a Christian profession co'ering the woody fibre of this abnormal growth. I knew one man who, in the year 1868, expended for a corner lot, on which to build a house, more money than was spent that year by the entire denomination to which he velonged, in the work of foreign missions; and
1892.J THE PLACE OF SCHOOLS IN MISSION WORK. S87
1:. knew another who in the same year expended more money for a private dwelling than the American Board and the Presbyterian goard and the Methodist Board unitedly spent for the evangelization of the world. It is not for us to say what expenditures are justifiable, for men and women must decide this question with God; but it is perfectly obvious that no self-denial has yet been exercised on the part of the Church of Jesus Christ that is either adequate to the standard of the New Testament or the emergency of a perishing race; and we sometimes fear that the leaven of scepticism with regard to the reality of the lost condition of the heathen and the imminency of their peril has permeated the whole lump, and that this leaven accounts for the apathy and the lethargy exhibited in these days.
How shall a higher consecration to the cause of Christ be secured V As we intimated at the opening of this article, it can never be secured in great, gigantic, enthusiastic public meetings. They answer their purpose, but this is not their ultimate end. Consecration is an individual work and result. It is peculiar to the secret place where the EOul meets God in silence, solitude, and secrecy. It belongs to the Holy of Holies. If the impulse is received in larger gatherings, it becomes rooted and strengthened and matured in privacy with God. When in the Divine presence the sense of eternal things grows upon the soul, the reality of the last condition of men, the sufficiency of the Divine remedy for all human ills, and the sense of personal obligation to bear the Gospel to the dying; when these things become divinely impressed on the consciousness and on the conscience, when mind and heart are quickened under the light of the Shekinah, when the voice of God is heard, the still, small voice, not vox pop1J,li, but vox Dei, and the whole being is subdued, so that, like Elijah coming out and standing at the entering in of the cave and wrapping his face in his mantle, one stands in the presence of God, then such consecration to duty and to God becomes possible, and we must look to a new baptism o prayer for a new triumph of missions.
THE PLACE OF SCHOOLS IN MISSION WORK.
BY F. D. PHINNEY, RANGOON, BURMA.
" Much to Mrs. – – – ' s presAnt regret, though I have not the slightest doubt that she will be glad for it hereafter, I have forbidden the reopening of her school for heathen children alone. "
A young missionary who, in single blessedness had spent, say, five years in Lower Burma, in study of the language and in mission work, marries a missionary lady then somewhat lately out from home, and in a few months goes to open a mission station in a stronghold of Buddhism in Upper Burma as soon as its occupation by the English soldiery had made it safe to take his wife thither. With all the usual interruptions incident to such proceedings in a city where law and order are just taking the place of what was but little better than anarchy and confusion, land is acquired and a house is built having accommodations for school and chapel and residence. Then the husband with his native helpers goes off on preaching tours, while the wife with her native helper opens a school. Meanwhile, a few earnest English soldiers come and ask the aid and counsel of the missionary and his wife, and as the husband is absent so much, this part of the work falls to the wife, who becomes, in fact, a pastor to the soldiers, working and praying with them month after month until the two or three earnest Christians have become a large company. We take it for granted that the same Christian earnestness was manifested in the school for native children; and yet, because there were no children of Christian parents in the school when the term closed in the spring of 1892, it must not be reopened, according to the statement quoted above.
We think we do no injustice to the missionary if, from his own statement, we draw these two principles: (a) The duty of the missionary is to preach the Gospel to the heathen, and not to educate heathen children.
(b) Money given for mission purposes is to be used for preaching the Gospel, and not for the education of heathen children.
From the wording of the statement quoted we infer, in addition, that if the school had been attended (wholly or partly) by Christian pupils, or by the children of Christians, it would have been allowed to reopen; the principles underlying which action must be : (c) It is a duty of missionaries to educate Christian children or the children of converts.
(d) Money given for missions may be used for the education of Christian children or the children of converts.
This instance has been taken simply to show the ideas held by some regarding the question of educational work in missions. The statement of principles is not satisfactory. It does not go to the bottom of the matter; and it is our endeavor in this article to get down to something which shall be a foundation principle, and thus to determine the place of schools in mission work.
The foundation principle of all mission work is found in the two great commandments as given by Jesus Christ: first, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; " second, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." In accordance with this second commandment it is the duty of the Christianized, civilized, educated nations of the West to help the heathenized, rudely civilized, and illy-educated peoples of the East to attain to an equally enlightened Christian civilization with their own. Thus it is a duty to establish Christian schools for heathen children; but it does not fix it as the especial duty of a Christian missionary to maintain such schools, devoting to them his own time and the money given to the society under which he works. But there is a specific command defining a Rpecial duty within the broad command to love our neighbors as ourselves. This we call the Great Commission, and, as given in Matt. 28 : 19, 20, is: "Go ye, therefore, and teach [margin, make disciples of] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father~ and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." Let us note at once that this Great Commission is one command, not three; the " baptizing" and the " teaching" are but two steps in the work of " making disciples." And that little word" all" indicates completeness in the work of making disciples-the would-be disciples are not to be left to themselves until they shall have been taught all that is necessary to enable them to obey all the commands of Christ, even this last one, to become themselves preachers and teachers to all the world still in need of the Saviour. In other words, the missionary has not done his full duty until he has done everything to secure converts, and then so to train them that they shall be able to apprehend a knowledge of the truth, and not to be " carried about with every wind of doctrine," and to organize them into churches which shall become centres of Christian influence. And so we claim, as the principle which shall guide our mission policy, that every work which tends to the destruction of heathenism and to the securing of converts to Christianity, and the building up of a sturdy, intelligent, active church-membership, is in perfect harmony with the Great Commission, and therefore a legitimate work for the Christian missionary and a legitimate charge upon mission funds.
If we are satisfied with this statement of the fundamental principles and objects of mission work, it will be comparatively easy to decide to what extent educational work properly belongs to mission work. The harvest must determine the value of the seed-sowing and the tilling; and yet we must not disparage either by looking for fruit before its due season. For two generations at least the Government of India has maintained schools of all grades, in which there has been no religious teaching, Christian or non-Christian, and it must be admitted with great regret that this kind of educational work is of but the slightest aid to the missionary in his first desire-that of securing converts. A reason for such meagre results may possibly be found in the fact that so many of the instructors in these schools are outspoken infidels, and so few are outspoken Christians. And yet the results of schools established and maintained by Christian men, but in which the Bible is not taught lest it drive away some pupils, in the hope that education will banish the absurdities of heathenism and lead the pupils to accept Christianity, do not appear such as to warrant the existence of such schools as a part of mission work and their support from mission funds, although they are efficient helpers in that grand work, second only to mission work, the work of civilizing the uncivilized. We therefore feel compelled to decide that schools in which the Bible is not taught by a Christian teacher form neither a legitimate part of mission work nOr II legitimate charge upon mission funds. We leave them to those whose philanthropy does not look beyond the present life.
We turn now to another kind of school, of which there are many Elcores to be found in heathen lands, schools which are taught either by missionaries or by Christian native teachers, supported partly or wholly from mission funds, and in which the Bible is the subject of daily study. We shall find three classes of pupils in such schools: unconverted children of heathen parents; unconverted children of Christian parents; and con- verted pupils, children of either heathen or Christian parentage. Let us first eliminate this question of parentage, for there is nothing whatever in the Great Commission that bids us educate the child because the parent has become a believer any more than it bids us educate the parent when the child becomes a believer. There is no reason why we should place a premium on Christianity by offering a liberal education, or anything less, to the children of any who will embrace Christianity. If there is any- thing in our principle which bids us educate the children, it must be be- cause of the children themselves, not for the sake of the parents, be they what they may. We have, therefore, but two classes of pupils to .con- sider, the converted and the unconverted; and we wish to know whether we are justified or not in devoting mission time and mission money to giv- ing a mixed secular and Christian education to such children in heathen lands. The result must determine. Do such schools, or do they not, tend both to destroy heathenism and to build up Christianity ~ If they do, they are justified j if they do not, they are not justified. If they do, then their measure of success will determine the proportion of missionary effort which may be devoted to such work.
Ten years of missionary life leads me to share with many others in the belief that in a heathen land the gathering of children into schools where the Bible is daily taught with the other studies is a most efficient way of securing converts from heathenism, and of training up a truer, stronger body of Christian workers than these converts could possibly be if left to grow old in heathenism before leaving it for Christia.nity.
To the great majority of missionaries, who observe carefully the results of work for a series of yea.rs upon the young and the old in heathen lands, the question needs no further argument. There are individual ex- ceptions, of course; but, as a rule, those who received their education in Christian schools and were converted to Christianity in their youth, form a body of Christians truer, stronger, better working, less superstitious, and less likely to be drawn aside from their faith, than an equal number who .were educated in schools where they learned a mass of heathen superstition with the rudiments of a secular education. This is to be expected from results noticed elsewhere. Every rea.son why the Catholics are so eager in getting Protestant children to attend their parochial schools and convents points in the same direction.. Every reason why the various denominations of Christians in America maintain denomillationlll schools and colleges, although few of them teach denominational tenets, may be taken as a reason with tenfold force why Christian schools should be maintained in heathen lands for the education of those who are accounted Christians and for the possible conversion of those who are not.
Take that old familiar story of the father whose son had acquired the habit of reading only trashy novels. The father sent the son to fill up a new, clean basket with dirty refuse, and" then told him to put in a lot of nice clean apples. "But the basket is full," said the son; "and even if it were emptied, it is so dirty that it will spoil the apples." Nothing but the grace and power of God can ever empty and cleanse at all a neathen " basket;" but how much better if it had never been permitted to become so foul! A skilful gardener can do much to improve the appearance and the fruit-bearing qualities of an old tree; but when he wishes to secure a perfect tree he begins with a young one. A general must fight with his enemy, no matter how well intrenched he may be when "he finds him; but that general would be called a fool who, having a fair chance to attack his enemy in the open, should deliberately wait for him to become intrenched and to get his big guns in position before commencing bis attack. We must preach to those 01 full age when we can and where we can; but it is difficult almost to impossibility to get any number of adults together where sllch an influence can be exerted over them as is possible to the Christian school-teacher, who, while teaching the A, B, C's, tIInd 1, 2, 3's, can at the same time, better than at any other time, impart a knowledge of the true God, of His Word, and of His Son, to minds not already hardened in sin and full of Satan's deceits.
But some may ask whether we cannot accomplish the same end without the expense and work of maintaining schools. No, we cannot. The children cannot be got together every day for Bible study alone, and if not got into week-day schools, the children of heathen parents cannot be got, to any great extent, to attend Sunday-schools; and even if they could be got to attend the latter, it is still impossible to do in one day all that might be done in seven. The measure of success in this work will depend upon the consecration of the missionary and the native helpers, and the ability of each to combine religious truth with secular knowledge. Then, too, to some the results are immediately apparent in the conversion of pupils, while to others the results are not seen until years later, when some other missionary or native preacher may reap a harvest from the soil prepared by an equally faithful Christian whose gift of service lay only in school teaching.
More than ten thousand portions of the Scriptures were sold during the past year in Siam. Type in the Laos characters was cast in 1890, and will soon be III use. The Siamo-Laos edition of Matthew is in use in the ill-teri/n,
THE AMERICAN MISSION IN EGYP1.'
THE AMERICAN MISSION IN EGYPT.
BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, OBERLIN, O.
Many circumstances combine to make the Egyptian Mission of the American United Presbyterians one of the most interesting and significant to be found in the entire range of effort for the world's evangelization. For example, its location is in one of the most ancient and famous of lands, in a country for twenty-five centuries so closely connected with Bible history, the rise and spread of the kingdom of heaven upon earth; of whose remarkable civilization such stupendous monuments still survive, and which, after being long Christian, for twelve hundred years has groaned beneath the tyranny of the Moslem. Further, in the modern effort to restore it to the rule of the cross we have one of the finest examples of Christian comity, since by common consent practically the entire work is left to be performed by .a single denomination. Finally, so well IS the undertaking supplied with instrumentalities various and vigorously wielded, that in almost every particular the gains have been steady and encouragingly large.
The land of the Nile is altogether unique among terrestrial regions, is easily one of the very strangest under the sun. Its river for the last 1300 miles of its course receives not a tributary stream, and but for the annual inundations, so mysterious to the ancients, though their cause is to us well understood, Egypt, the paragon of fertility and fruitfulness, would be all empty and desolate as Sahara itself. No other country is at once so long and so narrow, since it extends from the Mediterranean southward some 700 miles to the First Cataract, but for the bulk of the distance never reaches a width of more than twelve miles, while the average is not more than six or eight. The Delta is a triangular space with base upon the sea and apex at Cairo, about 100 miles from Alexandria. Beyond that point the river valley is everywhere shut in by a double line of precipitous cliffs varying in height from 200 to 1200 feet, and back of them lies the dismal expanse of the Libyan and Arabian deserts. The only break in the sides of this trough.like chasm, which was worn down by the river in days primeval, is found on the western side, and not far to the south of Cairo, in a depression known as the Fayoum, separated from the valley by a ridge of limestone, but also joined to it by a canal long ago cut to carry in the lifegiving water. This limited tract constitutes the Egypt of history as well as the real Egypt of to-day, and therefore the name stands not for any 400,000 square miles (that" fiction of the geographers") lying between the Red Sea and some imaginary line somewhere out on the waste of the Sahara, but for not more than 12,000 square miles of arable soil-a tract about the size of Sicily, or Belgium, or New Hampshire, or of Massachusetts with Rhode Island added.
In order to recall the connection of Egypt with Old Testament history, i~ is euough to suggest that it was the place of refuge from famine for Abraham, and again for Jacob; was thc scene of Joseph's romantic career and of the early life of Moses, as well as for generations the abode and training-place of the chosen people. All through Hebrew history a near neighbor, its influence was profoundly felt, sometimes as an ally and sometimes as a foe. In later times Alexandria, the capital city, was a sort of second Jerusalem as a rendezvous for wealthy and learned Jews, and supplied a birthplace for the Septuagint. Then, as standing for its connection with New Testament events, when the infant Jesus was in mortal peril from the jealousy of Herod, it was hither that He was hurried; among the polyglot multitude, certain Egyptians shared in the marvels and ecstasies of Pentecost; and a few years later Apollos, an Alexandrian Christian Jew, so eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures, appears upon the scene. In a word, so much had the Pharaohs and the civilization of the Nile Valley to do with patriarchs, prophets, and kings, and with the momentous unfolding of truth and righteousness under the old covenant, that next to Palestine Egypt takes rank as a holy land.
When or by whom the Gospel was introduced into Egypt we cannot say, nor do we know aught of its early history there; only it is certain that large conquests were made before the end of the first century, and steady gains followed until Constantine's day, when the mastery over heathenism was achieved. It is evident, also, that the ruling type of Christianity contained from the first and all along serious admixtures of idolatry and superstition. For centuries theological strifes were almost constant and exceedingly bitter, and vast numbers of the best fled to monasteries and the deserts to escape from the general corruption and chaos. Some names from that period will ever live as notable,and others as notorious; such as Origen an,l Clement, Athanasius, Arius and Cyril made a profound impression upon their own time not only, but ever since have moulded the opinions and character of multitudes. In those days of acrimonious debate, through the influence of certain leaders the Egyptian Church was led to accept certain doctrines then and ever since accounted heretical; and so furious and uncompromising had their contention with the orthodox Greek Church long been that when the Persians entered the land as invaders they were met by the Christians with open arms, as were also the Arabs, when in 640 A.D. they came to conquer Egypt for the prophet. By this time the Church had taken the name Coptic, which ever since it has borne. For a season the Christians fared well enough, but later set in a long period of oppression and pitiless persecution, especially from the Turks; and as a result the millions gradually dwindled, until at the beginning of this century but a few thousands remained And these, like their brethren in the other corrupt Oriental churches, had scarcely more than a name to live, their profession of godliness amounting to little more than a prejudice, a form, a superstition. And it is in behalf of this same ancient but apostate Coptic Church that the American Mission bestows the bulk of its labors. EgYl't contains a population of about '7,000,000, of which more than 6,000,000 lire Mohammedans. The Copts number not far from 400,000, and the other nominal Christians are divided between the Greeks, Syrians, and Roman Catholics. The ruling language of the country is Arabic. Alexandria is a city of 300,000 inhabitants, while Cairo approaches to 500,000, is much the largest city in Africa, and next to Constantinople the largest in the Turkish Empire. Here is the seat of the chief Mohammedan university, with its more than 300 teachers and 10,000 to 12,000 students, attracted thither from well nigh every country of the East.
The first efforts to redeem Egypt to Christ were made by the Moravian Church, and began as far back as 1752; but, on account of various obstacles, connected especially with the political situation, no lasting impression WIlS made, and after about thirty years the missionaries were recalled. Next, in 1824 the Church Missionary Society sent its representatives to undertake the evangelization of the Nile Valley. As the fashion then was, they proposed to reform the Coptic Church by fraternizing with the higher clergy, and securing their countenance and co-operation. But the plan failed; life from the dead was not to be wrought by such methods, and by 1860 the effort had ceased. It was about this time that Miss Whately, daughter of the famed Archbishop of Dublin, began in Cairo her devoted school work, especially for Mohammedan boys and girls, and which she continued to carryon at great cost to herself until her lamented death only three years since.
But 1854 is the true Christian ~ra for modern Egypt, for it was in that year that the American Mission was founded by the entrance into Cairo of Rev. Thomas McCague and Rev. James Barnett, sent out by the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, which four years later, by organic union with another branch of the same ecclesiastical tree, became the United Presbyterian Church. In 1857 Dr. Lansing, transferred from Damascus, fixed himself in Alexandria, to be joined in 1860 by the Rev. John Hogg. These last names will always be held in honor as representing the distinguished wisdom and energy and persistence which, beginning to display themselves in the trying day of small things, have ever since continued. As soon as possible schools were opened for boys and others for girls, religious services were held, though for years with a meagre attendance, and tours through the villages were commenced for the sale of Bibles and religious books. No direct notice was taken of the Coptic Church as an organization, for the effort now and from henceforth was not to seek to resuscitate or reform that, but rather to compass the regeneration of individual souls. But the difficulties were many and great, and of necessity progress was slow. Among the discouragements was this, that on account of the fail. ure of health, several of the missionaries were compelled to retire.
Dr. Lansing was able to preach in Arabic almost at once, He also found mission schools already started by the zeal of certain Scottish disciples, and these were soon turned over to his care and direction, though for several years they continued to receive large financial support from the originators. In 1860 seven adults were received to communion, of whom five were Syrian Christians and two were Copts, while one of them, who had been a monk, was destined to become the pastor of a congregation. In Cairo, also, by this time encouraging signs had been vouchsafed; for as early as 1859 four had openly joined the mission, and in 1861 a church was organized with 13 members. And further, it was in those days that Said Pasha, the liberal.minded ruler then in power, and largely through the influence of Mr. Thayer, the representative of the United States, presented to the mission a very valuable piece of property, finely located in the Coptic quarter, and which presently furnished a site for schools, and religious services, and dwellings for the missionaries. And when in after times his successor, Ismail Pasha, would gain p08Bes- sion of this real estate, it was exchanged with him for other lots and $33,880 in gold. Fixed in such commodious quarters, the mission at once began to grow. The audiences doubled j the boys' school leaped from an attendance of 50 to 200, and 24 new members were re- ceived to the Church. By the end of the first decade the number of com- municants had reached 58, and during the last three years by the colpor- teurs 7152 copies of the Scriptures, worth $2000, had been sold.
Another incident belonging to this early period may well be mentioned, both because it contains a touch of the romantic, and because of various important bearings. Among the first of th~ girls in the Cairo mission school to be effectually wrought upon by the truth was one who became the wife of a wealthy Hindu prince, the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, son of the redoubtable Ranjeet Singh, monarch of the Punjab, and heir to the throne; but who, after the third Sikh war, exchanged his throne for a pension of £30,000 annually, a title, and a palatial residence in England. In due season he presented £1000 " as a token of his grateful interest in the American Mission," and for sixteen years repeated the munificent act on the anniversary of his marriage. Last year the amount was doubled ($10,000), making a total of benefactions amouuting to $90,000. And further, while in Egypt he gave the free use of his boat, the Ibis, for all manner of missionary purposes; on his return to England left it in missionary keeping, and finally made a transfer of ownership without charge to the mis- ,sion. Verily, it is not often that from the hand-uf princes such distinguished and repeated benefits have been bestowed upon Christian enterprises of this kind. And, aside from the favor of Him by whom prinees rule, these substantial tokens of confidence and esteem were the result in no small degree of work so well performed, so evidently good, as to easily commend itself to all inteIltgent and candid lookers-on.
Thus passed the first decade in tedious exploring, experimenting, and laying of foundations, and with the opening of the second began a period of enlargement. The way had already been prepared by frequent trips up and down the Nile by the missionaries, and also by the Earl of Aberdeen. who, though an invalid, in Egypt for his health, with his wife and a converted Coptic priest, in 1854 and again in 1860 had made extended journeys for the distribution of Bibles and religious books. In 1865 Mr. Hogg and family, and Miss McKown, ascended the river 270 miles from Cairo to Assioot, a city of 30,000, situated in the centre of a large Coptic population, and fixed there their residence with a definite plan in mind looking to the thorough occupation of the whole region (Upper Egypt) with churches and schools of every grade. The year following the Fayoum was entered, and about the same time a beginning was made at Koos, 215 miles above Assioot, and in the vicinity of Thebes. Luxor became a station in 1873, Esneh in 1876, and, stilI advancing southward, Edfoo in 1884, and finally in 1887 Assouan (Syene), hard by the First Cataract, on the border of Nubia, and at present the limit of the mission in that direction. And, in the mean time, between and all about these principal stations, numerous out-stations had been opened one after another, until now in the eight districts or provinces of which the Mission is composed evangelistic work is done at not less than 145 points.
Of course, such vigorous and widespread aggressive operations could not be carried on without exciting alarm and opposition from the Coptic Church, against which they were especially directed. So disturbed and apprehenlilive of serious damage to his ecclesiastical and theological realm was the Patriarch, the government also sympathizing and abetting, that on several occasions he dealt out expostulations, warnings, threats, and bulls of anathema, to break up the congregations, to frighten the children from the schools, in various ways to undermine the influence of the American preachers and teachers, llnd hoping even to drive them from the country•. On one occasion in early days three leading Christians of Koos were arrested by the soldiers and condemned" to be sent up the White Nile, " a current euphemism for death by violence. Under guard they were started southward, and their lives were saved only by the determined protests of the chief representatives of the United States and Great Britain, and made both at Cairo and Constantinople. When the tempest was over it was found, so steadfast were the Protestants in their new faith, that only four who had thoroughly identified themselves with the work, through fear. had made their peace with the Church rulers by apostasy, and even these presently returned. No permanent harm resulted from these savage assaults; even in the midst of them the infant churches more than held their ground, while through the reaction certain to follow the gains were even increased.
The civil authorities, on the whole, though Mohammedans, have been fairly reasonable, and, as we have seen, sometimes quite liberal. The chief trouble from the government has come in connection with its attitude toward Moslems who have become Christians. The number of thes~ is now well on toward a hundred, some of whom have been compelled to endure fines and imprisonment, as well as bitter persecution. The government also strictly forbids street preaching, persistently refuses permission to publish a religious paper, and has often prevented t.he purchase of land and the erection of buildings for mission purposes. But, on the other hand, the P.rotestants have secured legal recognition as a distinct and authorized body.
The plan was early adopted of opening at every station, and as soon as pos!<ible, schools of primary and secondary grade, to be under the control of the people and be by them supported, and the instruction also to be imparted by native teachers; and these schools have steadily increased, until now they number 98 (of which 88 are entirely self-supporting), with 118 teachers, who are church-members for the most part, and 4423 pupils, of whom 785 are girls and 424 are the children of Moslems. Then, in addition, and largely in order to secure and maintain a corps of competent teachers, other schools of higher grade have been established at all the central stations, some of them being boarding-schools under the direct control of the mission, and taught in the main by American instructors, with the training college at Assioot and the theological seminary at Cairo as the fitting climax and crown. Of these there are 12, with 43 teachers and 7 assistants, and in them are found 2340 pupils, among whom are 1352 girls and 560 Mohammedan children. Therefore, on the educational side, the work: of the American Mission is represented by 110 schools, 161 teachers and 7 assistants, and 6763 pupils, including 2137 girls and 984 Moslems. The amount paid last year by the people for tuition was $9148, and the sum expended by them for all school purposes was $13,298.
But, according to the conception which dominates in this mission, schools, intellectual training, are only a valuable, an indispensable means to ends which are distinctively religious. The aim is nothing less than. Christian intelligence. And as a further help in this direction, from the beginning the circulation of the Scriptures has been pushed with vigor, and as well of religious literature. A mission pre!;s is maintained in Alexandria, and a general book depot, while seven depositories are found at convenient points. Large favors are constantly received from the American Bible Society and the British and Foreign Bible Society. The shopmen are carefully selected, and have as their business not only to make sales, but also to read to their customers, and hold conversations on Christian themes. And, besides, a force of 31 colporteurs is kept constantly in the field visiting the numerous villages of the Nile Valley. Two books in particular have thus had an extensive circulation. The one was written by an Oriental Christian upon the unscriptural practices of the Eastern churches, as shown by citations from the Old and New TQstaments. The Copts reading this are then c~nstrained to purchase Bibles to test its accuracy. The other is addressed to Mohammedans, and contains the testimony of the Koran to the authority and excellence of the Bible. Last year 13,281 volumes of the Scriptures, or portions, were sold, 7427 volumes of religious books, 18,118 of educational works, and $1701 of stationery. The total number of volumes was 38,826, whose cash value was $8516. And as far back: as 1888-that is, within a period of thirty-four years-133,416 copies of the Scriptures had thus been put into circulation in 16 languages, as well as 292,500 volumes of religious lind educational works, and for which $96,429 were expended.
Of course, with all this, continual and boundless prayer and toil are bestowed upon religious services of every kind. With the frequent assist- ance of generous donations from Great Britain and America comfortable houses of worship have been secured at 44 stations, while at others rooms have been rented. In these are held an average of some 3000 meetings each month, at which 10,000 to 12,000 regularly hear the Word. For thirty years the Ibis has made frequent trips up and down the Nile from Damietta to Assouan, bearing the printed Word and the heralds of the cross, and far surpassing in usefulness any other pulpit in the land. The Mission contains 13 ordained missionaries, 10 of them with wives, 7 other women, and 1 physician, a total of 31 from America. With these are joined 14 ordained natives, 7 licentiates, and 19 theological students, as well a8 10 other employes of Presbytery, 33 zenana workers, etc., with teachers, shopmen, and colporteurs enough to make a total of 282 native helpers, or a grand total of 313 toilerl!l.
As a portion of the fruit of labors in such variety bestowed upon a field so extensive may be named 30 organized congregations containing 3571 church-members, of whom 461 were added last year. These were gath- ered chiefly from the Coptic Church, though among them are found quite a large number who came out from the Greek, the Syrian, and the Arme- nian communions. The membership of SOme of the congregations is quite large. Thus in Nakhaleh, at the close of 1891, there were 189 members; in Assioot, 253 ; in Koos, 121 ; in Sinnoris, 106 ; and in several others as . many as 100 ; and not a few stations have done nobly in striving to at- tain to self-support. " For," says the last annual report of the mission, H Assioot has always paid its pastor's salary. The salary of the pastor at Nakhaleh is $30 per month. The congregation pays all but $9. The salary at Roos is $35 per month; the people pay all but $10. The salary at !;Hnnoris is $28 per month; the church pays all but $6. The salary of the pastorate of Moteah congregations is $17.50 per month; the congre- gations pay all but $6. Each of the 14 pa~torates is at least half self.sup- porting. " And as a further test of the earnestness and self-sacrificing spirit of these poor Egyptian saints, the amount of their contributions for church purposes last year was $7378. If we add this to the sum already given as paid for schools, books, etc., and to the offerings from missionary societies, $209, aud from SundaY-ilchools, $299, we have the really aston- ishing total of $29,811 expended in a single year-an average of $8.35 for each church-member!
The following official table of figures, so thoroughly gratifying in the facts which it presents to the eye, may well conclude the more formal set- ting forth of the work accomplished through the blessing of the great Head
18112.] 'rIll -'-MEltleAN KIllION IN J:8YPT
of the Church upon the American Mission in Egypt. In particular, the steady, regular growth of the work in all departments will be noted. " Nearly all the items have more than doubled in every ten years, and some of them have doubled in every five years."
Established in 1854. 1861. 1866. 1871. 1876. 1881. 1886. 1891.
—— ——–J– ———— Ordained missionaries on field…. . ……………. 5 7 7 8 9 9 13 Unmarried female missionaries on field………… 3 3 4 6 6 10 7 ~:~:~~R:~ti:te~.:.:::::::::::::::::·:::::'::::::: ::::: ::::: ~ ~ ~ ~ 1~ Organized con~egations……. .. …….. ~……. ….. 1 5 6 13 23 30 Stations occuPIed, inclnding congregations…. …. 2 6 9 29 m54 79 144 784 1,~ '~:~ Communicants……………………. { ~~:ie,} 19 110 370 Average Sabbath attendance………………….. 111 176 693 1,1701 1,989 4,449 6,451 Contributions of churches …………….. …… .•••• $40 $1,444 $2,212 $5,629 $5,043 $7,378 Pupils in Sabbath·schools………….. ………. . ….. ….. 339 1,154 …1,~5.7. 4I 4,0171 5,447 Contributions of Sabbath·schools………. .. .. …. ….. ….. …… ……. $181 $320 "'1 Pupils in schools.. …………………. …….. 271 501 889 1,475 2.410 5,263 6,763 4 TUItions and other fees paid by people….. …. …. ….. ….. $619 $1,033 $6,261 $14,823 $13,298 Women's Missionary Societies………………………………………. 8 Memberships of Women's Missionary Societies…. ….. ….. …… ……. .. …. 217 271 Contributions…. .. " . . .. .. …. '" …… ……. ……. $165 $209 Youns: People's Societies…………………… : ……………. ……. … …. …… 3 Contributions at Assioot… .. .. .. …. . .. .. . .. … .. ….. .. . …. . ……. …… . .. . . .. $90 Books distributed, vols ……………………………….. 5,756 11,015 27,150, 37,823 38,826 Proceeds from sales of vols …………………………… $1,479 $2,638 $6,243' $8,616, $8,516 Total paid by natives for all purpose! …………………. $3,542 $5,883 $18,133 $28,828 $29,811 1 1 Although, as it thus plainly appears, to this mission has been granted large measures of prosperity, various discouragements and hindrances have befallen in addition to such as have already been mentioned. Thus, during the scenes of excitement and violence attending the rebellion of 1882, there was not only ground for deep solicitude, but the lives of the Protestants were in peril. Besides, it is continually found that, after years of careful training in the higher schools of the mission, the brightest and most promising of the young men are tempted by the offer of large salaries to turn away from the Gospel ministry and enter the service of the government. Not strangely, some yield to the solicitation; but others also refuse, and prefer lifelong sacrifice of creature comforts, position, and honor among men for the kingdom of heaven's sake. And now and then it happens that converts from whom much was hoped fall away and return to their old estate. It was only last year that Habeeb Abdel Maseeh (Habeeb, the servant of Christ), who since 1882 had walked worthily and had shown such ability and zeal that he had been employed as keeper of the bookshop in Zagazig and as general evangelist, after months of evident decline in piety finaIly openly renounced Christianity, went back to his old name, Mohammed Habeeb, and to the faith of his fathers.
On the other hand, the mission has been greatly helped in recent years by the stable government and unwonted material prosperity resulting from the protectorate of Great Britain. Political chaos and widespread lawlessness have been exchanged for quiet and good order. Slavery has been abolished, and forced contributions of labor and taxes are made definite and equitable. The army, too, has been thorouihly reorianized, and
THE AMERICAN MISSION IN EGYPT
is now well paid. And besides, extensive and invalnable public works, looking to irrigation and drainage have been constructed, at great cost, indeed, bnt the source also of great wealth to the people. As a result, the value of the cotton crop alone has been increased by $4,000,000 a year; and from a condition next to bankruptcy, and an annual deficit in 1883 amounting to £70£,397, the income has steadily risen of late, until in 1891 a surplus was found of £1,100,000 r But one of the mORt cheering features of the outlook is found in the changes evidently in progress inside the Coptic Church, and forced upon it by the evident superiority of the teachmg and practice which centre in the American Mission. As one example, a letter written in March of this year conveys the surprising intelligence that for more than three years nightly meetings have been held in the cathedral at Assioot, and in other places in Upper Egypt, and that the confessional has been abolished, and the pictures of the Virgin and the saints have been removed. And all this has been done under the leadership of reformed Coptic priests. And, strangest of aH, at Assioot also, since their priesthood is so ignorant as to be unfit to give religious lllstruction, the leaders of the Coptic Chnrch have asked the American Mission for one of its licentiates to teach them truth and duty, promising to provide for his support, and to allow him full freedom of utterance! Can these dry bones Iive ~ Yes, when the Spirit of God blows upon them.
In the two chief cities of Egypt somewhat of mission work is performed by the Church of England, and the Free Church of Scotland and others, but largely for the foreign portion of the population; and during the current year the North Africa Missionary Society has entered the Delta. But it is devoutly to he hoped, it may reasonably be expected, that at least the Nile Valley, the chief scene of its toils and triumphs, will be left for long years to come to be tilled exclusively by the American Mission. As for the other legions of the Lord's host, let them stand off and observe, give hearty sympathy and congratulations, and rejoice in their joy. Let all Christians of every name continue in fervent supplication that the efforts of that long line of laborers may be so richly blessed that not only shall the thousands in the Coptic Church be won to a pure Gospel, but also that through them the millions of the Mohammedans shall be led to accept Him who is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.
The North African Mission has opened work in Lower Egypt by sending there recently five missionaries, two of whom are males. In this part of the land there is a population of 4,500,000, mostly Mohammedans, and almost wholly without the gospel. There are about forty towns with from 7000 to 40,000 inhabitants, and five hundred towns with from 2000 to 7000 inhabitants.
THE INDUSTRIAL HOME FOR BOYS
THE INDUSTRIAL HOME FOR BOYS.
BY A FRIEND OF THE WORK.
Among the many interesting sights in the city of Venice is that of the doves in St. Mark's Square; and those who have the pleasure of seeing them must hear with interest also of the kind lady who provided for their feeding. But comparatively few know of the provision that has been made for those worthier than dovel-thp, boys. '
In Casa Scandiani, San Felice, resides Mrs. A. R. Hammond, the widow of that illustrious English captain who fell in the Crimean War. Eleven years ago she founded in Venice what is now known as " the Industrial Home for Boys," and it was started in a very peculiar manner.
She went to that beautiful island city with a friend in the fall of 1880, expecting to spend but a few weeks there. But in the providence of God her friend fell ill, and it was found necessary to pass the entire winter in Venice. With this long period stretching before her, Mrs. Hammond made it a subject of prayer that God would show her if He had any work for her to do in that city.
On the following Sunday she attended the service of the free Italian church; but finding she had come too early, she took a back seat in the " little Sunday-school, which was still in session. It was conducted by the pastor, Rev. S. Beruatto, and at the close of the lesson he made a prayer which he had never before offered in public.
" He prayed for the many poor, neglected boys who were growing up in ignorance, vice, and misery; that God would open a way by which some of them might be reached, taught to gain an honest livelihood, and, above all, be led into the fold of the Good Shepherd."
This petition seemed to Mrs. Hammond to be an answer to her own prayer, "a direct message from God" to her; and, like Paul in his Macedonian mission, as soon as she had heard the .call, ., immediately" she" endeavored" to answer it.
This was in October of 1880 ; in March of the following spring the work was begun. It was started in a small dark room which Signor Beruatto had arranged that she might have, rent free, in the building where he held his services. Twelve poor boys, aged from eight to fourteen, were at that time gathered together. The colporteur of the free Italian church offered his services gratuitously for two hours every morning to teach read· ing and writing; and a shoemaker was engaged to give instructions in thaI. handicraft.
But after a little while it was found that it would not do to make all the boys shoemakers; so a carpenter was hired, and some of the boys " took to the use of the saw and plane with much animation."
The work, however, was found to be without solid good unless a house could be obtained in which the boys might be lodged over night, and so kept from the influence of bad companions.
INDUIT1U.L IOllE FOIt :aOYfi
Signor Beroatto, who taught these little ragged urchins the simplest troths of the Gospel, taught them also the efficacy of prayer by leading them to ask for what they really wished; and among other things for a suitable, permanent home. This prayer has eventually been answered. In the winter of 1887 the present home was secured after two changes of resi- dence, and on March 10th thirty-six: boys celebrated their sixth anniversary in the new, appropriate quarters.
These boys are all Italian, though not all Venetian. Several come from distant parts of Italy, being recommended by the evangelical minister of the place in which they live. But the majority have been brought to the home by their widowed mothers, who, being left with several children, have applied for help in vain to the priests and the congregation of charity.
Now and then the priests, or some relation, have taken a boy away from the Protestant influence of the Instituto Evangelico, but as a general rule those placed within the shelter of the home remain there until they are able to earn theu own livelihood. And formerly, if a boy chose a professional career, he was enabled to enter the Marco Polo College; but that plan, fraught with various disadvantages, has recently been abandoned, and a professor engaged at the home itself expressly for the student boys.
This new teacher is a converted priest, who, at much personal sacrifice, bas lately come out from the Church of Rome, and whose sincere desire is to prepare the boys to become ministers of the Gospel. As he held a high office in the Romish Church, and was also a professor in a Roman Catholic seminary, he is very well fitted for his new work; and the boys themselves are delighted with the arrangement. It secures for them as good instruction and more individual attention than they formerly received at the Marco Polo Ginnasio, and the state educational regulations allow them to go up at the end of the scholastic year for the college examinations.
One of the very first boys who came to that small, dark room, and who was rescued from the very worst surroundings. is now an officer in the custom house. Another of those very early pupils who" took to the use of the saw and plane" is at present employed in one of the first shops of Venice,and has lately "developed a decided talent for sculpturing." Still others are earning good livings as printers, which trade wail started not long after the carpenter work was begun. Surely, the little seed, planted in faith and watered by prayer, bas taken root and sprouted and grown.
In the eleventh report, just issued, Mrs. Hammond states that there are now fifty-eight boys in the home; and she closes her account of the past year's work in these words: "After eleven years' experience, my conviction is deeply rooted that the boys' home in Venice is the Lord's work; that it was He who planted it, and who has thus far maintained it. And, therefore, notwithstanding financial discouragement, I desire to ' cast all my care on Him,' in the confident hope that He will in some way supply the need for it. continuance and progress accordin,g to His good pleamre.' ,
189i.j THE GOSPEL AMONG THE JE~S
THE GOSPEL AMONG THE JEWS.
BY M. A. B. HOWARD, LE ROY, N. Y.
Some time ago a celebration was held in Germany of an unique kind. It was the fiftieth anniversary of Professor Delitzsch's Hebrew translation of the New Testament. Those who are accustomed to think of the Hebrew as a dead language way wonder that such a celebration should take place j but the wonder ceases with a knowledge of the remarkable history of this volume.
The Jewish population of the world is estimated at between six and a half and seven millions, and of this number over five millions are found in Russia, the Black Sea region, and Southwestern Asia. For all these Oriental Jews the Hebrew is not only the literary language, but in a more or less perverted form is also spoken by them j and in order to find readers among this people a book must be printed in Hebrew. It is interesting to note the following books as among those which have thus appeared in Hebrew Garb: "Pilgrim's Progress," "Paradise Lost," "Faust," the Koran, ' portions of Shakespeare, and Eber's " J ollhua."
In the Jewish schools of Jerusalem and other parts of Palestine Hebrew is the language used. Both scientific and religious periodicals are published in this language. In Jerusalem two papers are regularly issued. In view of these facts it is evident that the New Testament in Hebrew must be one of the most efficient means for the evangelization of the Jews. There are two translations, one by Professor Delitzsch, already alluded to, and the other by Dr. Salkinson. "These have had a circulation exceeding the most noted work of fiction."
The tenth edition of Delitzsch's version has been published, and over 200,000 copies of Salkinson's have appeared. "One hundred thousand copies were paid for by a wealthy Scotchman, to be used for missionary purposes." These are mainly used in Northern Africa, while of Delitzsch's translation, between 60,000 and 70,000 have gone to the Jews of Southeastern Europe. This volume has also found readers from Stockholm to the extreme eastern border of Siberia. Since 1887 hundreds of copies have been placed in the hands of emigrants in Liverpool and in New York, and !!till the supply is not equal to the demand.
It has been said that the work of removing obstructions and doing preparatory work is greater in Jewish than in any other mission enterprise, owing to the fact that the Jews for centuries have drawn their spiritual food from their traditional literature. Experience has proved not only that in order to reach this people one must be thoroughly versed in that vast amount of J ewieh literature known as the traditional, but that the work must be done through the Hebrew language. Hence Delitzsch's New Testament standlil firilt among the efficient means for Gospel work among them j but there are otber agenciel also at work. In the year 1864 Proles&tJlr IMit~ began publishing • ~ly eallod SHd Sow'RI an. Hope. During the last few years of his life he revived the" Institutem Judaicum," originally founded by Callenberg about 1728. "These insti- 'tutes are associations of evangelical students formed at the various university centres of Northern Europe for the purpose of studying the literature of the Jews, and the practical purpose of prosecuting the difficult work of sproading the Gospel among them." These institutes are flourishing at nine German and severtll Scandinavian universities.
The subject of missions among the Jews was a live question in the Netherlands as early as 1676, when the synods of Delft, Leyden, and Dordrecht considered methods for converting the Jews of their own country. The name of Johann Callenberg should be remembered not only as one of the founders of Protestant missions, but as a devoted laborer among the children of Israel. Many of the students of the missionary school which he founded in 1728 labored not only among the Jews of Europe, but of Asia and Africa. At his own expense he established a printingoffice where works in Hebrew were published for missionary purposes. In 1764 the Moravians took up the work. As the fruit of these efforts, many hundreds of Jews were led to accept Jesus as the Messiah; but the wave of rationalism that swept over Europe in the latter part of the century put an end to the work for years.
It is a strange fact that thus far it has been impossible to rouse the interest of the Church in general for mission work among the Jews, and this is left almost entirely to the efforts of individuals and local societies. Yet notwithstanding this, there is more money spent and more laborers at work among the Jews in proportion to their numbers than among any other people. Dr. Dalman, of Leipzig, an authority on the subject, published a few years ago a very complete record of the work and statistics of Jewish missions. He states there are more than 47 Protestant missionary societies devoted exclusively to evangelistic work among the Jews. These 47 societies employ 377 laborers at 135 stations, and have an annual income of $500,000. To show the rapid increase in this work, we have only to compare the report of Heman, published in 1881, who stated 20 societies, 270 laborers, and au annual income of $250,000. Returning to Dr. Dalman's report, he gives one laborer for every 16,976 Israelites. Among other nationalities the estimate has been made, one laborer for every 21,000 persons.
Of the 47 societies, the oldest is the famous London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews. During its existence of eighty-two years its work has spread all over Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. It has 35 stations, 141 workers, and an annual income of $250,000. Early in its history it established a church in London for converted Jews. In 1840 a Hebrew college was founded for the education of missionaries. Many of those that have gone forth from among its students are converted Israelites.
It would be impossible in this article to give even a brief account of all
FOREltUNNEltB OF CAREY
the societies, but it may be of interest to mention where some of them are located, and where their laborers are at work. There are 8 English, '1 Scotch, and 12 German societies; while Ireland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Scandinavia, and the non-orthodox Church of Russia are all represented by one or more. Of the missionaries, 58 are laboring in London, 40 in Germany, 22 in Austria, and 33 in Constantinople, where the Scottish Free Church have large buildings and several hundred pupils in their school. There are 31 missionaries in Damascus, 28 in Jerusalem, and 25 in Northern Africa. Recent reports show that a good work has been done among the Falashas of Abyssinia. Coming to our own country, we find in North America 12. In New York City a Jewish convert named Landsmann is laboring, also Dr. Jacob Freshman, who works under a joint committee of various denominations. In Baltimore the Norwegian con· ference has a missionary. "The missionaries preach, distribute the New Testament, and in their work aim chiefly to show that the historical Christ is the fulfilment of the law and the prophets."
A Hebrew paper has been published in London for some years, and has proved of great help in the work. In 1808 there were said to be 50 converted Jews in England; they are estimated now as over 3000. The missionary, De la Roi, of Breslau, states that during the present century 100,000 Jews have been baptized. When we consider the number of earnest laborers in the field, and the work already accomplished, the outlook for the future seems very hopeful.
FORERUNNERS OF CAREY.-II.
BY A. J. GORDON, D.D.
1292, 1492, 1792, 1892-each of these dates marks an epoch in the history of mi~sions. The first is associated with the name of one who was the most literal prototype of Carey of any with whom we are acquainted.
In the year 12!J2 Raymund Lull landed in Tunis to begin his enterprise of preaching the Gospel among the Moslems of Africa. Low sinners not infrequently become high saints when the great divine change has been wrought in them. "Some people say," observes John Bunyan, "that when grace and good nature meet you have a great Christian; but I tell you that when grace and a great sinner meet, you have the best Christian." Such a meeting took place in. the conversion of this young Spanish nobleman, who was born in Palma, the capital of Majorca, 1236. His early life had been as scandalous and sensual as that of Augustine. Like that eminent Church father, he penned a book of confessions after his conversion, in which he laid bare the depravity of his unregenerated life. "I see, 0 Lord," he says in his" Contemplations," "that trees bring forth every year flowers and fruit, each after their kind, whence mankind derive pleas- ure and profit. But thus it was not with, me, sinful man that I am ; for thirty years I brought forth no fruit in this world; I cumbered the ground, nay, was noxious and hurtful to my friends and neighbors." But at the end of these three decades of worse than wasted life, the Spirit came mightily upon him with conviction of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. The scene of Augustine's conversion under the Numidian fig-tree was literally re-enacted. While sitting on his couch writing a lascivious song, Christ was revealed to him hanging on the cross. The crucifixion nails entered into his soul; despair succeeded to conviction; for days and nights the blackness of darkness shrouded his spirit. Then the thought came to him: "Christ is meek and full of compassion and tender mercy. He invites all to come to Him, and whosoever cometh to Him He will in nowise cast out. Sinful as thou art, peradventure He will accept thee if thou wilt come to Him." He came and entered into great peace, and into a consecration to his crucified Lord as fervent as had been his devotion to the god of this world.
The needle turns to the pole of its own sweet will when released from its constraints j no less instinctively and fixedly did the heart of Raymund Lull, set free from" serving divers lusts and pleasures," and magnetized by divine love, turn to the work which is dearest to our risen Lord, that of giving the Gospel to those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.
First came this solemn covenant of self-renunciation, which, though it seems almost extravagant to Christians of lukewarm faith, was kept unto the end. " To Thee, 0 Lord God, I offer myself, my wife, my children, and all that I possess. May it please Thee, who didst so humble Thyself to the death of the cross, to condescend to accept all that I give and offer to Thee, that I, my wife, and my children may be Thy lowly servants." There was a pentecostal baptism, which he vividly describes in connection with this covenant; and it was followed by a pentecostal consecration j for he sold all he had, and after providing for his family only, laid all his fortune at the feet of Jesus for the work of making known His Gospel. He was a philosopher as well as nobleman. He would devote his learning to the great end of persuading men of the truth of revealed religion by a method of reasoning not unlike that of Butler's" Analogy," He gave himself diligently to lingUistic studies. William Carey and his pundit at Serampore were literally foreshadowed by Raymund Lull and" His Saracen," with whom he studied Arabic and cognate languages for nine years. Only for the lack of the sympathy and seconding of the Church did he fail to extend this work from himself to a large company of translators j for his fervent prayer was" for monks of holy lives and great wisdom to form institutions III order to learn various languages and to be able to preach to unbelievers." He was amazed, however, that so many holy men were ready to retire to convents for Christ's sake, and so few burned with zeal to go to the ends of the earth to make known Christ crucified. Hear his fervent exclamation: "0 Lord of glory, if that blessed day should ever be ia which I uaipt iIQIi Thy holy monks 80 inb•.d hf aeal too glorify Thee as to go into foreign lands in order to testify of Thy holy mystery, of Thy blessed incarnation, and of Thy bitter sufferings, that would be a glorious day, a day in which that glow of devotion would return with which the holy apostles met death for their Lord Jesus Christ."
As he thus pointed out a better way of self-denial than asceticism, so he longed to see put into operation a better way of conquering the heathen than that of warlike crusades, moving with sword and spear against non- Christian countries and people. To this end he wrote a treatise urging devout Christians to consider: "How they may be able by the force of argument, through the help and power of God, to lead unbelievers into the way of truth, so that the blessed name of the Lord Jesus, which is still unknown in most parts of the world and among most nations, may be manifested and obtain universal adoration. This way of converting unbelievers is easier than all others. For it must appear hard to unbelievers to forsake their own faith for a foreign one; bllt who is there that will not feel himself compelled to surrender falsehood for truth, the selI-contradictory for the necessary ~ Of all methods of converting unbelievers and reconquering the Holy Land this is the easiest and speediest, which is most congenial to love, and is so much mightier than all other kinds and methods, in the proportion that spiritual weapons are more effective than carnal ones. This treatise was finished at Rome in the year 1296 on the holy evening before the feast of John the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ. May he pray our Lord that as he himself was the herald of light, and pointed with his finger to Him who is the true Light, and as in his time the dispensation of grace began, it may please the Lord Jesus to spread a new light over the world, that unbelievers may walk in the brightness of this light and be converted to join with us in meeting Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and glory forever I"
Writers of high authority have assigned to Raymund Lull a position unique if not pre-eminent among the pioneers of modern missions. In this they have not erred. His persistent purpose, his magnificent enthusiasm, his broad missionary statesmanship, mark him as a man of such consecrated genius that one wonders what he would not have accomplished if he had had a church to second his proposals or a band of coadjutors to assist him in canying out his plans. He not only proposed and outlined a noble scheme of missions, but, like Carey, he gave himself to be the pioneer of his new enterprise. He chose for his field of operations a country and people where to make a proselyte to Christianity meant death to the missionary effecting such conversion. He landed in Africa in 1292, and began preaching in the Mohammedan city of Tunis. His· message stirred up instant perflecution, and he was seized and cast into prison until an opportunity should be afforded to send him out of the country. He was driven away. but immediately began to meditate plans for returning. He appealed to Naples and Rome for help, but in vain. Meantime he occupied himlilelf with preaching th~ GO~l;ll to ike Jawtl aDd WohammedaDB
FORERUNNERS OF CAREY
in his own island. Notwithstanding the threat that hung over him of certain death if he should appear again in North Africa, he returned in 1307. lIe began immediately to preach in the market-place, boldly denouncing Mohammed as a false prophet. In spite of the entreaties of prudent friends among the Mohammedans themselves, he persisted in his purpose, till, like Stephen, he met his death by stoning. Dr. George Smith's appreciative review of his life ends with this worthy encomium: "His name appears in no mere calendar of saints, in no historic roll. Raymund Lull was known to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries rather as an ingenious schoolman, and to modern times as an independent inventor of the mariner's compass. But no church, papal or reformed, has produced a missionary so original in plan, so ardent and persevering in execution, so varied in gifts, so inspired by the love of Christ, as the saint of seventynine, whom Mohammedans stoned to death on June 30th, 1315. In an age of violence and faithlessness he was the apostle of heavenly love. Let this motto from his own book be adopted by all his true successors: 'He who loves not lives not j he who lives by the Life cannot die.''' (" Short History of Christian Missions," p. 108.) The year 1492, I need not say, marks one of the most memorable dates in the history of the world j and our country, recognizing this, is making sumptuous preparations for celebrating the fourth centennial anniversary of its discovery. To place Christopher Columbus in the list of eminent missionary pioneers may seem surpnslng. That his discovery of America has proved a most· important factor in the enterprise of the world's evangelization no one assuredly doubts. But did he anticipate this 1 Had he in his explorations any purpose of promoting the work of Christian missions ~ There can be no doubt of this fact. The great voyager sailed not merely by compass and North Star, but by that" more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts." Hear the confession of Columbus as to his inspiring motive: "In the execution of my enterprise to the Indies, human reason, mathematics, and maps of the world have served me nothing. It has accomplished simply that which the prophet Isaiah had predicted; that before the end of the world all the prophecies should have their fulfilment. " He was not only a student of the prophetic Scriptures, but the writer of a biblical exposition of such mark that Humboldt, to whom we are indebted for our quotations on this subject, says that this treatise" recalls involuntarily the great discussion of the immortal Sir Isaac Newton on the same theme." (Humboldt's" Critical Examination," Vol. I., pp. 15-19, etc.) Columbus seems to have been a believer in the" six millennia]" doctrine of the world's duration, as held by many of the early fathers of the Church. To Ferdinand and Isabella he writes: "St. Augustine informs us that the end of the world will be in the seventh thousand year after the creation. . The world has already endured 6845 years. There remains, consequently, but 155 years to the time when the world may be destroyed."
In reaching this conclusion, he evidently followed a chronology which is now generally rejected; and the wise of our day will no doubt smile at his simplicity in presuming to forecast so minutely the times and the sea- sons. But we may forgive him, considering the influence which his con- viction seems to have had upon his conduct. There is a Scripture which says, "The eud of all things is at hand; let us, therefore, watch and be sober." The great explorer seems to have obeyed this injunction. A man of sincere piety, so far as we can judge, saving in the intolerance which he unhappily shared with the churchmen of his age, he sought to act upon his belief; and reading that the Gospel must be preached in all the world before the end can come, he sought to do all in his power to open the yet undiscovered portions of the globe to the heralds of the cross.
That this motive entered largely into his aspirations and endeavors is ad· mitted by those who have studied his life most carefully. The following summary of the matter by Washington Irving probably does not exaggerate.
He says: "He looked upon himself as standing in the hand of heaven, chosen from among men for the accomplishment of his high purpose. He read, as he supposed, his contemplated discovery ,foretold in holy writ and shadowed forth darkly in the mystic revelations of the prophets. The ends of the esrth were to be brought together, and all nations and tongues and,langu'ages united under the banners of the Redeemer. This was to be the triumphant consummation of his enterprise, bringing together the remote and unknown regions of the earth into communion with Christian Europe ; carrying the light of the true faith into benighted and pagan lands, and gathering countless nations under the holy dominion of the Church. (" History of Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus,"
1., p. 37.) .
To find a divine motive under what has been regarded as a purely human movement is always deeply interesting. While Carey was in travail with his missionary idea, there was a restlessness in his heart leading to a persistent importunity, which annoyed his friends and made him It subject of ridicule by his enemies. But later. Dr. Ryland, who had opposed him at the first, was compelled to say: "I believe God Himself infused into the mind of Carey that solicitude for the salvation of the heathen which cannot be fitly traced to any other source." In the heart of Columbus there was that same unrest as of one in pain with an irrepressible idea. He teased kings and annoyed nobles and wore out the patience of his friends by his importunate agitation. But looking backward now, and considering the share which the Western world is bearing in evangelizing the nations, who does not exclaim: "It must have been God who moved Columbus to this great enterprise !"
God's providencE'S never move in a straight line or by a steady progress, but rather through perpetual advances and recessions, like the inflow-
TmI: IT.A.Tll'1 01' KOILIiK WelBlT. [Dee_ber
ing and refluent waves, till the tide at last reaches the high-water mark. So in the great missionary movement. The enterprise of Raymund Lull failed; that of Baron Von Weltz later, met the same fate; but the advancing tide attained its height, and overflowed in the epoch of William Carey, making the nineteenth century to be worthily called the century of missions.
The year 1792 was the birth-year of modern missions. Then the man who has been called "the greatest gift to the Church since Martin Luther" saw his long-cherished desire realized in the beginning of an organized movement for evangelizing the world. ,; There is nothing," says Fleming Stevenson, "more brilliant or heroic in our modern Church than that passage of her history; and how nobly it rang out the old and rang in the new, as last century was changing into this, the crowded missions of today will testify."
In the year 1892 what do we see 1 Instead of one William Carey, I!lore than seven thousand living missionaries, whose hearts and lives are devoted to this divine enterprise. Instead of the £13 2s. 6d. cast into the treasury one hundred years ago, in the house of Widow Wallis, in Kettering, the Protestant churches of Christendom are now contributing more than $11,000,000 annually for giving the Gospel to the heathen. The Baptist Missionary Society, begun October 2d, 1792, has been followed by successor after successor, till now there are more than one hundred foreign missionary <:>rganizations preaching the Gospel among every nation.
If we glance over these epoch-marking" 92's" of the past centuries, we are filled with wonder and gratitude at what God has wrought. With what hope, with what enthusiasm, with what aspirations, with what prayers may we peer out into the future, trying to measure the triumphs of the Gospel which will be witnessed in the year 1992 !
THE STATUS OF MOSLEM WOMEN ACCORDING TO THE TEACHINGS OF THE QURAN. * BY REV. E. M. WHERRY, D.D., CHICAGO, ILL.
Some time since two articles of more than ordinary interest appeared in the Nineteenth Century, which were reprinted in the Magazine of Christian Literature for October, 1891. The firRt of these articles was from the pen of Mrs. Annie Reichardt, entitled " Mohammedan Women." In this article the author, who had spent some considerable time in the land of the Ottoman, gave a description of the degradation of woman under Moslem rule, which was by no means flattering to the sons of Islam, nor commendatory of their religion. Indeed, throughout her article the writer was plainly intent upon fixing a stigma of dark cruelty and low degradation of womankind upon the religion of the Moslem•.
"Read before the International Missionary Union, 1892.
110'.] TIll IT.4.TUI OF lLOI!!LEM lrOM1BN. .11
It was not, therefore, surprising that a defender of the faith of Islam should be found ready to champion the cause of his religion. Accordingly, three months later, another article appeared in the Nineteenth Century en- titled" The Real Status of Women in Islam," by the Hon. Justice Ameer Ali, of Calcutta. In this article the honorable justice, who is the author of a learned work entitled" Personal Law of the Muhammadans," claims to have refuted the assertions of the Christian lady by declaring in terms that Islam is no more to blame for the evils complained of than Christianity is to blame for the cruelties practised by its brutal husbands, or for the im- purity and seething corruption of the brothel. Turning to the low and degraded position of women in some Christian countries-notably in Mexico -he intimates that, were he to indulge in " tu quoques," he might make an onslaught upon Christianity not unlike that made upon Islam by his Christian antagonist. He points ont that some of the things charged against Islam might with equal propriety be laid against the Old Testament teaching concerning the status of women. "The IIebrew maiden," says he, "even in her father's honse, stood in the position of a servant; her father could sell her, if a minor. In case of his deatq, the sons could dis- pose of her at their will and pleasure. The daughter inherited nothing except when there were no male heirs. Marriages were invariably arranged by the parents, and wives were bought upon a recognized method of valuation. The Mosaic law set down the price at a uniform rate of fifty shekels -nearly £4 sterling of English money-but it nevertheless varied in practice, according to the station in the life of the bride and bridegroom. U nrestrained polygamy was practised among all classes. Child-marriage was frequent, as it still is, among the Jews of Palestine. There was no limitation to the power of the husband to divorce the wife. It was sufficient' to write a bill of divorcement' and dismiss the wife for no cause whatsoever; the wife having no power to divorce the husband nor to apply even to the judge to release her from an irksome bondage." While admitting that Jesus treated women with humanity and taught the inviolability of the marriage tie, he nevertheless charges upon Christians of all ages practices in relation to woman which are a disgrace to Christianity.
This reply of the learned Sayyid is characteristic of Moslem controversy. It is, after all, a declaration of tu quoque. To present an array of facts which cannot be traced to the teaching of the Bible as the source from which they have pr~ceeded proves nothing. The attempt to fix upon Christianity the practices relating to the treatment of women by ignorant and wicked men is to be guilty of the very fault he would criticise. Mrs. Reichardt claims that the teaching of the Qunin and the Traditions is responsible for the low position held by Moslem women. Fairness would require that in a "reply" the whole teaching of the Quran should have been shown to be incoJsistent with the aspersions of Christian writers, and especially of Mrs. Reichardt. "Two blacks never make a white."
Setting aside, then, the evils that grow out of " a godless materialism, covered with a thin veneer of religion, be it Christianity, lJe it Mohamme- danism, or any other form of creed," and the cruelties plainly attributable to ignorance, fauaticism or barbarism, let us look at the teaching of the books.
Of Jesus the Sayyid says that" Jesus had treated women with human- ity." As to His famous declaration, " What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder," the honorable justice thinks he perceives an eva- sive answer and an impractical law requiring modification in any but" an embryonic community." Nevertheless, it would be folly for him to assert that such modification is to be found in the teaching of the New Testament Scriptures; the one only sufficient cause for divorce being en- tirely consistent with that Divine law of marriage which was announced in Eden and attested by the Lord and confirmed by His apostle: "Hus- bands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church and gave Him- self for it. • . . For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." Of the Mosaic law, permitting the writing of a bill of divorcement, Jesus said: " For the hardness of your hearts he did it," and, "In the beginning it was not so." This teaching elevates woman to her place in Eden. She is " a helpmeet for man." She shares his love. There is no other with whom she may divide it. Shielded by love, she may rejoice every day all along the journey of life. In the household she is queen. And wherever men are impressed by this holy teaching, there woman is elevated to a position of equality with man.
How is it with the teaching of Islam? Now, in discussing this ques- tion we desire to avoid the error of fastening upon the religion of Islam any evils which may be fairly credited to human depravity and savage igno- ranoe. We freely admit that every religion is open to adverse criticism and even denunciation if all the practices of its followers are to be debited against it. It may then be freely admitted that – many of the cruelties practised in Moslem harems are entirely foreign to the teaching of the founder of Islam. It should also be freely conceded that the teaching of the Qnran has done much to abolish nameless heathen practices, and so far to better the condition of woman. On the other hand, it would be unfair to credit to Islam that liberty accorded to woman in some Moslem countries, where national or tribal customs have been retained which are at variance with the precepts of the Quran. Hughes, in his" Dictionary of Islam" (p. 680), says that" the strict legislation regarding women, as ex- ,pressed in Mohammedan law, does not affect their position among wild and uncivilized tribes. Among them she is as free as the wild goats on the mountain tops. Among the Afreedees in the Afghan hills, for example, women roam without protectioD from hill to hill, and are engaged in tending cattle and other agricultural pursuits. If ill-treated by their husbands, they either demand divorce or run away to some neighboring tribe. Not a few of the tribal feuds arise from such circumstances." " Among the Bedouins, " Mr. Palgrave tells us, " their armies are led by a maiden of good family, who, mounted amid the fore ranks on a oamel, shames the timid and excites the brave by satiristic or encomiastic recitations."
"The influence which Afghan women have exercised upon Central Asian politics has been very great; and, as we have already remarked, the Mohammedan State of Bhopal, in Central India, has for several generations past been governed by female sovereigns."
It appears, therefore, that the freedom enjoyed by such Moslem women is not due to the religion of Mohammed, but in spite of it, just as the degradation of woman in Mexico and South America, or any other Christian country, is ill spite of the religion of the Lord Jesus.
Before inquiring. in regard to the teaching of the Quran, as to the status of woman, let us note the attitude of Islam toward the re,elation of previous diipensations. This is important, inasmuch al!! in any comparison of the religion of Mohammed and that of Jesus we are justified in expecting to find in Islam an advance upon Christianity. Each dispensation, according to Moslem teaching, has advanced upon its predecessor. Hence, in respect to the status of women, it is not sufficient for a Moslem to show that women are in no worse condition under Islam than they are under Christianity, but he should be able to show that their condition is decidedly better. Accordingly we find the Hon. Justice Ameer Ali declaring not only that woman secures many substantial rights under Islam, but he goes on to say: "All the privileges that belong to her as a woman and a wife are secured to her, not by the' courtesies' which' come and go,' but by the actual text of the law. Taken as a whole, the legal status of a Mohammedan woman is not more unfavorable than that of many a European woman, while in many respects she occupies a decidedly better position."
On the other hand, again, we do not want to be understood as maintaining that the religion of Islam has not bestowed upon woman any kind of blessing. We readily admit that the founder of Islam was a reformer who wrought reformation. Many evil customs were abolished or greatly improved. Wherever Islam gained ascendency over a grossly idolatrous people-as in Africa, for instance-it certainly raised womanhood, as it also raised manhood, to a higher position than she ever could have held among fetich worshippers. It has accomplished a similar work among the lower classes of society in India, and we are not surprised to find the Sayyid indulging in a kind of pride akin to self-gratulation. It must, however, be confessed that hiiltory fails to reveal to us any high order of advancement of woman in Moslem countries. It avails to raise her up to a certain level, and ~hat at best a rather low level, and there it leaves her. Thus it has done and thus it will continue to do 110 long as the Quran holds sway ove;r the thought and action of Moslems. The improvement of the status of woman under Islam depends upon men like the honorable judge of Calcutta, who have departed from the ranks of the orthodox Moslems, and who, by a rationalistic interpretation of the Quran, have learned to explain away'those passages of Scripture relied upon in all ages for the cruelties practised against womankind. Weare not, therefore, prepared to concede to Islam all that is claimed for it by this writer. We are by no means prepared to admit that Mohammed " practically forbade polygamy and concubinage, and placed woman upon a pedestal hardly approached up to that time." On the contrary, nothing could be clearer than the Scripture authorizing the practice of both these evils. 'rake the passage from chapter iv. (" Surat-un-Nisa") 3, which our "enlightened" Moslem friends are fond of quoting to prove that Mohammed" practically forbade polyg- .amy and concubinage"-a passage quoted to this end by Mr. Justice Ameer Ali in the article already referred to. The passage is thus translated by8ale : "Take in marriage of such (other) women as please you, two or three or four (and no more). But if ye fear that ye cannot act equitably (toward so many, marry) one (only), or the slaves which ye shall ha'e acquired." Now, the very claim to make this passage inculcate the doctrine of monogamy is evidence of the desperate straits of the "enlightened" Moslem~ In the light of the example of the prophet himself it is simply ridiculous. It is more than ever absurd when the whole verse is quoted. The teaching of the last clause plainly permits the one Moslem in a myriad, who may "fear that he could not act equitably". toward "two," "three," or " four" lawful wives, to decline to marry even one, and to content himself with" the slaves which he shall have acquired." These slave girls he may treat as he pleases, without even the form of a marriage ceremony. With this clause staring him in the face, not to mention the example of the prophet, how can a man venture to say that Mohammed " practically forbade polgyamy" ~ Other passages might be quoted from the Qunin sustaining our contention. The passage given, as well as many others, justifies the Moslem in taking as many slaves as he may desire besides his lawful wives. The passages quoted by Mr. Ameer Ali to show that Mohammed " forbade" the custom of slave concubinage do not either abrogate or modify the above regulations as to marriage. The first passage quoted fromch. iv. 24 has reference to the case of a poor M08lem who has not wherewith to pay the dowry or to support a free woman. He is advised to marry some other Moslem's slave girl, provided she be a true believer, if marry he must, but is rather diseouraged from seeking such alliances. " Whoso among you hath not means sufficient that he may marry free women, who are believers, let him marry with sllch of your maid-servants whom your right hands possess or are true believers, for God well knoweth your faith. Ye are the one from the other; therefore marry them with the c(msent of their masters. • . , This is allowed unto him among you who feareth to sin (by marrying free women) j but if ye abstain (from marrying slaves) it will be better for you."
The other passage quoted from ch. v. 6 does not forbid concubinage, but merely stipUlates that when a Moslem desires to have in his harem a J ewess or a Christian woman he may do so, provided he marry her i he may not have her for a concubine. " This day are ye allowed free women that are believers and also free women of those who have received the Scriptures before you, when ye shall have assigned them their dower"
living chastely with them, neither committing fornication nor taking them for concubines." Even a cursory reading of these passages, as quoted by our Moslem apologists, impresses upon our minds the thought that they are hardlyfair in their method of dealing with their Scriptures.
Polygamy is without doubt one of the darkest blots on the moral and social teaching of Islam. It is admitted that Mohammed found it very generally practised among the tribes of Arabia and among surrounding nations-the Christians in general excepted. Jesus found it universally practised in His day, and whatever of improvement there was in the world in this respect in the days of Mohammed was due to the declaration: " A man shall leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh." The influence of this teaching has gone on throughout the centuries, so that to-day the laws of all Christian nations condemn polygamy in every form j not only so, but through its testimony even our" advanced" Moslem neighbors have recognized it as " opposed to the general progress of civilized society and true culture," and are in consequence making sturdy attempts to show that it is also opposed to the teachings of Mohammed. Even if, however, the trend of the teachings of Mohammed were against polygamy, as is claimed, the influence of his example was not, so that we have both in the precepts already quoted from the Quran, and in the example of the prophet, a sufficient rea!lon for the fact that Moslems have made no progress toward a pure monogamy since the days of the Hegira. If it be said that polygamy is not generally practised by Moslems, it is sufficient to say that it is practised to its utmost possibility of extent. As many as ninety-five per cent of the Moslems of India are monogamous only by the dire necessity resulting from poverty and a paucity of women. Were Christians to become polygamists to-mor- row, only two or three per cent of the population could actually put it into practice. The evil of the system does not lie in its prevalence, but in the fact that it subjects every Moslem woman to the possible chance of having a rival introduced into her home who should hold a larger share of her hus- band's affections than she. Does she protest ~ Does she plead the claims of "progress in civilized life" ~ Does she argue for the cause of " true culture" 9 The Moslem husband points her to the QUflln and to the prophet himself! Dara she rebel against her religion? No j she must submit.
Is she not" one who submits"-a Musulmani? This is the only pious course for her to pursue. Her father and mother will join with the Mullah and the Mallivie in urging her to submission. It is the will of Allah. 'I< A natural corollary to polygamy is the seclusion of women. This partly results from the necessity of providiug separate apartments for the various * "It is not for a true believer of either sex, when God and His Apostle have decreed a thing, that they should have the liberty of choosing a different matter of their own" (chap. xxxiiL 36). wives and their children, and partly from the moral degradation which accompanies the system.
The purpose of these rules was to secure greater purity of life, and under a system of social life which at once introduced into the houses of the wealthy a number of wives, concubines and slave girls, these rules seemed to be absolutely required. The prophet's own experience with Zainab, the daughter of his adopted son, together with the scandal which threatened to ruin the character of his favoritc Ayesha, must have impressed upon him the need of thus secluding the wives of the faithful from the temptations and perils of promiscuous intercourse of the sexes. However that may be, the law of the Quran requires that women live in seclusion.
This seclusion of women results in a degradation of both sexes. The Moslem men know little or nothing of the refinement which is born of the influence of pure womanhood. They see in woman only a being whose presence suggests to their minds the weaknesses and follies of the sex and the duty of turning away from temptation. On the other hand, women are early taught to hold the morality of men in low esteem. None may be trusted but fathers and brothers and sons. Is it any wonder that under such a system the moral status of the Moslem world should be low ~ A missionary who has lived among the Moslems of Turkey for twenty-five years says: "The burning denunciations of the Apostle Paul in the first chapter of Romans are applicable to tens of thousands in Mohammedan lands to·day." A missionary of similar experience in India says: "However the phenomenon may be accounted for, we, after mixing with Hindus and Musulmans for nineteen years, have no he8itatiun: in saying that the latter are, as a whole, some degrees lower in the social and moral scale than the former." In the matter of marriage this seclusion of the women renders it necessary to negotiate the contract through a third party. Mr. Ameer ~A.li makes a great deal out of the law that no woman may be married without her consent. He does not, however, tell us by what methods and under what influences this consent is secured. Manifestly consent in a Moslem harem is !l. very different thing from consent in a Christian home. There the consent is obtained by third parties, who may be likened to agents in a business concern. Samples are shown, the order given, and in due course the goods are consigned to the purchaser. In the marriage " deal" the parties often see each other for the first time after the contract has been closed. The writer once attended a Moslem wedding, where the first opportunity the bride and bridegroom had of seeing each other's faces after the marriage ceremony was beneath an ample sheet covering both their heads as they, with the aid of a candle, saw each other in a looking-glass! When a girl has been educated from childhood with a view to marriage, when marriage is held up as the great end of a woman's existence, aNd when single life is held to be a disgrace for any woman, the matter of consent is easily managed. Should a Moslem woman possess spirit enough to investigate for herself, and with the aid of some aged female friend arrange to marry a man of her own choice, she would be denounced as a wicked aud abandoned woman. So much for the free woman of Islam; but what of the slave girls whom the" right hands" possess ~ They give their consent to the will of their masters, just as the sheep brought to the slaughter give their conse!).t.
Let us now look at the position which a wife holds in a Moslem harem. We will just take any ordinary case, and see what the law of the Quran pro- vides for her. She is wife No. 1. She is exhorted to be faithful and obedient to her husband. As we have already discovered, she must remain in seclusion-i.e., she must avoid being looked upon by men other than near relatives, and she must not look upon them. Her duties are in the household. She must not neglect her devotions, for while women are not excluded from the mosque by any command of the Quran, it is universally regarded as a propriety for them to observe their devotions in private, and this practice is surely in accord with the harem system. If a woman have a husband of good temper and affectionate disposition. her home may be measurably happy, though her chances of intellectual development are few indeed. If, on the contrary, she have a heartless and cruel husband, her life becomes insufferably miserable. She has but little recourse in such a case unless she have influential relatives, wealth, or beauty-circumstances which may enable her to defend herself with a threat of seeking a divorce. Her husband may divorce her at any time for no other reason than that he does not like her or that he is angry with her, but this liberty accorded him by the Quran is modified by many collateral circumstances, so that he is less likely to pronounce the fatal words than to solace himself with a .~econd wife, and thus at once please and avenge himself.
If he be of a violent temper, he may avail himself of the permission of the Quran, .and administer corporeal punishment. "Those (women) whose perverseness ye shall be apprehensive of, rebuke; and remove them into separate apartments and chastise them." It is true that this permission was not given to enable a man to tyrannize over his wife, yet the fact that the power is placed in his hands, he is ever ready to use it unlawfully. Arbitration is frequently resorted to so as to avoid the extreme measure of either corporeal punishment or divorce. With all these discouragements to divorce, added to the law preventing a man remarrying a thrice-divorced wife until she have been married and divorced by another, divorce is nevertheless cruelly frequent. Whenever it occurs, and however cruel it be, it is always in accord with the teaching of the Quran. It is exceedingly common to find men who have had a dozen wives married and divorced in succession. Such divorced wives, bereft of their chirdren and excluded from their homes, usually have nothing better before them than to seek a new alliance, with the possibility of being divorced again. Thus we see how that polygamy may, through the divorce laws of the Quran, lead up to what Sayyid Ameer Ali calls" unlicensed polyandry" in the Moslem East as well as in the Christian West. Under laws and customs like these, where the power to secure a divorce is nearly if not always predicated of the man; laws which at once secure the freedom of the man on the payment of the dowry, which he may fail to do on one pretext or another, while the woman is held in bonds for a period varying frum three months to two years; laws which make it possible for a man at any moment to introduce other wives and conGubines into his home; laws which make divorce mean to the wife separation from her children; laws, in fine, which seclude the weaker sex and place them at the mercy of any brutal husband-under laws such as these, bearing the imprimatur of a religion purporting to .be the religion of the true God, the position of woman is one of degradation.
This degradation is none the less because the victim may not realize its extent. It is none the less because she may be in a way content with her condition. Slavery is no less hateful because the sable bondsman may seem to enjoy a great deal of ease and happiness. Such phenomena only illustrate the endurance of poor human nature and demonstrate the fertility of man's ingenuity in devising ways and means to secure enjoyment. The very fact that the slave learns quietly and patiently to endure the sharp blow of the lash only serves to give emphasis to the degradation of his condition. So it is with the Moslem woman. She may be content with her condition. She may even refuse to heed the voice of those who would bring her the Gospel of a better condition. . Such conduct may only reveal the greater depth of her degradation. Her true condition can only be understood when it is compared with that of her sisters in truly Christian homes. Look at these two classEs and compare them from almost any standpoint excepting that of native aptitude, and we can discover what Christianity has done for the one and what Islam has done for the other. The Christian woman may not occupy every sphere open to a man simply because she is a woman; but, on the other hand, she is able to do a work which men cannot do or cannot do so well. In our schools she studies the same subjects and recites in the same classes. Be- yond the school room she engage!! in many of the same professions. She is honored in the home, in the school and college, in the Church and State, in social life. On the stage, the rostrum, and even in the pulpit she is recognized as the leader and educator and instructor of men as well as women. All this because of the Divine Gospel of liberty taught by the friend of Martba and Mary. Explain the phenomenon as you will, woman secures her true position lost by the fall in Eden by faith in Jesus Christ.
With the Moslem woman bow different! Estimated in the book of her religion as inferior to man, she ranks as scarcely more than half a man. Two women must appear in court to combat the testimony of one man, and a woman may only inherit half the amount allowed to ber brotber. Secluded from free intercourse with the world, she cannot as a child or as a mother gain that practical acquaintance with the affairs of this world that would enable her to undertake any duty outside the harem. Not only so, but were sbe to ilecure the qualifications necessary for 3ucb a work, she
1892.J A MOSLEM "BACK-FIRE."
would by her religiou be debarred from the exercise of her talents_ What with the harem and the dark shadow of the flystem of polygamy and divorce the ambition of woman is crushed ere it begins to rise. The very exceptions which are paraded by our Moslem writers to show what Moslem women have been able to do supply me with my best proofs. These few are conspicuous for their rarity. These women have been what they have been by virtue of having had courage to act independently of the teaching of the Quran and the Ulama or Moslem Hierarchy.
We maintain, therefore, that the position of woman under Islam is one of comparative degradation, and that her hope of advancement to a higher pos'tion is not in the Quran or the traditions of Islam, but in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
A MOSLEM "BACK-FIRE."
BY REV. J. K. WILSON, TAUNTON, MASS.
Just now there is an exceedingly interesting problem in defensive tactics being worked out by the Mohammedan authorities in Syria. The chief missionary agencies in that region are the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions of the United States and the British Syrian Missions. The former, with its magnificent American College at Beyrout as a centre, is making itself felt in many ways throughont the land. It has always devoted much attention to education, and its mission schools are to be found in almost every town or village of considerable size. The latter was founded' by Mrs. Thompson distinctively for the work of female education in Syria, and has spent most of its energy in this direction, giving to the girls what was denied them under Mohammedanism. The schools of both these societies-the one for boys and the other for girls-have existed side by side in the same villages j and the superior intelligence and enlightenment which the traveller in Syria must note is due in no small degree to these.
But within a short time their prosperity has been checked, and checked in a strange way. When the prairies are on fire the settlers often protect their possessions by building what they call a " back·fire, " setting fire to the grass and stubble just about them, and thus making a burned space over which the great waves of the on-rushing sea of flames cannot pass. So Mohammedanism has set its "back-fire." It proposes to fight the teachers and missionaries with their own weapons. It will withstand the school by the school. One pertinent illustration of this determination is herewith given. Two or three years ago a new governor came to the district of the Bekaa, which includes the eastern slope of the Lebanon and the western slopes of the anti-Lebanon ranges, with the beautiful and fertile valley lying between them. This man seems to be a kind of Yankee-Moslem, or Moslem-Yankee. He is not content to sit still and levy his taxes and get rich. He has a .habit of looking about him to see what ill going on. Among other things, the work of the mission schools attracted his at- tention. He saw that the boys and girls attending them were surpassing other boys and girls in knowledge and intelligence. And he found, too, that a great many of them were forsaking Mohammed for Christ, and that. most of those who remained Moslems were 80 only nominally, for con- venience and self-interest rather than from conviction. Being quick-witted, it didn't take him long to reason back from effect to cause; these Christian schools are undermining Mohammedanism. Therefore they must go. Bu~ how? Doubtless it would have been to his mind altogether the easiest and most satisfactory solution of the problem to introduce the time-honored methods of the sword and bow-string; but, unfortunately for him and his wishes, the old times are not these times, and he dare not resort to the argument of force. But what he cannot do by force he will do by guile.. Accordingly he has established throughout his district a system of Moslem schools, setting apart for its support a certain portion of the taxes of the district. Moslem parents are forbidden to send their children to the Chris- tian schools, and are required to send them to the Moslem schools. Once in awhile the governor goes through the villages on a tour of inspection. He visits the mission school. "Any Moslem children here ?" is his ques- tion. Woe to the luckless chap who is pointed out to his excellency as a son of " the faithful." Forth he must come, and out he must go, counting himself exceedingly fortunate if he escapes a whack from the gubernatorial walking-stick as he goes. Under such persuasive and convincing methods, it can easily be believed that the Moslem constituency of the mission schools is. rapidly lessened. In Baalbek, where these facts came most directly under my observation, the boys' school had numbered upward of one hundred pupils, while the girls' school had an enrolment of about two hundred. These numbers have been reduced to about thirty or forty for each school, most of those now attending being children of Christian parents, or, at least, of those who are but indifferent adherents to the prophet.
All this seems to be a great set-back to the cause of education in Syria, and doubtless it is. There is, however, this other side to the matter. In order to compete at all with the Christian school, the standard of the Moslem school must be and is being raised. The typical Mohammedan school is a curious thing. It is held in a room bare of all furniture, even of seats, but having a raised platform across one end. Here sits the master, crosslegged, with the Koran before him, and with rod in hand. Before him on the floor sit the boys, also cross-legged. The text-book is the Koran, or Mohammedan Bible. The master reads a sentence from its pages, and the pupils repeat it after him in shrill and piercing tones. Again and again, and yet again, through the livelong day. Brightest scholar he with strongest lungs and shrillest voice. In some places more is a1ltempted ; but in the main this is the Mohammedan idea of education.
But when brought into contrast with the teachings of the mission schools, this is found sadly deficient. Common-sense rejects it as a substi- tute for that which is denied. In order to be at all successful in his plan, the governor must make his schools come somewhere near the standards raised by the mission schools. And he is trying to do this. The Koran is no longer the only text-book. The pupils are taught at least the rudi- . ments of what we understand by a "common school education." And while it is true that this teaching is far less thorough and satisfactory than that which is given by the missionaries, it is also true that, !lince there are many in these new schools whom the missionaries could not reach, there are more children in Syria to-day enjoying what may be called in a very loose way " a liberal education" than there ever were before.
And this is true not merely respecting the boys. There has come to pass that until now unheard-of thing among Mohammedans-schools are opened for the girls, and they are being taught like their brothers. Mter centuries of denial that woman has a soul, or that she can be taught any- thing more than a dog or a horse might learn, Mohammedanism has been compelled to change its base, and not only to concede the possibility of her intellectual development, but also to provide facilities for that develop- ment. Poor, bungling, imperfect these are, doubtless, at their best j but they are almost infinitely better than none at alL And their real signifi- cance lies in the tendency they suggest, and the end to which they point. The poet's line is true in quite another sense than that in which he intended it : " A little knowledge is a dangerous thing ;"
dangerous to ignorance and superstition, and to whatever grows therefrom or is built thereon; for the little knowledge has a curious trick of growing into greater knowledge, and the one first question of a dawning intelligence is apt to be the herald and prophet of scores and hundreds more following closely after. The door of the Moslem school-house, swinging open at a woman's touch, is the door out of the monotonous seclusion, the degraded and debased conditions, the almost animal-like existence in which the women of Eastern lands have so long been held, out into the open world of sunlight, and liberty, and truth. That door once opened can never be shut again. It is one thing, as we learned long ago in the familiar story in the" Arabian Nights," to let your geni out of the bottle j it is quite another thing to get him back into it.
It really looks, therefore, as though the Moslem governor had been the least bit" too smart" in this scheme of his j as though he had overreached himself. In the end this" parochial school" back-fire of Mohammedanism may prove a blaze to ~onsume that which it was set to protect.
•
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICAl,S
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER. MASS.
INDIA.
– " The Brahmos have done a good work in their protests against the evils of caste, and in every public question of morals they are generally on the right side. But as their teaching on sin and atonement is much the same as the Unitarians', they have failed to impress on their followers any sense of the sinfulness of sin. They have never reached the poor and uneducated, and at the present time their influence is steadily decreasing." -Ohurch Missionary lntelligencer.
-" The Northwest Provinces lie between the Punjab on the northwest and Bengal (or the Lower Provinces) on the southeast. Through the whole of their extent, from end to end, they are traversed by the two great sacred rivers, the Ganges and the Jumna. The Ganges, b'lfsting in from the Himalayas on the plains at the peculiarly sacred place of Hurdwar (Haridwar, gate of Hari or Vishnu), holds the more northerly course, and flows past many large towns (Cawnpore among the number) to Allahabad, where the Jumna meets it, and the two great rivers flow in one stream past Benares into Bengal. The Jumna flows past the very sacred place of Muttra, past Agora and other large towns, and loses itself in the Ganges at Allahabad. The province is in an especial way the true home of the noble old Aryan race. Mr. Sherring, in his' History of Protestant Missions in India,' speaking of the people of the Northwest Provinces, says: 'In place of the stunted, dark races of Bengal, of great vivacity, and of considerable keenness of intellect, you have a fine. stalwart people, tall, strong-limbed, often powerful, of noble presence, ready to fight, independent, of solid rather than sharp understanding. The Bengali is proud, but it is because he is subtle and quick-witted, and thinks he is capable of overreaching you. The Hindustani is proud, -but it is because of his trust in his strong arm, because of his long pedigree, hecause of his well-cultivated, manly habits.' He further says: 'Hinduism is in the fulness and maturity of its strength in these Upper Provinces, where it has acquired a strong compactness of an almost impenetrable character. Hence the greater difficulty of the progress of Christianity in the northwest than in Bengal, and, indeed, than elsewhere in India.' It was in these provinces that the chief scenes of the Mutiny of 1857 were enacted, and the names of many of its towns-Meerut, Cawnpore, Agra, etc.-are invested with a sad significance to many in this country to this day. The great masses of the rural population (the backbone, as they have properly been called, of the populations of India) have been, to a large extent, almost untouched." -Ohurch Missionary Intelligencer.
MISCELLANEOUS.
– " How busy death has been in our missionary ranks! We never remember publishing such a list of departures in our obituary. Sixteen who have borne the extreme heat or cold and the burden of the day in one or another of our fields have been lately called away. Eleven of these had retired from active service, and include such veterans as Brother Wunsche, aged eighty-eight, and Sister Wedemann, eighty-six. The former, like several on this list of departures, served in Surinam; the latter in the West Indies and South Africa, where she and her husband ministered to lepers on Robben Island. Brother Ribbach was for thirty-one years in Labrador, and Sister Bentien, lately a member of our Dublin congregation. had labored with her husband in Barbadoes and the Danish West Indies."- Periodical Accounts (Moravian).
– " For some reason which we cannot explain, dispatches are occasionally sent from San Francisco to the papers on this side of the Rocky Mountains indicating some terrible state of affairs at the Sandwich Islands, and so we have had of late reports of the sickness and death of the queen and of various insurrections. These dispatches have not only been without foundation, but they seem to be prompterl by malice. Affairs in the Hawaiian Islands are moving forward peacefully and prosperously, the queen is in good health and is ruling well, meeting the approbation of the better class of citizens. Our friends will do well to accept with great caution any dispatches emanating from San Francisco which have an unfavorable bearing upon the Hawaiian Is~ands."-Missionary Herald.
– " It is far from unusual that a European comes among a so-called uncivilized people with the notion that among so rude a race mere unregulated caprice is the spring of its whole behavior. How astonished he is when he discovers that every action, public and private, is rigorously governed by settled usage, to which the most solicitous obedience is rendered! This, for the missionary, is a discovery of the highest moment. It is snch usage on which he must mainly depend to maintain a remnant of ethical consciousness, on which he can found his endeavors. The heathen religions are so far from affording such a basis that they are in great measure the cause of demoralization among the heathen peoples. They are the source of all manner of pagan abominations.
"So Roon, now, as it is seen that missions are to aim, not merely at converting individual souls, but at gaining over. whole people!J, it results from this that they must address themselves to the problem of converting heathen usages into Christian. What that meanA, and with what extraordinary difficulties it has to contend, is worth some slight consideration.
" If the missionary, as he ought, is to intervene with decisive authority in this field of ethical usage, he must, first of all, be well informed on more than one side. On one hand he must be possessed of right apprehensions of Christian ethical usage, amid which he has grown up, and which he brings with him. He must be clearly conscious how vast a part of this is of no essential significance for Christianity, of merely easua) and local character, how much that to us appears a necessary part of good usage was wholly unknown to the apostles, and, indeed, to the reformers. Of course, then, he should understand that it would be purely arbitrary to require of the heathen that in all these particulars they should regulate themseh'es according to the standard of use prevailing in Christian Europe.
" On the other hand, the missionary, before proceeding to decisive action, must assure himself that he thoroughly understands the import of the prevailing usages which he finds among the heathen. This will be exceedingly difficult to ascertain, for, in general, all the answer he will receive to his inquiries will be that so it is, and so it always has been. The first and great que8tion is : Which of the usages of the people, now that they have become Christian, may be retained, and which must be abolished? From what we have said already, it follows that the social use of Christian Europe is by no means al ways to be applied as a standard. Many missionaries have insisted on doing this, and have afterward come to see that they had committed injurious errors."-Mission.~-Berichte (Rhenish Missionary Society). – " Rationalism is eating its way into the very heart of Judaism. But this disintegration must sooner or later be followed by reconstruction; for the Jew, with his marvellous history and traditional associations, cannot . live without God, and so many are being led, in the weary search for the God whom their forefathers knew, to embrace ChristIanity, or, if not Christianity, then some form of Unitarianism, which is usually only a tem- porary halting-place previous to their acknowledgment of Christ as their Messiah. Mr. Israel Zanguill tells us that' the deserters from Judaism are daily becoming more numerous, and the plutocracy ennobled goes over to Christianity.' Certaiuly evangelistic efforts of recent years have been vastly more fruitful, and it is not too much to say that an absolutely unique opportunity is presented to the Church of God.
"But it may be 8aid that these sceptical influences are only felt by a certain section of the Jews. This is in part true, but it is also true that even among the so.called orthodox there is a spirit of restless dissatisfac- tion. Many feel that Judaism, so far from realizing the hopes of the Old Testament, has resulted in failure, and they are becoming increasingly aware that the only solution of their difficulties is the acceptance of Chris- tianity ; and though they hesitate to take the step, the drift toward Chris- tianity is very marked. They imitate Christian methods, come to services and sermons in our churches, read the New Testament, and recognize the noble qualities in the life of Jesus of Nazareth; and when the revised translation of the New Testament appeared they spoke of it in the highest terms as a Book of which the Jewish race might be justly proud. M. Debre, Rabbi of Neuilly, near Paris, writes in the Jewish Quarterly that now new-born children are brought to the synagogue to receive the ble~s ing of the rabbi, just as Christian children arc brought to baptism. There is also a ceremony of initiation for boys and girls of twelve and thirteen years, at which the boys appear in black and the girls in white, very much like our confirmation, and for which they are carefully prepared by the rabbis. The rabbi is now summoned to the bedside of the sick and dying; the coffin is strewn with flowers as among Christians; the Hebrew prayers are replaced by others in the vernacular; the organ and choir have foupd a place in the synagogue ; sermons are frequent, and an afternoon service is provided for the ladies j the rabbis dress very much as the ordinary clergyman. All this shows that the relations between Judaism and Christianity are no longer those of hostility, but of growing appreciation; and in this drawing toward the Christian Church may we not see some preparation for that national acceptance of Christianity of which the prophets and the apostle speak 1 But be this as it may, the Church of God has a great opportunity for evangelistic effort, of which she ought most earnestly to avail herself.
" With regard to the Jews in Oriental lands, who, if we include Russia, constitute probably two thirds of the nation, they still retain the same fixity of religion as of old. But the persecutions to which they have been exposed have led many to ask, ' Why are we thus persecuted ~' and in the endeavor to find an an~wer to thIS question a considerable number have embraced Christianity. The circulation of the Word of God and the untiring efforts of the missionary are gradually Jeavening the masses with an increasing knowledge of Christ; and the history of Jacob Rabbinovitz in Bessarabia, of Rabbi Leichenstein in Budapest, and the awakening which has lately taken place at Saratov, in Russia, where in a few days two hundred and fifty Jews embraced Christianity, show that the seed sown is already germinating. And may' it not be that in the near future, under the fertilizing dews of the Spirit of God, it will yield the great national harvest of which the apostle speaks, and' so all Israel shall be saved' ~ And when this blessed consummation does arrive, it is abundantly evident that the Jews by their linguistic abilities, and by their ready adaptation to the most diverse national surroundings, will make heralds of the Gospel absolutely unique in their effective qualifications. Their restoration to the Divine favor will be an invaluable addition to the Church of God, bringing fresh vigor to her ancient life, and realizing the completeness of her predestined ideal, and so the future conception of the apostle will, in God's own time and way, be accomplished, and the world, awake from the death-sleep of ages and through the acceptance of life and Christ, become the universal possession of humanity. "-Jewish Intelligence.
-The Rev A. W. Lewis, of Schreiber, Canada, says in the Presby- terian Record: "A Roman Catholic chapel and three Protestant churches protest against sin. The Episcopalian, Methodist, and Presbyterian min- isters live within gunshot ot each other. (They endeavor to use their guns on the enemy.) The Episcopal antl Presbyterian churches are separated only by the street, and this is unseen on Sabbath, for one week all go to the Episcopal, the next all come to ours. Their pastors take Sabbath about to preach 'along the line.' The greatest harmony exists to their mutual edification."
AFRICA.
-" The Bulletin of the Geographical Society of Lisbon prints a letter from one of the Roman Catholic missionaries in the Ganguella country, beyond Bihe, in West Central Africa. This territory stretches inland to the Zambesi. The writer reports these natives as docile, timid, imitative, and eager to learn; appreciating kindness, and having a feeling for the beautiful. Thev are dextrons workers in wood and iron, and do not , oppose to civilization the cold resistance of those who do not wish to know anything more than what they have learned from their ancestors. Around the Catholic mission station native families have settled, and are cultivating successfully not only the native products, but those of Europe; among them wheat, which yields sixtyfold on land relatively poor. The mission- aries, aided by their school-children, have dug a canal for irrigating pur- poses. The governor of Benguella, who has visited Carsenga, examined the school in reading, writiug, arithmetic, spelling, and the Portuguese language. 'It is even necessary to moderate the zeal of the little blacks for study.' "-Missionary Herald.
-It gi,es an idea of difficulties in ~-,-frica, when Bishop Smythies, of Zanzibar and Nyassaland, says that if part of his diocese lay in London, it would be easier for him to superintend it than to have charge of Nyassa- land. He can go to London in twenty days or less, but for a visit to Nyassaland and return he must allow six months! How would it do to appoint him Bishop of Zanzibar and London (with several auxiliaries), and to transfer the Bishop of London to the Lakes ~ Then the complaint could not be made that no home dignitary has ever recognized a call to the mission fields. Such exchanges may some day not appear so ludicrous as they do now. Why should not a Boniface, in his old age laying aside a great primacy that he might receive the crown of martyrdom among the heathen, be as possible now as eleven hundred years ago ~ -It is known that the Universities Mission brethren belong to the High Church party of the Church of England. Their converts are strIct in observing the fasts of the Church, but the food which they save they bring to the church to be sold for the poor.
-Herr Merensky, of the Berlin Mission on Lake Nyassa, says of the Konde tribe, among whom it is to work: "You can hardly imagine, for Africa,. anything more idyllic than a Konde village. First, well tilled fields announce that it is near j then we often see a widely extending banana gro'e, which is inseparably involved in the very existence of the village. In the banana wood things are cleanly, the streets are swept, and soon you see here and there neat cottages of bamboo and unburnt brick, sometimes also longer, quadrangular houses for the youth. 'The eye is particularly struck by the seemly cow stables, of which the chiefs have built the largest. We saw at Makendza one 120 feet long, and at Mabynsa one was going up which could hardly have been less than '200 or 250 feet in length. The dwelling houses are often so neat and clean that they would draw attention even in Europe. Their form is round, the under part being of bambOO and unburnt brick, and the upper part being like the familiar Basuto houses.
"When I add that stock-raising receives such attention among the Kondes as that the cattle are regularly smoked to clear them of the dangerous bush-lice, and often washed to keep them thoroughly clean, this people appears as one of the most advanced in Africa. It is especially significant that its culture appears to be indigenous. There are many indications that the Kondes have been settled for centuries at the northern end of the lake, and have gradually learned how to develop the resources of their country in this effective way. The people are of a strong and muscular build. Even the well-known African flatfoot is by no means universal among them; where it does show itself, it is less coarsely developed. The color is dark, especially in the proper nucleus of the tribe, who live by the lake. You notice among the men many whose features speak of reflection. It struck me with surprise that the elder people often have pleasing faces, whereas the Caffre proper, if a heathen, is almost sure to grow ugly with age. The reason may be that the Kondes appear to be a very sober race. Even the common sorts of African intoxicants are not much brewed among them. They do not practise circumcision, and thus two walls, which in South Africa resist the advance of Christianity, are not found here. The religion of the people is ancestor worship. They have words for Spirit, God, for sacrifice and prayer. Thus far I have discovered no trace of magic. There appears, therefore, to be here such a soil for the diffusion of the Gospel as is seldom found in heathen lands. The people, moreover, appear to have many praiseworthy traits of character and usage. Thus far we have scarcely lost anything by theft or by mendicancy ; chiefs who came into my tent behaved themselves in a serious and seemly manner. They handled nothing, still less did they laugh at what they did not understand, but sat modestly on the camp-stools that were handed them, listening with serious repose of manner to the topic of conversation. Before us lay this noble mission-field, into which we had entered on leaving Kasonga, and our hearts swelled more and more with joy at the thought that our society, that we have been called to cultivate this field; but a look at the coast lagoons, through which our way led us, and at the three hammocks with their fever-stricken occupants, reminded us that the fruits of this field can only be gathered through pacrifice; yea, perchance through heavy sacrifices." -BerUner Missions-Berichte.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEV. J. T. GlIACEY, D.D.
The Attitude of the Educated Classes ere the consummation so devoutly to be of India toward Ohristianity. wished crowns the great missionary en· terprise of the Church of God in India. BY REV. J. E. ROBINSON. BOMBAY, INDIA. Two closely-related facts should have It is the deliberate judgment of those the effect upon the Church of strength- in a position to form correct opinions ening her faith, stimulating her hope, on the subject, that at no period iIi the and awakening her profound gratitude, history of Indian missions have the on the one hand; and of developing status and prospects of Christianity in her patience, increasing her ze!l, and the Indian Empire afforded such solid kindling larger enthusiasm, on the ground for encouragement on every other. These are, first, Christianity hand as at the present hour. Those has secured a magnificent strategic po- who know India best and are most fa. sition and most excellent vantage- miliar with the march of movements in ground from which to prosecute and that great empire. unanimously confirm carryon her work of conquest and ae· this judgment; and among them will similation; and, second, there remains be found some of the very highest State yet very much land to be possessed.
officials-viceroys, governors, members Never before have converts from hea- of council, and also distinguished schol- thenism all along the line been so nu- ars ; men who have no personal inter- merous. Where twos and threes, or at ests to serve by taking a prejudiced most tens and twenties, were added to view of the situation, but whose official the Church a few years ago, hundreds position and duties have made it neces- and even thousands are now gathered; sary for them to thoroughly familiarize and these results are effected under themselves with the figures and facts such circumstances. as to abundantly as they actually exist. warrant the belief that great" breaks"
But while the position of Christianity may be expected very soon among these 'in India is so well assured, and its out· gregarious peoples. A notable fact in look more hopeful and satisfactory than connection with the movement toward ever before, it must not hastily be as- Christianity of large numbers of the sumed that the crisis of missions in lowest classes of the people, within the India has been fully passed, that the past year or two, is that it is not con- outer works have been utterly demol- fined to one province or part of the ished, and that all that remains to be country. From several sections the done is that the victorious army should tidings come that the common people rush through the breach and proudly are manifesting an unusual interest in plant the flag of conquest on the cita- Christianity, and becoming remarkably del. It is desirable, for many and ob- responsive to evangelistic efforts. In vious reasons, that the Church should some places accessions have been more understand that this is far, very far in- numerous during the past twelve deed, from being the case. To all hu. months than in as many previous years.
man appearancell-notwithstanding the There can be no doubt that the hearts indisputable fact that the Christian of the disadvantaged multitudes are community is increasing at a far more being moved by the Divine Spirit, and rapid rate than the general popUlation that this providential movement is –many a campaign must needs yet be bound to gather increased momentum fought, many a " million for missions" with the passing years.
cast into the Lord's treasury, and many But while this is true and rightly "life laid upon the altar of sacrifice, awakens our gratitude and thankfulness, it should be remembered-not by ward Christianity? To the first ques· any means despondently-that up to tion it may be briefly replied that, gen.
the preHent time missionary successes erally speaking, the higher classes do have been achieved almost exclusively not seem to be aware that anything among the lowest classes and from the transpiring around them in the form of non.Aryan races chiefly. The higher a religious movement demands serious castes of pure Hindus have hardly been attention at their hands. They so touched; and it is claimed-with some thoroughly despise the low castes that degree of truth, I believe-that the movements of IIny kind among these number of converts from the higher are matters of little concern. In the educated classes is proportionately less minds of those who have come to know now than it was twenty, thirty, or even that Christianity is making headway in fifty years ago. This may be satisfac- some directions, the predominant feel.
torily accounted for, perhaps, by the ing is either one of settled conviction fact that the efforts of the missionaries that these baser classes are wholly in· of the past generation were much more capable of permanent social and moral largely directed toward the educated elevation.; or, a complacent concession classes and higher castes than at pres· that Christianity is welcome to all it ent. The policy in this respect has can get or make out of such contempti.
been considerably modified, and not ble and unpromising material.
unwisely, in the view of the writer. In attempting an analysis of the atti.
Let the Church, then, thank God for tude of the educated classes toward the past and take courage regarding Christianity, we first of all perceive the future. Let her rejoice, as well she that it is of a very complex, self·incon.
may, over what has been accomplished; sistent, and paradoxical character. To and, possessing her great soul in pa. anyone acquainted with India and its tience, gird herself anew for the com· philosophical systems this will not be pletion of the stupendous work she has surprising; for, as one has justly said: undertaken. It is due to the Church " The Hindu mind has long surpassed that she should know all the facts and all other minds in the ability to hold, clearly apprehend the situation; it is or believe itself to hold, at the same due to those whom she has sent to the time, two or more opinions which ap.
front, that she should neither be too pear to be wholly irreconcilable. In· sanguine of immediate victory nor too deed, an acknowledged note of the impatient because it draws not near Hindu mind is ' eclElcticism issuing in with the desired rapidity. That the confusion,' which has been said to be progress made has been far greater than 'the very method of Hindu thought.' ..
was ever anticipated by the projectors 1; The first element in the attitude and pioneers of missions in the last cen· of the educated classes toward Chris.
tury is undeniable. Let not the Church tianity, which may be noticed, is dis· now stultify herself by waxing restive quietude.
because the final victory tarrios. The There can be no doubt that a wide- victory is coming; it will fully come spread feeling of anxiety and foreboding when the Church shall have done what exists in regard to the spread and ulti· she-ought to do to secure it, and when mate triumph of the religion of Jesus she is prepared for it. Christ. As a proselyting religious sys- To all who desire the most effective tem and assimilating spiritual force and speedy evangelization of India, it Christianity is no longer despised and cannot be otherwise than deeply inter. held in contempt as it once was. Every.
esting to inquire how the higher classes where in India, among enlightened ad· are affected by the present evangelistic herents of all religions, there unques· successes among the lower? What is tionably prevails a deep·seated, unwel· the attitude of the educated classes to· come, and troublesome conviction that the final result of the conflict between (a) The little progreEs which Chris- Christianity and these religions is tianity has as yet made among the more merely a question of time. As educa- enlightened of the community. It is tion becomes more general and thor- easy to perceive that from their stand- ough, the past triumphs of Christianity point this fact has considerable weight.
and the meaning of its present restless, Hindus look with complacency upon world-wide aggressiveness and calm our missionary efforts, pointing to the confidence of ultimate victory are more absolutely untouched castes around us, clearly apprehended than ever before; priding themselves on their impregna- and this better acquaintance begets a bility, and viewing with ill-concealed corresponding anxiety on their part as contempt the ingathering of the low- to the fate of their largely-discredited caste and non-caste by the few hun- systems. •• This absorbing, assimilat- dreds or thousands per annum.
ing power," they reason, .. which so (b) Again, the attitude of the nomi- confidently aims at nothing less than nally Christian European officials tow- the moral subjugation of the whole ard evangelical Christianity is perceived world, and has come to India with the to be in the main, as it has ever been, evident purpose of remaining until its unsympathetic, unfriendly, and even, at cherished object is fully accomplished times, contemptuous and hostile toward -this mighty force, under the banner vital godliness and experimental relig- of which earth's foremost nations are ion. There have been and are noble marshalled, and under whose fostering exceptions; but the higher official care the noblest civilization the world classes are well known to bEl largely has ever known has been developed- pervaded by a thoroughly sceptical surely such a force is not to be despised spirit. which, while for various reasons or lightly esteemed!" They reason it does not always assert itself so rightly. To many reflective minds the strongly and practically as to create an issue itself is not doubtful; but while open breach between those who possess some congratulate themselves that the it and organize!} ecclesiastical Chris- dreaded crisis is hardly likely to occur tianity, is nevertheless strong enough in their time, and therefore they may to make its influence powerfully felt in calmly pursue the even tenor of their various directions. The effect of all way, content if the evil day be staved this upon thoughtful educated men can off until they-and perhaps their chil- easily be imagined. It is not to be dren and grandchildren-have passed marvelled at that they should be per_ off the stage; others are unhappy in con- plexed and confounded by phenomena templation of the dire probability, and of this kind, and that they should con.
give vent to their feelings by the ex· elude that a system of religion from hibition at times of a bitter spirit or which apparently its own cultured ad- hatred and opposition. herents are breaking away through 2. Paradoxical as it may seem, side stress of scientific and philosophic ne- by side with this feeling of uneasiness cessity. can hardly possess a valid claim and foreboding, which has just been to acceptance or even consideration at referred to, there may also be found to their hands. They argue, and not un- exist a sense of security that makes itself reasonably, that when Christianity readily apparent. Hitherto Hinduism demonstrates its ability to command has held its own against all comers- the full confidence and retain the un- Buddhism, Mohammedanism, Brahmo- wavering allegiance of its own. children, ism: why not against Christianity? who have been nourished at its bosom But there are other well-defined factors and brought up under its fostering which co·operate to nourish a sense of care, it will be time enough for Hindus safety in the ~inds of the educated and others to serions1v consider what clal>ses. For example; their duty in regard to it may be. (c) There is also the potent influence unjust: ., Though compelled occasion. of Western literature to be taken into ally to pay tribute to the missionaries' account, in so far as it tends to mould usefulness in promoting the enlighteneducated native opinion Magazines, ment of the people, yet it does so with reviews, and all sorts of cheap books, ill-concealed unwillingness. . . . Some saturated with agnosticism, rationalism, influential journals have taken in hand and other isms, are widely and eagerly to praise various forms of Hinduism, read by those who rarely come in con- especially caste, and to disparage Christact with the sound results of Christian tianity. Some adopt by turns a spirit scholarship. Thb literature on which of deism, positivism, and eclecticism. educated natives feed is for the most Others express a languid faith in Chrispart undisguisedly hostile to Revela- tian truth, and are quite content to tion. Works of this character are dili- leave the world in error." Anglo-Indian gently sought after. How unspeakably journalism can in no sense be regarded sad it is to reflect that the strongest as a help to the evangelization of India, pleas against Christianity, advanced by but the contrary. It sets up a false educated natives, are those furnished standard, it discounts and discredits by scholars of Christian Eritain, Ger- revealed truth, it furnishes excuses for many, and America 1 No longer shame- opposition to the religion of Christ, and faced enough to advocate the superior_ fortifies those who refuse allegiance to ity of their own self-condemned, anti- God by providing them with what are scientific and· discredited religions, deemed sufficient reasons for doing so, Hindus and others now fall back upon and eagerly parade the sceptical objec- S. Another element of the attitude untions of the West-objections which der analysis is a spirit of concession and they themselves would never have been compromise. As one consequence of the abie to originate or discover; and feeling of solicitude that exists in the though they feel debarred, in the face minds of many, and apparently by way of day, f;om justifying their adherence of a compromise all round-hoping to their own religions on the ground of thereby to arrest the further encroach. any moral worth these may be supposed ments of Christianity-we find a surto possess, they readily justify their re- prising readiness in some quarters to jection of Christianity on the grounds accord the religion of Jesus a very high mentioned. The international ex- and honorable place among the great change of error and falsehood, which religions that exist in India, and even Dr. Duff lamented as existing in his to acknowledge its possession of many day, has not yet cellsed. It is still true praiseworthy features and elements of that "the pantheistic philosophy of power peculiar to itself. Further than India is malignantly affecting the edu- this they are not prepared to go. In cated in Europe and America; while return for their courtesy in acknowl. the infidelity of Europe and America is edging that Christianity has some truth, malignantly affecting the educated in some elements of good, some Divine au- India." thority and capacity, they expect that similar acknowledgment will gracefully (d) Very little of a favorable charac- be made by Christians as to the truth ter, moreover, can be said for the Anglo- and good alleged to be found in Hindu- Indian press. Speaking generally, it is ism, Mohammedanism, Zoroastrianism, decidedly unfriendly to missions, and etc. Equality of a certain kind and to takes very little interest in their prog- a limited extent they feel compelled to ress or prosperity. Much of the capital concede-and this is a victory in itself ; invested in English newspapers in India but the universal superiority of Chrishas been furnished by natives, a fact tianity-never ! while they can help it. the significance of which is at once ap. Their idea of equality is, that as Chrisparent. The following estimate is not tianity is undoubtedly goojl for Christians, so Hinduism is equally good for cipleship; and, what is more serious Hindus, Buddhism for Buddhists, etc. and perplexing, a feeling 'in the minds But Christianity for Hindus is alto- of many that this reluctance is not only gether an anomaly, and Christianity not blameworthy, but even justifiable!
shows how unfit it is to live by advanc- To overcome and remove this reluctance ing such a proposition! is one of the serious problems before Frequently, in the course of conversa- Christ's missionarie&. It becomes more tion or discussion with missionaries, formidable with every passing year, for leading Hindus and Mohammedans the -number of educated persons in- say: "Affirm if you will that Christ is creases with marvellous rapidity in a Saviour, or even a great Saviour, and these days of multiplied colleges and we have no quarrel with Christianity; universities.
but that he is the only, the exclusive Among the factors that help to pro- Saviour, we will not admit." Here is duce and intensify this reluctance to where the shoe pinches, and here lies break away from that which satisfies the secret of occasional manifestations, not, and to identify themselves with in certain quarters, of educated bitter- that which commends itself to their ness against Christianity. Convinced best judgment" may be noted: a na- of its moral superiority, and filled with tional pride which naturally forbids a more or less profound apprehension their acceptance of a religion at the of the doom of extinction that awaits hand of foreigners, and these the their systems at its hands, they grudg- haughty conquerors of their land and ingly make the concessions referred to. nation; the undisguised and pro- But here they cry a halt for the present, nounced contempt exhibited by Euro- holding their ground doggedly, and pean officials of all grades for native seeking defence of their position and converts to Christianity ; the low moral welcoming assistance from all quarters. and spiritual status of a large section 4. Again, the attitude of educated of the native Christian community-I Hind us may be characterized as one of refer chiefly to the Roman Catholics; pairiful and perplexing indecision. The the misunderstood interest which West- extent to which the educated mind of ern savants take in the sacred literature India is slaking its thirst for moral and religious cults of India; the lack teaching and religious instruction at the of moral backbone, owing to the ab- fountain of Ohristian truth cannot sence of anything like a sensitive con- easily be estimated. There can be no science among the people in general- doubt that large and continually in. these, in conjunction with the opera- creasing numbers are in studious, help- tions of the ruthless, ubiquitous tyrant, ful contact with the Scriptures, which caste, restrain multitudes who stand on they find satisfy their moral instincts the very threshold of the kingdom of and meet their aspirations after a stan- God from taking the decisive step and dard of purity and devotion as nothing entering in.
else possibly can. With this we find 5. Lastly, there is the element of aspira- in considerable measure a profound tion and imitation. These terms are used recognition of the pre.eminence of for lack o~ more definite ones. Nothing Jesus as a spiritual Teacher and Exem- in the modern history of India is more plar, which often expresses itself in the remarkable than the marvellous devel- most sincere, devout, and laudatory opment of the spirit of philanthropy terms; and to many He is the only and social rllform among non·Ohris- Being whose claims as a universal Sa- tians, finding scope and expression in viour deserve consideration. Notwith- the promotion of female education; standing this, we are confronted every- providing medical aid for women; where by a painful reluctance to deci- founding hospitals, asylums, dispen- sively aSSUme and publicly avow dis- saries, and kindred illstitutions. There can be no doubt that this spirit was quering Spirit of God vigoro~sly' take first kindled at Christian altars, and at hold of this work-one, not a whit less the outset deri ved its chief nourishment urgent, and in some respects more im- almost exclusively from Christian mis- portant, than any which calls for her sionary sources; bu't it is now running enterprise and zeal in that great and its brilliant career on independent. needy empire, which we devoutly be- lines, studiously avoiding. as far as pos- lieve is destined to be one of the bright- sible, all formal connection with mis- est jewels in the diadem of our Lord sionary efforts of a kindred character. Christ.
While this may involve apparent pres- ent loss and temporary disadvantage to Rev. Gulian Lansing D.D. the Church of Christ, she will reap the richer benefit hereaft·er, when the weal_ Egypt is in many ways a most inter- thy educated classes begin to gravitate esting country to the Christian observ- toward and embrace Christianity in er_ Of its seven millions of people, 50 large numbers, in having at her disposal per cent live in towns. The two great these benevolent .. forces of the Gen- cities of Cairo and Alexandria have tiles," and in being in command of the been the theatre of most of the evangel- consecrated services of multitudes who izing effort which has been done. The shall not need to be instructed in the American United Presbyterians have first principles of philanthropy. been established in the country for sever- In conclusion let me express my deep al years. They have eighty or more cen- conviction that, while the work among tres of work, with sixty or more Chris- the uneducated lower classes should tian congregations. The whole valley continue to be prosecuted with the ut- of the Nile, from the Mediterranean most possible aggressiveness, and while Sea to Assouan on the south, is em- all diligence must be used in developing braced in the field of this mission. It and elevating the Christian community has had remarkable success. It is fresh formed out of these classes, it behoves in our minds, that they told us the the Church of Christ to take hold with other day, that in ten years the results special earnestness of the work among had doubled in most cases, and nearly the educated classes, and. with the Di- trebled in some. The population had vine blessing, avert their inevitable and increased 25 per cent, bnt the evangeli- irrevocable lapse into open and avowed cal growth :Jf the mission was in the infidelity. In all the large cities of same decade 100 per cent. The com- India, where there are thousands and municants, Sabbath attendance of pu- tens of thousan(1s of cultivated men and pils in Sunday-schools are items that students thoroughly familiar with our increased threefold, the pastors fourfold_ English tongue, special systematic ef- -The chief missionary figure, the old- fort should be made to evangelize them est, and one of the most revered and by means and methods particularly useful of all the missionary force which adapted to their circumstances and has brought about this marvel of mis- needs. British and American univer- sionary result, Rev. Gulian Lansing, sities and seminaries should be repre- D.D., died September 12th, 1892. He sented in these great centres by highly- went to the East nearly forty years ago, cultured and wholly.consecrated work- entering on his work at Damascus, in ers. Experiments on a small scale in Syria, but soon leaving for Egypt, where these directions demonstrate that there 'he labored till his death. His great is an open door of the largest usefulness proficiency as a scholar in Hebrew and before the Church. May she wisely and Arabic placed him in the front rank of aggressively seize the golden opportu- Orientalists as a linguist, and his per- nity, and with an enthusiasm generated sonal worth was as widely and pro- at the Cross of Christ by the all-con- foundly felt as his learI~ing. Rev. Dr, J. B. Dales, Secretary of the Society " He gave himself first of all to the which Dr. Lansing honored and served, enthusiastic study of the language Arabic, which he grew to love and ad: sends us the following note from" one mire as a very prince of tongues, and in of the most devoted" of their mission· which his recognized proficiency be- aries in Egypt, Bev. J. Kruidenier : came so great, that competent judges " Monday morning, September 12th, have declared that if he were the second 1892, just as the shadows of night were Arabic scholar of those not born Arabs, beginning to pass away preparatory to he was second only to Dr. Van Dyke. dawn, the weary soul of one of God's But he threw himself, body and soul, own, Rev. Gulian Lansing, D.D., left into all missionary work, whether it us and entered into the joy of his Lord. were to peddle a basket of books, or to • Oh, how glorious! ' were the words oft sit for hours in a vermin.infested hut repeated a short time before he left us, to capture the heart of one peasant, or and we wonderingly inquired and looked to preach all night to a crowd,of curious if perchance some of the glory might and possibly earnest inquirers, or to be espied by us sorrowing ones. A pro- hold disputations with Coptic priests tracted illness had kept him waiting or Moslem doctors, or to write tracts, for fully two months ere the promised and books, and treatises on didactic or rest was enjoyed. At the home of his son, J. M. Lansing, M.D., loving hands polemic theology – to teach in the had nursed him and anxious hearts had schools, to train theological students, awaited results, but neither their care to travel wearily up the Nile or across nor an able physician's skill could pre· the desert, or to represent the Mission to the government and to stand before vent his release. He has gone to be forever with his Lord. kings. At last, and for many years, this became his peculiar province-not ,. We miss him,; he was a father in to the exclusion of any or all other mis- sionary work-to be the representative our mission, and a leader of our little and advocate of the mission to the band. His suggestions, his advice, his Egyptian authorities, and it is doubtful experience, were always helpful, and whether any other foreigner was better oftentimes decided perplexing ques- known or more highly respected than tions for us. he in the courts of the last three Khe- " He was one of the very first to en- dives." ter this field, coming here as early as 1856, bearing the brunt of pioneer ef- fort, ever advancing the outposts. Filled with a yearning desire to bring souls Slavery by Oontract. to Christ, zealous for the Master, thor- ough in his work, persevering in his The Australian papers have for a long endeavors, and, above all, his heart aglow with a living, conquering faith, while teemed with revelations about he was permitted to do much for Christ. the contract labor slavery of the South "His, too. was the joyous 'privilege of casting hIS honors at the feet of Jesus, Sea Islands, or what goes by the name for though a born linguist, a successful of the" Kanaka-Labor-Traffic." The student, and a very acceptable speaker, Gilbert and some other islands are vis~ yea one whom three institutions at Hed for the purpose of securing natives home delighted to honor with the title of D.D., and whose friendship, more- for Fiji, Australia, and Guatemala, who over, was pleasing and valued by many sign a contract for five years' labor in at home and abroad, yet he willingly the countries to which they are to be gave up these that Christ through him deported. Once there they are Bold to might be glorified in a far.off field. planters for the term of years. It is doubtful if many of them understand "About five years he labored as a mispionary in Syria, and thirty-six of the sixty-six years of his life he gave to our reckoning of time, and they are led Egypt, and these have borne rich fruit- to " sign" the contracts by deceit, and age, as the work here and his brethr.m c~uelly seized and constrained by little could testifv. less than outright force, and the re- .. CAIRO, EGYPT."
sults, as in Guatemala, show great mor- The following paragraph is from an tality among them; a small part only article in the Christian lntelligencer, by live out the five years, and fewer ever a life-long and intimate friend bf Dr. return to their homes. This traffic has ~IU~siJl.g, :Rav. J. A. De Bauo, D.D.: carried off a third of the population of the New Hebrides; and the Queensland insisted "that the allotment of lands governors have received application be persistently and judiciously continfrom over 400 would-be agents to bring ued," recommended compulsory educaout these " black-birds." tion, urged that the Indian be protected from" robbery through deceit and ex- It appears that a "bamp" steamer tortion," and that the "principles of named Montserrat has been engaged in the civil service law" should be practhis business carrying these victims to tically applied to the Indian service, Guatemala, having just now landed and condemned "the appointment or some four hundred. It is in testimony removal of these officers for partisan reathat of two years ago four hundred sons." Nearly $2000 was subscribed others were sold in Guatemala, of whom on the spot for the creation of a fund only one hundred and eighty now sur- for the higher education of such Indvive-the small-pox, malaria, and other ians as shall prove themselves worthy pestilences which seize these foreign- of such help. They were clearly of the ers having carried off the rest. A few view that the churches should assume months ago the brig Tahiti was cap- the support of the schools under their sized with three hundred of these con- charge, and refuse to receive Governtract slaves aboard, all of whom per- ment money in aid thereof; a view, by ished. the way, already expressed by the Prot- estant bodies, the General Assembly of The hope is expressed that as Eng- the Presbyterian Church, the General land has taken possession of the Gil- Conference of the Methodist Episcopal bert Islands, this inveigling of men into Church, and later on by the representaperil and practical slavery may be tive Council of the Protestant Episcostopped in that quarter, but as British pal Church in its session in Baltimore. sentiment has not been strongly enough A . view which the Roman Catholic against it in Australia and Fiji to stop Church, of course, does not accept, see- . the business at that end of the line, it ing that it makes bitter cry for more of is well not to be over-confident about this Government money, though it al. her course in the Gilbert group. An ready receives more than half of the international compact is being sought total sum appropriated by the Governto stop this whole nefarious business, ment for these denominational schools. and to bring these South Sea Islanders under the same protection from Chris- THE EVACUATlON OF UGANDA.-At the tian-God save the mark-rum and fire- hour of our writing it is intimated that arms. Heaven speed the effort. Let the British will probably evacuate the United States Government not take Uganda. Mr. Gladstone will take grave the back place in this humanitarianism, responsibility if he should abandon which for somewhat plausible reasons Uganda as he did poor Gordon in the she did in the Brussels Treaty for the Soudan. We strongly suspect the Brit- Congo. Let our people make the Gov- ish Government will do no such thing, ernment know that the humanitarian- but it will probably be " encored" if it ism of this country demands prompt winds up the blundering East African action in the premises. The Pan-Pres- Company. If it had kept that company byterian Council at Toronto wisely ap- at hume, foreign missionary interests pointed a deputation to go to Wash- would not have had the anxiety they now ington to urge action of our Govern- have for the continuance of British influment in this matter, and also to restrain e:lce in that "sphere." Missionaries the traffic in fire-arms and liquors with went there in 1877, the first residents Western Pacific natives. from abroad. Chiefs and many of the people were won to Christianity, and tho THE MOHONK INDIAN MISSION CONFER- Jj:NcE.-Thia Conference in October last New Testament was translated for the Prayer League for Native Workers in people. These missionaries in times of Ohina. danger have never asked the protection of the East African Company, yet were A Prayer Union has been organized aided by the moral influence of the British Government's agents at Zanzi_ in China with the definite object of bar; but when the Anglo-German agree. ment of 1890 brought Uganda under praying for the raising up of native British influence it seemed right that they should maintain order there. The evangelists. The Prayer Union sends battle of the Romanist and Protestant missions was a political one rather out an appeal in part as follows: than a religious one. It was a question whether a Roman Catholic or Protes- To tbe Missionaries in Vbina tant power should hold Uganda. The withdrawal of' the British from Uganda and to Christians everywhere. means the loss of prestige over the whole African sphere of British influ- Greetings: The necessity for native ence. It is a gra~e question whether fellow.workers in a field so extended as the government does not owe it to mis- that which lies before us in the far sions in Uganda to establish bonafide East, is acknowledged by every intellilaw and order. Had they let the land gent and interested observer. It is reaalone the missionaries might have been sonable to hope that IImong the churches far and away' ahead of where they are and the numerous converts now to be now; but they have created conditions found in China, there are ruen and which involve the missionary evacua- women possessing Christian character, tion of Uganda, if there shall be politi- experience, and a considexable knowlcal evacuation now. We have deplored edge of the Holy Scriptures, upon whom the return of the British Government the Spirit of God may work in calling to the old India policy of government and eqtlipping those whom He shall by commercial companies. That should choose for special service in His kingbe relegated to the limbo of political dom…• After consultation among blunders. This century should find a brethren, and moved by a profound better way. We dare not predict what sense, both of the need of, and the opthe British Government will do, for it portunity for, a great forward movedeals with tax-payers, but we are grieved ment, we send out the proposal to form that its egregious blunders in Uganda a Prayer Union, the object of which so seriously involve missionary inter- shall be to pray God to raise up many ests. native workers" full of faith and of the Holy Ghost." The conditions of join- -Wonderful stories come of a lost ing this Union are simply to send oui city lately discovered in Mashonaland, the pledge card, of which a specimen is and believed to have.been built in an- given on another page of this circular, cient days by Arabs drawn to the rtl- affixing the signat.ures to the same and gion by its gold-mines. In particular returning it to the Secretary. This a circular ruin is described which meas- should be considered, not the observures 300 feet by 250 feet, and with ance of a mere forru, but a sincere granite walls some 16 feet thick and 30 promise to take up unitedly, regularly. feet high. One writer estimates that and urgently the instruction of the the city contained from 50,000 to 100,- Master. " Pray ye, therefore. the Lord 000 inhabitants. of the harvest that He send forth labor- ers," and apply it in the direction of native help, for this is the greatest field known to modern missionary enter- prise: assured that China for Christ means Asia for Christ, and Asia for Christ means the world speedily won to Him.
Rev. J. W. STEVENSON, President, Rev. Y. K. YEN, U.A., Vice-President, Rev. ELLIOT H. THOMSON. Secretary, OtJicers of the Union_ N. B.-A response to the appeal of the Union, sent to either of the officers, addressed Shanghai, China, is suffi- cient.
We pre.!lent herewith the jform of the pledge.
DEPARTMENT OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR
III.-DEPARTMENT OF CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR.
CONDUCTED :BY PROFESSOR AMOS B. WELLS.
Three denominations at least are set- tion obtained, by a wide correspond- ting their Endeavorers to work in a ence, the names and addresses of aU practical way.. The young people among who intended to attend this year the the Disciples of Christ are gathering University of California. This union contributions to build a memorial will endeavor in every way to throw church in Salt Lake City. The En- about these young people at once a deavorers among the Methodist Prot- warm and helpful religious welcome. estants are collecting funds for a sim· ilar church in Kansas City. And now Not a few ardent Christian Endeavor- come the Lutheran young folks with a ers are commercial travellers. "On the plan, which they will carry out, for a road" most of the time, it is impossible memorial church in San Diego, Cal. for them to work for their local church Surely the Endeavorers are blessed in as other Endeavorers, and in their shifthaving such noble objects to work for, ing life their Christian faithfulness is and their denominations are blessed in put to severe tests. It is urged that for having such noble young people to work these a travelling men's membership be for them. established, with conditions and provi- sions suitable to their circumstances, Very often a valuable new Christian the outward token to be a bar bearing Endeavor method comes from workers the word" Traveller's" across the ordiin Canada. Their latest contribution nary" C. E." monogram badge. It is deserves wide currency. Endeavorers to be hoped that this idea will be carried up there are organizing" hospitality out, for such a membership would keep circles" among the ladies of their many a young commercial traveller churches. The members of these cir- from temptation, and introduce him at cles agree to invite and entertain at sight to the local Endeavorers, who their homes, at least once a month, would welcome him. homeless young men and women. Endeavorers are not satisfied with work- Christian Endeavorers are not to be ing themselves; they must set their left out of the World's Fair. Theyhave elders to work. their noble "Hotel Endeavor" for a rendezvous, and already they are talk- More and more every month the En· ing, in several States, about State Chrisdeavorers are awakening to their duties tian Endeavor days at Chicago. Massawith regard to the young people who chusetts has already selected July 18 for leave home and go where they are its day of reunion. strangers. Very many unions, espe· cially those in large cities, now have Rev. J. F. Cowan, the newly chosen " correspondence committees," to which trustee of the United Society from the local societies send the names of young Methodist Protestant denomination, is folks, whether Endeavorers or not, who eagerly seeking to stir up Methodist are soon to move within the field Protestant Endeavorers to all sorts of of these correspondence committees. good works. He has prepared a beauti- When the strangers arrive they are ful bannar, to be given to that Methsought out, welcomed, introduced to odist Protestant conference union whose Christian young people, and induced work along certain lines is most sucto connect themselves with the society cessful. and church of their preference. The latest advance in this line of work has Alaska, so far as is known, has only been made by the Endeavor union of two societies of Ohristian Endeavor. Berkeley, Oal., which during the vaca.. One of these is at the little Quaker mis- sion on Douglass Island, and it is an earuest, active society. Oue of its me~. bers attended and spoke at the NeW' societies of the State. Their plans were York Convention. approved heartily by the magnificent Up to a few weeks ago the United So- State convention, and Connecticut ciety officials knew of no Christian En- young people have set out to make deavor societies in Madagascar; now this an evangelistic year. Some unions they know of thirty. A few weeks ago will obtain the services of eminent evan- Secretary Baer knew of no societies in gelists. Many will form plans for per- France. Now word has come that the sonal work for the saving of souls. Let good seed has quietly grown there, and us pray that the apostolic fervor will has sprung up in several Parisian ., so· spread from State to State. The young cieMs d' Activite Cretienne," as well as for the young, and for Christ!
societies at St. Quentin, Les Ternes, Rev. L. F. John, a pastor of the Unit- and elsewhere. All Protestant work ed Brethren Church, made a maxim has slow growth in France, and yet that deserves to live, when he said: there is reason to think the Christian " Every denomination that has adopted Endeavor form of work peculiarly adapt- the Endeavor plan has found it easy to ed to the conditions there. May it pros. adapt it."
per richly! For a pleasing variety in Christian The Christian Endeavor movement is Endeavor meetings this, which has been gaining a foothold among the blacks in successfully tried in a few places, may South Africa, mainly through the influ- find favor. The Endeavorers are asked ence of an earnest m,issionary, Mr. to choose for themselves Bible texts be- Charles N. Ransom, who is planting ginning with the initials of their own societies in connection with his work in names. At the appointed meeting these Natal. He finds the Christian En• are repeated, and the members tell why .;!eavor principles and methods just they selected those particular texts for suited to his work with the natives. their own. These reasons are often Probably in no denomination have very touching and helpful.
Christian Endeavor societies found a It has been urged, and urged with warmer welcome than in the Presbyte- much wisdom, that the corresponding rian. A characteristic example is the secretary should not be the only perma- Indianapolis Presbytery, twenty.two of nent officer of the society. There should whose thirty-four churches, as Dr. Rond- be also, in addition to the regular treas- thaler reports in the Herald and Pres- urer elected for a time, a pprmanent byter, have young people's societies, and mission treasurer. Such an officer could all but one of these are Christian En- make and supervise long plans, and deavor societies, loyal and helpful to would furnish a permanent medium of their own churohes. communication with the officers of the The EQ.deavorers among the Disciples denominational boards.
of Christ in Ohio are very thoroughly Christian Endeavorers, why not, all organized, and are also thoroughly in- of you, prepare a meeting like that suc- terested in the work. The proof of cessfuIly carried out by the Endeavorers both is the fact that as societies-not of the Methodist Church in Urbana, Ill. ?
counting individual offerings-they gave They made ready a historical entertain- last year to their churches and the mis· ment, in which was exhibited as fully sions of their denomination the sum of as possible all the facts concerning the $6,528.24. All States and all societies growth of the Methodist Church in that will do as well erelong. city. Young people are often ignorant For several months seven prominent of the struggles and triumphs of their Connecticut clergymen, all Christian own church home. This is a good Endeavorers, have been maturing plans way of reviewing them, to their own for an active evangelistic movement profit, and the great pleasure of their "Ulong and by the aid of the Endeavor __elfters.
DE]>ARTMlllNT 011' C'ltRIS'l'tAN ENDEAVO'R. 9a9
Mr. Moody offered this year, as last were aware of it," said the pastor, Mr. Dise. The young folks should be taught year, special inducements to Christian how much'an acquaintance with all the Psalms will help them toward ease and Endeavor societies who wished to send force and helpfulness in public prayer.
one of their number for a term to the We were told the other day of a beau- Northfield Training School for Chris. tiful Kansas girl, an ardent Endeavorer, whose death occurred suddenly, On tian Workers. The terms, already mar· the very next Sabbath evening she was to have led her Endeavor society, the vellously low, are almost cut in two for theme of the meeting being" How a Christian can Die." the benefit of these young workers. Missionary committees of Endeavor The Endeavorers of Australia are in- fusing a decidedly evangelistic spirit societies can hardly find a better motto into their Christian Endeavor work. We hear of a party of ten Endeavorers for their work than this :Sentence by in South Australia who fervently prayed that God would bless their labors to the Mr. A. S. Wilson, the secretary of the conversion of ten souls. They held a service in an out-district, and ten were South Australia Union: "As indio converted. We hear of another society viduals, we were won to win; as so· which has started meetings on Sunday nights to care for the railroad men; of cieties, we are formed to form." another which cares for the sailors; and many similar reports come which should Over ten thousand applications for stir our American societies to more ear- nest effort. rooms while attending the International In response to a request, nearly a Christian Endeavor Convention next thousand letters have been received at the Boston Ohristian Endeavor headyear have already been received by the quarters, concerning the advisableness of continuing the topics for the Ohris- Montreal committee. At this rate the tian Endeavor meeting in line with the Convention of '93 will excel in numbers Sunday-school lessons. Nearly two hun- dred of these letters represented the even the monster gathel'ing in New votes of societies, so that the total ex- pression of opinion was from 10,341 En- York. Before long Endeavorers will be deavorers. Moreover, seventeen deoompelled to hold their annual meeting nominations were represented, and possibly many more, as comparativeat the North Pole, to avoid excessive at_ ly few named their denomination; and the letters came from every State and tendance. Tflrritory in the Union save five, from Endeavor societies all over the United all parts of Canada, and from England. The vote, therefore, was quite a repre- States have taken a great interest in the sentative one. Of these, 7812 Endeavor- era preferred the present plan, and 2529 meeting of the World's Fair commis- preferred that the Endeavor topics should be different from those of the sioners, at which the questions of Sun- Sunday-school. Very many excellent suggllstions were made, which will be day opening and liquor selling are to be weighed carefully. The decision of this decided. At the suggestion of Mr. matter rests with the committee of the Board of Trustees of the United Society R. V. Hunter, Chairman of the Chris- that has to do with the selection of tian Endeavor Committee on Sunday topics. This is a wise and representa- tive committee, consisting of Rev. Way- Closing, Endeavor societies everywhere land Hoyt, D. D. (Baptist); Rev. Teu- nis S. Hamlin, D.D. (Presbyterian); have been pouring in fresh and urgent Rev. J. F. Cowan (Methodist Protes- tant); Rev. William Patterson (Oanapetitions. Societies not a few have dian Presbyterian) ; and William Shaw (Oongregationalist). ThL committee added a declaration that they will not will doubtless discover some interattend the fair unless it observes the mediate course that will be satisfac- Sabbath and is free from alcohol. A hymn service is awakening interest tory to all, in many societies. Its plan is an· nounced a week beforehand, and the members come each prepared to Dame his favorite hymn, and tell why it is precious to him. Many of these hymns will be sung during the meeting, making a very beautiful service.
From a Lutheran society of Christian Endeavor comes a wise plan, intended to lead the more baokward members into the habit of public prayer. The memo bers were asked to kneel, open their Bibles, and each read reverently, taking his. turn, a verse of the twenty-fifth l'salm. "All prayed, some ere they
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
IV.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
Prospectus. The subjects which receive especial attention both in the Literature of Mis- The plans for the year 1893 are now sions and in the Monthly Concert derapidly maturing, and contemplate con- partments are as follows: stant and somewhat costly improvements in the REVIEW. Several impor- January-General Outlook, the World. tant modifications are to be made in its February-China, Thibet, Confucianconduct to avoid repetitions, and to ism. secure the largest and freshest contact March-Mexico, Central America, with the whole world field. Dr. J. G. West Indies, City Evangelization. Paton, of New Hebrides fame, becomes April-India, Java, Ceylon, Brahmanan editorial correspondent. The best ism. writers will be secured for these pages. May-Burma, Siam, Laos, Buddhism. We hope for communications from Rev. June-Africa, Freedmen in America. Dr. F. E. Clark on his world tour in the July-Islands of the Sea, Greenland, interests of the Society of Christian Mormons, Indians, Chinese and Japan- Endeavor. We propose a series of pa- ese in America. pers from leading missionaries and August-Papal Europe. others on kindred questions covering a September-Japan, Korea, Medical wide territory of investigation, and the Missions. securing of a comparison and consensus October-Turkey, Arabia, Persia, of views on the problems of missions. Greek Church, Mohammedanism. The editor-in-chief will be absent for November-South America, Cuba, some months in Great Britain, in ful- Papacy, Home Missions, Y. M. C. A., filment of his duties as "Alexander Y. P. S. C. E. Duff Lecturer on Missions," but while December-Syria, the Jews, Educaabroad he will act as English editor, tional Work. and his son, Delavan L. Pierson, Princeton, N. J., will aid the editorial Missionary Comity. staff and act as his substitute and as managing editor, in receiving and pub- An esteemed correspondent asks us lishing communications for these col- to insert the following. He calls atumns, and in supervising final proofs tention to an announcement to be and conducting correspondence. found on page 146 (col. 2, par. 3) of the Chinese Recorder and Missionary Re- We hope to arrange also, as soon as view for March, 1891, and presents the possible, for maps and other illustra- following facts: tions, and especially for a new map of the world showing comparative facts "1. Chen·tu is the capital of the about populations, religions, and evan_ province of Ssu·chuan. gelization. The experience of several years in the actual conduct of such a " 2. Including Chen-tu tbere are in review has revealed the defe()ts and Sau.chuan one hundred and fifty-two needs of this magazine of missions, and walled cities, twelve of these being serves to indicate the remedy. With- cities of the first class. out counting the cost, either in labor or outlay, we shall, according to the meas· " 3. The China Inland Mission carries ure of our knowledge and ability, make on work in eleven of these cities; of these pages indispensable to all who these eleven, seven are cities of the first love the cause of missions and seek to class. co·operate in the speedy evangelization of the world.-A. T, p, "4. In one of these eleven cities, Chung-ching three other missionary societies are at work: the American Methodist Episcopal Mission, the Lon- don Mission, and the Friends' Foreign Missionary Association. These were all preceded by the China Inland Mis- sion, which began settled work there in 1877. To another of these eleven tel' of 1889–90, I had Rccess to a v:ery cities, Su.chou.fu, or Sui-fu, where the China Inland Mission began work in ful! collection of works on the missions 1888, the American Baptist Mission has recently sent its agents. in Madagascar; some of them from " 5. In Chen-tu, according to recent later sources than Dr. Mears's very good reports, the members of the China In. land Mission have baptized over one little book. I quote from that article hundred converts, of whom seventy are still in fellowship. the following sentences, which embody, "I would respectfully and in all I believe, the facts bearing on this Christian love inquire of Mr. Spencer Lewis and the brethren of the American point :-' After stating that an English Methodist Episcopal Mission, why they have passed by the one hundred and church had been formed at the capital forty-one unoccupied cities, five of them of the first claRs, to throw their before Radama's death, and that nearly force into a city where an efficient evangelical work has been carried on for five thousand Hova boys had been reyears since 1881? The missionary body in China has recently asked for a ceived into the mission schools, and large reinforcement: would it not be v;'eU to show to the churches at home that in the autumn of 1827 permission that they are using their present avail. able force with all reasonable economy? bad been received from the king, allow.
" SPECTATOR." ing any to be baptized who desired to Madagascar Notes, receive that rite; but though none came Attention having been called to a dis- (probably because the missionaries de· agreement in the articles on Madagas. sired to test further their sincerity) car, from the pens of the editor and of there was evidence in abundance that Dr. Brockett, respectively, our accom- many had abandoned their idols,' etc.
plished friend from Brooklyn writes: I say, • No native church had been " f!.. blunder crept into my article on formed and no Malagasy had been bap.
Madagascar in the May, 1889, number tized until 1831 ; bnt on May 22d of that of the MISSIONARY REVIEW. The statis. tics, I find, on referring to my notes, year the queen (Ranavalona I.) issued a were those of 1838, as given by Dr. Mullens, and by some printer's blunder message granting permission for the were transferred to 1828. Dr. Mullens, I have since learned, was not very reli- baptism of converts. Regarding this able authority on statistics. I have very serious doubts whether there were as the direct answer to prayer, the mis. any such number of converts in 1838. The amount was a mere guess, and a sionaries proceeded to avail themselves pretty wild one at that, There were no data for it. In 1836 two thousand offi· of it. There were many converts, and cials, mostly of the army, and nearly two thousand more, holding no office, on May 29th, 1831, Mr. Griffiths bap. under the stringent orders of Ranavalona I., confessed themselves Christians, tized twenty, and the first native church and most of these were punished in some way. Probably there were as was formed. Baptisms were almost many more who did not confess, but not more than half of these were bap- constant, other churches were formed. tized. I wonder that Dr. Cousins in his criticisms failed to notice tbis error. and in a few months there were between • "Your statement in your article in the number for November, 1890, page one and two thousand members of 810, quoted by Mr. Pollock, is true, but it is not the whole truth. Before writ- these churches. At the end of six ing my article on Madagascar in the , Encyclopoodia of Missions,' in the win- months the permission to baptize was withdrawn, in the case of those who werein the government service, and a month or two earlier the use of wine at the communion was prohibited to the same cla~s. In January, 1832, these prohibitions were extended to all the people.' The missionaries were ex- pelled in 1836, but native preachers car· ried on the work throughout the cen· tral provinces, and at the queen's death, in 1861, it was estimated that there were about forty thousand converts, about one hali of whom had been bap.
tized, while nearly two thousand had been put to dllath or perished from the cruelties inflicted upon them.
" These statements Mr. Pollock may rely upon, as they are collected from the most authentic sources. They were a brave and noble set of men, those early Malagasy Christians; no martyrs of modern or ancient times have surpassed them. L. P. BROCKETT."
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR, November 14, 1891.
DEAR SIR: In the September, 1891, issue of the MIgSION.UW REVIJ;;W I re&d a n')te mentioning the work of the Nor. 1886, and where 255 indoor patients wegian Mission in this country, and were received and treated, and 4571 outyou have not been correctly informed. door patients were seen and adminis- You might be glad to hear a little more tered medicine to last year (1890). This about it from some one belonging to the year there is a still larger number. My mission. husband, who is an M.D. from the Uni- The note mentioned (page 687) is this: versity of Christiania, and his colleague, The Norwegian missionaries, it appears, Dr. Thesen, an M.D. from the same are also actively at work among the university, teach at the Medical Mis- Rekimisarakas of the southeast, and sionary Academy, educating Malagasy the fierce Sukalavas of the west. doctors, and started in 1886 by Drs. Allen, Rouhgrevink, Guldberg (Nor- Among the Retsimisarakas the Nor. wegian), and Fox. At our hospital wegian missionaries have no work at there also is a training school for Malaall ; that field is worked by the Angli. gasy midwives. In 1871 a theological can missionaries. As to the west coast. seminary was started here in the capital the work among the wild Sakalavas has by the Rev,Dahle, but this has since been been carried on by our missionaries now removed to the Retsileo. A day school for nearly seventeen years in great suf. for boys and one for girls have been ferings and sacrifices, during constant working since 1871. Since 1886 our meddanger to life and property; but the ical students, all from our Retsileo conlove of Christ has sustained our mis. gregations, board in the school buildsionaries and strengthens them to keep ing at Amhatovinaky, and since 1890 their watch faithfully, till the Lord's this boarding.school is increased by 50 time for letting them reap the fruits of more Retsileo lads, who frequent the their labor in Him and for Him comes. upper classes of the boys' school. In the Betsileo we have. besides the theo- Our first mission field in Madagascar, logical seminary, two training schools however, was the North Retsileo (Vakin. for teachers (not working at present, as Ankaratra), where our missionaries have the teachers of both these institutions been working now since 1867. Next are in Norway on furlough). At Sirahe, year will be the twenty-fifth year of our one of the central stations, we have a mission's work in that country; and lepers' home, partly sustained by the from 1878 our missionaries have worked benevolence of an English gentleman, in the Manandriana and South Retsileo. with more than 100 lepers, superin- Since 1888 we have a mission on the tended by a trained deaconess from the southeast coast (in Vangaindrano, Ma. Deaconess House at Christiania. As to nombandra, and Fort Dauphin), and in results and progress of the work I do the same year mission work began not intend to go into detailR. I shall among the Rams. Our first missionary, only give the extract of the statistics a young and active man, burning in for last year, 1890: Church-members, love to his poor heathen brethren, fell 25,181; communicants, 20,148; catea victim to the deadly malaria, but an- chumens, 2442 ; native teachers, 1110 ; other brother took up his work, and at scholars, 37,625 ; number of those that present we have two missionaries work- are able to read, as well church-meming among the Raras. Among the Tan. bers as those that have not yet joiued osy tribe one missionary began work in the church, 38,772 ; native pastors, 20 ; May this year. This young fellow- congregations, 454. All these numbers worker, as well as the missionary at refer to our mission in the inland and Fort Dauphin, is a Norwegian American, born in Norway, but bred and educated on the southeast coast; the Sakalava in America, at Augsburg Seminary, Mission is under another superintend- Minneapolis. In the capital, where ent. my husband, the present superintend. ent of our mission in this country and I forgot to mention a girls' boarding. I have our work, we have only a repre- school for training young girls for insentative church, as we do not like to dustrial purposes (weaving, spinning, interfere with the work of the L. M. S. Mission, with whom we are on friendly sewing, etc.) in the Retsileo ; but as the terms. It is necessary for the progress lady teacher has been home on furlough of the mission in the country to have a representative church in the capital. for two years, it does not work at pres- Here we also have our printing-office, a ent.
girls' boarding-school, started by my Perhaps it would be of interest to husband and myself in 1872, at present hear the number of our European workers in Madagascar as well. On the containing 88 children, with two Euro- west coast 3 married missionaries, 1 uri· pean ladies as teachers; further, a boys' married, 1 lady teacher. In the inland, boarding-school, with 35 boys, started including the Rara and the Tanosy, 24 missionaries, of which 3 unmarried, 11 1873. a hospital and dispensary, started unmarried ladies employed as teachers, Bible women, and nurses. On the east and was only captured after some of the most desperate fighting that marked coast we have at present only two Euro- that sanguinary period. It is thus most advisable that the consequences of a pean missionaries, as one was obliged French Madagascar should be fully con- sidered ; and as the island lies direct in to leave this year on account of broken the track of the true route to three con- tinents, that efforts should be made to health. All in all, our European work- secure its independence.
ers in this country are 43. I do not in G. UNDERWOOD HAnny. ANTANANARIVO, July. 1892. this number include us married ladies.
As there is no duty to work laid upon us, we just do what little we may be able to. Next year we expect at least ten more missionaries. Rev. Neilsen Lund has completed three more trav- els in the Bara and Tanosy country, . and proceeded as far as to the west coast. J. BOURGREVINK.
Another correspondent sends us the A Work for God in Japan. following communication: MISSIONARY HOME, SRANGHAI, CRmA, Madagascar's Strategical Importance to August 22, 1891. Great Britain and Grea.ter Britain. Some fifteen years ago a church was The Madagascar question is being dis- formed in Kobe, Japan, on Congreganiissed as of no concern to England. tional principles, but quite- indepen- British commercial interests with this dently of all foreign missionary conneccountry being comparatively small, and tion. The native members and pastor the development of tardy growth, the erected a church building at their own conclusion has been formed by most charges entirely, and it has gone on British statesmen that Madagascar can flourishingly ever since. be sacrificed for the benefit of British policy elsewhere. The value of Mada- In July, 1888, some few of its memgascar to England has been judged from bers, feeling deeply the need of the her commercial statistics and seeming children of the poor, determined upon prospects. The strategical importance opening an evening school. A comof this island continent has not been mittee of six, with a capital of $7.80 and considered. It has not been observed a few slates and pencils, gathered into that a French Madagascar would, in the a factory some eighty children from six event of war between – England and to sixteen years of age, who from the France, be a French sentinel barring the first peep of dawn to 7 P.M. worked in gateway of the Indian Ocean. With the factories around, .. tea-firing" or France in possession of the harbor-in- making matches, earning four to five dented west coast of this island, the ex- cents a day. For two hours each evenistence of British trade with the East ing they taught them the" iro-ha" (alwould be as seriously threatened in war phabet), reading, writing, etc., and the time as it was in the Anglo-French girls sewing. Once a week they had struggle in the early part of this century evening Sunday-school. by the Cape being in possession of the Dutch and Mauritius in the hands of The attendance after a short time the French. The result in those days alarmingly diminished. On inquiry it of the Cape route to India being domi· was found that the children were being nated by Holland and France, was that waylaid by haters of Christianity and their cruisers inflicted such immense dissuaded from attendance. Thus" endamage-for those times-upon the Brit- couraged" the school has prospered, ish mercantile marine that the British an average of sixty scholars has been Government determined to capture the maintained, and in the three years an Cape and Mauritius at any cost. The expenditure of $2] 7 incurred for sup- Cape fell easily into our hands, but plies of slates, books, etc. The school Ma.uritius made /.I gallant resistance, pays DO rent and no salaries. Its teach- ers are native Christians who follow their vocations all day and gratuitously teach in the evenings.
Recently the governor of the province sent for Mr. Karramichi (who is a rail- road clerk), the superintendent of the school, and informed him the school would not be permitted to continue longer as .. a mutual improvement so- ciety;" its pretensions were untenable, he said; six-year-old children could not reciprocate knowledlJe with the adults. He would only permit it to 1 continue as a public school under gov. ernment regulations. This involves GENTLEMEN: The undersigned citi- engaging a staff of salaried teachers zens of the United States engaged in who have graduated from the normal mission and educational work in—, training schools or who ha.ve passed respectfully request you to provide that examinations. The church fortunately the Exposition in your charge shall not has Bmong its members four such teach- be opened on the Sabbath, and that no ers, one of whom is a professor at the labors shall be performed on that day nor)Ilal school. These are prepared to in the preparation of the buildings and undertake the school sufficiently to sat. the grounds, and that the use and sale isfy government requirements, but the of intoxicating liquors be prohibited on school will have to employ one or two the grounds: (at least) certificated teachers to conduct the school in connection with the vol- 1. Because we believe it is the will unteers who sustain the work gratui- of the Oreator that one day out of seven tously. of man's time be devoted to rest and worship. Mr. Karramichi appeals for funds to enable them to meet this increased reo 2. Because the Oolumbus Exposition sponsibility. Hig address is No. 16 should represent American institutions, Railroad Station, Kobe. Rev. ~'fr. and be true to the life and character of Osada, pastor of the Tamwo church, the American people, and an exposition and Rev. J. L. Atkinson, missionary of the American Board, endorse very . with open doors on the Sabbath would heartily the w.ork and the appeal. be false. Such a modest yet useful work can 3. Because of the injury that would only be appreciated by those who know what a condition these poor children be done by the opening of the Exposiare found in, physically, morally, and tion on the Sabbath to all of our insti. spiritually; and when it is remembered tutions, socially, morally. and relig. that those who labor thus nobly for iously. them have but a few years been brought out of the darkness of gross heathenism 4. Because of the inherent right of themselves, it is certainly a cry of need every man to Sabbath rest, which would that will find a response in every Ohris· be denied to many if the Exposition be tian heart the world around. opened on the Sabbath.
EDWARD EVANS. 5. Because of the injurious effect the opening of this great American exposi- MEMORIAL TO THE NATIONAL COMMISSION- ERS OF THE COLUMBUS EXPOSITION. tion on the Sabbath, and the use and sale of intoxicating liquors on the Rev. Henry Eusson, of the Reformed grounds, would have upon the great Presbyterian Mission, Latakia, Syria, mission and educational work of Ameribelieving that the opening of the 00. can Ohristians in all lands. lumbian ~xposition on the Sabbath and the sale or use of intoxicating liquors Trusting that these and similar rea· on the grounds would injure the mis. sons will prevail.in your counsels, we sion and educational work of Americans subscribe ourselves, etc. in all lands, circulated a memorial in Syria and Egypt, and forwarded the -It appears that at length the troubles memorial, with signatures attached, to in the Philippine Islands are in a fair the commissioners. The great success way to be adjusted. General Grubb, the measure had in Syria and Egypt ex-Ministe~ to Spain, who has had the moves him to present the memorial matter in charge, states as his opinion through the REVIEW to missionaries "that the Spanish Government never and all engaged in educational work in intended to do less than justice. It has all lands, hoping that many will sign now agreed to pay whatever damages this or a similar memorial and send are arbitrated, and the missionaries without delay either direct or through will resume their labors on the islands. the secretaries of their respective boards This settlement is not generally known, to the commissioners. bu.t it is fllir to all parties."
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY REV. H. H. JESSUP, D.D., BEIRUT, SYRIA.
Eduoa.tiona.l Missions. intelligent faith, which implies intelli. gence as well as faith.
No rigid law of uniformity can be The Romish priests in Western Africa laid down for the conduct of Christian centuries since thought the pagan tribes missions. The command, "Go, teach thoroughly Christianized when they all nations," does not confine the had decked them with charms and cru- Church to anyone mode of teaching. cifixes and baptized them by thousands, Weare to preach the Gospel to every but in the nineteenth century all traces '
creature. Some can be reached in one of that kind of Christianity had disap- way, some in another. peared. The Christian fetich had given There are two kinds of farming in place to the original pagan type.
Syria. On the great plains of Esdrae. The first American missionaries to Ion and Hamath the seed is sown on Western Asia found the people in al- the deep, rich Boil, the shallow plough. most absolute illiteracy. A few of the share turns it under, and the sun and Muslims could read the Koran, but the the rains bring an abundant harvest. mass of them could neither read nor But in Lebanon, on the precipitous write, while among the other sects a rocky slopes, where a goat can hardly reader was as rare as snow in summer.
stand, the rocks are blasted and dug Previous to 1830 thousands of Arabic out, rolled into terrace walls, the debris Bibles of the old Romish Propaganda Rnd soil piled against them, and after version had been distributed gratui- this weary and expensive process of tously throughout Syria and Palestine, preparation, olive, mulberry, and fig. by agents of the British and Foreign trees and vines are planted, which, after Bible Society, but they lay unread and years of patient waiting, reward the lao neglected, or were used for wrapping bors of the peasantry. paper and the covers for the soles of So there are two ways of conducting shoes; and in 1832 the first work as- missions. signed to Rev. (now Dr.) W. M. Thorn.
Among some peoples, like the Sand. son was to make a tour of the land and wich Islanders in 1820, a work of Provi. collect all the Arabic Bibles to be found, dential preparation has preceded the and ship them back to the depot in missionary, and the voice of the living Malta. Bible distribution at such a preacher may lead men, even whole time was a simple waste of time and tribes, to a saving knowledge of the money. Books called for readers, and truth. Among others the ordinary sim- there were no readers.
ple means seem less efficacious. A The first step, then, was to prepare -;>reparatory work must be done. Uni- text-books and found primary schools; versal illiteracy requires instruction in the next, training or normal schools ; reading and writing before Bibles, then theological classes to train native tracts, and leaflets can be of any use, helpers and pastors; and, finally, as the and antiquated systems of false religion, country progressed, higher institutions rigid and organized, bristling with the for youth of both sexes, in order to give armory of defence and offence, require Christianity the lead among the el]u- slow and patient toil to bring the truth cated classes of the community.
into contact with the minds and hearts This has been in brief the ell:perience of men. of the American and English missions Protestant Christianity rests, not on in Western Asia. Yet it would Dot be blind submission to authority, but on just to call the Syria Mission of the American Presbyterian Church a purely Heidelberg or a Cambridge, a Harvard educational mission. Far from it. Ed- or a Sheffield, but n9t by a missionary ucation is but one branch of its work. society laboring for purely spiritual With 26 organized churches, 1800 ends.
church-members, 89 Sunday-schools The Syria Mission has had wide ex- with 5433 pupils, 4 ordained pastors, perience in the matter of education.
and 41 licensed native preachers, and a Its missionaries have had a larger pro- community of Protestant adherents of portion of literary and educational work nearly 5000, contributing about $8400 thrown upon them than is common in annually to religious and educational Asiatic and African missions.
objects, 'Vld with a printing-press which The Syrian people differ from the prints about 25,000,000 pages in Arabic. " nature" tribes of Africa and the set.
annually, and distributes throu~h the tIed communities of Central and East- American Bible Society about 30,000 ern Asia, in having been engaged for copies of the Scriptures in Arabic, and centuries in the conflict between cor- with 13 American preaching mission- rupt forms of Christianity, the religion aries and the constant publication of of Islam, and the sects of semi.pagan- religious tracts, books, and journals, it ism. There being no political parties can hardly be said to be a purely edu- in the empire, the inborn love of politi- cational mission. It has given much of cal dissent finds its vent in the religious time and strength to mission schools, sects. A man's religion is his politics but not to the neglect of other depart· -that is, his sect takes the place occu- ments of the work. pied in other countries by the political Schools have been looked upon as party. To separate any Syrian from vital to missionary success, and yet as his religious sect throws him out of only a means to an end, not as the end his endeared political party with all its itself. Years ago village schools were traditions and prejudices.
called "entering wedges," and such A Christian missionary must steer they really were, introducing the Gos· clear of all these racial and sectarian pel in many districts where otherwise, political jealousies and try to teach loy.
as far as could be seen, neither Bible alty to the" powers that be," the com- nor missionary would have been al- mon brotherhood of man, and offer to lowed to enter. all a common Saviour.
Education is only a means to an end The Holy Spirit is, indeed, omnipo- in Christian missions, and that end is tent, and can make men of these hostile to lead men to Christ and train them to sects one in Christ, "by the Word of become Chtistian peoples and nations. His power," just as. He can place a When it goes beyond this, and claims Tammany ward politician side by side to be in itself an end; that mere intel- with a negro Republican at the Lord's lectual and scientific eminence are ob- table.
jects worthy of the Christian mission- But as human naturQ is, it generally ary; that it is worth while for conse- requires early Christian training to crated missionaries and missionary so· break down these ancient sectarian an- cieties to aim to have the best astrono- tipathies. Men and women, converted mers, geologists, botanists, surgeons, in adult years from various sects, find and physicians in the realm, for the it hard to forget their former differ- sake of the scientific prestige and the ences, and on slight occasions the old world.wide reputation; then we do not political lines define themselves with hesitate to say that such a mission has perilous vividness. It is different with stepped out of the Christian and mis. youth of different sects when educated sionary sphere into one purely secular, together, and the brightest examples of scientific,. and worldly. Such a work mutual love and confidence have been might be done by the corporation of a found among the young men and women trained together in Syria for years in truly godly men and women, their Christian schools. prayers and example give a strong re- The present educational work of the ligious influence to their teaching, and Syrian Mission has been a gradual in the high schools daily religious in- growth. The 119 common schools struction is given in the most thorough were, as a rule, located in places where manner.
previously there were no schools. In III. Sometimes a school has been not a few cases rival schools have been maintained for years in a village with.
opened in the same towns by native out any apparent spiritual result, either sects, who, as experience shows, would among the children or their parents, close their schools at once were the and yet there are numerous instances evangelical schools withdrawn. in which the school has been the means In 1891-92 the mission schools in of the establishment of a church aud a Syria were as follows : College, 1 ; the- decided religious reformation.
ological seminary, 1; medical college, IV. The mission schools in Turkey 1; boys' boarding. schools, 2; girls' have had one important effect, and that boarding.schools, 3; high schools, 18 ; is, that the Protestant community haa, common schools, 119 ; total, 145. for its size, less illiteracy than any other In this list we have 143 schools sup. community in the empire, more readers ported by the Presbyterian Board and than any other, and is, as a consequence, 2 by the trustees of the Syrian Protes- more intelligent. V. In the towns and citi~s where the tant College.
In the 8chools of the mission are 213 higher schools are situated the majority native teachers and helpers and 12 of the additions to the churches come American teachers. from the childr.en and youth trained in In the college are 14 American pro· the 8chools.
fessors and instructors and 6 Syrian in- VI. It is the unanimous testimony of structors. The total number of pupils intelligent natives of all sects, that the in 1891 was 7117. If we add to this at intellectual awakening of modem Syria least an equal number in the schools of is due, in the first instance, to the other Protestant missions in Syria and schools of the American mission. They Palestine, we have a total of about 15,- were the first, and have continued in 000 children under evangelical instruc. operation for sixty years, and the most tion in the land. of the institutions of learning now in This is a work of large extent and in· existence in Syria, native and foreign, fluence, and it is of the first importance have grown out of them or been indi- to know whether these schools are help- rectly occasioned by them.
ing in the work of evangelization. To VII. If the question be raised as to aid in a correct estimate on this point the comparative cost of eduoational and we should remember that non-educational missions, it is doubt- I. The Bible is a text·book in all of less true that the eduoational are the them. These thousands of children are most costly.
taught the Old and New Testaments, -The Syrian Protestant College is an " Line upon Line," "Life of St. Paul," endowed institution separate from the the Catechisms, and the advanced pupils Presbyterian Board of Missions, and the •• Bible Hand.Book," Scripture his· its expensive edifices, which are an tory, and geography. The Bible rests honor to American Christianity and an at the foundation of them all. ornament to the city, were erected with- II. As far as possible none but Chris- out cost to the Board of Missions. It tian teachers, communicants in the is a Christian institution, in full har- churches, are employed in these schools. mony with the missionary principles The common schools are thus Bible and plans of its founders. The great schools, and where the teachers are majority of its Board of Managers are missionaries. The Bible is a regular perience," that unless the English and text.book. All students are required to attend college prayers, and all boarding French languages were taught in some in the institution must attend its Bible classes and preaching services. Protestant high school, all the leading VIII. In 1854 Dr. R. Anderson, of Protestant youth of Syria would go for the A. B. C. F. M., objected to the teaching of English in the mission their education to the papal LazarisL schools in India, Syria, and Asia Minor, on the ground that English.speaking and Jesuit high schools. This was in pupils were in such demand for politi- cal and commercial positions, that they 1862. For seven years the mission had were lost to the missionary work. He therefore induced the Prudential Com- adhered strictly to the vernacular stan mittee of that Board to prohibit abso- lutely the teaching of English in the dard, and saw its brightest youth slip- schools of all these missions, confining them to the vernacular languages. ping away to the schools of Rome. The I well remember the sorrow and in- American Board would not allow its dignation expressed to me by the la- mented Dr. Henry A. De Forest (M.D.), funds to be spent in teaching English. at the meeting of the Board in Hart- ford, in 1854, in view of this decision. Dr. Daniel Bliss was sent to the United He had been conducting a girls board- ing-school in Beirut for ten years, and States to consult with the Board as to had returned home broken in' health. He claimed that a knowledge of the raising a sum of $20,000 to found an English language was indispensable to a thorough Christian education in Syria, academy independent of the Board, by and he did not wish to resume his work unless he could teach English. A fatal which this crisis could be met without malady from which he had long been suffering soon ended his precious life. interfering with the funds or policy of His school was carried on by others as a vernacular school for years, and out the Board. of it have grown three American female seminaries and six or eight English and The plan was approved, and through Scotch girls' boarding-schools, in all of which (with possibly one exception) the the far-seeing wisdom of Hon. William English language is now taught. E. Dodge, William A. Booth, Abner At the meeting of the American Board in Utica, in 1855, Dr. Anderson stated Kingman, Alfred C. Post, and others that the Board's mission schools were now confined to the vernacular lan- this modest academy scheme has grown guages " through the pressure of experi- ence." Dr. D. W. Poor, then of New- to a university, well endowed, splen- ark, and son of the venerable Indian missionary, replied that it was not so didly housed in enduring edifices, and much" the pressure of experience" as "an experience of pressure" from the manned by an able, scholarly, and con- Board at home. secrated body of instructors. The Syrian Protestant College was _founded through the "pressure of ex- Since coming uniler the Presbyterian Board of Missions, in 1870, the mission has introduced the English language in addition to the Arabic into its boys'
and girls' boarding-schools, and many of its day schools. The English and Scotch schools all teach the English language. In this way thousands of Syrian youth have learned English, and the Romish and ,Greek schools are also teaching it in addition to French and Arabic.
The question now arises, cui bono?
Has twenty-five years' experience in teaching English justified the hopes and expectations of the American mis- sionaries? We r~ply, that it has, amI that beyond all question. The limited scope of Arabic literature, though greatly extended in the past thirty years by the Christian press, makes it impossible for one to attain a thorough education without the use of a foreign language. c; One needs but to turn the pages of the catalogue of the Syrian Protestant thousands have already gone to North College and of the Protestant girls' and South America, Mexico. and Ausboarding-schools, to see the names of tralia ; and they are still going. men and women who are now the leaders in every good and elevating enter- At present the Chicago Fair has prise, authors, editors, physicians, fanned the emigration fever to a flame. preachers, teachers, and business men It has taken hold of all classes, and who owe their success and influence to farmers, planters, mechanics, mertheir broad and thorough education. chants, doctors, teachers, preachers, They are scattered throughout Syria, young meD and women, boys and girls, Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa. even old men and women, are setting out in crowds for the great Eldorado of The advocates of a purely "Vernacular the West. A company of plain peasants system sometimes point to another will pay high wages for an English' side of the question, which is plain to speaking boy or girl to go with them as every candid observer-namely, that interpreter. There is thus a premium the English-speaking youth of both on the English language. The English sexes are leaving the country and emi- occupation of Egypt and Cyprus has grating to Egypt and America. Thill is acted in the same direction by opening true, and to such an extent as to be Dew avenues of employment. phenomenal. 'rhe Christian youth of Syria-Protestant, Catholic, Greek, and On the other hand, ignorance of Eng· Armenian-are emigrating by thou· lish does not deter the people from emisands. The promised land is not now grating. It is a deep-seated, pop.ular east and west of the Jordan, but east impul3e, widespread and irresistible, and west of the Mississippi and the Rio and it is equally strong in Eastern Turde la Plata; and the same passion for key, where little has been done in emigration prevails in Asia Minor, teaching the English language. Eastern Turkey, Mesopotamia, and Palestine. It is a striking, if not a The land is too narrow for its people, startling Providential fact. The Chris- at least under the present regime. The tian element in Turkey is seeking a Muslims cannot get away owing to the freer and fairer field for its develop- conscription laws, and few of them have ment. The ruling power is Muslim. gone. Its motto has become, as announced by some of the public men, "This is a It cannot be claimed that the teach. Muslim land, and Muslims must rule ing of English alone has produced this it." Heretofore thousands of Chris- great movement, for the masses of emitians, Armenians, Greeks, Maronites, grants do Dot know a word of English. and Catholics, have been employed in The reason is a desire to better their all parts of the civil service of the condition, "to buy and sell' and get empire, because they were better edu- gain," aDd in some cases a longing to cated. live under a Christian government. Whether the Syrians, like the Chinese, In 1869 the Turks founded a system will return finally to their own land, is of schools, but only during the past a problem as yet unsolved. fifteen years has the system been in effective operation, and now the Chris- The residence of Americans here for tian employers are being rapidly re- sixty years, the vast Dumbers of Amerimoved and replaced by Muslims. With can tourists who yearly pass through the government, military, and civil Syria and Palestine, the teaching of offices largely shut against them, and geography in the schools, the general no prospect of improvement in the spread of light, the news published in agricwltural districts, Christian youth the Arabic journals, and the increase Daturally look elsewhere, and tens of of population, with no corresponding openings for earning a living, these and many other causes have now culminated in this emigration movement which is sending 8 Semjtic wave across seas and end is the salvation of souls and the continents. Let us hope and pray that glory of God.
those who do at length return to the East will return better and broader and more useful men and women than David Baron, the converted Jew, if they had never left their native whose addresses at Northfield, Mild- land. may, and many other places' have made It must be that there 1s a Divine plan so profound an impression, was born and me'aning in it all, and that the reo on the Baltic frontier, and till eighteen sult will be a great moral gain to Western years of age never saw a New Testa- Asia in the future. ment. He was dissatisfied, especially The suspension of the mission with the observance of the great Day of schools in Syria would be a disaster. Atonement. He could find no rest and These thousands of children would be peace; and while training for a Rabbi left untaught, or at least deprived of felt the awful deficiency of the Jewish Bible instruction. faith. He came to the North of Eng- We do not see cause for modifying land when about eighteen years of age, our system of Christian education. Its and one evening two people came to gl"eat mission is yet to be performed. Hull and spoke about .. the Crucified."
These schools in which the Bible is His fellow Jews wanted him to argue taught are doing a gradual, leavening with believers, but he found that all work among thousands who thus far do he had known of Christianity was that not accept the Word of God. Christians worshippe~ images and per- There will yet be a new Phoonicia, a secuted the Jews! Even his knowledge new Syria, better cultivated, better gov- was ignorance and misapprehension.
erned, with a wider diffusion of Chris- He now came into contact with true believers, Wilkinson and Adler, the lattian truth, a nobler sphere for woman, ter of whom produced paslillges in Ger- happier homes for the people, and that man from the Old and New Testament.
contentment which grows out of faith Baron found his mouth stopped as he in God and man. heard of redemption and atonement as The schools will help on this con- the central key-notes of Christianity. His unrest increased ; he went to Mansummation. The press will hasten it. chester and there got a. Hebrew New The Christian pulpit will prepare the Testament, and came to the words in way for it. The churches and congre- Matt. 4, ., Thou shalt worship Jehovah, and Him only." His eyes were fastgations now existing and yet to be ened upon these words, and he read on formed will lay the foundations for it, for nearly twelve months, and then and the distribution of the Bible will cried out to Jesus, .. My Lord, my Sa- viour !" He now says, .. All the world confirm it aJld make it enduring. of unbelief would not shake my faith." We believe in Christian mission Eleven years later he was disowned, schools. With all the drawbacks in ex- disinherited; the shock to his mother, pense and toil, and at times the semi- from her son's apostasy, was such that , she never got over it. Ten years passed, secularization of the missionary laborer, and a wish was expressed by his father they are a blessing to any land. They to see his son. They met outside of let in the light. They teach the Bible the town, and there the son told the to the children. They conciliate the father about true Christianity. About a year and a half later he exchanged parents, remove prejudice, root up old worlds. David Baron is, to our mind, superstitions, brighten and cheer the the most powerful expositor of the hid- hearts of the little ones and the homes den meaning of the Old Testament of their parents, and lead many to a now to be found since Adolf Saphir's death, of whom he strongly reminds us. true knowledge of salvation through Mr. Baron's unfolding of the Prinity, as faith in Christ. shadowed forth in the Old Testament, They are a means to an end, and that is especially marvellous.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLlGEliICE
VI.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work and Statistics. Edited by Rev. D. L. Leonard, Oberlin, O.
-During the last year the American Thwing, D.D., and his wife have given Board commissioned 35 persons as mis. to missions l>efore, both of worldly sionaries. In September the Baptist goods, and that more precious gift, Missionary Union despatched 30 men their children; now they accompany and women to India, Burmah, and As- their daughter, Miss Gertrude, and sam. In October, in Exeter Hall, the their son, Rev. E. W. Thwing, and his London Society said good.by to more wife, to their field of labor."
than 30 destined to the South Seas, -Verily, there be missions and mis- Africa, India, and China. The Scottish sions. Thus Dr. Cust, in his recent Free Church has received voluntary book, " Africa Rediviva," tells us some· pledges from 64 students to go wherever thing about the French ., armed brethsent. ren of the Sahara," whose business it is -The day of missionary centennials to protect missionaries; and he quotes has fairly dawned, the English Baptists as follows from an orthodox Roman leading the way. Next in order, in Catholic source concerning ideas and 1895, will follow the London Society, practices which prevail in the Lake the Netherlands Society in 1897, the Tanganyika region: ,. The missiolary Church Society in 1899, and five years stations are built like forts, and are very later the great British and Foreign Bible strong, and are loopholed all around.
Society. We in the United States must At Karema, Colonel Joubert, il. soldier in wait yet eighteen years, the Germans the papal army, has come out to do the until 1921, and the French Protestants fighting department. His work is to de.
until the year following; but after that fend the stations. The plan of opera.
scarcely a twelvemonth will be without tions of the missionaries is to buy from its hundredth missionary anniversary. Arabs, chiefs, parents, or relations several -Why camlot such things be in hundred boys and girls from three to America? The number is quite large five years old. Every child is taught and increasing, especially in connection to work, and is brought up strictly as a with the English Church Missionary Roman Catholic."
Society, of those who devote their lives -Rev. Joseph Wolff, a converted to the foreign field and go out at their Jew, was a famous missionary in the own charges. Not a few officers of the early decades of the century. Of him Society and prominent clergymen are it is related that when in Jerllsalem a thus represented. Within a few months Jew inqllired why he came. "To half a score of such have been appoint. preach the Gospel of peace," replied ed. The son of a vice·president is in Wolff. .. Peace," retorted the Jew; Japan, whither be conducted a whole " look there at Calvary, where your dif· band of fellow-missionaries at his own ferent sects of Christians would fight expense. Not that this form of conse· for an empty sepulchre if the sword of cration is unknown on this side of the the Musslliman did not restrain you.
Atlantic, but that it is too seldom seen. When the true Messiah comes He will With what a thrill one reads an item banish war." He also narrates: .. I like this: once gave a Turk the Gospel to read, " An unusual family party started for and pointed him to the fifth chapter of China from Brooklyn this month, whose Matthew as showing the beauty of its five members are to join the mission of doctrine. • But,' said he, 'you Chris· the American Board there. Rev. E. p. tians are the greatest hypocrites in the world.' • How so?' • Why, here it is copies of the Bible, in whole or in part, said, .. Blessed are the peacemakers," were issued every working day. and yet you, more than any others, teach us to make war, and are your- -There are said to be 3000 spoken selves the greatest warriors on earth! languages. The Bible has been trans- How can you be so shameless?'" And lated into about 200 of 'them, but is acan unbelieving Hindoo recently alleged cessible to fully two thirds of the huwith too much truth: .. Christendom man race. The Mandarin Chinese af" has a fine moral code, but she shows fords communication to 200,000,000 her real principles in her Armstrong souls; the English to 120,000,000 ; the guns and whiskey distilleries, her Hindustani to 82,000,000; the German opium ships and dishonesty." to 54,000,000 ; the Arabic to 50,000,000. The English-speaking people have trans- -The independent held a fine sympo- lated most of the versions that now exsium of missionaries a few weeks since ist. to inform its readers of what moral and spiritual stuff native Christians are -Dr. Downie, of the Telugu Mission, made; and all were agreed, that while has presented to Brown University a most of the converts were true-hearted copy of the Mahabaratha, the most saand worthy of confidence, some were cred book of the Hindoos, next to the of uncertain character, and a few were Veda. The copy is written by the stilus prompted by sordid motives. In other on palm leaf, in eight volumes, and is words, they are possessed of human na- complete excepting the seventh volume. ture, and closely resemble saints in It is probably several centuries old; it Christian lands. They are yet in spir- has been worshipped times without itual infancy, at least in childhood. number-in fact every time it was read. Considering their past and their sur- The language is Sanscrit, but written roundings, they run wonderfully well. in Telugu characters.
-Shades of the fathers! How utterly -It is estimated that the Presbyteun-Pauline it all is, and without prece- rian churches of the world have 4,093,- dent in the ministry of the Master. We 000 members, of whom 1,709,000 are read these strange things about some of found in North America, 1,436,000 in our missionaries: .. Mr. Ashe accom- Great Britain, and 753,000 on the Conplished most of a recent journey to tinent; and. therefore. the Presbyterian Uganda on a bicycle." "Mr. Holton, population, or adherents, cannot be in the Madura region, has dropped the much less than 20,000,000. time-honored ox-bandy, and on his wheel travels to the out-stations ;" and -The number of public kindergareven a young woman in India, being tens in this country is over 500, with .. an accomplished bicyclist," is to 35,000 pupils, and of private kindermake it minister to the Gospel. Stm gartens 2500, with 29,000 pUI?i!s. A further. Rev. William Chamberlain tells total, then, of 3000, with 64,000 little ones.
the" old, old story" through the lenses -In the St. James' Mission in New of the magic lantern; and, finally, from York, a choir of 16 little girls represents this time forward. Jerusalem is to be 8 nationalities: the Polish, Swedish, profaned daily by the shriek of the lo- Danish, Bohemian, Hungarian, Gercomotive! ! man, French, and English.
-In the last year the American Bible -Chicago has a Pacific Garden Mis- Society printed and issued 913,678 sion, of which a daily paper affirms that copies of the Bible, or parts, which is it" ranks with the Jerry McAuley Mis· more than 2 books for every minute of sion in New York and the McAl! Misthe 313 working days, while by the sions in France, and is one of the most British and Foreign Bible Society 13,000 remarkable religious works ever conducted in this country. Its auditorium converted to a belief in missions. Reis open 365 nights in the year, and its cently in its editorial columns appeared congregations, composed for the most an appreciative article upon the work part of the forlorn, wretched, and of Moffat, Livingstone, and their ~sso vicious, average 300 during the week and ciates in South Africa, in which it was 600 on Sunday. The weekly average affirmed that "we owe it to our misof persons who profess to have begun sionaries that the whole region has been a new life is 100." opened up. Apart from their special service as preachers, they have done -All the sisters, including the mother important work as pioneers of civiliza· superior, of a Roman Catholic convent tion, as geographers, as contributors to in North Dakota are Indians, and the philological research. The progress of spiritual director is a priest of Mohawk South Africa has been mainly due to descent. men of Moffat's stamp."
-This is the record of the Baptist And, after numbering some of their Missionary Union; In the last three achievements in India, the conclusion years churches organized, 243, or 47 per is; "After such unique testimony as year. Increased membership, 29,468, this we need not attempt to show any or 9822 per year. Work of last year; more of the progress of the .Divine drama 417 missionaries haptized 18,549 per. oj missionary work in India. This is a sons, or 44 each; and the 163,881 memo state of things simply inconceivable in bers gave for all purposes $244,359, or an Indian presidency half a century $1.49 each. ago. The faithful preaching of the Gospel is slowly but surely effecting a -The American Board received duro complete transformation in the life of ing 1891-92 $794.875, as against $690,. humanity there." 922 the year before. The gain in dona· tions amounted to $60,634, and a single -Great Britain with 35,000,000 peo. bequest added $39,000 to the treasury. pIe spends as much for iutoxicating beverages as the United States with 65,. -The Presbyterian Church South 000,000. But her bequests for religious, sends forth 17 new missionaries this educational, and charitable purposes, year ; during the last ten years has exclusive of Baron Hirsch's benefacmore than doubled the number of its tions, reached $15,500,000 as against representatives abroad, having now 112 $7,000,000 in the United States. Much in the field; and has more than trebled of this difference is to be accounted for the contributions, giving $130,000 last by the large amounts given in that year. country during the life of the benefac- tor. EUROPE. -The various missionary societies Great Britain.-Two" missionaries" sustained by members of the Church from heathen lands are now in England, of England make use of versions of the the one an educated Hindoo Christian Scriptures in 107 languages, and by far woman, Miss Soonderbai Powar, and the larger portion are supplied, often the other a Chinese of intelligence and free of charge, alwa.ys beljw cost price, able to speak English well, Mr. Cheok by the British and Foreign Bible So· Hong Cheong, and both come to assist ciety. in the anti.opium campaign, speaking from personal observation of the terri- -A single Christian community in ble evils caused to millions of bodies India not long since sent to the Londou and souls, and imploring the govern· Society-Rs. 161. 5. 9. (nearly $50), two ment to suppress the trade in the dead· gold earrings, and one finger.ring, " the ly drug. proceeds of a self-denial week, and -It is a significant fact that the London Times appears to be thoroughly token of gratitude for benefits re- Russian to give up being orthodox; it ceived." is even a crime for a Protestant congre- gation to allow an orthodox Russian to The Continent.-The thirteenth an- be present. "When I left Russia," nual report of the Methodist mission says Mr. Bigelow, in Harper's Magazine, work in France, carried on under the .. in the fall of 1891, 80 Protestant direction of Rev. William Gibson, states clergymen were under sentence to Sibethat the past yearhas been one of the best ria, having been declared panies to the in the work of French evangelization. crime of preaching the Gospel… There are now 14 separate stations, and the number of church-members has -If all the plans of the projected reconsiderably increased. At Rue Roque- moval of the Jews from Russia are carpine, the chief chapel belonging to ried out according to the scheme re- Methodism in Paris, the meetings have cently laid before the Czar by Baron been well attended, while at Rouen Hirsch, the exodus of the Hebrews will 19,000 English seamen have been be larger than that of the time of Rareached in the year. meses under the leadership of Moses, and greater than that which took place -The Propaganda Society at Rome after the destruction of Jerusalem by reports that during the year 1891 it re- Titns. ceived 6,694,458 lire. During the preceding twelve months the receipts had -The Sultan of Turkey is reported to been 7,072,811 lire. There has thus be sending out a mission to Arabia with been a decrease of 378,354 lire. The the object of distributing to the Arab sources of last year's gifts were: Eu- chiefs a revised version of the Koran. rope, 6,031,978; Asia, 7196; Africa, The mollahs in Constantinople are ex- 33,568; America, 609,717; Oceanica, pressing their dissatisfaction with the 12,050. France gave 4,084,475 lire, but amended book, which is said not to Italy only 360,000. The lira (Latin contain some vital passages of the origlibra, a pound) is equal to a franc, or inal text such as these: "God doth not about 19 cents. love oppressors;" "He that avengeth a wrong shall not be punished, but only -The Norwegian Missionary Society he who doeth violence unrignteously.'· (Det Norske Missionsselskabs), in its birthplace, Stavanger, celebrated its -The American College for Girls at jubilee July 19th-23d, and with great Constantinople was founded in 1871, enthusiasm. The income in 1891 was and by funds collected by the Woman's £25,295, anl for the entire fifty years Board. During the last year 141 stu- £341,477 (the entire population of Nor- dents were enrolled, of the following way is less than 2,000,000). This so- nationalities: Armenian, Turkish, Isciety has a mission in Natal, with 11 raelite, Greek, Bulgarian, French, Germissionaries and about 500 communi- man, English, and American. Special cants, and one in Madagascar, with 30 courses are given in ancient and modmissionaries, to whom 8 or 10 more will ern Armenian and Greek, in Slavic and be soon added, and 32,000 church-mem- Bulgarian. The alumnre already numbers. ber 86, and are scattered from the Eu- phrates to the Danube. -The wealth of the Russian State Church is said to be so great that it ASIA. could pay the national debt, some $3,000,000,000, and with no perceptible India.-The census of 1890 reveals approach to impoverishment. the fact that in the government and mission schools 13,000,000 have been -It is a crime in Russia for a Protes- taught to read, and this is mainly the tant to read the Bible to a member of work of forty years.
a the Greek Church; it is crime for a -In some respects Great Britain does provided for than Gossner's Evangelical magnificently in looking after the mate- Lutheran Mission amoug the Kols in rial well-being of her Indian subjects. Chota Nagpore. Caste, 80 formidable The largest masonry dam in the world an obstacle to the spread of Christianity has just been completed, and is meant elsewhere, forms no particularly great to I!upply water for Bombay. It is lo- hindrance here, and hence it happens cated 70 miles north of that city, its that the field of the Kols is ripe for the length is 2 miles, its thickness at the harvest; they embrace Christianity in bottom is 100 feet, tapering to 16 feet families, in groups of families, in whole at the top, while ~ts greatest height is village communities. Already 18,173 118 feet_ The entire contents of the communicants have been gathered, and masonry of which it is composed are adherents to the number of 38,000.
32,000,000 cubic feet. From 10,000 to And from among these same Kols the 12,000 men were employed for three and Propagation Society has gained 13,288 a half years. The basin formed by the adherents and 6229 communicants.
dam' will contain 100,000,000,000 gal- -The Bethel Santal Mission reports lons. for the year 1891 Christians in 50 vil- -Not long since we were informed lages, 24 churches, 7 missionaries, 24 of the discovery in Africa of the ruins native preachers, 8 school-teachers.
of a~ ancient but long-lost city, and Patients from 200 different villages now we are told that buried within the were attended at the dispensaries, and depths of the forest, in the heart of the 86 converts were baptized. Including island of Ceylon, are remains of a city 210 children of Christian parents, there which was 4 miles more in circumfer- are 628 communicants.
ence than great Babylon of old. Its Japan.-Bishop Edward Bickersteth walls were 16 miles each way, enclosing has sent to England an urgent appeal an area of 244 square miles. It in- for at least 50 more workers. He says cludes a lake of 6 miles in circumfer- that it is impossible for missionaries in ence, with an embankment of stones, Tokio and Osaka to give more than the higher than the surrounding forest trees, fringe of their time to direct evangelizaand a spill-water almost as perfect as tion, their working days being ta~en up when first chiselled in the fifth century with questions of management, while before Christ. The jungle now over- in many country districts evangelization spreads the sites of royal palaces, and is retarded by the distance of the catesculptured monuments lie scattered on chists and congregations from the every side, or are buried a little way clergymen. beneath the sand.
-Missionaries familiar with native -There are 17 newspapers or magafamilies testify more and more strongly zines now published in the vernacular, to the appalling destrnction of children 15 of which are exponents of Bible by opium, it being given to them by Christianity, 6 being Congregational, even native Christian parents con- 2 Episcopal, 2 Rationalistic or Unitastantly. A notice of the English Gov- rian. 2 Presbyterian, 2 Methodist, and ernment posted about Bombay reads 1 Friends. They are generally well thus: " The right of selling children's edited and some are illustrated. [opium] pills has been given to the Bombay Opium Contractors, and such -Life and Light for October has an pills can be bought of all the Govern- article on Christian schools for girls in ment Opium Shops in Bombay!" this empire. Only 16 years ago the first one was established, in Kobe, but now -Dr. Grnndeman states that of all there are 12 in as many cities, and unthe missions he has seen in India, none der the care of 24 Christian women. is more hopeful nor less adequately Although most of them are of very recent Qrigin, and 3 were started so re- bracelets that it makes walking difficult. cently as to make graduation as yet im- Nearly every child in Central Africa is possible, the alumnre already ·number born a slave. When quite young they 221. The Kobe school offers an ad- are marked with 'tribal cuts,' just as vanced course of three years, and others we brand sheep." have post-gradnate classes. A training school for kindergartners' has also been ISLANDS OF THE SEA. opened, as well as one for nurses. -It is twenty years since Dr. Mackay, AFRICA. missionary of the Canadian Presbyterian Church, began to labor in North For· -Captain Jaques, of the Belgian mosa. The result is in that part of the Anti-Slavery Expedition, tells sickening island at this day 2605 baptized Chris· tales of the doings of the Arab slave- tians, 50 native preachers, 2 ordained traders in the Lake Tanganyika region. pastors, and many other workers. In about four months more than 10,000 Wabembes were carried off to Ujiji to -An English missionary in Singapore be sold. -" The whole region has been was surprised to find the church freshly converted into a desert, and thousands whitewashed inside and out. Going of corpses are poisoning the air." in he found a Chinaman (a converted prisoner, a printer by trade), who had -Lake Nyassa is now one of the most done this work at his own expense. prominent and promising of mission His natural explanation was, " I did it centres in Africa. There are 5 missions to thank God." actively at work, with more than 30 stations ; there are on the lake 4 vessels -The whole New Testament in one belonging to the Universities' Mission, of the dialects of N6w Guinea has now and 2 steamers and a sailing-vessel be- been put through the press by the Lon. longing to the African Lakes Company. don Missionary Society. Steam-launches are in preparation for the Scotch missions at Bandawe and -From Tahiti and adjacent islands a Blantyre. band of not less than 160 evangelists have gone forth, carrying the message -" The native Congo costume is soon of salvation to other benighted tribes, described," writes a missionary, " as it and yet less than a century ago the anconsists only of a waist-cloth, palm.oil, cestors of th6se evangelists were living and a kind of red powder smeared over in the grossest darkness and superstithe body, giving it a bright vermilion tion. color. This, of course, easily comes off, of which I once had an amnsing British Foreign Missions. By Rev. James proof. I had just painted our mission. Johnston, Bolton, England. house very prettily in white picked out with green, and a number of men, Uganda.-While Captain Lugard's women, boys, and girls came clustering despatches completely vindicate his round, bright in their inexpensive cos- honor as a British soldier in regard to tume of paint and palm-oil, and leaned the charges made by the French bishop against the doors and walls, leaving and priests, they call attention to the everywhere a patch of red. The na- differences that have arisen between tives dress their hair in an extraordinary himself and the Protestants. Of the way, giving it the appearance of two complaints which Bishop Tucker has hornR projecting from the head. The sent to England on the part of the Protladies wear brass collars round their estants, more will probably be heard on necks, which are irremovable. Their the arrival of the Rev. R. H. Walker, wrists and ankles are so weighted with who is supposed to have left Uganda for the coast accompanied by two na· tive Christians. The complaints have with 640 on trial ; 176 ministers, with 21 relation to a difference of opinion which on probation, and 34 supernumeraries. sprang up between the missionaries and Foreign missioDs, 36,395 members, with the Company on details of administra- 6208 on trial; 235 ministers, with 106 tion. Meanwhile the question is being on probation, and 14 supernumeraries. asked, What will the missionaries do French Conference, 1473 members, with when the Company evacuates Uganda 117 on trial ; 33 ministers. South Afriat the end of the present year? Cap- can Conference, 33.523 members, with tain Lugard says they will come away 12,231 on trial; 183 ministers. West too; but at present there is a strong Indian Conference, 47,817 members, feeling against the adoption of a policy with 3284 on trial; 104 ministers. Toof .. scuttle." Before the Company ap- tals, 569,720 members, with 50,020 on peared on the scene the missionaries trial; 2222 ministers, with 384 on proheld their own, and why can they not bation, and 371 supernumeraries. do so again? It is remarked, however, that, consciously or unconsciously, the The New Bishop of Lucknow.- Missionary Society, after Bishop Tuck- The Rev. Alfred Clifford, first bishop of er's appeal, has become identified with the new see of Lucknow, was ordained the Company in the eyes of a good in 1872, and in 1874 joined the missionmany people both in England and ary staff in Calcutta, where he toiled Uganda. some five years, and afterward six or seven years at Krishnagar aDd else- Bishop Smythies in England.- where. He was appointed, in 1885, the Since his partial recovery this vigorous Church Missionary Society's secretary leader of the Universities' Mission has for the diocese of Calcutta, and in 1886 awakened much interest in Great Bri- the Bishop of Calcutta appointed him tain on behalf of East Central African one of his chaplains. Just turned forty mission work. Described as a man of years of age, he is full of hope for the peculiar charm, energy, and wisdom in future of Hindostan. Due in England the good cause, it may not generally be at an early date, he has written home known that he has been consulted by that he is "-able to say with confithe Emperor of Germany, Lord Salis- dence," that during the years he has bury and others, his voice carrying been connected with Calcutta there weight as a missionary and a states- has never been a time like the present man. The bishop has stirred English for men and women coming to the misaudiences with the vivid accounts of sionaries with earnest inquiries about his 400-mile walks, of the splendid the Christian religion; and, further, powers of the African n,atives-so often ,. one, in his experience, in which more looked down upon-of their talent for are actually offering themselves for baplanguages, and what faithful clergymen tism, and this does not apply to one the rescued slaves have become. He class only, but to all classes." He speaks of carpenters, stonemasons, etc., holds that ,. the long sowing of the seed who are missionaries and of churches has not been without result, and that built by natives with only one European the time of upspringing is approachto direct. ing." Bishop Clifford, elect, will have the whole of the Northwest Provinces Wesleyan Methodism at Home and under his charge, an area exceeding Abroad.-The following general view 100,000 square miles. The Church embraces the present numerical strength Missionary Society is supposed to ocof this influential organization: Great cupy 15 out of the 49 civil districts of Britain, 424,959 members, with 27,540 these provinces, but in 7 out of the 15, on trial; 1581 ministers, with ·193 on contailling among them ten millions of probation,and 297 supernumeraries. Ire- souls, has only one European missionland and Irish missions, 25,553 members, 81y and a few native teachers; and no fanatical spirit of the Arabs, and might other society is represented at all in lead to a religious war, with serious oone these districts! sequences to the Niger Company and The" Joyful News" Mission.-Its also to France, whose interests in and headquarters at Rochdale, in Lanca- about the Soudan are so great. The shire, this admirable auxiliary is by no missionary prestige of Cardinal Lavimeans losing its hold on the sympathies gerie is being quoted, and his opinion of British Methodists. Sinoe its initia- in deprecation of oonverting the Arabs tion eight years ago, no less than £29,- by the usual missionary methods. But 000 have been oontributed to the funds. the faot is· that the organization in ques- An earnest appeal is now being made tion is not a mere missionary auxiliary, for 200 evangelists, chiefly for the for- but is rather a scientific undertaking eign field, and toward this movement established to encourage the study of the Rev. Thomas Champness, the the Hausa language and people. Unfounder, devotes £600. Mrs. Argent, doubtedly the translation of the Scripwhose son, an agent of the Joyful Ne:ws tures will aid the work of the Church Mission, was murdered in the fanatioal Mi~sionary Sooiety; but with such outbreak among the Chinese of Wusueh, names as Lord Aberdare, Sir George has reoeived from the Chinese Govern- Taubman-Goldie, Major Darwin, M.P., ment the sum of £925 as compensl'tion, Mr. Francis Galton, and Dr. Parke on and has handed over the entire amount the oommittee, there is an adequate to the mission for the promotion of the guarantee that no countenanoe will be Gospel in China. given to anything oalculated to arouse Arab fanaticism in the wide.reaohing The report of the Wesleyan Mission Central Soudan. in the Wuchang district, China, just issued, shows that in twenty-five years the missionaries have increased from 3 Monthly Bulletin. to 10, native catechists now number 13, local preachers 4, church-members 521, -The reoent meeting, in Chicago, of attendants at publio worship 737, and the American Board of Commissioners day scholars 289. The teachers are na- for Forei~n Missions brings onoe more tive Christians, superintended by the to mind and emphasizes the faot, that missionaries. With the opening up of this, the oldest of missionary sooieties South Central Africa, the Society some in the New World, is also one of the months ago sent one of its most experi- most important in Christendom, and enced men to establish a mission in whether we regard its inoome ($841,- Mashonaland, and soon several native 569), the number of its representatives ministeis will follow. abroad (534 sent from the United States, and 2600 native laborers), or the quality The Hausa Association.-A mis- and .maguitude of the results· aohieved apprehension of the objects of this (40,333 in its ohurohes, and 3516 added movement has been followed by hostile during the last year, and 47,330 in its criticism in France, because it was schools). Its toilers are found in four founded in memory of a noble mission- missions in the Turkish Empire, where ary, the Rev. J. A. Robinson, and the almost one third of its funds are ex- fact that two archbishops and several pended and one third of its fruits are bishops are on the committee. An 'at- gathered ; in three missions in China ; tempt is· being made to prove that the in Japan; in three missions in India; main purpose of the Association is the in three missions in Africa; in three conversion of the Hausa countries on missions in papal lands, Austria, Spain, the Middle Niger, and it is alleged that and Mexico; and in Micronesia. It is any systematic and widespread en- estimated that 120,000,000 of needy deavor of this kind would rouse the souls are oommitted to the oare of the denomination which sustains this So. the people to leave a place of worship ciety, a population equal to that of the they had erected for themselves.
Roman Empire in its palmiest days! Europe.-According to the Guild Life The worst of the troubles through and Work of the Church of Scotland which the Board has been passing in the guild movement is bearing fruit recent years seems to be passed, and it which will gratify the friends of misis to be hoped that the" shock" re- sions. Its two latest members to enter ceived on the missionary field are Mr. Charles Scott, who will be missionary engineer .. Is of the wave, and not the rock."
About the only ground for solicitude is (in connection with the Blantyre Mis- found in the unseemly fact that so large sion) of the new steamer about to be a fraction of the income ($249,778) is placed on the Shire River, with whom derived from legacies. Mr. John M'Killop, secretary of the -TWs is linking the old with the Govan branch, will probably be assonew in a way most impressive. It is ciated. said that a descendant of Columbus is to start the machinery at the World's -The Methodists have come into Fair. The aged man cannot undertake possession of a fine site in the city of so long a journey, but, touching an Rome, on the same etreet as the King's electric button which connects with Palace and the Government buildings, one of the ocean cables, and that again and hope soon to have there a lar~e and with the immense enginery in the fair commodious building, containing a buildings at Chicago, the wheels wills 'church, a college, a theological semibe set in motion. nary. residences for the faculty, and a printing department. One man, the -The wife of the Korean amba'Ssador Rev. G. A. Reeder, of Ohio, will give to the United States has lately become $10,000. a convert to Christianity, and has joined the Southern Presbyterian -Russia haa finally decided to per. Church. mit the importation of the Bible free of duty, when printed in any other lan- -At the Ninth Annual Convention guage than Russian; but no translation of the Christian Alliance, held in New of the Scriptures in that language lllay York, $30,000 were collected for its be circulated within the confines of the work. Within three months $100,000 empire and its dependencies unless have been received, and over 100 mis- printed by the authority of the Holy sionaries have been sent from the train- Synod. ing college during the past year to al- .most all the lands beyond the seas. Asia.-Rev.S. M. Zwemer, one of its missionaries, says that the new Ameri• can Mission now working Ambia is -The mission band of the Lutheran likely soon to locate a station at Mus· Church of Pottsville, Pa., has contrib- cat. This place, on the eastern coast uted $20 for a prayer house in India. of Arabia, is the main centre from This makes the fifth prayer house pro- . which the Zanzibar Arabs have come, vided for by this band and it has often been a matter of ear- -Eleven French Canadian Roman nest desire with the friends of African Catholics have recently been received missions that the Gospel should be carinto the Protestant faith, at Maski- ried to the original home of those who nonge, Quebec, by the Rev. A. L. Ther· have done and are still doing such in. rien, and formed by him into a Baptist finite damage in East Africa.
congregation. This exodus from Ro- -Dr. Pentecost is authority for the manism is owing to the tyrannical con- statement that in India 2500 J,lersons duct of a priest, wha wished to compel are baptized every month, -A Bengalese young woman, Miss large as they were a hundred years ago.
Dass, having been converted to Chris- They show all the symptoms of decay.
tianity through the instrumentality of The more enterprising and energetic the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist mis- individuals are found now in the sea- sionaries, has decided to go to England ports, that offer a marked contrast to to take a course of medical training, the more conservative and literary com.
after which she intends returning to munities of the interior.
India to labor among her people. -The Rev. W. A. Wills writes as fol.
-Adjutant Abdul Aziz, a convert from lows from Chouping, Shantung: Mohammedanism, is now in charge of " Last Sunday I had the great joy of the social work of the Salvation Army baptizing 30 at Shen.ma·chuang, in the at Bombay. Two native female officers county of Chih-chuan, 6 women, 3 boys have started under him a work for from our school there, aged eleven, four· women. teen, and sixteen years respectively, the -Seven poor men from four different others ranging from twenty-one years congregations belonging to the Ameri- to seventy.six. These converts have can MadurA. Mission, all related to one been busy several weeks preparing the another, united 1vith their pastor in baptistery, and enlarging and renovatspending eight days together in a re- ing the chapel in their spare time. In treat in order to study the Bible and fit the afternoon we commemorated the themselves for telling to their people Lord's Supper, when 11 of the number, the story of the Cross. And all the ex- living some eight miles from this vil. penses of this retreat were borne by lage, were formed into a little church. "
themselves. Africa.-The Khedive of Egypt has -How vast the field, and how few given $150 to the British and Foreign the laborers! Take a single example. Sailors' Society.
The Marathi Mission covers an area -Since 1885 the Congo Free State has with I' population of over 3,286,000, enjoyed the most SUbstantial benefits distributed in 30 towns and 3570 vil- of the PostaiUnion. That is, for five lages. The entire number of mission- cents per half ounce the inhabitants aries, men and women, engaged in ef- thereof may communicate with the fort in their behalf, is 33, residing at 8 whole civilized world; and they appredifferent stations, While the number of ciate the privilege, for the number of native agents of all classes amounts to pieces of mail despatched to and from 351, residing at the mission stations and the Congo in 1886 was 33,140 ; the num- at 118 out-stations. ber in 1890 was 74,988.
-In the Pgho Karen School, at Bas- -Rev. P. Frederickson writes from sein, Burmah, a "do without" band Kinjila station, Congo Mission: .. We has been organized, and 100 of the pu. have now 22 baptized, all young men pils have joined it. All the members from eleven to twenty years of age, and pledge themselves to do without some· none of them are ashamed to tell that thing each month. The savings are to Jesus has saved them and that they love be devoted to some religious object. Him. I hope they will all be evangel. In the month of July, rupees 36 were ists. " thus realized. The efforts to fix Chris· tian responsibility in the hearts of Bur. -Bishop Taylor evidently counts not mese disciples are meeting with encour- himself to have apprehended, but eon· aging success. tinues to reach forth and press on. Not content with laying foundations in -All authorities say that Peking, the India, in South America, and on the present capital of China, and Nanking, Congo, he DOW sounds a ringing call for the ancient capital, are hardly half so an advance into Mashonaland,
The Missionary Review of the World — February 1892
THE IMPORTANCE OF WINNING cmNA FOR CHRIST
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XV. No. 2.-0ld Serics.–FEBRUARY.–VoL. V. No.2.-New Serie&.
THE IMPORTANCE OF WINNING CHINA FOB. CHRIST.
BY REV. JOHN R. HYKES, KIUKIANG, CHINA.
1. China is to-day the great mission field of the world• .Whether we consider the extent and resources of her territory, the number of her population, her antiquity, or the character and possibilities of her people, she is unquestionably the greatest and most important field for misl!ionary operations on the planet.
1. Size.-In the Chinese Empire we have one of the largest domains ever swayed by a single power in any age or any part of the world. Ac- cording to the most careful estimate it comprises a continuous area of more than five and a quarter million square miles. It is one half larger than the United States with Alaska thrown in. It forms one third of the entire Continent of Asia-one tenth of the habitable globe. In extent it is equal to a Europe and a half. Next to Russia it is the largest empire that has ever existed.
2. Resources.-In this vast territory the greatest mineral and metallic wealth of the world is stored, and it is practically untouched.' Gold and silver are abundant; the diamond, ruby, sapphire, topaz, garnet, agate, and other precious stones are known and used ; tin, zinc, lead, nickel, and all the common metals exist in vast stores. Coal and copper are found in every province, and it would scarcely be an exaggeration to say that there is enough coal in China to supply the world for the next twenty centuries. In the Central Provinces men dig a shaft a hundred feet deep, carry the coal up the incline in baskets strapped to their backs-fifty and sixty pounds at a time-and call the proces!! mining ! Water is baled out by buckets handed from one. level to another, or it is pumped to the surface by a series of rude bamboo pumps, and when these primitive methods fail . to keep the mine from becoming flooded, it is abandoned and a new shaft sunk. Yet so abundant is the supply that immense quantities of coal are mined in this rude and laborious way.
The agricultural wealth of China is proverbial. In many parts of Far Cathay it is only necessary to " tickle the soil with a hoe and it willlaug-h ~ 11l~rve(j~." The great plaill~ 1l/l <jqltivated like gardl:qs (indeed1 th; Chinese are rather gardeners than farmers), hills are terraced to their summits, and in the Central and Southern Provinces the soil will produce three crops a year. In many parts of the Empire one acre of land is sufficient to support a family, and the happy possessor of five acres is in affluent circumstances. Judged by her resources, China is pre-eminently a great country.
3. Population.-The population of China is, beyond all question, enormous, " constituting by far the greatest assemblage of human beings, using one speech, ever congregated under one monarch." According to the lowest estimate the population of China is one fourth of the human race, six times as many people as there are in the entire United States- 350,000,000 souls, men with moral accountability, intellectual activity, and immortal destiny. It is a number inconceivable in its vastness, so great that it staggers the imagination. Think of it Christian men and women!
4. Antiquity.-China is unique in her antiquity. Her authentic history dates back more than 4000 years-303 years subsequent to the deluge, 47 years before the death of Noah. If you were to undertake to write the history of China you would have to take the tenth chapter of Genesis for thc first chapter of your history of the wonderful sons of Ham. It is a nation hoary with antiquity and marvellous in its preservation. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, all the great nations of antiquity, arose, flourished, entered the charnel-house of departed empires and there mouldered into almost utter forgetfulness, and China alone remains of them all; and from present indications she is destined to go on down through the centuries. Why this marvellous preservation?
II. The greatest problem before the Church of Christ to-day is the conversion of China. . It is an extremely difficult task. No one who has lived and worked among the Chinese would minimize it; and yet there are some people who would have us believe that the evangelization of the Chinese is an unnecessary and presumptuous task. They say: " The Chinese are good enough ;" "They are vastly superior in civilization and morality to many other heathen nations;" "Let them alone. Keep your meddlesome and fanatical missionaries at home and give them work among the slums of New York;" "They are perhaps better off in their beliefs than we are in ours. ' , Let us see.
1. Moral conditiQn.-What is the moral condition of the Chinese people q It is most accurately described by St. Paul in that wonderful first chapter of his Epistle to the Romans. That terrible description of human depravity is no libel upon human nature. The black picture is not overdrawn. It is true to the life. Heathen character is no better to-day than it was in the time of St. Paul. It is worse, for there is no such things as stand-still in vice. In the mission with which I am connected, it was necessary a few years ago to tear down one of the mission houses, and it was erected on a different site at an additional expense, because the occupants could look down upon the Chinese courtyards below, and seo enacted before their very eyes some of the vilest crimes enumerated in tho first chapter of Romans. Dr. S. Wells Williams says: "They are vile and polluted in a shocking degree; their conversation is full of filthy expressions, and their lives of impure acts. By pictures, songs, and aphrodisiacs they excite their sensuality, and, as the apostle says, e receive in themselves that recompense of their error which is meet.'
Female infanticide, in some parts openly confessed, and divested of all disgrace and penalties everywhere; the dreadful prevalence of all the vices charged by the Apostle Paul upon the a:ncient heathen world; the alarming extent of the use of opium ; the universal practice of lying and dishonest dealings; the unblushing lewdness of old and young; harsh cruelty toward prisoners by officers, and tyranny over slaves by masters-all form a full, unchecked torrent of human depravity, and prove the existence of a kind and degree of moral degradation, of which an excessive statement can scarcely be made, or an adequate conception hardly be formed."
And yet. there are people who say the Chinese do not need Christianity!
2. What have existing religions done for them ?-There are in China throe sects or systems of belief which have moulded the religious faith of the Empire. They are Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.
(1) CONFUCIANIsM.-Confucianism, or the Church of the Learned, is the State religion of China. It takes its name from the great eage, but it dates away back to the early dawn of Chinese history. Confucius was, as he himself says, merely a reviver of the usages of the ancient kings, a transmitter of the doctrines of the ancient sages. He was a 1·eviver and transmitter-an editor rather than an author. Confucianism cannot prop- erly be termed a religion (indeed, there is no generic word fol' religion in . the Chinese language), ·but it is rather a system of ethics and political economy. An eminent authority says: "The State religion can no more be called the religion of the Chinese than the teachings of Socrates could be termed the faith of the Greeks." It is silent on the great questions of human origin and human destiny, and it teaches nothing of the relation of man to a higher Power. "I know not life, how can I know death! " was the unsatisfactory answer the sage gave to the disciple who ventured to ask about death; and when asked in his last illness to whom he would 8acrifice, he said he had already worshipped.
Ancestral worship is the keystone of the Confucian arch. This is a most ancient cult, dating back at least to the time of Shun (B.C. 2250), and the sages are responsible for perpetuating it. One writer say!!!, they " have bound upon the millions of China a most degrading slavery-the slavery of the living to the dead." The worship of ancestors is the stronghold of Confucianism. This is the real religion of the Chinese j and the hardest thing for a convert to Christianity to give up is his ancestral tablet. These little boards, containing the legend of the two ancestors, of which there are perhaps seventy millions in the Empire, are" more potent for evil than all the idols in the land."
Confucianism contains many beautiful sentiments, as: "O,'erflow with love to all;" "Do not do unto others what you would not have others do unto you j" "I love life and I love righteousnet!s, but I love righteousness more than life j" it is a splendid system of ethics, but it contains no hope, for ordinary mortals either in life or in death. It has been a conserving intellectual force, it has inculcated and enforced filial piety, it has kept alive a belief in the futllte life, it has exerted an immense influence for good, yet after forty centuries of trial it has failed to elevate thtl nation morally and spiritually.
(2) BUDDHISM.-Buddhism was introduced from India about the year A.D. 67. According to the Chinese historians the Emperor Ming Ti, in consequence of a dream in which he beheld " an image of gigantic proportions, resplendent as gold, " sent an embassy to the West which returned with teachers of the Indian faith. The remarkable saying of Confucius, "The people of the West have sages (or a sage)," doubtless influenced the emperor's vision j and it would be interesting to know just how far it wat! excited by tidings of the advent and death of Jesus Christ.
No religion could have been propagated in any country under more favorable circumstances than the new faith in China. Introduced under imperial patronage, supplying a felt want upon the part of the people in its tenets respecting a future state and the nature of the gods, it gradually worked its way into popular favor. Emperors became the patrons of the new faith, and more than one occupant of the Dragon Throne entered the monastic order. One emperor gave nearly 4000 ounces of gold to have the sacred hooks transcribed in characters of that precious metal; another contributed 300 tons of copper to be cast into images, and only 200 years ago the renowned Kang-hsi gave the yellow porcelain tiles which cover the temples on the sacred island of Pootoo. And yet after more than 1800 years of trial, under circumstances most favorable, Buddhism has failed to elevate the Chinese to a higher life aud nobler purpose.
(3) TAOIsM.-Taoism, or the sect of the Rationalists, is a native faith dating back to the sixth century before the Christian era. It is not a religion. The philosopher Laotsz had no intention of founding a religion. It is a school of philosophy, an abstruse system of metaphysics, but it has few, if any, of the essential elements of a religious faith. The ancient Taoists were alchemists. They" sought to transmute the baser metals into gold," and professed to have diRcoyered the philosopher's stone. They discourse wisely upon the" Pill of Immortality"-a " golden elixir" which confers immortality and insures a place among the genii. The priests of to-day pander to and traffic in the superstitions of the people. They live upon the credulity of their fellow-men. A large part of their businQsll it:l tQ lU!'tlufa«tul'e and. lIell «barms to w(lrq ott all 50rts of m!1!die5 and evil influences. Some years ago there was in Southern China w:hat is known as the "Queue-Cutting Mania." Men in the fields, boys on the streets had their queues cut off, but how or by whom none could tell. Cattle pasturing in the fields lost their tails, fowls had their tail and wing- feathers mysteriously clipped. There was intense excitement throughout the Empire. In the city of Kiukiang, where I was living, two men were beheaded on a charge of cutting off queues by magic !
The priests of Tao rose to the occasion and devised a charm, which, braided in the queue, would protect that ornamental appendage from the "magic scissors" which were flying through the air. It was a great harvest for them. The head of the Taoist religion-the Pope of Tao- the" Heavenly Teacher" Chang, whom I once saw in his palace at the Dragon and Tiger Mountain, is the great wizard of China, and his charms are eagerly sought by the people. Taoism is a failure as a religion. There i~ nothing in it to comfort or elevate mankind, and the Chinese are no better for its twenty centuries' influence upon them. What China needs above everything else is the religion of Jesus Christ. It is her only hope.
There are persons who would have us believe that the conversion of China is an impossible task-that missions are a failure and should be abandoned. They argue very wisely that Christianity is not adapted to the Chinese mind, that there is something peculiar in the Mongolian ca~t of mind (the result, possibly, of his environment for the past forty centuries) which makes it utterly impossible for the religion of Jesus Christ to reach him. "The Chinaman," they affirm, " cannot be converted." If this is true the Church should know it j common honesty would demand that the missionaries admit it. If we are engaged in a hopeless warfare in the Chinese Empire the' sooner the Church recalls its forces from the field the better.
Let us look at the sources of information. These are, first, "Globetrotters;" second, naval men on the Asiatic Station.
We see two classes of travellers in the East. One, and, unhappily, much the larger class, go around the world to " see the sights" and have a good time generally. They do not stop long enough in any country to form an intelligent opinion of the people or their customs. They get their information from boon companions on the steamers and at the ports, who do not Rpeak the language of the people, have little sympathy with anything that is good, and who consequently are always ready to decry missionary work. They see nothing of missionary work for themselves. They get their information at second-hand from persons who evolve it from their own inner consciousness, and then they set themselves up a8 authorities in everything pertaining to the Chinese and pose as critics of missions! I mt't a specimen of this class when I was returning to China eleven years ago. In the same car in which we were crossing the continent we had as tra~'elling companion an elderly and intelligent man, Judge – – , several young ladies, evidently in his charge, and a youth who entertained the company with marvellous accounts of a recent trip to China. He told them all that he had seen in the far East, and, for their entertainment, a great many more things which he had not seen. After a while the judge asked him about Christian missions. Bc went glibly over the stock criticisms of missionaries, and pronounced them first-class frauds and their work an utter and hopeless failure. The judge said very emphatically: "I have been an ardent admirer of foreign missions. I have always given liberally to their support, but I have given the last cent I shall ever contribute to this cause." The next morning the judge, the youth, and myself met in the smoking-room. I told him how happy I was to meet a man who had been in China, and asked him in what part of China he had been. " Hong- Kong," he replied. "How long?" "Six weeks." "Did you visit Canton ~" " No." "Did you call at Shanghai?" " No." "Are you acquainted with any of the missionaries in Hong-Kong?" " No." " Did you see anything of the work of the Basel Mission in that place ?" " No." "Heard nothing of their schools and orphanages?" " No." " Ever been to a chapel~" "No." "Ever seen the outside of a missionary's house~" "No." "Well, you are a fine fellow to set yourself up as a critic of missions. You have never been to China at all, only to the Briti!lh colony of Hong-Kong, have never seen a missionary, a missionary's home or chapel, and yet you pose as an authority on Chinese mISSIons. You ought to be ashamed of yourself." And to his credit, I think he was j for the young ladies could not get him to say a single word about China from that time until we reached San Francisco. These are the men who know all about missions.
The other class of travellers is interested in everything that is good. They take nothing at second-hand which they can possibly get direct. They visit the missionaries in their homes, attend services in their ch3pels, and visit their schools and hospitals. A part of their business is to study this great problem of missions. It is a suggestive fact that these persons who know about missions from personal observation and. study are their most enthusiastic supporters. I met a man at Northfield last summer, who some years ago visited most of the mission fields of the world. He spent several days at Kiukiang, where I was then laboring. He was all on fire with enthusiasm for missions. He told me that since their return from abroad he had made missionary addresses in 1100 churches and his wife in 1500. Whose testimony is to be received?
It is a very unpleasant and delicate task to refer to the other critics of missions-viz., the naval men. I would be sorry indeed to think that they are all Lieutenant Woods or Captain Marthons. No man is more highly respected by the missionary body in China than Commander Barker of thll United States steamship Marion. He studied missions in every port he visited and wrote to the home papers commending the work. It is, however, an exception for an officer from a man-of-war to visit a mission chapel. Not long since the~e was a letter published from Captain Marthon, of the United States steamship Palos, in which he says that he has yet to see the first Chinese Christian. This letter was written from the city where I labored for eighteen years, and immediately after the Palos returned to Kiukiang with the victims of the Wusueh massacre. The writer must have known that the three children of the Wesleyan Mission at that place were rescued from the burning mission house, in the face of an infuriated mob, by native Christians, at the risk of their lives; that one of them when pressing through the mob with the four-months'-old infant of my friend Mr. Boden, and finding that he could not possibly save its life, tossed it over the heads of the rioters to a native Christian woman, who two hours later restored it to its mother. No Christians in China! There were Christian heroes all around, but he was too blind or too prejudiced to see. The Chinese can be converted, and a man must be incapable of finding anything if he cannot find Christians in China.
It is a common, flippant remark that more die in China every year than are converted in a century. This is not true; although it is not always easy to answer the sneers of the godless, who too often" salt their wit in the brine of our tearA." The work goes on; and it will go on, until" the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ. "
III. The conversion of China is unquestionably the most important work of the Church in this age.
This iA not so much on account of the greatness of the country and the vastness of the population as on account of the future of the Mongoliall. race. The" Chinese Question" is destined to become one of the difficult problems for this or the next generation to solve. He has emigrated to all contiguous countri~s, Japau, Siam, the Straits; he has crossed over to Canada, Mexico, the West Indies; he has settled in the Sandwich Islands, Australia, and the United States, and from present indications he is destined to overrun the world.
He is creating a general feeling of uneasiness wherever he has gone j and that not so much on account of his bad qualities as his good. Many of the objections urged again~t the Chinaman in this Christian, libertyloving country and the last decade of this marvellous nineteenth century, are trifling and childish in the extreme. The truth of the matter is, the Mongolian has by his patient industry, temperate habits, and careful economy become a successful competitor of the intemperate, extravagant, and too often vicious laborers from other lands.
John Chinaman has become the agony of colonial and American statesmen. The Australians are more anxious to get rid of him than of their pestifer~us rabhits. The United States feel that the safety and perpetuity of this Great Republip. and its magnificent institutions depend upon the exclusion of the Mongolian ! We can assimilate anything else-the Italians, Hungarians, Catholic Irish-but somehow we can't quite digest the Chinaman; and so we pass iniquitous Exclusion acts which wili put our children and grandchildren to the blush. They are a disgrace to the 'honor of our country, blots upon our national escutcheon, relics of barbarism only fit to be classed in the same category with burning witches in New England. The quicker they are repealed the better.
John is irrepressible; he is like Banquo's ghost, he won't down. Why 1 1. God has some great destiny for the Chinese race. 'I'hey have not been preserved so marvellously as a nation 4000 years for nothing. God does not work in that way. There is no waste of force or material in God's economy j and so the preservation of the Chinese down through the ages has been a conservation of a mighty force to be used by God in the consummation of His plans for the race. Neither is it for nothing that beneath the broad domain of China the mineral wealth of the world is stored.
2. The Chinese are capable of great things. They are slow, solid, aggressive, a people that will abide. They are patient, economical, filial, aDd they are pre-eminently a determined people. Some years ago China was devastated by a terrible rebellion. The southern half of the Empire was wrested from the Imperial sway and in the hands of the Taipings. The Mohammedans in the Northwest took advantage of this state of affairs and rebelled. "Aided by the reckless and seditious of all clans they drove out the governmental minions" and China lost Turkestan. At the same time Russia seized Kuldja. In a moment of weakness the Czar promised China that he would restore Kuldja as soon as China should reassert her authority in those regions and reconquer Turkestan. The attempt to restore prestige in a territory where every hand was turned against her seemed indeed hopeless. Her resources were exhausted, treasury aepleted, foreigners were within her gates, the distance to be traversed was immense, and no one dreamed she conld succeed. The Emperor sent for Tso Tsung Tang, one of his ablest generals, and asked him if he could reconquer Turkestan. Tso replied that he could. " But," said the Emperor, "have you considered that your operations will be so far removed from your base that the mules will eat up all the provision!! before they reach your army ~ Have you thought of that~" "I have," answered the redoubtable warrior, " and I have my remedy. We will push forward as far as we can as soldiers, and when our supplies are becoming exhausted we will squat as farmers and till the ground as many years as are necessary to raise supplies. We will repeat the operation as many times as are necessary, and Turkestan will be restored to your Majesty's sway." And they did it! I have intense admiration for such dogged, persistent determination -a determination to succeed in a well-nigh impossible undertaking if it took five years or fifty years for its accomplishment. Dr. S. Wells Williams says: "The history of the advance of this' agricultural army' would, if thoroughly known, constitute one of the most remarkable military achievements in the annals of any modern country." 3. They are a "brainy" race. There is no question that the Chinese are the most intellectual of all the Asiatics. They are the bankers and the wholesale merchants of the East. Some twelve years ago when General Grant returned from his tour of the world, he said that in his travels he had met three great men, three men who towered head and shoulders above all others, "with whom there were none to compare." One of the pre- eminently great men was Gladstone, England's great statesman; another was Germany's great warrior, Bismarck; and the third of these incompar- ably great men was Li Hung Chang, Viceroy of Chili and Prime Minister of China. A Ohinaman! There is to-day no man better versed in state- craft, there is no more shr~wd diplomat than Li Hung Chang.
4. The Chinese are a nation of students. In what other country in the world will you find 25,000 students competing in one examination-hall for literary honors ~ Last month iu the city of Nanking there were between 29,000 and 30,000 students attendiug the triennial examinations. Men will attend the examinations year after year until they are bowed and decrepit with age in the hope of obtaining the coveted prize. It is not an unusual thing for men of seventy-five and eighty years to be found at the;r place in the hall. So anxious are they to obtain an education, that a man who is too poor to buy oil will steal his neighbor's light through a knot- hole in order that he may study.
Is there no destiny for such a people ~ 5. China is arousing herself. Some people have an idea that China is dead. She is not dead, or if she is, I;he is a very lively corpse. She is not asleep, she is shaking off the lethargy of the centuries and arousing herself as a mighty giant for a coming struggle. She has a magnificent fleet of merchant steamers, large dockyards, arsenals, and a complete net- . work of telegraphs over the entire Empire. She has, it is true, but a few hundred miles of railroads, but railroads are coming and they will be built with native material and Chinese labor. 6. China is destined to become one of the great factors in the .future development of the world. I do not agree with Lord W olseley that she . is to become the great military power of the future, conquering Russia and India, and crossing swords with England and the United States. This seems to me extravagant; but if Genghis Khan in the beginning of the thirteenth century swept with his Mongol horde from the mouth of the Amoor to the sources of the Danube, what might not an awakened, civil- ized China do with a possible forty millions of soldiers ~ For the above reasons I repeat: The evangelization of China is the most important work of the Church of Christ in this age. Christianizing China is the only solution of the" Chinese Question." Exclusion Acts will not do it. This great problem is thrusting itself upon us. What are we going to do about it ~ We cannot ignore it-we dare not if we could. We cannot keep them out. We close the front door, but the back door is wide open, and it would take a much larger army than we have to efficiently guard it. Besides, the" Son of Heaven's" claim to universlll empire is a factor which has not been sufficiently con- sidered. The time will come when the Chinese will try to make it good.
Self-preservation demands the evangelization of the Chinese. China is destined to become either a conservator or a menace to Christendom. Which it shall be depends largely upon the missionary effort of this century. When the time comes, as it inevitably will, when an outlet must be found for the swarming millions of this land, and when they may try to make good their claim to universal empire, it will be well for us if she is a Christian land.
IV. Reasons for hopefulness. I see strong reasons for belieVing in the speedy evangelization of the land of Sinim. 1. The opening of the country. Only a little more than 300 years ago Francis Xavier, the noted Catholic missionary, stood bp.fore the walls of the Middle Kingdom vainly seeking admittance. It seemed to the devoted Jesuit that it was surrounded by a wall of exclusion as high as heaven and as hard as adamant, and he called out in the agony of his soul, " 0 rock, rock 1 when wilt thou open to my Master I" Humanly speaking, there was little prospect of ever penetrating this wall of exclusion, yet three centuries has seen it broken down, removed, entirely swept away. The mi!l8ionary to-day has access to the entire eighteen provinces of the Empire. 2. There is better feeling upon the part of the people. I make this statement with a full knowledge of the recent disturbances in China. Were there not better feeling there would have been fifty Tientsin massacres since last May. The!e troubles in China have been greatly misunderstood in this country. They are not "Anti-Missionary" riots, but an insurrectionary movement upon the part of :it treasonable secret society. The Emperor's edict is an inspiration to all who believe in the providential ordering of events. It is a distinct recognition of Christianity, and assures protection to missionaries and native converts. 3. Increased wiIlingness to hear the Gospel. There has been a notable change in this respect in recent years. There is no trouble to get large, . attentive audiences to listen to the preaching of the Gospel. 4. Success.-Twenty-five years ago there were less than 500 converts in the whole Empire. Thirteen years ago there were 13,000 communicants; now there are 40,000. In 1878, 13,000 native Christians contributed $9000 to the support of the Gospel. Last year the 40,000 converts gave $40,000 ; and the beginning of modern missions dates from the opening of the country in 1860. Besides, it must be remembered that success in missions cannot be computed by arithmetic. You cannot count heads and say this represents the results of missionary enterprise. There is an unknown quantity to be taken into consideration. You cannot measure in a table of statistics the breaking down of prejudice, the removing of
A MEMORABLE MORAVIAN ANNtV'ERSARY
opposition, the dissemination of Christian truth. In 18'15 another missionary and myself were mobbed in a certain district, barely escaping with our lives. There was no more turbulent district in all China. In 1889 I travelled through the same country with my wife and children, and did not hear a single disrespectful word in a ten-days' journey. Can such a change be measured by statistics ~ 5. A remarkable door has been opened to the dominant class. A few years ago the Emperor introduced Western science into the competitive examinations. The result is an increasing demand for this knowledge which can only be got in mission schools. It has been sneeringly said, "Mi8sionaries only get the scum." They generally get just about what they fish for; and if in future they only get the scum in China it will be their own fault.
6. Increasing momentum of truth. Truth, eternal, irresistible, unconquerable truth, is moving forward with increasing momentum in these laLter days of the nineteenth century. The Lord may seem slow in the accomplishment of His purposes, but He is not slow as some men count slackness. He will make short work in these last days.
I see no reason why China may not be CODverted in the next fifty years, if the Church awakens to a full sense of her duty and responsibility. We are on the verge of a mighty outpouring of God's Spirit upon the Land of Sinim. Why does it not come ~ Because we have not prayed for China as we ought. The great need of China is not more men, or llJore money, but united, earnest, agonizing praytlr for a copious outpouring of God's Spirit. Oh that Christian men and women would agonize in prayer for the salvation of this the greatest of all heathen nations!
A MEMORABLE MORAVIAN ANNIVERSARY.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
The Unitas Fratrum, the Moravian Brotherhood, may well provoke to emulation all other bodies of Christian disciples, for their consecrated zeal in the work of missions.
The whole Church is a missionary body. No board, society, or committee shoulders the responsibility and monopolizes the privilege of procuring laborers and providing for them. The entire Brotherhood is engaged in the work, and there is no thought of doing it by proxy. The Mastership of Christ is a practical article of their creed, and the last command and commission of the Master is not forgotten by the disciple. Rev. Archibald J. Brown, of London, tells how his daughter was led to give her life to Inland China. She said: "I have long known Jesus as my Redeemer and Friend, but when I fell down before Him and acknowledged Him as my Jfaster, Ho said to me, 'Am I then your, Master ~ Then go thou to China.''' Thll Moravians regard as impertinent &nd irrelevant such questions as these: Do foreign missions pay 1 Are they expedient 1 Will they be successful ~ for the Master has left His marching orders, and that settles all controversy. .
Obedience to this Master is the principle of the whole body of the United Brethren, prompt and implicit compliance with His will as expressed in the voice of His Word and the vote of His Church. Count Zinzendorf said to a Moravian believer, "Will you go to Greenland~" "Yes." " When 1" "To-morrow I" What readiness to obey, what immediate obedience to the heavenly vision! And think of a whole Church trained from infancy to this sense of individual duty and promptnpss of obedience!
The "regions beyond" represent the preferred sphere of Moravian mISSIOns. Not where Christ has been named, not building on another man's foundation; but they would help fulfil that prophecy, .. To whom He was not spoken of, they shall see: And they that have not heard shall understand."
Mary Lyon used to say to her pupil-daughters, " If you would heroically serve Christ and humanity, seek not easy fields of labor, but go where no one else will go I" And just that the United Brethren do. No field so far off, so difficult, so inaccessible, so walled in with adamant, so shut in with gates of steel; no people so repulsive and so hostile or oruel, that to that field and people their missionaries will not go. It may be the stupid, stolid Esquimaux, the slaves of the West Indies, the blear-eyed cretins of the Alps, the disgusting lepers of Africa, the cannibals of the South Seas -but anywhere and everywhere they rejoice to go and plant the cross. And the fact of greater distance, degradation, destitution, depravity, constitutes with them only a mightier appeal and argument for going where the neglect iR apt to be the greater because of such repellent features. They have learned that it is not charity, but selfishness, that" begins at home," and stays there; and, like Redslob and Marx who, during the past year, passed from Leh, the mountain outpost of Little Thibet, up to their glorious reward, the most self-sacrificing post of duty is the sentinelbox for this vanguard of the Church's army!
This noble Unitas Fratrum cultivate heroism. We have often feared that in these days the heroic spirit is fast being eliminated from modern mISSIonS. One argument often urged upon young people for devoting themselves to the foreign field is, that they will find little self-denial in such a course, since in most countries the highest civilization has found its way, and thej will find the comforts and conveniences and even luxuries of their homes still available. To our mind this is the worst sort of appeal -it is addressed to se1fishness, and leaves out the very heroi!.lm of sacrifice. A people that, in their very Litany, insert the petition, " From the unhappy desire of becoming great, good Lord deliver us I" is not very likely to court worldly comforts, honors, dignities and indulgences. And where the law and even love of self-abnegation for Christ are at the bottom of all missionary endeavor, we may well feel no surprise to find that b,y far the largest proportion of laborers in proportion to their numbers, and by far the largest average of gifts in proportion to their means, this little Moravian Church offers to the Lord's work. It is from Benjamin that the leader comes who stands above all the rest from his shoulders upward.
The Moravian Church is not only least among the tribes, but poorest. Yet out of their poverty have abounded the riches of their liberality. They put to shame the richer bodies of disciples and tempt us to t>elieve that riches bring the Laodicean spirit with them. and are a curse instead of a blessing, judged by their fruits in church life. Certainly the United Brethren are a standing testimony that small numbers and little money cannot prevent consuming zeal for missions and burning passion for souls, when in all the work the chosen formula and motto is "IN THE NAME OF JESUS. AMEN."
This paper was begun, however, with a purpose of glVlng som'.l brief account of the Third Jubilee of the Society for the Furtherance of the Gospe'! among the Heathen, which anniversary was lleld in the Moravian chapel, Fetter Lane, London, on Thursday, November 19th, 1891, at 6.30 P.M.
At this One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary it was the privilege of the editor-in-chief of this REVIEW to be present and deliver an address. The place was interesting, an oid-fashioned oblong building, hidden behind other structures, and approached through a long hallway-a building perhaps forty by sixty feet, with heavy, stately galleries, and plain board pews, and a high semicircular pulpit of evident antiquity, where Wesley and Baxter and Bradford have more than once preached the old Gospel.
The programme was interesting, announcing that "The Brethren's Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel was founded in 1741, with a view to entertain and assist Moravian missionaries passing through London to their various mission fields. It was reorganized in 1768 in order to establish the mission in Labrador. By God's goodness in protecting the ships used in this service, and in blessing the trade carried on with the natives to help iu supporting this mission, it has almost entirely been maintained by S. F. G. to the present day. The Society also endeavors to spread missionary information by publishing the quarterly' Periodical Accounts,' and in other ways contributes to the extension of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ." Hymns composed by James Montgomery, himself a member of the S. F. G., for the centenary in 1841, and by Harvey, Spangenberg Doddridge, James Hutton, firEt President of the S. F. G., as well as by Ellis and others for the present occasion, were embraced in the programme and sung. After an appropriate Scripture reading from Romans 1 and 10 by Pastor Hasse, who presided, and ~he openiD~ pra~er was ofiered, Rev. B. Latrobe, Secretary, presented warm salutations by letter from the Unity Elders' Conference at Berthels- dorf, an apostolic greeting signed by James Connor; then from Bethlehem, Pa., U. S. A., the headquarters 0: the American province, salutation!! on the sesquicentennial; from Labrador'R largest congregation, at Okak, and the Missionary Conference at Hebron, Hopedale, etc., and from Bishops A. C. Ha!.'se and Joseph Latrobe and Brother J. England, etc.
Pastor Hasse, who gracefully presided, made the usual "chairman's address." He dwelt on the modern aspect of the Society's work, as confined chiefly to Labrador. This field is its special feature, but though primarily restricted to this land of eternal snows, equally sympathizes with all missions. Mr. Hasse touched briefly but effectively on the moral and economic features of the Labrador field, vindicating missions to a people who were a century and a half ago without light or help, and are still a classic and standing example and representative of the charter right of the Gospel: "The poor shall hAve the Gospel preached to them." A situa- tion radically worse, and a type of humanity more degraded, could not elsewhere be found when missions were begun in Lahrador and Greenland. And these facts emphasized the duty of bearing to these remote shores the tidings of salvation.
As to the economic side, Mr. Hasse explained the office of the S. F. G. as a training society. The Esquimaux must primarily be fed, clothed, and sheltered if they are to live. It is desirable not to make them paupers, however; and hence they must be taught to give an equivalent in the produce of the country. The summer trade is a revel; the winter is a time of starvation ; and as the starving time covers eight or nine months, extinction would result unless trade were carried on, and it is important that such trade be in hands that will conduct it on Christian principles and so elevate and improve as well as preserve the Esquimaux race. Mr. Hasse canvassed the common objections to such mission work and appealed to the future for its vindication, remarking that the' full recognition of its value might come, perhaps, only after another hundred years had swept away. By that time, it is believed, a new people, a mixed race, may have grown up, a Christian people, stronger, more intelligent, more capable, an . Esquimo-Enropean race, to take their full place among the family of nations.
Mr. Hasse explained the nature of the Society, as first a training society, and secondly as furthering on their journey brethren who pass throngh London en route to mis!lion fields. It is a committee deputed by the whole Church, a delegation; "in our estimate," said he, " the whole body is a missionary society, and the S. F. G. is made up of officers whose position specially qualifies them as leaders; but the army is the Church itself. "
Bishop Taylor followed with some historical statements, calling attention to the pictures hung on the walls and pillars-pictures. of Bishop Stevens, the Waldensian, the first converts in Greenland, George Schmidt teaching the HottentDts, Schmidt and Nitschmann in prisDn, etc. He also. traced the SDciety's name tD3 JDhn 6: 7, 8 (Greek), and explained its dDuble purpDse, first to. suppDrt the GDspel in LabradDr, and secDndly to. further the GDspel by helping Dn their jDurney after a gDdly sort, brethren who. fDr Christ's namesake went fDrth, taking nDthing frDm the Gentile un- believers.
Then Mr. LatrDbe rehearsed the sto.ry Df the Harmony and its recent visit to. the coast statiDns Df the nDrth. Ten vessels have been emplDyed in cDnveying LabradDr missiDnaries, and the present ship is the fDurth bearing this sacred name. She has retul'ned frDm her thirty-first vDyage, but this is the Dne hundred and twenty-secDnd made to. these shDres by the MDravian vessels. He mentiDned the singular PrDvidence that has watched Dver these vessels, and said: "As the SDciety meets fDr its annual thanksgiving service, cDmbined this year with its third Jubilee, precisely the same language as was used at the Centenary will review an added fifty years o.f these special mercies: 'During this IDng periDd no. fatal accident has been permitted to. befall this favDred bark, Dr thDse whDm she was cDnveying acrDSS the bDisterDus and Dften ice-bDund deep, and alDng a CDast bristling with rDcks and abDunding with peculiar perils; nDr has the cDmmunicatiDn between the missio.naries and their brethren in EurDpe been in a single instance interrupted.' Partial failures have been experienced. In 1816, the Jemima landed the needed sto.res at Okak and Nain, but was cDmpelled to. leave HDpedale unvisited. The mDst seriDus failure was in 1853, when DUt o.f four statiDns the third Harmony was o.nly able to. reach HDpedale, the mDst sDuthern. In bDth instances persistent gales drDve the ship DUt to. sea. The extraDrdinary perils Df ice and war and Df the numerDUS rDcks alDng that still unsurveyed CDast have never been suffered to. cut o.ff the communicatio.n with the missio.n statiDns.
" The develDpment Df the missio.n and o.f the trade, which partly sup- Po.rts it, made it necessary in 1870 fDr the So.ciety to. purchase a secDnd vessel. The Oordelia was run do.wn by a steamer Dff the NDre in 1881. No. lives were lo.st in this, the mDst seriDus disaster in the one hundred and twenty years during which S. F. G. has been a shipowning firm."
Mr. Latrobe repDrted the deaths of valued native helpers, like the faithful Abraham Df Nain, and Hulda eightY-Dne years DId, and the aged Martha; at HDpedale, BDaz and his sister Bertha, wife Df JDshua, nDW tDD crippled to. be Df use. The epidemic influenza at HDpedale has taken nDt a few valued church-members away. The evangelistic tDurs by sledge were referred to., cDntinued for three weeks, with no. sleeping places at times but snDw.hnts ; the grammar Df the Esquimaux language, a wDrk Df twenty years by Dr. BDurquin, and which has been received with great thanks, was cordially mentiDned; and the Esquimaux tDngue was cDmpared to. a pDlar bear gnashing its teeth within the bars Df its cage, against the man who. wDuld seek to. bring and confine it within the rules of grammatical o.rder and regularity. Various remarks followed as to the trials of the native Christians, the long winter, the failure of autumn fisheries and sealing, and consequent lack of stores, the absence of reindeer Ilear the stations, and the good help of God at all the mission centres waR gratefully recorded.
About forty missionaries ar~ on the list, and the people may be regarded as almost altogether Christian. I n fifteen years they have contributed to outside and mission purposes out of their poverty, about £210 sterling, or upward of $1000.
Rev. W. Fuller Gooch gave a brief address, in which he referred to the eminently biblical lines on which the whole mission work of the Moravians is carried forward, as shown even in the fondness for scriptural names- Nain, Hebron, Ramah, etc.; and remarked that the mastership of Jesus was recognized even by the captain of the Harmony, who regarded himself as under orders from the Higher Captain.
After a few remarks by Rev. A. Kleinschmidt, who represented the Holland Society, the" Zeist," W. V. Drury, M.D., spoke for the London Association in aid of Moravian Missions, which for seventy years has contributed in all a quarter of a mmion of pounds sterling. It shows the confidence felt in the work of the United Brethren, that this Association, composed of all denominations, has for so long given such assistance to this small and comparatively poor body of disciples in carrying on their self-denying work. This Lovefeast, at Fetter Lane, fittingly came to a close in the Doxology, which as a unique specimen of the simple Moravian liturgy we append to this paper. Such a doxology is itself a constant reminder of the privileges and obligations of Christ's redeemed people to spread the good tidings of the Gospel; and is a noble conclusion to the brief and beautiful form of public prayer which is full of petitions for a lost world and for the Church in its missionary capacity.
DOXOLOGY.
[Italics represent the response of the congregation.] Unto the Lamb that was slain, (Rev. 5: 12.) And hath redeemed us out of all nations of the earth j (Rev. 5; 9.) Unto the Lord who purchased our souls f6r Himself ; (Acts 20 : 28.) Unto that Friend who loved us-and washed us from our sins in His own blood; (Rev. 1 : 5.) Who died f6r us once, (Rom. 6: 10, 11, 12; 2 Cor. 5: 15.) That we might die unto sin j (1 Peter 2 : 24.) Who r6se for us, That we also might rise j (1 Cor. 15.) Who ascended for us into heaven, To prepare a place for us j (John 14: 2, 3.) CHOIR. And to whom are subjected the angels, and powers, and dominions (1 Peter ;3 ; 22.) To Him be ~lory at all times,
HOW THE GOSPEL SPREADS IN CillNA
In the chu1'clt that waiteth for Him-and in that which is around Him, CHOIR. From everlasting to everlasting :- Amen. MINISTER. Little children, abide in Him; that when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. (1 John 2: 28.) In none but Him alone I trust for ever, In Him, my Saviour.
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee ; The Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee j The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace: IN THE NAME OF JESUS: AMEN. LONDON, November 20th, 1891.
HOW THE GOSPEL SPREADS IN CHINA.
BY REV. JOHN ROSS, MOUKDEN, NORTH CHINA.
Six years ago a young Bannerman of Chinese ancestry joined our then small church in Moukden. His father was a native doctor, who from a sense of sinfulness was deeply interested in the more earnest Buddhist sects. He had been a listener during th,e angry discussions raging against Christian doctrines when they were first introduced here. As a result he cut himself off from every form of idolatry. He had never spoken to either the foreign missionary or the native evangelist, but on his death- bed he recommended his two sons, and especially this younger one, to carefully examine Christianity for themselves, and not allow themselves to be carried away with the all but universal execration to which Christianity was then held up_ Young Jang was also a man with a sensitive conscience, and he, too, was anxious to rid his soul of sin. This, combined with his father's dying advice, led him to the chapel, where he became an inquirer as eager as he was intelligent. Being a fair scholar he soon became acquainted with the leading truths of Christianity and was baptized.
His new faith not only removed the former trouble of his soul, but filled him with a joy which nothing worldly could bestow. The fire so burned within that he gave up the situation he held, and went to the city immediately north of Moukden to impart his newly-fonnd treasure to his elder brother, a doctor in this city of Tieling.
The first news we had of the journey was when, on his return, with a face shining with joy, he informed us that his brother was a believer, and that he, his whole family, and a few intimate friends who had heard and become believers, were all applicants for baptism. My young colleague, Mr. Webater, had by this time come to Moukden, and it was deemed advisable that he should go north to investigate the facts of the story. R·, 800n returned and joyfully confirmed the statement of young Jang. On account of our strict rule for probation of intending members, no one was then haptized; but on a subsequent visit Mr. Webster baptized nine individuals, and took steps to open a station there. Two senior members, one, a convert of the late Mr. Burns, from Peking, and the other a Moukden man, were sent to initiate work in this apparently hopeful station.
Mr. Webster having accompanied me on the journey to the Corean valleys, already referred to in the REVIEW, suggested on our return jOlll'Iley, that instead of going back directly to Moukden, we should make a detour and see how it fared with the young station in Tieling. When we arrived at an inn on the outskirts of the city we were informed that the chapel had been attacked by a mob and wrecked. Desiring to know what amount of truth there was in the statement, we rode in to the chapel, but found no one there. We discovered that one of the two men in charge had fled, and the other was living in a neighboring house ae the chapel was uninhabitable. This man had already stood painfully severe persecutions. We found that the chapel door had been broken open, the windows smashed to pieces, and every perishable article of furniture completely destroyed. The streets were placarded with prominent "postE'fS" containing the wildest accusations and vituperations against the foreigners who had dared to intrude into the city. It transpired that the principal authors of this excitement and the chief leaders in the riot, were men from the magistrnte's office, which was bound, when necessary, to take steps to keep the peace. Therefore we inferred that the rcal cause of the outbreak was our old acquaintance, which for years had been our chief foe in Moukden-viz., the belief that we were there as political agents to crpaie a party which would be traitorous to China and friendly to foreign powers.
To do something to remove this evil prejudice we had the boards block. ing up the broken wiudow taken down, and we stood on the ledge exposed to the street. In a few seconds the street, which ordinarily is a busy one, was so crowded that there was no passage for man or beast. A dense mass of well-dressed men, mostly young, stood fronting us as closely packed as they could stand, filling the breadth of the wide street and stretching away to right and left. From the window-ledge, which was about three feet high, we could see and be seen by all the crowd. There we preached to the people for about an hour, always keeping in view, but never even inferentially' referring to the cause of the general excitemel)t. We preached the doctrine of Jesus, the Saviour from all sin and for all men. without distinction of nationality or condition. As both caution and explanation were essential to our position, and especially to our cause, we had to enter into minute details regarding the vital doctrines of Christianity, on account of which WP, had come to their "honorable" country. We were impressed with the death-like lltillness of the crowd. As far as indications of life were concerned they might as well have been cut out of stone. Every eye was unfalteringly bent on the two foreigners; not a head, not even a lip, as far as we could see, moved in that crowd while we remained face to face.
At length we descended from our pedestal, and gently wriggling our way through the crowd, we reached the two men who were holding our ponies. But as soon as we mounted and got just clear of the crowd, the unusual silence was broken by loud laughter, bitter mockery and reviling language, and by what was still more disagreeable, a shower of eithcr small pieces of brick, or of earth which, by the keen frost, were like so many stones. Our ponies soon trotted us beyond the reach of the missiles; but we had to go through a mile of street lined on both sides with shops which seemed crowded with human beings, who greeted us as we passed with mocking laughter, shouts of angry defiance, or revilings of the grossest kind. We were not much affected by this kind of thing which " breaks no bones," and soon we found ourselves in our inn, somewhat fatigued with the nervous excitement rather than by the labors of the day.
The young doctor had been boycotted and left some time before for his native viIlage.
Exactly two and a half years after that visit of ours, during which we were so unceremoniously treated, Mr. Webster stayed in the same inn, and walked that mile of street between it and the chapel. As usual, at most of the shop-doors stood some of the men in charge of the shop. Many of these men bowed to him as he passed, with a smile of recognition, inquired after his own welfare and that of his family left behind in Moukden. He entered the compound of the small chapel, where he was met and joyfully welcomed by a considerable band of men who had meantime become members.
Next day he dispensed the communion to a congregation of fifty baptized men and women. The" bread" was handed round in a plate, which he used for his food on the road, and the wine was drunk out of his breakfast-cup, as the most respectable vessel available. "But," as he stated in a letter written at the time, " the Holy Spirit of God was there." The emotion was profound. Men and women as they thus for the first time touched and tasted the tangible tokens of their Redeemer's dying love, did so with bursting sobs and with tears flowing down their cheeks. Those only who know the stolid nature of the Chinese, and their remarkable powers of self-control, can alone fully appreciate the significance of such uncontrollable emotion.
Two years later I was there dispensing the communion to a company of about double the number, and one which would have been much larger could all the members in the outlying villages connected with Tieling have been present. The members have had to take a second and larger chapel, but this was Sl) full that a number of men had to stand during the entire service, though these were then mostly applicants for baptism. On a subsequent visit a couple of months later there were twenty-seven persons baptized. press of time prevented ~e then from going to the villages where a number of women believers, unable from household cares, to go to the city, are awaiting baptism. Every year sees a larger number than the preceding enter the Church, and every year sees an enlarged number of villages taken possession of by one or more of the disciples of Jesus. One vil!age, about seven miles from Tieling in a beautiful valley, is wholly Christian, its inhabitants being all either baptized or applicants for baptism.
Instead of the former vituperation, the foreigner is now saluted by the more respectable citizens with kindliness, the magistrate is well disposed, all the lower officials are glad to be on friendly terms with the evangelist and the deacons of the church; and there is not only no avowed hostility of any kind against those who have become members, or obstacles placed in the way of those desiring to become Christians, but the " whole city speaks we]) of Christianity."
No Christian man will be at a loss to set down all those changed condi· tions to the power of Him who works through the preaching of the Word; but He who is the Almighty, and who does what Be wills, has willed to do thIS kmd of work only in conneetion with human agency. He gives the increase, He demands that Paul plant the seed. Whose eloquence wa.'! employed, whose lives were influential as the immediate came in producing this wonderful change-amouuting to a contrast–between our fir8t visit and my last· 1 The change has not been effected thr01}gh the preaching of the foreigner, nor solely by his life. As the work was begun by that youth scarcely SIX years ago, so has it been carried on all but exclusively by his countrymen who were or have become believers, and latterly by himself, who is now-and appropriately-the trained evangelist in charge of the station.
" He who runs can read" the lessons of stimulus, lessons of faith. lessons of caution, lessons of fear and of joy, which the above very brief narrative, which could be repeated of other places not a few, presents to all sections of the Christian Church doing work for the Master among the Chinese. And in connection with this story may I be allowed humbly to rebuke the unbelief of many in our home churches, and among many of our leading clergy 1 They tell us our duty is to preach, but not to expect conversions. I would never have myself come to China did I not believe it my duty to expect hearers of the Gospel to be born again. I have expected, always, undoubtingly expected, conversions. At this moment I expect more than ever before, and I know I shall not be disappointed, for " faithful is He that hath promised." Christians in Christian lands expect conversions! There is something, whatever it be, radically wrong jf there be no conversions under the proclamation of the message of God to man. Expect conversions. Pray for them earnestly, but pray in faith, believing that ye shall have what ye ask; if not, your prayers are in vain. Act for them solemnly, and act with wisdom to take away those things which hinder the conversion of hearers. "Open thy mouth," open it wide, :;u~q see if God, the ~aithfl,ll and the trte~ will not,fill it.
FORmIGN INFLUENCE IN CHINA
FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN CHINA.
BY REV. A. P. PARKER, SHANGHAI, CHINA.
Very few people in Western countries have any adequate idea of this great Chinese Empire, of its size, the character of its people, the strength and extent of its civilization. To many, as Professor Max Muller says, the Chinaman is a joke. To others he is uncivilized or only half civilized, and but little removed from the Hottentot or the American Indian. A dozen years ago, the Supreme Court of California, in its zeal to bring a law to bear against the Chinese, held that" the term Indian included the Chinese or Mongolian race." "It thus upheld a wrong," says Dr.
S. Wells Williams, " while it enunciated a misconception. It placed the subjects of the oldest government now existing, upon a parity with a race that has never risen above tribal relations. It included under one term a people whose literature dates its beginning before the Psalms or Exodus, and containing authors whose words have influenced more human beings than any other writings, with men whose highest attainments in writing have been a few jlictures and tokens drawn on a buffalo robe. It equalized all the qualities of industry, prudence. skill, learning, invention, and whatever gives security to life and property among men, with the instincts al!d habits of a hunter and a nomad. It stigmatized a people which has taught us how to make porcelain, silk, and gunpowder, given us the compass, and shown us the use of tea, by classing them with a race which has despised labor, has had no arts, schools, or trade, and in the midst of the Californians themselves is content to dig roots for a living." So long as these wholly unjust and inadequate conceptions prevail, so long will the people and country be treated with contempt on the one hand, while, on the other hand, the Church will fail to compre- hend the vastness of the work of evangelization to be done here and the immense outlay of men and money and prayer that are necessary to accomplish it.
China is a great country, great in size, great in history, great in civiliza- tion. Extending over 71 degrees of longitude and 34 parallels of latitude, it covered, in 1840, an area of 5,300,000 square miles, a territory a third larger than the Continent of Europe, and nearly half as large again as the United States, which covers nearly 3,700,000 square miles, including Alaska. This vast area has been reduced, during the last fifty years, by about a half a million square miles, ceded to Russia and England. Reach- ing from the frozen snows of Siberia on the north, to the tropical regions of the eighteenth parallel of north latitude on the south, China affords as great a variety of climate and production as any other country in the world. Vast mountain chains, wide and fertile plains and valleys, numer- ous lakes and great river systems, are some of its physical features. It contains a population, according to Dr. S. Wells Williams, the best authority on Chinese subjects, of 380,000,000, in the eighteen provinces, and 23,000,000 in Manchuria and the colonial possessions, or a total of 403,000,000. It yields every kind of mineral, vegetable, and animal production necessary for the sustenance of its teeming population and for the development of the arts of civilized lifc-a country complete in itself.
It is the oldest country in exi~tence that has a history, covering a period of more than 4600 years without a break in its continuity. Contemporaneous with Egypt, and Nineveh, and Babylon, it has outlived them all. While these mighty empires have sunken in oblivion and heaps of rubbish mark the forgotten scenes of their power and grandeur, China has continued on her way, and is to-day one of the great,nations of the earth, whose powerful influence on the destiny of the human race it is impossible to forecast. One of the oldest books in the world, outside of the Hebrew Scriptures, is the Shu King, one of the Chinese classics, which contains a record of events that occurred in this country B.C. 2300. The dim dawn of Chinese history reaches back to 2800 B.C., or, according to Dr. Hales's chronology, 350 years after the flood, and more than 1600 years after the creation of man. The period of authentic history may, according to the most reliable evidence, be placed at about B.C. 2300, in the reigns of Yao and Shun. Everything in this country is old. Centuries are but as years and years are but as days in the history of China, as compared with the mushroom growths of America and modern Europe.
Possessed of a knowledge of letters, architecture, agriculture, and civil government, two thousand years before our era, Chinese civilization was old when Greece and Rome were young, and ten centuries ago China was the most civilized nation in the world. At that time, and subsequently, reports of the wealth and power and Oriental splendor of the Chinese Empire created as much wonderment in Europe as the Chinese of the present day experience when they hear of the power and grandeur of Western nations. Without discussing in this connection the elements of Chinese civilization, we may note the fact that it has wrought out one stupendous result that may well challenge our admiration and invite our studious attention. It has kept nnder one government, under one homogeneous set of civil institutions, the greatest mass of human beings that has ever existed under one government in any age of the world. In view of this fact we might well inquire what are the elements of its strength that have served to accomplish such a result. Geographical isolation, filial piety, industry, innate strength of character, all these have been offered in explanation of this wonderful phenomenon. Perhaps they have all combined, under the over-ruling providence of God, to produce a result that is the marvel of the foreign student of the. history and institutions of this country.
But while this is a highly civilized nation, perhaps as highly civilized as any heathen nation has ever been in the history of the world, yet it is 1I nation of idolaters, sunken in gross and degrading superstitions. Reaching its highest point of development a thousand years ago, it has been on the down grade ever since in all the elements of mental and moral progress, with only occasional periods of temporary recovery. A discussion of the moral and spiritual condition of the Chinese, which I may take up in a future paper, would show that with the multiplication of idols there has come a decrease of moral force, and the .gathering gloom of superstition has so darkened the minds of the people as to practically arrest their progress in material, mental, and moral improvement. The facts that lie on the very surface of their past history and present condition indicate that they have, somewhere in the past, reached a stage of arrested development, and idolatry and superstition are largely the cause of it.
We cannot doubt that it is in the purpose of God that this nation is now being brought into close and vital contact with the great Christian civilization of the West, in order to arouse her from her mental slumber and moral deadness and start her again on the path of progress. It becomes us, therefore, to inquire what are the influences that are being brought to bear upon this great mass of civilized heathenism, how far the people are yielding to those influences, and what is the outlook for the future.
China's relations with foreign countries have been more or less desultory until within the last fifty years. Geographically isolated from the rest of the world, so that she was very difficult of access before the age of steam, she has been left alone, largely, to work out her own destiny, almost wholly uninfluenced by any other than inferior peoples. " But to-day she stands face to face," in the language of one of her most eminent statesmen, "with a condition of things unprecedented in the history of the country. It is the decree of Heaven and we cannot close our doors and refuse to receive foreigners or fold our hands and have nothing to do with them. "
There is reliable evidence that the Chinese had trade relations with the Roman Empire' as early as A.D. 150, but the long and perilous journey to China uver the mountains and high table-lands of Central Asia made the trade uncertain and fragmentary. In the latter half of the ninth century the Arabs carried on trade with the Chinese by means of junks, crossing the Indian Ocean, passing through the Straits of Malacca, and on up the eastern coast of China as far as Hangchow. The visit of Marco Polo to China in the thirteenth century, his long residence here, and the accounts he gave of his observations and experiences, on his return, brought the great Mongol Empire vividly to the attention of Western Europe. One result of this was the sending of Roman Catholic missionaries to China to convert the heathen to the Christian faith. Great success, apparently, attended the labors of these missionaries, but their work was destroyed with the overthrow of the Mongol Dynasty.
In the early part of the sixteenth century Portugal and Holland sought to open up trade relations with the country by sea, and succeeded to some extent in accomplishing their object. It is noteworthy that up to the advent of the Dutch and Portuguese and Spanish traders the country was practically open to foreign trade j but the conquest of Malacca by the Dutch, and of the Philippines by the Spanish, and the taking forcible possession of the region now known as Mac.ao by the Portuguese, together with the buccaneering exploits of the traders from these countries along the coast of China, excited the suspicions of the Chinese, and the country was subsequently closed to foreign trade, except at the port of Canton. British trade with China commencing in the middle of the seventeenth century, and resulting in the Opium War of 1842 and the opening of China to foreign residents, though beginning later than that -of any other nation, has exerted a greater influence on the country than all the other nations of the West combined. Without, however, going into the details of the earlier attempts of the nations of Europe to open up diplomatic and commercial relatious with the Chinese, suffice it to say that it is only within the past fifty years, or, more strictly speaking, within the past thirty years, that the country has been really open to foreign intercourse. The Opium War of 1842, at the conclusion of which Christian England forced heathen China to pay $11,000,000 for the opium which British merchants had smuggled into the country, and which the Chinese Government had seized and destroyed, and also $10,000,000 for war expenses, while it was an act of the grossest injustice, yet in the wonderful providence of God it resulted in a great blessing, not only to China but to the civilized world, in that it opened China to foreign intercourse and to the introduction of Christian missions into the country.
By the Treaty of Nanking, entered into at the close of that war, five ports were opened along the coast of China where foreigners were to be allowed to reside on Chinese soil. Before the opening of these five ports -Canton, Foochow, Ningpo, Shanghai, and Tientsin-and since the closing of the country against the Dutch and Portuguese traders and the expulsion of the Jesuit missionaries, no foreigner had been allowed to reside on Chinese soil, except within the narrow limits of the little compound known as the .. Factories" on the bank of the river at Canton. But now by the terms of this treaty, foreigners, whether missionaries, merchlnts, or government officials, were allowed the right of residence within the borders of the Celestial Kingdom, subject, indeed, still to their own laws, but guaranteed protection to life and property by the Chinese Government. This is not the place to discuss the subject, but a review of foreign intercourse with China shows that at no time, particularly within the last three hundred years, since foreigners have sought to open up trade relations with the Chinese, would it have been safe to have allowed unrestricted intercourse with the peoples of the West. The flagitious conduct of many of the traders that have come to these shores, and the intriguing schemes of the Jesuits for political power and interference with the civil authority, have been entirely sufficient grounds for the fear and suspicion of foreigners entertained by the Chinese, and show only too clearly that had the foreigners been allowed free access to the country, in all probability the government would have crumbled to pieces and the country would have been divided up between the three or four most powerful nations of Europe, especially as it was the general belief in Catholic countries that all pagan lands belonged to the Pope and he could give them to whomsoever he pleased.
At the conclusion of the war between China and the Allies, England and France, an additional number of pClrts were opened to foreigners for residence, and again, in 1876, at the conclusion of the negotiations consequent on the murder of Margary, an English commissioner, by the Chinese in Southwest China, still another number was added to the list of treaty ports, so that now there are twenty-one places on the coast of China and up the Yangtse River where foreigners are allowed to reside, own property, and carryon trade with the Chinese. Originally missionaries were restricted to these treaty ports, but they have long ago overleaped these bounds, and are now to be found in every part of this vast Empire carrying on their work.
In the resistle!!s march of events of this wonderful nineteenth century, the mighty momentum of Christian civilization has struck this country, startling the Chinese out of their mental and moral lethargy, and while they have striven, blindly and foolishly at times, to rcsist the invasion of foreigners and foreign innovations, they have latterly begun to accept the situation and try to adapt themselves to a condition of things that they have found it impossible to avoid, and are, in a word, yielding to the pressure of foreign influence that has been brought to bear upon them with ever-increasing force.
The pressure of foreign influence has been delivered upon the Chinese along three general lines-viz., political, commercial, and missionary. The governments of the West have been urging upon the Chinese the necessity of receiving ministers, consuls, and government agents at Peking and the treaty ports, and of sending similar government agents abroad to the treaty powers, thus entering into the comity of nations, adopting the great principles of international law, and reaping the immense advantages growing out of intercourse with various countries of the world.
Merchants have brought innumerable cargoes of the products of field and factory, of mine and machine, to this country, urging upon the Chinese the advantages of purchasing these goods and of selling to the foreigners their productions, such as silk, tea, porcelain, etc. The merchants have brought here specimens or models or descriptions of nearly all of the principal inventions of the great West, the steam-engine, the steamship, the railroad, the telegraph, the telephone, the dynamo, the printing press, mining machinery, etc., :lnd have urged upon the Chinese the necessity of employing these wonderful machines to develop the resources of the country and become great and powerful among the nations of the world. Missionaries have been pressing into the country proclaiming hope for lost men through the Gospel of the Son of God; showing the folly and sin of idolatry; urging the p,eople to forsake their idols and tum to the living God; establishing churches, schools, and hospitals; translating into the Chinese language, religious, educational, and general literature, sC8ttering miIlions of pages annually of Bibles and Christian books over the land, and bringing to the knowledge of the people the wonderful discoveries in religion, science, and general knowledge that to-day constitute the precious heritage of Christian nations. It has required steady pressure and persistent effort to do this work. The Chinese are full of suspicion as to our purpose in coming here. They are ready to attribute to us every motive but the right one. It has been exceedingly difficult, in many towns in the interior, to rent houses, or purchase land on which to erect mission buildings. A fear is entertained by some of the Chinese that when a piece of land is bought by a missionary it thereby becomes a bit of foreign territory. The missionaries are accused of the vilest crimes in the calendar; of kidnapping women and children j of gouging out the eyes of children with which to make medicine to Bend to foreign countries; of being spies in the employ of foreign governments seeking to gain a foothold in the country in order to its ultimate conquest; of trying by the dissemination of strange and pernicious doctrines, to break down all the sanctions of morality and destroy the foundations of social and civil order, etc.
But notwithstanding the difficulties in the way, notwithstanding the fear, the suspicion, the self· conceit and the inertia, the pressure of foreign influence has been l!teady, continuous, and increasing, and we see the result to-day in the movement that is manifest on every hand. The Chinese are yielding to the pressure, slowly, it is true, but nevertheles~ surely. Many whose information is more or less superficial, think: that the Chinese are so proud and self-conceited, so bound to their ancient traditions and averse to anything new as to be altogether impervious to any influence coming from other countries; or else that they are so stolid and sordid, flO gross and material, so sunken in superstition and intellectual stagnation, as to be utterly incapable of being raised to the high plain of thought and spiritual conception contemplated in our Christian civilization. But a nearer view of the history of the Chinese, a closer acquaintance with their national life and character, would serve to dissipate many of these false notions, and give a clearer idea of the nature of those influences that are needed to hring about that improvement which every well-wisher of the race so ardently desires to see.
When we consider the, to the Chinese, long and glorious history of China in the past; the volume and range of her literature, which represents the gathered treasures of forty centuries j the long roll of illustrious sages, statesmen, military heroes, scholars, poets, and philosophers, that adorns the pages of her history; her long-established institutions and the practical outcome of these in good government and social order; we cannot wonder that she is somewhat slow to yield to those influences which come to her from outside nations, whose boasted superiority is bat a growth of yesterday, and the conduct of wh~se people in this country has, in hundreds of instances, flagrantly violated those high moral teachings claimed to be contained in the holy books of the Christians.
But a few facts, out of many here briefly stated, will suffice to show that the Chinese are yielding to the pressure that is being brought to bear upon them, and are moving as fast, perhaps, as it is safe for them to move. Much more rapid movement would bring with it the danger of social and civil upheaval and disintegration. The people must be gradually prepared for the changes before these can with safety be brought about.
In the first place they are yielding along the line of political pressure. Minister, consuls, and other government agents have been received at Peking and the treaty ports from the various treaty powers j Chinese ministers and consuls have been sent abroad to the various governments of Europe and America; in the early part of the present year the Emperor granted an audience to the foreign ministers resident at Peking, and hereafter a similar audience is to be granted to all the ministers of the treaty powers. And to-day these various treaty powers, instead of being looked upon as tributary countries, stand recognized by the Chinese as independent sovereign powers and are treated with on terms of equality and respect. Wheaton's and Brul).tscheIIi's treatises on International Law have been translated into Chinese by Dr. Martin and others, and the leading Chinese government officials have read them and can quote tbe principles of international law as readily as anyone; as, for instance, in the case of the discrimination against the Chinese as compared to other nations, shown by the action of the United States Congress in arbitrarily restricting Chinese immigration, either with or without negotiation with the Chinese Government.
Again, tbe Cbinese are yielding along the line of commercial influence. An immense trade bas grown up with foreign countries. Millions of dollars' worth of goods are brougbt here annually from all tbe countries of the world, principally, of conrse, from Europe and America. The Chinese know a good thing when tbey see it. They know the value of a dollar as well as any people in the world, and when they Bee the abundance, the excellence, tbe cheapness, of the goods tbat are brought to them from foreign countries, they buy them readily and in great quantities. National prejudice, self-conceit, suspicion, and distrust, all' go down in one common ruin before the mighty force of the desire for material gain. The products of the looms of Manchester and Massachusetts are displacing the coarser and more costly native hand-made fabrics; kerosene is superseding the vegetable tallow dips and rushligbts ; Yankee clocks and watches are taking the place of the native sun-dial and the incense time-stick; while California flour and foreign groceries and hardware in great variety are coming in to supply the wants that the native products fail to meet. A fleet of some twenty steamers, owned by the Chine8e Government, and commandp-d by European officers, does a large part of the carrying trade along her fifteen hundred miles of coast line j a short hne of railroad, eighty miles in length, was built in 1888, in North China, from Tientsin to the Kaiping coal mines, and recently steps have been taken to extend this road to the northeastern boundary of the Empire at Shanhaikwan ; two years ago the Emperor issued a decree in which he said that railroads were necessary in order to develop the strength and resources of a country, and ordered the construction of a line of railroad from Peking right down through the centre of the country -to Hankow on the Yangtse River. This road has not been built, owing to the bitter opposition of the members of what may be called the Conservative party among the Emperor's advisers, who have succeeded in staving off the work of construction for the time being. But it is the general belief, both of Chinese and foreigners, that this road will be built before very long. The tele~ graph was introduced in 1881, consequent on the fear of a war with Russia, and it has been gradually extended to every part of the Empire, and has been an important means of strengthening the power of the central government over the provincial governors and viceroys. Mining machinery has been introduced for mining coal, iron, gold, silver, copper, etc.; last year a mint was established in Canton, the machinery of which was purchased in Europe, and already silver dollars and small coin, the product of the mint, are being put into circulation j and as the result of the wars between China and foreign nations, several large arsenals and navy-yards have been established where arms, ammunition, and gunboats are being manufactured after the most approyed European models.
The yielding of the Chinese along the line of missionary pressure is very marked and very encouraging. About fourteen hundred Protestant missionaries, to say nothing of the numerous Roman Catholic missionaries, are established in various parts of the Empire, not only at the open ports, but also away in the interior, in Northern, Western, and Southwestern China, gathering churches, carrying on school and hospital work, and going everywhere preaching the Word by the living voice and the printed page. The various Protestant churches number some forty thousand Christians, which with the baptized children, the candidates for church-membership, and the nominal believers, make up a Christian community of not far short of one hundred and fifty thousand. Three thousand native assistants, preachers, exhorters, licentiates, colporteurs, and Bible-wo~en are helping in the great work of making known the Gospel to their fellow-countrymen; more than fi;e hundred churches have been organized, about one ,fifth of which are self-supporting; there are about seventeen thousand pupils in the various mission schools; three hundred and fifty thousand patients were treated in 1889 in more than one hundred hospitals and dispensaries; and six hundred and sixty-six thousand Scripture portions-that is, whole Bibles, Testaments, Gospels, etc., were sown broadcast over the land. But besides these figures there are numerous indications that the power of the Gospel is being felt in this country, which cannot be tabulated. The pure life, the fervent devotion, the patience under persecution, the triumphant death, of the native Christians prove the genuineness of the work of grace in their hearts. A great change has taken place in many of the older mission centres in the sentiments of the masses of the people toward the missionaries. Instead of being called" foreign devil," we are more frequently greeted with" Mr. Foreigner;" the pcople listen longer and more attentively to the preaching in thc chapels; they are bolder to come to our hospitals for medical treatment and surgical operations; parents are more ready to send thcir children to our pchools, and the people buy and read our books more readily. All these and many other facts, which there is not space to detail here, show that the Chinese are yielding to the pressure. The Gospel is the power of God to the salvation of this people. One other fact ought to be stated in this connection, a great improvement is going on in the educational system of the country, as the combined result of foreign influence. In 1887 Western science and mathematics were, by Imperial decree, introduced into the government examinations ; government schools have been established, with foreign professors, for teaching these subjects and the principal languages of Europe; the government has established a translation department in which foreigners acquainted with the Chinese language are employed to translate works on history, science, mathematics, military tactics, naval architecture, etc., from English and other languages into Chinese; and these translations are being published and disseminated far and wide throughout the country.
The future is full of hope. The tremor of new movements is in the air. We who are here and have a finger upon the pulse of the country, can feel the throb of the new life that is being poured into its arteries. Those are most hopeful who have been longest here and know most of the people, of the difficulties in the way, as well as of the forces that are needed to overcome them. Revolutions never go backward. Progress will be onward and upward. The recent anti-foreign riots along the valley of the Yangtse River will give a temporary check to missionary work, but this check will only be temporary. Foreign influence will be strengthened, ultimately, as the result of these riots, and especially will Christian missions receive a great forward impetus by them. We are already reaping some advantage from these riots. The decree of the Emperor, issued on account of the disturbances, places us in a stronger position than we have ever occupied in the history of mission work in China.
Thus every difficulty will be but the stepping-stone to higher achievement. The work of awakening and improvement is bound to go on Machinery will be introduced and produced in ever-increasing quantities j the material resources of the country will be developed; mines will be opened for coal, iron, copper, silver, gold; improved methods of agricult~re will benefit the farmer; railroads aud steamers will afford raJ;lid cOIll-
THE GREAT MISSIONARY UPRISING
munication and vastly increase trade and production ; the great changes that are even now taking place in the educational system of the country will improve the character while they extend the benefits of education; the newspaper" the telegraph, the telephone, will, as they are already doing, spread general intelligence among the people; while above all, and better than all, the Gospel of the Son of God will go on with ever-increasing power from the vantage ground already gained, until this shall become a Christian nation and the last stronghold of Satan will be captured.
But the Church must rally to the work with her men, her money, and her prayers. We mUl!t haye enough men to do the work. Four hundred millions of people cannot be evangelized by fourteen hundred missionaries. One missionary to fifty thousand people would require eight thousand missionaries for China.
[NOTE.-A copy of the above paper was sent to the Southern Methodist Quarterly Review also; but was intended for insertion in both Reviews. -ED.] THE GREAT MISSIONARY UPRISING.
BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, BELLEVUE, O.
In Great Britain as the centre, and intimately connected with the organization of the London Missionary Society in 1795, but powerfully affecting also all the Protestant churches of the Continent, and of the United States as well, for years William Carey had stood almost alone in English-speaking Christendom. a voice crying in the wilderness. His heart was well-nigh the only one all aflame for the conversion of the world. Even when the Baptist Society had been formed and Carey had sailed for India, the interest was confined to the Baptist churches of Britain, neither numerous, nor strong, nor held in much repute, and only to a very limited extent even in their membership. Hence, after the long and dreary night, it was but the rising of the day-star that appeared, at most but the day-dawn, or the first blossom of the spring. The glorious sun, the lovely season of buds and flowers, had not yet made its advent.
But under the guidance and inspiration of the Divine Spirit, various cooperating causes had long been preparing the way for a majestic and widespread onward movement in behalf of missions. For fifty years the Wes- 1eyan revival had been turning the religious world upside down and had been kindling on every hand boundless love and zeal, desire and devotion. As far back as 1744 had been originated in Scotland a plan, which was soon adopted by many churches, both in the Old World and the New, for the frequent and regular observance of a day of "extraordinary prayer" for the descent of the Spirit and the spread of the kingdom throughout the whole world; and of late such gatllerings had become much more com- won. In addition, the unexampled missionary activity of the entire Mora,- vian Church ever since 1732, and the self-denying apostolic labors of such as Ziegenbalg and Schwartz in Tranquebar, beginning in 1705, as well as of Brainerd and Edwards (1741-58) among the American Indians, had sup- plied noble examples. Then finally, helping in the same direction, came Carey's great sermon, the sublime act of faith performed at Kettering, and his setting forth for the ends of the earth.
" The first two English missionaries to India seemed, to those who sent them forth, to have disappeared forever. For fourteen months no tidings of their welfare reached the poor praying people of the midlands, who had been emboldened to begin the enterprise." But at last, July 29th, 1794, letters arrived for Ryland, of Bristol, who read them and sent at once for Dr. Bogue, of Gosport, a Presbyterian clergyman, and Mr. Stephen to rejOice with him. First, they all gave thanks, and prayed for a blessing upon the Baptist Society, and then the two latter called upon Mr. Hey, a leading minister, and it was determined to begin at once to agitate for the organization of a simila: society. though with a much broader ecclesiastical basis. Suiting the action to the word, Dr. Bogue prepared an article which appeared in September, in the Evangelical Magazine, addressed to "Evangelical dissenters who practice infant baptism," urging all such to bestir themselves; arguing that the time to begin was fully come; ex- pressing the conviction that many would be found willing and eager to assist if only a few would step forth t6 lead, and that funds sufficient could be gathered to support at le!lst twenty or thirty missionaries. Such in God's hands was" the little fire" which kindled" how great a matter !"
The effect of this clarion call was immediate and profound. The next month it was further stated in the same periodical that, if a society should be formed upon a large scale and upon a basis so broad as to unite Chris- tians " without respect to different denominations, or repulsive distinctions arising from points in dispute between Calvinists and Arminians," one man stood pledged for £100 and another for £500 to equip the first six volun- teers for a mission to the South Seas. Some weeks later appeared the suggestion o,·er the signatures of eighteen Independent, seven Presbyterian, three Wesleyan, and three Episcopal ministers, for a meeting for consulta- tion, urging that in the mean time local and district gatherings be held to stir interest, collect funds, and choose delegates. In July, 1795, another article reached the public from the glowing pen of "T. R." (Raweis, a Church of England clergyman, whose influence through all the years next ensuing was unequalled in raising enthusiasm to the sticking point), " showing the very probable success of a proper mission to the South Seas," giving a long and glowing and inten~ely rose-colored setting forth of the situation in those remote parts, proving conclusively the islands to be a very terrestrial paradise, and the people the loving and lovable inno- cent children of nature. ~ Thus, at length, all things being read)", September, 21st, the mo- mentous meetings began in London. At the very outset subscriptions were made by the country ministers amounting to £750. Many encouraging letters from all parts of the island were read j it was announced that several men were ready to offer themselves, and the vote was unanimous to organ- ize at once. This" fundamental principle" was adopted: "The design is not to send Presbyterianism, Independency, Episcopacy, or any other form of church order and government (about which there may be differ- ence of opinion among serious persons), but the glorious Gospel of the blessed God to the heathen j and it shall be left (as it ought to be left) to the minds of the persons whom God may call into the fellowship of His Son from among them to assume for themsel ves such form-of church gov- ernment as to them shall appear most agreeable to the Word of God." For three full days the gatherings continued, with two sermons each day upon pertinent themes from eminent divines, and to audiences" immensely great." It seemed like a new Pentecost" with Christians of all denomi- nations for the first time in the same place, using the same hymns and prayers, and feeling themselves to be one." Two hundred ministers sat together in the galleries j and Dr. Bogue said : " We are called together for the funeral of bigotry j and I hope it will be buried so deep as never to rise again." Vhereat" the whole vast body could scarce refrain from one general shout of joy. . . Such a scene was never, perhaps, before beheld in our world j and it was a foretaste of heaven. • . . We shall account it through eternity a distinguished favor, the highest honor, that we appeared here and gave in our names among the founders of the society. This will be ever remembered by us as the era of Christian benevolence. "
The flame thus kindled in the metropolis quickly spread throughout all Britain j and, of course, it followed at once that money in abundance began to flow in from all quarters. One church in Southampton subscribed £270, and from Market Harborough came £83 Is. 7d. with this word: " No event in life has given me more pleasure than this glorious attempt to send forth the Gospel." The children in a boarding-school, unasked, gave £1 98. 6d. Scotland too was aroused. Missionary societies were formed in Edinburgh and Glasgow, ani before many months had passed nearly £12,000 had been forwarded to the London treasury. Earnest souls upon the Continent dispatched their contributions, amounting erelong to upward of £1500 j so that by the end of October, the directors had £3000 in hand, which, three months later, had more than doubled, and in June, 1796, they could report the receipts at £10,000. Missionaries, too, had offered themselves in encouraging numbers. By midsummer it was decided to purchase a ship and found missions in Otaheite, the Friendly and Pelew Islands, and the Marquesas, with projects looking toward Madagascar, the West Indies, and the north shore of the Caspian, so great was their faith, and so enlarged were their ideas and longings. And thus early the prophetic hope was expressed that this uprising for the world's redemption" will spread to every Christian bosom, to the Dutch, German, American, and all Protestant churches, till the whole professing world shall burn with fervent love, and lab'or to sprelld in every heathen land the sweet savor of the Redeemer's name."
Accordingly, the Duff was purchased at a cost of £4875, and furnished for her long voyage at an additional expense of more than £7000, several years' supplies for the missionaries included. A profit of £5000 was expected from freight to be brought upon the homeward trip. A call was made, and nobly responded to, for books, tools, cooking utensils, instruments, seeds and other supplies; and one poor man expended £2 28. upon six spades, nine' hammers, and four thousand 6d and 10d nails. July 2Rth, 1796, the twenty-nine chosen were solemnly set apart-six of them married, with two childIen, only four of them ordained, one a physician, and the others artisans. Thousands joined in the novel and most impressh'e service, and no less than ten clergymen-Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Independent, Seceder, and Methodist-sharing in the exercises, "showing that affection is increasing between ministers of different denominations, who, previous to this institution, had neither fellowship nor intercourse." In reference to the religious situation it was written soon after: "In no instance in the limits of our recollection has such a ~pirit of prayer and supplication been poured out upon the churches, or such general approbation been discovered. The greatest kindness has been displayed in all departments of the Government. Neither the Council Board nor the Custom House would accept fees." Wednesday, August 10th, at five A.M., the Duff' dropped down from B1ackall to Gravesend, a vast multitude beholding, and came to anchor at t!pithead the Tuesday following. The East India convoy having already sailed, she was compelled (since the French wars were raging) to wait six weeks, at Portsmouth, for the Adamant, a fifty-two gun ship. September 22d found her at St. Helen's. The following day her anchors were finally hoisted and her sails spread for the Antipodes. Thus the great undertaking, followed in Carey's path, three years and a half later than he, and yet-in some respects at least-even outdoing that immortal founder and pioneer. It was now that one moralized with altogether pardonable exaltation of feeling: ., It is highly probable that since the Lord and the apostles, the bosom of the deep has never been graced with such a vessel," or one" in which so many thou~ands of Christians embarked their hopes and followed with their prayers."
What remarkable and rapid growth may be discerned during the period under view! How different all this, for magnitude of operations and for eclat, from the deed of those twelve obscure NorthaUJptonshire Baptist ministers, and their subscription of £13 28. 6d., over whose utter inadequacy and insignificance Rev. Sydney Smith half a generation later could make exceeding merry! For nearly two years, until May, 1798, not a word was heard from Captain 'Wilson and the tremendous ventures made by faith. Leaving the Duff t.o battle for weeks with fearful storms off Cape Horn, and then, baffled, to beat her way past the Cape of Good Hope through 262 0 of longitude, let us glance at certain step8 .:,f progress meantime taken at home. Measures were immediately "et on foot to start a mission in the Foulah country, some 250 miles from Sierra Leone, for which GlaRgow and Edinburgh offered two men each, and the London So- ciety was to add the same number. Plans were also soon laid for a mission to the Cape. In January, 1797, it could be affirmed: "Christians in every corner of the land are meeting in a regnlar manner, and pouring out their souls for God's blessing on the world." And again: "The efforts most successfully made to introduce the Gospel to the South Seas have had a most powerful tendency to unite the devoted servants of Christ of every denomination in the bonds of brotherly love, and to awaken zeal to help the perishin!! multitudes in our own country, and 'also the Jews." ~onth by month came tidings of both local and district movements to raise missionary funds, and to multiply toilerfl at many points in the foreign field, and in every destitute region at home. For this purpose scores of organizations were formE'd in every denomination. In America similar interest prevailed; in Ma8~achusetts and Connecticut, at New York, Philadelphia, and othE'r parts of the country. .Nor waR the enterprise Jess upon the Continent; in Germany, Holland, Sweden, and Switzerland associations were also formed. With all these societies, as well as with various individuals, the directors of the London Society opened correspondence for mutual instruction and encouragement. Von Schirnding, a German nobleman, was delighted to hear of the evangelizing projects Oll foot j for years he had been cheriRhing similar schemes. and aided liberally with money and men. Vanderkemp, in Holland, a famed scholar and soldier, and aforetime a pronounced sceptic, offered himself as a messenger of glad tidings to the heathen, and proceeded at once to organize the Netherlands Missionary Society. Inspiring letters came from BasIc, which since 1771 had been the seat of a widespread movement" to maintain evangelical doctrine and piety." Certain devout German brethren sent their congratulations in this fashion: "It is like the dawn promising a beautiful day after the dark night. It is the beginning of a ne,w epoch for the kingdom of God on earth. Your undertaking and its success fills our hearts with joy and our eyes with tears. The history of Great Britain is sanctified by this unparalleled mission. What harmony among different perRu!lsions! You call on the wise and good of every nation to take interest in the work and bear a part. Such a call was never heard of before. It was reserved for the close of the eighteenth century to be distinguished by it." So it was that the tide of zeal rose and spread.
It was not until May, 1798, that, in a letter from Captain Wilson; written at Canton six months before, the first tidings came from the great missionary venture in the South Seas; and in July following the Puff lay at anchor in the Downs. And now came the climax of exultation and buoyant hope. "Never, perhaps, was an undertaking more completely accomplished. Fifty-one thousand miles have been traversed without the least material loss vr damage. The winds eonE'pired to waft them safely and swiftly to their desired haven. Everywhere they were reeeived by the natives with reverence and delight. All are settled in the islands they preferred, and apparentl.y in the greatest safety. At Otaheite, a most fertile district was bestowed upon them, and a commodious building." Dr. Haweis did not fail to surpass the most fervid and fanciful in his setting forth of the past, present, and future of the mission, in a public address to Captain Wilson.
But the directors well understood that something besides pooans of gladness were in order, and therefore, immediately after a day of thanksgiving had been devoutly obsHved, they met to plan both how to maintain communieations with the brethren already sent forth, and also to found other mISSIOns. Their faith hesitated not to survey a field as broad as this: " Hindustan, the Sandwich Islands, and other groups in the Pacific; the Creek Indians, Canada, the Bermudas, and any West India islands, and any coasts of America or Asia." And presently they notify the churches: "We must have an enlarged supply of money and men. We expect a body of German missionaries, anu we plan to engage a great company and teach them both theological knowledge and also occupations adapted to the islands. " But just now all their energies were bent upon preparing for a Recond voyage of the Duff, with Captain Robson in command. On N 0vembcr 13th, forty-six were in readiness (nineteen single men and ten married, with seven children), and were set apart to their sacred task. On the 20th, the Duff dropped down the Thames and ten days later weighed anchor. December 8th found her with seventy ships at Spithead, where she layover two Sundays on account of fogs; on the 21st a southwest wind was so fierce that the fleet put into Portland Roads, and a day or two later was off under convoy of the frigate Amphion. In the same company sailed the Hillsborough, bearing some hundreds of convicts bound for Botany Bay I and also Dr. Vanderkemp and three companions-Kircherer, Edmonds, and Edwards-en route to found a mission in Cape Colony.
Hitherto, for five years, the tide of good feeling and expectation of large results had heen steadily rising and swelling with scarce a refluent wave. Not a threatening storm-cloud had croRsed the 5ky. But, of course, such conditions could not always continue. This is not God's way with His kingdom. As might have been expected, and as was every way best, a series of trials and tests now ensued in the shape of serious reverses and failures apparently disastrous, coming from yarious quarters, of divers kinds, and in quick succession. The current emotion contained much unhealthy excitement; zeal was ardent, but was not all according to knowledge, and many of the expectations fondly cherished were unreasonable because without groulld. The millennium had not yet dawned, and the victory was not to be won without a fight long and most arduous. It had already been noticed, and with deep anxiety, that scar0ely a minister, and none of note and influence, had of fered himself to go wherever the Lord, through the Society, should send him. 'L'hey who came forward were laymen from the common walks of life, of humble gifts and attainments. Even these had not been sifted with sufficient care, and quite a number proved incompetent, and some even morally unworthy. First, trouble broke out in the company which had been sent to the Foulah country. They separated, some died, and war breaking out among the savages, others left, and so the mission came to grief. Next, early in August, 1799, the directors were stunned by the intelligence that the Duff had been captured by a French privateer in Feb- ruary, when off Rio Janeiro, and had been taken to Montevideo and sold as a prize. The missionaries would be sent home, but the mere money loss was £10,000. On the heels of these evil tidings came the further calamitous news from Otaheite that most of the missionaries left there, their lives in deadly peril, had fled the island, and, by a chance vessel, had transferred themselves to Port Jackson, in New South Wales. Likewise at Tongabatoo calamity had befallen, for some had died, some had fallen into lewdness with the natives and been cut off from fellowship, and civil ~ar had broken out, in which the brethren had been robbed and then expelled. Only from Vanderkemp came words of cheer. He could write that he had made a beginning, and that a " singular interest" had appeared. The" Spirit had begun a good work in some of the most abo ject and uncultured of the race." But there was no flinching or turning back in consequence; without a moment's hesitation, either on the part of the directors or the Christian public, the task was resolutely taken up, both of repairing the damage and of sending reinforcements to the Sout h Seas and to South Africa. By May, 1800, a contingent of sixteen men had been dispatched.
For lack of space I can follow no further the thrilling story of the London Society, wh08e beginnings were so glorious, as well as of such moment both to Christendom and to the whole heathen world. It was not long after the hopes of so many of the earnest-hearted had been so rudely hurled from the zenith to the nadir, that theY'began again slowly and steadily to rise.. One by one the various denominations which had been in hearty co-operation began to withdraw, and, as perhaps was wisest, to set up societies for themselves-the Episcopalians in 1799 leading the way, and finally the Independents were left practically alone. The South Sea~ proved to be no 8inless, stormless Eden, and their inhabitants to be of a piece with savages elsewhere. Many reverses were yet in store, and long waiting for the first-fruits was required. But island after island, continent after continent was occupied for the Magter, and by such heroes of faith as Ellis, Livingstone. Moffat, Milne, Morrison, Medhurst, Vanderkemp, and John Williams the martyr of Erromanga. Early in the century, India, China, and the West Indies were entered-Madagascar (a shining marvel
AN EVANGELISTIC 'l'otrn !N .tAPAN
among missions) in 1818, and others subsequently. As late as 1810 the income was but $5298 ; in 1856 it had risen only to $8233.; but in 1890 was upward of $600,000, with one sixth of the amount derived from the mission stations. The four ordained and one medical missionary of 1795 have increased to 159, with 1202 ordained native pastors. Thongh various missions have become self· sustaining, or have been turned over to other societies, almost 70,000 members are found in the churches and 110,000 pupils in the schools. No m.ortal can say how many organizations, both in the Old World and the New, owe their origin directly or indirectly to that great missionary uprising in the last decade of the eighteenth century, of which the London Society was both the effect and the cause.
.AN EVANGELISTIO TOUR IN JAPAN.
BY REV. FREDERICK s. CURTIS, HIROSHIMA, JAP.A.N.
Early in June, 1891, in company with a Japanese brother, I left Hiroshima for a two weeks' trip among the villages in the vicinity. The first village, two hours' ride by jinricksha from Hiroshima, is Kabe, where we opened the work a few weeks ago. After weeks of effort we were at length able to secure a small house here, which will serve as a preaching place for a time. Immediately after our first meeting, Buddhist lecturers were summoned, who were expected by their harangue to nip Christianity in the bud. But though much opposition has been raised, the handful of Christians remain steadfast, and a few inquirers regularly attend the meetings. We stopped at Kabe for an hour and talked with the leading Christian there, who was formerly an elder in one of the Tokyo churches. As we were about to leave, he desired that we should have a brief prayer together, and prayed for the blessing of God upon this evangelistic tour. It was with overflowing heart that I followed him in prayer. I am rejoiced that the Japanese brethren are so ready for prayer at all times. I am rejoiced, too, that through the example of a brother missionary I came to see the importance of learning to prllY, even before learning to preach or to converse, in Japanese. There are few rarer pleasures than this, to unite one's heart in supplication to our common Lord with those who have been rescued from the darkness of heathenism.
A few miles beyond Kabe we overtook two others travelling toward the same destination. One of these proved to be a man who had come to my house a few weeks before to inquire about'Christianity. As we journeyed together we talked further of the way of salvation. The other travellera member of one of the Osaka churches-with his friend, came to our hotel in the Qvening, when we talked and prayed together before going to the theatre meeting. In the theatre a few small lamps suspended here and there, and a candle placed on the speaker's table, with now and then the glare of a match used in lighting the pipe of a hearer, supplied all the illumination. Since the building was about as large, and resembled in other respects a faif-sized barn, one may weJl imagine that it was far from being well lighted. Here some 250 people assembled, and, seated on the hard floors covered with coarse matting, listened with the utmost quiet and attention. We returned to our hotel rejoicing in the blessing of God, for we had heard that Yoshida was a hard place, and had gone to the theatre prepared for a noisy time-opposition from the Buddhists. However, next day pushing on to Miyoshi, a place of about 20,000 people, and in the evening holding another meeting with about the same attendance as at YoshIda, we found here the opposition we had expected at the former place. In these large meetings the Japanese usually speak first; otherwise some of the people go away after they have seen and heard the foreigner, who is still an object of curiosity in the country.
OUf speeches were frequently iuterrupted by cries in English of " No, no!" or in Japanese, " The Jesus religion won't do," or " Cast this foreign religion out of our country!" Also by various quotations from the sages, with other remarks mnde to cause a laugh.
The next day at our hotel we talked with quite a number of inquirers, and held a meeting with some of these and the two or three Christians we had found. I spoke especially of the Scripture proof of the immortality of the soul and of the divinity of Christ. Later, when the question of the use of "sake" (Japanese wine) and tobacco, came up for discussion, I explained the principle upon which we must judge; that since our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, in God's sight all is sin that injures the body. I felt much blessed in thus speaking, also in prayer. Before the theatre meeting of the second evening in Miyoshi, we took the precaution to provide a larger number of lamps, that the Buddhist priests and young men who were inclined to make a disturbance might not do so unobserved. While waiting for the people to assemble (a thing often done in Japan) I sat near the front of the platform and chatted with the boys about America, in which they seemed greatly interested.
I followed the Japanese speaker with a short sermon, and we were about to dismiss the meeting, which had been a noisy one, but when I saw that the majority of the 500 seemed disinclined to go, I determined to make a venture, so I told them that the whole meeting thus far having been much shorter than nsual, if they so desired I would speak again. To my surprise the entire audience sat down and called for the speech. After I had been speaking for a few minutes, or, rather, reading (for thus far I have been obliged to read the greater part of my sermons), it came over me with great power that I mnst speak, so I cast myself on the Lord and spoke as the Spirit directed. In one of these extemporaneous parts, desiring to illustrate the heinousness' of the sin of rejecting Christ I told the andience that the sin of the Japanese policeman who near Kyoto recently attempted to kill the Prince Imperial of Russia, was not nearly so great as that of rejecting the Prince of Life. As I thus spoke there was the great- est attentiun, and I trust also some impression was made. Though I had been working at the language for three years, and recently had spohn quite often, I had not felt at all sure that the masses understood me ; but now becoming fully convinced of this, and being so filled with joy that the audience had asked me to speak the second time, I could scarcely slee"p. At the close of the service the Christjans and a number of inquirer!! accompanied us to our rooms, and as usual remained till midnight talking of the things of the Kingdom. Among these inquirers the most interesting case was that of a young Buddhist priest named Chiba, who at the age of eleven took up his calling at the instance of his father and elder brother; but some time since in Kyoto, having come into posse~sion of a Bible, and learning something about Chris!ianity, he had come to us to learn more. In reply to my question as to the object of his search, he said that since he heard of Christ he could not be satisfied with Buddhism.
This young man is now twenty years of age, and next year is entitled to take charge of a temple. That he will not do this we fully believe.
The following morning we retraced our steps, and stopping to preach at Kabe, chiefly to the handful of Christians there, I returned to Hiroshima that night.
The following day, with the same Japanese brother, after teaching the teachers' meeting, we took the steamer for I wakuni. That evening at Shimminato, the seaport of Iwakuni, we hired the lower floor of a hotel .. and advertised a lecture on Christianity. In this rough place some 150 people crowded into the room and listened attentively. Going on to Iwakuni I preached to the Christians about finding Jesus in the Scriptures, and in the afternoon had a long converl3ation with some of the brethren in regard to persecution. Even in Japan persecution is no small matter. In the experience of many of the Japanese Christians a man's foes are they of his own household. In the early evening I called to see one of the officials who, with his wife, is searching the Scriptures. They seemed delighted to see me, and it was a matter of great regret that I had so few minutes with them. I urged them to make a practical test of every new truth they found, prayed with them, and went on to Imadzu "illage to hold a preaching service. In the meeting-place some 200 people gathered. Heretofore I had always read at least the greater part of my sermon; but here, for the first time, with the Japanese New Testament and a brief outline, I spoke extemporaneously; and, though conscious of some grammatical errors, I felt much blessed in thns speaking. The following day returning overland, and remaining over the next night at y'okkaichi, I had the privilege of speakiug at the first Christiau meeting ever held there. About 500 crowded into the single room and overflowed. In the midst of my sermon some one cried out, "God made the body but not the soul." I replied that we were not there to argue that point; but to tell them what Christianity taught. The Japanese speaker who followed
ONE OF THE FAITHFUL IN THE LAND
me told the audience that he would answer any questions III regard to Christianity.
There was a little hesitation; but finally some one said, " Is Buddha the savioar of Mida~" (Amida). He meant to say," Is Buddha the sa.·iour of men ?" At this the audience laughed heartily.
. The speaker replied, "I suppose you meant to say men instead of Mida ;" and went on to give a brief history of Buddha, showing him to be but a man, and therefore unable to save the soul.
Going on to Takewara, we held a large meeting. My subject was "Sin"-something very difficult for the Japanese mind to comprehend. In fact, as has so often been said, there is no word in the Japanese lan- guage to adequately express the Bible term sin. Before I preached, thrce boys delivered addresses on Christianity. The precocity of Young Japan may be fairly illustrated by the fact that these boys, aged eleven and twelve years, had chosen their themes' and prepared their addresses with but little help from others. These addresses, though short-·about three to five minutes each-werp. really very good, and delivered with absolute composure. Is it any wonder that the Japanese nation thinks it can do anything?
The subjects treated were: "The one true God," " All the blessings of mankind come from God," and" Pride makes men blind."
The following day, with the Japanese preacher located at Takewara, I .. went to a place called Mitsu, which being off the main road, it is probable that no foreign face had el'er been seen there before. Accordingly the people flocked to see me, gathering in front of the hotel and at the theatre. In this place we had two direct answers to prayer-in regard to the renting of the theatre and the attention of the people. The next day (Sunday) I spent in Takewara, and admitted to the communion two in addition to seven received early in the year.
On Monday I returned to Hiroshima, during the two weeks having held 15 meetings, with an aggregate attendance of 2500 people. In all prob- ability the majority of these had never heard of Christ before. I thank God for this privilege of preaching the Gospel where Christ had not been named.
July 10, 1891.
ONE OF THE FAITHFUL IN THE LAND.
BY C. J. vas KAMP, CANTON, CHINA.
On September 29th, 1891, our beloved pastor, Wong Kong Fuk died. He was one of the few faithful in the land; a man full of energy aM talent, who truly loved his Saviour, and labored in the service of the Mas- ter with his whole heart. He accomflished great things in his missionary station at Fayen, forty miles north of Canton, and many heathen were . converted through him. In the first years of my sojourn here I was permitted to make a few tours with him into the villages of the district of Fayen so as to preach the Gospel to the heathen. I see him yet, sitting in the tents of the Chinese, the gracious smile on his lips, surrounded by his eager listeners, to whom he is showing the nothingness of idolatry and the riches of the Saviour's love. How eloquent were his words! How well he knew how to captivate his hearers by new illustrations and skilful reasoning! How the Christians loved and honored him! With what a great respect the heathen regarded him! He brought Christ's name into his missionary station. One seldom heard a reviling word in the places where he preached. Thus the soil was prepared for the Gospel; ahd we may hope that many more in that field will find their eternal and full salvation.
A few days ago, as I was travelling toward Fayen with four students of our theological seminary, to conduct the funeral service of Wong Kong Fuk, I stopped at the large village of Thaiwuschak. Here, forty-three years ago, Wong Kong Fuk was born, and here he died. Here he also heard from the mouth of the Rev. Hauspach the words of l!fe which have been dear to him since his conversion as a stronghold in life and in death.
The narrow streets of the village, with the huts of limestone, were almost deserted. Only a few half-naked children play at the pond by the bamboo grove. I enter the open square with my companion, the student Khyamfuk.
Two high, red-painted poles point out to me the ancestral hall. A few Christians who are standing there hurry toward me, and, bowed and silent, extend to me their hand, and lead me into a hut where they offer me a cup of tea. Meanwhile the brethren, who have gathered from the most distant villages to the burial, come to greet me. A deep sorrow rests upon the men because of the death of their beloved spiritual leader.
" We are assembled to the funeral service," says Tschin. I put on my gown, tak~ the Bible and the Chinese hymn-book and stepped out into the open square in front of the ancestry hall. It was yet early in the day ; the sun had not yet sent down her beams in full force. There stood the coffin, covered with a blue bier-cloth, on which were embroidered Chinese char- acters. Dear disciples of the Saviour had sent it to their brethren in China as a greeting of the Risen One who also shall resurrect His own. There are also the large banners with the promises of comfort out of the Word of God concerning victory over death and immortal life in Christ. Com- pared with the heathen" Firlefanz," with which the heathen are buried, how delightful to eye and heart stand these banners with their beautiful Chinese characters. '
Several months before, when we buried a Christian in Canton, several scholars carried this banner through the city. They attracted the attention of the people, and many stood staring. "They appear as though they would like to march out to war," said a farmer, who had earnestly studied the text, and to whom the words, "I live, and ye shall live also," " The wages of sin is death," " Christ is the life, death is gain," and other words,
'rilE CALL TO pnAYElt
were a riddle to him. "They appear to be actors," said a second. A reader of books declared, "They are Christians," "adherents to the Jesus-religion." "So they are Jesus-people!" said the others, gazed once more upon the wonderful banner, and went their way.
Eight musicians were present, and with their funeral melodies accom- , panied the dead to his grave. These were engaged by the heathen elders of the village to render final honors to their dead.
We began by singing a song of life and resurrection. A large crowd surround the coffin. The immediate relatives of Wong Kong Fuk wear straw garments. a wreath of straw in their hair, and in their hands they carry a short bamboo rod, bowed and crooked; according to custom they thus escort their dead. A blue ribbon-the emblem of mourning-is braided in the queue just as we wear a band of crape about the arm or hat. The Christians wear white garments and caps, and they are a large number who have confessed the name of Christ in Fayen. Many of the heathen stand in the rear j for all knew and loved the Shepherd Wong. I made a short address based on Rev. 14 : 13 : "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." There was much weeping among the people, and tears fell from the eyes of many of the heathen. The Chinese know so well how to control their emotions j but here was refiected in their tears the love they felt for the dead. Tschin spoke after me, and mentioned his dying words: " Willingly I depart, for God will care for mine. Do you faith- full y carryon the work." The assistant, H yn, then offered prayer, after which I advanced to the coffin and pronounced a bJessing Over the remains.
The service made a deep impression on the heathen. How different this sorrow blessed of God from the cry and tumult of a hpathen burial, which only reveals fear and confusion before the King of Terror! The coffin was lifted, and the long procession started. The shrill tones of the bamboo fiutel' mingled with the clanging of the gongs. The Chinese music seemed to me a distressing discord, but I was obliged to endure it in silence. .
On the hill opposite the village is the grave in which we laid the body, and beyond lies the land where the light wrestles with the black darkness of heathenism. God grant His Word power and a triumphant ·ictory !
[Tran8lated from the German by M. M. Minnassian, A.B.] THE CALL TO PRAYER.
[EDITORIAL, A. T. P.] The editor feels the profoundest respect and reverence for that foremost of all missionary organizations, the Church Missionary Society, and a1though it is somewhat Jate to refer to this, its day of intercession for foreign missions in 1890 furnishes an example for all of us to follow.
The m'e of St. Andrew's Day, November 29th, and the week which it introduced, were made a period of special prayer for missions, and the prayer of Asa was adopted as a fit motto. We venture at this late day to make quotations from the re~arkable circular issued by this grand society in connection with this movement : " Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power. Help us, 0 Lord our God j for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this multitude. 0 Lord, Thou art our God j let not man prevail against Thee. "
"This prayer of Asa, when going forth agamst overwhelming odds, may well stand out prominently in the minds of all who are taking an intelligent and prayerful interest in the carrying out of the Master's great missionary commission, as they thankf.lily approach the observance of the Day of Intercession, and realize that a great coneert of prayer will be ascending at that time, not simply from the world -wide Anglican communion, but also from almost all Protestant Christian communities, who find in the active work of proclaiming Christ's salvation a common interest, and at the throne of grace a common platform where all can unite, and thus co-operate in one common object."
" Asa's prayer is very apposite to the present position and opportunities. Fresh fields for conquest opening on all sides; 'many adversaries' more. busy and persistent than ever; only too successful attacks of the great enemy on infant Christian communities; his devices manifest in complications and difficulties even among brethren, overwheliiting demands which the very success of the work and growth of interest in it impose, requiring prayerful patience and earnest deliberation j these are some of the marked features of the time, calling for a large exhibition of the spirit breathed in Asa's prayer as he faced the great emergency with " The Cry of Faith, ' Help us, 0 Lord our God. ' " The Repose of Faith, , 'Ve rest on Thee.' " The Energy of Faith, ' In Thy name we go.' " " The remarkable appeal, signed by several prominent friends of the society, who met last July in private conference at Keswick, calling on the committee to organize' an advance on a large scale, under the directing hand of God,' is based on a review of the' needs of the heathen, and of the marvellous openings which God is providing at this time.' There are indeed marvellous openings. Africa is becoming accessible in all directions. Let special prayer be made for the Nyanza party uuder Bishop Tucker; for the Upper Niger and Soudan Mission, where an attempt is being made, fraught with promise, and with early tokens of the good hand of the Lord upon the workers, to penetrate the Central Soudan. The Imperial British East Africa Company is opening the direct route from Mombasa to the Nyanza, known as Bishop Hannington'tl route, and are cordially inviting the society to avail itself of the opelJings. China is an open field to all who will venture in. Calls reach the committee to man vigorously the frontier stations of the Punjab and Sindh Mission, so as to be in readiness as Central Asia opens its doors for the evangelist. In countries already occupied, the opportunities for evangelization demand large reinforcements; and prayer should earnestly be made that the native Christian communities in these countries may themselves be privileged to supply in large measure . the missionarieR needed in order that their own countrymen may be evan- gelized. The very magnitude of the work opening up might well appall, but for all which is implied in t.he liberty to cry, ' Help us, 0 Lord our God.' "
" A favorable symptom, as evidencing the reality of the work and the impression that is being produced by it, may be found in the increasing hostility manifested to the spread of the Gospel. In many of the older misaions of the society tho missionary may truly say, ' A great door and effectual is opened, and there are many adversaries.' This is especially noticeable in many parts of India, particularly at present among the Mo- hammedans in the Punjab, who have taken vigorous steps to stop the work carried on among their women by the Zenana missionary ladies. But the saIne spirit is apparent elsewhere, and is developing markedly in Japan and in Bagdad after the baptism of a Mohammedan convert; while political opposition is hindering the work in Palestine. Prayer is especially needed for the guidance of the missionaries by the holy Spirit, that they may act with judgment as well as with zeal j and for all inquirers after truth, and for those who are convinced of the truth, that they may be enabled to withstand the fiery ordeal of persecution, and to come out boldly to confess the faith of Christ crucified, even though it be unto death."
" The marked growth of interest in the cause among Christians at home, while full of encouragement, and a:/l.,ding ground for devout thanksgiving, brings with it special dangers and difficulties, and may well demand a large share in the prayers of God's people. The number of home workers, or professing workers, is largely increasing. This is evidenced by the increase, both in the number ,of unions of various kinds, and by the increase of their members. The Gleaners' Union, every member of which is pledged to do something for the cause, now numbers 28,000 enrolled members. If all are doing each what he or she can in the name of the Lord, and relying on the Holy Spirit's enabling grace, what may not be effected? Prayer with reference to all these tokens of growing interest is suggested in a twofold direction : " (a) That there may be no disposition to trust in mere numbers, remembering Asa's prayer: 'It is nothing with Thee to help, whethp.r with many or with them that have no power. '
" (b) That God the Holy Spirit may sift the workers, and bring to the front those whom He is calling aud equipping for the work. Of Gideon's army of 32,000 there were left but 300, the faithful few by whom the Lord would save Israel and deliver the enemy into their hands."
" Quality, rather than quantity, is needed. Let earnest supplication be made that a vast number of volunteers both from England and from every congregation in the mission field may be raised up duly qualified, and may abide the Lord's test. "
"The present position, difficulties, and opportunities of the society may well cause all who realize what is the present demand. in the Church of Christ to cry, ' Who is sufficient for these things?' 'Our sufficiency is of God. ' Let this period of intercession send His people to their knees with the cry of faith, 'Help us, 0 Lord our God j , and bring to each one the Repose of Faith which a realized dependence on Him must bring, • We rest on Thee j' and send us forth with the Energy of Faith, th<1t rests not, to stop and weigh the difficulties of the situation, but boldly takes as its watchword' In Thy name we go.' What encouragements may be drawn from the experience of the past j what incentives from the bright outlook of the future I"
" And in adopting Asa's prllyer, what reason there is to add his son Jehoshaphat's method, who, in similar straits to those of his father, followed his example of prayer. 'Oh, our God, we have no might, neither know we what to do j but our eyes are upon Thee; , and then, going in the name of the Lord, and when he had taken counsel with the people, , appointed them that should sing unto the Lord and praise the beauty of holiness' as they went before the army, and sang, 'Give thanks unto the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever.' "
"Compassed with the Song of Praise the Lord's army shall go forth , steadfast, unmovable,' always abounding in the work of the Lord."
" Let earnest prayer be made that. all who engage in any department of this great work may indeed, filled with the Energy of Faith by the Divine Spirit, go in the name of the Lord-in that all-victorious name to which every knee shall bow, and through which God giveth the victory. The work is not man's but God's j the object is not of human will, but of Divine purpose, for His glory in the conversion of souls and the building up of His Church. The issue must be sure, for the appeal. be. the ad versary who he may, is conclusive, , Let not man prevail against Thee.' "
A little lad who had become interested in gathering money to send the Gospel to the heathen, hit upon this happy device. He rummaged in the garret and found an old-fashioned powder-horn. which he decided to make into a missionary box. His older brother Raid he might have the horn, but wondered what he was going to do with it. The large end of the horn had a wooden bottom, and Eddie scraped it smooth, and asked his brother if he would cut some letters on it. " Yes," said his brother, and Eddie gave him these words: " Once I was the horn of an ox, Now I am a missionary box.·'
Eddie inked the letters, and then as he showed his box to his friends they were all so pleased with his ingenuity that they all put something into it, and he became a large contributor.
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. CO. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
CHINA.
-The Rev. Timothy Richard, in the May Missionary Herald of the English BaptiRts, says, writing from Tientsin: "From a political point of view, China has had a sad year. The population of China increases at the rate of/our million8 a year-forty millions (as much as all the Germans) every ten years. Without new means of support, this increase of population means the increased poverty of the existing inhabitants. As these arc already as poor as they can be and live, every increase means death. This is literally true. Under various names-droughts, floods, etc.-about twenty millions must have perished from starvation during the last dozen years. This year, in the province where Peking and Tientsin are situated, we have great floods such as they have not experienced here since the memory of the oldest living, and a few millions are expected to die before next year's wheat harvest. The saddest thing about all this poverty and starvation is that not one in a thousand of the Mandarins either knows the cause or the remedy. Such as did know, like the Marquis Tseng, who had been Minister to England, and his uncle the Viceroy of Nankin, and especially the Emperor's father (the Seventh Prince) have suddenly been cut off by denth. Now, alas! few of the remaining Manllarins know how to save their country."
-There having been a renewal of disgraceful calumnies again~t the Christian missions, especially the Roman Catholic, the Shanghai Conference has appointed seven to publish a refutation of them.
-Dr. Russell Watson, English Baptist medical missionary at Tsing Chu Fu, reports their having trp.ated over 12,000 cases during the year.
-China'8.JIillion8 for May announces the arrival, and gives portraits of 35 Scandinavian missionaries (17 male, 18 female) who arrived at Shanghai in February from America, and the names of 8 gentlemen and 7 ladies who arrived in March. "Part of the coming thousand." Sixteen of the Scandinavian brethren from America (C. 1. M.) had left Shanghai for Shan-se, under Messrs. D. Lawson and Peat. where Mr. Russell would snperintend their studies, locating them in little parties in small places within easy reach of Hiao-'i.
-The Rev. W. S. Swanson, formerly missionary at Amoy, said, at the anniversary of the London Missionary Society: "In 1800 of east longitude it does not seem to matter whether you are an Episcopalian, Presbyterian, or Congregationalist. You are face to face with the great work of Christ, and your confession of faith may be summed up in this: that all men are sinners, and Jesus Christ, God's only Son, is able to save to the uttermost. That is a working creed. "
Mr. Swanson added that" there were five hundred millions of Chinese in the world. The Chinaman was an individual with some backbone in him; but the Chinese woman had several backbones in her. If they could get the women of China to become Christians they had solved the question. "
-The Roman Catho;ic mission in South Shartung, under BiRhop Anzer, has exchanged the French protectorate for the German. The Catholics in China seem to have a great many diplomatic difficulties which, as the Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift suggests, can hardly be very advantageous to Christianity. "The less inclined missionari~s are to invoke diplomatic intervention, the mme rarely the strong arm of a Western power interposes in their affairs, the better. The broken reeds of Egypt have always shown themselves to be an ominous support." The same hishop (we think it was) probably accomplished more for the Gospel when he sold his house and offered his jewelled mitre for sale to find bread for the famishing.
-We know that " Christianity has materially modified the languages of the West, and that it is modifying, and will still further modify, the language of China. We know that Chinel:le is not so inflexible as the scholars of China believe it to be. If it were so, the Chinese could never possess anything but a stunted and attenuated Christianity, for at the present moment it has no fit terminology in which to express properly many of the grandest and most important thoughts that God has given to us through the Gospel of His Son. But all modifications of language must be within certain limits, and, moreover, they must be a gradual growth. "-Chinese Recorder.
– The Chinese Churchman (cited in the Spirit of Missions) remarks that for the first time, in Government proclamations, Christianity has been raised above the category of " Little Teaehings;" and for the first time our Lord Jesus Christ has been given a higher place t:18n Mohammed.
-The New York Recorder (iikewise quoted in the Spirit of Mi88ions) says, with reference to recent troubles: "The American Govemment should not be precipitate in dealing with China in taking' joint action' with other Powers, in any policy that looks like what the London Times advises as ' severe measures.' Joint action, and especially under the lead of France, as is proposed, would be a surrender of whatever little influence we possess in that empire. It would be the furtherance of European Bmbitions in China, which would do no good either to our commerce or national prestige."
-The London MiRsionary Society has reconstituted its Board of Directors on a more thoroughly representative basis, tal_ng precautions against giving London too large a proportion, and making arrangements for a more frequent attendance of the directors from the provinces. In view, also, of the danger that the society may become merely Congregationalist, they have invited each of the three Preshyterian churches of Scotland and the Presbyterian Church of Ireland to nomi.nate a director.
-George Miiller, in his address on Faith, at Basel, reported in the Neukirchene1' Heidenbote, takes pains to correct an opinion which many may have derived from his course. He says: "To make known the pecuniary wants of benevol(nt enterprises to their friends is something which I do not regard as unscriptural. Still less do I regard it as a sin. But I have refrained from it for this reason-naulely, because through my pastoral activity and my wide correspondence, I had learned, that of nothing is the Church of God so in need as of a greater faith. Many things were needed, but nothing, nothing, nothing so sorely as an iMrease of faith. And therefore it appeared to me, if I could carryon the work of the Lord without appealing to anyone except God for help, that would be a proof that even in the nineteenth century the living God is still here, that even, although the prophets have fallen asleep, yet the God of the prophets lives, and that the Lord and Master of the apostles yet Jives."
-" Certain languages are mighty conquerors. They almost divide the world between them, while others are fast dying out. The whole Bible has been provided in all the great conquering tongues. "-Ohurch Missionary lntelligencer.
-Northern Africa ~ays: "In those churches where there is good teaching as well as good working, we generally find good candidates and the most liberal givers. Of the twelve it is said that He ordained them that they should be with Him. They were then prepared not only by his teaching, but by watching how He Himself worked. We feel the need of just these two things in candidates-they need good teaching and they alRO need to be shown how to work by Rome one able to work efficiently. In our evangelistic missions there may have been great blessing by preaching some truths that had been much neglected, but tllere has also been a danger of neglecting and even despising dry theology, which is now producing a shallow type of Christian. Might not a good deal that is now left to colleges" (i.e., seminaries) " be done in the churches l May God help us to maintain the balance of truth, and in cvery way so to teach and labor that a generation of sturdy and consecrated men, full of faith and the Holy Ghost, may be prepared for the foreign and home fields. "
N01·thern Africa, speaking of its work among the Arabs, says: "The Church seems, like Hagar of old, to have left Ishmael to die, but the God of Abraham has not forgotten the prayer offered more than three thousand years ago by him whom He deigned to call his friend, 'Oh that Ishmacl might live before Thee,' a prayer that is to be answered not only in respect to the lad, but also his descendants."
– " Modern missions have been long favored to carryon their work in all quietness. Their voice has not been heard in the street. For decadeR the world scarcely took note of them, unless, indeed, to mock at them. This place under the cross has been both a defence and a blessing. Yet even this beautiful time of youth had its drawbacks. Doubtless it involved a certain narrowness-flight of the world, as they say now. Yet of this they have no great occasion to be ashamed j it is a reproach which they share with the apostolic age. But with all their imperfections they laid hold of the mission work in its innermost essence, extended the Kingdom after the manner of the Kingdom, saved souls, laid the One Foundation Jesus Christ, wrought from below up, and went from small things to larger.
"This time of stillness and neglect on the part of the world is now gone by for missions. Doubtless there is here anadvance ; the child has become a ma,n, who takes a place in the world's history. The world, therefore, naturally finds now occasion to define its position as to missions. Missions must be carried on ; that is now agreed. But the world is not at all pleased with the way they are carried on. It seeks to influence them, to give them a totally new direction, to alter them fundamentally, and 80 to trouble them in their very end."-Dr. VYARNECK.
-Men would have missions, remarks Dr. Warneck, leave the apostolic for the mediooval method. That explains why, especially in Germany, Rome and her methods are coming to be so vehemently admired, and the patient humbleness of evangelical missions misliked, as by the world" thc folly of the cross" has ever been. But the end of missions, as given by Christ, is as fixed as the methods of missions are left by Him flexible. Jesus is not only the origin, He is the prototype of the work. As Luke says, He began to do and teach, and after Pentecost He proceeded to do and teach through His messengers. The work which is a continuance of His is the work of Christian missions; no other is. Forgiveness of sins and eternalli{e are what He came to bring; that must be, fundamentaily, what they go to offer. " The foreign mission work differs from the pastoral work in this, and this alone; it is a new "message. This involves many differences in form, but none in substance. The salvation of souls is the central work at home and abroad. The degeneration of the work of" Christ's menssengers begins when, either here or there, this is thrust out of the centre.
-The Indian Watchman, of Bombay, and the Kaukab i Hind plead for a larger incorporation of Eurasian Christians in mission work. Their mixed blood makes them natural mediators between Europe and Asia.
-The LeipRic Missionary Society is entering on thc second half-centuryof the renewed Lutheran Tamil Mission in the Madras Presidency. This mission is hot one of the most showy ones, but its work seems to be marked by a decided measure of what the Germans call Gediegenheit-i.e., well-compacted solidity and scripturalness.
-Awake, the little magazine for children published by the Church Missionary Society, in a very animated description of India, quotes thc remark of a great French writer: "Hinduism is, perhaps, the only system of belief that is worse than having no religion at all. "
-Dr. Hooper, in the Ohurch Missionary Intelligencer for March, 1891, remarks that while Christianity has shown an extraordinary power in leavening other religions whose basis remained irreconcilable with it, Islam, equally theistic, has had no leavening power at all. Sikhism has been greatly modified externally by it, but internally remains as intensely pantheistic as any other form of Hinduism.
Arya Samaj. which is rather waxing, while Brahmo Samaj is rather waning, is, unlike the latter, cold in its theism, unfriendly to British rule, and hostile to Christianity, to which the Brahmo Samaj, as a body, has always been cordial. But the extrav!lgant misinterpretation of the Rig Veda on which Arya Bamaj rests contains, remarks Dr. Hooper, the certainty of its ultimate break-up. Meanwhile .Arya Samaj does not hesitate to revile Christianity, and our Lord Himself, in the most scurrilous way, and is meeting with a good deal of present success, especially by its appeal to national feeling.
-The Evangelisch-Lutherisches Missionsblatt says, what in our smiling, we might say smirking age, we seem desperately determined to forget. "We know from the Lord's parables of the fourfold field, of the tares among the wheat, of the broad and narrow way, that He has never expected the conversion of all men. Where He and His messengers sow the good seed, there the enemy follows on the traces, sowing the evil seed. Alongside of the mission of Christ there goes through all peoples and ages a mission of the devil, which is quite as successful, nay, outwardly seems often iar more successful than the mission of Christ." It if! not every place of which Christ says: " I have much people in this city.o, It surely should be enough for the messenger of salvation, as the Missions- " blatt says, to know that God's ,Vord will infallibly accomplish "that whereto He sent it."
-Alfred S. Dyer, in National Righteousness, writing of "The Great Plague of Asia," says: "He is no friend of God or humanity who attempts to underrate the gravity of the opium scourge, which is not now confined to China alone. India, Burmah, Ceylon, arid other parts of Asia are involved. In and from every British port, from Bombay to Shanghai, the plague is spreading." The curse. therefore, which India, under British compulsion, has sent out to China, appears to be returning to plague herself.
-The Monthly says: "A grave discouragement to Christian workers in Palestine is, that it has attracted and is attracting to itself many spiritual eccentrics who surround earnest Christianity with disastrous, and sometimes with ridiculous associations. The Holy Land has a strange mystic charm for many sorts of romantic souls, from Lady Hester Stanhope to Israel Pick and the American Adventists."
-IIenri Draussin, in L'Eglise Libre, referring to the pompous and almost impiously sycophantic reception given to the Protestant queen of Madagascar, at the opening of the Roman Catholic cathedral in Antananarivo, says: "At the risk of being stigmatized as hopelessly English, we avow that this sort of politico-religious manamvring, this shrewd medley of mass and flattery, this accommodation of the anathemas of Catholic dogmas against heresy to the interested designs of a propaganda which is bent at all costs on winning over a crowned head, seem to us of ill augury. " Especially does M. Draussin censure the complaisance of the national agents toward designs so unfriendly to freedom and to a free Gos'pel.
-Le National, in its frantic hatred of the Protestant friends, French and English, of Hova rights against French aggressions, is not ashamed to renew the charge againilt the Rev. Mr. Shaw of having poisoned the wine of the French soldiers in Madagascar! The slander is too idiotic to deserve any worse epithet. It blames their admiral for not· having shot him on the spot. We owe the sight of both the above quotations to the kindness of the Maison de.~ Missions in Paris.
-The Calwer Monatsblatter for March, 1891, consists of an article on our Indians, which for thoroughness, compactness, lucidity, and fairnes~ equals anythin£!: we have seen on the subject. It would be worth circulating in English among ourselves.
-Considering the curious attempts making now to bring about· a nondescript amalgam of Christianity and Buddhism, the following brief antithesis, quoted from the Literary World by the Christian, is worth considering. However widely concrete Christianity may have diverged from this type, even for long ages, the Son of man has always been at hand to bring it back. "It does not seek to trample under foot the natural emotions and desires of man j it does not seek to withdraw him from the world in which he has been placed. It does not disparage either the dignity or the beauty of life."
Those high-bred circles which have at length discovered that culture alone does not bring blessedness, may have Buddha and Schopenhauer, or they may have Christ. But assuredly they cannot have both. It is not strange, therefore, that the" sympathy of religions," which has been lately set forth ill Japan, is said to be inclined to leave Christ altogether out of mention.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Japan Earthquake, lihood, the interruption of business, the general alarm of an earth-wave which [EDITOBIAL.-J. T. G.] produced a variety of phenomena over twenty thousand square miles or more The calamity that has befallen Japan of territory, all make an extraordinary is more than a national misfortune. In phase o( the world's history. these days when all the world is thrown into such near neighborhood, one mem- Japan has done nobly for the instant ber does not suffer, but all suffer. A relief of the sufferers. The Emperor and half million of houseless, homeless, Empress gave at once $20,000 to the redazed, bereft people, stripped of their lief corps. Nobles, lords, foreign resiproperty, with business interrupted and dents, and natives generally came to temporarily at least, destroyed, appeal the aid of the bewildered people, but to the universal heart of the civilized the whole is not equal to the necessities world. The Johnstown flood disaster of the case. Nor will the demand for met with sympathetic expression from aid be met for many a day to come. It large parts of the world. The Chris- is not too late, even after these lines tians of Japan took up a collection and shall be read, for contributions to be of forwarded it, through the Japanese value. We make no appeal for moneys Methodist missionary at San Francisco, to be added to any specific fund. Any for the Johnstown sufferers. But of the treasurers of the great missionary neither the Johnstown flood nor the societies will, we are sure, gladly be the Chicago fire are to bj! compared with custodians of money for the relief fund the reach of the wretchedness of this in general, for native Christians in parseismic disturbance of nearly all the ticular, or for reparation of losl! to prop- Island Empire. The hundreds of shocks erty. They will faithfully carry out left the people too much 'llarmed to re- any instructions of the donors so far as enter the houses which were left stand- lies within their power. We say this ing, and drove them to sleeping in the without having a word of consultation open air in the cold nights. The with them, and without knowing what American Charge d'Affaires at Tokyo, measures, if any, they will take officially anu Admiral Belknap, of the United in the case. But if any persons prefer to States Navy, in charge of the Asiatic send their contributions through secular Station at Yokohama, unite in an appeal channels, they can do 80 directly to Adto th'l. people of the United States to miral Belknap, at Tokyo, for the send relief. Ninety thousand houses ., Earthquake Relief Fund." It will destroyed, perhaps thirty thousand be well that whatever is done be done more badly damaged, eight or ten thou- at once. sand persons killed, carrying grief into the hearts of tens of thousand more, So far as we are able to recall at presand ten thousand badly-injured people ent, the missions at Nagoya and vicinto be cared for, make such conditions ity-the centre of the devastated disas should send a thrill through Christen- trict-are those of the Methodist Episdom, and at once meet with a hearty copal Church, the Presbyterian Church response in practical sympathy. No South, the Methodist Protestant Church, battle-field could furnish such heart- and a lady missionary of the Cumberrending sce.nes as have been witnessed land Presbyterian Church. The Southin connection with this disaster. The ern Presbyterians are also at Kochi. subsidence of the land, the destruction The only one of the foreign missionaries who sustained injuries, so far as we have of factories, removing .the means of live- ~earned! was the Rev. Mr. Van Dyke. of the Methodist Protestant Mission. Rev. eased, the clean and the unclean, the Mr. Miyama, of the }Iethodist Episco- patients who refrain from crossing jt pal Mission, and his wife were also in- and the ministering Christians who freejured. He has been a very active ly cross over to the lepers for their conworker among the Chinese in California stant labors of love to souls and bodies. and the Sandwich Islands. A Japanese At the left of this wooden railinK are pastor of the Presbyterian Chu.rch South the quarters of the nursing staff, also was instantly killed. There are many the workroom, kitchens, bakery, etc. Christians among the sufferers. To the right of it are the quarters of the lepers. The women live all together in The Leper Hospital of the Moravian a suite of large rooms; and two or three Ohuroh at Jerusalem, men generally occupy one ohamber. These apartments need to be light and REV. J. TAYLOR HAMILTON, SECRE1'ARY airy, owing to the nature of the disease, MORAVIAN BOARD, BETHLEHEM, PA. which becomes more and more offensive to sight and smell. They might seem A traveller in Palestine, when jour- bare to a European, but are fairly furneying to· day from Bethlehem to Jeru- nished for Orientals, especially of the salem, will very probably notice a large, class from which the patients are mainsubstantially·b~ilt modern edifice as he ly drawn." nears the Holy City. It is a stately structure for Palestine-in part two, To the story of this hospital I invite and in part three stories high as it rises your attention for a brief while. A above the Vale of Rephaim_ Over the peculiar interest attaches to it from its main entrance he will perceive, carved being the only institution of the kind in in large Roman letters, the words, aU the land in which our Lord, when Gn ., Jesus Hilfe," .. The Help of Jesus." earth, cl<lBnsed lepers among thobe Stimulated by curiosity, he may pass whom His word of power savingly through the open gate of the garden and healed of their diseases. ascend the steps to the front door. There is, indeed, another shelter for He will meet with a cordial welcome these poor outcasts; but the very confrom a German missionary, who will trast it offers to the home in which gladly make him acquainted with the Christian sympathy seeks to relieve misinstitution over which he presides-that ery and anticipate the wants of the is, on the supposition that the stranger's body, ,and at the same time breathe oourage is equal to the ordeal; for this hope into the despondent !!Ioul, argues is the Moravian Leper Hospital, just forcibly for the need of just such an inoutside Jerusalem. stitution Sf! the" Jesus Hilfe."
He will find that it is a quadrangular Eight years after our home had begun building "surrounding a large oourt- its work of mercy, a oertain Pasha gave yard, in the middle of which is a huge orders for the erection of a building for cistern. This cistern may well be large, the reception of lepers at the oost of the for in this land there is no rain for half State. It is not far from the village of the year, and wat~r is a main neoessity Siloam, and is" a low building of only for such an institution. Everything in one story, lit up by five windows which and around the house and in the yard serve for as many rooms. Eight lepers is scrupulously clean." He will notice are supposed to occupy each of thes(', especially the wooden railings that run and thoy are small for the purpose. right across the middle, dividing the The roof of each room is vaulted; in court as well as the passages. "True, the walls are niches; the floor is formetl the gates stand open, and, indeed, are of a stone pavement. On this floor low never closed; yet there it is, the bar- pillars ar" erected which are bollow in· lier between the health! and tJ~e (lis. side, and serve the double purpose of store-~laces for the fruits ~athered b! the lepers, and also to mark out the " On the other hand, a peculiar char. space appropriated to each patient. acteristic of the disease, as it now oc· Nothing buL an old thin straw mat is curs, is the insensibility of the skin, exspread on the hard, cold stones. Here tending inward so far that the knots the poor creatures lie in a room dimly which form under the surface could be lighted by only one window, and in an cut out without the patient feeling any atmosphere rendered pestilential by the pain. Of this feature there is no men· breath of many diseased persons. As tion in Leviticus. Lastly, the leprosy soon as the sun is up, life begins to stir of the present day seems absolutely in these five apartments, and whoever incurable by any medical art, while the of the inmates has still the power of law of the old covenant makes proyi. movement leaves the house. Those sions for cases of healing. who are unable to walk are obliged to remain indoors, and are left without " We cannot but conclude, therefore, any help or care, for no one has either that leprosy has changed its character time or inclination to tend the suffering in the course of centuries. It has be. or comfort the dying. Thl! most that come more ineradicable and more de· can be expected to be done by those structive. Observation of individual who leave the house in search of what cases bears this out. Careful treatment may be obtained by begging, is that and constant cleansing of the sores at they divide a piece of bread with some the very beginning of the disease will more unfortunate companion, and place check its course for years, while neglect, a jug of water by his side." Thus one especially if united to insufficient diet, after another gradually succumbs to the will quickly aggravate its destruative awful disease, and with severe strug- character. The above-mentioned knots gles and great pain closes hopelessly a under the skin begin to suppurate and life from which hope had long since fled. turn into deep and spreading sores, de. stroying the flesh until the bones are Leprosy still remains one of the most laid bare." loathsome and awful visitations that can well befall a human being. Of the form Whether or not leprosy, as it exists of the malady to be met with in the to-day, is infectious, is, I believe, some_ Orient, Dr. Einszler, the honorary phy- what of an open question. Certain it sician of our hospital at Jerusalem, is, that of the Moravians who at dif. writes as follows: ferent times to the number of about 25 have ministered to the wants of lepe,ril, "Neither the description of leprosy in connection with leper homes, not given in Leviticus 13, nor the signs there one has contracted the malady. Never. given to the priest for the discernment theless, it needs a most devoted spirit of the disease at all agree WIth the symp. to care for lepers in every stage of toms of leprosy as now existing. The the loathsome disease. Think what it , plague in the skin of the flesh' is not means to spend day after day in contact now 'in sight deeper' than the skin with such woe; to witness the intense surrounding it, nor does the hair on the sufferings and hear the moans of those diseased part turn white. On the con· victims for whom the diseas'l is reach· trary, it remains unchanged in color at ing a vital part ; to breathe the air made first, but after a time it becomes brittle offensive by the eftluvium of leprosy, and falls off, as the skin loses vitality and wash and bandage the sores repeat. and the roots of the hair die. In the edly; to know that the most which can Old Testament the expression repeated- be done is to mitigate the awful suffer· ly occurs, 'a leper white as snow,' ings and for awhile postpone the end, That evidently implied that the skin of happy even in the being able, by Gurjun the person so atRicted appeared remark. and Chaulmoggra oils, to afford some ably white, which, however, is not the temporary relief. And with it all, the stupefying dulness of intellect induce:::' case in leprosy of the present day. by the physical conditions not seldom reached America 10 sisters in Germany' proves a hindrance tothe reception of the and 2 in England '6xpressed their willhigher consolation. So atvarious points ingness to go. the ministering Christian is baffied. As the work of the hospital widened, Though the Moravian 'Church was its noble foundress began to perceive active among lepers in Cape Colony that its steady maintenance would from 1822 to 1867, the present under- greatly tax her ability, and that it was taking dates only from the last of those desirable to provide for its permanent years. Two years prior to this-viz., in continuance. Hence, on January 1st, 1865, the compassion of a German Baron 1881, she made it over altogether to the and Baroness was excited by the miser Mission Board of the Moravian Church. able plight of the lepers whom they ob- The local committee, with Mr. Frutiger, served when on a visit to Jerusalem. a German banker in Jerusalem as treas- On their return home they determined urer, still continued to "have the immeto do what lay in their power toward diate oversight. The prElsent building, the founding of a home for the outcasts. erected on a new site at a cost of about The Baroness von Keffenbrinck-Asche- $20,000, was opened on April 24th, 1887. raden especially interested herself, and The missionary now in charge is the Rev. devoted her energies to the carrying out Carl Schubert, who was installed only of their design, so that she rather than last Easter, having shortly before graduher husband has been regarded as the ated from the Moravian Training School founder of the noble charity. A com- for Missionaries in Germany. Bis exmittee for the more immediate supel·in- cellent predecessor, the Rev. Fritz tendence was formed in Jerusalem, con- Mueller, had served seven years; but sisting of Bishop Gobat, the German the health of his wife had become very consul, the pastor of the Evangelical precarious. German congregation in Jerusalem, and two others. A suitable plot of ground Varying slightly from time to time, was bought outside the Jaffa Gate, and the number of inmates at the close of the Moravian Church furnished the mis- last year was 18-10 males and 8 females, sionaries, the Rev. F. Tappe and wife, 9 Moslems and 9 Christians. Their ages who had previously served for thirteen varied from 19 to 71. One had been a years ill Labrador. The Home was con- patient for 17 years, but most of them secrated on Ascension Day, May 30th, for less than 3 years. 1867. So deep, however, did the Mohammedans' distrust and hate of Chris- It may be asked what are the results tians prove, added to the dislike of any- of all this Christian effort, aside from the thing that resembled restraint and the alleviation of physical suffering and deprivation of the old privilege of beg- want? ging, that not one leper would at first avail himself of its advantages. But Besides making use of opportunities gradually prejudices were overcome, so that present themselves in private conthat by the end of the first year there versation, the missionary conducts rewere 12 patients. In due time two ligious services daily in the chapel of nurses from Germany came to the as- the hospital, and twice a week an Ara· sistance of the manager and his wife, bic catechist, Daughan by name, renders who have besides the help of a man-ser- valuable assistance. And their efforts vant. But there have very naturally have not been in vain. been times of great perplexity. In 1887, for instance, the staff of nurses com- The Rev. Dr. Rondthaler, of Salem, pletely broke down. A call for volun- North Carolina, who visited the hospital teers was issued by the Mission Board several times during a stay in Jerusalem of the Moravian Church, and before it two years ago, said that two thinglil im- pressed him greatly : 1. That the patients of the house are very grateful and as cheerful as possible under the circumstances. 2. That many of them have a hope shown us hitherto. We have found & home in your benevolent hospital, in and an expectation beyond this life, so which we are well cared for.
saddened and darkened for them. Of a You already know what v.e have to go through. God the Highest has visited farewell service which he conducted he us with t.his painful disease. The bur- den which He has thus laid upon us is writes: "How they listened as I read great and heavy, and at times scarcely to be borne. Sometimes we toss about 1 John 1, and went on to tell in simplest on onr beds with inexpressible aches and pains such as human understanding language of the love and sympathy of can scarcely comprehend. But we are comforted, and bear our misery with the Saviour, and how it is expressed in patience, for our kind reception into your hospital has shown us that we are the kindness of His people to them. not forsaken by God the Highest. Here you not only care for us, but have sent Some are still Mohammedans; but.these us such dear house-parents, who do in- deed thoroughly take a parent's place children of Ishmael shared in the audio toward us, and day by day point us to Him who said: "Come unto Me, all ye ble 'Yes, Yes,' which often showed that that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." That affords us they understood." comfort and confidence in the hope that the dear Saviour will once grant us rest The Rev. S. J. Blum, of Philadelphia after this pitiful life, for we also shall have a place in His kingdom. Our who visited the hospital last year, was hearts, honored friends, are full of joy and delight that God still loves us very much struck with the absence of though the world hates and despises us. Yes, we are glad that when our all cries for " bakshish" on the part of Saviour was on earth He always pitied and healed the sick. Those who thought the inmates of the home whom he met they had no need of a physician kept away from Him_ We know, indeed, in the garden of the institution and in that we are sinners, and, therefore, we need a Saviour who will make us free their rooms. He regarded it as a very from sin, and that Saviour is Jesus.
marked evidence of the change in char- And now we beg you to intercede for us that God will grant us grace and paacter ths.t hs.d come over them, for else- tience in our sufferings as long as we continue in this world, and above alJ. where lepers were most importnnate. that He will give us everlasting life. Do help us. Pray fervently that we Had I time I might adduce a number may not perish in our great sufferings.
of happy death-beds that have cheered With heartfelt greetings ft·om all, SALIER. the missionaries during their years of labor. Last year, for example, a young man of twenty, named Beschara, was released from his life of sufferings, re- peating the twenty-third Psalm as the farewell confession of his faith. And others like him have died in confident expectation of that life where leprosy will be unknown.
True, here as elsewhere, there have been some keen disappointments for the Christian workers in oharge. Yet on the whole they have felt themselves re- paid for their self-sacrifice. .
The following letter of thanks, com- posed by Salieh, one of the patients at the tim e of the consecration of the pres- ent building, and signed by all his com- panions, is s.n evidence that some of the poor unfortunates deeply appreciate what is done for them in the name of Christ: DEAR FRIENDS: We who have to bear Then follow the names of all the pain our bodies the wounds, and pains, tients. and whatsoever troubles this leprosy brings ~i/;h it, send you our heartfelt Thus charity that never faileth, by thanks for all the kindness. you have the grace of God implants in the hearts of these benighted outcasts a deep calm and a mo~t Christian resignation, pre. lepers, if the judgment of the medical paring them for the day of heavenly officer of the principal one of these in- health. firmaries is to be relied on. It is fair to emphasize that both these are esti· mates. No census has been taken, nor Leprosy in a. South Amerioan State, probably could be taken owing to the There is ever a melancholy interest in secrecy observed by the victims of the the subject which Dr. Taylor treats in disease and their friends, though there his article on the ., Leper Hospital at seems to be much less dread of the dis- Jerusalem ;" but the time has come for ease here among the popUlation in gen· something more that a morbid sympathy eral than in any other land of which we with lepers. The impression that lep know. The most notable thing about rosy is an exceptional and limited form the consul's report is that regarding the of human misery has perhaps caused the climatic effect on the disease of a local- modern scientist and humanitarian to ity some 1400 feet above the sea with a neglect such investigation into it as they temperature of about 82t0 in the district are accustomed to make into the more of Tocaima, about three days' journey widespread forms of human ill. But from Bogota, where there ~8 a leper asy·, the time has come for special inquiry lum at a place called Agua de Dios. It into unusual, and, as is supposed, infre. was discovered a hundred years ago that quent maladies. Pasteur, for instance, this climate arrested the progress of the is doing this for the malady arising from disease, so that lepers who remained rabies. We learn that there is a com- here rarely if ever died of leprosy, but of mission of specialists appointed for some other cause. There are sulphur England and India to inquire scientifi· springs in the locality, but the lepers cally into leprosy. But that is not broad do not use them. Other people resort enough. It looks as if such a commis- there, and quite a population has grown sion ought to be international. Certain- up about the lazaretto, and the people ly facts which may be said to have been mingle freely and without let with the recently brought to public notice, if lepers. The lepers do not now consti- indeed that is not a rhetorical state- tute more than one third of the resident ment of the extent to which they are population. The healthy people of the yet made known, about the United States locality intermarry with the lepers. The of Colombia, in relation to the preva- marriage does not result unfavorably to lence of leprosy, would suggest that a the healthy party to it; but the children great deal of important knowledge might born in this wedlock generally develop be gathered in that quarter. the disease in a few years, even little The British Consul at Bogota is author. children of four and five years being ity for most startling statements as to victims of it. On the other hand, the the extent and spread of leprosy in that case is given of a leper who bad been State. It appears to have been slowly nearly forty years in this locality who spreading for about two hundred and had passed through several stages of fHty years in that region, though in the the disease, but for the last eighteen last twenty years it cannot be said to years had had no pain or inconvenience have extended slowly, but very rapidly. from it. The mortality of the lepers, A medical review is published in Bogota, however, is far above the average of the the editor of which is recognized as a other people living there. They usually well·known physician, and he makes die of dysentery, fevers, and pulmonary the statement that of the one million complaints, The astounding thing ahout population of Santander and Boyaca, all this is the lack of restraint on the one tenth-which would be a hundred population with a view to limiting it.
thousand-are lepers. The lazarettos of If, >as the Consul says, the people believe ~l;lese districts contain thirty thousand it is both contagious and hereditary, and if from the introduction of a single case scared, haunted, held fast, the African's into Antioquia thirty years ago there can life begins and ends in fear. The chill be now counted eight hundred, what- of fear strikes it at birth and leaves it ever are the authoritiE's about that they only at death. Want, pale daughter of do not set up some kind of hygienic murder, aids to enlarge the depopulated regulations of it? If they are not finan· areas ; the knife of the cannibal threatcially able to isolate the lepers, they can ens them all-unhappy knife, the last have help from the outside world on the weapon of African atrocities! . . • simple ground of ordinary humanity, Sisters of America, shall your souls and and that not of the picture pocket-hand- ours keep silent? In the presence of kerchief sort either. It is not a case so this despair shall we look on with inmuch of sympathy as of decent humani- difference? Have our hearts nothing to tarianism of the common-sense order. ask, our energies nothing to do at a mo- We are near enough neighbors to Co- ment when great work should begin? .. lombia to take a lesson or two from her All Europe is stirred. . .. The past notebook on the subject of national of America gives assurance that it will carelessness on this matter of disease not be distanced by Europe in this great importations and inoculation, and near humanitarian movement. • .' Amerienough, too, to respond to a missionary ca, who sends her missionaries to equacall for aid in carrying the load of a torial lands, will not be indifferent to smitten population in districts where the efforts of the Old WorId, the lands one in ten of the people are suffering of their ancestors, whose conscience is the worst of human maladies. now aroused and whose valor is united for the suppression of the slave trade in J. T. G. Africa.
"An Appeal to the Women of "Sisters of America, your sisters in America." Europe rely on your i.lelp. Christian women of America, the hope of the dis- THE COUNTESS OF GASPARIN. tressed in Africa is in you."
'Ne have received the" appeal" sent The Men Who Ma~e Islam, out by the Countess of Gasparin to the women of America, on the subject of Whoever stops with the life of Muham- African slavery, in connection with the mad and the Quran will not come into a Brussels Treaty; but our space forbids knowledge of Islam, for the Quran alone using it all. We make from it the fol is to no Moslem the sole rule of life; lowing selections, translated perhaps, a and though the Sunni sect may spit little freely : upon the grave of the Khalifs Abu Bekr and Omar, yet without these men Islam "American sisters! Slavery is not would not have survived the death of dead. Nor have its abominations oeased Muhammad. To know Islam one must to dishonor the earth, nor its murders know the immediate successors of Muto stain it with blood. Extinct, is it? No! a thousand times No ! . .. Daugh- hammad-each at once king and pope ters of the continent of light, give it your pity." (Here follow descriptions – who carved out of the broken pieces of the horrors of the slave caravan.) of empire which Muhammad left strewn over Arabia, a strong State, and out of "Slaves of the Arab brigands, the his most casual utterance a canon for African people, small and great, are the the consciences of millions yet unborn. slaves of fear; the slaves of ferocious More splendid illustrations of bold, hatred, man against man, tribe against prompt decision in court or camp, one tribe. Slaves of bestiality, of falsehood, will look far afield to find than are reand of wicked spirit.s led about by storms corded of the four great khalifs, .the and hid in the forests. Slaves of the only" successors" of Muhammad. The devil, the monarch of the dark continent, very peril '-_ the first hour after Mu- that Muhammad could not die. When hammad's death only afforded such men the rumor spread that the great man opportunity to snatch triumph from was no more, the wildest excitement wild and hopeless disorder and over- swept the town, and the crowd that hanging ruin. gathered at the mosque was dazed as with delirium. c. Among them Omar The biographies of Muhammad are arose, and in a wild and excited strain past count. There are as rich resources declaimed that the prophet was not for the reproduction of every detail of dead, but in a trance, from which he his life as of any man that ever inhabit- would soon arise and root out the hypoed the earth. But for what followed crites from the land." Abu Bekr, who Muhammad ?-for knowledge of the men had been for an hour away from the who carved Islam out of the material prophet on a visit to his sick mother, which Muhammad left to them we have came hurrying back to the mosque; to resort to much painful picking in crossing the court he had stopped to dust-bins and out-of-the- way annals. kiss the prophet's face: "Sweet wert Few men are furnished for excursio"ns thou in life," he said, .c and sweet thou of this sort_ The learning, the literary art in death." Finding Omar still qualities, as well as the moral qualities haranguing the people when he reached for original researches of this kind are the mosque, he put him aside with the rare. It is with a sense of obligation memorable words: .. Whoso worshippeth which the literary and religious world Mahomet, let him know that Mahomet is should acknowledge, that we turned dead; but whoso worshippeth God, let him into and have come out of, Sir William know that God liveth and dieth not. " Omar Muir's latest studies into the fragments was speechless .. My limbs trembled, of scattered Arabian lore, which he andIknewoia certaintythatMuhammad prosecuted to furnish to the world a was dead," he would Ray in after years. portraiture of the great khalifs (Sir William persists in the old Romanizing The citizens of Medina had instantly .. caliph") of Islam; or, rather, to be assembled to select a successor to Mumore exact, to give us a noble volume of hammad, and the report of their gather. some six hundred pages, entitled ., The ing was made known at the mosque. It was a critical moment. The mantle of Caliphate :1ts Rise, Decline, and Fall. "* the prophet must fall on one and one only. The sovereigntyoflslam demand- One will search far for more graphic, ed an undivided khalifate. The die bold, and comprehensive historical must be cast and must be cast at once. grouping than is instanced in the first The men of Medina demanded that he few paragraphs describing the death of should be of themselves, for their good Muhammad, and the selection on the swords had saved Islam. spot of his immediate successor. •• Every word wnich ye men of Medina Muhammad died a little after midday have uttered in your own praise is true," in the midsummer of 632 A.D. It is said Abu Bekr, .c and more than true; doubtful if the devoted followers of the but in noble birth and influence th!l prophet had allowed themselves to con- Coraish are paramount, and to none but template the event of his death; and, them will Alabia yield obedience." like Napoleon, he seems never to have " Then," said the men of Medina, .. let thought of what would become of his there be one chief among you, and one faith or his kingdom when it should from among us." .. Away with you," fall into o~her hands. Some of his more said Omar; "two cannot stand todevoted adherents seem to have dreamed gether." The heat of the altercation was great when Abu Bekr arose. .. Ye * .. The Caliphate: its Rise, Decline, and FaIl.,. see these two," said he, pointing to Omar and Abu Obeida, .. choose ye now From Original Sources, by Sir William Muir, K.C.S.I., LL.D., D:C.L. The Religious Tract Society, London. Fleming H. ReveIJ Co., New York and Chicago, sole agents. which of them ye will, and flalute him this book of Mr. Muir's wholesome if as your chief." .. Nay," answered not palatable reading. -J. T. G. these men both at once, ,. t/Wu hast already, at thl! prophet's bidding, led the The Situation in China. prayers, and art our chief. Stretch forth thine hand." He did so, and they We wrote in the November, 1891, REstruck their hands on his, as is the Arab VIEW of "Some of the Causes of the Discustom, in token of allegiance. The turbanoe in China." We have little need men of Medina did likewise, and the to modify the statements there made. supreme power passed without let or But new factors have come into the hindranoe into the hands of Abu Bekr. problem. The" Eastern Question" has become" The Far Eastern Question." It was to no bed of roses that Abu Europe is "fencing" on the Northern Bekr had been elevated. It took a year border of China from Manchuria to the of hard fighting to reolaim the penin- corner-post of India Eussia and China, sula alone. at Pamir. The European nations are not so busy settling treaty matters with There was nothing effeminate about China as they are in playing a larger ~ha men that made Islam. Sir William game for supremacy in Asia. Hence ':links Khalid. the dashing general who the gunboat masquerade in Chinese '''ands in the foreground of these early waters is all that we seem likely to have :r 11 de days of Islam, an extraordinary just at present, while the several Eurown.rrior. "His conduot on the battle- pean powers are coquetting with China fidds whioh deoided the fate of the Per- instead of bullying her. Great Britain, sian Empire, and of the Byzantine rule who was just now trying to determine in Syria, ranks him a; one of the great- with what sauce to begin to serve Prince est generals of the world." But those Chung, has gone to hold a love-feast were rough men made for war, heedless with him in the Imperial Yemen. The of spilled blood; and Khalid, "the London Daily Telegraph found out that Sword of the Lord," as they surnamed it was manifestly the policy of England him, could wed the widow of one enemy .. to be on the friendliest terms with on the field still sodden with his own China, the 'vast realm of the oentre,' soldiers' blood, and later marry another which by the foroe of dominating cirwidow of Ibn Noweira, whose blood was cumstanoes has beoome our [England's] yet fresh upon the spot where by his natural ally in Asia, the interests of both own order he had been slain. But all empires being menaced by the same this study is not mere ourious delving potential foes;" The Speaker gave vent into antiquarian bone beds. It is by re- to the sentiment that it "is of muoh search such as this that we learn what more importanoe to make use of her blam is, what inherently and essentially limits it as a civilization. The [China1against Russia than to trouble dead hand of the prophet stretched out to be taken by the caliphs of four dynas- ourselves about missionaries . . . who ties, reached still further by the par- have no business to go where they are alyzing hands of the four Imams, and likely to be killed." The Western Daily sterility must reign wherever the soep- Press came to see that bullets and bayotre of the Moslem reaches. There is nets were of doubtful utility, because here no germ of popular institutions. " China may be a valuable ally for Eng- Erery year the politioal ascendenoy of land if Russia should ever overstep the Islam gives increasing evidenoe of being bounds of prudence in furtherance of doomed. There has been no progress, her designs in India." The Globe, the there can be no change. Islam stands- Saturday Review, and other leading still. Innovation is worse than a mis- papers write in the same strain. China take. Canon Taylor and his brood of is as muoh afraid of Russia as she is of second·hand critics of Islam will find anything else, and muoh more so when a.ny internal troubles of her own create she will gain the utmost possible for her an occasion for intermeddling with her own and other missionaries; for, with- affairs. Besides, if she can set these out being over· scrupulous about the European powers watching each other spiritual side of their work, she has long they will be the less troublesome to her ago reckoned the missionary as one of for the immediate present. the great factors in her colonial policy But that is not all the change that as well as in every non-Christian land.
has developed. It seems as if there Gltimately all that Great Britain gains were a division of policy among the by courting in North China will be made Chinese rioters themselves. Hunan has to inure to the advantage of the mis- had but one policy. As late as Sep- sionary. But if she and others should tember a conclave of Hunan leaders was utterly fail to protect the missionaries, held at Woochang. They passed a reso· it is not to be forgotten that the Roman lution to drive out all foreigners from Catholics stayed there two hundred the three provinces, Hunan, Hupeh, and years without any treaty; and Protestant Kiangsi. That may be called the Hunan missionaries may find greater defence programme. But if the information is from the fine diplomacy of Divine Provi- reliable, there is a Chinkiang section dence than from all earthly potentates.
which have a different view. These pro- Jesus Ohrist is not dead, and He will overturn and overturn "till His kingpose to lower the tea duties and favor dom comes."-J. T. G.
foreign trade, to employ foreigners ex.
tensively in the army and navy and cus- -Sad news comes from the Rev. Mr. toms. They would build railroads and Annand, in the New Hebrides. The apportion the land tax justly. Some of death of a child of Rev. Mr. and Mrs. them would employ foreign help in in- Lawrie, of the Scotch Free Mission, so augurating successful rebellion. These seriously affected the mind of Mrs. Laware not anti.Christian, nor anti.foreign, rie as to result in insanity. The wife nor anti-progressive, but are against the of Rev. Mr. Leggatt, of the Victoria present Government. church, hung herself in a fit of tem- porary insanity. A young Englishman We have traversed this mainly to show -Mr. Sawer-who had just married a that a good deal of the case has passed lady who went out to become his wife, beyond the provinco of a missionary re- was killed by bushmen, who sent a bulview. For those,who prize military and let through his heart, and killed and naval defence for missions, the imme. feasted on the bodies of two natives diate results of the political jugglery is who were with him. Mr. Sawer's renot altogether satisfactory. The Wuhu mains were brought to Tangoa by Mr. riots occurred last May, but six months Annand. He had been married but two days, and great sympathy is expressed for his young widow.
went by and nothing was done ; Wusueh -The Ohurch M"Ulsionary lntelligencer saw two wretches punished who proba. bestows high praise on the" Cycloptedia bly were not near the place at the time; of Missions," published by Funk & but no dignitary was degraded. The VIagnalls. It says: " This is far and Ichang riots occurred right under the away the most important work on misnose of the imperial representatives of sions yet published. . .. The amount the port, and the rioters were them- of information packed into the closely selves government troops. The brigadier·general stood by and saw the Oatho- printed 2700 pages is enormous ; and lie nuns driven to a horrible death, 'and one is staggered to think of the labor did not turn a hand to pre.ent the out- that must have been involved in its rage. Dr. Greig was tert'ibly maltreated production. It is worthy of AmeriIJa. in Shantung by officials and soldiers. In England we have nothing at all like We have no great grief over the diplo- it." It remarks on what is not in it, matic situation. If Great Britain be- but adds: .. We are afraid these criticomes an ally of China, sooner or later cisms will detract somewhat from our praise of the work; but W(l do praise it, nevertheless, most warmly." Men will feel, it says. that they can no more dis- pense with it than they can with Smith' 8 ,. Dictionary of the Bible."
1892.J EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
IlI.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
What is the Next Step? cree, we know, t,ook less than ten months to run from the palace at There has been during the past ten Shushan to the limits of the Persian years a widespread echoing of the cru- Empire. Here is a world about twentysade cry: "Let us in our generation five thousand miles in circumference, carry the Gospel around the world!" inhabited by about one thousand mill- It has been discussed in pulpit and ions of people, yet unreached with the press, at home and on the foreign field. Gospel. Christianity holds the strategic Animated and inspired by this motto, centres. Even Africa is girdled and the missionaries in far-off lands have penetrated by missionary bands ; Asia met to consider what ean be done; is occupied, from Turkey to Japan; have held great conventions like that South America is imperfectly supplied at Shanghai last year; have issued their with Christian missionaries, but two of loud calls for" a thousand more work- the greatest of Christian nations occupy ers" at once to enter the field, etc. The the territory north of the Gulf of Mexi- China Inland Mission, Church Mission- co; we have a band of six thousand ary Society, London Missionary Society, missionaries, of six: times as many na- English Baptist Society, etc., have all tive evangelists and teachers scattered appealed for more men and women and over the pagan and heathen world. In money, with a view to the immediate the Protestant churches of Christenoccupation of the fields as yet unsup- dom, exclusive of the Greek and Latin plied, and the vastly increased occu- communions, and Oriental churches, we pancyof fields in which at present there have over forty millions of professed is an insufficiency of laborers. What is disciples who have thousands of millions the next step? of dollars at their command. All the appliances of the nineteenth century are I think we need first of all to realize in their hands, for they represent the that the evangelization of the world in this intelligence, enterprise, and enlightened generation is not a mere wild dream, but force of the world. Who can tell how may be made a fact if the Church of rapidly the Gospel message might be God will have it so, and use the means diffused over the habitable globe if all God has given her. Great things may this available material could be utilized? be done in a very short time if there be a determination to do them. and a After twenty-~ve years of constant proper energy, promptness, and co- study of this subject, and conference operation in action. When the English and correspondence with hundreds of Government wished to take the census students of missions and missionary of India, February 26th, 1891, it was all workers, I am more and more satisfied done in six hours when the appointed that if the Church would but imitate the time came. Arrangements were so com- laudable .. push" and .. dash" of the plete that at the set hour, from aU quar- men of this generation, the children of ters, the agents of the Government light would flood the world with the moved forward within their limited ter- Gospel in as little time as Ahasuerus ritory, and the proper inquiries were disperscd his royal decree from the made and answered and the records BosphoruR to the Indus. Will anyone made. tell us why not?
We have often called attention to the .. Where the word of a King is, thelre energy and celerity with which, in the is power." .. And the King's busines!! days of Ahasuerus, three times the en- requireth haste." These two texts tire empire, that reached from the ought to be our motto and our warrant Golden Horn to the Ganges, was reached for doing this work now and for the with a royal decree; alld the third de- whole world. Back of the Kiug's word lies the authority and the assurance of among people of all classes and denomi- Divine co-operation; the very fact of its being the King's business is the all-suill- nations: cient warrant for haste. Nineteen centuries have sped by, and the King's DEAR BRETHREN : "Elect according to business remains undone; the power the foreknowledge of God the Father, back of the King's word has never yet through sanctification of the Spirit, been fairly tested and proven. Oh, that unto obedience and sprinkling of the the children of God in our generation blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you would at least honestly undertake to see and peace be multiplied." that the Gospel is borne to " every creature" in "all nations" before the gen- Not being" ashamed of the Gospel of eration passes to the great account that Christ," when brought into comparison fix.es eternal destiny! with all the heathen religions of the world, and believing that Gospel to be To my mind, one step that can be the "power of God unto salvation to taken at once toward this world-wide everyone that believeth," we desire to evangelization is to gather for prayerfUl call your attention again to the last conference, at an early date, the leaders commandment of our risen and ascendof modern missions. Perhaps the first ed Lord; " All power is given unto Me conference might be comparatively a in heaven and in earth. Go ye, thereprivate one, in the parlor of some de- fore, and teach all nations, baptizing voted servant of Christ. Why not call them in the name of the Father, and of together such men as Dr. A. J. Gordon, the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teach- Dr. C. C. McCabe, Dr. Arthur Mitchell, ing them to observe all things whatso- Dr. Judson Smith, D. L. Moody, Bishop ever I have commanded you; and, 10, I Ninde, Bishop W. R. Nicholson, the am with you always, even unto the end Bishop of Huron, Ontario,J. Hudson of the world. Amen." Taylor, F. B. Meyer, Robert E. Speer, etc., and prayerfully consult as to the In order, therefore, to aid all our wider measures necessary to be insti- churches and Missionary Boards in tuted in order to secure larger results? carrying out this Great Commission, an There are men on both sides of the sea, enterprise has been inaugurated called and women too, who, after a godly sort, the" Cross-bearers' Missionary Reading have been studying this question, upon Circle, .. a course of systematic reading whose minds it has been a burden for and study on the subject of Missions, years, and who have been praying over embracing a period of three years. This it. Some of them we have mentioned movement has been before the churches because we know they are alive with in- about a year, and has received the en telligent zeal for a world's evangeliza- dorsement of many leading men in tion. We yearn to see some such meet- many lands. ing called, where at least united prayer may be offered for the speedy inaugura- The Board of Directors, therefore, tion of that new effort-shall we not say make the following appeal to faithful new era ?-of world·wide missions. Christians in all lands : The Crossbearers' Missionary Read- liirst. For one hundred thousand read- 109 Circle is a growing institution, and ers and students in the" Crossbearers' has undoubtedly a future of usefulness. Missionary Reading Circle," before the end of the nineteenth century. The following is an appeal recently sent out by them "To Faithful Chris- Second. For contributions from those tians in all Lands," with a view to who love the cause of Missions, for the ,"wakening greater interest in Ilissions purpose of establishing this Missionary Reading Circle upon a firm financial basis.
Third. For the hearty co operation of the Christian Ministry in this work throughout the world.
Fourth. To the American and English religious press for the publication of this appeal.
Fifth. That all who desire information concerning the" Crossbearers' MiHsion- ary Reading Circle" should address Pro- fessor Charles R. Foster, A.M., Fayette, Mo., U. S. A.
NOTlll.-The course()£ reading for this year is as follows : 1. "Life of William Carey," seventy-five cents; 2. ,. The Comin~ Kingdom," Jtev. W, W, Wld<lworth, $1 ; 3. .. Life of James Hanning. in London for preparation; meeting in ton, Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Af. their rooms for apportionments; cor· rica," Re". E. C. Dawson, M.A., $1; 4. respondenc,e with a few eminent socie- ,. The Great Value and Success of For· ties abroad for work among the actual eign Missions," Rev. John Liggins, heathen.
seventy.five cents; 5. The MISSIONARY The work of divisJon should be ac- complished with urgent prayer and dis- REVIEW, Funk & Wagnalls, per year, patch. I deem it the first and best $1.50 ; 6. Initiation fee, per year, fifty thing to do and be done in Christ's cents. Kingdom. We append a portion of a letter This matter requires no ponderous recently received from the originator of organization, but plain and lucid statethe readulg.circle idea as applied to mis. ments, loving, intelligent minds and sionary literature: hearts. BAREILLY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, BAREILLY, N. W. P., INDIA, Provision were easily made to wel- Aug. 24, 1891. come all workers in the unoccupied dis- DEAR BROTHER: I have received your C. M. R. C. handbook, and am rejoiced tricts of great areas; thus there would beyond measure that your project has taken such good shape. Something be ample room for all existing and aris· like this has been a dream of my heart for years. You have fully taken it up, ing workers, and the very fact of the and it remains for you to fully demon· strate its practicability. I pray that division and nominal assignment being God may help you; for I think there is great power in the idea. It will in· made, and being known widely in all augurate a new erafor missions.. the evangelical Christian communities, You will require tact and push to make a first-class success of it. Nov- would probably increase and arouse to elty may wear off. Pastors may be in. different. Even missionary secretaries effective endeavor for realization. may not see much in it; but you must push right on till the ball is rolling Our Duty in Danger. welL God will help you. Interetlt will grow. Leading men will see and be- The following is a letter sent out by come convinced. J. Hudson Taylor, to the missionaries I hope your movement may send a deputation to the next annual session of the China Inland Mission, in regard of the International Missionary Union, and urge this matter on them. That is to the recent troubles in China: a place in which to .. strike the centre." You will most of you have heard of May I ask the prayers of your Circle the time of excitement through which for the great work going on in this mis· many stations in the Yang.tse valley sion in North India. We are baptizing have passed. -old and young-more than a thousand souls a month. It is hoped that the danger is now passing away, though some fear that Yours, In His Name, one of the secret societies may yet cause T. J. ScoTT. further trouble. The present time seems, therefore, opportune for consid. An Organized Effort. ering the course that we as missionaries should adopt in times of excitement and The subject of" evangelizing the world danger, and several have said that they thought it would be helpful if I gave in this generation" is more and more be- you my thoughts on the subject.
ginning to occupy the minds of men. First, then, let me remind you of the importance in this day of the command This is shown by the following sugges· not to speak evil of dignities, but, on the contrary, to pray for those in autions from Mr. Robert Arthington, of thority. The rulers of this land have often a difficult path : it is not easy for Leeds: them to take our part against their own To partition the world for evangelistic people, and we do well to ~ray that they purposes would seem quite easy and may have courage and WIsdom to act withQut m~terial expense: by interviews firmly and justly; such prayers should be public as well as private. Much may depend on their finding that Christianity promotes loyalty to tl;u~ powers that be, and the giving of honor that," Sufficient is His arm alone and to those to whom it is due. our defence is sure."
Then we do well to recognize that we What a loss it would be if any of them are not here as representatives of West- should t.hink that we relied more upon ern Powers, and that our duties do not a gunboat or a band of soldiers than correspond with theirs. We are here upon the living God! Years of teach- as witnesses and representatives of the ing would not impress them as our con- Lord Jesus Christ. •• As my Father hath duct at such times may do. Moreover, sent Me, even so send I you." Once their sympathy will be drawn out for us disciples mistakenly would have called when they see us willing to suffer for down fire from heaven to avenge the the Gospel, as they so often have to do_ Master Himself; but He rebuked them A time of danger is a grand opportunity and said: " Ye know Dot what manner of being an object-lesson to the native of spirit ye are of, for the Son of man is Ohristians.
not come to destroy men's lives, but to III. The moral effect of our action save them." And again, when the sol_ upon the heathen will, to a considerable diers would arrest our Lord, one of His extent, be the same as upon the con- disciples drew his sword in His defence, verts. A calm and confident demeanor but our Saviour said: ., Put up again will go far to disarm suspicion. The thy sword into his place; for all they people will not be slow to observe t.hat that take the sword shall perish with we are not afraid, and to conclude that the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot we have no reason to be. But if we flee, now pray to my Father, and He shall they are sure to conclude that we are presently give me more than twelve guilty of some of the charges brought legions of angels?" We may safely against us, and will be emboldened to conclude that our use of any weapon of attack and loot or destroy our premises.
defence, whereby another might be in- Even a dog will run after you if you run jured, would misrepresent our Master, away from him!
whose own distinct command to His _ Some of the older members of our disciples was: "Resist not evil, but mission have passed through more seri- whosoever shall smite thee on thy right ous times of excitement than the pres- cheek, turn to him the other also." ent. We have never at snch times re- If, then, it would not be consistent tired from a station; and though hold- for us to use weapons for our own de· ing the fort, has not always secured ns fence, it may be asked, Should we not against a riot, it has often done so, and leave our stations for such places as are, has proved abundantly fruitful in or can be, defended by the officers of strengthening the faith of our native our respective governments? It seems converts.
to me that there are several important An objection may arise in some minds reasons against taking this course, un- that we are directed, if persecuted in less absolutely compelled to do so. one city, to flee to another; to which I. We are in our stations at God's we would reply that we are not told to command, and as His ambassadors, and flee through fear of possible persecution.
therefore have both promise of, and If the Lord suffers us to be driven away, claim to, His protection. We have as St. Paul so frequently was, the re- many of us gone to places far removed sponsibility will then rest with Him; from foreign protection on this very and He will surely work out His own ground. Our risen Saviour has told us purposes through the trial. But let us that all power has been committed unto not retire ourselves from fear of loss or Him; and that, because this is so, we danger; and so doing perhaps leave our are to go everywhere, reckoning His un- Master's sheep just when they most need failing presence better defence than that the shepherd's presence and care.
which the arm of flesh can provide. We conclude, then, that the right We have a rIIre opportunity in times of course, and the best policy alike, is to danger of proving His promises for our- remain at our posts, whenever this is selves, and before our converts. possible. We may well rejoice that it is II. We are continually encouraging so, and that duty does not require the our converts to brave persecution and suspension of our work, for life is short, to snfferloss for Christ's sake, and they and daily the people are dying without are very apt to think that it is easy for God.
us to speak in this way, seeing that, as To us all is given the dignity of be- far as they can tell, we are well-to.do ing ambassadors for the King of kings; and exposed to no danger or loss. When and all His power is at all times behind then we are in danger they will mark us. We may therefore boldly say, very closely our conduct, and judge for "The Lord is on my side; I will not thexnselvEls how far we really beliElve fear. What can man do unto me I"
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Ohina, Eto. is destroyed, and hundreds of them are fugitives from mob violence. It is too CHARACTER OF THE CHINESE CONVERTS. often forgotten that persecution is the normal condition of the Chinese con- One of the most marked signs of the verts to Christianity. We hear of these times is the altered tone of the secular persecutions only whl'n they touch the press toward missions. A noteworthy foreign missionaries; of the daily and illustration is the championship of the sporadic outbreaks against the native modern mission by the London Times. Christians we hear nothing, for it only The great "Thunderer," eminently concerns the Chinese themselves. To since the death of Bishop HRnnington, support the hatred and social ostracism, has lost no prominent opportunity to with which, as the writer admits, the say a strong word for missions and their converts are regarded, there must be results in Africa and Asia. Its leader genuine, energetic conviction. The'tens some while since. on the" unique and of thousands of converts scattered all extraordinary interest" of the recent over China, with their numbers daily India census, showing the strength and increasing, could not, indeed, be mainculture of the native Christian com- tained for a week from the missionary munity in India. is a masterly presenta. funds sent from abroad, even if these tion of some of the salient points of wer€! devoted to no other purpose. The that new factor in Christian statistical fact appears to be that these converts economy, stout enough in its pleading contribute liberally, and in some cases to have been delivered at an Exeter Hall wholly mo.inta,in their own native pas· missionary anniversary. It is with tors and places of worship." great pleasure that we turn to its editorial rejoinder to a correspondent in THE CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT IN NORTH CHINA. its columns, who signs himself ,. A Chinese," who raises the question whether One cannot but ask whether the the great Christian governments will churches in Christendom are awake to find it worth their while to defend the the fact that "this Chinese Empire may missionaries in China, when they come see a great uprising one day, and that to know that their converts are from the in the near future. for which these lower orders of society only, and arc led churches are in nowise prepared. We to em brace the Christian relIgion from have seen the mighty movements in the low motive of pecuniary compensa- Indio., the great turning to the Lord in tion for their allegiance. The Times Ongole, and the equally sweeping reanswers with the following knock-down vival in the lYlethodist missions of sort of logic: "If the Christian converts North India, and we have stood bewilare the needy and the viciolls, and iftheir dered before' them. The truth is, as motives are wholly those of gain, why Bishop Thoburn says, the people must should it be necessary to persecute them learn to familiarize themselves with the so cruelly, in order to drive them from idea that God intends to save the world; a faith which means nothing but a lit- and if there is a shred of truth in that tle money to them. The descriptions statement, we must prepare our minds lately published in the East of the per- for the contemplation of victories on a secutions of the little Christian com- scale far transcending the little work of munities in Szechuan and Yunnan, dur- to day. "If this world," he says, "is ing the past two years, are heart-rend- to be saved, there must come a time ing. Men, women, and children are when the heathen shall be gathered in murdered by Bcores, their little property by the hundred thousand-by the million." We have somehow at last got a about five hundred inquirers in his field.
glint that this sort of thing may occur which did not cover IDore than about in India; bnt as to China, we have sup one fourth their mission territory. This posed we must wait for generations yet is a fact that Dr. Nevius, with his great before this mighty mass of deliberative cautiousness, says he has not made pub- people can be expected to move, save in lic lest he might seem to be inflating the slow and tedious way with which the prospects. Dr. Nevius is confident we have already grown familiar. that the number of applicants for bap- It seems as if God were about rebuk- tism is understated at fifteen hundred.
ing that sort of timid faith, or, perhaps, But our eye is not merely on that fif- shaming it into bolder belief. Bishop teen hundred. They will not be bap- Goodsell, of the Methodist Episcopal tized without another fifteen hundred Church, just having returned from an standing behind them, waiting their official visit to the missions in China, turn. Any such facts as these mean says boldly that the MethodiGt brethren a movement and mean a movement there have baptized hundreds, and might in which God is. Dr. Nevius speaks have baptized thousands, as the breth- cautiously; and so we may pause to ren have done in India, only that they ask if the present disturbed state of thought it wiser to keep them longer the country, and especially of the North under instruction before baptism, of China, where we read of sanguinary Whether they are pursuing the batter battles just now, in which opposition to course may be questioned; each mis- all foreigners and their religion is one sion must be the judge of its own duty, of the points of contention, will serious- The fact remains that here'is the indica- ly arrest this movement and blot half tion of what may come any day in this of these inquirers off the evangelist's great empire. The English Baptists of "little book." PersonalIy we do not North China are meeting with like en- expect any such results. The Chinese couragement. Applicants al'e standing have known all along that there was at their doors begging for baptillm. The nothing in the foreign treaties of worth Presbyterians in Shantung face a similar to them. They have not been unfaruil- problem. They are going cautiously, iar with persecution, They can furnish and yet the pressure is on t~em. Last a martyr roli,. challenging comparison year's raport showed that they had with other parts of the mission field.
yielded so far as to admit some five hun- We know those who have illustrated dred converts to baptism. But that did this already; and the Chinese Chris- not show the wonderful work of the tians are not given to" backsliding."
Lord, for that was the report for the They have not had easy conditions on current year; and just after that, most which to make their trial trip. It has of the missionaries started out on mis- nowhere put them on a bed of roses to sionary tours, during which large num- accept the Christian faith.
bers were baptized, so the whole num- But it is not that we are concerned ber baptized in twelve months WdS over about just now. Here is the intimation one thousand. Besides these, there -more than that, the prophecy-of were not less than fifteen hundred more what God may do in pouring out His on the rolls of the missionaries as in- Spirit on China. There is already a quirers, or candidates for baptism, many mighty turning to the Lord; and it has of whom would have been baptized had occurred without a great leader, But not the brethren extended their term of let some Chinese Luther appear; let probation quite recently. This is not some Mongolian Wesley send out a all; the eminent missionary, Dr. Nevius, trumpet call; let some mighty leader tells us that he reoently reoeived from a arise like those with which the history native evangelist a "little book" con- of God's great doings has familiarized taining the names and residences of us elsewhere, and tbill revivAl in the North may sweep like the Tartar hordes in a Christian home; with the issues down on the rest of China. The Chi. of the press in every province, ex.
nese characteristics cannot be pleaded cepting not even Hunan, and every.
as against this, for this people is the where more or less knowledge of the mightiest homogeneous mass of human. Christian faith-in the fllce of all this, ity on t.ho globe, and they are not unac· it is not only the triumph of faith, customed at times to being swayed en but the dictate of reason, that in China bloc by great impulses. we should "attempt great things for It may be a chimera of the imagina· God, and expect great things of God. "
tion that a European writer suggests that a Chinese general may arise, who, THE MISSIONARY IN CHINA.
flushed with successful revolt against The London Times, in the article we the Manchu dynasty, shall sweep the have already alluded to, in reply to the French into the sea at Tonquin, break criticisms of .. A Chinese" in its col.
Russia in Asia in two, or lead a half· umns, says the writer is evidently in disciplined horde into Burma and In. ignorance of what the missionaries have dill. ; but we are, in China, dealing with done for China, and advises him to con~ a people whose history records great re· suit a catalogne of their pUblications in ligious movements. The people that Shanghai and elsewhere, which, the edi~ could furnish a leader competent to tor says, will show him that, ,. whatever overthrow Confucianism after it had knowledge of any of the sciences, arts, been established in the land for six cen· or history of the West his countrymen turies, burn its sacred books, put to possess, they owe wholly to missiona.
death all who were supposed to have ries." Then occurs the most emphatic any special knowledge of it, and tram. statement, which we choose to italicize, pie it under foot for two whole centu· that" the only real interpreter oj the thaught ries ; the people that could import a and progress of the West to the millions of foreign religion like Buddhism, and in China is the mi.~sionary; and when we one year take to its bosom three thou. remember that European knowledge of sand of its priests to teach the " doc· China is derived almost wholly from the trine;" the peopl<l who could raise a works of missionaries, we may fairly Peter the Hermit like 'rai Ping Hung, say that these men stand as interpreters to rally a crude, motley mass of half.in. between the East and the West." Refer.
formed people, who, baptizing each ring to the charitable work of missiona- other in the name of the Trinity, should ries, the editor says China "had no rush forward in a " Christian" insurrec· efficient hospitals or medical attendance tion with a religious.enthusiasm that in. until the missionaries established them; creased their bravery in battle, and and, in truth, she has no c:'ther now; trained them to self.denying discipline and when her great men, such as Li till they gave the Tartar dynasty the Hung Chang and Prince Chung, are in rudest shock it has as yet experienced- serious danger, they have to go to the such a people must not be counted as despised missionary doctor for that effi.
unsusceptible of great religious impres. cient aid which no Chinaman can give sions and wide.reaching display of re· them."
ligious energy. The Chinese nation may That is not the testimony of a mis· yet take up the religion of the Bible, and sionary magazine, it is the utterance of sweep half of Asia with it. In the face a seclllar journal whose judgments are of the seed that has been sown by mis. supposed to be impartial and weighty.
sionaries and native teachers, and iso· We could fill pages with similar testi.
lated Christians, who are scattered along mony from missionary sources. Rev.
the entire coast, till, journeying its Timothy Richard, in the Chinese Re· length, a traveller may sleep every night corder, for November, makes many sim. ilar assertions. His illustrations are THE GREAT IMPORTANCE OF CHINA. much of the same sort, such as that the scientific, industrial, political, and It seems as if we would never have historical books, as well as those on mathematics now in use in China, are done vying with each other in our attranslations made by the missionaries ; and the reverse is true; most of the tempts to show how important a factor translations of Chinese literature into Western languages has been done by China is in the work of this world's mISSIonaries. The mines, steamboats, and railways of China were projected evangelization. We strain after imagery by men trained in the mission schools. The !lducational mission to America and comparisons that shall enable us to was led by a Chinese Christian. The medical schools and high schools in the make real to ourselves what this great interior, in which modern education is had, are illmost wholly those established empire is. From a great collection of by missionaries, and these missionaries are the advocates of reform which will, pamphlets before us, kindly furnished Mr. Richards says, bring an annual in- Come of $1,000,000,000 to China. U8 by the principal societies for this We are very strongly tempted, while study, we select two illustrations. Here writing of this theme, to quote wholesale from a little tract, " The Missionary In- is the last Annual Report of the Amerivasion of China," of the Congregational Honse, by Dr. Henry D. Porter, can Baptist Union, "hich puts the case of North China, other illustrations in point. He says the missionary be- thus: comes the necessary creator of a new secular literature. The first missio!lary "In the past. other Asiatic nations from America gave the Chinese a history have attracted the attention of the civilof the United States and a version of ized world in a greater degree than the Bible. Weber's" Universal His- China, owing to special and temporary tory" was translated by a missionary. causes; but as the whole of the East is Mr. J. Freyer has prepared fifty or sixty becoming better known, and the real standard text·books on various subjects character of its various peoples more of Western science. Dr. Martin's work correctly understood, it is acknowledged on physics is the .special source of in- that China dominates the East, and the formation relied on by Chinese officials, conversion of China means the triumph as well as his three great treatises on of Ohristianity in Asia. The reason for international law. Kerr, Osgood, Dud- this lies not onlv in the immense size of ~eon, and others have published valu- the country and the almost inconceivable works on Western medical science. able multitude of the people. in the The natives have some appreciation of strength of their intellectual and moral this sort of thing, for one hundred and character, and in their indefatigable intwenty literary graduates appended their dustry, but also in the fact that they are names to the request that Dr. Happer making a peaceful invasion of all the would establish his college at Canton, other countries of Asia, and by their rather than at some other point of in- superior ability and industry capturing fiuence. The son of a viceroy, who the commercial and industrial activities learned to read through the New Testa- of those countries from the nerveless ment, thumbs a dictionary made by a hands of the natives. The business of millsionary. Siam is almost wholly in the hands of the Chinese. The sllmt! is largely true of the Straits Settlements and adjacent islands, and they are becoming increas- ingly influential every year in Burma, India, and even in Japan. It is saying very little to observe that the evan- gelization of the Chinese is more im- portant than that of any other race. "
Rev. Dr. Judson Smith, in a stirring pamphlet entitled" Our Missionary Op- portunity in China," has the following: ., The Chinese are at once the oldest, the most numerous, the most exclusive,. the least understood people on the face of the earth. The interval between the thoughts, the traditions, the tastes, the aspirations of this people and those which make up our inner life is nearly as great as can well be conceived. Here in the centre of the Oriental world, fac- ing the sea along a coaa~ of above three thousand miles, in a territory, the natu- churches, as to their rites, teaching, ral Beat of empire, which exceeds the and books. Let the Emperor then send whole continent of Europe in extent and forth his royal decree explaining the constitutes one tenth of the habitable teachings and meaning of the missionaglobe, amid natural conditions of cli- ries through all the eighteen provinces, mate and soil which have made inter- and cause this imperial decree to be encourse with the rest of the world need- graved on stones and placed throughout less, and which have sustained a teem- the provinces in every yamen, college, ing population for a pel'iod far outrun- private school, public hall, in every vilning the entire history of the longest lage, market town, and city, and in lived states of ancient or modern times every great ancestral hall. .. Weare -here this nation has dwelt since quite sure we would like to Bee the Abraham went out from Ur of the Chal- throne thus doing a good missionary turn; but the force of the preacher's dees, and here it abides to·day with un- logic is rather irresistible to the Chinese failing numbers and unbroken strength. It il:l the only spectacle of tho kind which history presents or the world has ever seen."
-There is plenty of uneasiness in taxpayer when he says it would be China; but Dr. Legge says that fifty much more economical for thc Govern- years ago one of the common sayings he ment than to continue to pay so much learned in China was this : "However out of the public treasury for destroyed the empire be disordered and convulsed, missionary buildings and other indem- the Changs and the K'ungs have no oc- nity, for which really the people have to casion to be troubled." He says that he pay in the form of taxes. He assumes then understood that the K'ungs were tllat the foreigners cannot be driven the descendants of Confucius entitled away, for" when stopped one step, they " Dukes," and were endowed with ex- have always gone beyond and taken .tensive estates; but it was a consid- two," so they might as well provide for erable time before he came to understand their remaini~g in some more economi- that the Changs were the Popes of Tao- cal way to the country.
ism. The headship of 1'aoism has been -We are, from various sources in in the Chang family since the ~rst cen- China, hearing of the excellence of a tury of our era, with the exception of book published at Shanghai, of which one interruption. The spirit of the first our bright and brainy friend, Rev. Ar- Pope is supposed to have transmigrated thur H. Smith, of P'ang Chuang, Shanfrom one chief to another down to the tung, is the author, entitled, .. Characpresent time. For now, close on to teristics of the Chinese." We had the nine centuries, these popes have had pleasure of reading some advance sheets large landed estates about the Lunghu of the book, and appl'eciate the high Mountains as an endowment. Weare praise it is receiving. Some American all the while thinking of Confucianism publisher should by all means bring out as the religion of the State in China; an edition of it. It is not a passing but we forget that the temples of all the book, but will be among the standard State gods are in the hands of Taoist literature of the world on China and the ministers. Chinese. Whoever knows the author -A native Chinese preacher has made will be ready to believe in advance that a proposal which the Chinese Recorder there cannot be a dull line in the volume.
translates. It is that •• all the ministers -The Presbyterian Mission at Canof the Western nations at Peking unite ton has resolved, if the way shall open in requesting the Emperor of China to for it, to erect a memorial chapel to send one of the most intimate, greatest, Rev. Wellington J. White,. at Sanui, and most faithful officers in person to the and to develop work around It as a cen- Western portions of China, to examine tre ; they will accept gifts from friends fully the Roman Catholic and Protestant toward the memorial, that thUH, Brother White being dead, may yet I!peak, -The Chinese clearly distinguish Bl. All along the coast the missions have read, between the spirituality and been scarcely at all disturbed. All this worth of the Romanist and Protestant may seem a Chinese puzzle, but the Chi. forms of Christianity. Dr. Stuart says nese are always a puzzle to foreigners. no Protestant chapel was disturbed at Iehang, nor in other cities where the The Chinese Recorder says: ,. Some Protestants had been long enough for things are clear to the understanding of the people to become familiar with every intelligent and candid observer: them. Rev. Mr. Cockburn, of the (1) Preparation 'for the destruction of Scotch Mission at rchang, writes to foreign property had been going on for Dr. McMurtrie: " The American Episco- years under the observation of officials, pal Mission in a native house within the without any serious attempt on their city, the Roman Catholic Mission within part to stop it ; (2) the movement is not the city, also in II native house, and the distinctively anti-missionary; (3) , Chi- Church of Scotland Mission Station out- na exclusively for the Chinese' is the side the North Gate, are all of them safe. idea-official or otherwise, or both ; (4) No protection was given, but everything the Imperial Missionary Decree seemed was as quiet as on ordinary occasions. If to indicate a change of policy at Pekin; Christianity be offensi ve to the Chinese, but the fact appears' that the edict aDd and mission work felt to be a grievance, its publication in the Gazette were ob. it is passing strange that the very centres tained with great difficulty,' and to all of proselytizing should not have a single appearance it has failed to command stone cast at them. What happened at the influence we had a right to expect Ichang should convince all parties that from a document of the kind, bearing it is not this or that individual class of the seal of higbest authority. It is Europeans that is aimed at, but all J!Ju.ro· more than probable that tho issue of the peans, without dis/inction of nationality or hour for us who are in China will be in. occupation." The Roman Catholics are definitely postponed through a combinamore obnoxious because of their large tion of 'circumstances fortunate for the ownership of tracts of land and exten- Government, and as the due reward of sive trade, combined· with their often a finesse that has often proved more incautious. if not questionable, ways of than a match for Western diplomacy." securing childr~n for their schools and orphanages, and the secrecy with which The Recorder also gives the transla. they conduct both trade and schools, tion of a Hunan manifesto: '" With one and also in the very objectionable way heart we offer up our lives … ' they say. in which they meddle with Government The principal points of agreement are in their own interests, than because of the ostracism of individuals and famitheir religion itself. Riots or no riots, lies 'bewitched by the spies' of the the fact is, the work even in the dis- Christian religion ; the expulsion of susturbed centres was only interrupted for picious travellers within the borders of two or three weeks in the latter part of Hunan; the offer of money, war mate- May and early June. Schools, chapels, rial, and troops to carry out any comand even street chapels, and hospitals mand the Emperor might make for the have been opened, and surgical opera. chastisement and extermination of fortions performed as usual. Only in one eign powers showing practical animosity feature does the work vary from ante- against Hunan; also the non-burning riot days-that of the extension into of churches and chapels, because of dan. new stations in the Yangtse valley. The ger to adjoining native houses; all such Roman Catholic missions in North China buildings should rather be handed over are reported to have suffered locally, to the authorities to be sold for the but the work of the American Board in benefit of the revenues." North China has not been interrupted.
….. ~
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE. i51
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work and Statistics. Edited by .Rev. D. L. Leonard, Bellevue, O.
-Scarcely a lie can be named, among America in zeal and liberal giving in all the hundreds afloat concerning mis. behalf of world·wide missions, though sions, more utterly without foundation, to them belongs the honor of being but,. nevertheless, frequently repeated pioneers in the work, and from first to and widely believed, than this; that last they have supplied perhaps tbeir every dollar sent to the heathen costs full proportion of men at once gifted, the sender another dollar. Among consecrated, and successful in reach. others, Chaplain McCabe, on several ing the hearts of the heathen. Ger. occasions, has undertaken to capture man societies number 16, of which 9 and slay this rascally offender, but he (Basle, Berlin, BrecklulD, Gossner's, still lives. The real facts in the case as Hermannsburg, Leipsic, the Moravian, to the economy of administration on the North German, and Rhenish) may be part of our missionary societieEl appear called the prinoipal ones, and 7 le811er in these statements, which, though re- and newer ones, and who8e accessible lating to but four, will stand for all. In statistics are but fragmentary. Tbe ago the Methodist Church (North), of every gregate of ordained missionaries is about dollar received, upward of .95 go direct 525, with 108 ordained natives, and a to the missions, and but .0066 are total working force of 5213. The com. ., sunk" in office expenses, such as sala· municants number not far from 100,000, ries of secretaries, clerks, etc. The the schools 950, and the pupils 50,000. Amet'ican Board sends to the heathen The annual income from all sources is .9225 out of every dollar paid into the nearly $950,000, of which sum about treasury, the Missionary Society of the $200,000 are derived from the mission Reformed (Dutcb) Church .948 of every fields. dollar contributed, and the Presbyterian Board (North) .955 of every dollar. Thus, -The Basle Society had its remotest tell it all abroad tbat it costs fi ve cents beginnings as far back as 1780, founded on an aVbrage to sl'nd a dollar to the a school for the training of missionaries ends of the earth. in 1816, and sent out its first men in 1821. It is undenominational, and reo -For several months the New York ceives support from Protestant churches Independent has been supplying its read· of almost every name in Central Eu. ers, in most liberal monthly instal· rope. Missions are sustained in China, ments, with the freshest intelligence India, and West Africa (Oameroons and from all lands. And among these ap. the Gold Coast). In 1890 the income peared a quasi-supplement of 13 pages, was $230,047; the missionaries num· wbich set forth the home missionary bered 133, with 92 women and 738 na· doings of the various denominations of tive helpers in addition; the communi. the United States. At least 23 of these cants were 11,584, and the school cbil· were reported; or, counting all subdi· dren 10,500. The home training-scbool visions of such as the Methodists, Bap. has an attendance of 80 to 100. Varitists, Presbyterians, etc., tbe number ous industrial and commercial institu· was about 50. A statistical summary tions are sustained in the mission fields, was appended, from which it appears whose aggregate income amount;; to that $5,818,000 was the not insignificant nearly $50,000, and from which a hand· sum expended in 1890-91. some profit is each year derived.
-The Protestant Christians of Ger. -The Berlin Society (for the Promo. many can scarcely claim equality with tion of Evangelical Missions among the their brethren in Great Britain and Heathen) was organized in 1824, and at first undertook only to raise funds and native helpers. The income in 1890 supply men for other societies, in 1829 was $19,400. opened a seminary, and sent out its first representatives in 1834. The course of -The Rhenish Society is located at study extends over five years, and the Barmen, was formed in 1828, though funds are gathered by means of auxiliary the influences from which it sprung societies, of which there are upward of began to operate more than 30 years be- 300 scattered throughout Germany. fore. Its efforts are bestowed upon The income was $79,637 in 1890. In South Africa, the Dutch East Indies its Chinese and South African missions (Borneo, Sumatra, etc.), and China. (Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, Orange With an income amounting in 1890 to Free State, etc.) are 54 ordained and 8 $111,414 ($17,698 from the field), it BUS, l1nordained miss~onaries and 11 artisans, tains 83 ordained and 4 unordained mis. with 430 native helpers. The number sionaries, 13 ordain~d natives, and 558 of. baptized persons is 22,349, of com- other helpers. In the 170 churches are municants 10,892, and in the schools 11,556 communicants, and in the 350 3966. schools are about 6000 pupils.
-The Leipsic Society dates from -Hermannsburg Society was organ- 1836, was founded at Dresden, but after ized by Pastor Harms in 1849, was sus· -about ten years-was removed to the tained by the gifts of the poor, and its city to which it owes its name. In missionaries received none of the culspirit and methods it is Lutheran, and ture of the schools. South Africa and was designed to comprise and express South India are the fields upon which the missionary zeal of that church in the bulk of self-denial and humble zeal Germany, Scandinavia, etc. Its prin- have been bestowed. The churches cipal field is South India, in the Tran. gathered number 53, with 26,940 com· quebar region, the old-time seut of the municants ; and the schools 60, with Danish Halle Mission of Ziegenbalg and 4000 pupils. The 58 ordained and 4 Schwartz. The income in 1890 was unordained missionaries are assisted by $81,090, and $2600 from the mission 240 natives. In 1890 the income reached field. With this sum 25 ordained and 2 $51,792, and the native contributions unordained ·missionaries are sustained, $15,179. as well as 17 ornained natives, and 453 other helpers. In the 148 churches are -On June 11th, 1890, the Norwegian 6911 communicants, and in the 183 Evangelical Lutheran China Mission schools 4753 pupils. Society of America was organizt'd, and soon dispatched its first representatives -The North German Society is Ioeat. -3 men-to China, sending after them ed in Bremen, was organized in 1836 also in 1891 a reinforcement sufficient from various smaller bodies (" unions") to raise the number to 12, including 4 which for years had been in existence; children. Hankow is the seat of the the next year an institute was started at mission. Hamburg, aml the first men were sent forth in 1842. The only field occupied -Over 16,000 Indians are now citi· at present is in West Africa, upon the zens of the United States. During Gold Coast, where, from the first almost the year patents to land have been until now, untold sufferings and dis· issued to 2104 persons; 2830 patents couragements, especially from sickness are ordered, 1520 are approved, and and wars, have been heroically endured. other allotments are in progress. The At the 3 stations are found 442 com· amount of acreage in the 138 reserva· municants, 14 schools with 353 scholars, tions in 1890 was 104,314,349 acres. 9 ordained and 4 unordained missiona· That has been reduced some twenty ries, 1 ordlloiued native, and 26 other million acres. The appropriations for educational work the past year were $2,216,650, or an increase of 20 per 51,410. This is, for both membership cent; for contract schools. $601,000. and families, an increase of about 17 The total enrolment is 17,926-1549 per cent. But the statistics of foreign more than last year; and 100 indi- missions show that in every single par- viduals are in public schools paying $10 ticular this rate of progress has been far per quarter. -yes, many times, outstripped. This table tells the story : -The Foreign Christian (Disciple) Missionary Society lllet for its annual 1881 1891 Iner'se Perc't. meeting at Alleghany City, Pa., Octo ber 20th. The report presented by the Stations…………. 9 15 6 66 Secretary, the Rev. A. McLean, D.D., Out Stations.. ……. 109 166 57 52 was heard with much iuterest as indi- Missionaries . … , . . . . 15 27 12 80 cating good pr0gress in every part of the field. In China the number of Lady" …….. 18 38 20 111 members has increased from 16 to 41, Natlvepastors…… 14 33 19 135 in Japan from 179 to 245, in India from Other helpers, male.. 118 218 100 84 40 to 50, in Turkey from 664 to 691, in U female. 12 63 51 425 Denmark from 131 to 141. The Sabbath- U school scholars number in China 226, in Japan 136, in India 567, in Turkey Chnrches …. …… 35 53 18 51 600. At the two dispensaries in Nan- Communicants…… 2357 5214 2857 121 king, China, 2936 new cases and 6276 Academies. ….. .. 4 14 10 250 old cases have been treated. The expenditures for the year were $71,004. Pupils in Academies. 129 604 475 868 The total receipts from churches, Sun- Day Schools……… 49 119 70 143 day·schools, Endeavor Societies and in- Day Scholars .. …. 1866 4074 2208 118 dividuals were $59,365. The bequests Theological Students. 13 43 30 231 showed a marked falling off, only $1000 Contribntions of Na· having been received as against $12,000 last year. The donations, however, tive Chnrches ..•.. $2372 $7648 $4916 179 showed an increase of $7259. -The gross income of the Missionary -The general statistics of the Evan- Society of the Methodist Church in gelical Association for 1891 show 26 con- Canada for the last year was $143,000. ferences, 2062 churches, and 150,234 members. There are 1227 itinerant -The growth of the work of the Brit· preachers and 619 local preachers; 2535 ish and Foreign Bible Society in 40 Sunday-schools, with 177,639 scholars. years has been remarkable and in every. The collections for the missionary so- direction. In 1851 the year's issues ciety were $134,443. These statistics were 1,137,617 copies; in 1891 the year's show an increase over last year of 19 total is 3,926,535 copies. 'rhe receipts churches, nearly 2000 church members, for 1851 amount to £128,023 2s. 8d.; and over 1000 Sabbath-school scholars. in 1891 they were £285,437 48. 10d. The Of the conferences three artl in foreign expenditure bears much the same prolands, Germany, Switzerland, and Japan. portion: for 1851 it was £103,543 lOs. 10d. ; for 1891. £231,583 16s. 9d. The number of versions was then 148 ; now there are 292. There were in 1851 7 foreign agents, and 2 subsidized for oc- casional servIce; in 1891 there were 27 agents in various foreign countries. There were but 5 district secretaries, with 3 local agents ; there are now 13, with 4 recognized assistants. The local societies in affiliation were than 3809 ; now they are nearly double that num· ber, being 7178.
-Thesn figures relating to the growth -There are about 3,200,000 Presbyof a decade in the Reformeil (Dutch) terians in Scotland. There are 1650 Church cannot but be full of cheer to all places of worship in connection with who examine them. The increase in the Church of Scotland, and 1575 in membership has been but 13, 732-from connection with the Free and United 80,591 in 1881 to 94323, according to Presbyterian Church-in all 3225, or the latest figures-while its families more than 1 church for each 1000 of the have increased but 7452-from 43,958 to population. -The Primitive Methodists of Eng. 11,019 ; and Protestants, 124,,623. The land report 192,652 church members, Dutch Missionary Society occupies this 104,3 ministers, 16,256 local preachers. field.
The missionary society has an income -In 25 years the Leipsic (Lutheran) of £11,099, and an expenditure of £10,. Mission in South India has increased 4,77, Aside from this there was tho from 12 to 27 stations, from 262 to 613 special income of tbe African fund, village~, from 18 to 28 missionaries, amounting to £3313. with an expendi. from G to 17 native pastors, from 75 to turo of £2263, The work of tho society 183 schools, from 94, to 311 teachers, and is carried on entirely in Africa in tho from 1687 to 4753 scholars. Kaifraria mission at Aliwal, North. An increase of 150 members was reported. – The census of the important Basle The Zambesi mission had entailod con· West African Mission, made up to Janu.
siderable cost and some reverses have ary 1st, 1891, gives the following reo had to be encountered; but tho party suits: On the Gold Coast the number sent out by the Board have crossed tho of baptized amounted to 964,7, the in.
rivor and aro now engaged in real mis. crease for the year being 738 ; in the new sionary work. field of Kamerun the baptized number -In 1890 tho Ohurch Missionary So. 256, an incr6ase of 97.
ciety accepted 80 candidates. 31 being clergymen, of whom 24, were graduates; 30 were women, and 19 were laymen. British Foreign Missions. By Rev, Jail. Within 5 years the society has sent out Johnston, Bolton, England.
130 university men, 66 of them gradu. The Niger Mission.-·Though the ates of Cambridge. Church Missionary Society is sending out a deputation to West Africa to ar. -In 1890-91 the· China Inland Mis· range matters on a more satisfactory sion could report 407 baptisms, and the basis, information has just been rec6ived addition of 66 new workers and 19 as· in England from Lagos, through a pri. vate channel, that the native churches sociates, n coming from England, 15 have resolved to secede and to work on independent lines. Unless Bishop from America, 12 from Australia, 9 from Crowther is willing to postpone this Sweden,4 from Norway, 3 from Ger· many, and 1 originally from Holland. The number of communicants is 3000.
-Of the 285,000,000 in India it is course in order to discuss tbe situa. reckoned that only about 11,000,000 can tion with the English deputation, the read. The census of schools registered new arrangement will be in force on by Government (only about half of all, January 1st next. Who the delegates but the most effective half) is, for 1888- from England will be has not yet been 89, in the three presidencies: Madras, published. Much patience and guid. schools, 18,931 ; scholars, 552.152 ; but ance are required in the development a year later. 20,512 and 600,551 respec· of this important field, which is des. tiveJy; Bengal, schools, 64,,628 and tined to become a centre of missionary scholars. 1,4,82.150; but 66,285 and influence.
1,4,91,923 in 1890-91 ; Bombay, in tbe The London Missionary Society's former year: scbools, 17,732 and schol. Report.-There comes to hand the reo ars, 582,853; and in the latter year, port of tbis Rociety, showing that the schools: 11,716 (1) and scholars, 591,627. total income last year was £121,4,55; of -In the Minahassa, the Christianized this £76,313 was subscribed at home, district of Celebes, and upon the north. exclusive of special funds, dividends, ern end of the island, the statistics of and legacies. The native congregations population for 1889 were: Catholics, raised £22,500. On its foreign church 3896; Mohammedans, 5784; heathen, roll the society has 68,000 members, and another 250,000 adherents, with some been called a "black grant" of £2500 1200 native missionaries. There are has been made; and for a period of five about 200 English missionarieB, includ- years the society has ~'mewed its grant ing 37 ladies; and as the centenary of of £500 per annum to the Archbishop'S the society two years hence is approach- Mission to the Assyrian Christians. It ing, a call for" 100 more" missionaries will be sincerely hoped that the grounds is being made, with every promise, from for the recent complaints of the Amerithe appearance of the first-fruits, of a can Presbyterian missionaries respectgoodly harvest of laborers, accompanied ing the attitude of the representatives by B generous liberality. The Chronicle, of this mission may be wholly removed which the Rev. George Cousins edits at an early date. The society has also with sterling ability, will next year be promoted medical mission work by its considerably enlarged, have more illus- grants on behalf of the medical and surtrations, and contain a series of articles gical training of women. covering a wider area of topics than has latterly been possible. Progress in Nyassaland.-Veryen- couraging accounts are told of the phys' Contributions to Church of Eng- ical and civilizing development of the land Missions by the Society for Pro- region about Lake Nyassa. The white moting Christian Knowledge.-At one influence is united, native tribes are at time and lI.nother the society has helped peace, and have confidence in the white in the endowment of 44 colonial and man. Vice·consuls are being appointed, missionary bishoprics, and, this last while" customs," police, and postal matyear its grants for church operations ters are in process of establishment. abroad have been made on a liberal For the fertile land there is quite a rush scale. It has promised a grant of £5000 among the traders and others, and agri. toward providing Tinnevelly with its cultural prospects are cheering. It is own bishop, reviTed a lapsed grant of now proved, after fifteen years of ex- £500 toward the endowment of the perience, that Europeans caD. live in bishopric of St. John's, Kaffraria, and comparati ve health on the uplands in has voted £750 toward the additional Central Africa. Dr. Kerr Cross, who endowment of the see of Mauritius. In returned this year with his bride-a aid of the initial expenses of the New daughter of the late Dr. Turner, the Guinea Mission H has made a grant of famous South' Sea missionary, whose £500, and placed £1000 at the disposal death occurred this last summer-says of the Bishop of Mashonaland toward that one can sail from England up the the expenses of his new diocese. For Zambesi and Shire to the foot of the the dioceses of Colombo, Athabasca, Murchison Cataracts. He believes that and Mackenzie River the eum of £1500 Africa can only be developed by Afrihas bE-en voted to meet sums otherwise cans, and hence it is the duty of the raised, and, in assisting the building of planter to persuade the natives to labor, churches, chapels, and mission rooms build, and live on his or their own and stations in foreign lands as much as plantations. In this direction the civ- £10,615 has been voted to upward of ilizatory part of the missionaries' task 130 cases. These buildings range in at Blantyre and Bandawe has been most size from log churches to cathedrals, successful, to which Mr. Joseph Thomand the grants cover all parts of the son, who has just returned from Lake world as widely apart as the back settle- Bangweolo, pays a glowing compliment. ments of Northwest Canada, the islands Missionary friends in Scotland are eagerof the Pacific, the palm.set plains of lyanticipating the arrival of Dr, Laws Southern India, and the wide stretching this year. veldt of South Africa. To help in the training of a native ininistry, what has Welsh Calvinistic Methodist For- eign Missions.-Two missions are supported by this branch of the Church- member which they contribllte to the one on the Khasia Hills, in India, and bep.eficent work of the Church. the other in Britanny, the former being established 50 years ago. The native -The Northern Presbyterian Church churches number 80, with a membership has 4 presbyteries in the synod of the of 6190, including communicants, pro· Indian Territory–in the Choctaw, bationers, and children, while the total Chickasaw and Creek nations-includnumber of those who frequented the ing 62 churches and 1823 members. services and had renounced heathenism None of the churches have ministers, was 8900. The total income of the mis- but they are served by home missionasionary society amounted last year to ries and stated supplies. The Southern £7952 from collections, donations, and Presbyterian Church has 1 presbytery other sources. For the mission jubilee in' the Territory, with 13 churches and fund a sum of £25,000 had already come 637 members. The Spencer Academy, in to hand, and not improbably before the connection with this preshytery, is an Bubscription list was closed, the figure important element of its work. of £35,000 would be contributed. -The American Board has put up Miscellaneous. – There is slight $1,000,000 as its goal in annual receipts doubt that the Baptist Centenary for foreign missions. It hopes to reach Fund will reach £100,000, toward which this mark by constant advances, and as a large proportion is announced. Some the missionary impulse grows stronger handsome gifts have been recently made in the Congregational churches. The by the leading Baptists of Lancashire. Methodists have fixed their high.water The autumnal Baptist gatherings in Manchester in October were fully availed mmiasrskioants$, 1~2n5d0't0h0e0yfowrilhlomreeacahnditf.oreTighne of by the missionary wing, and a pro. nounced impetus given to the claims Presbyterian Ohurch has proposed of foreign missions. The Society of $1,000,000 for foreign missions as its Friends, it is reported, is beginning to aim. It is creeping up slowly to that plant itself in the East, particularly in point, having contributed over $900,000 Philippopolis and Constantinople, the last year. ground for a new meeting-house having just been purchased in the first.named -The schools sustained by the vari· place. ous American missionary societies con- tain almost 175,000 pupils, and the Monthly Bulletin. 12,000 Protestant mission schools are training to Christian intelligence an ag- United States.-The Methodists are gregate of not much less than 600,000 jubilant over the fact that their mis- children and youth. sionary society is free from debt for the first time in twenty·five years. Greal, Britain.-By way of inaugurat- ing the effort which has been resolved -The Methodists in San Francisco upon to raise $500,000 as a special fund have had, for five years, a Japanese Mis- to celebrate the centenary of the Eng. sion, an outgrowth of their Chinese lish Baptist Missionary Society, the Mission in the same city. There were treasurer of the society, Mr. W. R. 175 Japanese members a year ago, and Rickett, of London, has just intimated their church is known among themselves his intention to give $25,000. as the Take-a-seat church. -At the recent meeting of the Con. -The Dakota (Indian) Presbytery far gregational Union of England and Wales, exceeds the others of the Synod of Professor Armitage spoke on The For- South Dakota in the average per church ward Movement in Foreign Missions. He called upon his hearers to face cer· tain facts with contrition and sorrow. In 1841 English Congregationalists had 192 missionaries in the field, and in -Two educated negro women at 18lH only 197. He said: "For 50 years Vasten have begun to issue the first we have locked up our hearts in aliena- newspaper in the Congo Free State. It tion of sympathy-not entire alienation, aims to .. enlighten the souls of the but surely a very deep and real aliena· black-skinned. " tion. But a change has come. The Lord has opened the windows of heaven, -The Central Soudan has at last been and now we are discussing the enthusi- penetrated by two English missionaries. astic proposal to send 100 men and Messrs. Harris and White have gone to women into the field." found a mission at Lake Tchad. On their journey, which they made on foot, -Former students of Mansfield Col- they were hospitably entertained by the ege, Oxford, now on the mission field Arabs, being greatly assisted by Mr_ are never allowed to feel that they are White's violin, to the accompaniment forgotten by their alma mater. Each of which he sang the Gospel tunes. term the college appoints a correspond- The valley in which lies Lake Tchad is ing secretary whose duty it is to write east of the Niger valley, and has never to each of the brethren abroad, tell him before been visited by a missionary. of the latest college news, inform him as to the new men who have come, as -The Muhlenberg Mission of the to the old ones who have gone, and en- Lutheran General Synod in Africa pays deavor to make him feel, though far a large proportion of its expenses by away, that he is still a member of the the sale of coffee, which it raises on its college fold, that those with whom he own plantation in Liberia. once studied are men that live in living affection with him and love to hear of Pacific Islands.-Miss Charlotte M. his weal. The absent one in turn Yonge, the writer, recently subscribed writes to the college and keeps it fully $10,000 for building a missionary colinformed of his trials, success, needs, lege at Auckland, New Zealand. and thus feeds the flame of missionary enthusiasm within scholastic walls. -The Presbyterians of Australia and Tasmania are planning to establish a -Two hundred and twelve thousand mission among the aborigines of North copies of the New Testament in Hebrew Queensland. have been distributed among Jews in all parts of the world by the Mildmay -The miSSIOns Qf the American Mission to the Jews. Board in the Pacific Islands are thus described: .. The institute in the -The Irish Presbyterian Church has Hawaiian Islands for the training of always given effective support to :its a native educated ministry is commend- Foreign Missions· Committee. It is now ed for larger support. At Ponape the trying a new experiment with regard to work has been interfered with by Span- – its agents Up to the present its male ish persecution. The summary of the missionaries in India have all been or- work of the Board is as follows: Five dained university men, and their allow. hundred and thirty-eight missionaries, ance has been about £350 per annum. 2648 native preachers and teachers, 410 An influential section of the general as- churches, 38,226 communicants, andl sembly has lately organized the , ••Tun- schools of various grades with 46,403 gle Tribes Missions," the agents of pupils, are the salient and expressive which are to he earnest, well-educated figures. " laymen, with allowances not exceeding one-third those of the present ordained -The Free Church of Scotland. with mISSIOnaries. They propose to begin 335,000 members, raised last year, from their work among the Bhils, and the all Bouwes, a total missionary revenue first laY' a!1ent p.as aJready sailed. for the evangelization of the world out- !!ide the United Kingdom of £113,431. 16s. 3d. ($567,155). Its native com· ing the more popular language of the municants in aU foreign fields aggregate two. The spirit of missions, at home 6620. It supports 51 ordainedmissiona- and abroad, manifestly perva.ded the ries, 8 medical missionaries, and 23 pro. body. Two students came back who fessors and teachers. had been at work on distant fields, one -Next to the Moravians the United in AbYRsinia and the other in America. Presbyterians of Scotland are the mis- Their ordination diffused a glow of missionary church, Their 570 churches, sionary enthusiasm among the pastors with 185,000 members, contributed and elders, and reports from forty-four $400,000 last year, and the gain of mission stations in Italy quickened the converts was 600 during the year. evangelistic fervor. A Scotchman who was present at the Synod has written -In an interesting paper in a recent home that" almost every family among number of The Church of Scotland Home the Waldensians has furnished minis- and Foreign Mission Record, Rev. Dr. ters, missionaries, and evangelists, and Mackinnon, of Heidelberg, calls atten- the supply is only restrained by finantion to the thoroughness with which cial difficulties. Were the gifts for the German missionaries are trained for evangelization of Italy doubled or their work. Their systematic method trebJed, there could be no difficulty is said to be remarkable indeed in com- in finding a corresponding supply of.
parison with the lax preparatory train- able and godly Vaudois to do the work.' , ing in some other countries largely en- The progress of the Church of the Vaugaged in missionary effort. After satis- dois, in Italy, is slow, but it is steady, factory proof of their fitness for the life, and the Church is in no mood to retreat the candidates in Germany are admitted from the old contest with Rome.
to attend the Mission House one even- South America.-Rev. J. MIlton ing in the week for a year. They are Greene, of Mexico, is translating into then entered upon the books of the pre- Spanish, to publish in his paper, El paratory school for two years for in- Faro. Dr. J. H. Barrows's book, "The struction in Latin, etc. After this they Gospels are True Histories." have a. course of instruction of a theo- logical nature, including the study of -The Methodist missions in South the Bible in the original tongue, and a America propose to prepare for the Co· few sessions of medical training in the lumbian Exposition an exhibit showing hospital. The years thus spent are use· the progress and results of their work ful in developing in the future mission- on that continent.
ary many qualities which are of the ut- -Dr. J. M. Allis, of the Chilian Mis· most value in the mission field. The sian, says that " if Balmaceda had been result is that men are sent out who are trained under biblical influence, and if in every way worthy of their work, and his proud nature had been disciplined who undertake it thoroughly equipped by Gospel instruction and Christian for the Master's senice. teaching, there is not the slightest ques- tion that his history and the history of ltaly.-The Waldensian Synod was Chili would have been decidedly differ. held last month. Professor Geymonat ent." was Moderator. He presides so well that he is re elected from year to year.
The Waldensians have a fine" Synod- -The Salvation Army has secured a house," erected a few years ago as a strong foothold in Buenos Ayres. Dur- memorial of the "glorious return" of ing the financial troubles it was able to the Vaudois. It was noticed that in the help thousands of men thrown out of Synod the speakers are apt to glide away work to food and shelter. It has a from the use of the French into the thriving farm colony, and is training Italian tongue, which is rapidly becom- Spanish.speaking cadets. -The Synod of Brazil recently hand- reach up to and beyond the average of ed over to Episcopal missionaries in Rio Christian giving of Chinese Christians.
Grande a church with forty members, a The most recent figures for Swatow, day school, and a fund for erecting an supplied by Mr. Maclagan, of our mis- edifice; and did it gladly, willingly, sion there, are 1543 members, who duro and in the spirit of comityand·economy ing the year have contributed $1925.
which Secretary Clark, at Pittsfield, said 'I'he Formosan churches do quite as was so necessary. well; and in Amoy the annual contribu- -Mission work in Brazil by the Pres· tion of the church members is at the byterian Church (North) has been car· rate of more than $2 per head. Chinese ried on principally in the southern por- liberality will always seem to those who tion of. t.he country. But there is a know the Chinese money-making and great field in the north. The southern money-saving propensities, one of the Presbyterians have long been active most convincing proofs of the reality of there. The vast field lying between the Chinese Christianity."
San Francisco River and the Amazon is -Dr. Griffith John, the veteran miscomparatively little known to the Chris- sionary to China, is full of jubilation at tian world. Pernambuco is the chief the recent imperial edict opening the centre of this region, a city of 120,000 province ot Hunan to Christian teachinhabitants; in commercial importance ing. He says that its people are brave, one of the first in the republic. It' is manly, and straightforward, occupying the centre of the great sugar tr~de of the very highest positions as civil and Brazil. and the port of three States- military officers. They are proud, ex· Rio Grande do Norte, Parahyba, and elusive, and anti-foreign to a degree Alagoas. Three railroads in operation extraordinary even in China. But now unite there, connecting the city with that the door is opened they will be acthe northern, central, and southern cessible, and when once converts are parts of the State. Mission work is won and a footing gained there the adbeing prosecuted here with vigor and vance will be rapid.
success. -There is an apparentlywell-ground- ed expectation that the cultivated classes -The natural result of the growth of of Japan are only waiting for the con- Protestantism in Brazil is an urgent, an sent of the Mikado to embrace Protestant irrepressible demand for more ed ncation Christianity in a body. The Deshisha, -higher education. Under ordinary founded by a Japanese boy, converted circumstances the absence of such a de- by rpading a single leaf of the New Tesmand would argue the failure of the tament and educated in Phillips' Acadwork. By God's providence a new emy, Amherst, and Andover Seminary, order of things has been set up in Bra- has more students than all three of the zil, for which the ProtAst.ant ferment is institutions named. in some measure responsible. This in- tensifies the urgency of the demand. India.-A Moravian missionary named Letzen, with his wife, certainly ought China.-The Presbyterian missiona- to be written with those who love their ries in Manchuria have encouraged the fellow· men. }'or thirty years he has native Christians to form a native pres- been preaching and working at a stabytery.
-The Presbyteriom, Messenger, organ tion in the Thibetan mountains, with- of the English Presbyterian Church, out the sight of a European face, and says: ,. Without entering on any jeal- with the post-office fourteen days' dis- ous comparisons, it is permissible to re- tant, separated from them by the high joice in the fact that the members of passes of the Himalayas and dangerous our own churches in China and Formosa streams. -A native Christian, to the saliMfac- work upon it. The brickmakers and tion of the bar, the bench, and the pub- bricklayers, the painters and carpenters lic, has just been appointed Adminis- wele natives trained in the mission; trator-General of Madras, India ; and a and the hewers of wood and drawers of native Ch.ristian girl··-a graduate of one of the Christian colleges-has been ap- water were the very men who a few pointed to the charge of the post.office years before had sought to destroy the at Mandapasali. work. On May 10th the work was com- -The Gospel of Matthew, now being pleted and the church dedicated. It printed at Bangkok by the American will seat in the nltv!) and transept 200 Presbyterian Mission press, is the first move toward giving the Bible to the people with eltse, and 400 could be oro- Laos in their own language. This is vided for without passing the chancel. printed i)1 Siamese letters, but it is The wi.J.dowB are mostly memorial winhoped in the near future to give the same in the Laos letters also. dows of stained glass, and most of the fittings have been presented, including -A •• prayer-meeting" attended by handsome lamps, draperies, a bell and Hindu students of the several colleges chairs, communion table and readingin Lahore, India, is held in Mission College boarding-house every Sabbath after- desk. noon. This is in no sense a Christian prayer-meeting, and with it the college -An English Baptist m1ss10naryauthorities have nothing whatever to lir. Stapleton-writing of the ferocity do. The Mohammedan community, of the Bimgala tr1bes on the Upper too, is similarly affected.. A recent organizatiou, caJled the" Young Men's Congo, among whom he and his associ- Mohammedan Association," the secre- ates are attempting missionary work, tary of which is a graduate of a COllege, reports a .:£!gut between two villages, in announces as its object the spiritual and which thi/women took part, after which mor!>l welfare of the young men of the community. "Divine service" is regu- the victors danced in high glee, and larly conducted in four or five different brought in the bodies of those they had halls of that city; and the newspapers tell us of the" impressive sermons" and slain, presenting a sight so sickening the" earnest prayers" offered on such that it was difficult for the missionaries occasions. to eat or to sleep. The conquerors 4frica.-A very practical demonstra- cooked the bodies of their victims; and tion of the progress of missions is gi ven in the view published in various Eng- two days aft€r a lad walked into the mislish journals of the Scotch Presbyterian sion statio'l carrying on a plant.ain leaf Church, recently completed at Blantyre some of the flesh that had been roasted. in East Central Africa. The mission established seventeen years ago has passed Mr. Stapleton says: through every stage of discouragement and prosperity. At one time the fierco ., One of the men killed at Mampoko tribal antagonism threatened to extin. was a slave of the chief. He had worked guish it; but though the whole surround- for us some three months, and but the ing country was raided, the mission and I>vening before was engaged on the sta· the mission people were respected. In tion. In the morning he is killed, and 1888 the foundations of the new church in an hour or two tossed into a grave wefe laid, and !lince the!). !Ill have been at , unwept, unhonored, and unsung.' The people wanted to eat him, and would have none so, but his master refused to cut off his head, a necessary preliminary to the feast. Another man comes to the fight in full vigor; in twelve hours h1s bodv is cooked and eaten; while to burn alive a poor, sick, deserted woman is regarded as a huge joke. Yet usually these Bangalas are merry, manly fel- lows, very friendly in conversation, and quite demonstrative in their affection; but when the 1118t of blood is upon them deeds which fill us with horror are the merest incidents of the fight to them. "
The Missionary Review of the World — January 1889
Rt. Hon. The Earl of
.MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XII. No.t.-Old Series._ _JANUARY, _ _VOL. U. No. t.-New Serle•• I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.
LOOKING BACKWARD AND FORWARD. [EDITORIAL. ] "OUR work is practically that small portion of God's eternal work and will which is allotted to us in our little corner of space and our short minute of time."
So spake Pasteur Monod, truly and tersely, at the late Mildmay Confer- ence. It is an august conception of service, that, in God's gTand sphere, there is a little segment, bearing our name and the date of this present YE(ar. The youthful Victoria, when the Archbishop of Canterbury came to announce her father's death and her own accession as Queen of Britain, begged him first of all to pray with her that she might take the throne and weal' the crown only as the servant of a Higher Sovereign. But when we rightly. conceive of our work, however humble, it becomes invested with a divine dignity. The rudest implement 01' instrument becomes a scepter. the bench of the workman or of the magistrate alike a throne, and the blouse and ermine alike a royal robe.
A tw~lvemonth since, this REVIEW, in its present enlarged and modified form, was, with many prayers and not without some fears, launched like a bark upon strange waters. The beginning of the new year naturally sug- gests a retrospect and a prospect.
Looking back, we thank God and take courage. At every step of the way we trace providential and gracious guidance and help. We undertook the work because we heard a loud call of God amt saw a great need of man. A Jericho lay before us to be taken for Christ's crown and covenant; but, between us and success rolled a stream neither narrow nor shallow. Believ- ing that the invisible and invincible Captain of the Lord's host was leading on, we set our foot in this Jordan and have gone over on dry ground. Every difficulty, when approached, has disappeared or been surmounted. Our sub- scription list has passed our most sanguine expectations. The public press has so cordially commended our work that scarce a word has found its way into print that has been controversial or even critical. Encomiums, that seemed almost extravagant, have come from the secretaries of great Mis- sion:;try Boards and the editors of other missionary magazines. Letters by the hundred have reached the editors and publishers, referring to our endeav- ors III the kindliest and most fraternal spirit; and contributions to our pages, often gratuitous, have been sent by men and. women who stand in the front rank. of the Church of Christ.
If we rightly read the signs of the times, it has been clearly demonstrated that just such a Review of universal missions is an imperative need of our day; and that in seeking to supply this need we were simply falling into our
LOOKING BACKWARD AND FORWARD
place in a divine plan. With the enlarged circulation and the increased excellence for which we both hope and strive, a career of increased and increasing usefulness opens before this messenger of the churches. We therefore, without hesitation, appeal to all lovers of Christ and His cause, to give us sympathetic and prayerful aid in our endeavor to furnish and diffuse missionary intelligence and in.spiration throughout the wide circle of the common Christian brotherhood.
What was said at the outset, one year ago, we now emphatically repeat, that this is with us no mere money-making scheme. Neitller of us would have considered that we had any time to give to a mere business venture however promising. One of us, besides filling the onerous position of literary editor of a large publishing house, was editing The Homiletic Review, whose ninety-six pages a month made additional editorial work by no means a sinecure. The other was pastor of a congregation where thousands of people look to him for work in pulpit and pastorate. With such tax already upon tongue and pen, such engrossing and absorbing work as this REVIEW demands would not even have been weighed in the mere balances of worldly gain. We had neither time nor money to invest in a literary enterprise, though it might promise pecuniary rewards. But we weighed the matter in God's scales, over against higher motives and compensations. The leading of God seemed singularly obvious. A network of providences entangled us as in a golden snare. A higher destiny-a divinity~shaped our ends, and we yielded to the pressure of duty, which is always also privilege. We believed strength would be given us, and it has been given.
The impression and conviction with which this enterprise was begun have only become deeper and stronger by the year's eXperience, viz.: that, in respect of missions, no greater need exists than that of the universal diffU8ion of information as to the facts of past and present missionary history. To know those facts, to be informed and keep informed and fully informed, as to the march of God and His hosts in all the earth, is, in effect, to quicken the pulse of the whole Church of Christ. In missions. Love is the skillful alchemist that turns knowledge into zeal and out of intelligence distils inspiration. If we would have more prayer we must know what to pray about and pray for; if we want more money we must know what open doors God is placing before us for the investment of consecrated capital, and what wondrous results He has wrought and is working with the merchant's millions, and even the widow's mites; if we waRt more men and women as workers, the mind and heart and conscience of disciples must be awakened from sleep and aroused from sluggishness, by the electric touch of thrilling facts. If we want more zeal, all true zeal is "according to knowledge" and consequent upon it. If we want the spirit of holy enterprise, doing and daring for God, missions must be exhibited as the enterprise of the Church, and it must be shown that no equal or proportionate investment of men, means and money ever brought returns so ample-all of which the logic of events stands ready to prove by the most overwhelming of arguments.
In a word, we believe that, if every true disciple could be continually confronted by a fresh bulletin of news from the world-wide field and kept familiar with the movements of every assaulting column now moving against Satan's citadels, all the workmen and all the money-both the per80nnel and materiel of war-would De voluntarily furnished for prosecuting this colossal campaign I To do our part of this work well-this is the absorbing question. To mix. UP the secular spirit with the Lord's work is fatal to a true and large success; and, above all other work, missions mean and demand self-sacrifice. We could no~ ask a large blessing upon any plans that had in view such gross pay as silver and gold. A Review, such as we conduct, i(not likely to be a money-making investment; if the necessary price of its production is met we are content, and any surplus would go to enrich its contents and cheapen its cost, and so enlarge its circulation and influence.
The time has come, moreover, for a Review of Missions that may take its place side by side with the ablest periodicals in the secular sphere. The gospel has found its way into Cresar's household, as well as into the jailer's family and Bethany's humble home. God is now calling the wise, the mighty, the noble, to the kingdom. Merchant princes, public leaders, statesmen, journalists, philosophers, generals, judges, sages, bow at the cradle of Christ as did the Eastern seers. Kings' daughters are among the honorable women who follow the Saviour and minister to Him of their substance, and at His right hand stands more than one queen in gold of ophir. Piety is not linked with stupidity and superstition, ignorance and imbecility. Even the infidel no longer sneers at the gospel as "fit only for women, children, and small men." The thoughtful, cultured classes of society are compelled to ask whence came that wonderful religion that illustrates the survival of the fittest because fittest to survive; that amazes the evolutionist by not being evolved at aU, but springing at once into maturity without development, and yet defies for eighteen centuries all improvement, either by addition or subtraction I And we are profoundly persuaded that a Review of Missions, properly conducted, will not only inform the ignorant and enlighten and educate the uncultivated, but may also command and compel the attention of the most intellectual and intelligent readers, and bring them into closer and more practical fellowship with mission work.
Such aims and objects necessitate no little outlay of brains and money and hard work. 'I'o these pages we invite first-class contributions, and we therefore offer propel' compensation. Culture is a costly product in the intellectual market. The pen that is dipped in liquid gold commands gold as the wages of its work and the means of refilling its magic inkstand. Literary work brings a high price because it is bought with a large sum. We cannot ask able writers to furnish us papers gratuitously, though some of them do so, unsolicited. We began this REVIEW determined that, whether it broug"ht us any compensation or not as editors, our contributors should be paid; and we have observed this rule, not only to the utmost limit of our resources, but beyond it.
There are some directions in which we need prompt and vigorous co-operation from the Christian public, and we ask every reader to give us aid.
1. First of all, we wish for our REVIEW a greatly enlarged circulation. The same cost of time and strength by which we now reach 10,000 subscribers, may as well avail for 100,000; and the larger the list of subscribers the smaller the relative cost of production, and therefore the less the price of the REVIEW. Every pastor ought to have a copy, and to secure its wide circulation in a congregation would double and treble the annual gifts to lllissions. Is there not in every church some godly man or woman who will try at least to collect enough money to supply the pastor with THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD? And with l:;Iow little labor might copy after copy find its way into the homes of leading families? The pastors are leaders, and missionary interest in any congregation seldom rises above their level. "But we greatly desire that in every family the news from the mission field may find eager readers, if not always paying subscribers. Let every subscriber, therefore, take pains to see that his copy is read outside the limits of his own home. After it has done service in his own household, let it be sent on its rounds, visiting homes where otherwise it would not find its way, to spread information and inspire interest.
If a pastor would take the trouble to suggest to his people the raising of a club and request a suitable person to take it in charge, our circulation would be trebled among them and they would get the REVIEW at a less price. Ten subscriptions for $15; or for 20 at $2 each, a large missionary map of the world, which is sold for $20 by its publishers, is given. And the map and the circulation of 20 copies of THE REVIEW for a year among his people would largely increase the interest in and the gifts to the missionary cause.
We crave help to enlarge our free list. We renew our appealfor a Review Mission Fund, by which we may furnish copies gratuitously, orat less than cost, to young men and women who are studying and preparing for work in the mission field. Whenever $1 is sent us, we add what is necessary to pay for a free copy, and place it where it will do the most good. In this way we last year put it into the hands of several hundred volunteers.
2. Secondly, we ask aid, from any quarter, in providing matter for the pages of THE REVIEW i and particularly information from all parts of the field. Accurate and prompt reports of the Lord's work in any land we cordially welcome, and if necessary will pay for. What we specially desire is, early and authentic reports from all the missionary societies of the world. If the Secretaries of these many societies will see to it that we are furnished with advance sheets of their annual reports, or a copy of the report itself when issued, we will invariably publish a careful abstract of it in the REVIEW. Many have done so, and we have, including the Woman's Boards, given the past year the latest authentic statistics of some 125 societies. We have not yet attained to the scientific form of the late Mr. Wilder's reports, but we hope in time greatly to exceed them in fullness and practical worth, if not in the element of scientific arrangement. But very much depends on the co-operation of the friends of missions, in the foreign fields and in the Boards and Societies at home. Let every reader remember that, in effect, he is one of the editors and publishers of this REVIEW; these pages are at his command to improve almost without limit. Give us a larger constituency and so a wider circulation; give us contributions from the whole field, reports of all existing societies, helpful suggestions, and in general a helping hand; and, to the last limit of our ability and resourCQS, we will make this MISSION- ARyREVIEW OF THE WORLD worthy of its name, and of the cordial place already accorded to it in the hearts of thousands of readers.
Never was the whole field of missions so inviting or the harvest so prom- ising. Never was the Church of Christ furnished with facilities so ample and abundant for the speedy and successful accomplishment of her work. Human thought and social changes move with a rapidity unknown in the lethargic ages of the past. There is a stirring of all the elements both of individual and national life; new conditions exist; new aspirations are awakened, and new developments are possible. The next decade of years will witness not only evolutions but revolutions that even now seem incredi- ble within so short a time. The Church of Christ must push all her forces' to the front, and lay a moulding hand on the plastic material of social life. The anointed tongue and the consecrated pen, the printed page and the living ep~tle, the Church and the school, the Christian family and the Chris- , tian home, must unite their witness to the power of the gospel in the eyes and ears of every creature.
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AS THE ENTERPRISE OF THE CHURCH
I A word by way of apology. It has caused us no little painand.mortification that, in spite of our best endeavors, a few typographical errors have marred the pages of the REvmw hitherto. This has been owing to the fact that the printing-office which does our work has undergone, as all business establishments are liable to, frequent and radical changes during the year, resulting in more or less chaos and haste, over which we had no control. We are determined, however, that this state of things shall no longer exist.
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AS THE ENTERP;EUSE OF THE CHURCH.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. p.] To proclaim the gospel in aU the world and to every creature is, in the most emphatic sense, the one divine vocation of disciples. It is the King's business; not only as committed to us by the King Himself, and bearing the signature and seal of royal authority, but as the business which the King, first of all, Himself undertook. In all missions, the pio- , neer and exemplar, the inspiring leader and peerless worker, was and is our imperial Divine Captain. He compressed into one sentence His whole subjective biography: "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost." Luke likewise compressed into one sentence His whole objective history: H He went about doing good." All intelli- gent zeal in missions kindles its enthusiasm from the live coal brought from that celestial altar whereon the Lamb of God was offered in self- consuming devotion. The highest heroism is but a borrowed beauty; it only reflects luster from that face that shone with the supreme supernal glory of perfect unselfishness. The vindication and the inspiration of all missionary work are alike found in this: that He, the King of kings, emptied Himself of His divine attributes and divested' Himself of His divine glory and consented to the limitations of a human nature and an earthly life, that He might take the form of a servant and become obedient to death, even the death of the cross.
However loosely we may use that phrase, H cross-bearing," it has one, and only one, scriptural application: "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Christ took up the cross. That, to Him, meant self-sacrifice jor others' salvationj and it means that, and only that, to every follower or disciple. Life's petty annoyances and vexations, the daily trials of patience and tests of temper, may be spoken of as "our crosses," and everything that " crosses" us may be construed as a cross. But the Word of God authorizes no such breadth of application or interpretation; it knows noplurality oj crosses j the plural form of that word is never once :found in Scripture~ Moreover, it is not our cross, but His cross; or ours only as it is first His. To" bear the cross" after Him is to give up our- selves to a life, or if need be a death, as He did, for the sake of saving souls. Moses anticipated such oblivious self-offering when he plead: "And now, if thou wilt, forgive their sin-;' and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." The true interpre- tation of that sublime intercession of the great Jewish 'lawgiver is not found in a desperate determinatioll to be identified with Israel even in their rejection; but, as we conceive, Moses was offering himself as a sacrifice for the sinning people with whom God was so justly incensed: "rather than not forgive them, blot me out of thy book!" Paul, long after and with far more light upon the glory of such divine altruism, said: "I could wish that myself were accursed from Ohrist for my brethren." That was bearing the cross; that was being crucified with Ohrist; that entitled the great apostle of the Gentiles to say: "From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks (u'!"IrtLa'!"a) of the Lord Jesus."
This, then, is the business to which the King gave Himself, even unto death, and which He has entrusted to all disciples. First of all, we are to get salvation, and then to give it; and to get it that we may give it. Every disciple is called to be a co-worker with God the Father) a co-sufferer with God the Son, a co-witness with God the Holy Ghost,* in the saving of souls. Whatever other pursuit may claim our attention and endeavor, this is the one business of every disciple's life. This is his vocation; all other things are but avocations. This is the one and only legitimate calling deserving to "occupy" us "till He come." Until this truth and fact be acknowledged and felt-until this obligation and privilege become real and vivid, vital and vitalizing-there can be no adequate prosecution of the work of missions. Until then the impulse and impetus are lacking: there is no adequate motiv'e to become a motor to our personal and ecclesiastical machinery. Weare building without a base, and the whole structure is unstable.
But, on the other hand, let this conception of life, duty and responsibility take tenacious hold of every believer: I am called of God to bear the cross after Ohrist, to follow the same business which He followedseeking and saving the lost. Then let a holy affection-a passion for souls-set this conception on fire with the flame of love! And, before such a conviction, transfigured into such overpowering enthusiasm, the work of missions would advance as forest fires move, with the strides of a giant and the speed of the whirlwind, sweeping or melting all obstacles in its path, rapid and resistless as the march of God! Such will be the energy of our work for God, when we rightly conceive it, and receive into our hearts the omnipotence of its appeal, and of its impulsive and propulsive and expulsive passion for souls.
But another kindred result will follow: We shall take up missions with a new spirit of enterprise. That word, enterprise, has come to have a fixed and definite meaning. It suggests an undertaking of importa~ce, an arduous endeavor, with the acceptance of hazard or * See 1 Cor. iii: 9; Col. i: 24; John xv: 26,27. risk. It admits difficulty as a factor in the problem and hardihood as the price of success.
Christian missions represent the most colossal undertaking ever presented to the mind of man. Here is a world lying in the lap of the evil one, and entangled in his seductive snares as Samson was ill the net of Delilah's wantonness. Here are fifteen hundred millions of perishing people to be overtaken with· the gospel message, if at all; within the life-time of a generation. Yet Christ says to a comparatively few disciples: "Give ye them to eat," and yet what we have seems hopelessly inadequate provision for such a vast multitude. But there is the authority of the King; He certainly will not command what is impossible or even impracticable. With proper organization and distribution of this multitude into companies; with our few barley loaves brought to Him to be blessed, broken and mnltiplied as broken; with simple faith in His power and presence, and with implicit obedience to His Word, we may not only feed all these millions, but find fragments left in abundance; for the gospel provision strangely multiplies as it is divided.
All true enterprises are earnestly prosecuted. David said to * Abimelech: "The king's business requireth haste." And prompt- ness, celerity of movement, needs to be introduced into our way of doing the King's business, as a part of our loyal obedience to His command. In the book of Esther we are furnished with an example of the haste with which a royal decree may be carried out. t First the fatal word went forth at the prompting of wicked Haman-a decree of death-unto the King's lieutenants, the provincial governors and rulers, to every -people after their language; a copy of the, writing was published unto all people, aIld the posts went out, hastened by the King's commandment. Afterwards when that counter-decree of life was issued, written in the king's name and sealed with his signet, letters were dispatched by posts on horseback and riders on mules, camels and young dromedaries. There were 127 provinces to be reached ;- the empire of Ahasuerus stretched from the Danube and the Nile on the west to the Indus and the Ganges on the east, and from the Black Sea and the Caspian on the north to the P61:sian .Gulf and the Indian Ocean on the south – its length nearly two thousand and its breadth nearly one thousand miles. It was on the three and twentieth day of the month Sivan that the king's scribes were called to put that decree in writing; it had to be translated into every language represented in those provinces from Ethiopia to India; it had to be promulg-ctted with haste, and yet without one of those modern facilities which we possess. There were no printing-presses,. postal unions or telegraphs; no railro&ds or steamships. Every copy must be transcribed by hand, and borne by mes- * 1 Sam. xxi: 8. t Estheriii.-viii. sengers who could move no faster than horses and mules, camels and dromedaries could carry them. And yet, through all those 127 provinces that decree was actually published upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month Adar! Throughout that wide domain, to every Persian subject, that message of the king was thus born13 in less tha,n nine months I More than eighteen hundred and fifty years ago the King of kings issued a decree of salvation and bade His disciples bear the Word of life to every creature in all this world's vast empire. And now, after waiting with divine patience for nearly nineteen centuries, He sees threefourths ojthe htlman race yet without the knowledge of the good news of grace! It is plain without argument that the Ohurch of Ohrist has never yet, in any proper sense, attempted to solve this practical problem. When Dr. Duff declared that as yet we have been only" playing at missions," he meant that this world-wide work has never been seriously conducted as the enterprise of the Ohurch. We have not yet felt that the King's command is urgent and the King's business requireth haste. Were true, sound, sensible, practical business principles applied to this 'problem, no hindrance would be huge enough even to delay the prose- cution of the work solemnly committed to the Ohurch of Ohrist. And once more we record our solemn conviction that, with thorough organi- zation, sanctified resolve and practical co-operation throughout the Ohurch, the gospel may be preached as a witness, not only among all nations, but to every living creature, within the lifet'ime oj the present generation, or even before the present century closes.
In affirming this conviction we do not forget the wide extent of ter- ritory yet to be covered with gospel effort. There are unoccupied provinces, absolutely without a single missionary or mission station. Kurdistan with 3,000,000; Afghanistan with 8,000,000; Anam with 30,000,000; Africa, north of the Equator and west of the Nile basin, with 50,000,000 more; Thibet and Mongolia, virtually left to the dominion of the grand Lama; Arabia, over whose whole ex- tent floats the green flag of the False Prophet ;-these are some of the territories yet to be taken possession of in the name of Ohrist. A few years since Mr. Stevenson, of the Ohina Inland Mission, went from Bhamo, in Upper Burmah, to Ohungking in Ohuen, Ohina, a distance of over 1,000 miles, ,and for 500 miles north and south of his line of travel, only one station, K wei-Yang, then existed! Stanley in Africa, journeying from the Great Lakes in the east to the rapids of the Oongo, found not one native Ohristian in 7,000 miles of travel.
Even countries nominally fields of mission labor are not occupied. Siam, with eight or ten millions of impressible people, whose King, Ohulalangkorn, is the most intelligent and progressive ruler in Asia, and the active, generous friend and patron of the missionaries, has a few Baptists working among resident Ohinese in Bangkok, and less than a score of Presbyterians, constituting the sole working force to bring those millions to the knowledge of God; and yet Siam has single cities with 200,000 inhabitants where there is not one mission station or even evangelist; and such things as this are true after more than eighteen centuries of Christian history! – The wide area of unoccupied territory needs not dismay us. Africa and Asia together embrace less than 26,000,000 square miles, only about twelve or thirteen times as much as the Persian Empire in the days of Ahasuerus. If in those days the royal proclamation could be carried through the imperial dominions in nine months, what is to hin- der our bearing the gospel message through these two continents in nine years? With all our modern facilities and instrumentalities we could certainly cover a territory twelve times as large in a period twelve times as long!
This thought of a possible proclamation of the Word of life to every living creature before this century closes, we have sought to trumpet forth by tongue and pen for twenty years; and it has never yet been shown to be either impossible or impracticable. It can be done; it OUGHT to be done; it MUST be done. We must cross this Jordan of Selfishness and roll away this reproach of neglect at the Gilgal of a new consecration. We must resolutely marcq around Jericho and blow the gospel trumpet. Let men deride the fewness of our missionary band, and the foolishness of preaching. Let pagan priests and heathen phil- osophers ridicule the credulous faith that expects to see ancient systems fall before the peal of a Jubilee trump. God's word is pledged. "Lo, r am with you alway." The Church of Christ has but to undertake this work, in the energy of the Spirit and with the enterprise of a true consecration, and wonders will follow to which even Pentecost was but a prelude and precursor. Yes, thig- King's business requires haste. Be- hind that command, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," there stands the majesty of imperial mtthority.
Such authority is itself urgency. He obeys not the King who does not move promptly, immediately. Celerity of movement is a necessary part of loyalty and fidelity. To move tardily at the King's command is next to open treason.
The opportunUy calls for haste. God sets before the Church an open door, great and effectual. While the command rings in our ears, "Go ye"! 10, silently but suddenly the iron gates of intolerance and igno- rance, bigotry and superstition, swing open as of their own accord. Ob- stacles that for a thousand years have stood like walls of adamant quickly disappear. But what is thus our opportune; hour is also Sa· tan's, and he appreciates and improves it, if we do not. Forward into these new openings he pushes his obedient servants, with all theirvari- ous agencies and instruments of destruction. He sends his emissaries to preach his anti-gospel and carryon his crusade of infidelity and immorality and set up his printing-presses to scatter the literature of death. Satan never lacks earnestness or enterprise in his work.
Meanwhile, what are we doing? Trifling with the whole matter of a world's evangelization; trifling on a magnificent scale! Since our Lord on Calvary breathed His dying prayer, fifty successive generations of human beings have passed away. In this awful aggregate twenty-five times the present population of the globe have perished without the gospel; and as yet the entire Christian Church sends less than 6,000 laborers into the foreign field and spends less than $12,000,000 a year on the world-wide work!
Never yet have we been in haste to enter even the most conspicuously open door. That word" opportunity" is full of ethical suggestiveness: ob, over against; portus, the harbor. The gospel ship lies at the very entrance of the harbor whose wide-stretching arms and open gates invite entrance, and where millions of people wait to welcome the gospel. While God's breezes blow toward the port and we have only to spread sail and speed on ward, we lie at anchor as if becalmed, or move so slowly and sluggishly that the barges of the vain pleasureseeker and the swift gall~ys of a piratical foe sweep past us and preoccupy the openings. Where is the enthusiasm of the Christian Ohurch ! Where our zeal for God, our sympathy for a lost race, our loyalty to our Lord, our sense of duty and responsibility!
Moreover, behold the King's couriers and posts, furnished by His providence, ready to do our bidding in hastening the King's business! First, the printing-press, what a magnificent help to evangelization, ready to multiply copies of the Word in any tongue, at a trifling cost and with incredible speed! . From a single steam-press thousands of copies may be produced every month, and tracts and religious books by the million pages. Here is a doubly useful messenger in the work of evangelization. It moves like a magic shuttle, to and fro. While it multiplies and scatters afar the message of the gospel, it spreads at home information of the workabroad. This courier of the King he never sent forth until the Dark Ages were giving place to the new dawn of the Reformation, and the Church was prepared to attend to the King's business. This courier we must use, as never hitherto, to scatter information of the King's work among disciples, as well as to scatter the leaves of the tree of life among the heathen. Information is the handmaid of evangelization. Thousands of intelligent disciples are ignorant of missions. One of the foremost philanthropists of England, to whom a copy of "The Crisis of Missions" was sent, wrote to the author: "I am sorry to confess that of the bulk of the facts which you present I have hitherto been entirely ignorant." No wonder the flame of zeal burns low when no fuel feeds its fires, and no oil fills its l~mps.
Money is another of the King's couriers. Consecrated capital is not only potent, it is well-nigh omnipotent. No marvel that Mammon is treated III the Bible as a rival god to Jehovah. Wealth suggests divine attributes-omnipotence, omnipresence, immortality, transforming en- I ergy. To have and to use money well is to multiply personal power a thousand fold, nay, to multiply one's self a thousand fold. The giver is potentially wherever his gift is. Sarah Hosmer's frugal savings educated six young men to preach the gospel in Oriental lands, and where they were she had her representatives and preached through them. A man recently died in New York City whose noble benefactious had spread so far that in not less than two hundred and fifty different places he was represented by a mission Sunday-school, a church, an asylum, a hospital, a college or seminary, or some other form of beneficence: his money made him virtually omnipresent as a benefactor. Money makes the giver also immortal. It represents not what is transient, but what is permanent. The good that men do with money lives after them; it is not interred with their bones. They who use it aright hold the lever of God, and lift a whole people to a loftier planemultiplying themselves indefinitely and rendering themselves practically present wherever their donations are doing work in their behalf ; and so even when dead their works do follow them, and they survive themselves!
If the King's business requires haste, there are ready facilities to meet the requirement. Sanctijied scholarsh-ip is another royal courier, pre- ' pared to mount the swift steeds of modern civilization and bear the divine tidings to every nation in its own native tongue. When Ohrist gave His command, he addressed humble, unlettered men. Since then the gospel has found its way into Cresar's household. Here are the princes of this world, the seers and.sages, bowing at the cross. The Bible has been translated into over three hundred languages and dialects. A Ohristian literature has been created and may be reproduced in any known language 6f earth. Steam has been harnessed to the gospel chariot-nay, even lightning waits to do the Ohurch's bidding. What are we waiting for? Twenty thousand millions of dollars lie. in the coffers of the Protestant church members of Great Britain and America; 3,000 young men and women are knocking at the doors of the church asking to be sent abroad; the whole world permits and invites missionary approach; there is every preparation for such universal movement and such rapid progress as no other century ever even forecast. WHAT IS THE OHURCH OF OHRIST WAITING FOR?
The necessity and feasibility of a grand campaign for Ohrist, with reference to the immediate occupation of all unoccupied fields, and the immediate proclamation of the gospel to every living soul, are beyond dispute. After a wide discussion by the ablest writers upon the subject of missions, the conviction is only established that the present crisis imperatively demands that the entire forces of the Christian Church should be enlisted and engaged in this glorious work. A spirit.
of consecrated enterprise must apply to this giant problem the best and soundest business principles; a system must be devised which shall prevent waste of time, money, and men, and economize and administer all the available forces of the Church. The imperial clarion of our tord, as with the peal of the last trnmp, summons all His hosts for the great crusade. , Nehemiah was a model organizer. He built up the broken walls of the Holy City, and with a small, poor remnant of the people finished the work in fifty-two days. The perfection of his organization was the secret of his success, and it embraced three grand principles: first, division of labor-every man at work over against his own door; sec- ondly, co-operation-all engaged in one work and operating upon one plan; thirdly, concentration-all at the sound of the trumpet rallying to defend any weak and assaulted point. Put those three principles into practice in the work of foreign missions, and we may build the wall of gospel witness around the world in a few years; we may push the advance of our missionary hosts so rapidly and systematically, that on every hill, in every valley, from equator to pules and from sea to sea, the gospel's silver trumpet shall sound.
Fifty years ago seven humble men in a shoemaker's shop in Hamburg undertook the work of evangelization on the principle of individual responsibility. In twenty years they had organized 50 churches, gathered 10,000 converts, distributed 400,000 Bibles and 8,000,000 pages of tracts, and preached the gospel to 50,000,000 of people. As they went from place to place the work grew, and new converts in- spired with similar zeal became helpers, so that a population as great as that of the United States, or of the Congo Free State, heard the gospel within those twenty years. If any are distrustful of mere arithmetic as applied to the problem of missions, here is a practi~al proof that it is perfectly feasible so to organize the work as to reach 100,000,000 of people every year, and that, too, with only an insignificant Gideon's band. An English preacher asked some British soldiers, "If Queen Vic- toria were to issue a proclamation, and, placing it in the hands of her army and navy, were to say, 'Go ye into all the world and proclaim it to every creature,' how long do you think it would take to do it?"
One of these brave fellows, accustomed to obey orders without hesita- tion or delay and at peril of life, promptly answered, " Well, I tkink we could manage it in about eighteen months."
There are, perhaps, in round numbers, thirty millions of Protestant church me:gJ.bers in the world. Could each of that number somehow reach thirty-three of the unsaved, the whole thousand million would be eva~gelized; and could each be brought to give one cent a day, our missionary treasuries would overflow with over one hundred millions of dollars every year. Of course we cannot depend upon enlisting in this " work all church members. Nominal Protestants include millions of mere professors, members of state churches, formalists and ritU(tlists, and millions more who, while they profess to be disciples, are actually immoral and infidel. But let us suppose that there are ten 'millions of true disciples who can be brought into line, and who by systematic effort can be made to furnish men and money for this work, even 1vith this tenth part oj Ohristendom the world may be evangelized bifore the twentieth century dawns.
Weare not responsible for conversion, but we are responsible for con- tact. We cannot compel any man to decide for Christ, but we may compel every man to decide one way or the other; that is, we may so bring to eyery human being the gospel message, that the responsibility is transferred from us to him, and that we are delivered from blood- guiltiness. God will take care of the results, if we do our duty. We are to preach this gospel everywhere" for a witness "-not coldly, officially, formally, but earnestly, prayerfully, lovingly. Christian churches, schools, institutions, homes, reared in the midst of pagan communities, constitute part of this" witness" to the power of the gospel; then, whether the gospel prove a savor of life or of death, our fidelity will not fail of its reward.
We repeat, that it is our solemn and mature conviction that before the close of this century the gospel might be brought into contact with every living soul; for if we could so organize and utilize ten millions of disciples as that everyone should be the means of reaching with the good tidings one hundred other souls, during the lifetime of this gen- eration all the present population of the globe would be evangelized; or, if the sublime purpose should inspire the whole Church to do this work before this century ends, each of this ten million believer::; has only to reach between eight and nine souls every year for the twelve years that remain. .
When Sir Thomas More's "Utopia" was first published there were some who construed the fiction as fact; and they said, "But there is among these Utopians no mansion of gospel truth: let us go and tell them the good news!" Is it not high time that we re~lized that the destitute and desperate condition of a lost race is fact and not fiction; and that, having the Bread of Life, we carry to the starving millions of earth's popUlation the gospel of salvation, with the promptness and holy haste which are the only fit way to attend to the King's business?
At the beginning of this new year, let us write on the very door- posts of our churches and houses, and on our gates, this grand motto: THE WHOLE WORLD TO BE EVANGELIZED IN THE PRESENT GENERATION.
" Let us go up at once and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." The Earl of Shaftes~ury said: "During the latter part of
HENRY MARTYN
these centuries it has been in the power of those who hold the truth, having means enough, having knowledge enough, and having opportunity enough, to evangelize the globe fifty times over." Recent testimony is given by 120 nTtssionaries in China, representatives of twenty-one Protestant societies. They say: aWe want China emancipated from the thraldom of sin £n this generation. It is possible." Our Lord has said, "According to your faith be it unto you." The Ohurch of God can do it, if she be only faithful to her great commission. This statement comes from those who are intimately acquainted with the discouragements-who know the difficulties. And now" for the sake of the Name," that name which is above every name, "the love of Ohrist constraining us," let us go forth. Let the sublime faith and hope of such a grand result, under divine leadership, inspire our effort. Pastors, awake! Be yourselves flaming missionaries! From the lofty altitude of your own high devotion let the stream descend that shall raise every devout hearer to a higher level. Fan the slumbering embers of a smouldering missionary zeal-heap the facts like fuel on the fires. Make the coldest congregation hot with your own burning enthusiasm. Parents, bring up your children to see the dark places of the earth and the habitations of cruelty before their eyes, as Oarey's rude map confronted him on that sheet of leather in his cobbler's shop! Merchants, open your treasuries and pour out your money. Never was an altar that so consecrated the gift. Meanwhile, let the voice of prayer, as with tho mingling sound of multitudinous waves, surge against the throne of God!
HENRY MARTYN.
BY JAMES M. LUDLOW, D.D., EAST ORANGE, N. J.
IN the year 1812 a lone traveler, passing through Eastern Asia Minor, died at Tokat. His dragoman even did not know his full name, but scratched something like it upon a rude slab and went his way. The grave was soon covered by the sand from a mountain stream. They who buried him thought of him only as one of the millions who every year fan into forgotten graves. But this man was missed. Though but thirty-one years of age, he had struck the chord of heroic appreciation in England and America as almost no other man had. A statesman said: "His name is the one heroic name which adorns the annals of the English Ohurch from the days of Elizabeth to our own." His grave was sought; his body removed to a more public spot; a handsome monument reared, and inscribed with his praise in four languages. Lord Macaulay, with fine appreciation of the truly great in character coming from familiarity with the heroes of all ages, who thrills us with his lines on Horatius and Harry of Navarre, was affected to reverence by the story of this young man's life and wrote this epitaph: , " Here Martyn lies! In manhood's early bloom The Christian hero found a pagan tomb; Religion, sorrowing o'er her favorite son, Points to the glorious trophies which he won.
Eternal trophies, not with slaughter red, Not stained with tears by hopeless captives shed, But trophies of the cross. For that dear naJ1le Through every form of danger, death and shame, Onward he journeyed to a happier shore, Where danger, death and shame are known no more."
Henry Martyn was born in Oornwall, England, in 1781. At sixteen he entered Oambridge University. He was intensely ambitious, and was nettled because at the early examinations he took only the second position. But at twenty he graduated as Senior Wrangler, with the first honor.
He could, however, apply his mind better than control his passionate nature. Angered one day he threw a large knife at a comrade, who dodged it, and let it stick quivering in the wall, instead of in the intended victim's heart. He was self-willed even to obstinacy and surliness to his father. No natural saint was he.
His after saintliness was not due to development, but total change, point-blank conversion. Its occasio,n was the death of his father, and the thought that it was now too late to ask from those cold lips forgiveness for his undutiful conduct. He could only go to God for it. But, having once come before that throne, and felt upon his soul the shadow of God's condemnation for sin, all his pride was crushed; having felt the light of God's countenance reconciled, his soul was ever after filled with gratitude and love. From this time Martyn was another man. 'rhat strong willfulness became strong willingness, as he gave his whole being up to his Redeemer. He was ambitious still, but he had now an Over-lord, even Ohrist. His favorite text was" Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not, saith the Lord." So thoroughly did he belong to Ohrist that selfish honors no longer pleased him. When he graduated first in his class, he wrote: "I obtained my highest wishes, but was surprised to find I had grasped a shadow." His energy was not lessened, rather intensified, by having higher appeals, those of conscience and service, added to natural desire; and his faculties were new-fired by his communion with the Holy Spirit. Yet he was not without tremendous temptations from his old ambition. For a while he proposed to study law, "chiefly," he says, "because I could not consent to be poor for Ohrist's sake." But he did not know his newer self when he thought that way, and when the moment of decision came he turned his back upon all prospect of secular gain, and sought the ministry. He could not restrain his impulse for Ohristian service; it came out in daily incidents of conduct. He once rebuked a fellow student for sinful trifling. Speaking on the im1ulse, he thought he had overstepped propriety; but the honesty of his manner gave such weight to his rebuke that it led to his friend's conversion, and in after years they labored together in the foreign mission field.
But that was not the day of missionary interest such as now fills the Church. Carey had gone to India, the first English missionary there; and David Brainerd had laid down his life for Christ among the A.merican Indians. Vanderkemp was in South Africa. 'l'hese and a few others were then the far-scattered stars in what has now become resplendent galaxies of missionary heroes and martyrs in many lands.
To conceive the idea of being a missionary showed independence, enter- prise, courage, and far-sighted pioneer faith not required of those who now go out to help bring in the spoil of almost a century's campaign in pagan lands.
Martyn was in spirit alone in the world when he formed the missionary purpose, almost as much as when he lay down to die at Tokat. He loved his home; hearts close to his seemed necessary to the existence of his warm, affectionate nature. Could he break these ties? He was a man of most exquisite intellectual refinement, by genius a student, with a brilliant career awaiting him in a university chair, or as leader of a refined congregation. Could he give his life to the dull monotony of teaching the most degraded people the rudiments of decency and truth'? There was no glamour about the work. It was not a roseate outlook, but one of dirt and dreariness to anyone; and especially to a man physically weak, knowing that he inherited 'a tendency to disease that needed to be counteracted by tender living. He wrote, "This is what flesh cannot endure." There was one other obstacle, such as has determined the career of many a man. He was deeply attached to a lady of rarest worth in all that a noble man would seek ina wife.
His affection was returned. But she could not accompany him to the mission field. Thus to go was to isolate himself from everything which made life worth living, looked at from the standpoint of self.
Yet he said, "I will go," though he, quite naturally under the cir- cumstances, made that great offering of himself in the very words of Christ when expiring on Calvary, and of Stephen bowing his head to martyrdom, "Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." Why not? The man then died to the world as truly as if he had mounted a funeral pyre. ,I In 1805 Henry Martyn sailed for India. Nine months were con- sumed in the journey, which took him across to South America and then back around Cape Good Hope. Much of the time was spent in hard study, mastering the Hindustani language, varied by burning fever as the fiery conflict of his thought consumed his very flesh. He tells us that the most helpful uninspired sentence he ever heard was one that he found at this time in Milner's" History of the Church" ; "To believe, to su:ffel', and to love was the primitive state," i.e., of the early Ohristians. This he made the purpose of his life. At the Oape of Good Hope he went ashore. A furious war was raging between the English and Dutch for the possession of that point. Amid the horrors of the battle-field, bending over the fallen forms of English, Dutch, or Hottentot braves, he had his baptismal experience of a kind of duty such as the elegant and thronged churches of England never gave him.
Arriving iu Oalcutta he"was felled by fever, and his weakened body became a source of discouragement overcome only by his deathless devotion. The horrid rites of widow burning and devil worship were then practiced. He said he "shivered as standing in the neighborhood of hell." English friends urged his remaining at Oalcntta, where he would meet with countrymen and could preach as much as he wished without danger, receiving a salary as army chaplain. But :Martyn determined to go to the heathen beyond, to whom others would not go.
For weeks he pushed his way in a little boat up the Ganges, during the day translating Scripture into Bengalee by the aid of his boatmen, at night talking of Ohrist to the natives on the shore. Passing into new provinces he found new dialects to be mastered. His rare scholarly habit and genius came to his help. At Dinapore we find this in his diary of a day: ":Morning in Sanscrit; afternoon, Bahar dialect; continued late at night writing on Parables in Bengalee. The wickedness and'cruelty of wa,sting a moment when so many nations are waiting till I do my work." He finds that he has use for Arabic, too, in dealing with :Mohammedans, and thflrefore masters that tongue. Then the Persian language is studied. The mau seems to have been a mingling of :Max :Muller and Livingstone.
Through the glaring sun he traversed the sandy plains of the Ganges hundreds of miles to Oawnpore, fainting, fevered, with a terrible disease developing in his chest. He preached statedly to the soldiers in the barracks, and at times the poor natives would gather by the thousand in front of his door to receive his alms and hear his addresses. A strange fascination went out from his person to all who came in contact with him. A fellow English Ohristian, speaking of :Martyn's ill health. said: "If I could make you live longer, I would give up any child I have, and myself into the bargain."
Physical nature could not endure the strain of that intense spirit, and :Martyn's condition necessitated his return to England. But ha was not quite satisfied with the correctness of his Persian translation of the New Testament, and therefore proposed to put in an intermediate journey to Persia to perfect it. Pale, emaciated, too weak to speak except in a low voice, he seemed to live only by force of soul. They beheld him" standing on the verge of another world, and ready to take his flight," rather than about to endure another earthly journey. His thirtieth birthday found him en 1'01100 for Persia. In his journal he says: "I am now at the age when the Saviour of men began His ministry-when John the Baptist called a nation to repentance. Let me now think for myself and act with energy. Hitherto I have made my youth and insignificance an excuse for sloth and imbecility; now let me have a character and act for God."
After several months he reached Persia. He was prostrated by sunstroke. Recovering sufficient strength, he penetrated the country. The thermometer in June ranged from 120 degrees to 126 degrees. He existed only by wrapping hip1self in heavy blankets to exclude the heat, or wet blankets to temper ~t. So he traversed the plains. Then over the mountains where the cold at night was piercing, but with a fire in his head, his skin dryas a cinder, his pulse almost convulsive.
Reaching Shiraz, the Persian seat of learning, he began a new translation of the Testament with the help of some intelligent Persian gentlemen. While doing this work he debated publicly with their great men, and wrote articles in reply to their chief books. Sharp arguments were sometimes inspersed with brick-bats hurled at his head. Withinthe year his translation was completed. He would lay it before the Persian king. To accomplish this another long journey was undertaken. To its natural hardship was added the danger to his life from the bigotry of the people, as they knew his mission to introduce a foreign religion. He one day attended a reception given by the Vizier, bringing his Bible. Vizier challenged him with "You had better say, 'God is God, and Mahomet is the prophet of God.'" Martyn replied, at the risk of losing his head, "God is God, and Jesus is the Son of God." The by-standel'S cried out, "What will you say when your tongue is burnt out for such blasphemy?" They would have trampled the Bible with their feet had not Martyn rescued the manuscript from the floor.
But'what was the use of antagonizing the prejudices of the people? Had we simply the· diary of Martyn we might only be able to say that his burning zeal would not permit him to be silent. Everywhere he went he must be talking about Christ. But there was a providence in his tongue that he knew not of. Years afterward Sir Robert Ker Porter, in journeying through Persia, was met by people who asked if he knew "the man of God," some one who had made an impression upon the people like that of a brief sojourn of an angel among them. They said ~'He came here in the midst of us, sat down encircled by our wise men, and made such remarks upon our Koran as cannot be answered. We want to know more about his religion and the book he left among us." At Shlraz, long after Martyn's death, there lived an accomplished Persian, Mohamed Ratem, who confessed that for years he had been secretly a Ohristian. He had been convinced, he said, by "a beardlesl!. youth; enfe~bled by disease; who ~ave him a book," which had sinc~ been his constant companion. It was a Persian New Testament, and on a blank leaf the name Henry Martyn.
Martyn probably knew nothing of his personal influence upon these people; as little as we know the result of our lives.
But to return to our narrative. He was out of money, and would have starved but for help from a poor muleteer. Burning with fever, aching with weariness, breathing with difficulty from the progress of his disease, he reached Tabriz, where the English ambassador received him. For two months Sir Gore Ousley and his lady watched by his bedside, until temporary return of strength allowed his departure. In the meantime the ambassador himself presented the New Testament in Persian to the king, by whom it was graciously received and publicly commended; since which it has shone as a day star of hope to Ohristian missions in that part of the world. England has spent millions of money and many lives of soldiers in Persia. but the work of Henry Martyn, though his face was hardly known to its people, has accomplished a thousand fold more.
His work done, the frail man started for home. Thirteen hundred miles overland must be traversed before he could reach even Oonstantinople. With a heartless dragoman and servant he started across burning plains, dangerous rivers, under the mighty peak of Mount Ararat, through dense forests, drenching rains and thieving villages, he rushed onward, though fainting, and always with the dread fever or chill. After a month or more of this sort of life, we find the last note in his journal, Oct. 6, 1812: "No horses to be had, I had unexpected repose. I sat in an orchard and thought with sweet comfort and peace of my God-in solitude my company, my friend and comforter. Oh! when shall time give place to eternity?" Ten days later he was dead. How he died no one knows, except that it was alone. There was no loving kiss of wife or sister or friend upon the chilling brow, but as they would say in the East, "God kissed him and drew out his soul."
Friends·in distant India waited for the coming of one who would never come. But the story of his work floated over the lands, and with it the story of his heroism. A thrill of missionary interest went through the Ohurch. The cause of evangelization received an impulse second to none since the early days of the English Reformation.
The story of Henry Martyn almost oppresses an ordJnary Ohristian. His spirituality was so refined that it is difficult to even appreciate it. It was like the rare atmosphere of mountain heights, hard for some to even breathe. His courage and concentration of purpose make our lives seem so weak and disconnected–like water spilled on the ground, compared with the torrent that turns a hundred factories. He was dead at thirty-two, having awakened a nation, and some of us are twice that age and have hardly begun to do anything for the great crying
IN THE LEVANT
world and Him who redeemed it. We cannot fol~ow Martyn; we are not brave enough, nor fine enough in moral fiber to take his luster. Let us, then, more deeply appreciate the lesson now carved in four languages upon his tomb in Tokat: "May travelers of all nations, as they step aside and look at this monument, be led to honor, love and serve the God and Saviour of this devoted missionary."
MISSIONS IN THE LEVANT: THEIR PROBLEMS, METHODS AND RESULTS.
BY REV. EDWIN M. BLISS. [OUR printer marred the first article by some serious errors. On page 889, 6th line from top, for" American historian," read Armenian Nestorian. Again, 8th line from the bottom of same page, for" American be an American," read, an Armenian be an Armenian. And again, page 890, near middle of page, for" Misairyeh," read Nusairyeh.-EDs.] II. THEIR METHODS.
THERE has never been a time when the methods of Christian work in every department, and especially in the foreign field, have been so sharply criticised as at the present. Not a few, looking over the vast fields covered by foreign missions, have received a sudden and startling revelation as to the amount still to be done, and have leaped to the conclusion that the reason why more has not been accomplished is that wrong methods have been used. Christianity, they say, is bound to conquer. Its equipment is of the best. The trouble is that its arms are not handled wisely. The tactics are faulty. Intelligent, help- ful criticism is welcomed by no class of men more than by foreign mis- sionaries; but criticism based upon an examination of one phase of a . many-sided problem, or gained in a hasty glance over the surface, is apt to be neither just nor helpful. 'fhe charges against foreign mis- sions that have recently broken out show such phenomenal ignorance of the methods in actual use, at least in the Levant, as to make them of little or no value. Th!3y are best refuted by a simple statement of facts.
The one principle underlying mission work as carried on in the Levant is that the kingdom of Christ is built up on individual life and character. Its aim is not the destruction of one system in order to establish another. It is not that Islamism is to be overthrown, but Moslems are to be converted. Not that corrupt, degenerate churches are to be brought back to pristine, or even better than pristine, purity, but individual Bulgarians, Armenians, Copts, Maronites, Nestorians are to be helped to lead Christian lives. False systems will doubtless fall, corrupt churches give place to purer ones; but that is a re.~ult, not an end in itself. The end is the development of individual Christian character. To this end are mission methods directed; by this principle are they to be judged.
The question then comes: Is the development which is sought a natural, normal one, or is it abnormal, stunted, twisted out of all recognition, So that the convertlld MOf;llem, the evangelical Greek or Jacobite becomes, not a Ohristian Oriental, but a something half way between Asiatic and European-a sort of religious hybrid, utterly incapable of reproduction; so that the moment the supporting influence of the foreign funds is withdrawn the genus disappear?
The answer to this again will come best from the consideration of the methods in use. These are: Bible Distribution, Evangelistic Preaching, Ohurch Organization, Education, Ohristian Literature.
BIBLE DISTRIBUTION.
Taking the position that the highest development of character ill built up on a personal knowledge of the Bible, it is held to be a prime essential that the Scriptures should be in the hands of every man, woman and child; should be not merely listened to from the pulpit, but read and studied in the home.
In the countries occupied by American missions in the Levant this fundamental work is done by the American Bible Society, and has three departments: Translation, Publication and Distribution,' To the former the best of scholarship is summoned, resulting in versions unexcelled for critical accuracy and fluency of idiom. There are: the Arabic, prepared at Beyroot, but reaching to the farthest bounds of Africa and Asia; the Turkish, Armenian and Bulgarian, at Oonstantinople ; the Syriac, at Oroomiah ; the Aherzijan Turkish and Ararat dialect of the Armenian, chiefly at Tiflis; the Persian, originally the work of Henry Martyn, now revised and much ~mproved; the Koordish Testament, prepared by a Koordish Armenian pastor in the valley of the Euphrates. In this work America and England have joined hands, now aividing, now sharing; each desirous of the one end-to reach every man in his own tongue with the story of the cross and the resurrection. Then comes publication. The needs of every class are carefully studied. The peasant of the Nile Valley has his Testament in type especially suited to the eyes blurred and almost blinded with opthalmia. The inquiring Bulgarian, rendered half skeptical by the statement of his priest, that the Protestants have wandered far from the venerated Slavic, has a Testament with both ancient and modern versions in parallel columns, that he may see for himself. On the shelves at the Bible House in Oonstantinople are the Scriptures in more than thirty languages and four hundred styles of printing and binding, that no one, whether he be officer of the Sultan's household, or villager on the mountains of Kurdistan, may say, "There is no Bible for me." Thus far the preparation. Then comes the direct work of distribution. Over one hundred colporteurs are employed by the American Bible Society, but every t6acher, pastor, missionary, is an assistant. These men aim to reach every reader in every city, town, village and hamlet, with the offer of the Bible. The distribution is not, however, gratuitous. A price is set upon every book, often far below its real cost, so as to bring it within rQach of the poorest, and that price is.demandod and received • from all. Except in special and rare cases, not a Bible or Testament, not even a Gospel, is given away. This is not because American Christians are unwilling to give, but because, in the experience of all, free distribution of the sacred books cuts at the very root!! of that selfrespect and sense of the Bible's worth, without which there can be no strong Christian character developed. It is also never forced upon the attention of any. Cordially, earnestly, kindly, is it offered;' but he who takes it must do so of his own free will, under no external pressure. Undoubtedly such pressure might be used as to greatly increase the sales. Sometimes it has been used, but always with loss rather than gain.
A half century of experience has shown that, as a rule, in the Levant, the best results. are reached from planting the Bible in individual hearts, rather than by sowing it broadcast.
EVANGELISTIC PREACHING.
Sometimes preceding the colporteur, sometimes accompanying, sometimes following him, always in heartiest sympathy with him, is the preacher. Now Methodist, now Presbyterian, again Congregationalist, or sturdy descendant of the Scotch Covenanter, with various names, but one heart; differing uniforms, but 'one flag. His one purpose to show the Bible as a rule of faith, but still more a guide in life. Hence, he seeks to understand and sympathize with the life about him. This was the hardest task of the missionary when he himself was the only preacher in the early days of the work. It is no easy thing to enter into the life of a strange people, get accustomed to new habits of thought and language, learn to put old truths in new lights, and none realize it so keenly as those who have tried it. One principle has been constantly made clearer. A man, to have genuine, lasting power with men, must be himself. Just so far as an American, in dealing with Turk or Arab, Greek or Jacobite, ceases to be an American, and becomes an Orient~l, just so far he loses his power to convince, persuade, help. This is not matter of theory only, but of experience. Over and over again has the effort been made to accord the daily life of the missionary to that of the people among whom he labors, and it has ever been demonstrated to be not only impracticable, but unwise. The missionary must remain a missionary. However deep and strong his sympathy with the people, he not only cannot, but he ought not to become one of them. His best power for good depends upon his preserving his own individuality, and that must be national as well as personal. With the growth of the work the physical impossibility of the missionary's reaching all who sought to learn became increasingly apparent. Thus has arisen a great body of native preachers-men drawn from every class and walk in life-who, gathering from personal contact with tlie missionary the influence of his life and thought, assimilating it to their own national character, go forth . to the thousands of their fellow-countrymen, and with them are devel-
oping a Christianity which is far more natural, and will prove far more permanent, than could be the case were the missionary the sole bearer of the gospel message. Of not less importance is the method adopted by these preachers. Its principle is entirely in accord with that underlying the work of Bible Distribution. It is not polemical. There are times when denunciation is needed, and then they do not fear to expose fearlessly the deceit and fraud by which ecclesiastical powers would blind the eyes of an ignorant people, and hold them in subservience to their own ends. This, however, is the exception, not the rule. The Moslem, drawn by curiosity or interest to attend an evangelical service, will not turn away repelled by what are to him harsh attacks upon the faith in which he has been nurtured.. The Armenian or Copt will hear no harangue against those who have hidden from him the Word of Life and held him fast in bonds woven in the cells of monk and anchorite. It is the want and duty of every day life, the consciousness of sin, the need of forgiveness and help, alone possible through a Redeemer; the hope of a blessed immortality. These are the topics of the preacher, by the earnest personal presentation of which he seeks to emphasize men's personal relations to God, develop the sense of personal responsibility, and secure the growth of personal character.
CHURCH ORGANIZATION.
The adoption of this as a distinct method of missionary work in the Levant, except in regard to the Moslem converts, was not a part of the original plan of missions, and is not now pressed to the forefront. The aim has been, so far as members of the Oriental churches were concerned, to help them to a Christian life, whatever their church connection might be. As a matter of fact, those who were thus influenced were unwilling to remain in the old comlllunions, and the priesthood were unwilling that they should, using the sharpest means of excommunication to drive them out. The formation of evangelical churches became thus a necessity, and has proved a most valuable method, not only of stimulating individual Christian hfe among their members, but of illustrating the broader relations that the Christian must sustain to the community and nation.
Under Moslem rule, church and civil life are identical. He who leaves his church leaves his nation, and heresy is treason. How to overcome this, and show that national life is properly independent of religious rites and ceremonies, has been a great problem, and the evangelical church organizations, by keeping distinctly aloof from political entanglements, have sought to show the true position of the Christian as a citizen. The formation of evangelical churches has served also as a method for developing that self-reliance which is essential to the permanence of the work commenced by the missionary and carried on by the native preacher. It has been the constant e:lfort of
MISSIONS IN THE LEVANT
the missionaries to throw upon these churches, as rapidly as possible, the whole responsibility of self-management and growth. Recognizing that mistakes are less dangerous than stagnation, they have left to them large liberty of organization, of creed and of worship, seeking not to bind, but to develop by influence rather than authority. Realizing, too, that self-support is an indispensable element of growth, they have aimed at such gradual withdrawal of foreign aid as would strengthen, without bringing too heavy a burden upon communities already overtaxed.
EDUCATION.
Over this method of missionary work there nas been very earnest discussion in every land. With little or no difference of opinion as to the necessity of some instruction, there has been a wide divergence of views in regard to the degree or amount of education that legitimately comes within the scope of a missionary society. The missionaries to the Levant found absolutely no system of education, even the most rudimentary. What instruction there was was in the hantls of the priesthood, and so warped by priestly craft as to be almost useless for the development of Ohristian character. The Ohristian teacher became thus the indispensable coadjutor of the preacher and colporteur. At first his work was simple. But with community growth developed community needs. The teacher himself had to be taught. An effort was made to confine this broader instruction to those who were themselves to go forth as instructors and leaders. The advantage, the necessity even, of the same opportunities for the people were realized to the full. It was a question not of what was wanted, but of what was possible. Mission funds and mission strength, being limited, must be concentrated upon the special objects to which they were devotedthe development of Ohristian life. The necessity of community se1£- support in order to self-development also entered mto the cousideration of the question. The result has been that the missions provide free schools only for the most pnmary education aud the training of preachers and teachers, and these are free only when absolutely necessary. Just as fast as possible the whole care and support of the lower grades of general schools are placed upon the community. Grants in aid of money, assistance in superintendence and counsel, are given cautiously, though not grudgingly. With regard to the higher education, the position that has been taken in general is that the running expenses must be met by the pupils. The missions may assist by giving the tme and labor of missionaries to the schools, but there must be such charges for tuition as may be reasonably expected to meet the actual expense of each scholar, apart from the salaries of the teachers. FOT collegiate education the Mission Boards assume no responsibIlity, except that in certain cases the American professors are enrolled among their missionaries, and occasional grants are made in consideration of ot the relief that these colleges give to the Boards in the trainmg a native ministry. The general support comes from tuition and endowments secured abroad.
There are thus four classes of what may fairly be called mission schools. 1. Those supported chiefly or entirely by the Mission Boards, for the specific purpose of religious training. 2. Those supported and controlled entirely by the native communities, for the general purposes of Christian education among the common people. 3. Schools of a higher grade, under the care of the Mission Boards, with such charges for tuition as are calculated to meet the general expenses. 4. Oolleges, independent of the Boards, yet in heartiest sympathy with them, working together to the one great end of building up Ohristian nations.
CHRISTIAN LITERATURE.
There are four lines in which foreign missions seek to meet the constantly growing needs of minds stimulated to activity by the opening up of new truths through the methods already spoken of. These are the preparation of text-books for use in schools, of books for distinctive religious instruction, general information and periodical literature. The text-books are based upon the latest advances in the science of ' education, and are a means not only of instruction to those pupils in the regular schools, but a revelation to the old communities of the wide sweep of a tnllyOhristian science. In the commentaries and books of devotion are met the questions that for centuries have stirred the intense thought and speculation of the East, mellowed and attuned to the duty of everyday life by the practical common sense of the West. The department of general l1terature has not been developed as all would desire, sImply because it is Impossible to do everything that it would be well to do. The lack here IS met in a degree by the periodical literature, cluefly in the form of weekly newspapers, that bring the newly formed growing churches and communities into contact with the activity and life of America and Europe. Steadily avoiding complications with political or religious strifes, aiming to bring forward that which is noblest and bes,t in life everywhere, these form a most vl}luable means of reaching multitudes who would stand aloof from colporteur, preacher or teacher, and serve as a bulwark against the rush of infidel publications that are to many the sole representations of the advanced intellectual life of the day.
This is but a brIef sketch of the Methods by which missionaries seek to lay the sure foundations of Ohristian life in the Levant. As a sketch it is by no means complete. There are many lines of action unmentioned. Each mission has to a degreee its own methods, adapted to Its own special needs, in accordance with its own habit of thought and life. In these general lines of action, however, all agree. Upon this principle all stand, that a permanent Ohristian church is built up on individual ChrIstian lives, that such lives .are developed only by 26 ENGLAND AND FORErGN MISSIONS. [JAN., individual personal influence. This work is slow work, but all foundation building is slow. It may be that some changes of method would be wise. If so, none will welcome advice and help more gladly than those who represent the churches of America on the foreign field. The tree is known by its frUlts; methods by their results. The results achieved through these methods by Foreign Missions in the Levant will form the subject of another paper.
ENGLAND AND FOREIGN MISSIONS.
BY THE REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, F. S. S., ENGLAND.
THE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK ON FOREIGN MISSIONS.
AT the annual meeting of the York Auxiliary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel on October 29th, the Archbishop delivered a rousing speech. He remarked that there must be something significant in the great gathering of bishops at the Lambeth Conference, and in the fact that, whereas in 1878 they mustered 100, in 1888 they mustered 145. The only wonder to him was that having in their midst such an undeniable evidence of the progress of missions they should have heard such a quantity of stuff talked about them-and, for his own part, he was quite sick of it. He could not follow the parts of the discussion into a debtor and creditor account of the amount of converts they had bought with their money, and he thought they had better forget it as soon as possible. They were in a sense obliged to those who had put them on their defense; but they could not avoid a certain measure of contempt for the turn the. discussion had taken. What did the increase in the bishops from 100 to 145 mean? It was not a mere numerical augmentation. A diocese meant ~not only a bIShop but an organization-a complete body of clergy requiring church government; and a diocese was never made before it was wanted, as far as he was aware. He thought it was quite absurd to talk about the failure of missions and the mismanagement of missions. Failures there would be. Mismanagement! There was mismanagement sometimes at home, and he did not see why the colonies and foreign parts were to be exempted from it. But, allowing for all that, there was a great and mighty progress for which they had done very lIttle; and if they had been punished for their neglect a century ago they would hardly have had much cause to complain of the chastening hand that sent that punishment. Why, since the Reformation down to the latter half of the last century, they might say that nothing at all was done for missions. A nation that for a couple of centuries neglected its duty had no rIght to complain, because when it did only a very little certain fruits were bestowed upon it, and those fruits not little, like the gifts, but great, like the love of God which sent them. They might all of them take courage. The subject of those objections had now been thoroughly consIdered, and it had done /
ENGLAND AND FOREIGN MISSIONS
no harm; quite the contrary, in his opinion. For good, or for less good, they could not possibly neglect missions. They confessed themselves infidel when they did so. As long as they believed the truth of the love of God they must tell other people of it-that from the nature of the case, unless they hated their brother. Therefore it was useless for them at that time of day to be haggling about the exact products of missions. Whether they had gained an abundance of fruit or not, they ought to be up and doing. It was an undeniable fact that the fruits during the past twenty years had been far beyond those given them before that time.
THE BAPTIST UNION MISSIONS IN INDIA.
At the autumnal meetings held in Huddersfield early in October, Mr. John Barron, M. P., presided. After speaking of the necessity of increased missionary effort, he said that India was the first field of Baptist missionary enterprise, and they never could forget that God had honored them in that country beyond the most sanguine expectation of those who first entered on the work. Carey, in his labor of evangelization, met with discouragements not less trying than those. which were met with by their missionaries in the present day who were laboring in new countries. He fought against great difficulties and amidst great trials, but God blessed his e:tIorts and enabled him and those who labored with him to do a work in India, in connection not only with religious teaching but of educational work, the influence and· power of which were felt far and wide throughout that great country of India. In India the,English people had great responsibilities, and he was sorry to say that as far as Parliament was concerned that responsibility was neither fully recognized nor wholly met. If it were not for the permeating influence of Christian life in India-if India were left alone to the Government of this country-he feared that our position in India would not be nearly so secure as it was at the present day. India was at the present time open to influences of good and evil, and upon what the churches in this country did in promoting missionary work in India depended the future of India and the relation of that empire to this country.
The Rev. A. McKenna, dealing with the work that had been done in India, acknowledged the great assistance which had been rendered to missionaries in India by the civil and military authorities, who were the finest body of men in the world. There was not a single. man who was not in favor of progress.
The Rev. Bower Jones, of Bengal, said he had been appalled at the darkness in which India had for ages been plunged. During eighteen centuries but little had been done. There was a popUlation of two hundred and fifty millions in that empire, but no more than half a million have embraced the cause of Christ. The gospel had, however, fairly commenced its work of emancipation, an¢!. had lIghted up
THE MmAOLES OF MisSIONS. [JAN
the harems and zenanas. The condition of women in India was being improved, and there was less opposition to the propagation of the gospel.
COMMANDER CAMERON" ON THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC IN AFRICA.
At the Oanterbury Diocesan Oonference, held on October lOth, the gallant traveler gave a stirring history of the ruinous _effects of the drink traffic upon the native races in Africa. The four great evils of that county were, he said, slavery, gin, gunpowder and land-grabbing. The Africans, as a rule, were strongly addicted to a liking for strong drink, but he had never seen any illneys or delirium tremens arising from excessive drinking in the interior. A large proportion of the cargoes of ships trading on the west coast consisted of large red boxes from Hamburg full of liquor known as gin, but containing some vile chemical material. In the English colonies or Protectorates on the west coast the revenue chiefly consisted of excise and licensing duties. and it appeared to him that anyone who could pay for it could obtain a license. Thebeens abounded in the gold-digging districts, and in some of the smaller districts they actually f(jorced native teachers, sent out with the good intention of teaching people, to give way to the ruling vice, and not only to drink the gin themselves, but to trade in it. At the Oape itself "Oape smoke and the contents of the Hamburg steamers'~ were taking the heart out of the best native races, and on the east coast a large portion of the trade was in drink. Slavery, during the last few years, had been worse than ever before-whole districts being devastated-while at one camp of lJ'ippoo Tib, no fewer than fifty right arms had been seen nailed up, and his men were amusing themselves by shooting the slaves, who were afterwards cut up to feed the cannibals in the train of slave dealers. The loss of life in this trade was calculated at two millions a year. When traveling in Africa he himself opened up many routes which slave dealers had taken advantage of. He hoped to be able to do something to reparir the mischief, and if he could not get his idea carried out he might adopt the suggestion of Gordon, and form a colony at r~ake Nyanza to fight against slavery.
THE MIRAOLES OF MISSIONS.-NO. IX.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] SIGNS of THE SUPERNATURAL IN THE GENERAL WORK.
THE Resurrection of our Lord was established" by many infallible proofs." Not less unmistakable and unanswerable are the evidences of the coming of the Holy Ghost and of the presence of a supernatural providence in human history. Most of all may we see God's hand in mISSIOns.
Thus far we have sought to illustrate and exemplify this great truth in specific cases and on special fields. It may bel well, however, to take
1889;1 c THE MIRACLES OF
a wider glance and get a glimpse of His presence and presidence in the whole field and work of missions; and more especially as during this month our eyes are turned, not to anyone land or form of false faith, but sweep round the entire circle of the continents.
When science, as nature's interpreter, would show us her greatest wonders, she points to the crystal and the cell; one the mystery of inorganic symmetry, the other the miracle of organic life. When God would reveal to us the signs of His own handiwork, and prove to ns that through all the ages His unceasing purpose r1ns, He points us to the mystery of a symmetrical and crystalline historic unity and harmony which no human foresight could have planned and no human skill have wrought out; and then He points ns to holy lives which combine the beauty of the crystal with the living energy of the cell; which shine not with a cold, imprisoned luster, but with the radiance· of a living light.
Dionysius of H(l,licarnassus said: "History is phil9sophy teaching by examples." The Ohristian believer mounts higher and declares that history is God, teaching by His providence and grace. Nature does not bear marks of a designing mind and hand as clearly as human history, and pre-eminently the history of missionary enterprise reveals the plan and presence of an infinite God. No man with eyes open, and mind open to conviction, can long resist this evidence. The history of missions not only reveals miracles, it is itself a miracle. It is a demonstration and an illustration at the same time that, high above and far behind all human actors on the stage, is a divine director and controller. He shifts the changing scenery to suit every new act inc the drama of the ages; and he shifts the positions, yea, and the persons of the actors, too. When He wills, when His work demands it, and His time has fully come, they enter and take up their part; and, as surely, when He wills it and His time has fully come, they leave the stage and give place to others. "God buries His workmen but He carries on His work," is one of the sayings of John Wesley, carved on his monument in England's great Abbey. But it is not less true that He raises up a Pharaoh and Oyrus and girds those who have not known Him, to show forth His power in them, and in spite of them carryon His eternal covenant purpose.
Those who have read that fascinating story of "Life Among the Turks," by Dr. Oyrus Hamlin, will remember one of the myriad in- stances of the providential limitation of human power and tyranny. At a critimil point in the history of Turkish missions, the Sultan Mahmud suddenly startled the whole empire by an order for the expul- sion of the missionaries. The news fell like a thunderbolt unheralded by the lightning flash~ The order was so imperious and arbitrary, and Mahmud was so unreasonable and implacable, that even Mr. Brown, the Secretary of the American Legation, and Oommodore Porter gave over the cas~ as hopeless. Commodore Porter prepared a. dispatch to the Sublime Porte, acquiescing on behalf of the missionaries, for whom he could not venture to interpose. Just then, on the first of July, 1839, the Sultan himself died, at the very hour when the missionaries were waiting in suspense for the execution of the order! And at the same time his entire fleet was betrayed into the hands of the Pasha of Egypt, and the Ottoman army of 80,000 men was almost annihilated. Well may Dr. Hamlin exclaim: "A startling series of events that struck every heart with dismay"! Man proposes, but God disposes. A higher plan swallows up the lower, as Aaron's rod swallowed all the rest. Dr. Goodell had, in the very midnight of that trial hour, and before there was the first hint of a dawn, said in his own peculiar way:" The great Sultan of the universe can change aU this," and lo! it was done. H God blew, and they were scattered." The work of the missions was resumed with new courage; the exiles came back, and the execution of Mahmud's order of expulsion was never again referred to. The silence of the grave fell on the Sultan and his tyrannical decree alike. A h~gher hand was holding the invisible scepter.
And this is what we mean by the supernatural factor in missionary history. It may not manifest itself in any two cases in precisely the same way. Evil may at times be prevented, and at other times permitted and overruled. But the overrule is there.
" Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record One death grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the world. Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne; Yet that scaffold sways the future; and, behind the dim unknown, Standeth God, amid the shadow, keeping watch above His own."
It would be impracticable within the necessary limits of this article to illustrate fully this general supervision of missions by an -Almighty Wisdom and Power; but it is to the mind of the writer a fact so vivid as to be well-nigh visible; and a few examples of this divine interposition will suffice for the present purpose of this paper.
1. The removal of obstacles and the opening doors of access to the nations.
2. The sudden and unaccountable subsidence of barriers at critical periods and. points.
3. The raising up of men and women previously prepared for work, as obviously prepared for them.
4. The theology of inventions-a divine plan in the development of the race and of human discovery.
5. The direct transformation of individual character and of entire communities.
6. The indirect results in the modifications of existing evils and the elevation of the entire social level.
7. The obvious overruling of human mistakes and failures, and even of bitter hostility and persecution, 8. The supernatural ordering of human lives, and the limitations of them when God's purpose is accomplished.
9. The evidences of a divine strategy extending through the ages and embracing the whole world.
10.. The turning of the crises of the kingdom in answer to prayer, and in a marked order of development.
11. The development of new agencies, organizations and instrumentalities at the precise hour of need.
12. The prophetic element in all these divine plans, making these developments not an evolution but a revolution.
Such are afew of these signs of the supernatural mind and hand in the history of missions. Let us b~iefly advert to some of them.
1. The progress of missions would have been impossible without the intervention of a higher power. When, a century ago, the Ohurch as a body took up the work of evangelizing the world, ten great obstacles stood in her way, to human view insurmountable. They may be classed under four heads: obstacles to approach, obstacles to intercourse, obstacles to impression, obstacles to action.
The world seemed locked against the Ohurch, and the Ohurch seemed indifferent to the condition of the world. Oonverts were punished with death; missionaries were martyrs; woman was shut up in harems; some races seemed too high, others too low, to be reached by the gospel. Now all these obstacles are down. Who has done it?
2. Barriers have sometimes gone down as though a continent had sunk to let the sea overflood the land. Hawaii had burned her idols while the Thaddeus was crossing the deep with the first band of missionaries. Japan was undergoing a civil revolution while Oommodore Perry was casting anchor in the harbor of Yeddo. Over and over again the missionaries have gone expecting to find gigantic barriers confronting them and have found only prostrate walls. Who has done it?
3. Men and women have been prepared for the work and the work for them when no human foresight could have shaped either for the other. Who fitted William Goodell to begin in 1831 that wonderful work in Oonstantinople which at that very time needed just such a pioneer! Who but God knew that in 1877 a famine would overspread Southern India, and that a civil engineer would be needed to complete that canal, and so give the starving thousands work; and that the engineer must be a Ohristian missionary who would teach the workmen of Jesus? and who was it raised up Mr. Clough to go there long before he knew why he was a civil engi~eer and felt so strangely drawn to that very station at Ongole? Who was it fitted the peg to the hole when he set Eli Smith in Syria, Robert Morrison in Ohina, Fidelia Fisk in Oroomiah, Lindley among the Zulhs, Moffat among the Boers, Duncan among the Indians of British Oolumbia, and Hunter Corbett amon~ the simple converts of C~efoo? (Jan all history show a more marked adaptation of the man and the place and the hour, than Robert W. McAll and Belleville and 1872, when the French nation was reacting from clericalism and imperialism and formalism, and yearning for a simple, positive, primitive gospel? Who did all this?
4. Look at the theology of inventions. How came the mariners compass, steam as a motor, the printing-press, and all subsequent sim-' ilar inventions and discoveries, to be withheld from the race until the- ology, anthropology and soteriology had fought their battles, and sociology was coming to the front; and until the Church of the I4Jfor- mation was preparing to give the Bible to every people and the press was indispensable; and to carry the gospel to earth's limits, and the compass and steam were needful? Nay, who withheld this continent from unveiling until the pilgrims were ready to settle New England!
5. Passing by for the present many other points already briefly stated, and emphasized in previous articles, behold the crises of the kingdom turned in answer to prayer. Time was when the Church itself was asleep. And such men as Gutzlaff and Carey and Jonathan Edwards laid siege to the throne of grace and the Church woke, and missions began on a world-wide scale. Then doors seemed shut and a few con- secrated men and women prayed, and within ten years the openings defied occupation-they were so many. Then there was need of men and money. Prayer again turned the crisis. Gifts that· for amount were never before equalled began to be consecrated, and an unparal- leled number of young men and young women began to offer them- selves. The women began to organize till their Boards cover the Chris- .. tian Church with their network; and the Y. M. O. A. ~nd its kindred organizations multiplied from one in 1844 to 3,800 in 1888. And now signs appeal' above the horizon of a period of general missionary intelli- gence and activity more marked than any during the last eighteen cen- turies. These are but a minute fraction-a fragment from the vast aggregate of testimony that the work of missions is the work of God, and the march of missions the march of God.
It will-be yet three years before we reach the year which marks the complet~ century since the Warwick Association made the first Monday of each month a "Monthly Concert" of prayer for the world's evan- gelization, and that first :,Foreign Missionary Society sent out William Carey to India. The Church might have compassed the world already had the faith of disciples been equal to the grandeur of God's promises. But, nevertheless, God has led, ruled, moved, swayed all through this century. He has shown His Word to be all-powerful, and His Spirit all-subduing, and His Providence all-controlling. The whole history has been His story; full of mystery because full of a mysterious God; full of power because full of an omnipotent God. 1.'his needs no argu- ment; it needs only an open eye and an obedient heart. To our own conception it is the supreme charm of missions and the supreme argu- ment for missions. It invest's the work with an awful dignity!
lIIISSION OAMPAIGN IN AMElUOA
MESSRS. TAYLOR AND RADCLIFFE'S MISSION CAMPAIGN IN AMERICA.
BY REGINALD RADCLIFFE, ESQ., ENGLAND. DEAR EDITORS: Many of your readers doubtless know something of the Chiba Inland Mission that has its headquarters in London. It was founded about twenty years ago by the Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, and he is now its Director, with a Council in London, and a Council of experienced missionaries in qhina. Mr. Taylor had previously been engaged as a missionary in China; sickness required him to return to England, and for a few years he was engaged inLondon by the British and Foreign Bible Society in translating, in conjunction with an Episcopal clergyman. While so occupied, a map of China was on view, and so he got a more comprehensive view of the vast needs of the interior of that mighty country than when engaged in China doing his own little personal work. This was so burdened upon his heart that he went round to the different missionary boards in Lonuon, endeavoring to get some one of them to take up the vast interior of China; but he did not succeed. Thus was he constrained, in fact, after much trembling and much prayer, almost forced to originate the China Inland Mission. From the first he determined, in order not to interfere and not to have the appearance of interfering with the other missionary boards, 1. That this new society should have no collections made for money at any of its meetings. 2. No collection books. 3. No one to be applied to for money for the Mission. 4. That the agents should be taken from different denominations, so that the mission should be unsectarian. God has prospered the little mission greatly; no difficulties from different denominations working happily in one great mission field have ever arisen. About three years since, the remarkable band of seven young men of the Cambridge University going out stirred the hearts of our young people, especially, as one of the band, Mr. Charles Studd, was a famous criclreter, and another, Mr. Stanley Smith, was the stroke oar of the Cambridge Eight, to row against Oxford, whilst another was a young cavalry officer, who, in answer to the question, "Why are you going out?" replied, "I read' If ye love me, keep my commandments; , I love Christ and so I am going." Some time after this Mr. Taylor was with a gathering of his missionary friends in China-they were giving a day to fasting and prayer, the next day to deliberation and examination of the wants of their enormous field, the thira day to fasting and prayer, then the next day to deliberation and examination, and so on for several days. They were also agreed that they would not override a minority by a majority; but though it might take much more time, prefer waiting till they were all of one accord. Well, one thing they were of one accord upon was that they could make accommodation to receive, in addition to their then number of about 190, 100 extra missionaries, and that there were ample openings for them. So they asked the Lord of the harvest for these 100, and that they should be dIspatched within a year, and that money to dispatch them should be sent in; for the mission as usual had none. There and then the assurance of faith was given that these requests were answered. Accordingly, within the year about 600 volunteers applied, and out of these 102 were selected and dispatched, and all the money needed was sent in without solicitation, except soliciting their Heavenly Father. It will be seen what a needful part was the money when it is stated that this mission will not go into debt to the extent of a single dollar.
Now, some little time after this a young American layman, Mr. H. W.
Frost, came over to ·London and took up his lodging close to the headquarters of the mission that he might learn its workings minutely. He tried to per- suade Mr. Hudson Taylor to visit America. But Mr. Taylor, full of his heavy work at headquarters and traveling over Britain and over China, hesitated to consent. But this young American could not be shaken off, and he and Mr. Taylor got on their knees for guidance, and thereafter Mr. Moody invited Mr. Taylor to his Conference at Northfield. Mr. Taylor then yielded to the solicitations of this young friend.
Having myself worked much together with Mr. Taylor in Britain he asked me to accompany him, and it was resolved that my wife and I should go, as well as Mr. Taylor's secretary, and his son, Mr. Howard Taylor, as also Mr.
George Studd, brother of the Mr. Charles Studd already mentioned, and also brothel' of Mr. K. Studd of London, who, about a year previously, went through a number of the American universities. At this same time Mr.
Wishard of the Y. M. C. A. came over to England and induced several Cambridge undet'graduates to cross the Atlantic to attend Mr. 1foody's Conference.
It would be hard for me just at this point to withhold recording with a grateful heart the very refreshing hospitality my wife and I have received from so many kind hosts and hostesses, both in the States and in Canada.
If my friend, Mr. Hudson Taylor, were beside me instead of being in another steamer on another ocean, I am sure most warmly would he join me. Indeed, it was his own suggestion, days before we had to part, that we should both have put our signatures to a joint letter, but the rush was so great the last few days that it was not practicable, yet the work seemed only commenced. But if we should never see your land again, we have formed friendships that are not likely ever to be forgotten.
The welcome afforded to Mr. Hudson Taylor, both in the United States and in Canada, by ministers, Young Men's Christian Associations, and private Christians, and the reception given to his novel and startling, but simple, childlike statements, have, indeed, been so gratifying as to make himself and his praying friends devoutly thankful-you way be sure that his praying friends are very many, scattered over the world. In fact, it is a great feature that at the London headquarters a crowded prayer-meeting is held from four to six every Saturday afternoon, where, by a large map and long pointer, each mission is pointed out and every missionary prayed for by name.
After leaving Mr. Moody's Convention at Northfield, from which two or three volunteered and were accepted for China by Mr. Taylor, an early place visited was a Bible Reading Convention at Niagara. Here there was a glorious response-ample scope was given for Mr. Taylor and another to plead for the heathen, and after he had left, Mr. R. P. Wilder arrived and spoke on the same subject. In conclusion, Mr. H. W. Frost had to write, telling Mr. Taylor that sufficient money had been given to support six missionaries to his China Inland Mission. The money having thus been pro- vided unasked, volunteers wet'e prayed for to consume it. It was soon found that the same Father could supply laborers as easily as he had supplied the money. I Laborers sprang up like willows by the water-courses-both men and women-especially in Canada, and not vel'Y distant from the region in which the Niagara Convention had been held. After careful consideration twenty were accepted by Mr. Taylor as associates of the China Inland Mission. Thirteen of these were ready to depart from Toronto. Mr. Taylor met with them and gave minute instructions, having arranged with Rev. Dr. Parsons of the Presbyterian Church of John Knox, in Toronto, for themselves and their frIends partaking of the Lord's Supper at nine in the evening, before their train left at eleven for Vancouver and China. Mr. Taylor could not be present with us, as he had still to give one day to Montreal, overtaking this band on the track for Vancouver. A sister from Mr. Moody's school had also to overtake the train, making the volunteers to sail across the Pacific with Mr. Taylor fourteen. After receidng the Lord's Supper there was an impressive scene at the depot, a great crowd singing hymns outside the cars and inside the cars, tender:partings; whilst outside simultaneous prayer for the departing ones and for those to follow the crowd-chiefly young men-repeating the petitions together, sentence by sentence. 'rhus at 11 P.M. the train slowly swept away for the China steamer to be met at Vancouver.
Besides these fourteen gone, and the six more accepted, one of whom is a Y. M. C. A. secretary, I have since received distinct intimation of 46 more that I believe are wishing to follow. There is little money to tempt anyone, viz., only about $250 a year for a sister, and about $50 more for a brother on account of his having to travel and live in inns more than a sister. The dressing, too, in Chinese costume cannot be a great inducement. This is not much to tempt an American or a Canadian. Yet I shall not be surprised if el'e long fully 100, including the twenty already fixed, soon follow those gone before.
Are not such men and women the best, the greatest friends, of the home churches? Can they go to real war without rousing their friends left at home to fight at home as they have never done before? Can they go without stirring up a far deeper interest in the American and Canadian Missionary Boards, not only for China, but also for India, for Africa, for the continent of America, etc.? Let them ever remember what noble missionaries these Boards have sent out, from Judson downwards, and what noble ones- perhaps not much heard of-they have now in the field. I have myself enjoyed their co-operation in Europe.
If we older men will not lead, 0, for the sake of Christ's dying wish, let these young ones lead us! 01' else, are not we older one!;! in flagrant disobedienc~? and I for one do not see how our churches in Britain may not sink lower and lower. Do speak out and show them that Christ has laid the responsibility on every converted soul to give the gospel to the heathen, and that we laymen cannot shift the responsibility 6if our shoulders upon the shoulders of ministers, or upon the shoulders of university men. Let us gladly accept settled ministers, who will lay down their charges. A vicar at Leeds, just before we left for America, laid down his charge in order to go out with the China Inland Mission. But for every such cultured man, and for every finished and cultured undergraduate, do we not need at least twenty men, who, like Spurgeon, Moody, or Carey, have never seen the inside of a col- lege, provided only they have the needed gifts, ;:tre already experienced in winning souls, are wholly surrendered to Christ as their king, and are full of the Holy Ghost?
THE Gustavus Adolphus Society of Germany, which aims specially to es- tablish Protestant churches in Roman Catholic countries, during the last fiftY-SIX years, has erected 1,398 churches and 691 school buildings. It re- ports immediate need of 314 more church buildings.
OPIUM IN CHINA
BRITISH OPIUM IN CHINA.
BY G. L. MASON, AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSION, HUCHOW, CHINA.
BRITISH Christians lead the world in beneficence. Their home charities are multiform, their foreign missions are everywhere. But the British Government, for the sake of revenue in India, persists in a course against a weaker nation which Canon Wilberforce pronounces "simply dastardly from beginning to end." John Bright and many other distinguished men express the same view. Christian opinion in China is fairly represented by a conservative Englishman, Archdeacon Monle of Shanghai, who says: "British authorities in India, fully knowing the attitude of the Chinese Government, deliberately engaged in the preparation of opium for China. with only two years intermission, continuously for sixty years." Americans, too, blush at sight of the Chinese caricature of an Englishman with a whiskey bottle in one hand and an opium ball in the other. In many ways so closely linked to Great Britain, and especially so in evangelization, it behooves American Christians also to know the facts and to labor and pray for the removal of this tremendous hindrance to missions and to honorable commerce and international good-will-a professed Christian government engaging in a trade which is a blighting curse to millions.
Since many may not have access to information, the following outline of events has been compiled, from personal study of the Chinese maritime customs' reports, from files of the Ohinese Repository, and from other trustworthy sources. As partisan statements have been made in books and newspapers, "that opium-smoking isas harmless as twiddling one's fingers," and that" Great Britain has not coerced China on account of opium," it may be well to remark that the writer is prepared to cite authority for every statement in this sketch.* Some hold that opium was first brought to China by the Arabs toward the close of the thirteenth century. But it was in small quantities, and" commonly used as a medicine before the trade with India commenced" in the eighteenth century. Previous to 1767 the trade was in the hands of Portuguese, but with an import of only about 200 chests a year, a chest being about 140 pounds. The habit of smoking was scarcely known. Even as late as 1830 large inland cities like Hangchow had no opium smOking-shops. Now that city has, approximately, 2,000. The very rapid growth of the habit and of the trade began when the East India Company regularly engaged in the business in 1773. In 1790 the importation reached 4,054 chests, twenty times the amount imported yearly previous to 1767. In 1799 it was 5,000 chests; in 1826, 9,969; about 1830, a yearly average of 16,800. In less than ten years just preceding the first Opium War the trade more than doubled, reaching 34,000 chests in 1836. In 1834 the East India Company closed its career, but other British officials continued the traffic, which has grown to 52,925 piculs in 1850 and 75,308 in 1880, a picul being 133~ pounds.
Smuggling is the proper term for this trade previous to 1860. In 1780 the British establised a depot near Macao on two vessels, a plan continued in later years, when armed vessels lay outside the ports, and delivered the opium to Chinese smugglers who had previously negotiated with American or British merchants living at the ports under consular protection. The East India Company entered upon the trade knowing it to be contraband.
* Besides the authorities named, any one desiring further information should see the Friend of China, London: Morgan & Scott; a small monthly. Also Th6 Truth .4lKrut Opium, London: Hodder", Stonghton.
BRITiSH OPIUM IN
For the Abbe Raynal (tr. i. 424) writes, as early as 1770: "The Chinese Emperors have suppressed it in their dominions, by condemning to the flames every vessel that imports this species of poison." The Emperor Kiahmg in 1796 issued an edict against it, and the prohibition was often renewed by imperial decree or high provincial authority (1799, 1809, 1820, 1836 and 1837) and the prohibition always based on moral grounds. "Severe prohibit<;>ry laws (1828) destroyed the trade temporarily and exasperated the British, who made some military demonstrations by sending armed vessels to Canton in 1831 and 1834. Meanwhile the contraband opium trade was fostered and the smugglers provided with armed ships."-American Cyclopcedia. See also British Encyclopcedia. In the penal code of 1830, strangling is the punishment for keeping an opium shop. In 1832 at Macao foreigners witnessed a case of its execution, the culprit being tied to a cross and strangled. ,_That the prohibition of 'the importation of opium or planting of the poppy was only partly successful among a heathen people is not strange. But is the fact that Chinese minor officials often connive with native and foreign smugglers any excuse whatever forthe relentless aim of the Bitish Government to thwart the often expressed and humane wish of the heathen government?
A crisis came in 1839. The Chinelie Imperial Commissioner Lin, at Canton, addressed a long letter to Queen Victoria, requesting her to interdictthe traffic. He also demanded as contraband, 20,283 chests of British opium, and by command of the emperor utterly destroyed it. This annihilation by money-loving Orientals, for the sake of a moral idea, of ten million dollars worth of salable property will shine in history as a deed of sublime heroism.
The British Encyclopedia calls it" a sufficient proof that the Mandarins were in earnest in their endeavor to suppress the trade. The few foreigners who were present were deeply impressed to witness this deliberate and solemn work of destruction, which occupied twenty days and took place in the presence of a great multitude of Chinese officials and people. Soon after this the British renewed the attempts to smuggle cargoes ashore. The merchants complained that the wholesale confiscation of the opium was sudden and unfair! a vain plea, for the storm had been gathering for years and was foreseen by all whose eyes were not blinded by gold. The seizure was the chief point of the casus belli.
In 1840 England declared war. At its close China had to cede the oppressor the island of Hongkong and pay twenty-one million dollars. Twelve millions of this were for England's war expenses, three millions for debts owed by Chinese to British merchants, and six millions partial payment for the opium destroyed. This outrageous robbery was perpetrated in the Treaty of Nankin (1842) and ratified the year following.
That the enforced opening of the five" treaty ports" to trade gave a great impulse to commerce and missions no one denies, but these benefits blind Western eyes to the cruel injustice of the war. At that time Sir H. Pottinger, British Minister, 'strove to get China to legalize the opium trade j and the Emperor Two-Kwang made answer in these pathetic and now historic words: "It is true that I cannot prevent the introduction of the flowing poison, but nothing will induce me to derive a revenue from the vice and misery of my people."
During the next fourteen years the unwelcome trade flourished, until in 1857, the Arrow, a smuggling vessel bearing the British flag, was fired upon. This furnished the pretext for the British bombardment of Canton. As if this were not enough, the English and French combined the next year and made an expedition up the river Pei-ho to Tientsin: Thus the capital
OPIUM IN CHINA
was in danger and the terror-stricken government felt obliged to yield to the persuasion of Lord Elgin and legalize the importation of British opium. The import duty was fixed at the low rate of thirty taels a chest, or about thirty cents a pound, the British agreeing not to carry the opium 'inland. This political villainy was ratified in the Convention of Peace at Pekin, October, 1860. Thus oppression scored a great triumph in Asia to offset the grand advance of liberty then about to take place in America. China again paid Eng-land an indemnity of $10,800,000 in gold, one-quarter of which was paid to the foreign merchants of Canton; also $6,000,000 to France. Is it strange that patriotic but uninformed Chinese would fain have excluded all foreigners, missionaries included, regarding the opium trade as a direct plot against the life of the.nation? 'fhis treaty secured the opening of five additional ports, through which missionaries might enter with the gospel and merchants with shiploads of opium.
The second opium war only riveted faster the chains of the demoralizing habit and trade. The government, discouraged, made few serious efforts after 1860 to repress native cultivation of the poppy. According to Consul Spence, in Sichuan province, government interference with the planting ceased about 1865. Bu:t in July, 1869, the Chinese Government made a pathetic appeal to the British Government. And in October, a "Supplementary Convention" was signed at Pekin by which, in consideration of China's reducing her duty on coal exported and for other commercial advantages, England should allow China to advance the import duty on opium from thirty to fifty taels. As though China had not the right to charge what duty she chose without asking leave! But this arrangement the British Government steadily refused to ratify, lest a higher duty might check the trade and thus lessen the revenue at Calcutta.
In 1876 occurs the Chefu Convention. China by this allows four more ports to be opened to trade, in return for which the British ambassador agrees that opium shall stand on a different footing from other goods as regards transit duties,inland, so as to enable China to check the internal traffic. The clauses of this convention in favor of foreigners were soon ratified. The one clause'in China's benefit was not. At length after seven years of evasion by England, the irritation felt in China and the anti-opium agitation in England caused an opening of official correspondence on the subject (January, 1883), Earl Granville writing to Marquis Tseng, the Chinese ambassador in London. China proposes in addition to thirty taels import duty, a uniform rate of eighty taels for internal transit dues. The noble earl objects, proposes seventy taels (April, 1883), and insists that China 'must guarantee not to hinder the trade by imposing further taxes inland. 0 shameful sight! a mighty Christian nation haggling with a weaker heathen government for easier terms on which to debauch its people! Tseng Claims (September, 1884) that China may raise the tax on opium to any figure she may think proper as soon as the drug shall have passed into Chinese hands. And why not? Not until July, 1885, was the agreement finally signed, to be in force four years. It came into effect February 1, 1887, more than ten years after the Chefu Convention. The import duty remains the same, thirty taels. But the fluctuating taxes formerly levied inland (the Lekin) a!'e now fixed at a uniform rate of eighty taels, and these dues also England allows China to collect at the ports; but China stipulates that British opium may pass inbud, unlike other goods, exempt from taxes, and that local licenses to sell sllall be at the same rate as for native opium.
This new arrangement has been hastily called a "settlement" of the vexed
BRITISH OPIUM IN
question. A total revenue of about $1.10 per pound, all due at the ports,' brings a little more mon~y than formerly into the treasury at Pekin. Butit also hastens the physical and moral ruin of multitudes. Nine and three quarter million pounds were imported in 1887,- an increase of nine pel' cent. on the average yearly amount from 1882 to 1886 under the former arrangement. The trade has now clearer official sanction. The authorities provide safe and cheap storage at ports, and untaxed transit inland. And the cancer is to strike its roots deeper into the nation's heart. In proof of this, read the Customs reports for 1887, how at various ports the new rule "benefits the trade"; how the trade "acquires stability" and "increased facility" and "great benefit"; while at Pakhoi the opium partly "takes the place of silver as a circulating medium." The Shanghai commissioner reports: " Transit passes are respected and the native dealers are sending the opium to more distant markets than ever."
That missionaries do not magnify the evils of opium to excuse the slow progress of missions let Sir Thomas Wade, ex-ambassador, testify: "The habit is many times more pernicious, nationally speaking, than the gin and whiskey drinking which we deplore at home"-a strong-er statement than missionaries make; still it is hard to decide which of the two habits produces the more misery. Forty-five million dollars spent in one year (1887) for foreign opium, and half of it spent by people unable to buy both opium and good food, means a wide extent of woe. Mr. Eason, of the China Inland Mission, says that in Yunnan Province half of the women and fourfifths of the men are smokers. When Baron Rich'toven is quoted that in Si-chuan Province as much opium is used as anywhere, and that nowhere are the effects so little seen, it is not explained that the climate of the mountains is salubrious and that the people of the river valleys are wealthy. It is among the poor, who cannot buy both food and opium, that the misery is most seen. Here is the exact parallel to the drink curse,-work neglected, debts unpaid, clothes and bed ill pawn, children and aged parents half starved. There are frequent instances of wives sold tp provide opium. In some parts of HucllOW, Chikiang, opium-ruined vagabonds have been a terror to the farmers. In that part of the city of Shanghai under the municipal contl'Olof Europeans more than 1,200 opium saloons were licensed in 1887. No wonder that the number of prisoners in jail was twenty-five per cent. greater than in 1886. The opium habit often co-exists with alcoholism in the same individuals. All vices thrive within the opium dens. Especially does the opium mania burn out of the man all capacity for truth. A professional burglar would be received to church membership in China as soon as would an opium user.
Foreigners, shielded by British civil or military officials, smuggled opium into China for seventy years. After two wars and the payment of vast indemnities the traffic was legalized, as the Grand Secretary, Li Hung-chang, said in 1881, "not from choice, but because China submitted to the adverse decision of arms." Yet apologists say that China's concessions have been voluntary. As well call the delivery of one's put'seto a highwayman voluntary, That the Chinese submitted at all graciously only illustrates their pt'overb "The legless man who meets a tiger might as well make a present of himself." After 1860, for twenty-five years, British influence prevented China from raising the duty even to a .partiallY prohibitory rate. Finally in 1885-7 a new arrangement was made which friends of China hoped might be somewhat of a check to the trade, but which ill the working seems to be rather a strengthening of eVIl. But it is an arrangement for four years only
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES
and the question will be re-opened. Meanwhile let the Christian world con-' tinue in prayer that God may touch the conscience of all concerned. Parties to the gt'eat sin are not only opium merchants, but the Indian officials who, in Bengal, by subsidies, assist planters of the poppy, and who buy the whole opium crop and prepare it in government workshops expressly for the Chinese market. In this sin Christian England also shares; for" under the specious name of the home charges of the Indian Government, England is annually exacting a tribute of fourteen. millions sterling from India" (Friend of Ohina. April, 1888). And England's sin and England's punishment, unless she repents, more or less involve all Christendom. Our sharing of responsibility and the Chinese feeling were vividly impressed on the writer once when preaching on the street in Shashing. Hell was mentioned and a fine looking elderly man exclaimed with equal courJl.ge and severity: "Yes, there is such a place. Since you foreigners came, Ohina has become a hell!"
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES.
BY REV. CHAS. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
THE Evangelisch-Lutherisches Missions-Blatt says: "Can one live to be old in India f Whoever brings with him a good constitntion, and lives regnlarlyand temperately, can, by God's good providence, even in India. reach an advanced age. The old Dano-Halle Missionary Kohlhoff labored in India 53 years, his son 57. his son 60, C. F. Schwarz 47. Similar examples of long life in India and Burmah are to be found in more recent times also, though not so frequently as in the last century; our Senior Schwarz lived in India 44, Kremmer 47 years. There lately died in Kottajam in Travancore, Mrs. Baker, granddaughter of the elder Koh- 10ff, who in 1819 established a girls' school in Kottajam, and conducted it for 69 years I Mr. Rice. of the L. M. S., lived to celebrate the semi-centennial jubilee of his missionary service, and this year, on the 9th of February, the same honor arrived to the missionary bishop, Caldwell, of the S. P. E.,who may well be regarded as one of the most valuable missionaries in South India, an experienced administrator and an eminent lingnist. He has lately pnblished his remembrances in the Madras MaU, from which we extract the following: • As a youth of lour-and-twenty he landed on the 8th of January, 1838, in Madras, where he remained three and one-half years. His first business there was, of course, to study the language. He ,rapidly made himself master of the two dialects of Tamil, the classical, and the vernacular dialect, and laid an especial stress upon right pronunciation. which to an English tongue offers double difficulties. • • • His first practical work was among the native domestics of the English. Noteworthy is the missionary method which he then recognized as the true one, and which he has maintained through life: 'My plan was to make the congregation the middle point of my whole missionary activity. With the assistance of my native helpers I made it my endeavor to exhort and induce individuals to unite themselves with our congregation. As soon as we had won, instructed and baptized a proselyte. I urged him to bring to us all his relatives and friends. We hoped that in this way eacb new proselyte would become a shining light, around which others would gather. The plan succeeded beyond expectation, and soon the congregation was too nnmerous for the building.' He makes little account of stl'eet-preachings in great cities. •They do not reach the higher castes, and the direct fruit is in no proportion to tbe labor given. I never heard of a case in which any abiding blessing has resulted from this sort of effort.' In 1841 he removed to Tinnevelly. He made the journey on foot, passing throngh Tranqucbar. In his account of this journey there occurs a most unwarranted attack upon onr mission, which he accuses of proselyting efforts among the adherents of the Propagation Society. He shows, thereby. that he, too, has allowed himselfto be carried away by the intolerant spirit of this SOCiety, which is . well inclined to claim aU India as its domain. and while its missions are always ready to encroach upon other fields of labor (as, for instance, in the Kohl Mission) would not even concede' to the Tamils of Lutheran views the liberty of returning to their mother church. • . . Yet Dr. Caldwell, long ago, was one of the few English missionaries who maintained the sonndness of the principles of our mission in regard to the question of caste; a view which, in later times, has gained more and more snpport among them.
"In Tinne.elly he made Idyengudy (Shepherdhome). near Cape Comorin. the center of his resuUful activity. He gathered a great number of Christians out of the surrounding heathen. The congregations nnder his presidency have multiplied tenfold, increasing from 14 to 129, and the number of souls eightfold, from 1,201 to 8,167. The whole number of Tinnevelly Christians connected with the Propagation SOCiety had risen from 4,352. in 1841, to 39,577. To this increase the famine year, 1877-8, bas contributed not a little, for during this the number of souls of this mission, as well as of that of the C. M. S., was nearly doubled. His like-minded wife, a missionary's daughter, contributed not a little to this great success. She helped especially in the education of the girls and elevation of the female sex. She introduced into her girls' school the weaving of lace, in which her scholars attained very considerable skill. Dr. Caldwell's example shows what, in India, the right man in the right place can accomplish, when he is able to remain for a good long while, and so take root. In 1877 he, with his fellow· missionary, Sargent (of Talamcottah) was con- secrated in Calcutta as missionary bishop-hoth being suffragan~ to the Bishop of Madras. He has since then ordained 51 native pastors, and removed his residence to Tutticorin.
" He says that he was never thoronghly well. And yet he has held ont so long in one of the hottest districts of India. For it may be said of Tinnevelly that it has in the year •three months hot weather and nine months hotter.' Yet, strangely enough, he once, during a· furlough in England, had a sunstroke while driving in an open carriage. Sunstrokes are more common where the heat.
is variable. . He has had his share of trouble to bear. Especially since his appointment to the episcopate he has had so much hostility and opprobrium to undergo at the hands of the Christ- ians of his own charge, who felt themselves wounded in their caste pride by his reports, that it is no wonder if he compares himself with the tree of Jotham's parable, who was asked to reign over the other trees. But he concludes his reminiscences with the sentence: •Every year spent in God's service should be regarded as a jubilee year.' "
M. Weitzecker, describing the dedication of a Bassuto Church, writes • •• A numerous company of horsemen approaches, who, on drawing near the village, bring their horses to a walk, close up ~heir ranks, and advance singing. They are our Christians, of whom several took part five years ago in burning and plundering the neighboring village, the capital of this chief. But now no one flees at their approach, and behind this loophole wall, raised to guard against them, no one makes ready to fire upon them or to bar their entrance. On their side they carry neither guns nor assegais nor hatchets nor clubs, and they intone, not a song of war, but a hymn of peace. . . . Soon the women and young girls approach on foot, they also singing. They can, I cannot, for emotion chokes my voice when I remember how often I have seen these very ones fly trembling before the very chief whose domain they now enter with songs."
M. Coillard, of the Zambesi Mission, relates a fact respecting Lewanika, the Zambesi king, powerfully illustrating the tender mercies of the wicked. He lately sent a message to the missionary, assuring him that he had taken to heart his rebuke of him for killing people secretly, and that accordingly, finding hidden in the woods seven children of rebels, he had simply administered to them beer which had been poisoned before their eyes, and had then ordered them to be transported to an islet of the river, and left to die at their leisure! Well may M. Coillard say: "You see in what an atmosphere we live; our heaven would be of lead without the light of the countenance of God; our isolation would be insupportable without the communion ot the Saviour, and, let us add, without the communion of the saints."
The Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift says: "It is now often the fashion to speak disparagingly of the old pietists. This is, in the first place, very unthankful, for in missions, above all things, we are standing on their shoulders. The fathers of the present German missions were pietists. It is, moreover, immodest; for, looking at many of these pietistic fathers, we must say: We are not worthy to unloose their shoe-latchets. Grant that they were one-sided; but this one-sidedness consisted in an exclusive emphasis laid on" the one thing which is needfu1." We have become more broad-minded; but does there go out more virtue from us! We broad-minded people have always something to be' learning afresh from these one-sided pietists, namely, more selflimitation to the one necessary thing, more burning love of Jesus, more edifying application of the Word of God to ourselves, more zeal in prayer, a fuller victory over the world, and al80 more renunciation of the world. without, indeed, being altogether obliged to follow them in their avoidance of the world. These pietistic fathers sat at Jesus' feet, and did at the·same time zealous Martha service; they withdrew themselves from the world, and were yet a >alt of the earth and a light of the world. Therefore it is that, despite all the disparagement With which they treated the world, and despite all the one-sidedness with which they avoided the world, they have so much abiding fruit to witness to them."
The Zeitschrijt also says: "It is, indeed, a matter of great joy, and is worthy of all acknowledgment, that we are so inventive in trying ever more, ever newer, a.nd ever more expeditious ways of drawin~ larger and larger circles iuto an interest for missions; hut independently of the fact that many of these ways already draw very ·near to the bounds of a dubious secularizliotioll. tley are also only too apt to induce neglect in gathering and caring for the "little flock," to which it is the pleasure of our He",venly Father to give the kingdom, and which, there_ fore, at all times and in all places, remains the corpa d'elite, with which the missionary cause wins its victories. To gather and maintain this corps d'elite is above all things the heart of the work."
Again.: .. It is also quite to be approved, when we make it a point, not only to refute tha many ignorant prejudices against missions, and the many malicious misrepresentations which are always springing up afresh with regard to them, but when we also set before those who a.s yet do not appreciate the religious value of missions, the manifold incidental benefits which have redounded by their means to science, commerce, colonization and civilization generally. Doubtless in this way many a one can ana will be introduced more deeply into the cause and converted into a warm and vigorous friend of missions. Yet, if such efforts are prosecuted withont reference, or with only a timid reference to the religious motives and aims of missions, we forget that the deep r08ts of our strength are found only in the living obedience of faith, whose meat it is to do the will of God. If we forget this, all our tricks of persuasion are mefe cobwebs. It is the labor of Sisypus to be always pushing the hands of the clock from without."
"The lack which is made plain by the common complaint that nothing but the driver's stick will bring in collections, will not be made good by always contriving new ways: It rather sets home tous: You must make it more and more exclusively your aim to dig living weU.! And these are living wells: men who have the driver within themselves, of whom it is true that· the love of Christ constraineth' them; men of faith, whose faith brings them to obedience."
"Missionary narrative and history is excellent. It is the three measures of meal. But the leaven of this must be found in "the Word." This must be the chief thing. The sainted Lewis Harris has given the cause of missions in Hermannsburg an abiding root, because he was earnestly and powerfully bent on doing the central work in his parish, the work which was committed to the Apostle Paul among the heathen: 'To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.'"
A Lutheran missionary in South India, writing in the Leipzig Evangelisch- Lutherisches Missions-Blatt, considering the q1lf~stion how far foreign missionaries in India ought to assimilate themselves to the native ways, says: "The missionaries in Santalistan "-a district of Bengal, inhabited by an aboriginal tribe-" have accommodated themselves to the natives perhaps more perfectly than any others in India. They have, so to speak, put themselves on a footing of equality with them. This wise policy, so worthy of imitation, is, next to God's grace and blessing, a chief cause of their success. Yet we must remark, that what they could do there, among the un-Hindnized, uncivilized Santal people, they could not have done here among the Tamils with their many castes, classes, and peculiar institu· tions. Even the Tamil missionary finds no great difficulty in becoming a pariah to the pariahs, but in just the degree that he does this, he ceases to be a miSSionary to the Tamils; that is, he closes the door against himself, and robs himself of the opportnnity of drawing near to the hiaher castes, the Tamils proper, and gaining influence over them. It is, undoubtedly, very qnestionable how fa~ it is practical and judicious for us Europeans here in India;o live so entirely in the European style as is commonly the case. It may be questioned whether it would not be better to assume, at least in part, a more Indian manner of life. But even if this were done we should yet be far from becom· ing Hindus. At best we should only be Eurastans. There would therefore still be a wall of parti.
tion between the inhabitants of the land and the missionary. On this account these East Indians can never be fully served withont the ministrations of native helpers, who, belonging to the people by birth and nationality, feel, think and speak like them, and share their weal and woe, and so find the way to their heart as strangers never can."
M. P. Berthoud, writing in the Bulletin Missionaire, the missionary organ for French Switzerland, from the Portuguese town of Lourenzo-Marques, where there are also a good many Hindus, says: .. The passion for alcoholic drinks is what first strikes an observer on his arrival; and the more intimate his knowledge of the mhabitants becomes, the more thoroughly is he
ORGANi~ED; MISSIONARY WORK
obliged to admit that great as the eyil is on the surface, it is much greater still at the bottom. It is a terrible scourge and plague. .' : .. After this discovery, one makes another still more sad, that of the indescribable 'immo- rality which reigns without restraint. Not a soul cares to raise the least dike agailst its invading floods. The Hindus and the natives themselves follow the Europeans and better the example• .. Lourenzo-Marques possesses a Catholic church, served by a priest of mixed race: Except a few such mulattoes, few people, I am assured, attend the religious services.
However, the inhabitants, white or colored, are not anti-religious; they are satisfied with that which they possess, to wit, a priest, a church, the resources necessary to accomplish certain religio)ls forms of which Qne does not love to be deprived, that is to say, above all the funeral rites. They would, on the contrary, feel themselves annoyed, and perhaps harassed, if religion was more living, if it recalled with too sharp a distinctness the image of a holy God who will judge sinners."
"What a consolation," writes M. Berthoud," in the midst of this Sodom of Lourenzo- Marques, to see approaching to meet us a little serried column of native Christians chant- ing our hymn.! It was the 9th of July-twelve years, to the very day, since the founda- tion of our mission at Vald/izia-that, seated on the front ofour wagon, we saw them coming afar and followed their march with a moved and joyous heart. There were morc< than a hundred of them, al~clad becomingly and simply. The countenances of some beamed with delight, those of others were tremulous with emotion, with all the strength of feeling found vent in an explosion of song.
.. It is touching to see the cordiality which unites them, and which they reanimate in- cessantly by calling each other 'children of the Lord," children of the Father," beloved of the Lord,' etc. Their joyous piety has a certain self-communicating power which may well be one of the causes of the rapid propagation of the gospel. We cannot but perceive a great difference between eur Gwamba of the Spelonken and those of this region, who are in general much more vivacious. This difference may have its bad as well as its good side.
We will not judge, but note.
H I come now to another trait of the life of this church, to wit, the exaltation of the religious sentiment. It appears, first, in the ordinary language, which takes a piou" form apro_ pos of everything, even the most simple material things. Thus people cannot salute each other without making long phrases concerning the will of God and its manifestations; they no longer say of anyone that he has been sick, but that' he has been smitten of God.'
'You ask one who is taking leave when he expects to return. • It is God who knows,' is his reply, given in a peculiar unctuous tone, though' all the while he has his well-defined plans of return. Whatever work has been dose, whatever word has been pronounced, 'it is the Spirit who has shown it, has dictated it.' A person who is going to his work, will say that he IS going' to labor for the flesh,' without giving any heed to the nonsense of the expres.
sion. 'The Spirit, the flesh,' these terms occur in conversation apropos of everything. 1 can in a measure understand how a language constantly made up of pious expressions might be employed by a community of Christians who had all attained perfection. But in a church of which each member still has to strive with the old sinful nature, it be<lomes affected, and we shall soon see one of two results: either the religious sentiment will be- come exalted, or quite as probably it will become enfeebled, and pious phrases will no longer be anythmg more than pharisaical forms; or, quite as often, the former alternative will give birth to the second."
Since M. Besthoud's arrival at Lourenzo-Marques there had been more than thirty conversions, n.-ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK.
Woman's Missionary Societies. of • amongst the Indians of Manitoba and the Oanada.* Northwest. I. Woma~'s Foreign Missionary So- ciety of the Presbyterian Church in SUMMARY. Canada-Western Division. Organ- ized 1876. Home Work.
Mrs. Hugh Campbell, Secretary, 194 Rich- Number of Mission Bands ….. : ……. 124 mond street, West Toronto, Ontario. Members in Mission Bands .• a,829 Auxiliary Societies … , ….. . 351 They sustain work in India, Formosa, New Members in Auxiliary Socie- Hebrides, Trinidad, and Honau, China, and ties ………………….. . 9,025 Life Members … , ……….. . 251 .. We are indebted to Mrs. Dr. J. T.Gracey Members of both Local and for this additional account of Woman's General Society……… , • 2,336 Missionary Societies in ClLnada and Great Presbyterian Societies .. , .. . 21 BritILin.-EDs. Total Membership ……………….. . 12,854 Increase in Membership …………. .. 4,291 New Presbyterian Societies………. . 3 New Auxiliaries ………………….. . 98 New Mission Bands ………………. . 49 New Life Members………………. .. 00 Finances. retary, Mrs. E. S. Strachan, 113 Hughson Contri~1;lted by Miss~C!n Bands. . . .. $5,273 25 street, North Hamilton, Canada.
Auxlhartes .. .. …. 19,856 19 The work of this Society in Canada is di- from other sources 528 00 divided into Branches, as follows: Western Branch Central, Eastern, Nova Scotia, New Total amount contributed …..$25,65754 Brunswick and Prince Edward's Island. To these Branches there are certain Districts II. Woman's Foreign Missionary So- auxiliary as follows: St. Johns East, St. ciety of the Presbyterian Church of Johns West, Winnipeg and Qu'Appelle. Canada-Eastern Division. Organ- ized 1877. The tabulated statistics are as follows: Auxiliary societies, 138; members, 4,086; Miss Edith Burns, Secretary, 18 Kent life members, 237; mission bands, 49, with street, Halifax. I,711 me~bers. For the year 1887 the amount of money raised was $14,197.51. The amount The grand total of the receipts of the So- since organization in 1881 is $46,909.46 ciety for the year ending Oct. 17, 1887, which Twelve missionaries have been sent to the is the latest report available, amounts to various fields. $5,091.77. This Society has no missionary period ical III. The Women's Baptist Foreign of their own, but edit a department in the Missionary Societies of Ontario and Outlook, a periodical of their Board. Quebec, Canada. The foreign work of the Society is III President, Mrs. J. H. Castle, Toronto, Japan, the home workthroughont the Prov- Canada. Corresponding Secretary, Miss inces. The" Crosby Home" a't Port Simp- Buchan, Toronto, Canada. son, B. C., is in a flourishing condition. Th4ilre are now 20 girls in attendance. The The work of this Soeiety is represented by McDougall Orphanage and Training Institwo sections, Eastern Ontario and Quebec tute among North American IndianS' has and the Society of Ontario. It has been in 10 boys and 8 girls. A mission school for operation over eleven years. girls (French) has been established at Actonvale with 25 pupils 14 of whom have The section of Eastern Ontario and Que- been converted during the year. bec is represented by 47 mission circles, and raised the past year the amount of $1,555.80 The girls' school in Tokyo. Japan, has while the Society of Ontario is represented been crowded to its utmost capacity, 127 by 150 circles, and money raised $4,626.74 ; or, boarders and 100 day pupils. Fifty of these the two sections, exclusive of balance of have been converted and baptized. Th.ere previous Veal'S, $6,182.54. are now 65 native Christians in the school, Much attention has been' given to evan- W9rk is carried on in India, at Akidu, Co- gelistic work, and the training of native canada, Samulcotta and Tuni, all in the .Christian women for work among their own Telugu country. people. A special donation of $1,000 was given the past year to open work in another '!'hree Eurasian women are employed, and station in Japan, and Shidzuoka was se- report more work than they can do. A ected, and a building free of rent secured &::lCces.ful girls' school is reported at Co- fo), two years. and Miss Ounningham has reo canada. Miss Alexander, of Toronto, sailed cently reached Japan to take charge of this during the veal' to recruit. the mission. A work. Arrangements were also made for Zenana House has been built at Cocanada. aiding the Chinese girls in Victoria, B. O.
IV. Woman's Baptist Missionary Women's Missionary Societies of Great Union of the Maritime Provinces,. Britain and Ireland. Organized 1870. I. Society for Promoting Female Educa- Mrs. John March, St. Johns, N. B., Cor- responding Secretary. tion in the East. Established 1834.
Its home territory includes Nova Scotia, Secretary, Miss Webb, London, England. New Brunswick and Prince Edward's Island. This SOCiety is the oldest organized Society for carrying on work amcng the women of the The Society supports its own missionaries East. It commenced with schools in India and in India and contributes to the support of China, but the work was snbsequently extended fonr of the men employed by the parent to other countries, and now Includes Ceylon, Board. With much misgiving they appro- Japan, the Straits, South and West Africa, the priated at the beginning of the year $3,500 Levant, Egypt and the Holy Land, Turkey in but rejoice at its close over an income of Europe alid Persia. As early as 1835 one of the $1,735 in excess of that, and $258.30 given to Society's missionaries gained access to a house the Home Mission Board. Total income in Calcutta. $4,493.30. The object of the Society has been and ill V. Woman's Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, Canada.
President, Mrs. James Gooderham, 166 Carlton street, Toronto; Corresponding Secstrictlyevangelistie. Recently they have estab- supports 29 schools, with about 8,000 pupils. lished medical missions in North India and the There are day and night schools, and for Holy Land. Forty European missionaries are boys and girls and women. All. are inemployed, who have charge of abont 275 structed in the Scriptures. The annual schools, attended by 19,624 scholars. Some 380 income is about $25,000. zenanas are visited, with about 3,000 pupils_ The annnal income about $35,000. V. Ladies' Association for the Support of Bible Women and Zenana Work The Society publishes The FemaU MiBBion- in Connection with the Baptist Misary Inteliigencer, a monthly magazine of some sixteen pages. sionary Society of England. Es- II. Indian Female Normal School and tablished 1868.
Instruction Society; or Zenana Bi- This Society has work in India, North- west Provinces, Bengal, Madras and the ble and Medical Mission. Estab- Punjab, which consists of schools, zenana, medical and dispensary work. lished 1852. The annual income is about $30,000. This Society was organized in Calcutta, Forty-four European female agents are emand the first work was the establishment of ployed, and 105 native workers, with the a Normal School in that city for Eurasian support of 50 schools, with over 1,600 pupils, teachers. The Society extended its opera- and over 20,000 dispensary patients. tions into three Presidencies, and added to the training of teachers, zenana visiting, VI. The Female Association for Proestablishment of female schools, employment of Bible women and medical missions. moting Christianity among the Wo- The constitution of the Society had been undenominational until 1880, when a division men of the East_ Irish Presbyterian occurred, some adhering to the old constitu- Church. Established 1873. tion, others forming a new society in connection with the Church of England. Since This organization was established through the the division the work has greatly extended, inlluence of Dr. Murray Mitchell and Rev. Nathe societies working in different parts of rayan Sheshadri. Their first missionary sailed India. Annnal income about $50,000. About for India in 1874. Now there are eight lady 27 stations are occupied, with 52 female missionaries, two of whom are medical. Three and 150 native workers. About 55 schools stations are occupied, Surat, Ahmedabad and are supported, with over 3,000 pupils. The Borsad, while girls' schools are supported in Society publishes a quarterly magazine, three other places. There are 14 schools with The Indian Female Evangeli8t. 800 pupils; Bome 30 houses visited. There are two dispensaries, one at Surat, the other at III. Ladies' Auxiliary of the Wesleyan Ahmedabad. The SOCiety employs 12 female native workers. This organization has some Missionary Society. Established 160 auxiliaries, an annual income of about $10,- 000. 1859. Woman'8 Work Is a small magazine published The prejudices against female education" by this Society, quarterly, at Belfast, Ireland. Were giving away somewhat when this Society began its work. It has work in Cey- VII. Woman's Missionary Association lon, India, China, South and West Africa. This Society is auxiliary Ito the General of the Presbyterian Church of Eng- Wesleyan Missionary Society. Their most successful work has been in Ceylon. Their land. Established 1878. annual income is about $35,000. Their work is in 48 stations, with 80 missionaries, 35 The work done by this Association is in native workers, 202 schools, with nearly five stations in China and Singapore, and 10,OOD pupils. Much of their work is super- one station in India-Rampor Bauleah. intended by the wives of missionaries. Miss Ricketts was their first missionary to China, and went out in 1878. IV. British Syrian Schools and Bible The annual income of the Society is about Mission. Founded 1860. $10,000. Thirteen female (European) and 8 native workers are employed, and 5 schools, This Society was organized soon after the with 155 scholars, supported. A quarterly fearful massacres of 1860 in and about magazine, caUed Our Sister8 in Other Lands, Damascus. The Druses put to death about is issued by this Society, published in Lon- 11,000 Christians, and their widows and don. children were turned adrift and fled to the seaport towns. Mrs. Bowen Thompson, who VIII. Church oflEngland Zenana Mishad spent much of her life in Syria, went to Beyrout and at once organized schools, and sionary Society. Established 1880. then established others in various centers. The Society has now about 28 alrents. with This Society was formed by a separation ~ male native workers and 94 female, and from the Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society. It works in connection with Church of England Missionary Society. At its formation it had 31 Enropean mission-
CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE
aries in 17 .stations, and at the close of the XI. Ladies' Society for Female Eduseventh year it had 88 missionaries, 49 na- cation in India and South Africa, tive assistants, and 396 Bible women and of the Free Church of Scotland. native teachers in 42 mission stations. Its present fields are India, China and Japan. This SOCil"ty has done very suceessful work Income for 1887-8 about $115,000. in Southern India and Africa, and has re- centlv added medical work to its various The Society supports 181 schools with 6,928 agencies. It has a staff of 20 European and scholars.* India's Women, the organ of Eurasian helpers in India, and 120 native' this Society, is published every alternate Christian agents, with some 5,000 pupils unmonth, a magazine of 56 pages. der instruction. In Africa 12 European and 57 native Christian agents, with 1,675 pupils. IX. Zenana Medical College. Estab- A very successful boarding-school is car· lished in London, 1880. ried on at Loredale, South Africa, with over 100 pupils. About 30 missionaries' wives This is an unsectarian institution. Its object have supervision of the work. is to train Christian women for medical missionary work in the East. The ladies wl10 The income for 1887 was about $55,000. have finished their college course have been sent to Iudia, China, Ceylon, Syria, and Africa XIII. The Helping Hands Zenana by various missionary societies. The appli- Association. cants for admission have been more than could be accommodated. The income for 1887 was The object of this Association is to bring about $4,000. G. G. Griffith, M.D., Secretary. the young people of Great Britain and Colo- 'nies into active sympathy with the Protest- X. Ladies' Committee in Connection ant missionary societies working among the women of India. The Society has sup- / with the London ,MissionaryS 0- ported schools at various places in India, paid part of the expenses of a medical mis- ciety. sion,and aids in several other departments of missionary work. This Society supports 24 missionaries, 15 in India, 6 in China, and 3 in Madagascar; This Society publishes a monthly paper also 136 girls' schools, boarding schools. 20; called Indian Jewels. day schools, 116; with OVer 7,000 scholars. Over 250 Bible women are employed. It is WOMAN'S BOARD OF THE CUMBERLAND difficult to properly present this work, because of the lack of classification of the PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. information concerning it which obtains in the report of the Society. Recently this WE gladly correct a mistake in stat- Society has issued a magazine of woman's work called Quarterly News. ing the income of the Board last year XI. Ladies' Association for the Promo- (p. 922), which we made but $1,920.87. Rev. H. C. Bird, one of the leading tion of Female Education among the pastors of this Church, writes us: Heathen in the Missions of the So- "The figures are incorrect as you may ciety for the Propagation of the Gos- see by referring to the Assem8lv's Minutes, p. 104. The receipts of the board were $7- pel. 6.',8.44 ; and the whole amount in the trea- sury during the year was $11,212.63. I would This Society has work in India, Burmah, be glad to have you make the correction. South Africa and Japan. In India 61 mis- It is still a poor exhibit, but is a little betsionaries, and in Africa 10 are at work, ter than in your notice." with over 300 female native agents.
The Society publishes a monthly magazine called Grain 01 Mustard Seed.
III-CORRESPONDENCE and GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.
Ohina. Chinese elders. Seven of the native pastors came from Central China, and one from Pe- LETTER from our editorial corre- king. The foreign missionaries represented different stations along the coast, and in spondent, John L. Nevius, D.D. : the interior, as foHows: Two from Canton, one from Ningpo, two from Shanghai, .two CHEFOO, Oct. 5, 1888. from Hang Chow, two from Suchow, one The Synod of China connected with the from Nankin, two from Chefoo, two from American Presbyterian Church, North, Weihien,~two rom Chi-nan-fn, one from Pewhich convenes once in five years, held its king and three from Teng-CllOwfu. One of last meeting in Ling-Chow-Fu. in the Pro- the representatives from Canton was' our vince of Shantung, on the 13thofSeptember_ veteran missionary, Dr. Happer. Though It was composed of twenty foreign mission- forty-five years have passed since he first aries, eight Cbinese pastors, and twelv~ came to China, there IS very little a.ba.te- * Over 2,000 Zenanas under visitation, and ::,187 pupils regularly ta.ught. ment of his physical and mental vigor, and ganizations in the West have now their recetltainly none in his missionary enthusiasm presentatives in China, viz.: American and zeal. Presbyterians, North and Sonth; Dutch Reformed, English Presbyt.erians, Scotch All the delegates, except those who reside Presbyterians, Irish PreslJ) terians, United in the interior of Shantung, came to Chefoo Presbyterians, and Canadian Presbyterians. by steamer, and completed the journey to A committee was ·appointed to open a cor- Teng-Chow, distant about fifty-five miles, respondence with these Presbyterian bodies, in mule-litters, or on mules and donkeys. inviting them to meet us by their represent- The road lies over a rough and compara- atives at the next General Missionary Contively barren and sparsely populated coun- ference, to be held in Shanghai, in 1890, to try, presenting, however, many picturesque devise a plan of uaion. It is hoped that it views of hill and valley, while much of the will not be many years before the moveway the Pechili Bay is in full view on the ment towards organic union will overleap north. Our guests from the south of China Western denominational bounds, and incorwill have many interesting experiences to pOl'ate different families of churches mto remember connected with our rough, and one Chinese National Church. to them novel, modes of locomotion. Now the mule-patH winds round the edge of a The longest and most spirited discussion steep gorge or precipice, again we ford a during Synod, related to the use of other st,ream or fiounder through a pool of mud than grape wine in the administration of the and water. The mules and donkeys meeting Lord's Supper. In China, the manufacture on the road make the hills resound with of grape wine is unknown. There is, howtheir vociferous salutations, and sometimes, ever, a fermented wine produced from gluwhen sportive or intractable, overturn the tinous rice and millet in common useamon<:, litter, and leave the passenger to extricate the people, and believed by some of us to himself from his portable mat-shelter, and correspond in almost every respect, except the muleteers to catch the refractory ani- its origin, to grape wine in the West, and to mals, repair damages, and make a new start. be equally appropriate as a symbol. This Wheu Dr. McCarter came to this region, wine has been generally used in Shantung, about twenty-five years ago, he very aptly especially in stations in the interior. It was characterized the motions of these mule- objected to enjoining the use of grape wine litters as a constant alternation between in all cases, that such a course would be unthe motions of the" sieve" and the "pepper- necessary and burdensome; that the nse of box." Dr. Gulick, who visited us later, very grape wine is not essential to the validity of discriminatingly added the" bottle-washing the ordinance, and insisting on it would be motion." The U SIeve motion" is the result contrary not only to the intent of the ordiof the animals keeping step; that of the nance, but also to the general spirit of "pepper-box" of their breaking step; while Ohristianity; that the introduction of this the U bottle-washing motion" comes from· new wine in China would excite curio.ity the mules jumping down the rocky inequali- and a superstitious reverence for outward ties of the road, From these happy simili- and uuessential formR; and that it wonld tudes the experience of a traveler during make the Ohurch the instrument of introa journey of a day and a half, including a ducing a new beverage into Ohina, and innight in a Chinese inn, can be imagined. crease drunkenness with all its attendant evils. Differences of language form a serious difficulty in transacting business in this A resolution expressing the o;>inion of the Synod. The records of the Synod are kept Synod tha.t grape wine should be used whenin the universal written language of China. ever it could be obtained was passed by a Members speak in English and Mandarin, majority of 21 to 17. Another resolution which is the spoken language of North enjoining the exclusive nse of grape wine China. The native members from Central was negat,ived by a large majority. The China have learned to speak Mandarin, so minority entered a complaint against this that they are fairly well understood. As a. last action of Synod, and the matter will thus rule speeches are formally translated from be brought before the next General Assem- English into ~landarin, andvice-versa. Busi- bly. ness is conducted in a very orderly manner, the native members being now almost as Some of the statistics of the Synod of familiar with rules of order as the foreigners Ohina are as follows: Initiatory steps were taken toward securing the organic union of the dlfferent Pres- Number of Churches……………….. 42 byterian bodies in China. This movement .. .. Church Members added which nas been a matter of great interest to many missionaries in China for years past, since last Synod …………………. 1,981 has been much stimulated and facilitated Number of Church Members Expelled.. 560 by the action of the recent Pan-Presbyterian .. " H " Died. . . . . . . 292 Alliance. Seven distinct Presb;yt~ri1<n 01'- Total Number of Male Church Members 1,837 U Female" .~ 1,325 " ..
" ., Foreign Ministers….. 38 .. Native .. .., . . 23 .. Preachers of all Grades 85 .. Preaching Stations••• 179 Brazil. diminished. The so·called enthusiasm over the abolition of slavery in Brazil was largely dne to PERNAMBUCO, September 24, 1888. the popularity of the movement. Althougb but HOWEVER high may be th estandard of morals One case has com~ to my knowledge, I am so of the Romish Church, her practices have so well acquainted with the Brazilian character nullified her precepts that in Brazil morality that I do not hesitate to say that many people seems to form no part of religion. Morality who were not in sympathy witll the work of the separate from religion is .a frail bark on the abolitionists, and who will evade the law as 10lllt swiftly fiowing current ofsin, and religiou with. as they can, contributod to defray the expenses out morality is a vehicle for hypocrisy to ride of the public demollstmtiOllS, and decorated and in. An indication of how little moral infiuence illuminated their own houses becanse abolition is exerted by Romanism may be taken from the was popnlar and they had ltot the courage to fact that in this city of Pernambuco, the popu. appear on tbe othor side. If they shonld bEt lation of disreputable characters Is thickest called upon to justify tbeir action, they wonld right around the principal churches, where they make patriotism their shield. 'l'he Brazilian is attend mass for the purpose of display and con- very jealous of the honor of his country, and in quest as they would a theater. the abolition of slavery the thOugbt of the re- From this separation of religion and morals moval of Brazil's reproach of being the only civarises one of the chief difficulties for the gospel ilized country maintaining slavery seemR to give to overcome. Romanism answers the purposes more satisfaction than that of the right and of those who desire to be religious without in- jnstice done, or that of the oppression removed terfering with their morals; and those who dis- from so many Imman beings. This same national regard religion are not snsceptible to appeals for pride has been of great service in suppressing 190rality through religion. Hence it is that persecution whenever it has arisen against us while tbere are many people wbo have practi- missionaries. The tOlle of inflnential people who cally renounced Romanism because of its being endeavor to pl'Otect ns is: "Are we not a civil· found wanting and not because of something ized people, and sball we permit indignities such better having been presented to them, it is hard as only could be expected of barbarians? " now to make them desire religion of any kind; and since they will not see it, we mnst deVise It is somewhat of a trial for us who, methods to more fully carry ont Christ's word, through experience, have learned wba~ it " Go." We hold our services in private houses, is to be a Christian, not to be able to use the halls and small churcbes. Occasionally a passer- word" Christian" as we understand it; but by is attracted by the singing and enters shyly. in this land, the simple question" Are you He hears the Word of God read or proclaimed. a Christian? "would invariably be answered Perchance his heart is prepared by grace to re- in the affirmative. Christening is what ceive the word, and he at length becomes a makes a Christian; so we have to resort to member of tbe church. But oh ! the many who other phraseology in speaking of 01le'8 renever come to hear of Jesns. We go in private lation to Christ. Amollg the followers of to this one and that; but the masses are not Christ, the word" believer" takes the place reached. Street preaching is prohibited bylaw. of the word H Christian.n In differ~nt parts The colporteurs of varions Bible societies have of Brazil the names given to Protestants by planted the Word in many parts of the country; tbe popnlace vary according to circum-· but, except ill the principal cities, no misSionary stances attending the introduction of the Apollos has entered. work. In Rio de Janeiro, the first place in While the Romish Chnrch fails to exert a moral which the gospel was preached, they are infiuence, it has made its impress on the so~ial called "bibles," due probably to the st"ess life and cbaracter of the people. The deception laid on the use of the Bible alld the estimaengendered shows itself not only on lying lips, tion with which it was held by the first bebut in the disposition of tbe people to appear lievers_ Before the good news would be acwhat they are not. The maintenance of a good cepted, the genuineness of the evidence had reputation is of more importance than that of a to be established. In another part, the good character, and to a wonderful degree the Protestallts are called "Jesus," for that Brazilian is bound to that which is conventional name, of course, was above every name in and popular. Many people there are who regard the preaching_ In the province of Ceara, the Ro!nish Church and the various social cns- where the first missionary was a married toms out~·! J. in;; therefrom as folly and super- man, every believer, whether man or wostiiion, an" ret, rather than be thought pecnliar, man, married or single, is called a U marthey conform thereto. Others there are who are ried priest." Here in Pernambuco We arc impressed with the truth of evangelical teach- called H new sect." ings and practices who are kept by tbis false pride from frequenting our meetings, insignifi- There are. several things that lead me to cant in aspect and attended mostly by people of advocate" self-support" as the most feasilowly station. Let our cause once become popnlar in Brazil, and missionary reports will con- ble ba.si~ for missionary work in Brazil. tain large figures, but the proportion of genuine Christian character among our members will be First, it is possible. I consider that theobh- gation to support me rests 110 more upon the whole church than upon the individual members of it. of which I am one, and therefore, it being possible for me to support my- the missionary is not self.supporting, any self and serve my Master a& missionary, I am compelled to do it. To live 'on the char- convert who shows any capability for pubityof others when God puts it within my lic work expects, if he engages in it, to ~ive power to provide for myself would be incon- up his present occupation and receive a sistent and insincere. In so saying" I am salary from the missionary society. not accusing anyone who does not support himself. The question turns upon the p08si- A self-supporting mi.sionary in Brazil is bilityof supporting one's self and fulfilling bound to have the respect of the general pubone's obligations as missionary at the same time. It has been said that if a missionary lic when it would not be given to another. for has to,take time to earn his own living he two reasons; first, because his occupation cannot do as much missionary work as if he were free from all care as to his income. I brings him into constant contact with the people, will not dispute that point in this paper; and lack of respect for a missionary is in most but it must be granted that whatever mis- cases due to lack of acquaintance with him; sionary work is done by a self-supporting missionary in a foreign field is just so mnch and second, because the Brazilian looks with more than wonld be done if he stayed at snspicion upon anything that may be propaganhome for the wa.nt of a salary. Let the dism for tbe sake of the money there is in it. churches in the home lands support as many missionaries as they can-as many as need Their own experience with priestcraft and the to be supported-and let as many go forth Jesuits has made it so. Only recently a gentleas are willing to support themselves, and man who comes to our meetiugs told me that yet the laborers wiII be inadequate to the work to be done. Do some of you say you the vicar of a certain important parish in this don't see how any missionary can support city had told him that he is a priest because his himself; that yon are overworked as it is, and to attempt to earn your own living be- father had educated him for one, and although sides would be death to yon? Let me say that earning one's own living is a check he does not believe in half that Romanism against breaking down. With nothing to teaches, he remains a priest because it is his restrain you, and surrounded by so much that appeals to your sympathies, and work occupation. Is it at all unreasonable that a pouring in upon you which you did not seek, Protestant missionary, against whom Romanists how can you refuse even thongh you know that you ought to rest? Self-support puts are already prejudiced, and who lives in better you under obligations that compel you to style than their own priests, should be suspected refuse, and so takes your mind from the very work: that wears you out as to be more of being what he is for the sake of what he is beneficial than idle rest. paid? ', Moreover, there are other things to be taught'the people besides what is done un- Up to the present, the best resource for selfder the head of regular 'missionary work. Lessons of thrift aud industry are best com- support in Brazil s~ems to be that which arises prehended if exemplified by the mission- from the demand for private tutorage in varions aries themselves. With au appearance of good living: without any ell'ort on your part branches of learning, and particularly in the to obtain it, what idea can you give them of industry? You may tell them of how English language. There are always to be many hours a day you devote to study in found people of too liberal ideas to be governed order to labor ell'ectively among them; but what idea have the majority of our converts in matters of business and secular education by ';f what intellectual labor is? If they can religious prejndices, while many most unyieldsee what you do to earn your livelihood, they wiII understand better what industry ing Romanists do not hesitate to employ us means, and the ell'ort you put forth in order to live among them to preach Christ will be rather than not receive instruction on a par with a strong proof of how much you love Him that of their neighbors. In choosing this occuand them., In imitation of you, they will coutitiue to support themselves, and labor pation we are not obliged to take upon ourselves for Christ among their own people without any more work than is necessary for our supexpecting any pay therefor. This feature has been noticeable in connection with self- port, or any that interferes with our gospel supporting work in Brazil, while, on the other hand, we have observed that where work. We invite our pupils to our meetings; some of them become regular attendants and a few have been converted. Besides the indirect beneficial results of our contact with the people, there are others that the missionaries of the next generation, and even we in later yelJ.rs, will feel. God ha,tl blessed the missionary work of the past century to a wonderful degree. He has not despised the inexperience and poor methods em- ployed; yet He would have us profit thereby and improve thereon. Let the Pr.otestant churches of Europe and AmericlJ. give their millions of money; but I believe that the acme of missionary times will not be reached till there are millions of person~ going forth from those same churches into all the world, depend- ing only on God's blessing, on the labor of their hands or brain to provide them with means to live and labor among those who are dying for the want of the bread of life. God speed the day. GEORGE B. NIND, Methodist Episcopal Layman. Persia.; Islam in the village of Ula, to begin work there until It could be opened in Haft Dewan. The LETTER from Rev'. John C. Mech- first thing to do was to secure a house In that village. A man who was connected with civil lin: matters was willing to rent us his property, pro- vided we would give him big rent. But before SALMOB, May 16, 1888. the bargain was made the proposed transaction became public, and the man received such II I was one of the 2,000 young people that beatin~-bastinado-that he died from the ef- fects of it. Thus the work was begun in blood, pledged themselves for Missions a year ago. I though the man was not a martyr for our cause, bnt for money. Before long another man vengraduated from Western Seminary, Allegheny, tured to offer his place for rent. He received large money in advance for three years. As Pa., was accepted by the Presbyterian Board soon as this became known it caused an awful stir. He was fined-one-quarter of the money and sent here. bein<: taken from him-and he was also severely beaten. Afraid for his life, he fied to Tillis, Rus- Three of the seven missionaries that arrived sia. Many times his wife came to Dr. Shedd and pleaded with him to take back the money and here in October remained at Salmos-Mr. Mech- give her the paper. But though we had the right to the place, the next qnestion was to get lin and his wife, and Miss Emma Roberts of possession. The people were furious and it did not seem safe to go to our house. We had to Atlanta, Ga. Messrs. McDowell and St. Pierre appeal to the government; finally, our minister at Teheran carried the matter before the Shah, and their wives went on to Oroomioh. and a special order was sent froin the throne to the Governor of this province~ I will tell you how this station was opened, A chain of circumstances showed God's and how God's hand was seen in it. Work has providence and answer to prayer. The present Ameer was then Governor of been done in this Plain for several years by Oroo- Oroomioh, and on the death of the then Ameer, who had been unfriendly, was apmioh helpers. But frequently "they disgraced pointed to fill his place. Jnst as he left for Tabriz, he got the mandate of. the Shah. their profession by quarreling and by lying. He sent for the Governor of Khoy, who was responsible for the troubles having The missionaries felt it necessary to put a mis- gone so far, and degraded him before the people, probably more to revenge himself sionary here who could always aid and control than to punish the Governor, with whom he had a qnarrel. He also gave orders that no the helpers. As to the peoples of Salmos, five one molest us iu Salmos. Posters were put up in DHimon, the central market town, nationalities are represented here. 1. Per- wa.rning all against interfering with us. Here was the chain of providences: The sians-from whom come our rulers and many death of the Ameer, the appointment of a friendly successor, his receiving the decree business men-all, of course, Musselmen, but when he did, and the orders he left in Sal- mos. And this was not all. He r~ported the very friendly. We call On them anc1 they on us. Governor of Khoy to the authorities in Teheran and they summoned him to the Many of this class are reading the Bible. Sheik capital. He knew that if he obeyed, he would be beaten, and deg~aded from his Islam, the religious head of this Plain, is very position. So instead of going, he sent a present of seven hundred Tomans ($1,050), friendly, and a man of such infiuence that the and aU trouble passed over. As soon as Mr. Wright, who was stationed here by the mis- Governor does not meddle with his affairs. sion, could take possession, he made his home in Haft Dewan. Some of the leading Much prejudice has been broken down by the men met him and said that they would op- pose him in every way, would raise money medical treatment of Drs. Holmes and Cochran, and have their own schools, and their child- ren should not come to his. They said: whom they hold in high esteem. 2. Jews. .. Why don't you do as your Master did? If they did not want him in their city, he They are many and very friendly. We will went to another." Mr. Wright answered soon open work among them. They are here, as everywhere, a marked race, and their busi- ness is trading. 3. Nestorians. These people, among whom we have one church, belong to the Oroomioh Plain, and still cling to the Old Church. 4. Monntain Koords. They are 80 near that we may count them as belonging to the Plain. 5. The Armenians. They are the rich- est, and are either farmers or merchants, hav- ing a strong national pride. Their great hope is one day to become a separate power, but Russsia, Turkey and Persia will all resist this.
Snrroundcd by Mohammedanism, and often sorely pressed to become followers of the False Prophet, they never gave up their form of wor- shiplor their belief in Jesus as the Son of God; but they did not hold so strongly to ltJe spirit as to the letter, of the Bible. Formality took the place of heart worship, and the priests cared more for the fieece than for the sheep.
But here they remained, as if to witness for the doctrine of the Trinity; and it seems as if God had left them here, that, revived and qnickened, they might give salvation to all these peoples.
At the annual meeting in the fall of 1884 it was, therefore, resolved to open a station for work among the Armenians. Haft Dewan was chosen because it was one of the most central and in- flnential Armenian villages of the Plain.
Dr. J. H. Shedd, of Oroomioh, came that fall to Salmos, and rented a house from Sheik that he loved their souls too mueh to leave alHicted are drawn to the gospel wi~ them; he would stay. A year passed by greater interest. Since reaching the coun. and all parties became and have continued try it has been my privilege to preach two very friendly. or three times weekly. In Tarsus from 200 to 400, and in Adana from 1,200 to 1,500 per- The hostility to our mission may be easily sons were gathered each Sabbath; prayer_ accounted for. Twenty minutes ride from meetings are largely attended, and the Haft Dewan is the village of Khosroo-Shah, Sabbath-school lesson has to be given from where for nearly fifty years the Catholic the pulpit, there not being room to arrange Lazarists have had a mission. When they classes for such large numbers. came there the town was one of the richest on the Plain, partly Armenian and partly The Kenerous contributions of Christian Nestorian. To-day it is one of the worst; friends in America for the famine sufferers its lewd women and drunken men give it have proved a means of grace among everywhere a bad odor. Tke Catholics have the people. A few Sabbaths ago we had taught them to gamble and encouraged' communion in Adana, at which 54 perstrong drink by their own example. For sons united with the church on profession the first time in twenty years a man has of faith. In Tarsus the work has not been been seen in Persia dead-drunk by the road- so prosperou~ owing to the lack of a regular side. For many years these monks meddled pastor and an unsuitable place of worship. with civil affairs, securing justice only for Yet there are many to be gathered into the those that favored tbem and pnnishing churches. whom they would. They also farmed the taxes and became so obnoxious that the Gov- Another promising feature is the educaernment gave strict orders that they should tional interest among the youth. Besides let civil matters alone. They are now under the contributions for the famine sufferers, the ban. Dreadful lies had been circulated which were $2,445 last year, there was given concerning us, and these poor people of $2,400 for the scholarship fund for the poor Haft Dewan expected the worst from us. and orphan children of St. Paul's Institute. But as time showed that we did not meddle From this last amount $425 was seut with with their affairs, they became friendly and the famine money for immediate use in now wonld not wish us to leave. Though helping our poor children. On our arrival' none have come out on the Lord's side, we were surprised to learn that 75 children many seem glad to hear the Word. The had been assisted. Calling at their schools woman whose husband rented to the mis- we saw dozens of pale, sickly-looking, yet sionaries at first stole everything she could bright children, sitting on the hard fioor, get, but this sbe has ceased to do, and has their clothing patched with pieces of many been known to speak good words for Mr. colors, and worn daily for more than a year Wright. She seems in fact to be a Christ- (they stay in the house while their ollly garian. ments were washed and dried). Some had only worn-out books, which they· shared The work has thus begun; .the Bible is with others. Asking the teacher, ' Is this read and studied, and the fields are ripen- the condition of the children all the year?" ing to the harvest. Next winter I hope to the reply was: .. They are now in a better work on the Plain among the Armenians, state, as the famine is passing. Many conmany of whose villages have not been vis- tinue the school with insulHcient clothing, ited. barefooted and often hungry for days." Many lived on two or three metallics (cents) Asia Minor. daily. .. Often hungry, yet industrious; shivering with cold, burning with heat, still ST. PAUL'S INSTITUTE, TARSUS, Ang. I, 1888. most eager to make progress." Beyond the EDITORS OF lI1lSSIONARY REVIEW.-YOU will pale faces and frail bodies we saw active be glad to know of the safe arrival of our minds and souls to be loved and won for party, our expenses being paid by Col. Christ. They are entirely dependent on Elliott F. Shepard. Arriving at Mersine, benevolent friends for futher education- •Tarsus and Adaua, we were most cordially if they are properly cared for and educated, welcomed by the missionaries and hundreds what a greatblessing they will prove to this of the native friends. These three cities needy and darkened lalld J now being connected by rail are almost as one city, having a population of nearly It was God's own time for us to come while 100,000, consisting of Mohammedans, Arme- the people are so needy and eager to receive nians, Greeks and Fellaheens. The first the gospel. Our mission is to teach and thing we noticed was the exceeding poverty preach the truth. The kind interest of the of the people, owing to the recent severe missionaries and people here encourages us famine. This year's harvest is good, still in our work. Tarsus will be our head- there are thousands of sick, aged, feeble quarters, where our school will be located, women and little children who are unable yet we will worK in other cities and villages to work for their support, whose suffering throughout Asia Minor, is beyond description. The people thUS We expect to.open our school in a rented her husband was on a journey far from hOIDe. house, October 1. There are many appli- He heard a rumor of what was going on, and cations for admission, most of whom are started in a hurry for home, telling his friends orphans and poor children. The sum of $50 that if his wife had taken up with these fanatics will support a child for one year in the he and she would soon separate. Within two school. days he and his wife were found with hands joined praising and blessing God for His good- For the success of our mission we depend, ness In giving them such a blessed outpouring with God's blessing, upou the direction of of His Holy Spirit. our Board of Trustees and Managers and the benevolent support of Christian friends. Whilst the Boers were praisio!( God for His I hope you will always be interested in this goodness, it came into the hearts of some that work, and help it any way you can. It is they had a duty toward the heathen, whom they the Master's work, to whom be all the glory. had hitherto looked upon as little better tban animals, to serve them, the snperior race. In I shall be glad to correspond with -and their gatherings for prayer they brought the hear from you at any time. condition of the heathen before their heavenly Father, and SOOn they felt that they must be up Yours in Christ. and dOing. Applications for help were made to (Rev.) H. S. JENANYAN. various missiOnaries, especially to those of the, Free Church of Scotland. These appeals were Mission Work Among the Zulus in gladly responded to, and before long 'they had NataJ, Africa. several native evangelists preaching the gospel throughout the country. There are now fifteen BY REV• .TAMES SCOTT, IMPOLWENI. stations or preaching places where the heathen are gathered together to hear of Jesus and His A VERY nnexpected and interesting work has love. These stations are just the Boers' farmbeen begun amongst the Zulns in Natal. The houses. On the Sabbath the Zulus may be seen European population of the county of Umvoti, gathering in from the neighboring kraals and of which Greytown is the principal place, are villages, old and young, men and women, a few Boers, who belong to the Dntch Reformed clothed, but mostly heatheu in their blankets, or Church (Presbyterian). Their minister, the even without one. The largest shed available, Itev. James Turnbull, was a licentiate of the generally the wagon-house, has been prepared Free Church of Scotland, educated at the New for the occasion, and there the missionary or College, Edinburgh. native evangelist, or, in absence of either, the Dutch farmer, conducts a simple service in the Mr. Turnbull's congregation, like their coun- Zulu language. The writer has on some of these trymen throughont Sonth Africa, read their occasions seen as many as eighty Boers and Bibles, attended ordinances, and were ont- three or four hundred Zulus gathered together wardly good Christian people. Their Christi- to worship the one true God, the services comanity, however (except in some special cases), mencing on Saturday and being continued till did not extend so far as to caring for the salva- Monday afternOon. There was often a dearth tion of the heathen perishing around them. of preachers, but gradually this difficulty is van- Being nnder British rnle, they showed no open ishing. Most of the Dutch farmers know the hostility to mission work; probably, however, Zulu language, and are well acquainted with the same spirit was in them -as in their country- the Word of God; and though at first diffident men who burned down Livingstone's station, of their own powers, they were persuaded to who destroyed the stations of the French mis- hegin by reading a few verses of Scripture and sions in Basutoland, and who hindered the ad- offering up prayer. Now they are conducting vance of rmissions whenever they had the services more and more freely, and thus are bepower. coming bound together, black and white, in one common love to the Lord Jesns Christ. Very Three years ago God's Spirit worked in a soon God gave the blessing to this wonderfnl marvelous way amongst these people. The work. Not many months after the first attempts commencement of this outpouring of the Holy were made, over One ,hundred gave in their Ghost has been attributed to different human names as candidates for baptism, These have agencies; the Boers themselves say the chief now been formed into a native church in conagent was the reading and meditating upon nection with the Dutch Church of Greytown ; God's holy Word. many more have professed faith in Christ, and are now under instruction and being gathered in After varied experiences, one and another from time to time. Tbe work is carried on amongst them began to feel that they were new under the direction of a committee of Dutch creatures in Christ Jesus; although they had f:irmers, who, besides being themselves heartily been members and office-bearers of the Church, engaged in the work, employ three native evanyet they now for the first time felt Christ a)iv- gelists. ing power within them. No SOOner did one speak to his neighbor of the change which had Amongst thElse evangelists is one man, Petros come upon him or her than the reply came: Skosan, whOse case is a striking fulflllment of J.' Such also is my experience" ; and soon whole families were rejoicing together and praying for theil' neighbors and kinsfolk.
One case worthy of mention is that of a WOIDan who was brongbt into the light while the prophecy of Isaiah xi. This man's father government, foster a universally spread was one of the regiment of Zulu warriors who, sense of distrust and insecurity; Everyone sees a foe in his neighbor and a snare in iu 1836, at asignal from that cruel tyrant, Din- friendship. Thelife of the chiefs, great and small, is one of extortion, sensuality and gaan, fell upon and in cold blood murdered, in intrigues. Revolutions, like fever, are en- Dingaan's own palace, the Dutch leader, Retief, demic. and all his party of about seventy men. The son is now an evangelist, supported by the de- Some time ago, in London, the cloak of scendants of these same Dutch Boers to preach respectability was torn asunder, and the the gospel of peace to his heathen fellow-coun- world shuddered. Here there is no cloak trymen. The father, who still lives, is also a of respectability, no law, no public opinion member of the Church of Christ. to fear. Passions are let loose without any restraint, and the grossest bestiality goes GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. about in broad daylight, barefaced and shameless. There is no innocent childhood Central A.frica.-Themail from Europe and or family ties. National brigandage and news from our nearest neighbors, 900 miles slavery have borne their fruits, and brutalolf, reach us only once a year by occasional ized man.–The Christian (London). traders or travelers. The rest of the year We are entirely cut off from the outer world. North Africa.-Within four days' journey of I send these lines by a caravan of Portu- Britain one may land on African soil and find a guese traders returniug to Benguela. We large field-almost untouched-for Christian hope that in time communications may be labor among the natives of Algeria, the Kaopened with the West Coast through our byles. Visiting recently among these people, American brethren of the Biha. The be- and making known to them for the first time ginnings of a mission like this, far away the glad tidings of salvation, I was much struck from the great arteries of trade and immi- with the atteution given to the message. Doubtgration are expect.ed to be bard. Pioneers less the novelty of an Englishman speaking to ought to bE' giants in faith and courage. them in their own unwritten langnage and deliv- ering snch a message as a free salvation with,ont The climate is most trying to Europeans, works was sullicient of itself to caI1 forth snch and bardly less so to tbe natives. The land attention. Seated one evening in a Kabyle devoureth its own inhabitants. Independ- house I was greatly delighted with the readiness ently of that, there is much worry in set- to listen to the gospel. The wonderful story of tling in a place so difficult of access, and in the resurrection of Lazarus was being read laboring to make a wild sand-hill overlook- when my host announced that supper was ready ing marshes habitable•.Materiallife is very and when I liked I conld have it bronght up. difficult. It is a constant struggle and trial Having expressed a desire to finish the narraof faith, a daily lesson of trust and un- tive the little company of Mohammedans conreserved confidence in the loving-kindness tinned to give the ntmost attention to the words and faithfulness of -our heavenly Father. read and spoken. Snpper ended, the conversa- Far from complaining of hardships and pri- tion was renewed. One of onr company, an vations, I must say that, on the whole, they honorable Marabont or religions Mohammedan, are less th!l.n we had anticipated. who, becanse of ha'i'ing made a pilgrimage to Mecca, was called Elhadj, entertained us while Those who read our monthly, Journal des he read from an Arabian tract. The man Missions Evangelig:ues, know that when we showed us with evident pride a book in Arabic crossed the Zambesi we penetrated into one (I presume a portion of Scripture) gh'en bim of the Prince of Darkness's strongholds. two years ago in Algiers by a Christian English During '30 years of mission life I have lady who was distribnting tracts among the found nowhere the ideal heathen, so good, people. Frequently dnring that evening's con· so meek, so yearning after the things of versation my statements were met by the words, God, which some preachers at home rel'lre- "You are right," "Trnly." That night I had sent the African savages to be. But no- two sharing the sl~eping apartment with me. where have I met with a tribe so hopelessly Having seen me bow the knee in prayer, one of degraded. The Barots6 themselves say that them asked me afterwards U I had been pray· theirs is a land of murder, that no one is ing. Replying that I had. he added, "May God allowed to grow old: their soil is saturated answer yonr prayer I" How one is saddened with blood; human bones bleach every- in observing these people praying, as they proswhere in the sun. The spear, a terrible trate themselves toward the east! How the piaything in the hands of these Zambesians, longing comes up to see them worship God in does not ever get rusty. Superstition and spirit and in truth I Who will offer himself to witchcraft spread their wings of darkness help make known the gospel among them? and death over every village, hamlet, hut Those of us who are in the field wonld do more and individual. We live in the middle age", if our hands were s!rengthened by brethren at but the middle ages in savagedom. The in- home. Sometimes too much is expected of missatiable l:Teediness of these poor people, sionaries in forei&n cl/untries, where, with 11Imitheir inveterate habit of stealing and lying, the total absence of anything like justice, the utter powerlessness of the so-called lies to be looked after and no domestic help olany growth of grass covered the formerly weUreal value, and often without means to tlnd even trimmed paths. proper help, the missionary has much secillar .. As we approach the skirt of the groves we labor to perform which necesarily reduces his are strnck by the dead silence which reigns. No laughter is to be heard, no sign of a welcome tilne and strength for his proper work. Like from our old friends. The silence of death breathes over the lofty crowns of the palms, the China inland missionaries we are without slowly waving in the wind. We enter, and it gnarantee of salary. Moreover, no fixed sum is in vain we look to the right and left for the can We look for regularly. The society sends to happy homesteads and the happy old· scenes. its missionaries that which is entrusted to it, Tall grass covers everything, and a charred pole but it leaves the missionaries free to receive here and there, a few banana trees are the oilly from any source through which God may be evidences that man once dwelt here. Bleached pleased to send to the help of His servants. sknlls by the roadside, and the skeletons of Want of means often puts a drag on the chariot human hands attached to poles tell the storr, of wheels, and causes the worker not a little anxi- what has happened here since our last visit. ' ety as he finds the will present to perform more, but the wherewithal to perform lacking. May It appeare<i that the notorions Tippoo Tib had the Lord of the harvest enable all who pray that been there to " trade," and in the coorse of that laborers be thrust forth to help also in the send- process had killed all who offered resistance, ing of them on their way.-Aifred S. Lamb. carried off the women, and devastated the flelds, gardens and banana groves. Bands of destroyers -Mohammedanism and;Missions. An inter- from the same gang bad returned again and again, esting article on the influence of Arab traders and those who escaped the sword perished by the in West Central Africa, contributed by Lieuten- small-pox and famine, which the marauders left ant Wissmann to the current issue of the" Pro- in their train. The whole tribe of the Bene Ki ceedings of the Royal Geographical Society," ceased to exist, and only a few remnants found throws light on the qnestion of Mohammedan- refuge in a neighboring state. ism and missions, raised by Canon Taylor at the last Church Congress. The writer's experience Snch must be counted amongst the'resillts of of Mohammedan influences upon the native Arab "trading" in Africa, and if it is at such popUlations is in direct contrast with the asser- cost that the bleSSings of Mohammedan civllzation that the creed of Islam is that best suited tion are purchased by the native races, it is no to their need.. He gives a graphic account of wonder that they are not considered a desirable two visits to Bagna Pesihi, and certaiu villages acquisition. Even if it be true that Christianity of the Bene Ri, a division of the Basonge, in is sometimes tardy of operation in its beneficent Central Africa, before and after tbe arriv/!l of effect upon the blacks, Christian missionaries a gang of Arab traders on the scene. and Christian traders can at least boast that they have never wittingly acted otherwise than On the first occasion, in 1882, he was welcomed beneficently towards them. In their case the by a prosperous and contented tribe, whose perpetration of such atrocities would be imposcondition and occupations bore ample evidence sible. With the followers of the False Prophet it to the existence of its villages for decades In is different. Their religion is merely a superstipeace and security, free from the disturbing tion, adapted to the needs of aggressive and elements of war and slave·hunts, pestilence and militant tribes, and does not profess to inculcate superstition. The huts of the natives were tenderness or humanity, mnch less the loftier roomy and clean, fitted with shady porches, and teachings ofthe:gospel of Christ. surrounded lly carefully kept fields and gardens, in which were grown all manner of nsefnl England.-" The Christian Union plants and fruits, including hemp, sugar, to- for the Severance of the Connection of bacco, sweet potatoes, maize, manioc and mil- the British Empire with the Opium let. A thicket of bananas and plantains occupied the back of each homestead, aud shady Traffic," with Sir S. A. Blackwood palm groves supplied their owners with nuts, oil, fibers and wine. Goats, sheep and fOWls as its President and Dr. Maxwell abounded, and no one seemed afraid of thieves. Honorary Secretary, gives the fol- The people all had a well-fed air, and were anxious to trade, their supplies being plentiful lowing reasons for its formation: and ell'tremely cheap. A fowl could be pur- Became as a nation we are responsible cbased for a large cowrie shell, and a goat for a yard of calico. Everywhere the visitors found through our Indian Government for a trade a cheerful, courteous and contented population, which is ruining the oodies and souls. and uncontaminated by the vices of civilization, and destroying the homes of multitudes of the yet not wholly ignorant of its arts. Chinese.
Four years later Lieutenant Wissmann Became our national connection with this chance(l to be in the same district. and after the evil traffic is peculiarly close and revolting. privations of a toilsome march through dense, The poppy is grown in Bengal alone over an inhospitable forests, rejoiced as. he drew near to . extent of more than 500.000 acres, and this the palm groves of the Bal:D& Pesihi. A dense growth is carefully fostered by the Indian Government. The OpiUIU drug is ma.nufac- tured under c.onstant Government direction and supervision. It is sold at auction by the Government, expressly and intentibn- ally for the Chinese market. Including that from the native states, about 85,000 of the vilest offenders in .. the trade," some chests, containing over 5,000 tons of opium, holding positions as office-bearers, others', are thus exported annually from India to through taeir liberality and pecuniary aid China, and a revenue of five, six, or seven to missionary and charitable institutions, millions sterling is derived by Government enjoying contentedly the admiration of from it. It is a great Government institu- their fellow-worshipers as great Ohristian tion, for which England is directly and pe- philanthropists. It is a sin and dis,,"Tace culiarly responsible. tb.a.t the representation of a Christian to a heathen mind should be the rapacious Because through many, many years this cupidity of merchants whose merchandise traffic nas been carried on in spite of the is making the unhappy peoples they trade remonstrances of the Chinese Government, amongst .. twofold more the children of hell and of the thousandfold testimony that it than themselves." It is impossible that the ministered only to debauchery, and to moral Church's foreign missionary effort can sucand social ruin. The Convention of 1885, ceed as long as she goes with a soul-saving though it has given to the Chinese the right gospel in the one hand and a soul-damnIng to put a heavier tax upon imported opium, trade in the other. May God give her minishas not altered in the slightest degree our ters grace to declare His whole mind and own relations as a country to the gross im- will in the matter, and enable her to wash morality of the trade. her hands and garments clean from all complicity therein. If her efforts in the Because while, for very shame's sake. we ensuing struggle are not to prove futile, in have done a little (only a little) to restrain deep contritioll her first step must be that the bavoc which opium was working among of self-judgment and purification. Judgour Burmese Ifellow-subjects. we have done ment must begin at the house of God. As nothi"g to check the ruin which it is work- co-workers with God all His true followers ing in Ohina among a people in friendly alli- are under a threefold obligatIon to do their ance with us. utmost. We owe this for the sake of our Lord and Master, who has commanded His Because eVJlry thoughtful and educated gospel to be preached in every part of the Ohinaman, heathen though he be, cannot world; for the sake of our missionary brethhelp denouncing the immorality and un- ren, in removing the stumbling-blocks we righteousness of the nation which has de- have placed in the way of their work; and liberately sown among his people a seed of for the sake of the poor heathen whom we ever-extending vice and degradation. have enthralled body and soul.-Christian Leader. Because in the largest mission field of the world, according to the unanimous testi- India.-We have received the report of mony of missionaries in China, our relations the Travancore District Committee of the as a country to the opium traffic form one London Missionary Society. It is a closely of the chiefest hindrances to the spread of packed little volume, and its perusal leaves the gospel. a vivid impression of unusual activity and ingenuity in all :departments. Read- Because national judgment must surely ing-rooms have always played an important follow upon national sin, and it faUs upon part in Travancore. The room at Nager- British Ohristians especially, not only to coil has now been the scene of special gathacknowledge this sin, but to lead the com- erings on Sunday afternoons for many munity in protesting against it, and in con.. months. At these meetings the people have tinuous efforts to effect its removal. produced the publications of the Hindu Tract Society, and have put forward their -The Foreign Liquor Traffic. Weare glad best men to argue the case against Ohristto hear tbat the Foreign Missionary Society ianity, while the Christians have replied of the Glasgow Y. M. O. A. are making in- forcibly and clearly. This is excellent vestigations into this subject with a view work, stirring up in the people a great exto the taking of some definite action. Brit- citement, and making them feel that Hinain has a terrible account to settle with the duism must fight if it is to continue to live. Almighty in this matter. The blold of thou- The medical mission has proved itself of sanas of natives in India and Africa is to- great value. There is a medical native day ('rying out to Heaven against her. agency, carefully trained, and doing most These dark races implore our aid in turning valuable work in the branch dispensaries, the tide of a traffic which threatens them and it is proposed to enlarge this departwith rapid ruination; but Ohurch and State ment by training a large number of young alike seem to turn a deaf ear to every ap- Christians as dressers. Classes have been peal. Why is the voice of our churches held in which domestic medicine has been silent? Oan it be that the terrible extent carefully taught to catechists who have to of the trade is not fully known? or is it that labor in the remoter parts of the districts; the Church shrinks from fear of the revela- a.nd the elements of obstetrics have been tion" which a careful search would entail Y Silence, in view of the facts which many' of her ministers and pastors do know. only increases her blood-g1liltmess. Alre.a.dy it is lmoWll that in her very bosom a.re a number ,ta.ug,ht to Bible,women similarly situated. II. They are to have in 18110 a constitutional A new dispensary has been opeued at Par- government-the first native example of it uttipalIi, and another one is being erected in Asia. at Nagercoil. Toward the latter H. H. the Maharajah of Travancore has con~ribnted 10. They have separated Shintoism and Rs. 800. The evangelistic work of the mis- Buddhism from the Government, and abolsion 'has been encouragingly su~cessful, 411 ished their administrative Bureau of Reliadults from heathenism having'beeu bap- gion. Universal toleration prevails. The tized during the year. During that period ancient faiths are considered barbaric and 593 persons were admitted from the rank of incompatible with the new career of 1;he adherents to that of church members. empire. The Government acknowledges itself to be without a religion, and is consid- Japan•..:….Progress. An interesting ering what form of Western cultus it may best adopt. letter appears in The Ohristian Advocate from Abel stevens, D.D., now 11.' They have legally recognized the in Japan. He groups together an Christian Sabbath, and it is observed as a. extraordinary chapter of events, in- day of rest by all Government offices, the dicating the rapid approach of Japan public schools, banks, etc. toward Christian civilization. -Japanese Views of Christianity. Several The following is a summary of the remarkable changes that have taken eminentpnblicists ofJapan are carrying ona very interesting discnssion just now. The object is place amongst the Japanese: to determine whether or not it is advisable for the people of Japan to embrace the Christian 1. They have abolished their old dual sov- religion. The Japan Weekly Mail, in a recent ereignty, and restored to power their an- issue, summarizes this discussion. It states cient Mikado, the representative of a that those connected with the movement say dynasty more than 2,000 years old. that Christiau dogmas are a bitter pill to swal- low, but advise that it be swall~,wed promptly 2. Theyhave thrown off the strongest sys- for the sake of the after effects. Mr. Fukuzawa, tem of fendalism that history records. a well-known writer, nrges this course, although he says he takes no personal interest whatever 3. They have established a single national in religion, and knows nothing of the teaching of army, a navy, and a general police after the Christianity; but he sees that it is the ereed Western models. All these are clothed in of the most highly civilized nations. Professor European costume and drilled in European Toyama, of the Imperial University, has pubmanner. lished a work to support his view. He holds that Chinese ethics mnst be replaced by Christ· 4. They have organized a remarkable sys- ian ethiCS, and that' the bene1lts to be derived tem of national education, which Gen. Grant from the introduction of Christianity are: (1) pronounced, when here, the hest he had the improvement of music;. (2) union of senti- Seen in his circuit of the globe. It was de- ment and feeling, leading to harmonious co·opvi~ed by an American. It comprises primary eration ; and (3) the fnrnishing of a medium of or common SChools, n..rmaland polytechnic intercourse between men and women. It is academies, and an Imperial university on argued by others that the youth of Japan, being the model ofthe German university. . free from tbe tbraldom of creeds, and free to act according to reason. are so far in advance of 5. They have established a mail system, Europeans, and instead of talking about adoptand have entered into the "Postal Union." ing " foreign religion, Japanese should go After the example of England, their postal abroad and preach their religion of reason to department includes the savings-bank sys- foreign countries. Other writers nrge the same tem, and the deposits (mostly by the poorer views. The writer in the Yokohoma newspaper classes) for last year amounted to $12,500,- says that those wbo urge the teaching of Cbrist- 000, nearly double the amount of the preced. ianity represent an in1lnential section of eduingyear. cated Japanese opinion; they are signs of the times. "To Japan, in an emphatically agnostic 6. They have esta.blished a scientific medi- mood, came Western science, with all its marcal faculty, with native physicians educated velous revelations and attractions. At the in Europe, and all the European improve- shrine of that science she is worshiping now." ments, in place of their old medical jugglery. Jews.-Dr. Dalman's statistics of the work 7. They had Ino knowledge of the public and success in Jewish evangelization must surjournal before the arrival of Perry; they prise all who have not watched the course of now have the public press, including no less events. There are no less than 47 Protestant than 500 per10dicals – dailies, weeklies, missionary societies devoted exclusively to this monthlies; political,literary, scientific. arduous vocation. These employ 377 mission- aries, laboring at 157 centers of Jewish pop- 8. They have introduced the steamboat, ulation, and have an annual income of about the telegraph, the telephone, etc., now made by native hands. Native companies navi· gate the rivers and neighboring seas with excellent steamers, quite satisfactory to foreign travelers. half a million dollars. In addition .to these very patent fact in n very plain phrase. The Proother missionary societies engage in this special testant Church has not only skeptiCism and inwork, as a branch of their general work. Eng- differentism, but also Vaticanism, to deal with, land has eight of these 47 societies, sends out and a fresh illustration of the nalTO w. persecnthlg' about two-thirds of the 377 men, and supplies and intolerant spirit ofthe Roman ChIll cli is seen about two-thirds of the money. Scotland has in the trial and imprisonment of Rev. J. M.'Vila, a five societies, Ireland one. Germany twelve, hard-working and successful Protestant pastor Switzerland one, the Netherlands three, France of Malaga, in Spain, A Roman Catholic priest one, the Scandinavian lands five, Russia (i. e. issued a violent pamphlet against him, to which the Protestant churches of,) four, North Mr. Vila replied in another pamphlet. Vila was America seven. The cities in which the larg- arraigned in the courts on charges, the chief of est number of mIssIOnaries are engaged which was that he had said that the" timber of are London, lBudapest, Constantinople, Da- the manger out of which the priest's horse fed mascus, Jerusalem, Tunis. As the total of was the same kind of wood employed by the all the Jews on the face of the globe is artificer to mannfacture an image bf the Virgin abont 6,400,000, there is one missionary of Sorrows, and that one timber had quite as for every 16,976 Jews. In addition to these the much virtue as the other." From an account Roman Catholic and the Greek Churches also just at hand in Light and Truth we learn that engage in this work. Pastor de Ie' Roi,of Bres- the trial took place in the presence of a large lin, also a reliable statistician, claims that at crowd of people. The public prosecutor asked least 100,000 Jews have confessed Christ since the Court to sen~ence the accused to six years' the beginning of the present century. Those imprisonment, a fine of 2,500 pesetas and costs. yet living of these, together with their descend- The counsel for the defense claimed that the ants, probably nnmber 250,000 children of Abra- Bible supported everything found in the pamham who havh entered upon the spiritnalinherit- phlet. ance of their father. When we recall the fact that ten years ago there were in existence only .. Then Se:'ior Vila spoke, and his simple, elo- 20 societies for the evangelization of the Jews, quent address greatly moved the people-many with only 250 laborers and an income less than of whom wept, and said, as they left the hall, half of what it is now, the marked progress in 'We are now Protestauts, also l' He said his this sphere of Christian activity. is peculiarly intention was not to make a personal attack encouraging. on the priest, but to combat the false teachings of the Roman Church. As true followers of -The existing Jewish Congregation at Mos- Christ, they did not hate or attack anyone. The soul (Mesopotamia) boasts of very ancient or;- Roman Church, on the contrary, had always opgin. When Tiglath Pileser, King of Assyria, posed the truth of the gospel; and, without apconquered the northern regions of the kingdom pealing to history or uncovering the ashes of the orIsrael, he carried captive a uumber of the il1- thousands sacrificed by the execrable Inquisihabitants, and settled them in different parts of tion, his presence in the tribunal that day was a his own dominions. At that time a Jewish con- living testimony to Romish persecution. A gregation was established at Nineveh (now large crowd followed Senor Vila from the Mossoul), and it is this congregation which has court, and expressions of lively sympathy rewithstood the vicissitudes of ages. The Jews ~011nded on every side. He teIls us that he was of Mossoul even now consider it as a special full ofjoy that he had been priYile~ed to testify favor of Providence that their ancestors became publicly beCore the tribunal concerning the truth captives before the destruction of the first Tem- of the gospel." ple, so that they were spared the great misfortune which overtook Jerusalem. They glory in "Great attempts were made to influence the the fact that their congregation is older than tribunal, and so powerful are the Roman Caththat of Babylon, and that later on, when the olic clergy in Malaga. that only one paper dared kingdom of Judea came to an end, those of the to refer to the case. At last, on April 3, the inhabitants who made their way to Assyria, magistrates pronounced sentence, and Senor were enabled to enjoy their hospitality, and to Vila was forthwith condemned to two years, receive every possible support from their breth- four months and one day's imprisonment, beren in faith already settled in that country. The sides 250 pesetas fine and payment of costs. Mossoul Jews possess two synagogues, a Beth The Spanish prisons are such abominable dens Hamedrash and a cemetery. The ancient burial of filth and iniquity that this sentence is no gronnel which was first used by the early settlers light matter. Senor Vila lias appealed to the was destroyed at the capture of Nineveh. The Supreme Court at Madrid, the sentence of present-day Jews have adopted the Sephardim which will be final. ritual as their minhag.-Jewish Chronicle. " The trial has been the means of producing a Spain.-Persecution. When (in 1883) the great awakening in :Malaga, and numbers of late ArchbiSHOp of Canterbury said .. power- persons are confessing Christ. It has also led ful influence.. are at work which are entirely many to attend for the first time Senor Vila's antagonistic to Christianity," and that .. the church, and all the services are very crowded- Church of Rome is absolutely powerless to meet even on week-nights persons are turned away. these anti-Christian movemente," he expressed a ill" The same growth is taking place at the mission IitatiftDi ill t.~ i.rreu•• villai'eli. "
INTERNATlVNAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D., OF THE "INTERNATIONAL MIS- SIONARY UNION."
Mohammedanism in Ohina. Clarke in 1886. (6) A proclamation BY REV. H. V. NOYES, CANTON, CHINA. published in Peking in 1866, by a How was Mohammedanism intro- Mohammedan mandarin, and trans- duced into China? What has been lated by Professor Vassilief, a Rus- its history? What is its present sian learned in Arabic.
status? The evidence is all in favor of be- In this attempt to answer these lieving that Canton City is the place inquiries, information has been de- where Mohammedanism was first rived from the following sources: (a) established in China. 'rhe account Mainly from a work printed in Paris given in the" Annals of Kwantung"
in 1878, and written by P. Darby De seems pretty well corroborated, viz.: Thiersant,Consul General and Charge "At the commencement of the dy- d' Affaires from France to China. nasty of Tang (618 to 908) there He tells us that his book is the result came to Canton a considerable num- of investigations running through bel' of strangers, natives of the king- fifteen years, and that he got much doms of Annam, of Cambodia, of Me- information from Mohammedan dina, and of several other countries.
priests. Doubtless he was able also They worshiped heaven and had no to get much definite knowledge from statue, or idol, or image, in their Roman Catholic priests, who are temples. The kingdom of Medina is scattered so widely through the coun- near to that of India, and is where try. (b) From writers on the subject the religion of these steangers, which in the eighteen volumes of the is very different from that of Bud- "Chinese Repository." (c) From dha, originated. They do not eat Williams' "Middle Kingdom." (d) pork, nor drink wine, and regard as From writers in the Chinese Re- 'impure the flesh of every animal not corder, and the China Review. slain by themselves. HaVing asked It is generally conceded that little and obtained f,'om the emperor an information, as to their origin, can authorization to reside at Canton, be obtained from the Chinese Mo- they built magnificent houses of an hammedans of the present day. architecture different from that of What is known in regard to it, seems the country. They were very rich to have been obtained from: (1) In- and subject to a chief chosen by scriptions on tablets found at the themselves. By reason of their good mosques in or neal' Canton City. (2) fortune, they became so numerous Accounts of India. and China by two and influential that they were able Mohammedan travelers, written, to maltreat the Chinese people with one A.D. 850, and one A.D. 877, in impunity. This was carried to such Arabic, and transla:ted into French a pitch that a mandarin high in by the Abbe Eusebius Renaudot. (3) rank'was impelled to issue a procla- The Chinese annals of Kwangtung mation in the name of the emperor, (Canton province). (4) A Chinese warning these foreigners that if they work" Ui UiYuen Lvi," that IS "Ori- continued to conduct themselves so gin of Mohammedanism," "Ui Ui" badly they would be punished se- being the name given to Mohamme- verely."
dans in China. (5) A Chinese book The tablets at Canton, the Peking found in the province of Yunnan proclamation and the t~o Chinese and translated by Rev. George W. books alrE'ady mentioned all give, in somewhat different forms, the story China. The first Mohammedan temof a bright appearance in the West- ple, built afterwards in the Northern sky, connected with a singular west, at Si Ngan Fu, one of the two dream of the emperor, which the as- capitals of the empire, dates from trologers and soothsayers interpreted A.D. 742, from which we may suppose to mean that a great sage had arisen that Islam did not penetrate by land in the West, who was ruler 01 a pow- into the north of the empire until erfulcountry named Medina, and that that time. In the flourishing period it was very important, in the inter- of Kai Yuen (713-742), relates the Si ests of the empire, that friendly rela- Yu Chen, 'the barbarians of the tions be established with him; that W est arrived en masse in the Middle then the Emperor sent an embassy Kingdom, and, as by an irruption to Mohammed, who appointed three from more than a hundred kingenvoys, of whom only one lived to doms, removerl at least a thousand reach China, by way of Si Ngan Fu, leagues, bearing with them as presand afterwards settled in Canton. ents their sacred books, which were This sounds wonderfully like the received and deposited in the hall for story of the introduction of Bud- translation of sacred books and candhism, and may be taken with at least ons of the imperial palace. Starting one grain of salt. This much, how- from that epoch, the religious docever, appears to be true, that in the trines of different countries of the early part of the Tang dynasty, West spread themselves and were about A. D. 628, a maternal uncle practiced openly in the empire of of liohammed, Wahib Abi Kabcha, Tang.' came to China, was received with much favor by the Empet'or, and " The first real nucleus of Mohamestablished himself in Canton. P. medans of the West implanted in Darby de Thiersant states that" this China was a contingent of 4,000 man obtained an authorization to Arab soldiers, which the Kaliph build a mosque at Canton, and, at Abu Giafer sent, in the year 755, to the same time, the right for his co- succor the Emperor Sou Tsong, menreligionists to profess freely their aced by the rebel An-Io-chan, and worship in the empire." He then who. as a recompense for their sergoes on to say: "Wahib Abi Kabcha, vices, permitted them to establish his mission accomplished, returned themselves in the principal cities of to Arabia in 63-&, hoping to find again the empire. These soldiers, who the Prophet, but on arriving he was married Chinese wives, may be conapprised of his death, which caused sidered the first stock origin of Mohim profound grief. He rested for a hammedan Chinese." time, and when Abu Becker had. formed the Koran from the scat· The above extract contains the tered leaves left by Mohammed, he substance of what is known concerntook the holy book and set out again ing the entrance of Islam into China, for China. He ,suffered much in and the account is corroborated by returning to Canton, where he died, the fact that those who have given worn out by the fatigue of the voy- attention to the matter say that the age. He was interred in one of the Mohammedan Chinese are different suburbs of the city, where his tomb by race from other Chinese; that in remains until this day, an object of them may be clearly recognized a veneration to all believers in the ex- mixture of Arabic, Turkish and treme East. It is to him that lVlus- Chinese blood. sulmansare indebted forthe construction of the most ancient mosque in From this time, A.D. 755, or there- about, until the lattel' part of the ninth century the trade of Canton With Arabs and other people fro~ the West must have been very dians. This is the account given of flourishing. One writer says that them when Yunnan was constituted "under the dynasty of Tang the a province of the empire in 1295. ocean was fatigued with the thou- "They were true savages, without sands of ships sailing from the Orient the least trace of civilization, living to the Occident." In 1068 the em- in a state of nature, ignorant of how peror appointed a foreigner named to cultivate the soil, sustaining them-. Siu Ya To Lo to administer the gov- selves by hunting and fishing, and ernment of merchants from the burning their dead without cere~ W-est. That functionary designated mony." The emperor, Kublai Khan, quarters for the fOl'eignel's, and their appointed one of his ministers, called families continued to be inscribed on Omar by some, by others Sayid Edthe registers of the State. It is prob- jell, or Si Tien Che, to administer the able that harsh measures were after- government of the province. He wards employed against them, for a taught the people agriculture, social number emigrated to Kiungchow, obligations, and the art of writing, on the island of Hainan, whel'e they and by wise institutions succeeded in built foul' mosques which still exist. civilizing th,em. He taught them the On that island also are yet found the religion of Mohammed, and at the descendants of ancient Mohammedan same time the respect which they families. From this time the com- ought to have for Confucius, to merce of Canton with foreigners whom he erected temples, and also diminished continually, and they for built mosques in all the cities. He the most part returned to their na- gathered around him a great numbel' tive land. of Mussulman scholars and others whom he loaded with favors, and In the Yuen dynasty, commencing who established themselves in the 1280, the Arab merchants, profiting country. He governed for six years, by the influence which their co-re- and died much lamented. The people ligionists had at the court of Kublai- built fol' him a magnificent tomb, Khan, renewed on a grand scale their while the emperor erected a temple relations with China. But for thel in his honor. This man was originmost part, instead of returning to ally from Bokhara, but submitting to Canton, they betook themselves to Genghis Khan became a part of his the provinces of Fuhkien, Cheh- guard. He evidently had a large inkiang' and Kiangsu. The port of fluence over the people. Marco Polo Foochow became by this circum- says that from 1280 to 1300 the stance a grand center of commerce. whole population of Yunnan was Mohammedan. We have given a view of the course of events which brought Islam There have been several rebellions. into the provinces that lie along the One, in 1817, induced by the massacre eastern coast of China. It evidently of a number of Mohammedans by came by means of commercial inter- other Chinese, the burning of a course to a great extent, and by way mosque, and the injustice of certain of the sea. mandarins, sustained by the gov- ernor. The insurgents, after having It remains to inquire how it was defeated in several encounters the planted in the remaining provinces. imperial troops, laid siege to the capi- At thE' extreme south of the western tal of the province, where the gov- border is the province of Yunnan, ernor had shut himself up. The em- said to contain three and a half mil- peror sent at once, a large body of lion Mohammedans. In the earlier soldiers who defeated the rebels and centuries this province seems to have obliged them to take refui'e with the been inhabited by wild tribes not less savage than the North American Insavages on the frontiers. The chief all the Mohammedans in China. was made prisoner and cut into frag- And these Mohammedans came by a ments. This Insurrection continued different route from those who enabout a year. tered the eastern provinces. Those came from Arabia, by way of the sea, Another rebellion broke out on the but these from Turkey and Persia, western frontier in 1826 which was through Bokhara, and thence into ended in 1828. Another took place the province of Kansuh. THis provabout 1834, provoked by the manda- ince is therefore considered the cenrins of Chan Ning Fu, who caused tral point of the sect, in the extreme a massacre of Mohammedans at East. And the sect has had its exthe city of Mong Mien, under the istence there mainly since the genpretext that they wished to revolt. eral breaking up that took place More than 1,600 men, women and when that fearful Tartar general, children had their throats cut with- Tamerlane, swept not only through out mercy, and this horrible butchery Central Asia, but over the burning was continued until Mohammedans plains of India, and over the frozen from the neighboring towns ran to steppes of Siberia, passed beyond the their succor, and meted out terrible Caspian Sea, beyond the Black Sea reprisals. The troubles were settled to the banks of the Danube, conby a general whom the Viceroy sent quered Asia Minor and Syria, and for that purpose. even went down into Egypt, and stopped, at last, not because de- By far the most serious rebellion in feated, but only tired of conquest. this province commenced in 1855, and was not ended till 1873. It origi- The first mosque in the northwest nated in a contention about some sil- was built at Si Ngan Fu, in the provver mines, but grew until the whole ince of Shensi, A.D. '742. The Ohinese province was embroiled. Near its Repository mentions an embassy commencement a fearful massacre of sent with valuable presents, by way Mohammedans took place, encour- of Kashgar, as early as 708. From a aged and even ordered by the officers Mohmamedan writer in the same periof government.' This was followed odical we have the following: "In by eighteen years of bloody strife the reign of Wan Tsing, A.D. 842, sevculminating in the surrender of eral myriads from the tribes of the Ta Li Fu by the Mohammedans, Ui Ui (Mohammedans) petitioned to which virtually ended the rebellion. enter China, and the emperor directed After the surrender seventeen Mo- them to be settled in the various dehammedan chiefs were invited to a partments of Shensi, where they banquet, and suddenly, a precOIi- have enjoyed the support of many certed signal being given, were all sovereigns and have furnished a sucbeheaded; those who had favored cession of loyal and upright scholars the surrender as well as those who for the service of the State. These had opposed it. To the lasting dis- have maintained the pure, true faith grace of the Chinese general, within for a thousand years without defecthree days, in the city and surround- tion." The information about Kansuh villages, out of 50,000 inhabitants in these early times is very meager, 30,000 were mercilessly butchered by but we have the following in regard the soldiers acting under the com- to the country lying farther west. mand of their chief. In 713 a Moslem, Couteybe Ibu, con- quered Bokhara, and took Samar- In regard to the rest of China, it is kand. The Chinese eIt!peror was only necessary for our present pur- much alarmed at his conquestH, and pose to consider particularly the treated the ambassadors that he sent provinces of Kansuh and Shensi. They contain nearly three-fourths 'Of with the gl'eatest respect. This there by the rebels or abandoned by event is important, as from it dates the owners, who had been obliged to the establishment of Mohammedan- ism in ~houresm, where later was flee to save their lives, The Chinese founded the kingdom of Ui Ui, or militia of the neighboring districts, Mohammedan Chinese. In 1124 this kingdom gave its subjection to China learning of this, clamored for a part at Samarkand. There is not much more of importance to relate in con- of the booty, which the Mohamme- nection with these provinces, until the present dynasty. It is evident dans stubbornly refused. TheChinese that in the contentions which were did not dare to attack them, but continually occurring between the Chinese and th.e Mohammedan prov- waited an opportunity for revenge. inces on the west and in Central Asia, It came at length from quite a small the Chinese now and then conquered portions of Mohammedan territory, affair. One day a Mohammedan cut and now and then theseoutlyingprov- inces regained their independence; some bamboos from a grove neal' the that Mohammedans were more 01' village where he was. The owner, less employed as allies 01' soldiers in not a Mohammedan, ('harged him the Chinese army, became officials, with cutting them without permis- sometimes 'occupying very high po- sion, and was answered arrogantly. sitions, and that in this general mix- He then complained to the Moham- ing up along the border a large num- medanreligious chief, and not obtain- ber of Mohammedans became per- ing l'edrel>s went to the Chinese dis- manent inhabitants of the western trict magistrate. The magistrate did provinces of China. not dare to punish the offender, but plotted with the leader of the large This account would not be complete town of Chely to massacre the Mo- without some notice of the great re- hammedans. One of their villages bellion which took place in Shensi was therefore laid waste by the and Kansuh from 1861 to 1873. Like Chely militia. This was followed by all othet' Mohammedan rebellions in a general uprising of the Mohamme- China, it was not on account of relig- dans, and a sanguina,ry contest of ion. The members of this sect are three daysand three nights, in which quite as clannish as the pure Chinese, they came off victors. When the and generally go together in any mandarins sent imperia,l troops to attempt to resist what they deem op- succor the vanquished, these were pression or to gain dominion. The also obliged to bea,t a shameful outbreak of 1861, commencing in retreat. Shensi and spreading to Kansuh, originated in this way: "A Chinese "The insurrection then spread rebel chief, after having devastated throughout the provlllce and made Sz Chuen, invaded Shensi. To resist its way into Kansuh. It was kept the invasion the militia was organized up for twelve years, and cost an im- in every locality. The Mussulman mense amount of blood and h-eccsure militia, commanded by their own before it was finally and most thor- chiefs, were by their own wish kept oughly put down by that valiant . separate from the other militia. The General Tso Tsung Tang." bandits at length took the city of U Nau. The Mussulman militia took " In regard tothe central provinces back the city, in which they found of the empire, the following quota- immense treasUl'e, either brought tion will suffice: "The history of lfohammedans in these provinces is the history of the inhabitants of each province. We need not speak par- ticularly of them. We only say that since the dynasty of Yuen, 1280, a great number of them have occupied very high positions, both in the capital and in the pr.ovinces, as ministers, noting, h.owever, some facts whi"eh generals. vicer.oys .or g.overn.ors." have a bearing upon the answer.
Mention ought also to be made .of (1) Mohammedanism in China does those colonial dependencies of the not seem to have gained its numbers empire which are largely Moham. by proselytizing. The Mohammedans medan, viz.: Koko Nor on the south of to-day in general trace their deof Kansuh, and on the west all that scent, fo!' hundreds of years, from part of IIi which lies south of the Mohammedan families. They have Tien Shan Mountains, and where multiplied by a natural increase. are situated the noted eight Moham- They also add to their strength by medan cities. purchasing, in times of famine or other calamity, large numbers of The following is an approximate children, who!:n they bring up accordestimate, in round numbers, of the ing to the doctrines of their religion. present Mohammedan populati.on of They llaye been known, during a China. Dr. Williams says that. single famine, to purchase 10,000. n.orth of the Yang-tsz Kiang, there are at least 10,000,000. (2) They hold to their religion very tenaciously, by which is only meant P. Darby De Thiersantgivesan esti- that they do not easily leave their mate, more partIcularly by provinces, sect. The instances are rare where as follows: Kansuh, 8,350,000; Shen- they become Christians. On the si, 6,500,000; Yunnan, 3,500,000 to othe).' hand, they sit so loosely on their 4,000,000 (this includes the savage foundations of doctrine that they tribes who reside on the frontiers of find no difficulty in going through Burmah); Shansi, 50,000; Chihli all the forms of the Chinese ritual 250,000. Of these 100,000 are in the when they are appointed to office. neighborhood of Peking.. There are They can wOl'Rhip the tablet of the in the city eleven mosques, one near emperor, but they put the picture of the palace, vel'Y beautiful, built the Prophet hehind it. opposite the imperial pavilions, in honor of a Mohammedan queen, (3.) There does not seem to be any whom the Emperor Kien Lung es- special 'antipathy against them, on poused in 1735. Shantung. 200,000; the part of either rulers or people, Hunan and Hnpeh, 50,000; Kiang,;i, on account of their religious belief. 4,000; ~iangsu and Nganhwui, 150,- They have often held office and have 000; Kwangtung, 21,000; Kwangsi, had many favors granted them. Tho 15,000; Kweichau, 40,000; Szchuen, contests or rebellions in which they 40,000; Honan, 200.000; Chekiang have been, from time to time, conand Fuhkien, 30,000. If we add to cerned have seemed more like imthese a probable estimate of 300,000 mense clan fights than any contenfor Koko Nor and the southern part tion about religious belief. The of IIi and take the larger estimate for question has been about dominion, the province of Yunnan, we have a not about faith. This is evidentfr.om total of somewhat more than 20,- the fact that when, in one part of 000,000. the country, Mohammedans are en- gaged in a bloody rebellion, those in Having given a cursory view of other parts are not molested. Durthe introduction of Mohammedanism ing the years of rebellion in the into China and its subsequent history northwest, and also in Yunnan, Mo-' there, having given statistics to show hammeclans, under the very shadow its present strength, we wi}} not ven- of the imperial palace, lived without ture to tread the delicate ground of the least appearance of molestation. prophecy, but leave others to an- The great clan fight ahout a silver swer the question, ,Vhat in the future mine in Yunnan' could never have is likely to be its influence itl China? been dl'awn out into an eighteen N. Y., became Corresponding Secre- years' bloody contest, unless there tary. Twenty-five thousand dollars had been something more than that was estimated as necessary for pur.
silver mine at stake. So in the north- chasing and finishing buildings to ac- west, a contest about the division of commodate fifty boarders, and $5,000 spoils, or the cutting of a few . annually for its maintenance. Salubamboos, was, indeed, the match tations came to the organization which set fire to combustibles, but from England and from India. certainly did not furnish fuel for . Sir William Wedderburn, of Engcombustion to the flames of that land, lately retired from the Indian fierce contest that raged for twelve Civii Service, wrote: years, and was only quenched at last "Both Lady Wedderburn and myself are in rivers of blood. The contest was very glad to receive news of Pundita Rama- a contest for power. bai. We are both much interested in female (4) We can never be sure how education, especially in India, and it will give us much pleasure to do what we can to much the Mohammedans in China promote the Pundita's proposed normaJ are influenced from without. Dr. schooL When you have completed your Williams says that the last great plans I shall be glad to hear from you rebellion was largely fomented by again; in the meantime allowme to express Turkish sectaries. the pleasure I feel that Pundita Ramabai has found such good friends and snpporters Ramabai'a Institution for Ohild- in America." Widows. Dr. Ramakrishna Bhandarkar, pro- THE little high.caste Brahman fessor of Sanskrit in a college in widow, Ramabai, bearing the high- Poona, India, after a confet'ence with est honorary and literary degree be- several of his friends, wrote: stowed by the Brahmanic brotherhood, and known by the title" Pun- .. We are glad that you American ladies dita," invented by an English lady are going to interest yourselves actively with the amelioration of the condition of your unfortunate sisters iii India. I assure 'for convenience of foreign introduc- you we shall consider it a duty to give you tion, came among us in an unosten- all the assistance we can. I suppose the tatious way, studied our institutions details of the scheme will De settled when and organized support of a cherished Pundita Ramabai and the female teachers will arrive in India."
plan of her own for elevating and Dr. Bhandarkar and his friends educating "little widows" of high- were indol'sed by Hon. Lionel As- caste families in India, and departed bUrner, who was for thirty-six years the country as unostentatiously as in the Indian Civil Service, as "very she entered it. The organization responsible, influential men."
which she accomplished while in On the· eve of her departure from this country is entitled "The Ram- the United States we received from abai Association," which was formed her the following personal note: at Channing Hall, Boston, Dec. 13, .. VALLEY STATION, NEB., Jun" 16, 1888.
1887. It was supported by Rev. Ed- .. DEAlt BROTHER IN CHaIST : ward E. Hale, D.D., who was elected President, and Dr. Phillips Brooks, .. I received your kind letter a few weeks Miss Frances E. Willard, Rev. Geo. ago, but could not answer it through want of time. I have sent a few circulars to you already, and am sending a new one which A. Gordon, and the since ascended, has just come out. It isjust twenty months Dean Ra.chel L. Bodley, M.D., who since I have seen you when we talked about was Ramabai's patron saint all the· my work and when so little of hope seemed while she was in America. to exist, but the Heavenly Father has been with me in all that I have attempted, and A Board of Trustees was consti- my hopes are now almost realized so far as tuted for America, and an" Advisory the material assistance goes. The main Board" was appointed for India. work is y..t to be done, and I hope and pray Miss A. P. Granger, of Canandaigua, that the heavenly grace will strengthen and sustain me in my undertaking. .. Many good people seem to have a misun- religious schools. High-caste girls, derstanding about the work that I am try- she says, may be in the missionary ing to start, and are generally inclined to schools in some instances prior to discountenance my project. Their fears marriage, but not after that event, seem to have arisen from th"fact that my institution for child-widows is to be a purely either as wives or widows. She says secular one, and also from a misappr..hen- the missionary schools are open to all sion that its founder is diverting in this castes, as they should be, and are none direction the energies of Christian women of them devoted exclusively to highand funds which should properly go into missionary channels. This latter I emphati- caste women, much less to high-caste cally deny, having never, in public or pri- widows. In the circ-ular referred to vate, attempted to do such a thing which in herletter, she set forth some feawill injure the foreign missionary cause. tures of the case. The movement is truly unique, its author, talented, .. I havegood reasons for making my school purely secular. Such institutions are a necessity at present. sincere and standing in her individ- uBecause: ual capacity for what she esteems an .. The orthodox Hindu widows will notgo to important reform in her own coun- try, by what she thinks is the only anv school home if the study of Christian religion is made a condition to their admit- tance . feasible method for reachlllg and re- .. It is against their faith, and they will not lieving high-caste Hindu widows, sacrifice their conscience to worldly advantages. whose trials and deprivations she has .. Such a condition will prove a strong •experienced. It would seem that even temptation to many light-minded women, Anglo-Saxon love of fair play, not to and make hypocrites of them. say of freedom of speech and press, .. Missionaries do not reach the strictly or- would justify us, even if we disap- proved her measures, which we do thodox widows, who suffer most, and who not, in allowing her to reach those of are in the keeping of their male relatives. Some of these relatives will be glad enough to have their daughters or sisters educated our readers who may not other.wise in purely secular schools, but they will by have had the opportunity, through no means let them be instructed by mis- the following quotations from her sionaries. Such widows, if once educated own statements of the case. and become self-supporting, having all the freedom of action and thought, and un- She says: trammeled, it is hoped that they will accept .. A few Hindu parents would not mind tbeir daughters coming in contact with chil- Christ, when they realize the advantages of dren or people of inferior castes before the marriage, but this cannot continue after the His religion, which they will be requested girl has gone through the marriage cere.. mony, the only religious sacrament to to study if they choose to do so. And even which she is entitled and which is consid- ered the means of her regeneration and by if we are disappointed in our hopes fur their virtue of which she becomes a high-caste woman and a member of her husband's famconversion,.we shall at least have the com- ily. A few married high-caste girls and women are allowed to be seen and instructed fort of having done ()ur duty in relieving by foreign missionaries in the zenltnas, but not in the missionary schools. These women, their sufferings and giving "them the means it must be remembered, do not belong to the strictly orthodox families; their husbands, by which they may lift themselves out of fathers-in-law or fath~rs, in whose keeping they happen to be aR wives or widows, being the lamentable state of drndgery, and be- half skeptical, half Brabmanical, or, per- haps, partly Brahmo and partly Christian come self-respecting, self..supportin~ mem- ill belief, and all of them men who are edu- bers of society. The Bible will be placed in their hand, but we cannot make its study a condition for the above reasons. I do not ask any people to give their money to this instead of to missionary work, but I ear- nestly solicit the assistance of our friends who have it in their power to help forward more than one good cause.
•• Very truly yours, RAMABA!."
Ramabai affirms the unique char- acter of her proposed institution cated in Western ideas.
as devoted to high-caste widows-a U Even among these families the educa· class which she thinks is wholly un- tion of Women is limited to merely reading, reached and absolutely unapproach- a little writing, and at the best the four fundamental rules in arithmetic-an educa- able through missionary or other tion not so thorough as to enable them to think for themselves or to qualify young together with the pious Hindus who look widows to become teachers or to engage in upon this movement as dangerous heresy, any occupation which would make them in- may try to annihilate it. dependent of male relatives. There may be a few exceptions to this statement among "But our trust is in the Heavenly Father, the Brahmos and other non-orthodox fami- who is our st:rE'JIgth aud who~ because He is lies, but among these the necessity is not so almighty, is aole to bring us safely out of great. as widows are not put to the severest this serious difficulty." trials as in orthodox communities. Death of Mr. Ahok's Mother. .. It is strictly true of every orthodox Hindn family that women are never allowed WE say" Mr. Ahok's mother," beto be visited or instructed by a foreign mis… cause we cannot present her after sionary. I derive my knowledge of the so- our custom by her own name, and cial condition of the orthodox high-caste also because her estimable son has Hindu women neither from fables nor from become so Widely known that the the statements of half-informed persons, but mother shares in the luster of his I get it directly from what I have seen and renown, though her sterling qualiknown. I myself Was born and reared in ties merit wide recognition and rean orthodox Brahmanical honsehold, and spect. Mr. Ahok is a wealthy Chithough my parents approved of women be- nese merchant who was led to Christ ing educated they would have been the last through the agency of Rev. S. L. persons to allow their daughters nnder the Baldwin, D.D., now Recording Secinstruction of missionarjes~ retary of the Methodist Episcopal 1IIissionarySociety,and who before he .. It was not until after their death when I professed Christianity at all donated had attained my leg-al age, and then there $10,000 for the founding of an Anglobeing no male relative to control me, and Chinese College at Foo Chow. 111'. my education having enabled me to get my Ahok waR a lay delegate from the Foo independence, that I had any chancL' of see- Chow Conference to the Methodist ing the missionaries and other people not of Episcopal General Conference held my own caste, and of reading the books in New York last May, but was unwhich were antagonistic tomy ancestral re" able io come; whether alone because ligion. This is true to-day of every other he was unwilling to risk his chances household like that of my parents. of escaping the leasllPs of our ob- structive Chinese legislation, we can- "I have deduced from these facts that not sav. Ahok's mother stoutly anthe orthodox high-caste women of India tagOlized his acceptance of Chriscannot be helped by missionary societies. tianity, but later herself beC>1:{llle a An agency which is neither identical With genuine Christian with marked indinor antagonistic to these societies lllust be viduality of experience. employed in order to draw these women out of t~eir secluded homes. Purely secular in- 'Ve take from the California stitutions are the necessity of the hour in Christian Advocate the following India, institutions which will be like homes account of the funeral of Mr. Ahok's to the little widows, where their material mother: wants will be supplied, and their physical pain alleviated. The education afforded in Not long since~ at the age of eighty..six, these homes must prepare them to face the occurred the death of the mother of 1I1r. world and must pnt within their reach the Ahok. The first intimation the writer had power which will be the means of their in- of the sad event was the receipt of the fol- dependence,leaving them free at length to lowing note, written by an Eng-lish-speaking think and choose for themselves. . . . clerk in Mr. Ahok's store: .. I am sorry to inform yon that my mother left this world "As for ourselves we are convinced that at 7 o'clock this evening, and we shall pnt it is not against our Christian belief to carry her in her everlasting bed to-morrow morn- to those who need it help in any shape, even ing at 8 o'clock. Will you please notify though we may not be able to carry our others," etc. Having been requested to creed with it. It will do no harm to any of conduct the funeral exercises, we reached us to read the beautiful parable of the Mr. Ahok's residence a little before the . Good Samaritan" twice over, and try to time appointed, a,ud noticed a. coffin in II find out what our Lord Christ meant to teach by it .
.. I am aware that even after setting forth this plan in the plainest language, many Christian people may still mi.apprehend or misrepresent it without meaning to do so; and, on the other hand. all enemies of woman's_progressand freedom in Hindustan,
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
framework of a recess of the room where day until the burial; but, instead of having the services were to be held, Soon after senseless heathen ceremonies, social religious the company had assembled loud weeping meetings are held, and the gospel Is preached. was heard, aud immediately Mr. Ahok and Thus our Chinese Christians adhere to harmless his two adopted sons, together with several native customs, only substituting Christian for other ",ale relatives, slowly entered the heathen worship. recess from another room, bearing the body, encased in elegant silk, and laid it in We are informed that about five years ago the collin. The weeping continued wh~e Mr. Ahok's mother had quite a protracted the unoccupied space in the collin was struggle, deciding whether she wonld become a being filled with the pith of a certain plant, Christian or remain a Buddhist. Since his conand with bits of paper rolled into small version, Mr. Ahok has had preaching Sunday balls. After this, the assembled friends afternoons at his residence, as well as mid'- viewed the face of the deceased, when we week social meetings and family prayers. His were requested to proceed with the ser- mother used to alternate between these services vices. These consisted of the singing of a and the worship of the idol, which had for so hymn, prayer, a short address from the many years delnded her. While continning words," Blessed are the dead that die in the this practice she had a good opportunity to com- Lord." etc.• followed by another hymn and pare the two religions. One day, after attending the benediction-aU, of course. being- in Christian worship, she said to her friends: Chinese. During tJ,e services Mr. Ahok sat "You may take my idol away; hereafter your on a piece of matting on the floor, near the God shall be my God, and your Saviour my head of the collin. 'Vhen tbe benediction Saviour." And the joy which shone in her was pronounced, the friends quickly dis- countenance showed that she had indeed found persed, leaving the sorrowing relatives him of whom Moses and the prophets did write, alone with their dead. In a short time tbe Jesus of Nazareth. The idol was presented to collin was closed and hermetically sealed; Bishop Merrill when he was here in 1883. From but it has been decided that the interment the time of her conversion, this aged Chinese will not take place until the forty-ninth day lady had a bright evidence of acceptance with after the death. In this part of China the God, and became more and more firmly estabwealthy families, and many of the middle lished in the faith during her few remaining classes, begin on the seventh day after a years. Through her influence Mrs. Ahok's death a series of U meritorious" ceremo.. mother, who still survives, was also constrained nies for the repose and general benefit of the to turn from idols to the true and living God. soul of the departed, or the three souls, according to the heathen notion. In one form How encouraging all this to the missionary of or another these ceremonies are repeated the cross, who, in such a benighted land, is every seventh day from that of the death, oftentimes depres8ed by the mass of heathenism, some continuing until the forty-ninth day. which, like a moral miasma, environs him as Buddhist or Taoist priests are hired to man- does the very atmosphere I What proofs the age these exercises, which are described in conversion of these aged ones that in China, as that painstaking work, .. Social Life of the elsewhere, the gospel of Christ is "the power of Chinese," by Rev. Justus Doolittle. for four- God unto salvation to every one that believteen years a missionary here at Foochow. eth " lOur millions of dear brothers and sisters in America, who, by their prayers and money, Mr. Ahok is following the custom of having are advancing God's cause in heathen lands, his friends and relatives meet every seventh may well rejOice with us over all such triumphs of grace.
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY A. T. PIERSON, D.D.
GENERAL SURVEY. MARCH: Mexico Central America. OUR intention is during the twelve- City Evangelizati;n. month to turn the whole wheel round and bring successively to view every A PRIL: I n d'la and C eyI on. Brahpart of the world-wide circle of missionary labor. We give the scheme manism. for the year, and as far as may be the MAY: Burmah, Siam and Laos. structure of THE REVIEW will conform throughout to this plan: Buddhism. JANUARY: General Outlook. Sur- JUNE: Africa. Freedmen in North America. JULY: Islands of the Sea. Utah.
vey of the World. North American Indians.
FEBRUARY: China and Confucian- AUGUST: Italy, France, and Papal ism. Thibet. Eurqpe. SEPTEMBER: Japan, Korea. Medi- and master the languages that must cal Missions. be the vehicle of communication.
OCTOBER: Turkey, Persia. Mo- To estimate the entire number of hammedanism and Nominal Chris- converts in all foreign mission fields tian Sects. at 3,000,000 is very liberal, in fact in NOVEMBER: South America, West excess of the real number; but it Indies. Papacy. Home Missions. ~ust be remembered that these rep- DECEMBER: Syria. Jews. Educa- resent not less than 600,000 families tional Work in Missions. and 30,000 churches, mission stations As in January we propose a gen- and schools; and that out of these eral survey, it may be well, first of 3,000,000 converts, 30,000 workers all, to keep before us certain figures have gone into the field, Of' one out of and facts of world-wide significance, every 100, while Protestant Christen- even at risk of repetition. dom has sent forth but one out of There are 3,064 languages in the 5,000 !
world, and its. inhabitants profess The money annually raised for more than 1.000 religions. carrying on Protestant foreign mis- The most cat'eful computation sionsis a little short of $11,250,000, or which we have been able to make an average of 37Yz cents per year for at' find makes the present popula- each evangelical chul'ch member, or tion of the globe somewhat over leES than one tenth of a cent a day.
1,500,000,000. Of these, pagans, Accurate figures we are unable to heathens and Mohammedans con- give or get concerning either medi- stitute 1,040,000,000, and the rest cal missions or the educational work.
(460,000,000) are nominally Chris- As to the first, theil' growth is so tian, Papal, Greek and Protest- rapid that if we could present accu- ant. There are, however, not more rate returns they would be hope- than 31,500,000 Protestant church lessly in the rear before we could get members. At least one-half of this this number of THE REVIEW electro- 460,000,000 are Nothingarians and typed. For example, the Edinburgh Oonfucionists, To these more than Medical Missionary Society alone, thousand millions, Protestant Chris- which had in Hl71 only 7 students, tendom sends 6,230 messengers of the and in 1881, 16, had in 1886, 170 qual- cross, of whom 3,000 are ordained ified medical missionaries in active missionaries and 2,500 women. To service. Within ten years the in- these, in estimating the sum total of come of the society increased five- workers, we must add some 30,300 fold.
native preachers, teachers, catechists As to schools, they exist in con- and lay helpers, who have been raised nection with all missions and are up out of pag'an, heathen and Mo- often the first form of evangelistic hammedan communities as the first ageney. It is computed that for fruits of missions, making a total every fifteen church members and ad- force in the foreign field of 30,530, of herents gathered in heathen lands, which about five-sixths are converts there is one school. If so, then the from heathenism, Could these work- total number is not far feom 200,000, ers so be distributed as that the en- which, including schools of eveey tire .unevangelized po>puiation could size and grade, feom the primary to be equally divided among them, each would still have to reach, within an the collegiate, is not, we are persuad- ed, far from correct. But we hope average lifetime, at least 28,400 souls before the year closes to gather more with the gospel! And this, too, with accurate and trustworthy figures.
all thp. disadvantages of having to There are in the world 16,447,990 get to the field and get over the field, Sunday-school 'pupils, by the last figures published, The average Of the rellults of missions, w,: have membership is probably about fifty, no space to pl'esent facts, which must which gives 329,000 Sunday-schools be exhibited as the various fields pass in the world. All these figures are before us. approximate only, but they may The American Board alone occuhelp to form a general conception 9f pies 1,000 centers of evangelical in- the world's present condition and fluence, and $124,274 were contrib- needs, the comparative growth of uted last year by native converts in missions, and the outlook for the these various fields!
future. The largest body of the Prpsbyte- Certain grand facts ought to stand rian Church of our land, and in the 'boldly before us like the mountains North. has organized and sustains 34 on a landscape. miSSIOns in both hemispheres, 1. The world has been fully ex- manned by 550 foreign missionaries, plored. There remains probably no of whom 115 are ordained mi;J,sters llndis'covered territory. and 154 unmarried ladies, besides 151 2. The origin and history of every native ordained ministers, 171licen- nation have been traced; languages tiates and 804 other native helpers.
have been reduced to forms, and lit- The churches number 311, with 23,- erature created. 740 communicants, of whom 2,897 3. The present marvelous facilities were received during the past year; for rapid travel and communication in schools of all grades 23,770 pupils give easy access to all parts of the were enrolled; 80,000,000 of pages in globe. 21 languages were issued from 8 4. Commerce of the globe, espe- printing presses, and upward of 75,- cially by sea, is in the hands of Prot- 000 patients were treated in hospitals estant nations; postal and telegraph and dispensaries.
unions extend into all countries. Reports of other denomination!
5. The Bible has been translated may be found in our pages for the into more than 300 tongues-the past year, and can be traced by the press is greatly utilized. copious index appended to the De- 6. Barriers so completely removed cember issue.
-Christian missionaries under pro- Missions to the Jews are assuming tection of law in every land. new importance and meeting with 7. A native ministry is developing, new success. The professed converts and the churches gathered out of from Israel number 1,000 to 1,500 heathendom will ~on be taking care annually; and most of these are from of themselves. the educated class. Joseph Rabin- As to missionar:y societies, etc., The owitch in Bessarabia, and Rabbi Lich- Quarterly Review for July, 1886, es- enstein near Buda-Pesth, are leaders timated the total number asnot fewer in this modern movement among than 146. They must in 1889 exceed their own countrymen.
150, at the least, and more likely The destitution of the world must reach 170. In Great Britain there not be overlooked. During the cen- are from twenty-five to thirty; in tury since Carey went to India, Dr.
the United States from forty to fifty; Murray Mitchell computes that at on the continent as many more, least 200,000,000 have been added to known to exist at the beg'inning of the pagan population of the globe; the last year, while scattered through and that for every 10,000,000 added heathen and Mohammedan lands are to nominal Christendom, fully 15,- as many more; from the Hawaiian 000,000 have been added to heathen- group to Japan, and from Japan to dom.
Syria; and Madagascar round to Some countries like Thibet hav.eso Polynesia again. far been practically inaccessible to evangelism. Immense tracts, em- For thirty years his life was spent bracing a thousand iniles square and in an unwearied effort to evangelize millions of people, have not, in some the' native races, to explore the un- cases, one missionary station. Mex- discovered secrets, to abolish the des- ico is called a Christian country, yet olating slave traffic of Central Africa, Bishop Hurst of the Methodist and with his last words he wrote, , Church says that there are 8,000,000 "All I can add in my solitude is, people there who never saw a copy of the Holy Scriptures. In many papal may Heaven's rich blessing come lands St. Joseph is practically wor- down on every vne, American, En- shiped as superior to the Virgin glish, or Turk, who will help to heal Mary his wife, and Jesus Christ her this open sore of the world." Son. "And other sheep I have which SUGGESTIVE PARAGRAPHS. are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, PAUL and Barnabas went on a and there shall be one flock and one mission tour. (Compare ~cts xiii: 2-4; xiv: 3, 27; xv: 3, 7-12.) Their shepherd." career and report to the churches at Antioch and Jerusalem typify and TEXTS AND THEMES FOR MISSIONARY prophesy the whole history of mis- sions. It has been a history of su- SERMONS. pernatural interpositions. God has given testimony unto the word of THE following is old, but worth His grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by the hands of preservation: His servants. At the London Con-' ference the modern apostles of mis- .. Go lie into aU the world, and preach the gos- – sions gathering the Church together pel to every creature." in the metropolis of the world, re- Unbelief. There are so many heathen, and so hearsed all that God had done with them and how He had opened t.he much oppositiou to the gospel, the world can door of faith unto the Gentiles, de- never he converted. claring what spiritual miracles and wonders of transformation God had THE LORD. " The God of heaven shall set up wrought among the nations by them. a kingdom which shall never he destroyed: but Every result wrought in apostolic it shall break in pieces and consume all other days has its correspondent and coun- kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." Read terpart in modern days: Dan. ii : 44, 45. Psalms ii: 8, and lxxii: 8. Isa.
1. God gave testimony to the word ii: 2, 4. of His grace. Unbelief. The heathen will be saved without, 2. Opened the door of faith to the the gospel. Gentiles. St. Peter. "There is none other name [but 3. Converted the Gentiles and puri- Jesus] under heaven, given among men, fied their hearts by faith. whereby we mnst be saved." Acts iv : 12.
4. Gave them witness, imparting St. John. .. He that believeth not the Son the Holy Ghost. shall not see life,. but the wrath of God abideth on him." John iii : 36. LIVINGSTONE'S SLAB IN WESTMINSTER. Brought by faithful hands JESUS CHRIST. .. He that believeth not shall be damned." Mark xvi: 16. Over land and sea, here rests DAVID LIVINGSTONE, Unbelief. The gospel makes the heathen no Missionary, better. Traveler. Philanthropist, Facts. Eighteen hundred years ago, except Born March 19. 1813, the Jews, there were none but heathen; what nations are now better have been made so by at Blantyre, Lanarkshire. the gospel. Died May 1, 1873, GO, PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE. a.t Chitambos Village, Ulala. Scruple. But all have not gifts to preach. St. Paul. "Having then gifts, differing ac. cording to the grace that is given to ns; whether MINISTRY, let ns wait on our minister· ing-he that GIVETH, let him do it with sim· plicity. For as we have many members in one body, and all the members have not the same office; so we, being many, are one body in Christ… See Rom. xii :4-13. 1 Cor. xii: 14-22. Read 1 Cor. ix : 7, 13. Rom. x: 15. Truth. God hath made all nations of one blOOd. Eyery man is one m"mber of Ii bod.y of
PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIOKS-;)!O~THLY BULLETIN
1,500,000,000, 800,000,000 of whom are perishing, yon, 0 ye oj tittle faith?" "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Read Matt. vi : l1H34. through ignorance of the gospel and the way of Miser. Then you forbid me to providefor my life. – i'amily? "He that provideth not for his own Inquirer. As one member of this family, is worRe than an infideL" Experience. Is the best way "to provide" what ought Ito do' for your own to "rob" God and your fellow JESUS CHRIST. Have the same care for your men? Read Mal. iii : s-:.10. The very way" to provide" a curse. "Thel'e is that maketh himfellow men, as the members of the body for self'rich, yet hath nothing: there is that mak€'th every part. Place yourself in their condition, himself poor, yet hath great riches." Provo xiii : 7. See also 2 Cor. viii : 9. then in yours. .. Whatsoever ye would that Avarice, I am not able to do much. IfI had as they should do to you, do ye even so to them." much as 80me men I shouldn't value giving.
Per}Jlexity. I have a family and friends to St. Paul. "If there be tirst a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath." provide for-so many calls, I cannot attend to 2 Cor. viii: 12.
the wants of the heathen. Ignorance. I would give, but I know not what becomes of my money. Bellevolence. _Yourself in their condition, Public Prints. Read and understand. would you have them lhus treat you? "Render Pride. I am ashamed to give so little as I feel able. I must do more, Or it won't be to all their ducos." Provide for every part. thonght anytTling. THE LORD. "The pride of thy heart hath de- False Philosophy. By giving much to send ceived thee." Obad. iii. See the widow's two mites. Luke xxi: 1–1. the gospel abroad, I shall rob myself and child- Self-Indulgence. But why banter and urge a man so? What the" great hurry" of sendren, and come to want. ing the gospel to the heathen? THE LORD. "There is that scattereth, and Mercy. Heathen die as fast as Christians; yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth 15,000,000 sink into the grave every year, and go, without the gospel, to the judgment unpremore than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty." pared.
" The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that Zeal. "What thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Ecc. ix : 10. watereth shall be watered also himself." Prov. GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD .ilID PREACH TIDli xi: 24. 25. GOSPEL. Selfishnes8. But I ought to lay up something beforehand, for myself FIRST.
JESUS CHRIST. "He that trusteth in his riches shall fall." Prov. xi : 28. " Seek FIRST [to promote] the kingdom of God, and his righteousness." Matt. vi : 33. "Lay not up for yourselves trea8Ures on earth."
WO'l'ldly Prudence. But if I lay not Ull some- thing against time of need, who will take care of me, when old and infirm?
JESUS CHRIST. "Take no thou-ght for your life," etc.-" Shall he not much more clothe VI.-PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY BULLETIN.
Africa.-The native boats on the Upper ciative attendance of colonists at purely mis- Congo have begun to liy the Free State liag, sionary meetings than at the public evening seswhich insures to them protection. From Stan- sions of the conference this year. We were ley Pool to Equator Station, traveling is per- thankful to see it. MiSSIOnary work among the f~ctly safe. One boat brought from Stanley natives here is not definitely understood ~mong Falls five tons of ivory. the colonists generally. They get some strange impressions of it which a very little personal -At Badza Manteke, in the Congo Mission observatiou shows them to be wrong. Wewant of the American Baptist Missionary Union, them to inform themselves. seven persons have been put to death for the testimony of Jesus. The work is steadily pro- -At Kangwe, on an island of the Ogowe, 379 gressing. candidates were recently received into the class for catechumens, and 91 persons have -REV. CHARLES W. KILBON writes entered tbe churcb. from Adam's Mission Station, Natal, -The first section. of the Trans-African South Africa, July 19, as follows: Railway from St. Paul de Loanda to Arubaca has heen finished, and the work is going on. "You will be interested to know that while This section is forty miles long, extending from the' International Missionary Union' was open- the coast to Kabiri. The road from that point ing its sessions in New Jersey the Natal Mis- turns sonth to the Coanza River, whence it is sionary Conference of our little colony was hold- to be extended directly west to Ambaca, 225 inlJ; its annual meeting at the capital, Pieter- miles from the coast. maritzburg. Your first day was our last. On that day, in our devotional exercises, your meet- ChinR.-The communicants, which were ing was spoken of, and special mention of it scarcely a score forty years since. accordwas m'lde in their prayer. ing to the report of the American Board. _"We have never had fuller and more appre- now exceed 32,000. and are increasing at the rate of 2.000 a year. Telegraph and railroad faith and as a missionary force. Now he appears Jines thread the land, a knowledge of the in an article with the title, "The Great Mission- J%iglish language is eagerly sought, and tbe ary Failure." He enters into calculations and stir of a great movement is felt in the land. comes to the conclusion that" it would take the A proclamation lately issned in many prov- Church Missionary Society 2,7!JO years to overw inces describes the missionaries as teachers take the additions made in India by birth in a of virtue, and their influence as helpful to single year." His manipulation of figures is the state,' enjoining all citizens to refrain deceptive. Sir Charles Atchison, an Englishfrom violence, and to live with them in the man in India, says that" in the Punjab, the relation of hosts and guests. Hindu and Mohammedan religions are practi- cally stationary, that of the Sikhs has declined, -After eighty years of contact with Eng- whereas the Christian religion has increased land, there are 32,000 Christians, for which 38". per cent." The quality of Canon Taylor's we may be thankful, and 150,000,000 opium intellect may be j lldged by the fact that at the smokers, for which we may hang our heads late Episcopal Congress at Manchester" he exin shame. The slave trade, the liquor traf- pressed the opinion that the bishops' physical fic, the licensing of immorality-these were pO'~'ers often g'ave way because they were corow bad enough, but the opium curse is the sum pelled to put their hands on the greasy heads of of all vilJainy.-J. Hudson Taylor. thousands of confirmation candidates." There were cries of" shame" from the audience. -The Chinese Government threatens to drive all missionaries out of Pekin and Can- Franre.-The annual report of the Societe ton in retaliation for the bill which has been du Nord says that they have now in the adopted exclndlng the Chinese from the north of France 52 pastors and 145 places of United States. worship, of which 84 are temples, and nearly 30,000 adherents. -The Baptist Missionary Magazine for December reports 260 baptisms, and news -Dr. Pierson was present and made an adhas been received of 23 recent baptisms at dress at the opening of a new station in Swatow, China, and 73 at Ongole, India. PariS, the Salle Rivole. The very name of this hall is associated in Paris with all that -The first railroad built in China with the is included in the words, .. The world, the sanction of the government was completed tieRh and the devil," and where ior .one hun w in August. It runs from Tientsin to Taku, dred years Satan has held sway. It is situfifty miles. and the trains are crowded with ated in a densely populated quarter, at the passengers. confluence of the rue St. Antoine and the rue de Rivole, abont half way between the Englnnd.-London Missionary Society. The Bastile and the Hotel de Ville. It was for- Ladies' Committee, in connection with the so- merly nsed as a ball room; then a fashionciety, does not form a separate organization, as able billiard room; later it was most notoriin the case of some of the other large societies. ous for the low dances which were held in We append the leading statistics: Mission sta- it; and since the days of the republic it tions and sub-stations, 1,.87 (1,161 in Madagas- has been the meeting-place of the Anarcar) ; foreign workers, ordained, 150; lay, 21 ; chists. This wicked den, in the very heart native workers. ordained, 1,143; lay, 5,156; of Paris, has been transformed, by the McAll communicants, betweeu eighty and ninety thou- 1iission, into a gospel temple, where every eand, of which more than sixty thousand are night the H good news" will be proclaimed. credited to Madagascar. The statistics are not Its support is furnished by the New York quite complete. Full returns would show some- Anxiliary. whst increased figures. The total income is over a htindred thousand pounds sterling. lndia.-Out of the 555 adult converts bap- tized by the English Church missionaries at -The valedictory dismissal of a band of Amritsar, India, since the establishment of forty-five missionaries in connection with the the mission in 1852, no less than 253 have Church Missionary Society took place in St. been converts from Islam. While this be- James's Hall, Piccadilly. Twenty-five of the tokens no great movement among the Momissionaries are returnin!( to the field, and hammedans toward Christianity, it shows twenty are new recruits. Already nearly twenty that Moslems can be reached and brought others have departed, chiefiy going to Africa. under the influence of the gospel. Except Bishop Crowther, who returns to the Niger, and one lady for Lagos, all the forty·five -A revival of Hinduism is taking place in taken leave of are for Asia-Palestine, Persia, Madras Presidency, India. In the past the India, China, and Japan. Eight of the new re- Hindus have looked on the efforts of the cmits are university men. Sir J. Kennaway, missionaries with contempt or indifference. Bart, M. P. (presiden t), presided over a large Now they are becoming alarmed at the gathering of friends and supporters, and on be- progrbss of Christianity, and are opposing half of the society and the meeting bade the it by every means in their power. They missionaries Godspeed. have formed U preaching societies" and u tract societies," and are fighting for Hin- -The latest outburst of "Paganism" in England is an arrai!(nment of missions as a duism by the methods which have proved "failure." Canou Taylor last year made a sen- .'tiou b111 laudatiou of Islam as a system of so effecti ve for the spread of Christianity in English missionaries, it reports the astoundthe hands of the missionaries. ing number of 838 native ordained ministerll, and 4,005 native preachers, 61,000 chur"h Japan.-The Christian converts increased members and 280,000 adh~ents. But as yet 50 per cent. last year, till they number over scarcely one-half of the population has 7,000, with more young people seeking in- been reached by the gospel. struction than ever before. Contributions of Japanese Christians the past year for lIfexico.-Mexico is a Christian conntry, educational and religious objects amount yet Bishop Hurst of the Methodist Episto over $41,000; and not only professed copal Church says that in Mexico 8,000,000 Christians give, but others who see the have never seen a copy of the Holy Scripwork in progress, especially parents, for the tures. sake of the moral culture 'obtained in our New ]lexico.-The South American Mis_ schools. Mr. Neesima reports $3i.ooo sub- sionary Society has started a new missiou in Pa.ragua.y under encouraging circum… scribed by a few Japanese gentlemen, in- stances. cluding tw ' of the highest officials of the government, toward the enlargement of the New Guinea is one of the most interesting Doshisha school into a Christian university. points in the world's missionary work at Count Okuma, minister of foreign affairs, present. A few years ago the whole people Count Inouye, late minister of foreign af- were the worst lotof cannibals known. Now fairs, but who has recently returned to the many of them are receiving the gospel, and cabinet as a minister of agriculture and a change is rapidly coming over the island. commerce, have subscribed l,OOO yen each. Viscount Aoki, vice-minister of state. gives New Zealand.-New Zealand, as a matter 500 yen, while six other prominent officials of fact, is evangelized. Christianity has and bankerc have given together 28,500 yen. not failed of success in a single island. In India and elsewhere they had to gather the -The number of converts in the Japan converts one by one, but in New Zealand a Mission of the American Board has in- movement set in, and great numbers came creased in fifteen months from 4,226 to forward; its advance was almost like a bush 7,093, a gain of 2,801. This ie. the most re- fire. The number of native clergy at presmarkable record in any mission of the ent laboring there is qnite three times what Board, except the Sandwich,Isbnds. they had previously been. These are not supported by money from home, bnt by the -Awakening. The Rev. A. B. Hntchlnson, contributions and endowments of their own C.M,S., Nagasaki, says: .. In this remote people.-Bishop Stuart, D.D., of Waiapu. corner of distant Japan there is an awakening and inquiry after the truth which have Scotland. – A recent number of The already resulted in the baptism of over 200 Scottish Geographical Magazine has papers converts, principally adults, in the northern dealing with subjects specially engaging the part of Kiushiu, which is the portion allotted attention of the friends of missions. Not to to me as my special sphere of work. Others speak of Mr. H. O. Forbes's paper on .. Atare being prepared for admission into the tempts to Reach the Owen Stanley Peak," fold of Christ. My fellow-worker on the which goes over ground occupied by the eastern side of Kiushiu, Rev. J. B. Brandram, New Guinea Mission of the London Missionanc1 our brethren of the Presbyterian and ary Society, we have notes on .. Recent Ex- American Episcopal Methodist missions, are plorations in the Territories of the African rejoicing over similar proofs that the gospel Lakes Company," by E. G. RavenBtein, is still the power of God uuto salvat,ion to F.R.G.S., with a map of the territory, at everyone that believeth. I would ask 'ear- this moment of more than usual interest, nest prayer for the workers in this land." between Lakes Tanganyika and Nyassa, far in advance of anything that has y+t been -According to The Ohinese Recorder the given of that region of Africa. There is need of Japan at the present moment is also a very graphic account of .. Lnkoma," 1,000 preaching missionaries. Out of 100 an island in Lake Nyassa. by Archdeacon ordained missionaries, only thirty are en- Maples, F.R.G.S., the headquarters of a gaged in preaching. Some Buddhist priests hopeful branch of the Universities Mission have taken snch titles as bishop and rever- in Central Africa. The Archdeacon,like his end, and a Professor of the Old Testament chief, Bishop Smythies, warmly commends has been engaged by the Kioto Buddhist the work of the Scottish Mis~ion~ on the college. There is a crying demand for lady Lake, referring to the members of the teachers for women of rank, and also for Established Church of Scotland at Blantyre Christian teachers for pri vate and govern- as competent translators of the Scriptures, ment schools. This is as tr..e of India as of and to the Buchanan brothers as the enter- Japan. prising missionary-colonists at Zomba. His account of the work of his own mission at Madagascar. – The London Missionary Lukoma is most instr,uctive, showing how Society continues to push its work here with the missionaries in their mission ship, increasing success, notwithstanding the political changes and the aggressive atti- OharleS Janson, rea.ch the coa.st villa.ges to tude of the Church of Rome. Witu its 30 the south, holding classes for inquirers and he was for more than thirty years superin_ preaching the gospel to the people who tendent of tbe Sabbath-school of the First come out to hear. Presbyterian Church, Augusta, Ga.
Syria.-The first volume of Dr. Eddy's -A Gift '-_ Books. The author and pub. Arabic Commentary on the New Testament, in lishersof "ThA Crisis of Missionst'~ Rev. Dr. chIding Matthew and Mark, has been published Pierson and Robert Carter & Brothers, have in a book of nearly six hundred pages. offered to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions a second thousand copies for gratu. -The Abeih field hasa force of 50 workers, 89 itousdistribution. These will be sentprompt. ly by the Board, postpaid,to all who will order being teachers and alicensed preachers. There them witb the understanding that they are to be read and loaned to others. A thousand are 4 'organized churches, with a membership copies have been offered by the same parties of 297, 24 having beeu added during the past to the American Board. year. Regular preacking services are maiutained at 18 places. There are 20 Sabbatho -'ii, M, C. A. The eleventh World's Y. schools, with 980 scholars; 43 high and com· M, Co A. Conference, at Stockholm, in mon schools enroll 1,681 scholars. The total August, showed the American continent at contributions for benevolence and education the front of this great work. The United amouuted to $2,308. States and Canada, taken togetber, report 1,240 associations and 152,721 members. -The Death of Dr. Meshaka, of the Jewish Canada organized the first association on mission in Damascus, is a great loss. Says the the American continent in Montreal on the Presbyterian Messenger, London: 9th of December, 1851. The choice is to be between Amsterdam and Paris for tbe •• He was, perhaps, the oldest Protestant twelfth World's Y. M. C. A. Convention. Christian in Syria, and exerted a powerful influence for good. He was respected by his -Christian Endeavor. The report of the townsmen of all classes and creedS, and his Seventh Annual Convention of the Society of funeral was the largest eVer Seen in Damascus. Christian Endeavor gives the very rapid growth The streets, windows and housetops were of this movement within two or three year., uncrowded all the way through the city, and eveu til it numbers over five thousand societies with outside the gate vast crowds were assembled." Over three hundred thousand members (while scores of new societies are being formed every 1'urkey.-Government opposition to all evan- week in all denominations). This indicates a gelical inlluences is manifested in restrictive widespread desire and need for that which in legislation towards the mission schools, and in in- some degree at least is met by this organization. terference with the personal liberty of native The United Society of Christian Endeavor asks teachers, and sometimes of missionaries. Mr. no allep;iance, exercises no authority, levies no Straus, the American minister at Constantino- taxes. It simply exists to give information, ple,is ably guarding the interests submitted to his aud to aid the societies, by giving them the best care, and his efforts are warmly appreciated by methods by which young people can be traiued the missions, and are worthy of hearty commen- for usefulness in the Church. Its affairs are dation. • . . Colleges at Aintab, Harpoot, managed by representatives of the evangelical and Marsovan, almost the only schools of this denominations. grade in the Turkish Empire, the great numher of boarding-schools for boys and girls.in all -Protestant Episcopal Missions. The 20th these missions, and the far greater number of annual session of the Missionary Council day-schools taught by graduates of these higher of the Protestant Episcopal Church was recentschools, are far superior to all other schools of ly held in Washington, D. C. About 250 delethe same grade in the land, and are steadily gates were present. Tbe report of the Board pervading the life of the whole people with the of Managers of the Domestic and Foreign sentiments and examples of the Christian faith. Missionary Society showed that the SOCiety The theological seminaries at Marsovan, Har- has in foreign lands 41 priucipal and 145 poot, and Marash are quietly raising their stand- ont stations, an increase of 37 since last year; ards according to the growing needs of the field that it has 133 missionaries and 227 native and the better class of candidates for the min- helpers in the field. an increase of about 60; istry furnished by the colleges.-Report to the that it has 91 day and boarding schools, an in- American Roard. crease of 12, and 3,364 pupils, an iucrease of "193. At the hospitals and dispensaries in Japan and United States.-Magnificent Gift for Freed- China 16,331 individuals were treated during the men. Securities to the amount of $1,000,- year. The treasurer's report shows a balance 894.25 ha.ve been placed in the hands of the of $53,000 to the credit of foreign missions. treasurer of the American IIlissionary Asso- The report of the Woman'8 Auxiliary to the ciation' by Mr. Daniel Hand of Ciinton, Board of Missions showed that the gifts in Conn. The interest of this munificent gift money and boxes this year amount to $276,154. is to be spent every year in the education of the colored youth of the South, and is -Inter-Seminary Alliance. The meeting given by one who for many years was in held in Boston this year was the largest of the business in the South. He has had a pur- gatherings of this association ever held. It was pose to devote his fortune to this work for the ninth convention. Five hundred young men a long time, and has fulfilled it in the clos- from the seminaries were reported to be p"esing years of bis life. He is now in the ent. The papers presented were valuable. Drs. eighty-ninth year of his age. It is said that Herrick Johnson, Phillips Brooks, A. J. Gordon and Joseph Cook stirred the bearts of these young men.
STATISTICS OF TBE WORLD'S MISSIONS
VII.-STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS.
BRITISH OONTRIBUTIONS TO FOREIGN MISSIONS, 1887.
[WE are indebted to Rev. W. A. Scott Robertson, Hon. Canon of Canterbury and Vicar of Throwley, England, for these highly interesting statistics, summarized and analyzed.-EDs.] Summary of British Contributions to Foreign Missions, 1887.
Church of England Societies (Table No. I.)•…..•…………………•..•••….••……. £461,236· Joint Societies of Churchmen and Nonconformists (Table No. II.). ……….. … ………. 187,048 English and Welsh Nonconformist Societies (Table No. III.) ………………………… 367,115 Scotch and Irish Presbyterian Societies (Table No. IV.)…………………………….. 202,940 , – – – Roman Catholic Societies (Table No. V.)………………………………………….. 10,420 Total British Contributions for 1887………………………………………… £1,228,759 N. B.-This total does not include any fund.• derived from Rents, Dividends, or Interest, nor Balances in kand from the previ0U8 year, nor any Foreign Contributions. ANALYSIS OF THE RECEIPTS, 1887.
Table No. I. Foreign Missions of the Church of England.
Analysis of Receipts.
From Abroad British When & from In- Contri- Founded. Name of each Society, and Total Amount of Receipts for 1887. "estmeuts. butions.
1799 …. CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £221,330 (in addition to £48,604 received at Mission Stations). British Contributions………………………………………… . £207,704 Borne Receipts from Churchmen Abroad …………. , ….•……… £1,075 Dividends, Interest, and Rents. . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . ……………..••• 12,551 No B.-This Society maintain8 the Church Missionary College at Isltngt(}n, which it founded in 1825. 1701. ••. S00IETY FOR THE PRoPAGATION OF TilE GoSPEL, £112,245. British Contributions ……………………………………….. . 9~,811 Borne Receipts from Churchmen Abroad………………………. . 3,388 Dividends, Interests, and Rents ………………………………. . 10,051 1808 ….LONDON SOCIli:TY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE JEWS, Brft~!~~ontributions……………………………………….. .. Borne Receipts from Churchmen Abroad……••..•……..••…•..••• 1,090 28,174 Dividends, Interest, etc………………………………….•…… 2,700 1880…•CHURCH OF ENGLAND ZENANA MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £23,268. British Contributions………………………………………… . '22,674 From Abroad ………………………………………………. . 594 1823….COLON[AL AND CONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY, £37,673. British Contribntions ……………………… , • •……………. . 18,395 Raised and Ex-pended Abroad ……••………………….•……… 19,237 Dividends, Interest, etc•……….•……………………….•…•.• 41 1698 …. SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, £33,699 (in addition to £79,000 derived from trading).
Portion paid in aid of Foreign Mission work, about …………….. . 12,000 1860…. CENTRAL AFRICAN MISSION ON THE UNIVERSITIES, £13,285. British Contributions ……………………………………….. . From Abroad ………………………………………………. . 399 12,169 Intere"t ……………………………………… ; …………. . 717 1844…. SOUTH AMERICAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £12,215. British Contribntions…. . …………………………………… . Raised and Expended Abroad …………………………………• 3,470 8,745 1870…. MISSIONARY LEAVES ASSOCIATION (aiding Native Clergy of the Church MIssionary Society), £8,348.
British Contributions……………….. . …………………… . 8,315 Dividends………………………………………………….. . 33 SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE CHURCH AID SOCIETY, £4,787. British Contributions………………………………………… . From Abroad and Sales ……………………………………… . 115 4,672 1865 ….LAPrE.' ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTING FEMALE EDUCATION AMONG THE HEATHEN, £:;,188 (included above in the S. P. G. total), 1860…• BRITISH SYRIAN SCHOOLS, £4,196.
British Contributions…………………………………….. .. 4,010 Grants and Interest ……………………………………….. . 186 MELANESIAN MISSION, £4,703.
British Contributions …………………………………….. . 2,215 From Abroad……… ……………………….. …………….. 2,488 1841. … COLONIAL BISHOPRICS' FuND, £12,546.
British Contribution………………………………………. . 495 Dividends and Interest…………………………………….. 11,437 Grant from S. P. C. K. and S. P. G………………………… ••• 614 1869 …•"THE NET' 8" collections, £2,084. For McKenzie Memorial Mission …………………………… . 110 1,311 For other Funds …………………………………………… . 663 1883 …•CENTRAL AGENC.i FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS, £1,646.
Sums not herein included in the totals of other Societies, about 385 1848….ST. AUGUSTINE'S MISSIONARY COLLEGE (exclUSive of Endowments for a Warden, a Sub-Warden and three.Fellows), £2,862.
From Missionary Studentship AssoCIations•..••.•…•..•..•••••.• 2,251 From Funded ExhibItions, ••••• , •••• , •••• , •• , .. ,., ••••• " •• , …… . 611 ,An-a_ly_sis_oJf-R_e-c-e-ip-t.s.. , From Abroad British When & from In- Contri- Fonnded. Name of each Society. and Total Amount of Receipts for 1887. ,estments. butions.
1860 ..• .CORAL MISSIONARY FUND (to aid Schools and Catechists of Church £22 £952 98~ l1i"sionary Society), £974. 69 997 British Contributions…………….. ………………………. 2,176 570 Interest……………………………………………………. 442 1840…. FOREIGN AID SOCIETY (for France, B"lgium. Italy and Spain)…….. 300 18M .. .. ANGLO-CONTINENTAL SOCIETY. about.. …………………………. 1867 …. DELBI MEDICAL MIS~ION TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN, about. ……… 437,236 1877 …. CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO DELHI………….. ……………….. …….. 1691 …. CHRISTIAN FAITH SOCIETY FOR THE WEST INDIES (Rents)…… ……. 24,000 COLUMBIA MISSION, about……………………………………….. Tot;al amount of Donations, Legacies and Annual Subscriptions from the British Isles to the Societies above named for 1887… ESTIMATED VALUE of other gifts sent direct to Mission Stations, or gathered specially for Missionary dioceses, schools or Zenana work………………………………………………
Total for Church of England Foreign Missione. 1887 …………. . £461,236 Table No. II. Foreign Missions-Joint Societies of Churchmen and Non- conformists-A. D. 1887.
1804…. BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOOIETY, £147,881 (in addition to £102,443 derived ('rom sales) Devoted to Foreign Mission Work, abont………………………. £89,000 1799 …. RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, £Z9,J40 (exclusive of £170,950 derived from 16,812 29,961 Trade). 9,883 Devoted to Foreign Mission Work…………………………….. 8,109 1866…. CHINA INLAND MISSION, £J3,717. 5,171 , British Cvntribntions ………•.•……. ;………………………. 4,626 From Abroad ……………………………………………….. £3,756 6,000 18fi2 …. INDIAN FEMALE NORMAL SOCIETY, £9,995 …………. :……………. 112 3,274 184ll…. BRITISH SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL AMONG THE 3,100 JEWS, £~,183 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,……… 74 1,517 2;595 1834 …. S0CIETY FOR PROMOTING FEMALE EDUCATION IN TIlE EAST, £6,249 (in 7,00« addition to needlework sent abroad, valued at £.,306). £187,04~ British Coutributions……….. ………………………………
Dividend", etc., £931; Grants, £147.. .. ….. . .. .. . . . .. . . . …. . . .. . . .. 1,078 1732 …. MORAVIAN (EPISCOPAL) MISSIONS OF THE UNITED BRETHREN, £16,803.
British ContributlOns ………………. , …… ,………………..
1872 …. EAST LONDON INSTITUTE FOR HOME AND FOREIGN MISSIONS, £11,592.
Portion de·oted to Livingstone Mission and other Foreign Mission Work, abont ……………… , .. , ………….. ,…….. ……..
)858 …. CHRISTIAN VERNACULAR EDUCATION SOCIETY FOR INDIA, £4,742 (in addition to £4,904 received in India from sales).
British Contributions…………………………………………
Grants and Contributions in India ……………………………. '.' 1,402 Interest…………………….. .. ……………………….. …. 66 W ALDE:r{8IAN MISSIONS AID FUND.
English and Irish Contributions, about…………. ……………… TRINITARIAN BIBLE SOCtEl'Y, £1,5~1 (iu addition to £456 from sales).
British Contributions ………………….. '" …………………. Interest .. _…………………………………………. _.. , ….. 4 1856.•.. TURKISH MISSIONS (FROM AMERICA) AID SOCIETy…….. ………….
ESTIMATJIlD VALUE of other contribntions in money and in needlework, &c………….. ……………. ……………. …………………
Total amount of British Contributions through Unscctarian or Joint Societies of Churchmen and Nonconformists for 1887…… ……….
Table No. III. Foreign Missions of English and Welsh Nonconformists, 1887.
1813…. WESLEYAN MISSIC:l1ARY SOCIETY, £133,303 (in addition to £58,827, raised and expended in Mission Stations).
British Contributions … _……………………………. , …… . £119,898 From Abroad …………………………………………….. . £7,035 Dividends and IntereRt …………………………………….. . 6,370 1795 …. LoNDON MISSIONARY SoOIETY, £146,410.
British Contributions ……….. , . . 0 ………………………… . 118,554 Raised Abroad .. _ ………………………………………… .. 23,716 Dividends and Interest ……………………………………. .. 4.140 1792….BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £7;;,058.
British Contributions ……………………………………… . 56,173 Raised Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,3.31 Dividends,Interest1 etc…………………………………… . 1,534 1855 …. ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN FOREIGN MISSIONS, £13,450.
British Contributions……………………………………… . 13.400 From Abroad. etc…………………………………………. .. 50 For Women's l'lission Fund see below.
1867 …… FRIENDS" FnREIGN MISSION ASSOCIATION. £8,964.
British Contributions…………………………………….. .. 8,529 Dividends and Interest……………….. . ………………… . 435 1832 .••. WESLEYAN LADIES' AUXILIARY FOR FEMALE EDUCATION, £7,529.
British Contributions…………………………………….. .. 7.347 Interest I'nd I' Grant..• , .. , …… , ……… , …………… , … , .. . 182 Analysis o.f Receipts.
From Abroad British When & from In- Contri· Founded. Name of each Society, and Total Amonnt of Receipts for 1887. vestments. bntions. 1~56 …. UNITED ME1'HODIST FREE CHURCHES' FOREIGN MISSIONS, £17,475. British Contril:>utioDS………………………………………. £7,722 Raised Abroad. . . . . . . .. •• . . . • . . . .. •• . • . . . . .. . • .. . … . . • . . .. . . ….. £9,753 1840 .••. WELSH CALVINISTIC METHODISTS FOREIGN M,SSIONARY SOCIETY, £.,bll. British Contributions…………………………………….. . 5,118 From Abroad………………………………………………. 2,332 Interest, etc………………………………………… ……. 361 1817 …. GENERAL BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £8,107. 4,735 British Contributions……………………………………… .
From Abroad…………. ………………………………….. 3,181 Interest, etc……………………………………………….. 191 METHODIST NEW CONNECTION FOREIGN MISSIONS, £3,782. British Contributions……………………………………… . 3,210 From Abroad ……………………………………………… . 464 Grants £61, Interest £47…………………………………… .. 108 1845…. EVANGELICAL CONTINENTAL SOCIETY, £2,208. British Contributions…………………………………….. .. 2,194 Interest, etc ………………………………………………. . 14 1836…. COLONIAL MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £6,314 ……………………………. . 6,053 British Contributions ………………………………………." . Repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 190 Interest, etc ….. " ………………………………………….. , 71 1,829 h FRIENDS" MISSION IN SYRIA AND PALESTINE . ……………….. .
PRIMITIVE METHODIST COLONIA.L MISSIONS, about …….. .., … : ……. . 2,000 PRIMITIVE METHODIST AFRICAN MISSION, £2,154 ………………….. .
British Contributions………………………………………… . 2,042 F'rolD Abroad" .. .. . . ……. … . …………………………….. . 112 ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN'S MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION, £2,356.
British Contributions………………………………………. . 2,311 .
Interest …………………………………………………… .. 45 ESTIMATED VALUE of needlework sent to mission Stations, and other un· reported Contributions. …. ….. . …………………………. .. ~,ooo Total British Contribntions throngh English and Welsh Nonconform- ist Societies for 1887…….. …………………………………. £367,115 Table. No. IV. Foreign Missions of Scotch and Irish Presbyterians.
FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MISSIONS, £102,112.
, (British Contribntions .. £35,488 F orel.gn "JIU,SS.lOns ………………………. 1J SFcrohomolAFbereosaadn.d..G..r.a.n.t.s £5,465 2~,053 LInterest …………. .. 5,792 Ladies' Society for Female Edncation………………………….. . Jews' Conversion Fund ……………………………………… . 11,005 921 6,706 Continental Fund ………………………………………….. .. 130 5,116 Colonial Mission……………………………………………. . UNITIW PRESBYTERIAN FOREIGN MISS[ONS, £57,465. 63 3,373 General Fund.. { British Contributions and Legacies…………. . 48,309 Interest, etc……………………………….. 4,077 CZeonnatinnaenMtaislsaionnd.C..o.l.o.n..i.a.L……………………………………l…………………………………. .. 931 J CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MISSION BOARDS, £55,709. 4,148 British Contrioutions ………………….. . Foreign Missions. '1 rna{::~st~.~~~~'.~~.~~~.l. ~~~.s.'.~.~~~.t.~,. ~.t.~ .. :" 10,~: 24,481 Jewish Mission ……………………………………… , ……. . 1,131 7,165 Colonial ",nd Continental Missions………………………….. . 11 4,938 Ladies' Association for Foreign Missions… …………………. 5,721 Ladies' Association for Educating Jewish Girls…….. ……… 811 1,117 1864…. NATIONAL BIBLE SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND, £16,077 (in addition to £16,439 500 15,266 from sales). 6,481 British Contributions …………………………………….. .. Interest …………………………………………………. .. 3,000 1841 …. EDINBURGH MEDICAL 1I1ISSIONARY SOCIETY, £6,981. 1,300 British Contributions ……………………………………. .. • 774 Interest …………………………………………………… . 3.000 W ALDENSIAN MISSIONS AID FUND, abou t …………………………. . 18.",1 .•.. LEBANON SCHOOLS, about ………………………………………. .
1,s'j'1, … OR.IGINAL SECESSION CHURCH'S INDIAN MISSION, about …… _………. .
ESTIMATED VALUE of other Scottish Contributions ……………. ..
Total Scottish Presbyterian Contributions, 1887…………… . £188,319 IRISH PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS, £18,500. 2,053 6,098 British Contributions…………… .. 285 274 3,553 Foreign Missions, £8,710 .. School Fees and Grant.s …………. . 3 2,800 { From Abroad. .. .. .. .. . .. .. … . ….. . 1,'719 Interest………………………… .. 97 288 Jevish Mission ……. o • o • o ••••••••••••••• _0 ••• 0 ••••••••••••••••••••• 1,167' 163 Ladi..s' Female Missionary Society…………………………. . Colonial Mission….. ' ………………………………………. . £202,940 Gujarat Orphanage ……………….• o •••••••••••••••• •••••••••• _ Continental Mission ………………………………………… . Mrs. Magee's Indian Education Fund (interest)……………… .
Total British Contributions through Scottish and Irish Pres- byterian Societies for 1887 ……………………………. .
NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
Table No. V. Foreign Missions of British Roman Catholics, 1887.
Founded. British Contributions. ASSDCll'rION FOR 'rHE PROPAGA'rION OF THE 'FAITH, £8,760. England …………………………………………………………….. £1,883 Ireland. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . …. . . .. . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . .. … . . . . .. .. .. .. . . . .. .. … .. .. .. .. 6.572 Scotland. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . … 30li N.B.-7'he total 'income of the Roman Propagnndafor 1887, collected fl'Ome1lery diocese in Christendom, amounted to 6,462,276francs .. i. e., about £258,491. 1870.•.•ST. JOSEPH'S FOltEIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY A,l'm COLLEGE, at Mill HIli, Hendon. 1,660 Total. …………………………………………………………… £10,420 SUMMARY FOR SEVENTEEN YEARS.
TOTAL BRITISlI CONTRffiUTIONS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS.
1871 …………………………….. £855,742 1880 ……………………………. £1,108,950 )872…………………………….. 882,886 1881. ……………………………. 1,093,569 18T& …………………………….. 1.03:!,176 1874 …………………………….. 1,009,199 1882 ……………………………. 1,191,175 1875… , …………………………. 1,048,408 1883 …………………………….. 1,216,530 1876 … , …………………………. 1.018.472 18~4 …………………………….. 1,220,861 1877…………………………….. 1,100.793 1885 ……………… , ……………. 1,228.951 1878 …………………………….. 1,071 ,944 1886 …………………………….. 1,195,714 1887 …………………………….. 1,228,759 1879 …………. , .. , ….. , ………… 1,086,678 VIII.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The Earl of Aberdeen. man in the House of Lords and at the same time moving as a benefac- THE Earl of Aberdeen, whose pic- tor among the common people ! We ture forms our frontispiece, was hon- are pleased to be able to put before ored by the presidency of the great our readers the "counterfeit pre- Conference of Missions in London, sentment" of a man noble in a douwhich began June 9, 1888. ble sense, perhaps the nearest to the late Earl of Shaftesbury of any of He is a man comparatively in.his the many lords of England, and youth-we judge not over thirty-five whose lady is not a whit behind him years of age-with black hail' and in true nobility of character. eyes, a slender figure, and a nervous temperament. While speaking he As president of the Conference he moves from side to side, rests on one performed the duties of the chair foot at a time, frequently crossing with much g'l'ace and manifest pleasone leg over the other; is by no ure, and right cordially welcomed means a flueut speaker 01' a great the delegates in' a brief speech. He orator. But his character and life aLso entertained the Conference at his are his standing oration. He is country seat a few miles from London. known among his countrymen as a Our readers, we are confident, will be man foremost in every good word glad to look upon his face. A. T. P. and work, a friend and patron of all benevolent societies and institu- The Slave Trade in Eastern Afrioa. tions, While other landed proprietors are using their immense estates IT begins to look as if the hour had for their own emolument, grinding struck for the suppression of this their poor tenants into more abject curse of curses! For the first time poverty, and while the wretched in history there is a coalition formed crpfter system leaves the land which of the great powers of Europe effectthe tenant has improved and e,"en ually to stop a traffic that for centhe hut he has built to revert to the turies has been the scandal of Chrislandlord when the term of the ap- tendom, and has entailed untold prenticeship expires, the Earl of Ab- miseries and horrors upon Africa. Competent witnesses testify that the erdeen is enabling his tenants to be- trade was never carried on more excome owners of their own little farms tensively than at the present time, and houses, parceling out his own nor with greater cruelty and sacrifice estates among his tenantry. What of life.
a blessing- to Britain to have such a Against this enormous and iniquitous trade the British Government prosperous, there was a disposition has waged a single-handed and al- to regard the activity of England in most useless warfare for half a cen- the same quarter with jealousy, and tury. Her vessels have pursued the there was ground to suspect that slavers wherever they have been the value of British co·operation found. She has kept' them in con- was not thought of till the A~ab stant fear and mitigated the evils of slave traders had proved more than the trade, but has not succeeded in a match for the company. breaking it up; indeed there has of late years been a revival of it. With England's support secured, Thank God, several of the other the circle of the alliance was com- European powers have now agreed pleted by assurances of assistance to assist in the good work. The first from Italy, Austria, France, Belsuggestion for a movement of this gium, Russia, Greece, and, last of character is credited to the Nor-th all, Portugal, in maintaini.ng a naval Ger-man Gazette, a paper which is blockade of the East African coast. supposed to be the mouthpiece of For a century or more Portugal Prince Bismarck. Recently an article has been the greatest European appeared in the Gazette which stated helper of the slave trade, having not tbat the Arab slave hunters werp not only not interfered with the slave only the curse of the native tribes hunters, but encouraged them by but a menace to the English, the putting difficulties in the way ofthose Belgians, and the Germans, and to who attempted to do so. For years the work of civilization carried on by England has endeavored to force a those nations. Hitherto, it was said, reversal of her policy. but Portugal's England had been the only power very weakaess has protected her. and that had made any effort to put a she has only yielded now reluctantly stop to the slave trade. The work, and when the pressure has become however, was too large for any sin- irresistible. gle people. "Only by co-operation can the. civilized nations concerned Among the methods of action sugsucceed in putting a stop to a state gested by these powers for the supof things which is a disgrace to our pression of the slave traffic, the most century, and we may confidently practicable, under the present cirhope that the German as well as the cumstances, is the establishment of English people will prove equal to a naval patrol along the coast of the the task which is here imposed upon Red Sea and as far south as the them alike by the sacred principles southern boundary of Zanzibar. This of religion and of humanity." In coast is now controlled for the most other words, Germany invited .Eng. part by England, Germany and Porland to join her in putting down tugal, and these three power;; might the slave trade-the invitation being together form a most effectual b.lockback~d up by a subsequent proposal ade against the slave ships touching which seems to suggest that the at Eastern ports. If these outlets anti-slavery crusade started by Car- are permanently closed and the slave dinal Lavigerie might be advantage- traders cut off from all their princiously used as the basis for common pal markets, the traffic must soon action. come to an end of itself. J. M. S.
What stirred up Germany to make THE refusal of the American Gov- . this proposal were the troubles lately ernment to unite with other great experienced by the German settlers powers in putting an end to the drink and traders on the East African coast. traffic, so utterly destructive of piety, So long as the affairs of the Ger- morals, human happiness and human man East" African Company were life in the Western Pacific, may well arouse all true men and women to a vigorous remonstrance. In Polynesia This evil of drink is so mighty and the native races are in danger of ex- so increasing that the most strenuous termination by the" unrestricted use exertions should be at once put forth of firearms, ammunition, dynamite, and especially intoxicating drinks." to at least prevent its fiuding new fields for its destructive and demoI,li- acal work with the countenance of u.
For the sake of the profits accruing Christian government. A. T. P from this infamous business traders The Brazilian Synod. pus!} their trade and thrust "firewater" upon these poor savages. IT is doubtless known to our read- ers that the last General Asseml,ly Then these ignorant and degraded of the Presbyterian Church appointed and half brutal people. maddened by Drs. J. Aspin wall Hodgeand Charles drink, act like madmen, and use E. Knox to assist iIi the organization murderous weapons and explosives with fearful recklessness. Is it any of the independent Union Synod of ~onder that Christian missions Brazil, representing both the Northmake but little progress among ern and- the i:::louthern Presbyterian them? What head way can the most Church. While these two branches heroic labors make when offset by a of the great Presbyterian family at home were not ready to come to- gether again as one, the mission churches of both and the missiona- diabolical intoxicant that unseats ries of both, in "Brazil, earnestly reason from her throne and turns the sought a union, which has been haphuman body into a stronghold of Satan and sets every power and pily accomplished. The occasion was one of intense and memorable inter- est, and the Union Synod will un- passion on fire of hell! Austria i doubtedly become a great power in and Germany, Russia and France, that kingdom. The delegates came and even Protestant England and America, join hands in this nefarious back full of enthusiasm, which they have imparted to several of thegr~at home synods.
traffic. To such a terrible extent has .. It is a grand truth, when one fully compre. hends and measnres it," says The Church at it gone that an effort to terminate it Home and Abroad, .. that another independent was inaugurated through the "sim- Presbyterian body las been created in the world by purely missionary work. Five months ago ultaneous and united agreement of the Presbyterian Chnrch of PerSia, also a child of missions, was taken into the fellowship of the all the powers interested." Lord Presbyterian Alliance in London. Now the Granville, the Eng-lish Foreign Secre- second, the offspring of the Presbyterian Boards North and South, is ready to be added to the tary, the prime mover in the under- Alliance; and by the time that the next quad- rennial meeting of that body shall be held in taking, received favorable answers • Toronto we hope that there may be still others from all the governments except the ready for admission."
United States, which should have Fr.om the letter of our Editorial Correspondent at Chefoo, China, Rev. been prompt to respond and to Dr. Nevius, elsewhere given, we learn second the laudable movement with- that one of the important questions out regard to the money interests of discussed by the Synod of China, at traders. Secretary Bayard has here- its recent session, was the union of tofore taken high moral grounds in his state papers, but the Christian all missions in the empire holding sentiment and conscience of the na- the Presbyterian system of doctrine and form of government. A com- mittee, consisting of A. P. Happel', tion demand a better and more posi- D.D., John L. Nevius, D.D., and Rev. George F. Fitch, with an equal numtive answer than the following, of ber of native brethren, wasappoi'lted to correspond with the representaour Secretary of State: tives of the other" consulting" mis- sionary bodies laboring in China, and "While recognizing and highly approving the to propose a meeting of delegates moral force and general propriety of the pro- from all such bodies at Shanghai in posed regnlations, and the responsibility of con- 1890 during the meeting of the Misducting such traffic nnder proper restrictions, sionary Conference already arranged the government of the trnited States does not· for. Another forward step in the feel entirely prepared to join in the international interest of union on mission ground nnderstanding proposed, and will. therefore, for the present, restrain its action to the employ- J. M. S_ ment, in the direction ontlined by the snggested arrangement, of a sonnd discretion in permitting traffic between its own citizens referred to, .and the natives of the Western Pacific Islands."