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Missionary Herald
Vol. LXXXIII. — MARCH, 1887. — No. III.
Financial. — The donations for January were about $300 less than those for
the corresponding month of the preceding year, and the legacies were about
$2,000 less. For the first five months of the financial year the total receipts
were about $19,000 less than the average during the same period for the pre-
ceding five years. It must not be forgotten that the increase of missionaries last
year, which was considerably larger than that of any one of the previous four
years, and larger than the average of the preceding ten years, has brought with it,
especially in Japan, which received eleven of these new missionaries and assistant
missionaries, large additional expenditures for the present financial year. Several
of the missions also, particularly in Turkey and India, are asking for larger
grants-in-aid to native churches and schools than the Committee has ventured to
appropriate. Such has been the remonstrance, however, from certain stations
against this cautious action of the Committee, — the remonstrance accompanied
in two or three cases with the proposed resignation of the missionary if the
grants cannot be made, — that the Committee has increased these grants, so that
the appropriations for the current year are now considerably beyond what can be
justified unless the receipts from the churches shall soon begin to show a corre-
sponding advance. The Committee is doing its utmost, and with some success, as
will be seen from a subsequent paragraph, to respond to the earnest call for new
missionaries. But this, it must be remembered, is just as earnest a call for the
additional means for their proper support. What if it should prove to be the
fact that while new missionaries are urged to go out, and are sent forth, as they
will be when well equipped for the work, to reinforce those who are so hardly
pressed at the front, — what if it should prove to be the fact that some of these
toiling men and women themselves may feel obliged to return home because the
needed grants for the proper enlargement of the work around them cannot be
made on account of the lack of the “ material aid” ! This is a serious problem
just now pressing upon the Prudential Committee. Please remember both the
missionaries and the Missionary Rooms more sympathetically than ever in prayer,
and, if possible, help answer the prayer by greatly enlarged gifts.
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Bart., has been chosen treasurer of the English
Church Missionary Society. It is pleasant to see this honored name recurring
again in the forefront of the missionary enterprise.
86
Editorial Paragraphs.
[March,
Since the last Annual Meeting of the Board thirteen missionaries and assistant
missionaries have been appointed by the Prudential Committee, making, with
seven others previously appointed, who have not yet left for their fields of labor,
twenty now under appointment who will, some of them, leave within a few
weeks for their new homes abroad. The story of the manner in which they have
been led to give themselves to this good work is, in some instances, peculiarly
touching. Several others are in correspondence with the Missionary Rooms,
some of whom will probably soon receive appointment. Let this interesting
company of young missionaries, and others, not a few in number, who are
prayerfully waiting to hear the personal missionary call, be particularly remem-
bered in prayer.
Among the “Notes from the Wide Field” will be found an account of recent
proclamations which have appeared in all parts of China in which the governors
assume the attitude of entire toleration toward Christianity and Christian mis-
sions, commending them as designed to teach men to do right. It cannot be
questioned that the imperial authorities earnestly desire to prevent hostile demon-
strations either against foreign missionaries or their own people who embrace
Christianity. Doubtless one reason for this desire is the avoidance of diplomatic
difficulties with Western nations ; but, whatever the motive, there can be but one
result, namely, a greater freedom for missionaries and less of persecution of con-
verts. This gives a wider swing to the already open door in China. It is too
much to suggest, with an English contemporary, that this event may rank, in the
history of the Christian Church, with the conversion of Constantine, for neither
the Emperor nor the viceroys of China desire the spread of Christianity. But
it is much that they are determined not to oppose it.
A cable-despatch from Constantinople, February 7, brings the good tidings
that government permission has been granted to resume the publication of the
Christian newspaper, the Zornitza. The suppression of the paper was regarded
as wholly unjust, yet there was no recourse but to await the pleasure of the
officials in regard to its reissue. Just now our missions in Western and Eastern
Turkey are obtaining many favors from the government, while we are sorry to say
that our brethren of the Presbyterian Mission in Syria are suffering severely in
the closing of their schools and in other forms of opposition on the part of
officials.
Mr. Stanley, in organizing his expedition for the relief of Emin Bey, has
been flooded with applications for permission to accompany him, hundreds
having asked the privilege of enduring with him the dangers and privations of
African travel. The only difficulty has been that of selection from the many
applicants. When will there be a like zeal to follow the leadership of the Prince
of Peace as he is moving forward for the regeneration of the Dark Continent?
Not until after the article in our January number on the “First Protestant
Baptisms in Japan ” was issued were we aware that the story of Wakasa, as told
by Rev. H. Loomis, had been printed as a tract by the American Bible Society.
The account from which we drew our article came to us anonymously, but the
facts were vouched for by one of our missionaries from Japan.
i887.]
87
Editorial Paragraphs.
The Morning Star. — The Prudential Committee of the year 1885-86,
having received during the last summer various reports reflecting unfavorably
upon the condition and value of the missionary ship, The Morning Star, directed
its standing sub-committee, having immediate care of the vessel, to examine and
report upon all matters connected with the construction and present condition of
the Star. The term of office of that committee expired before such examina-
tion could be made. The matter was referred to the new sub-committee on The
Morning Star , Hon. William P. Ellison, chairman. This sub-committee, after
protracted investigation and an examination of all papers, letters, and reports
coming from the Sandwich Islands and all other quarters, have presented their
report with a mass of testimony from inspectors, experts, and others. The
unanimous conclusion to which they come is “ that much of the dissatisfaction
which has been expressed concerning The Morning Star arises from the disap-
pointment felt because a ‘ steamship ’ was not provided in place of a sailing-
vessel with auxiliary steam-power ; that the Star was thoroughly built, according
to the terms of the contract ; that whatever defects are apparent in her are due
not to fault in construction but to the trying character of the region in which she
sails or to some neglect in her care, and that, so far as now appears, the Board
has in the Star a good vessel which, with the care required by the climate in
which she sails, will serve the purposes for which she was built for years to come,
should He who rules the sea keep her from the perils to which she is always
exposed.” The full evidence by which the committee were led to this conclusion
cannot, of course, be given here ; but it is on file and is open to any one who
may desire to examine it.
The latest tidings from the Star confirm, so far as they go, the anticipations
formed by the committee. A letter from Mr. P. C. Jones, of Honolulu, dated
November 19, 1886, says: “I have received letters from Captain Turner, dated
Mille [Marshall Islands], August 20, 1886. He reports the vessel tight and
strong enough for the kind of weather he was having. Mr. Fox, the chief
engineer, writes me from Jaluij, August 24, 1886, in which he says : ‘ Everything
in my department is working satisfactorily.’ ”
The incident to which we referred last month as causing much irritation
between the Japanese and foreigners, especially the English, has ended in the
verdict of “manslaughter through negligence,” with a sentence of three months’
imprisonment, against the captain of The Normanton. It will be remembered
that when this vessel was wrecked all the Japanese on board perished, while all
the English succeeded in saving their lives. The verdict of the consular court
on the matter has given great satisfaction in Japan, as indicating that wrongs
committed against their people by foreigners would be noticed and punished.
A missionary writing from Turkey says : “ One reason why we have no more
revivals must be found in the low ethical standard of the people. Cheating the
Turkish government is considered by very many, even of our Protestants, not a
sin but a meritorious action. Of course the transition to cheating one another
is easy, and it is done with a clear conscience.” The gospel standard is high,
“ Tribute to whom tribute ; custom to whom custom.”
88
Editorial Paragraphs.
[March,
It is a great pleasure to be able to state that $20,000, the sum needed for the
purchase of the estate at Auburndale, long used as a Home for missionary-
children, under the care of Mrs. Walker, has been secured and that the prop-
erty has been conveyed to the American Board, to be under the direction of
trustees specially appointed for this purpose. For this happy result thanks are
due to several friends who have given $500 or $1,000 each — among them, one
missionary lady in Japan, who, having $1,000 to give, felt that it could be used
in no better way than for the permanent establishment of this Home. Special
mention should also be made of the efforts of Miss Mary B. Herring, whose
deep interest in the undertaking led her to freely give time and strength to secure
contributions both large and small, thus adding several thousands of dollars to
the amount needed. This Home, opened many years since by Mrs. Walker, and
conducted by her with untiring energy and devotion, has become a necessity, and
it was only proper that private funds employed in its maintenance should be
released. It will doubtless be conducted in the future much as in the past.
The building is now secured. What is still needed is such an addition to a
fund in the hands of the trustees that the income shall provide for repairs as
they shall be required and for such special cases of need, among the children of
missionaries, as cannot be met by the ordinary grants from the Board. Such
cases are continually arising, rendering special appeals necessary. A few thou-
sand dollars added to the fund now in hand would obviate the necessity of such
appeals in the future.
The sudden and unexpected death of Miss Mary B. Herring, since the fore-
going paragraph was written, makes it proper that a fuller statement be made as
to her work for the Missionary Home at Auburndale. Though nearly fourscore
years of age, she had, during the past two years or more, either by letter or by
personal interview, presented the needs of the Home to a great number of per-
sons, from whom she solicited small gifts. By persistent effort she collected,
much of it dollar by dollar, between four and five thousand dollars, to which
should be added her own gift of $1,100. The latter sum she made over with
great joy only three days before her death, when she was in her usual health,
and this was her last work on earth. With no kindred about her, she was ever
cheerful and sunny ; but she lived in a frugal way, that she might give for the
good of others and the hastening of Christ’s kingdom. Those nearest to her
know that her personal expenses never exceeded $400 a year ; and though her
property never amounted to $30,000, and for a portion of her life was much
less than this, she yet within the past fifty years has given away, for objects of
Christian benevolence, not less than $50,000. “She hath done what she could.”
Reports from Constantinople state that for the first time in history a Christian
has been appointed as minister of finance at the Sublime Porte. An Armenian,
Agob Pasha Kazazian, who has been in the civil service for many years and has
introduced a number of salutary reforms, has been constrained by the Sultan to
undertake the office of minister of finance. The difficulties of the place are
numerous, and whether he can possibly carry out the wishes of the Sultan,
surrounded as he is by Mussulman officials, remains to be seen.
i887.]
Editorial Paragraphs .
By some accident the first number of the consolidated magazine of the Pres-
byterian Boards did not reach us in season for notice in our last issue. And now
the February number of The Church at Home and Abroad is at hand, and we
give to the new magazine a cordial welcome. We must confess that when our
eye caught sight of the title on the blue cover, the thought suggested was that
the section of the Episcopal Church which failed to carry their point at their
late convention had started a magazine in advocacy of the exclusive right of that
body to the name of the Church. But The Church at Home and Abroad does
not claim to represent even the various branches of the Presbyterian Church, but
only the “ General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (North) in the United
States of America.” It is a comely magazine of 96 large pages, of which, in
the February number, 16 pages are devoted to editorial articles, 20 to home
missions, 6 to colleges and academies, 4 to publication, 7 to church erection, 6
to ministerial relief, 5 to education, 3 to Freedmen, 1 to Lincoln University,
and 28 to foreign missions. Rev. Dr. Henry A. Nelson is the editor, and his
name gives assurance that the magazine will be conducted with wisdom and
ability. He announces his purpose to make it “ not a bundle of goads or whips
but a basket of food.” That there is abundant food in the numbers already
issued, no one who takes the time to read them through will deny. The main
question will be whether average Christians can take in and assimilate monthly
so much and such a variety. But our Presbyterian brethren have good digestions,
and they will find solid nourishment and enough of it in the organ of their Boards.
Whoever has copies of the Annual Reports of the American Board for the
years 1875 and 1876 will find in them some reasons given by wise men for the
present form of organization of the Board. At the Annual Meeting in 1875 a
paper on this subject was presented from the Prudential Committee by Secretary
Treat, and a committee of seventeen prominent gentlemen, lay and clerical, with
President Asa D. Smith as chairman, — called a “ Committee on the Reorgan-
ization of the Board,” — was appointed to take into consideration the whole
subject. This they did, and their report was made to the Board the next year.
An English Presbyterian missionary relates an interesting incident which
occurred as he was halting for refreshments under a great tree on the boundaries
of the Fukien province. He chanced to overhear a Chinaman speaking with an
unusually pleasant and impressive voice and giving to the bystanders an account
of the Christian religion. He did this as if uttering the deepest convictions of
his own heart. The missionary afterward learned that this man had been a
patient in one of the hospitals, and though not well he was traveling toward his
home and on his way was preaching the gospel which he had himself heard.
How many such cases there may be we do not know, but it is interesting to find
that at least some of those who are casually reached are becoming earnest pro-
mulgators of the truth they have heard.
We have been obliged to give more than the alloted space to the letters from
the missions in this issue, because of their unusual interest. The outlook in our
mission-fields was never more hopeful than it is now, as will be seen by the
perusal of these letters.
V
f
90
Editorial Paragraphs.
[March,
The Chinese Recorder gives an incident which shows the drift of thought
among the Chinese youth. The question was proposed for debate in a certain
school as to the advisability of introducing English studies into the school ; but
the boys declined to debate such a topic. It was not a question, in their view,
which had two sides. Without any hesitation they declared that there was
nothing to say against English studies.
Letters from Japan indicate a continuance and an increase in strength of
the remarkable movement in favor of Christian education. There is also a note-
worthy movement among some who are in official positions toward a personal
and hearty reception of the gospel. It is not best to publish details of this
movement, but our brethren, while fully alive to the dangers attendant upon the
work among the upper classes, are greatly cheered in view of its apparent
strength and genuineness. One of our missionaries in Japan writes : “ The
avalanche of opportunities that slides down upon us almost stuns us.”
It will be remembered that, by a singular compact made in 1841 between
Prussia and England, it was agreed that a Protestant bishop of Jerusalem should
be appointed alternately by the Prussian and British sovereigns. This was a plan
of the late king Frederick William IV, whose idea was to bring together, as far
as possible, the Prussian and English Churches. Since the death of Bishop Bar-
clay, the successor of Bishop Gobat in 1881, Prussiah as not exercised its right
of nomination, and now, by agreement of both parties, the treaty has been abro-
gated. King Frederick William founded this bishopric with a capital of $75,000,
which wrill revert to the Prussian crown. The German ecclesiastics did not
relish the idea of going to England for Episcopal ordination. The way is now
open for missionary societies of the Church of England to prosecute work in the
Holy Land without any perplexity arising from alliance with Lutheranism, and an
English bishop can be appointed as in other foreign lands.
We learn from Berlin that the Germans are rejoicing in what they regard as
the rapid increase of their national influence in Japan. A German has recently
been appointed household minister and chief master of ceremonies at the court
of Tokio. Berlin dressmakers, it is asserted, have captivated the Empress of
Japan, so that the court dress is likely hereafter to be Teutonic rather than
Japanese, while Berlin architects have furnished the plans and are attending to the
erection of new public buildings, including the House of Parliament at Tokio.
The testimony of English officers in India in reference to the success of mis-
sionary labors has often been misrepresented. The Lieutenant-Governor of the
Punjab, Sir Charles U. Aitcheson, referring to a recent article disparaging mis-
sions, says : “ I have not seen the article referred to ; but I, for my part, should
say that any one who writes that Indian officials as a class have no faith in the
work of missionaries, as a civilizing and Christianizing agency in India, must
either be ignorant of facts or under the influence of a very blinding prejudice.”
The almost universal prevalence of infant baptism among Oriental Christians
is strikingly illustrated by the fact that in January last there occurred in the
Church at Killis, Central Turkey, the first baptism of an adult that ever took
place in that church, though used by a large congregation for twenty-five years.
i887.]
Editorial Paragraphs.
91
A correspondent from Constantinople gives a detailed account of Prince
Nicolas of Mingrelia, whose candidacy for the Bulgarian throne has been
pressed both by Russia and Turkey. From this account one would think that it
at least admits of a doubt whether, should he be made the Prince of Bulgaria, he
would be the servile tool of Russia that many have supposed he would be. He
has more than once protested strongly against the action of Russian authorities
in Mingrelia and in a way which has brought upon some of his relatives the
severest disapproval of the Czar. His tutors have been men of liberal, patriotic
principles and by no means obsequious admirers of Russia. It is said that the
rulers of Mingrelia have heretofore been exceedingly tolerant in religious matters
and have dealt with strict impartiality with their Moslem subjects, and in return
have secured the respect and esteem of all Mohammedans. It may be that this is
one reason why the Porte looks with such favor on the candidacy of Prince Nicolas.
The gratitude of the native communities in Turkey for the work done among
them is touchingly shown by the receptions they give the missionaries who come
to them. Just now we have tidings of the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Crawford at
Broosa, when twenty-three girls of the school met them on the way with songs of
welcome. As Mr. and Mrs. Dodd were approaching Cesarea, which is to be
their station, they were met a long distance out by a cavalcade of young men
from the Cesarea church and high school, and the mounted escort that brought
them into the city numbered twenty-six. Along the way from the coast, Mr.
Dodd listened to stories, from the older people, of the words and deeds of his
father and mother, which were remembered for more than twenty years and were
told with emotion by the grateful people.
During the recent journey of our missionaries from Bailundu to their new
station at Bih£, they halted at a place where no white woman had ever been seen
before. The carriers set down Mrs. Sanders’s tepoia and stood by with an air of
superior knowledge as the natives crowded around to see the great sight. One
old man, having satisfied his curiosity, asked: “And where is Sandele?” (Mr.
Sanders). “ Oh, he is coming.” “ On horseback ? ” “No.” “In a tepoia?”
“No.” “How, then?” “On foot.” “ Lo, behold!” cried the old man,
throwing his arms high in air, “ the woman riding in a tepoia and the man walk-
ing!” “Yes,” answered the carrier, “ the white women are sacred.” Thus the
walking of a man while a woman rode has introduced an altogether new idea in
that section of Africa.
In the Protestant church-building at Smyrna three separate congregations wor-
ship every Sabbath in as many different languages : Armenian, Turkish, and
Greek. Three weekly prayer-meetings, one for each language, are reported as
well sustained; in the Greek meetings, especially, a marked revival interest
having been manifested the past year. The confusion of tongues can thus be
made a blessing if it contribute to swell the volume of prayer and worship.
We regret to learn of the death of Rev. Robert Robinson, who for twenty
years was home secretary of the London Missionary Society. Mr. Robinson had
been for some time in ill-health and partially disabled. He was a faithful and
successful official, who wrought with much energy in the work entrusted to him.
92
Affairs in East Africa.
[March,
AFFAIRS IN EAST AFRICA.
The recent numbers of the Missionary Herald have given a brief account of the
rising of the natives north and west of Inhambane against the Portuguese author-
ities on the coast, rendering it necessary for the members of our East Central
African Mission to leave their stations and find a secure place in the town of
Inhambane. Later information has been received from Messrs. Richards and
Ousley, giving an account of their return to their stations, Mongwe and Kam-
bini, and of the state of affairs in that region. So far as can be learned, the
cause of the uprising was the desire of the native king Umgana to punish certain
chiefs who had been tributary to his father, Umzila, but who had recently sub-
mitted to the Portuguese authorities. It seems that several months ago the
Portuguese officers were excited over the reports of the finding of gold in the
interior, and they sent an embassy to Umoyamuhle, the capital of Umgana,
seeking authority to dig for gold within his territory. Negotiations were regarded
as favorable, and the treaty was drawn, which was sent to Lisbon for ratification.
The governor of the province of Inhambane, and “Captain Moore,” as he was
called, who is also the commander of the Portuguese forces, set out for the king’s
headquarters for the purpose of assuming control over the whole country, even as
far as the Zambezi. Tax-collectors were sent into the districts adjoining Inhambane,
and two small districts to the north were peacefully attached to the Inhambane
province. This seems to have irritated king Umgana, and he immediately
despatched a large force to regain his possessions and punish the chiefs who
had submitted. This they succeeded in doing speedily. Captain Moore sum-
moned his forces, and, as Mr. Richards writes, —
“ On the twenty-third [October] a battle was hazarded and lost Our forces
were utterly annihilated and the entire army was reported to have been slain.
This was Saturday about three p.m. We heard the firing distinctly. There were
but five volleys, and all was over. At six p.m. the bay swarmed with fugitives,
and two wounded men got as far as my house. The utmost consternation
prevailed. The governor and lieutenant-governor landed here and were off for
Inhambane at once.”
This battle was fought not at Cape Lady Grey, as reported, but at a point
much nearer Inhambane, a little north of Kambini, the station of Mr. Ousley.
Mr. Richards gives the following account of the order of battle : —
“ Our natives were drawn up in five lines, with several forces intervening.
The Mangani came on in regular Zulu custom, a solid phalanx, which immedi-
ately took crescent form and began to surround the Kasadora, or our natives.
The first line of Kasadora fired and fled, the second and others followed
their example, and after the first volley from each line not a shot was fired.”
It is difficult to make a proper estimate of the number of men engaged in the
battle, but from the size of the camp which they occupied, it is believed that
Umgana’s forces must have numbered from five to ten thousand men. The losses
in killed were not great. A visit to the battlefield some days after the fight
revealed not more than fifty bodies, but probably many more were slain. On the
Portuguese side the loss was over one hundred.
i887.]
Euphrates College , at Harpoot .
93
It is impossible to understand why the enemy did not press on to Inhambane.
There was not a rifle between them and that point, and no resistance would have
been found had they made the attempt. But for some reason they did not make
their appearance, and subsequently the Portuguese organized a force to defend
the pass at Furvela, a point by which troops must march to reach Inhambane ;
the enemy all the time being at Makodwini station, some eighteen miles
distant. Their forces have left that point, however, and it is not known whither
they have gone. There are rumors that they have left for the Makwakwa
country for reinforcements ; other rumors say that they are on their way home
to Umoyamuhle. The latter is the one most credited at last accounts. The last
tidings from Inhambane were dated December fourteenth, at which time Mr.
Richards was at Mongwe and Mr. Ousley at Kambini. They had visited Mako-
dwini, finding that the mission-house and the native houses, as well as the
printing-press, had been much damaged. The loss was estimated at from $250
to $300. Nothing, however, was burned.
Umgana has thus inflicted a severe punishment upon the chiefs who submitted
to Portuguese authority. One or two of them were slain, and their districts
were, for a time at least, 'depopulated, and tens of thousands of refugees from
those districts were compelled to flee into Inhambane. It will not be easy
to. reassure these natives that they are safe in returning to their districts and sub-
mitting to Portuguese authority. Fortunately our missionaries are not specially
associated in the minds of the natives with the Portuguese, although they are
known to be on friendly terms with them. Umgana and his people can hardly be
expected to regard our missionaries as his friends, and an incident connected
with their stay at Makodwini will not impress him favorably toward them. It
seems that the stores of food and medicines which Mr. Wilcox in his haste was
obliged to leave at Makodwini, including some medicines of a poisonous char-
acter, were taken by the native chiefs, together with tinned goods, and all were
freely eaten. Some of the captives affirmed that these viands were bewitched by
those who left them, and that their people were thus killed. Probably Makodwini
cannot be reoccupied at present, but it is good news that Messrs. Richards and
Ousley, with their families, are already reestablished at their stations and
that peace seems to prevail. Let us pray that God will speedily bring good
out of seeming evil.
EUPHRATES COLLEGE, AT HARPOOT.
BY REV. C. H. WHEELER, PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE.
Thanks to the unwearied efforts of Mr. Peet, our mission treasurer in Con-
stantinople, an official permit for Armenia College has at length been secured,
the name, however, being changed to Euphrates. Some wreeks since the officials
visited the different departments and put the seal of their approval upon the
certificates of all the teachers, as well as most of the textbooks, the right to
direct in regard to which they claim. All prohibited books, though not teachers,
“ are to be” (officially) “burned.” Messrs. Clark & Maynard may like to
know that among the volumes condemned to official flames is their “ Manual of
94
Euphrates College , at Harpoot.
[March,
History,” while, to save it from the flames, Harper & Brothers’ “ Studies in Eng-
lish Literature ” has undergone some peculiar expurgations by the official pen, as
where, in a note on Al-Borak, in one of Whittier’s poems, the italicized words
are expunged from the sentence, “ A wondrous imaginary animal, on which
Mohammed pretended to have made a night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem
and thence to the seventh heaven.” The constant increase of numbers in all
departments causes surprise as well as satisfaction, particularly the increasing
numbers who come from schools in surrounding cities and villages, taught by
graduates and undergraduates of the college. Of our 65 schools outside the
college, 22 of them taught by females, 34 are permanent, and 31 have been kept
open but a part of the year past. In these schools there have been, for a longer
or shorter time, 1,537 boys and 766 girls, a total of 2,303, of whom 1,105
studied the Scriptures with a textbook, the rest having oral lessons.
It will interest some to know that 904 studied mathematics, and 459 English,
thereby showing aspiration for education in the college, in which all study that
tongue. These outside schools with their three grades, high, common, and pri-
mary, — sometimes intermixed in the same room, — furnish an excellent oppor-
tunity to employ, test, and train the graduates and undergraduates of the college,
and to attain its great aim, the enlightenment and evangelization of the masses.
The number in all departments of the college thus far the present term is :
theological, 8 ; college, 47 ; preparatory, 199; females college, 40; prepar-
atory, 173 ; total, 467. These come from this city and thirty-seven other cities
and towns. Notwithstanding the poverty of the people, more than $1,400 has
been received during 1886 for tuition, rent, and incidentals, not including food,
which is not furnished by the college, the “commons” being a department by
itself.
It is perhaps not known to all the friends of the school that during all the time
of preparatory study there are daily Bible lessons, which are continued during
the college course except when, for a time, Natural Theology and Butler’s
Analogy take their place. The religious condition of the institution was never
so satisfactory as now, if we may judge from the interest manifested in attending
and sustaining the four regular weekly prayer-meetings. It is a fact of no little
interest that since 1877 fifty-six of our pupils have connected themselves with
the Harpoot church alone, thirty-two of whom are from other places. Our
evangelistic teachers of high schools and preachers are widely scattered in other
mission-fields, reaching even to the home-field in Worcester, Massachusetts, and
Montreal, Canada. One of our graduates, a son of “ Little Gregory,” of Grace
Illustrated , has recently returned from Tabriz, Persia, where he has labored since
1883 as a missionary teacher, and has married our chief teacher in the female
department, a daughter of the heroine of “ In the Furnace,” of the same book.
In our own field several graduates are doing double duty as teachers and preach-
ers. The fact that, of their own motion, with no aid from us, graduates are found
in the Geneva Law School, in Andover, Hartford, and Yale Theological Seminaries,
Yale Scientific School, Michigan University, and several medical schools in the
United States, while others are merchants in Boston, Philadelphia, and Washing-
ton, shows that aspiration and push are not wholly wanting. Would that we
1887.] A Mountain Town of the Taurus. — Zeitoon. 95
might see these qualities exhibited to the same extent in efforts to bless their
own people ! We are sure that some of these young men will, erelong, come
back to “begin at Jerusalem.” That this may be the case, and that the insti-
tution may do well that evangelistic work for which it was established, we ask
the prayers of all who may read or hear this article. Will not more of those
who contributed to endow the college write us now and then?
A MOUNTAIN TOWN OF THE TAURUS. — ZEITOON.
BY REV. HENRY MARDEN, OF MARASH.
Zeitoon contains nearly ten thousand Armenian Christians hid away in a dark
ravine of the Taurus, reached by almost impassable mountain- trails. For hun-
dreds of years this little fragment of the old Armenian nation has maintained a
semi-independence, sometimes paying tribute and sometimes driving every soldier
and policeman out of the mountains. A new strong fort on the cliff overlooking
the town, garrisoned witl; eight hundred Turkish regulars, nominally preserves
order, but certain moral influences have probably done quite as much in the
adjustment of the relations between the Zeitoon people and the Turkish govern-
ment and in the establishment of mutual respect and confidence.
Our little Protestant -community here, of two hundred members, is one of the
best in our field. Its preacher is supported in part by the church itself and in
part by the three churches in Marash. The missionaries aid the people in sup-
porting two common schools, which are now in good condition. Three years
ago a bright little Armenian girl, found here in the Protestant school, was taken
to Marash and educated in. the Girls’ College. She became a Protestant and is
now back at her home, teaching sixty-two women to read, going from house to
house, and, Bible in hand, explaining the truth to the little groups that gather
around her at every comer.
A few years ago the Bible was burned in the streets of Zeitoon and the mis-
sionary narrowly escaped with his life from a fanatical mob, but to-day there is
not a house in the town that does not welcome both the missionary and his
Bible. Yet within the past five years very few have crossed the line and entered
the Protestant community. In other cities men, when they become enlightened,
one by one become Protestants ; but here hundreds of men have accepted, at
least intellectually, the Protestant interpretation of truth, but with the hope of
reforming the old Armenian Church they prefer to remain in it. These men
organize Bible clubs, which hold meetings after the formal church services. One
of these clubs employs a regular preacher and school-teacher. Their methods
are distasteful to the priest, but an attempt to suppress them would probably
drive them in a body over to Protestantism.
The burnt district has been almost completely rebuilt. The funds in aid of
the sufferers, contributed by friends in America and elsewhere, have been care-
fully applied by the missionary in charge to the wants of the most needy of all
denominations, and have been received with many blessings on the givers.
On November 27, at the funeral of a prominent Armenian, I accepted the invita-
g6 A Mountain Town of the Taurus. — Zeitoon. [March,
tion of the bishop to make an address. There were nearly a thousand men
seated on the ground close around me as I stood on a rock near the grave and
looked into their faces. The son of the dead man was bending over the grave,
weeping aloud. On a former visit to Zeitoon this same young man shot a man dead
in the street almost before my eyes. On my left sat the former “ robber chief,” and
scattered about the assembly were his old comrades in dark deeds. Before me
were a dozen priests with crosses, censers, and coats of many colors. They
chanted the service in the ancient, unknown language, swung the censers, and
then sat down in silence. In simple language I explained the way of salvation
and bade them look to Jesus and live. The gospel message came to many of
these hardened men with the freshness of a new revelation, and every eye was
fixed upon me in breathless attention.
For nearly two weeks we have held daily preaching-services. There has been
good attendance, and the deep interest of the brethren has found expression in
many earnest exhortations and prayers. Wanderers are being reclaimed, and
new voices are being heard in prayer and praise.
In my long acquaintance with Zeitoon I have never seen its people, of all
classes, so ready to listen to the gospel. The harvest-time of so much seed-
sowing in the few past years is surely very near.
“the lovists.”
Some six years ago an Armenian priest in the village of Yarpooz, forty miles
north of Zeitoon, began to proclaim that “ Christianity is love.” He prepared a
set of hymns and tunes and sung them in praise of this theme. Another priest
and a few brethren joined him, when they met night after night and chanted
their rude songs till the morning hours. They would sometimes work themselves
up to a degree of frenzy and faint away and see strange visions. They discarded
the forms and language of the Old Church and sang and prayed in the vernacular
Turkish. These priests went about from village to village, proclaiming their doc-
trine, and have now gathered little companies of “ converts ” in nearly a dozen
places. The church authorities called them to account, but a prudent compro-
mise seems to have been made by which the “ Lovists,” as they call themselves,
are to be tolerated in the church ; but they are to resume the observance of all
the rites of the church. They have recently come to Zeitoon and are enlisting
large numbers among the partially enlightened Armenians. Their songs, extem-
pore prayers, abundant weeping, and use of the Turkish Scriptures are a reac-
tion from the cold forms of the Old Church, but the leaders of this movement
look nowhere for truth except in their own interpretation of Scripture. After
long fastings and weary nights of worship, they profess to see flashes of holy
light, dream dreams, and make prophecies. Just now the priest, with a large
delegation of the faithful, has retired to a monastery on the side of the Taurus,
where it is said that by fasting, prayer, and sacrifices they are exerting all their
powers to secure the performance of a miracle as a divine seal to their mission.
A large number of crosses are now being manufactured, which these “ Lovists ”
will take in their hands and, with “ Love ” as their watchword, will go forth on
a crusade from town to town.
This whole movement is a strange mixture of truth and error, and in its
i«87-]
Mohammedanism in Central Africa.
97
intense enthusiasm it moves many a heart that has given no response to the sim-
ple gospel message ; but whether in its future it will drift into the lines of simple
truth, or bum itself out, it has already awakened among all classes an unusual
interest in spiritual things.
MOHAMMEDANISM IN CENTRAL AFRICA.
Under the above title The Contemporary Review , in its December number,
has a striking article by Mr. Joseph Thomson, well known as an explorer in
Africa, especially on the eastern coast. The statements made by Mr. Thomson
are certainly worthy of consideration, and, while some exception may be taken
to the line of argument, the conclusions reached should be pondered by Chris-
tian missionaries. Mr. Thomson affirms that in his three expeditions on the
eastern side of Africa he saw nothing to suggest that Mohammedanism had any
power in the amelioration of the condition of the people. He had formed an
altogether unfavorable impression concerning the native character and had put
little faith in any attempts to elevate the African ; but when he visited the Sou-
dan he found a people not contaminated by contact with Europeans ; not cor-
rupted by the vile liquors which had been brought from Europe or America, but
living sober and industrious lives and far advanced on the road to civilization.
In the villages, as well as the larger towns of the Soudan, he found men who
could read and write Arabic, and there were some who, not content with the
education they could find at home, had become students at the great Mohamme-
dan University in Cairo. Simply as a result of the introduction of Mohamme- .
danism, as he affirms, these various tribes had become welded together ; the
people had abandoned their fetiches and their idolatrous worship and were call-
ing in prayer upon the one God whose power and love they acknowledged. Mr.
Thomson affirms that the condition of these Soudanese people was vastly supe-
rior to that of any African tribes he had seen, and he is forced to the conclusion
that their better condition is the result of the Moslem faith which they have
received. Of course our writer does not apologize for the crimes that are com-
mitted in the name of Mohammedanism, but he affirms that these crimes should
be no more charged to their faith than should the corruptions in Christian or
nominally Christian lands be ascribed to the teachings of our Saviour.
This report of a careful observer is certainly surprising. We have not been
accustomed to look for good results from that quarter. Still it is not difficult to
see that monotheism in its effect upon any community must be vastly better than
polytheism, and that a religion that calls for the worship of an unseen God, the
Maker of all things, is more elevating than one that peoples the world with
fetiches to be worshiped with degrading rites. Since the rules of Islam are
rigidly in favor of abstinence from strong drink, it should be expected that
wherever that faith had gained sufficient power over the natives to induce them
to abstain from their own pombe and to reject the worse rum and gin of the for-
eigner, there would be a vast decrease of cruelty and crime and a reinvigoration
of the better elements in human nature. Still we cannot help thinking that Mr.
Thomson’s admission that the success of Mohammedanism has been due, in part
98
Moham me dan ism in Central Africa.
[March,
at least, to the fact that so little has been asked of the people, and that
acceptance of the new faith “ does not necessarily change any of their habits,”
indicates that their conversion to Islam has not radically reformed these men.
They have changed, doubtless, some of their practices; they have perhaps
adopted certain new habits in place of those that are worse ; have they accepted
a faith which has radically changed their characters and given them anything more
than a veneer of civilization ? Mr. Thomson thinks that there is something more
than this, although he is prompt to say that the new faith is greatly inferior to
Christianity. But it has given to the negro something he can comprehend ; it
has not attempted to do more.
Is it true that Christian missionaries to the heathen have tried to do too much?
It is quite possible that in some lands they have tried to make native
Christians conform too closely to some of the habits of our civilized life. There
may have been some attempts to instil into their minds thoughts which the mass
of them are not as yet capable of appreciating. It was true in the early days of
Christianity that men who were wofully defective in their understanding of some
vital truths of our holy religion were yet accepted as confessors of the faith,
sometimes as teachers of it. Christianity sets before its followers the highest
ideal, but the example of the Master and of his apostles would not indicate that
the neophyte should be called upon to reach that ideal before he is recognized
as a disciple. But a missionary to the heathen cannot attempt too much in the
direction of seeking a radical transformation of human character ; while it is pos-
sible that he may sometimes require a renunciation of tastes and customs which,
though foreign to our ideas, are not necessarily opposed to the Christian life. Mr.
Thomson says that Mohammedanism does not interfere with the polygamy of
the Soudanese. Christianity did interfere instantly with polygamy, though some
have questioned whether, in the apostolic church, one whom the new faith found
with a plurality of wives was required to put away all save one. Certainly no
one in that condition was permitted to occupy any official position in the church,
and no one who had received the faith was allowed to take more than one wife.
In this and in other matters easier requirements might have paved the way for a
more rapid outward progress of Christianity, but any relaxation of the high
requirements of the Christian faith would have introduced moral weakness. It
may be a question whether, in certain cases not involving principles, converts
from paganism should not be allowed to retain their early customs ; but nothing
could be gained for the kingdom of God on earth by toning down the moral
teachings of* the Saviour or any failure to insist upon his requirement : “ Ye must
be born again.”
On one point we wish that Mr. Thomson’s vigorous protestation could reach
the ear of every statesman and every Christian in the world. He speaks in
terms of strongest condemnation of the permission by civilized governments of
the introduction of intoxicating liquors into Africa. “ For every African,” he
says, “who is influenced for good by Christianity, a thousand are driven into
deeper degradation by the gin-trade.” The evil of this traffic is simpiy enor-
mous. Why should Christian governments tolerate the crime ? “ We are ever
ready,” says Mr. Thomson, “ to raise shouts of horror if a case of maltreatment
i887.]
99
The English Viceroy s Visit at Madura.
of slaves occurs, and we will not see that we at this morilent are conducting a
trade which is in many respects a greater evil than the slave-trade. That word,
‘ European trade/ as spoken on our platforms, is complacently regarded as
synonymous with civilization ; it is supposed to imply well-dressed negroes as its
necessary outcome and the introduction of all the enlightened amenities of
European life. It ought to mean that to some extent ; but, as I have seen it
in many parts of West Africa, it has largely meant the driving-down of the negro
into a tenfold deeper slough of moral depravity. And we — we Christians leave
it to the despised Mohammedans, those professors of a 1 false religion,’ to attack
this traffic and attempt to stem the tide of degradation ; to sweep it away utterly,
if possible, as they have already done fetichism and cannibalism over enormous
areas.” These are stinging words, and the sting lies in their truthfulness. Can-
not something be done to awaken the moral sense of Christian nations in refer-
ence to this matter? Where is the Wilberforce to awaken and give voice to the
sentiment of Christian people the world over against the infamous traffic in
drink, which is as great a curse to Africa to-day as was the slave-trade of a half-
century ago ?
THE ENGLISH VICEROY’S VISIT AT MADURA.
BY REV. JOHN S. CHANDLER, OF THE MADURA MISSION.
His Excellency Lord Dufferin, Viceroy of India, visited Madura, Decem-
ber 7, and had a good opportunity of seeing something of the work of our mis-
sion in education. Most of the students from Pasumalai College, and many
pupils from the Madura Girls’ Schools and other schools, were arranged in a cres-
cent in an open place, and sung, to the great delight of the vice-regal party. An
address was also presented by the missionaries, bringing before him the following
facts : —
The mission was the pioneer in the educational work of the town and district
of Madura. At present it has more than five thousand pupils in nearly two
hundred institutions, the majority of which are primary schools. Of the nine
hundred youth under instruction in the city of Madura one half are girls. The vice-
roy proved to be very genial and appreciative, and repeatedly expressed himself
as well pleased with what he saw and heard.
In contrast with this was his visit to the great and rich heathen temple of
Madura, where large expenditures and elaborate preparations had been made to
receive him. The cloth of honor presented to him, and placed upon his shoul-
ders, was of exquisitely wrought Benares lace, embroidered with gold thread so
as to represent, in lifelike form, the ancient history of the temple and the images
of all its chief deities. Over his carriage was held a large umbrella of bright
silk embroidered with lace. Within the temple, flowers showered down upon him
from the ceiling and from the hands of dancing- girls x>n either side. An album
of photographs of the temple, in covers of scarlet velvet embroidered with lace,
was also presented to him and indicated the march of civilization within the
sacred precincts. He could not be permitted to invade the sacred inner shrine
Madura Mission.
IOO
[March,
of the presiding goddess Minakshi, but was graciously allowed to see whatever
his binoculars could bring to view in that dark holy of holies.
A public man can seldom meet such a concourse of people in India as
attended Lord Dufferin without having some grievances presented to him, and
he did not escape. Characteristically enough, the grievance brought to his atten-
tion was from the body of dancing-girls, and consisted in a recent ruling of the
Madras high court to the effect that the dedication of girls to the Hindu temples
was a criminal offence under the provisions of the Indian penal code. Prosti-
tutes themselves, they sought to have this Christian ruler interpose to allow
fathers to give their innocent girls to the perpetuation of their own shame and
the glory ( ?) of the temples. To his honor, be it said, he expressed himself as
in favor of the law. As a native correspondent of The Madras Mail naively put
it : “ His Excellency was pleased to observe at the end : ‘I am afraid it is a
good law.’ ”
Lord Dufferin seems to be fully sustaining in India the prestige and reputation
he so honorably won in Canada and Constantinople.
^Letters from tfjf missions.
fHatmra fHtssiott.
THREE CHURCHES DEDICATED.
Dr. Chester, of Dindigul, wrote, No-
vember 30 : —
“ This month of November has been a
red-letter month in our station, for on
three successive Fridays we have had the
dedication of a church. In speaking of
these separately, you will be able to see
not only how much the members of each
congregation contributed to the total cost
of their church-building, but also the way
in which our congregations are often
formed.
“The church which was dedicated on
Friday, November 12, is in the village of
Rahjahkapatti, nine miles northwest from
Dindigul. The members of the congre-
gation here are from a class of which I
have no other congregation. There are
more of this class in the Melur and Tiru-
mangalam stations, and relatives of the
members of this congregation live in one
of the villages of Tirumangalam, some of
whom were present at the dedication, by
invitation. Before joining the congrega-
tion the families were heathen, and I have
no doubt were induced to accept Chris-
tianity through the influence of their
Christian relatives in the Tirumangalam
station. One man in this congregation
united with the church at Dindigul pre-
vious to his going to live in another vil-
lage in this station, and three other adults
are now preparing for admission to the
church. Their church, which cost about
sixty rupees ($24) , is quite large enough
for the present congregation and is well
lighted and ventilated. I gave them
twelve rupees from mission-funds to help
purchase the door and window-frames.
Two native pastors and three catechists
from our station were present at the dedi-
cation, as also the inspector of police
(who is very friendly to our work), and
native Christians from four other congre-
gations. The exercises were varied and
interesting. This congregation, though
small, is growing and the work here is
hopeful. We have a school in the village
and a Christian teacher who at present
has charge of the congregation.
‘ ‘ The dedication of the church at Area-
nullnur took place on Friday, November
19. The congregation in this village has
been recently gathered. The members
have come to us from a Goa Roman
i887-3
North China Mission.
IOI
Catholic congregation. Pastor Rowland,
who was laboring for a few months in a
neighboring village and often saw and
conversed with this people, brought the
matter of their becoming Protestants to a
head, although the catechist who now has
charge of the congregation had been vis-
iting them and preaching in their village
for more than a year. The church here
cost a little less than the one dedicated
last week at Rahjahkapatti, and the
members of the congregation contributed
three quarters of the cost. At the dedi-
cation Pastor Colton, of Dindigul, two
catechists and several teachers were pres-
ent, and members of four other congrega-
tions. Rev. E. A. Lawrence, recently of
Syracuse, New York, who was visiting us,
made an address which Pastor Colton
interpreted. After this there were the
usual exercises. The members of this
congregation are suffering severe persecu-
tion from the Roman Catholics, but stand
firm.
“ On November 26, which was also Fri-
day, we had the dedication of the church
at Sachiapurum (‘ Witness Village ’), four
miles east from Dindigul. I had taken
Mr. Lawrence to this village the Saturday
afternoon previous, and he was particu-
larly pleased with his visit and with the
congregation and with the new church.
This congregation is about seven years
old. The members originally came from
another village where we have a congrega-
tion and settled in this new place, to
which we have given the Christian name
of Sachiapurum. They were all of them
young men when they came, and a num-
ber of them have married since then. It
is a growing congregation and one of the
most hopeful in the Dindigul station. If
any one — whether Protestant, Roman
Catholic, or heathen — wishes to reside
in the village and build a house, he must
not only build in line, as directed, so as
to have the streets or lanes wide and
straight, but such a one must also promise,
that he will not work on the Sabbath.
The present church is the second one they
have built, the first being too small for
the present congregation. This church,
like the two others already mentioned,
has a thatch-roof but is much larger than
the others. It has cost, with the door
and windows, a little over one hundred
rupees, and of this amount the people
have not asked me for an anna. The
congregation is also an example in the
matter of Sabbath and other collections,
although not yet coming up to the mark
I hope to reach.”
Nortlj (£fjma fHtssion.
A CHRISTIAN FAMILY.
Dr. Porter, under date of November
24, reports the gathering of spiritual fruit
at a village formerly attached to the Pao-
ting-fu station, but some eighty miles dis-
tant from that place. Dr. Porter says : —
“ I spent three very pleasant days here,
gathering fruit that has been ripening,
some of it, for twenty years. Three cous-
ins of my helpers, disaffected through the
inability of the mission to help them in a
case of persecution years ago, had almost
barred the door against further growth.
But the helper, by his occasional visits,
and his wife — a bright, intelligent, ear-
nest woman, who has upheld the little
company of inquirers for some years —
have wrought in faith and much prayer,
and at last the sunshine has come and
the fruit has become ready. I arrived on
Saturday. That evening the neat family-
room and the k'ang were filled with the
company of women. Miss Evans had
passed a night with them last summer.
They were very glad to see the pastor
whose visit had been promised so long.
Most of them were bright, capable
women, each with a special story of
hostility to the gospel and of a sudden,
unlooked-for change ; each with an assur-
ance that nothing could dispel the light
which now made their hearts glad.
“I happened there at the busiest sea-
son — just as they were gathering the
large autumn crop of cabbage for which
the region is famous. But they could
drop their work, most of them, to come
to this service. It seemed in many senses
102
Japan Mission .
[March,
remarkable that so large a company should
be gathered there. We had a full exami-
nation of each one, and then, as the Sab-
bath drew toward its close, twelve women,
two girls, and a young man, together with
four children, were baptized into the
Blessed Name. There were the aged
mother and two sisters and an aunt of
the helper, the latter having waited many
years for this service, and several neigh-
bors and acquaintances. The husband of
one of them and a son have gone to study
with Mr. Pierson and will be baptized
there, a family of seven thus unitedly
confessing Christ.”
CHANGED HEARTS AND LIVES.
“ It was pathetic to hear the aunt and
sisters tell how they had waited many
years, amid opposition and contempt, for
this to them happy hour of confessing
Christ. One large, loud-voiced woman
who had devoted her life to an ‘ incense-
burning sect ’ laughed at her own previous
folly. She had bitterly opposed her son,
who said: ‘Well, if you waste money in
incense, I ’ll spend it on drink. We ’ll
see who will go the farthest.’ Then they
both turned toward Christianity, the son
first and then the mother. She had re-
viled him for his obstinacy in listening to
the gospel, when lo ! a surprise to herself,
she had an irresistible desire to accept the
new truth. This was only last spring.
Several of these women, owing to the
Christian conversation in the family for
some years, had a noticeable comprehen-
sion of the truth and of Christian life.
They are all closely bound together and
have found others wishing to join with
them in the Sunday services. The aunt
is well-to-do. She has often given small
sums to our dispensary and kindly fed the
team with straw and provender. The
young man who joined was ignorant but
very determined that he must accept the
truth. He came four miles to this ser-
vice. I shall have great hope that this
new life in that dead village is but the
beginning of a larger and gracious work
to be developed.
“ From this village as a pivot, we
turned southwest, passing through the
districts of Shen-cho and Shu-lu. At Pai
Tou I found an intelligent church mem-
ber whose aged mother was baptized by
Dr. Blodget fourteen years since. We
went at once to visit an elderly school-
teacher who was very desirous of meet-
ing the foreign teacher. I found him in
his own neat little schoolhouse and he
received me most courteously. He had
been a teacher for the Romanists for two
years, but had never liked them and had
not joined them. He had read their
books, but had never seen the Bible.
That night a large company listened to
us at our resting-place, assenting to the
truth we spoke. ‘ They believe all you
say when you say it,’ said the church
member, ‘ but when you are gone they
forget it.’ ‘ Give us a man to preach and
teach!’ ‘If only some one could come
often, there are enough to listen and
accept ! ’ The cry is the same every-
where : ‘Give us men, native and for-
eign ! ’ How shall they hear without a
preacher ?
“ The next day three sons of this mem-
ber were baptized. I hope they may be
sent to school. The good brother, having
given up the day to escorting us, spent
the whole night at his work at an oil-
press to make up for the loss of time.”
Other villages were visited in which
Dr. Porter found much to encourage him.
During the tour, from twenty to twenty-
five persons were baptized. But he
speaks of the deep impression made upon
him by the immense number of people to
be reached — from four millions to seven
millions of inhabitants dwelling in the
region through which he passed : —
“ Shall we have to stop and ask Chris-
tians at home not to sadden us with a
fruitless and bitter controversy over that
which is indefinite, when it is so real
and certain, that ‘ The whole world lieth
in wickedness ’ ? ”
Sapatt Mission.
TOKIO.
From various stations of this mission
cheering reports have been received. Rev.
i887.]
Japan Mission.
103
O. H. Gulick has rented a house at Ku-
mamoto, on Kiushu, and will remove his
family there in March. On December 12
Mr. Gulick and Mr. Ise administered the
Lord’s Supper to the Christians in Kuma-
moto, and five persons were baptized, one
of them a man of much prominence. Dr.
Greene had visited Tokio and writes : —
“ The work there is going on most
hopefully under the efficient care of our
two faithful brothers, Mr. Kozaki and Mr.
Ebina. Mr. Kozaki is the pastor of the
First Church, which has been for some
time self-supporting. In connection with
this church another has recently been
formed, perhaps a mile and a half away,
and inside of the outer moat of the castle.
Lest it should be supposed that Congrega-
tionalism has any special privilege here, I
may say, in passing, that there are at least
two Presbyterian churches (I think three) ,
and one flourishing girls’ school, inside this
outer moat, which encloses territory so
extensive that the number might be
doubled without fear of overcrowding.
I have known for the past seventeen years
that Tokio was a city of vast extent, but
I never realized it so vividly as now, after
flying about here and there on business
connected with my work. It is astonish-
ing how little can be accomplished in one
day in view of the amount of time re-
quired for moving about.
“Mr. Ebina is stationed as an evan-
gelist under the Japanese Home Mission-
ary Society in a section of the city called
Hongo, not far from the Imperial Uni-
versity. His dwelling, which is on ele-
vated ground, looks down upon the
principal building of the university, per-
haps a quarter of a mile distant. His
preaching-place is not far off, but it must
be fully four miles from the First Church
and nearly three miles from the new
church, which we call the Bancho Church,
from the section of the city in which it is
located. Mr. Ebina’s work is new, and
as yet but a small number attend his
services, but among those who do attend
I noticed three students of the High
Middle School, which, in the educational
system, stands next to the university.
These young men are regular attendants
and we hope they will be able to bring in
many of their associates. These three
were formerly members of the Doshisha
School, and spoke warmly of their attach-
ment to it. Besides these, there was
present the proprietor of one of the most
important financial papers of the city, a
man who seems almost ready to confess
himself a Christian. Mr. Ebina speaks of
him with great hopefulness. Mr. Ebina
preached a most impressive discourse,
which seemed calculated to be very help-
ful to those who listened to it. He seems
admirably adapted to the important work
to which he has been called, and we trust
that he will, with the Divine blessing, be
the means of winning over a considerable
number of the thoughtful young men now
attending the government schools.
“ There has been of late quite a remark-
able interest in Christianity manifested by
men in the upper ranks of society, and
several in high governmental positions
have announced themselves to be at least
friendly to the spread of Christianity in
Japan. In some cases a public confession
of faith in Christ has been made. The
Bancho Church numbers several of this
class.
“ Under Mr. Kozaki’s escort, I visited
one of the members of the new church, a
man who studied several years in Ger-
many, and who has traveled widely in
other lands, and I was much impressed by
his almost childlike simplicity of faith, as
well as with the earnestness of his desire
to make his religion felt in his daily life.
He has a difficult place to fill, and it is
meet that you, as well as we, remember
him frequently in prayer.”
SENDAI.
Mr. DeForest wrote, December 18 : —
“ Since my last letter, we have added
to our work here by opening a night-
school, at the invitation of the chairman
and two members of the Provincial Assem-
bly. They advertised for seventy scholars
and, as the applicants at once numbered
eighty , the doors were closed against any
further admissions. This school is in our
104
Northern Mexico Mission.
[March,
preaching-place, which was formerly the
preaching-chapel of the powerful Hong-
wanji sect of Buddhists. There is an
eager thirst for knowledge, especially Eng-
lish, and our willingness to teach it is one
of the main reasons why our Sunday-
school numbers fifty, and the attendance
on our preaching-services averages one
hundred, and the seven applicants for
baptism are all students. I know of no
other possible way by which, in two and
one-half months, we could have reached
so large a number in a new station. We
have planned to organize a church next
March. It will not be large nor self-sup-
porting, but it will not cost the Board any-
thing, and we hope it will, at an early
day, be strong enough to call a pastor.
Till such a time the teachers of the school
will take charge.”
Since the above was written, a brief
note has been received from Rev. H.
Loomis, agent of the American Bible
Society, in Yokohama, reporting a marked
spiritual awakening at Sendai, manifesting
itself in full meetings for prayer, deep
penitence for sins, and earnest inquiries
for the way of life. Our next mail from
Japan will doubtless bring us the details
of this spiritual movement.
KIOTO. — A NEW GOVERNMENT SCHOOL.
Mr. Learned writes, December 18 : —
“ Our fall term closes to-morrow, and
we have had a very pleasant and success-
ful term of it, with very little interruption
of any kind. The government is going
to establish five branch universities, or
‘ upper middle schools,1 throughout the
country, and it has just been decided to
locate the one for this part of the country
in Kioto. This will expose us to a more
direct and intense competition than we
have yet met. For several years now we
might safely boast that there was no
English school as good as ours this side
of Tokio, but the new institution will
compete closely with us. We cannot, of
course, rival this government institution
in material appliances, for it is said that
$100,000 has been appropriated for build-
ings and land. Moreover, a government
institution will have various attractions
which we cannot offer ; but we may hope
to do at least as good teaching as far as
we go.
“ On the coming Sabbath I am to have
the pleasure of assisting the First Church
in their communion service, and of bap-
tizing nine persons.”
HIOGO AND TAMON. — AN ORDINATION.
Mr. Atkinson reports that the church at
Hiogo celebrated the tenth anniversary of
its organization on November 23 by three
services, covering the whole day. On the
day following, the Tamon church, one-
half mile distant from Hiogo, held ordina-
tion services. Mr. Atkinson says : —
“Its pastor-elect was examined in the
forenoon by the representatives of a dozen
churches, and did well. The ‘ probation
question 1 came up three or four times, but
Mr. Osada gave good and careful answers.
He is thoroughly on the orthodox side of
theology. The ordination took place
in the afternoon. The charge to pastor
and the one to the people, the one
by the Akashi church pastor, and the
other by the Osaka church pastor, were
strong, earnest, and spiritual ones, and
occupied, the one three quarters of an
hour, and the other an hour, in delivery !
At night a theatre-service was held and a
thousand people listened in greatest quiet
to four sermons. Singing came between
to relieve the strain.
“ I am invited to teach some men who,
years ago, organized themselves into a
society to study deeply into Buddhism and
to oppose the progress of Christianity. I
have consented, and shall begin as soon
as I feel a little stronger. The work is
broadening and deepening all about us.
The Spirit of God is surely abroad in the
land.”
Northern fHcxico tfKtsston.
AN ALARMED PRIEST.
Mr. Eaton writes from Chihuahua,
January 11: —
“ Last Sunday evening, during our well-
attended closing meeting of the Week of
i887.]
West Central African Mission.
105
Prayer, the cur a of this city, Dr. Jos6 de
la Luz Corral, preached a remarkably bit-
ter sermon against the Protestants. His
comparative moderation of speech and
behavior has often been remarked, as
contrasted with the intemperate words
and fanatical proceedings of his clerical
associates. In explanation of this self-
control some have said to me: “Father
Corral is no fool.” But last Sunday, in
the great church on the plaza, for two
hours or more he poured out the vials of
his wrath against us and sought to rouse
his parishioners to stout resistance of
evangelical influences. Only the most
meagre report has reached us, because
none of our own people were in attend-
ance. Yet it is noticeable how we have
gained friends throughout the city in these
four years, who, though they dare not
openly espouse our cause, do not sympa-
thize with the intolerance of the church-
party.
“ The preacher declared that the Prot-
estants were the persecutors of Christ ;
were ‘ of the root of Herod ’ ; were * ruin-
ing 1 (literally ‘ beheading ’) ‘ the hearts of
children with their false doctrines 1 ; were
corrupting the young, teaching them all
manner of vileness ; that a great number
of children had already been brought up
by us to attend our services, and that at
the rate matters were now going, ‘ in a
short time there will not be a child left
us.’ He stated that we were teaching
many things in all parts of the republic,
pretending to prove their truth by an
appeal to the Bible, but that they were
only false doctrines and that our Bible
was a private compostura concocted by
the Americans and was no Bible at all,
while the true Bible was that in the hands
of the Pope.
“ He warned his hearers that the Prot-
estants were very subtle apd with a single
word could make an impression that was
ineradicable ; that they ‘ shot powerful
arrows’ which could not be extracted,
and therefore that it would be best not to
speak one word to them. It was further
announced by him that Don Felix F.
Maceyra, the present governor of this
state, and known to sympathize with the
extreme Roman Catholic party, had prom-
ised that he and * all the merchants of
the city ’ would contribute funds in gener-
ous measure to help the cura to secure
priests from Durango, Mexico City, and
other points to preach in all the churches
and chapels of this city both morning
and evening, day after day, with all per-
sistency, until these pernicious doctrines
should be cast out.
‘ ‘ This sounding of an alarm by the
cura is one of the most hopeful signs that
the preaching of the gospel is having its
effect in this region. May many more
hearts be pierced by one of those ‘ power-
ful arrows ’ of the divine Spirit, and may
the preacher’s prophecy regarding the
children be in good measure fulfilled ! ”
Central African Mission,
CATECHUMENS AT BAILUNDU.
For some time past Mr. and Mrs.
Stover have been greatly pleased by the
utterances and deportment of several lads
who had come to them, but letters just
received indicate a rapid advance and con-
firm the hope that these lads have indeed
received the new life in Christ. Mr.
Stover wrote, November 1 1 : —
“You will be glad to hear that my class
of catechumens is fully established and
now numbers six members. We meet on
Sabbath evenings and on Thursday even-
ings. On the Sabbath we have a catechism
which I arrange from Dr. SchafPs ‘ Chris-
tian Catechism,’ followed by a prayer-
meeting in which the voice of every
member is heard in prayer. On Thurs-
day we simply have a midweek prayer-
meeting. I think I never saw better evi-
dence of earnest purpose to follow the
Saviour than we have daily from these
boys, and they are making wonderful
progress. The names of those who are
active members of the class are Cato,
Esuvi, Ngulu, Nganda (the king’s son),
Olokoso, and Kaliavali, who is now absent
with Mr. Currie. We hope others will
join soon. My purpose is to instruct them
io 6
West Central African Mission.
[March,
in the doctrines of the Christian life and
worship, and if, by the time we have gone
fully over the subjects necessary for their
intelligent acceptance of the responsibili-
ties of the Christian faith, they manifest
the same spirit they now do, having per-
severed to that extent, to baptize them.
“You would be deeply moved could
you hear and understand the earnest,
simple prayers of these lads pleading for
clean hearts, full of love to God and to
their neighbors, for strength to resist the
temptations of the devil, to flee all anger,
malice, and evil-speaking, and to endure
scorn and persecution for Jesus’ sake;
for grace to return good for evil, by seek-
ing to win their persecutors to accept Jesus
as they themselves have done ; for the Holy
Spirit to keep evil out of their hearts by
reminding them constantly of the words
of Jesus.
“ Nganda, the king’s son, told the Lord
last night in his prayer how angry their
friends get when they (the lads) try to
tell them of Jesus. Being the king’s son
he has many privileges and immunities,
but as a rule he ignores them and places
himself on a level with the others, and
in his attempts to ‘ tell the words of Jesus,’
he relies more upon the arm everlasting
than upon his * royalty ’ to save him from
the persecution which is quite likely to
follow all such efforts. And so we bless
God and take courage. We need your
prayers, that we may have wisdom and
the ‘ anointing which abideth and teacheth ’
in leading these souls onward in the divine
life.”
Some ten days later (November 20),
Mr. Stover says : —
“ Since writing the above, two other
members have joined our Christian circle,
and the boys now eat their meals here,
though they go home to the village to get
their food. They use a large box as a
table, repeating the Lord’s Prayer as a
blessing. After the morning meal they
have prayers after the manner of our even-
ing worship with them. They recite the
‘ liturgy,’ and then one leads in an extem-
pore prayer just as I do in the evening
worship. Their prayers from time to
time at prayer-meetings indicate spiritual
growth, especially a deeper apprehension
of the evils of sin, both in the abstract
and in their own hearts.
“ Last night Esuvi thanked God that he
did not leave them here without knowl-
edge of Jesus, but even after the whites
had been plundered and driven away he
had, by his love in their hearts, led them
back to tell them more about Jesus.”
FROM BIHE.
Letters have been received from Messrs.
Sanders and Fay, who, with their wives,
reached Kamundongo, their station in
Bih6, September 9. They were greatly
delayed in their journey by the slow-
ness of the carriers. On their arrival
they formed their camp, consisting of two
tents and three huts, and soon after com-
menced building the house for Mr. and
Mrs. Fay. On September 21 Mr. Sanders
wrote : —
“Though still in Kamundongo, we are
on a different site than that we occupied
before, and thus far we are better pleased
with it than with the former. I went to
the ombala and gave notice of our arrival,
taking no present whatever. No com-
ment about the omission was made. It
is said that Jambayamina goes out to war
(to plunder, rather) next month. Guil-
herme says an osoma cannot be said to be
really enthroned until he has gone out on
a ‘ war.’
“The osoma says Bailundus bringing
loads for us, or letters, may come here ;
but if a cometiva tries to pass through, to
trade among the Gangelas, he will plunder
them. It remains to be seen if the Bai-
lundus trust his word. We cannot get any
one yet to carry down these letters.”
Those letters did not reach the steamer
for which they were written, but arrived
with others dated more than a month
later. The news is cheering, the health
of the missionaries being good and their
building operations progressing as favor-
ably as could be expected. Two English-
men, Messrs. Scott and Swan, who had
started to join Mr. Arnot in the interior,
had been stopping at Kamundongo, and
i887.]
West Central Africa?i Mission.
io 7
the former, on account of protracted ill-
health, had decided to return to England.
The king, Jambayamina, has made a de-
mand upon Mr. Sanders for the price of
the tusk of ivory about which there is the
quarrel between the Bih6ans and the Bai-
lundus: It seems that at the time the
Bailundus made the attack upon the cara-
van of Bih^ans, they threw the stolen
tusk into the mission-garden at Chilume,
and it was afterward taken possession of
by King Kwikwi. Jambayamina now
claims that the missionaries are responsi-
ble for his loss. If the quarrel between
the two tribes could be settled by the
payment of the value of the tusk, it
would be a great gain at a small cost.
The following, from a private letter from
Mrs. Sanders, gives some account of their
surroundings : —
“We are getting along nicely here.
The Fays1 house is well under way. Our
gardens are dug and partly planted. We
have rains every few days. Mrs. Fay and
I both get pretty tired some days, but we
live in hopes that some of our boys from
Bailundu will come up with Mr. Swan.
They will if their fathers are not too much
afraid they will get caught.
“ It has seemed to us sometimes as it
we were the only inhabitants of the land,
everything will be so quiet and solitary.
At home, and I believe in most other
lands, nothing is known of such vast
stretches of uninhabited and uncultivated
land. From our camp, as far as the eye
can reach, there is not the least trace of
humanity. It is true that we are not
more than ten minutes1 walk from the
Kamundongo villages, but they are con-
cealed from view by a very light and thin
strip of woods. Everywhere there are
beautiful forests and rolling meadows.
The eye gets weary of solitude. But
when the moonlight comes, or a person
dies, we are very quickly made aware that
we are not the only occupants of the soil.
Then dancing, drumming, singing, and
howling make night hideous.11
FUNERALS. — THE CONDITION OF WOMEN.
“We have had four funerals since we
came here. One, however, was for an
old man who was already dead when we
were here before. Being a king’s sekulu
and a moderately great man, his poor old
bones were not allowed to be laid away in
peace, but he was dried up like a mummy
and kept above ground all that time.
What a jollification they did have at his
funeral ! Days before, women came from
the surrounding villages, bringing their
great earthen pots, I suppose to help in
making the beer. The festivities contin-
ued three or four days, and dancing and
drumming day and night. We were glad
when it was all over and matters were
quiet' again. Since then two women and
a man have died. The only wonder is
that the people do not all die from filth,
if nothing else. It is perfectly abomina-
ble how they live and what they eat. Just
the other side of the village is a beautiful
stream of water, a little above which, and
to the right of the path, is a small,
swampy place where the hogs always
wallow. One day when Mr. Sanders was
there, he saw a woman filling her gourd
at this place. He said to her : ‘ Why ! do
you cook with that water?1 ‘Oh, no!1
she replied. ‘ This is to make ochim-
bambo .’ Two yards further away the
beautiful clear water was flowing in
plenty. But one cannot so much blame
these women. If my work was so contin-
uous and so hopeless as theirs, perhaps I
would take the water for ochimbambo
from the nearest mud-hole — up some-
times before three in the morning, to
pound the day’s allowance of corn.
Sometimes it is scarcely light when they
pass here on the way to the fields. There
they work, sometimes with a baby on their
back, until about four, when they gather
wood to do the evening cooking, and re-
turn. It must be dark by the time their
beans are cooked and the mush made.
Here they do not pound on the rocks as
at Chilume, but in large wooden mortars.
I tried this pounding a few times two
years ago at Honjoo, but it would very
quickly break my back. I feel like crying
out, in the words of the old missionary
hymn, —
io8
European Turkey Mission .
[March,
“ ' Pity them, pity them,
Christians at home !
Haste with the bread of life !
Hasten and come ! ’
“You can hardly understand how help-
less I feel when I long to help these
women. One must be brought face to
face with heathenism to comprehend it.
Not that I have not unshaken confidence
in the power of the gospel to raise them
and free them and make them happy. If
I had not I would very quickly sail for
happier shores. But with my limited
knowledge of their language, and the
utter want, in the language, of words to
express the very foundation-truths of our
religion, — such as faith, repentance, for-
giveness, etc., — I am discouraged. They
certainly ought to have a word for self-
righteousness, for they are, as a whole,
exceedingly self-righteous. If you quote
to one of them, ‘ The soul that sinneth,
it shall die,’ he will at once assure you
that he has no crimes.”
lEuropran burkes fHtssiotu
IN MACEDONIA.
Mr. Clarke, of Samokov, in his Mis-
sionary News from Bulgaria , reports an
absence of thirty-six days in Macedonia
and elsewhere, and gives the following
account of the military situation : —
“In Macedonia military occupation and
the special efforts of the government had
rendered the main roads safe ; but from
the fields of Eleshnitsa, a mountain town
visited, a boy ten years old had recently
been carried off by brigands, who still
held him for ransom. They demanded
three hundred liras ($1,320), but the
father had been able to raise only sixty.
Near another secluded spot passed, the
government police the next day waylaid a
company of brigands having in their
hands two Turks, shot two of them, and
released the prisoners. Our good colpor-
ter, Mr. Petkancheen, showed anxiety as
we passed other wooded regions and,
when we were about to separate, insisted
on passing with me a place where a shot
had once passed near his head.
“ Turkish troops were everywhere, and
some places were crowded with them.
Many of these were swarthy Arabs, others
had come from villages in Asia Minor
about Cesarea. Many were without stock-
ings ; some had no shoes, and, coming
from warmer regions to the cold weather
which will soon be upon them, they must
suffer much. We passed about a hundred
sick and feeble men being transferred to
higher regions, farther from their homes,
which very likely most of them will never
again see. Last winter, without any fight-
ing, cold and exposure far more than deci-
mated the troops in these regions. The
contractors in Veles said they were fur-
nishing to the army eighty thousand ra-
tions daily, and in all Macedonia there
must be some hundred thousand troops
ready for war ; yet no one seems to know
why they are being gathered. It is a
fearful drain on the Turkish population of
the empire, which must tell in the end,
and a great burden to all the inhabitants
of this region, though the military author-
ities seek to avoid all needless requisition
and oppression.”
PANAGURISHTE. — A RETROSPECT.
The Missionary News also contains an
account of the dedication, November 28,
of a church at Panagurishte, an out-sta-
tion some forty miles west-northwest of
Philippopolis. The occasion was one of
special interest, not only on account of
the numbers present and the hopefulness
of the outlook, but in view of the history
of the evangelical movement in the place.
The sermon was by Pastor Boyadjeff and
the prayer of consecration by Mr. Locke.
“ Men and women, nearly all young or
in the prime of life, packed the church so
that but few could sit down. At the left
of the speakers stood some twenty young
men who had pressed through the crowd
to avail themselves of the only standing-
room. At the right were many of the
friends from other places clustered around
the baby-organ with which Mrs. Locke led
the singing. Scores were unable to enter,
and turned away.”
In the way of retrospect the following
account is given : —
J 887.]
“ The story of the past has been one of
thrilling interest. Twenty-five years ago
our lamented Mr. Meriam, whose murder
by brigands resulted in the building of
scores of guard-houses and probably saved
many Bulgarian lives, was most cordially
received in this place by numbers of young
men. This cordiality was continued for
a time to others who visited the place ;
but the protection given in Philippopolis
to a monk who had broken his vows by
marrying, which aroused bitterness in
other places, caused a change of feeling
in this village also, and severe persecution
followed. Eleven young men, who had
attended the occasional religious services
and were studying the Bible together,
were brought to the schoolhouse and, by
decided threatenings, made to sign a
promise that they would thereafter have
nothing to do with the missionaries, which
promise they too well kept. Their posi-
tion had been one of interest in those
who seemed to them to be laboring for
the intellectual good of the nation, be-
cause using the native language which
Greek ecclesiastical influence was trying
to crush out, rather than of love to the
Word of God. Mr. Tsfetkoff, a native of
the place and for years a loving colporter
who did good work in many places, was
beaten by a furious crowd in the same
.schoolhouse, and the doors of his street-
gate still bear the marks of the many
stones which for years were thrown at
them by boys instigated by their parents.
At the death of one of his children, the
whole village seemed determined that the
body should not be buried, and this was
accomplished only by the personal visit
of a missionary, which secured the ener-
getic action of the Turkish government.
This faithful laborer, and a student spend-
ing his vacation in the work, both died in
the village.
“ All mission books except the Scrip-
tures, which were then kept for sale by a
local merchant, were forcibly taken from
his store and burned in the market-place,
and various means were used to intimi-
date missionaries from coming to the
place. One, on a visit with a helper, was
IO9
Saturday called to the government office,
in the absence of the Turkish official from
the village, and by his deputy told that
the heads of the wards, who were present,
said that his firman was for traveling and
not for staying , and that, as he had rested
one night, he could now travel ‘ with
honor1 if going that night; if not . . .
The missionary coolly replied : ‘ I came
to stay till Monday, relying not on my
firman but on the common teskerl which
protects every local traveler, and you are
responsible for my personal safety.1 Find-
ing that threats did not succeed, a guard
was placed at the khan to prevent all talk
with others coming to the khan or when
they went out of it. Monday morning,
before starting, a call was made on the
deputy, who offered a guard, which was
declined, with the remark : ‘ When we
take a guard you say that we are forcibly
sent away by the government. You are
responsible for our safety.1 ‘ But there
may be trouble,1 said the deputy. ‘ That
is your lookout,1 replied the missionary.
‘ ‘ Returning to the khan , he found a
crowd of some fifty boys let out of the
school near by on purpose to ‘ send them
off without honor,1 and as soon as they
were out of the yard (in which the owner
would be held responsible for them)
stones were thrown at them from all
sides ; but a guard just then came up
and stopped the attack.
“The best and most progressive priest
of the village once said to us : ‘ When
you are coming some time through the
ravines in the forest, you will not after-
ward be found.1 Scores of men had been
killed in this and adjacent places in the
preceding few years, and the threat might
be carried out. We therefore planned,
unannounced, either to enter the village
late at night or in the early morning.
Passing through the woody ravine on the
way, Ephesians iii, 20 had a new fulness
of meaning as we read it. One ‘ was able
exceedingly abundantly,1 and we felt that
we could lean on Him. Arriving early in
the morning in the crowded weekly mar-
ket-place, all eyes were turned to us and
all knew when, by order of the head-man
European Turkey Mission.
I IO
Eastern Turkey Mission.
[March,
of the village, we were refused entertain-
ment in the khan. Our traveling firman,
however, required the Turkish official to
furnish quarters, which he did very cour-
teously, giving us much more of a home
than we could have found elsewhere. Few
of the people dared to converse with us in
the streets. Stones were thrown from a
distance, and the opposers sought to an-
noy us in various ways. Late at night
one man only came to us with friendly
words.
“ But great changes have taken place.
Owing to removals, for years the village
was scarcely visited by a missionary. The
massacres of 1876 cut off hundreds of the
people and gave us an opportunity for aid-
ing persecutors. More than this, earnest
preachers, colporters, and Bible-women
have permeated the place with truth.
Two of these died in the place and two
others elsewhere. During the past years
an uneducated, simple-hearted, loving
Christian woman, divorced by her hus-
band because she had become a Protest-
ant, has been quietly going from house to
house with her Bible, and found her way
to many hearts, and now all homes are
open to her.
“With such a retrospect in mind, the
heart could but be thrilled by the attentive
audience packed into the little church.”
Eastern burkes fHtsston.
RELIGIOUS AWAKENING AT VAN. — THE
GIRLS1 SCHOOL.
The Girls1 School at Van, started in
September, 1882, by Misses Johnson and
Kimball, is now rejoicing in a spiritual
awakening. The school began four years
ago with six scholars ; it now has sixty.
Connected with it is a branch school,
begun last August, visited two or three
times a week by the missionary ladies,
but under the immediate charge of a grad-
uate of the main school, an intelligent
and capable young woman who now has
about twenty-five pupils. The following
extract from a private letter, dated Van,
December 6, we are permitted to use : —
“Two weeks ago Sunday many of the
girls showed an unusual amount of inter-
est in the Bible lesson, and in the evening
meeting the interest increased so much
that they all wept, and we felt it would
be wise to appoint a meeting in our room
every evening during the week for those
who cared to come. All the girls came,
and nearly all showed a deep interest.
Such earnest prayers I never heard, and six,
at least, of the girls, I believe, took a stand
they never had taken before. Harmars,
the girl who assists us in school and a
former convert, but whose influence we
felt was not what it ought to be, either on
account of her diffidence or from some
other cause, was thoroughly stirred up
and took just the lead among the girls
that was needed. It was the most satis-
factory week we have ever had in school,
although of course it was a pretty wearing
one.
“In private talks with some of the girls,
several things came out that were very
encouraging. Two girls from nomi-
nally Protestant families said that they
never knew anything about Jesus before
they came to our school, and again one
girl said that the little girls had for a long
time had a custom of begging each other’s
forgiveness for any unkind thing they had
said or done during the day, before they
said their prayers at night. One little
girl, bright and faithful always, who never
gave us a bit of trouble, came out like a
Christian of ten years1 standing. After
one of the meetings we kept her, and she
hadn’t a word to say about herself, but
burst into tears, saying, * Oh, if you only
would let me go home sometimes on Sun-
days, so I could read and talk with my
mother and grandmother ! 1 We had made
a rule that the boarders are not to go
home more than once in two months.
This girl said that before we made this
rule she always used to talk with her
parents, and now she says her grand-
mother is so old, she is afraid she will
die, and she knows she is n’t ready. We
felt rebuked, for we supposed when the
girls went home for Sunday they lost all
the good influence of the week, and never
i887.]
Eastern Turkey Mission.
1 1 1
for an instant supposed they turned their
hands to such work as that.
“ Out of this interest has grown a
Wednesday - evening meeting for the
boarders, which is, in- addition to the
Friday and Sunday afternoon meeting, for
the day-scholars and boarders alike. We
have made this last into a society, with
officers among . the girls, which pleases
them greatly, and the name of the society
is, when translated, ‘ The Care-taking.’
The direct object is to raise a loaning-
library for poor girls unable to buy text-
books. Each girl binds herself to do
some kind act for some one every day,
and they are all enthusiastic over it.
“Many new things have come to the
surface lately, and one is that there is a
feeling among the girls that to close the
eyes in prayer is to be a Protestant, and
there are some spies always on the look-
out to see and report. It is singular that
in all these four years this is the first time
we have found this out. This anti-Prot-
estant feeling, and the fear among the day-
scholars that to succumb to any religious
influence one is in danger of becoming
Protestant, is one of the hardest things
we have to contend with. But of the
boarders, two of the most earnest and
interested girls in this religious movement
are daughters of a rich Constantinople
family, whose parents have always had
them come home on Friday nights, that
they should not be under our influence on
Sundays, and I suppose they will never be
Protestants. If only they are good Chris-
tians, they can do perhaps as much good
in their own church.
“ School work has never been more in-
teresting and satisfactory, and I can say
truly that the school has never before been
in so good condition as now.”
THE CHURCH. — BOYS’ SCHOOL.
Dr. Raynolds, while referring joyfully
to the interest in the Girls’ School, re-
ports the condition of the general work in
Van and in the Boys’ School : —
‘ ‘ Last spring I made an effort to get
the brethren to organize a Society of
Christian Endeavor, but the plan did not
succeed. While Dr. Barnum was here,
however, the matter was again agitated,
and this time a society was organized. It
has taken charge of the Wednesday-even-
ing prayer-meetings, which have been
much more lively and interesting than for
many years. The monthly experience and
consecration meetings have all witnessed
a most tender and solemn state of feeling.
During a visit I made at Agants during
the first part of November, a branch so-
ciety was also formed there. The diffi-
culty among Armenians is to keep up a
sustained interest in any such movement,
but we hope for permanent good results
from it.
“The schools are exceedingly encour-
aging this year. The Boys’ School has
seats for sixty in the large room, which
are already overflowing. There are also
about thirty pupils in the primary depart-
ment. I feel that I could not secure a
more hopeful field for strictly evangelistic
work than is secured in my daily Bible
lessons with these hopeful boys. There
are this year six boarding pupils, two of
them from Agants and one a young man
whom I met last year in a village as
teacher for the Armenians. He is now a
zealous Protestant, though I do not feel
sure that he is renewed. He has many
characteristics to fit him for itinerant,
evangelistic work, and I pray that the
Lord may prepare him for it. The gen-
eral moral atmosphere of the school is
quite satisfactory, and we are hoping for
direct and positive religious interest.”
ERZINGAN. — THE GREGORIANS.
Mr. W. N. Chambers, of Erzroom, on
a visit at Erzingan, wrote, December 1 6 :
“I reached this city three weeks ago,
and after a stay of two or three days I
visited Packarich and Hazark, where I
spent a couple of weeks. Work has got
into very good ‘shape there. Reconcilia-
tion was effected between the mudeer and
the Protestant community, and our school
is full. We trust that the winter’s work
will be quite fruitful. In this city the
brethren are in a fairly good state. How-
ever, it seems as if this whole work had
I 12
[March,
Notes from the Wide Field.
come to a stand. No gains are being made
from the Gregorians. It seems to be a
time of waiting for the seed sown to
mature — a very hard thing to do. Bibles
and Testaments are scattered here and
there ; they are found in many houses
and I think are being read consider-
ably. Preaching is listened to with at-
tention and respect, but it seems impossi-
ble to move anything. There is a seem-
ing movement among the Gregorians here
— at least there is considerable talk for
church reform. Possibly the result of
our labors may be in that direction. A
union between the Episcopal and Grego-
rian Ghurches, whereby a strong element
of spirituality and piety might be infused
into the Gregorian Church, might work
a wonderful revolution to the glory of
God.”
Notes from tlje EHttie
CHINA.
Religious Toleration. — There have recently appeared in many provinces of
China, perhaps in all the provinces, proclamations from the several viceroys in reference
to Christianity and Christian missions. The simultaneous appearance of these procla-
mations indicates that they are inspired by the central government, and the object is
clearly to prevent all outbreaks of popular violence against Christians, and to show the
people, and especially the subordinate officials, the dangers attendant upon such out-
breaks. Doubtless the imperial government has for its object the avoidance of collision
with foreign governments, which quickly come to the defence of their subjects who are
missionaries. But it is a new and important step in the direction of practical religious
toleration in China when her governors post all over the empire proclamations like the
one issued by the governor of Chekiang: “Know, therefore, all men of whatsoever
sort or condition, that the sole object of establishing chapels is to exhort men to do
right ; those who embrace Christianity do not cease to be Chinese, and both sides
should, therefore, continue to live in peace, and not let mutual jealousies be the cause
of strife between them.” A correspondent of The London Ti?nes reports the proclama-
tion of Governor Kung of the province of Kiang-su, of which Shanghai is the chief
city, in which, after speaking of the chapels and houses which had been destroyed by
disorders fomented by “ two or three of these rascals who delight in mischief” the
governor presents the imperial decree that missionary chapels were to be sedulously
protected, and anything in the shape of disturbance prevented. He then adds : —
“ I have accordingly ordered all officials in every jurisdiction to act in strict com-
pliance with the imperial will, and it is now my duty to issue this urgent proclamation
for the information of all persons in the circuit of which I am intendant. Bear in
mind that when missionaries live in the midst of your villages you and they are mutually
in the relationship of host and guest. Under ordinary circumstances it is your fore-
most duty to act toward them with courtesy and forbearance. Should there arise any
misunderstanding requiring to be set right, let each submit his side of the question to
the local authorities for equitable arbitration and decision; your officials have the
necessary power and influence. You must be careful on no account to give rein to
ill-considered resentment, and fall, owing to the impulse of a moment, into the net of
the law. I have over twenty years1 experience of the coast as an official, and am
thoroughly conversant with international business, with which I have long been
specially occupied. I am not one afraid to do my duty though it may be troublesome, and
what I say to you in this proclamation is uttered in all earnestness. More is involved
than the mere protecting of missionary chapels ; the weal and woe of yourselves, your
homes, and your livelihood are assuredly concerned. Let such of you as are fathers
and brothers do your utmost to teach the necessity of turning away wrath and putting
i887.]
Notes from the Wide Field.
1 13
an end to strife. Cast your eyes ever on the warning example which has preceded, and
avoid a day of repentance in the future. This is my earnest wish. Do not disobey
this urgent and special proclamation.”
This document is dated October 27, 1886. Now, if Roman Catholic missionaries
will strive as earnestly as do these Chinese officials to remove all occasions for strife,
there will be little likelihood that we shall hear much more of anti-Christian mobs.
China gives notice to the world that she will protect her own people who become
Christians, without interference from France or other foreign power.
A Reasonable Claim upon our Government. — We mentioned last month the
fact that the Chinese government had agreed to pay $25,000 to American missionaries
for their losses by the riots at Chung-king in July of last year, and suggested that losses
incurred by the Chinese in this country might well be met by our government. And
now a Chinese official argues the case in a strain of righteous indignation, while
addressing a letter to the United States Consul at Canton. Referring to complaints he
had received about losses sustained by Americans at two or three points this Viceroy
Cheung, of Canton, says : —
“ In the case at San Francisco, Americans killed over thirty Chinese subjects, and
several hundred thousand dollars1 worth of property were lost. This is inhuman
oppression to the extreme, and compared with the two cases at Kwai Peng and Ching
Yeun is a hundred times as severe. Although the American indemnity has been con-
sidered and decided upon, yet it is not settled. China has exerted herself to the
utmost in administering the small cases of America, so America ought immediately and
satisfactorily to settle the serious cases of China. Your honorable consul ought to
personally telegraph and petition his excellency the American minister at Peking, to
write to your honorable country’s secretary of state to consider satisfactorily, and to
pay the indemnity to the Chinese minister, and to severely punish the rioters so as to be
in accordance with the public agreements. Although this case is not connected with
the Kwai Peng case, yet your honorable consul having previously sent despatches to
me, respectfully asking me, the viceroy, of reasonable affairs; so I, the viceroy, ask
reasonable affairs of your honorable consul, and think your honorable consul will
comply with this. I have ordered the Kwai Peng magistrate to investigate the true
facts of the case, clearly trace up, satisfactorily administer, and report the affairs,
and if Mr. Fulton returns to the district, to protect him with all his power, and to
put a stop to all placards posted. [Signed] Cheung, Viceroy
Until the request of this official is complied with we think that all who have con-
science sufficient to understand “ reasonable affairs” will side with the Chinese against
our government.
AFRICA.
The Emin Bey Expedition. — It is still a question by which route Mr. Stanley
will undertake the relief of Emin Bey. The expedition has been organized and
Stanley purposes to reach Emin Bey by July. It is expected that the caravan will
number not far from one thousand men, and that Mr. Stanley’s staff will be composed
of six men, including a major and lieutenant of engineers. He has already met Dr.
Junker at Suez, and has gone on to Zanzibar to perfect arrangements. As we write,
the probabilities are that the Congo route will be selected, but before this paragraph
can reach our readers the telegraph may have announced the final decision. Measured
by miles the Masailand route is the shortest, being but eight hundred miles. By
Uganda it is one thousand miles and by the Congo fifteen hundred miles, but the
saving of time by the latter route would be great. There are seven or eight steamers
on the Middle Congo which could take the expedition swiftly to within a few days’
14
[March,
Notes from the Wide Field.
march of Emin Bey. The London Times regards the safety of Mr. Mackay and the
French missionaries in Uganda, as well as the lives of the native Christians, as an
important point to be considered. “ By the Congo route the Albert Nyanza might be
reached before Mwanga even heard of the expedition, and when he did hear of it, of
its strength, and of its leader, the powerful friend of his father, the effect would
probably be to bring him to his senses, and make him seek the aid of the European
prisoners as intercessors.” Dr. Junker thinks that Mwanga is not so powerful as is
usually believed. In recent conflicts with neighboring kings, Kabrega and others, he
has lost much and gained little. If anything can be done to check this young
monarch in his atrocious career it would be a boon to Africa.
The Portuguese and the Slave-trade. — Six weeks ago a Portuguese officer.
Captain D'Oliveira, captured and destroyed a large slave dhow not far from Mozambique.
The same officer was despatched by the governor-general in September last to a point
south of Mozambique, to watch the slave-trade and guard it by way of the rivers
between Quilimane, Angoxa, and Madagascar. It is now feared that the expedition
under Captain D’Oliveira has been destroyed. It is a pleasant thing, however, to be
able to report that the Portuguese government seems, in this section of Africa at least,
to be exerting its energies against the nefarious traffic.
Mr. Arnot at Oluvale. — Our missionaries at Bih6 report having received letters
from Mr. Arnot, who, it will be remembered, was with them for some time at Bailundu.
Mr. Arnot is now at Oluvale, and writes enthusiastically of the place and of the people.
He says that they far outnumber those of Bih6 and Bailundu, and that they are
“•stayers at home ” and are a people of great interest. He believes that the place
cannot long be unoccupied by missionaries, and were it not that he supposed that
ultimately the work of the American Board would extend in that direction, he should
have been inclined to have remained there himself. Letters have been received from
Mr. Coillard indicating his purpose, whenever he returns to France, from his home
among the Barotse, to come by way of Bihe and Bailundu.
Madagascar and the Slave-trade. — The French seem to be responsible for
the reopening of the slave-trade between the west coast of Madagascar and Reunion,
an island in the Indian Ocean, occupied by a French colony. The Hova government
long ago refused to abet this foreign slave-trade. But since the war, slaves are captured
from the interior tribes, are brought to Nosi Vey, the port under French authority, and
are shipped to Reunion, never to return. It is said that the profit on this traffic is
enormous, and that it is carried on under the French flag in the most unblushing
manner.
The Revival on the Congo. — The Baptist Missionary Union continues to
receive good news from its Congo Mission. At Palabala six young people recently
made confession of faith, and the examination indicated that a real work of grace was
going on in their hearts. A letter dated November 12 reports that at Banza Manteka
forty-one persons had been examined for baptism, and were accepted. Six had been
accepted at Lukungu station. At Equator station, though no conversions were
reported, yet the outlook was cheering.
Tippu Tib, the Arab Slave-trader. — This man, whose person and work were
so clearly set forth by Mr. Stanley in his “ Through the Dark Continent,” and who is
one of the “Great Powers” of Central Africa, has recently visited Captain Hore, of
the London Missionary Society, at Kavala, on Lake Tanganyika. Captain Hore thus
describes the interview in the London Chronicle : —
“ His extensive caravan has been passing in driblets for a long time; and when it
i887.J
Miscellany — Notes for the Month.
1 15
was heard that the great man himself was coming, our chief Kavala retired to the main-
land, leaving only two small lots of people — one consisting of a very few in the village,
in a state of mind something like that of the lepers in the Assyrian camp, and another
set who, living near us, determined to cling to us as their protectors. Our repeated
assurances of safety only drew forth the remark that anyhow they were all needed on
the mainland for the intama harvest. Tippu Tib, however, as I expected, molested
neither chief nor people in Uguha, and arrived here himself on July 4, sailing again
next day. In the evening my visitors sat round our tables in sociable fashion, eagerly
listening to my description of maps, etc. They wanted much to get a dictionary with
European equivalents of Arabic words. I could not suit them there, but produced one
of the tracts for Arabs of the University Mission, to the reading of which by Moham-
med, Tippu Tib patiently listened. I then produced the Swahili New Testament.
Mohammed, however, could not read that, so Tippu Tib handed it over to me, saying,
‘ Read us some of it.1 This was what I had been leading to all the evening, and
commenced at once reading the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew v). They were very
pleased and astonished at the good Swahili, and listened quietly. Who knows but
what a stray word may take root ? 11
ftUsccllamj.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL.
Missionary Exercises (No. 2) for the use of Sunday-
schools and Mission Bands. Presbyterian Board of
Publication. Pp. 192. Price, 30 cents.
All those whose duty and privilege it is
to guide and help the young in missionary
matters will be glad of the help afforded
by this book of responsive readings, dia-
logues, and selections in prose and poetry.
Leaders of mission bands will welcome it
as affording them material for interesting
and instructing those under their care.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
Soundings. By Rev. Mortimer Blake, d.d. Boston :
Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society.
Pp. 226. Price, $1.25.
Fresh Bait for Fishers of Men. By Rev. F. Bar-
rows Makepeace, Rev. W. L. Gage, d.d., Rev. Smith
Baker, Rev. Reuen Thomas, ph.d., and Mr. C. E.
Bolton. Boston and Chicago : Congregational Sunday-
School and Publishing Society. Pp. 87.
I&otcs for tt)e f&ontf).
Special Topics for Prayer.
For the Empire of China, now open as never before for the preaching of the gospel, that the
favor of God may rest upon missionary efforts already begun, and that the new spirit of
toleration manifested by the imperial authorities may inspire Christians in all lands to
undertake more vigorously the work of evangelizing the millions of the empire. (See
page 1 12.)
Missionary Appointment.
Miss Emily Bissell, who has been residing with her father, Rev. Lemuel Bissell, D.D., at Ahmed-
nagar, India, has received appointment as an assistant missionary in connection with the
Board, as a member of the Maratha Mission.
Death.
December 9, 1886. At Canton, China, Mrs. Lillie Happer Cunningham, daughter of Rev. A. P.
Happer, D.D., of the American Presbyterian Mission, and granddaughter of the late Dr.
Dyer Ball, formerly of the American Board’s Mission in Canton.
Arrival at Station.
December 4, 1886. At Bombay, India, Rev. Lemuel Bissell, D.D., accompanied by his daughter,
Miss Julia Bissell.
Arrival in the United States.
February 9, at New York, Rev. H. O. Dwight, of the Western Turkey Mission.
Departure.
February 12. From San Francisco, Rev J. D. Davis, D.D., for Japan.
[March,
1 1 6 For the Monthly Concert. — Donations.
jFor tljr fttanttjly Concert.
[Topics based on information given in this number of the Herald.~\
1. A Christian family in China. (Page ioi.)
2. Good news from Tokio and Sendai, Japan. (Pages 102, 103.)
3. Church dedications in the Madura Mission. (Page 100.)
4. A mountain town in Central Turkey. (Page 95.)
5. A reformed town in European Turkey. (Page 108.)
6. An awakening in Eastern Turkey. (Page no.)
7. Christian lads at Bailundu. (Page 105.)
8. The Bible in Madagascar. (Page 121.)
9. Remarkable movement in China. (Page 112.)
Donations KrcctbrS in Sanitary.
MAINE.
Cumberland county.
Portland, Seaman’s Bethel ch.,'
67.20; State-st. ch., 50; Williston
ch., 26.98,
Franklin county.
Wilton, Cong. ch. and so.
Hancock county.
Castine, Cong, ch., m. c.
Orland, Friends,
Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties.
Bath, Cen. ch., 60; Member of
Winter-st. ch., 15,
Waldoboro’, George Allen,
Penobscot county.
Bangor, Ham.-st. ch., add’l (105 re-
ceived in December),
Brewer, 1st Cong. ch. and so.
Somerset county.
Norridgewock, New Year’s gift,
Union Conf. of Ch’s.
E. Otisfield, Friends,
Washington county.
Dennysville, Cong. ch. and so.
Machias, Cong. ch. and so.
Upper Stillwater, M. A. Blanchard,
144 18
10 50
12 00
40 00 52 00
75 °°
1 00 76 00
2 00
8 25 10 25
15 00
25 00
13 88
7 14 21 02
2 50
Legacies. — Portland, John C. Brooks,
add’l and final,
356 45
5i5 00
871 45
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Cheshire co. Conf. of Ch’s. W. H.
Spalter, Tr.
Keene, 2d Cong. ch. and so.
•29 32
Rindge, Cong. ch. and so.
14 35
Swanzey, Cong. ch. and so.
8 34 52 01
Coos county.
Colebrook, Cong. ch. and so.
6 00
Grafton county.
Lebanon, Cong. ch. and so.
20 60
Lyme, Cong. ch. and so.
45 73
Orford, John Pratt,
15 00
Orfordville, Cong. ch. and so.
4 60 85 93
Hillsboro’ co. Conf. of Ch’s. George
Swain, Tr.
Amherst.Cong. ch., 22.04; A friend, 3,
25 04
Brookline, Cong. ch. and so.
5 co
Hollis. Cong. ch. and so.
20 00
Manchester, 1st Cong, ch., with
other dona., to const. S. S. Mar-
den, H. M.
81 82
Milford, William Gilson, a New
Year’s thank-offering, to const.
Miss H. J. Gilson, H. M. ioo 00
Mt. Vernon, Cong. ch. and so. 25 00
Nashua, 1st Cong, ch., for Miss
Leitch’s work, 13 00
New Boston, Presb. ch. 1 00
New Ipswich, Cong. ch. and so. 4 82 275 68 I
Merrimac county Aux. Society.
Boscawen, 1st Cong. ch. 20 00
Pembroke, Mrs. Mary W. Thomp-
son, 11 00
Penacook, Rev. A. William Fiske, 12 00 43 00
Rockingham county.
Candia, Cong. ch. and so. 16 00
Chester, Cong, ch., with other dona.,
to const. Sarah H. Melvin,
H. M. 75 00
Derry, 1st Cong. ch. and so. 85 00
Exeter, 1st Cong, ch., 10; Nathaniel
Gordon, 50, 60 00
Greenland, Cong. ch. and so. 23 00
Seabrook and Hamp. Falls, Cong.
ch., Joseph Kimball, 20 00
Windham Depot, H. Berry, 10 00 — 289 00
Strafford county.
Farmington, Cong. ch. and so. 21 01
Sullivan county Aux. Society.
Meriden, Cong. ch. and so. 12 75
, A friend, 2 00
787 38
Legacies. — Hanover, Andrew Moody,
by F. C. and E. R. Ruggles, Trustees, 50 oo
VERMONT.
837 38
Addison county.
Cornwall, E. R. Robbins,
New Haven, Cong. ch. and so.
Bennington county.
Bennington, 2d Cong. ch.
E. Arlington, Cong. ch. and so.
Caledonia co. Conf. of Ch’s. T. M.
Howard, Tr.
Barnet, Joseph Boardman, Jr.
St. Johnsbury, No. Cong. ch.
Chittenden county.
Burlington, 1st Cong. ch.
Charlotte, Cong. ch. and so.
Milton, Cong. ch. and so.
Orange county.
Orange, Cong. ch. and so.
Tunbridge, Cong. ch. and so.
Vershire, Hial Colton,
Orleans county.
Brownington, S. S. Tinkham,
Derby, Mrs. E. A. McPherson,
Newport, Cong. ch. and so.
No. Craftsbury, Cong. ch. and so.
Rutland county.
Castleton, Cong, ch., m. c.
Hubbardton, Mrs. James Flagg,
Rutland, A friend,
Windham county Aux. Soc. H. H.
Thompson, Tr.
Windham, A friend,
Windsor county.
Tyson, Plymouth ch.
10 00
63 00 73 00
19 78
8 So 28 58
35 25
224 20 259 45
2 00
17 47
7 48 26 95
3 00
10 00
15 00 28 00
10 00
10 00
17 50
20 00 57 50
4 62
5 05
3 80 13 47
3 20
1 00
491 15
i887.]
Donations.
ii 7
MASSACHUSETTS.
Barnstable county.
Falmouth, ist Cong, ch., m. c.
Sandwich, Cong. ch. and so.
Berkshire county.
Curtisville, Frances M. Clarke,
Great Barrington, ist Cong. ch.
Hinsdale, Cong. ch. and so.
Pittsfield, James H. Dunham,
Stockbridge, Cong. ch. and so.
Williamstown, “ M. H.”
Bristol county.
Attleboro’, 2d Cong, ch., with other
dona., to const. Charles E.
Bliss, H. M.
Fall River, ist Cong. ch.
Norton, Cong. ch. and so.
Westport, A friend,
Brookfield Asso’n. William Hyde, Tr.
Brimfield, 2d Cong. ch.
No. Brookfield, ist Cong, ch., 100;
Mrs. M. T. Reed, 10,
Spencer, ist Cong. ch.
Sturbridge, Cong. ch. and so.
Warren, Cong. ch. and so.
Dukes and Nantucket counties.
Vineyard Haven, A friend,
Essex county.
Lawrence, Lawrence-st. ch.
Essex county, North.
Haverhill, North Cong, ch., 400;
West Cong, ch., 36,
Ipswich, ist Cong. ch.
Newbury, ist Cong, ch., 12.61; do.,
m. c., 25.31,
Newburyport, North Cong. ch.
West Newbury, 2d Cong. ch.
Essex co. South Conf. of Ch’s. C. M.
Richardson, Tr.
Beverly, Washington-st. ch., to
const. Lizzie G. Russell and
A. L. Patch, H. M., 289.86; m.
c., 13.48,
Gloucester, Ev. ch. and so.
Ipswich, South Cong. ch.
Salem, South Cong. ch.
Swampscott, ist Cong. ch.
Franklin co. Aux. Society. Albert M.
Gleason, Tr.
Ashfield, Cong. ch. and so.
Conway, Cong. ch. and so.
Erving, Rev. A. A. Murch,
Orange, Cen. Cong. ch.
Shelburne Falls, E. Maynard,
Hampden co. Aux. Society. Charles
Marsh, Tr.
Huntington, 2d Cong. ch.
Ludlow, Cong. ch. and so.
Monson, Cong. ch. and so.
Springfield, ist Cong, ch, 216.16;
South ch., 139.27; Olivet ch.,
41.36; A friend, 1,000; A friend,
50, 1
West Springfield, ist Cong, ch., 26;
Park-st. ch., 41.47,
Hampshire co. Aux. Society.
Amherst, 2d Cong. ch.
Chesterfield, Cong. ch. and so.
Easthampton, ist Cong. ch.
Hadley, ist Cong. ch.
Northampton, ist Cong, ch., 536.80;
A friend, 5,
Plainfield, A friend,
So. Amherst, Cong. ch. and so.
Williamsburg, Cong. ch. and so.
Middlesex county.
Auburndale, Cong. ch. (of wh. m.
c., 29.86),
Cambndgeport, Pilgrim ch., m. c.
Dracut, Centre Cong. ch.
Framingham, Plymouth ch. and so.
Lowell, Kirk-st. ch., 743.34; ist
Cong, ch., to const. Elbridge
Dearborn, H. M., ioi; John-st.
ch., 20.55; Mrs. G. C. Osgood, 1,
Melrose, Cong. ch. and so.
Newton, •* A.”
Newton Centre, ist Cong. ch.
8
46
37
38-
■—45
84
5
00
152
67
8
95
50
00
87
54
IOO
00 404
16
70
OO
247
56
1 10
OO
CM
0
1
-428
06
13
00
no
00
186
59
58
02
106
00 — 473
61
IO
06
231
96
436
00
15
46
37
92
16
56
2
1
0
CO
0
«n
1
01
3°3 34
119 00
25 00
69 00
30 00 546 34
38 57
11 00
6 00
6 92
9
5 53
17 14
23 20
»446 79
67 47-1,560 13
15 00
25 00
57 82
21 62
541 80
4 00
4 76
50 75 720 75
129 86
2 95
10 00
60 87
865 89
11 50
50 00
125 19
So. Natick, John Eliot ch.
Sudbury, Cong. ch. and so.
Tewksbury, Cong. ch. and so.
W. Newton, Mrs. Elizabeth Price,
Woburn, Cong. ch. and so.
Norfolk county.
Braintree, ist Cong, ch., 45.28;
South Cong, ch., 18.70,
Brookline, Harvard-st. ch.
Cohasset, Trin. Cong. ch.
E. Weymouth, Cong. ch. and so.
Foxboro’, Cong. ch. and so.
Hyde Park, Cong. ch. and so.
Medway, Village ch., with other
dona., to const. F. W. Clarke,
H. M.
Milton, ist Cong, ch., Two friends,
No. Weymouth, Pilgrim ch.
Quincy, Ev. Cong. ch.
Randolph, Cong, ch., m. c., 89.72;
New Year’s greeting, 30,
So. Weymouth, 2d Cong. ch.
Walpole, Cong. ch. and so.
Wellesley Hills, Cong. ch. and so.
Wollaston, Cong. ch. and so.
Plymouth county.
Bridgewater, Cen.-sq. ch., in part,
Campello, South Cong. ch.
Hingham, Ev. Cong. ch.
Whitman, Cong. ch. and so.
Suffolk county.
Boston, Old South c'n., 2,960.44;
Central ch., 1,743; Mt. Vernon
ch., 984.67; Park-st. ch., 398.84;
Eliot ch., 309.17; Immanuel ch.,
116.57; Phillips ch., Mrs. A. Si-
monds, to const. Rev. T. Mc-
Briar, H. M., 50; South Ev.
ch., 42.98; Union ch. (of wh.
13.18, m. c.), 38.18; Boylston ch.,
14.80; A friend, to const. E. P.
Cole, H. M., ioo; Rev. George
F. Stanton, 50; “ E. K. A.,” for
agency dep’t (special), 50; Hollis
Moore Memo. Trust (for books
for Girls’ Sem., Aintab), by E. K.
Alden, Res. Legatee, 32.33; A
friend, 30; Mrs. M. A. Bryant,
10; “M. N. T.,” 10; D. G.
Williams, 5; “I. A. R.,” 2; A
friend, 1.25, 6,
Chelsea, 3d Cong. ch.
Worcester co. Central Asso’n. E. H.
Sanford, Tr.
Boylston, Cong, ch., for five teach-
ers in Ceylon,
Clinton, ist Ev. ch.
E. Douglas, Cong. ch. and so.
Oxford, Cong. ch. and so.
Webster, ist Cong. ch.
West Boylston, C. T. White,
Worcester, Piedmont ch., 45; Salem-
st. ch., 41.72; Summer-st. Sab.
sch., for baby organ at Samokov,
5.91 ; Thank-offering from a friend,
20,
Worcester co. South Conf. of Ch’s.
Amos Armsby, Tr.
Millbury, ist Cong. ch.
Cliftondale, Miss H. A. Haywood,
Loudville, Mrs. M. E. Rust,
, A friend.
25 63
25 00
55 43
25 00
500 co-1,887 32
63 98
225 09
200 OO
50 OO
34 66
35 00
23 5°
10 00
18 49
60 00
119 72
40 00
50 21
70 00
5 07-1.005 72
20 00
5T 67
29 35
107 00 208 02
949 23
89 13-7.038 36
150 00
45 49
34 32
35 00
23 95
2 00
1 12 63 403 39
54 98
3 99
4 00
100 00
15,706 19
Legacies. — Andover, John Smith, by
Joseph W. Smith, Ex’r, 2,000 00
Boston, Mrs. Charlotte A. Stimson,
by C. C. Burr, Trustee, bal, 1,012 22
Boston, Mrs. Hannah C. Porter, by-
George F. Bigelow, Ex’r, 500 00
Boston, Rev. H. B. Hooker, d.d.,
in part, 25 00
Enfield, J. B. Woods, by R. M.
Woods, Trustee, to const. Char-
lotte A. Lathrop, H. M. ioo 00
Whitman, Alfred Brown, by William
P. Corthell, Ex’r, add’l, 500 00—4,137 22
19,843 41
Donations.
[March.
1 18
RHODE ISLAND.
Bristol, Mrs. M. DeW. Rogers, 200 00
Kingston, Cong. ch. and so. 23 34
Newport, United Cong. ch. (of wh.
54.34 from Grace chapel), 233 11
Pawtucket, Cong. ch. (of wh. 100
from a friend, as a memorial offering,
to const. Mrs. George Crawford,
H. M .) , 200 00
Providence, Union Cong, ch., 38.25;
Elisabeth Carlile, 3.90, 42 15 698 60
CONNECTICUT.
Fairfield county.
Bethel, Cong, ch., to const. Rev.
H. L. Slack, H. M., 112.06;
Thank-offering, 5, 117 06
Danbury, 1st Cong. ch. 182 56
Easton, Cong. ch. and so. 9 00
Green’s Farms, Cong, ch., add’l, 5 00
Newtown, Cong. ch. and so. 15 00
Norwalk, 1st Cong, ch., add’l, 17 42
Saugatuck, Mary E. Atkinson, 10 00
South Norwalk, C. M. Lawrence. 1 25
Wilton, Cong ch. and so. 70 00 427 29
Hartford county. E. W. Parsons, Tr.
Bristol, Cong. ch. and so. 43 1 7
Burlington, Cong. ch. and so. 2 00
East Hartford, Cong. ch. and so. 16 00
Farmington, Cong. Sab. sch., for
church-building under Rev. J. E.
Chandler, So. India, 77 26
Hartford, Asylum Hill ch., 350.06;
do. Sab. sch., for Y. M. C. A.,
Prague, 20; South ch., 100;
Weth.-«ve. ch., 31.25; Win.-ave.
Cong, ch., 15; Thank-offering
from a friend, 200; Mrs. Mary
C. Bemis, 100, 816 31
Kensington, William Upson, 10 00
Marlboro', Cong. ch. and so. 11 32
Newington, Cong. ch. and so. 1x5 75
Plainville, Solomon Curtiss, to
const. Mrs. Sarah Dunham,
H. M. 100 00
Southington, Cong. ch. and so. 100 00
Thompsonville, Almira M. Kings-
bury, 9 00
Wapping, Cong. ch. and so. 26 51
Wethersfield, Cong. ch. and so. 47 47
Windsor Locks, A friend, 5 00—1,379 79
Litchfield co. G. M. Woodruff, Tr.
Canaan, 1st Cong. ch. 6 00
Norfolk, Cong. ch. and so. 210 86
North Canaan, Cong. ch. and so. 32 02
Salisbury, Cong. ch. (of wh. m. c.,
7-96), . 158 75
South Canaan, New Year’s offering, 3 00
Woodbury, 1st Cong. ch. 10 00 — 420 63
Middlesex co. E. C. Hungerford, Tr.
Cromwell, Cong. ch. and so. 82 47
Deep River, Mrs. A. Watrous, 3 90
East Hampton, 1st Cong. ch. 45 00
Middletown, South Cong. ch. 58 20
Old Saybrook, Cong. ch. and so. 24 60
Westbrook, Cong. ch. and so. 31 30 245 47
New Haven co. F. T. Jarman, Ag’t.
Ansonia, 1st Cong. ch. 20 20
Meriden, 1st Cong, ch., 25; East
Sanford, 1, 26 00
New Haven, College-st. ch., 142.09;
Davenport ch., to const. C. A.
Hart, H. M., ioo; Dwight-pl.
ch., 30; United ch., m. c., 11;
Centre ch., m. c., 4.35; A friend
in do., 10; A friend, 100, 397 44
North Guilford, Cong. ch. and so. 1 00
North Haven, Cong, ch., to const.
Mrs. H. C. Thorpe, H. M. no 00
Orange, Cong. ch. and so. 8 68
West Haven, Cong. ch. and so. 48 49
Westville, Cong. ch. and so. 30 07
Wolcott, Cong. ch. and so. 5 10 646 98
New London co. L. A. Hyde and
H. C. Learned, Tr’s.
Bozrah, Esther A. Miller, 20 00
Colchester, 1st Cong, ch., add’l, 11 50
Franklin, Cong. ch. and so. 10 00
Jewett City, 2d Cong. ch. 23 00
Ledyard, Cong. ch. and so. 23 64
Lyme, 1st Cong. ch. 45 08
Mystic Bridge, Cong. ch. and so. 38 00
New London, 1st Ch. of Christ,
13.31; A friend in 1st Ch., to
const. John G. Crump, H. M.,
120, 133 31
Norwich, 1st Cong, ch., add’l, 21.01;
2d Cong, ch., 248.95, 269 96
Old Lyme, 1st Cong. ch. 37 65 612 14
Tolland co. E. C. Chapman, Tr.
North Coventry, Cong, ch., to const.
H. M. Kingsbury, H. M. 30 00
Rockville, 1st Cong. ch. 311 83 341 83
Windham county.
Brooklyn, 1st Cong. ch. 21 00
East Woodstock, Cong. ch. and so. 15 00
Hampton, H. Colman, 1 00
Pomfret, 1st Cong. ch. 113 68
Thompson, Cong. ch. and so. 34 31 184 99
, A friend, 500 00
4)759 12
Legacies. — Greenwich, Israel Peck,
by Daniel S. Mead, Jr., Ex’r, 555 50
West Hartford, Mrs. Abigail Tal-
cott, by E. Whiting, Trustee, 64 26 619 76
5,378 88
NEW YORK.
Blooming Grove, Cong. ch. and so. 12 00
Brooklyn, Pilgrim Cong, ch., add’l,
75; A friend, 1, 76 00
Crown Point, 2d Cong. ch. 2 00
East Bloomfield, Cong. ch. and so. 53 22
Floyd, Welsh Cong. ch. 3 00
Glen’s Falls, Mrs. Harriet N. Wing, 50 00
Madison, Cong. ch. and so. 10 35
New Lebanon, Cong. ch. and so., 19;
W. Hitchcock, 2, 21 00
New York, Welsh Cong, ch., 13.25;
Penny Helpers, Seventh-ave. chapel,
for Mrs. Bond, 25; “ A. F.,” 500;
Mrs. John Byers, 100; Anson
Phelps Stokes, ico; W. J. Dem-
orest, 50; C. M. Mather, 25, 813 25
Norwich, Cong. ch. and so. 40 77
North Walton, Cong. ch. and so. 11 25
Poughkeepsie, W. Adriance, 10 00
Rochester, Plymouth ch. 10 48
Rome, Welsh Cong, ch., 5.37; Rev.
W. B. Hammond, 10, 15 37
Steuben, Welsh Cong. ch. 5 37
Stockholm Depot, Cong. ch. and so. 3 00
Syracuse, Plymouth Cong. ch. 73 11
Utica, Cong. ch. and so. 13 31
Wading River, Cong, ch., through
Hannah W. Terry, 25 00
Warsaw, Cong. ch. and so. 11 25
Wellsville, 1st Cong. ch. 26 50
Yonkers, 1st Presb, ch. (of wh. from
Rev. W. W. Rand, d.d., 50; S. P.
Holmes, 10), 87 00
, A friend in Central New York, 10 00—1,383 23
Legacies. — Hopkinton, John New-
man, by V. A. Chittenden, Ex’r, 100 00
New York, John Davidson, by
Thomas A. Atkins, Ex’r, 2,000 00—2,100 00
PENNSYLVANIA.
Carbondale, Thank-offering,
Jeffersonville, Francis Whiting,
Mahanoy City, Welsh Cong. ch.
Mt. Carmel, Cong. ch.
Nanticoke, Welsh Cong. ch.
Scranton, Plymouth ch., 16.21; Thos.
Eynon, 25,
Sharon, 1st Cong. ch.
3.483 23
2 50
10 00
3 50
7 00
8 91
41 21
5 21 78 33
NEW JERSEY.
Cape May, Mrs. C. B. Dungan,
Irvington, Rev. F. S. Underwood,
Newfield, Mrs. Hannah Howe, 15;
Three individuals, 2,
Plainfield, “ Presbyter,” 10; A friend,
io,
Orange, Cong, ch., m. c.
Somerville, Rev. H. Reed, for Ahmed-
nagar,
1 00
25 00
17 00
20 00
7 00
20 00 90 od
i887.]
Donations .
119
MARYLAND.
Baltimore, A friend,
, A friend.
TO OO
250 00 260 OO
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
Washington, 1st Cong, ch., 279.61;
Ralph Dunning, 50,
TENNESSEE.
Knoxville, Mrs. Sarah Bailey,
SOUTH CAROLINA.
Cheraw, “ Part of the tithe,”
OHIO.
Brighton, Cong. ch.
Brownhelm, Cong. ch.
Canfield, Cong. ch.
Cleveland, 1st Cong, ch., 26.80; Mad.-
ave. Cong, ch., 9.17,
Cyclone, Rev. D. W. Hughes and
wife,
Delaware, William Bevan,
Freedom, Cong. ch.
Hartford, Cong. ch.
Lafayette, Cong. ch.
Madison, Cen. Cong. ch.
Oberlin, J. L. Burrell, for Tung-cho
Seminary, China, 400; Rev. E. P.
Barrows, 10,
Painesville, 1st Cong. ch.
Salem, D. A. Allen,
Steubenville, xst Cong, ch., 4.56;
W. Richards, 1.50,
Tallmadge, 1st Cong. ch.
Toledo, Centre Cong. ch.
Unionville, Mrs. J. C. Burnell,
Wellington, Mrs. Mary R. Hamlin,
Windham, William A. Perkins,
York, Cong. ch.
, A friend,
Legacies. — Cleveland, Elisha Taylor,
by J. W. Taylor, Ex’r,
INDIANA.
Terre Haute, S. H. Potter,
Legacies. — Monroeville, Elihu Baldwin,
ILLINOIS.
Blue Island, Cong. ch.
Chicago, New Eng. ch., David Fales,
50; U. P. Cong, ch., m. c., 12.42;
Mark Skinner, 250,
Creal Springs, Rev. P. W. Wallace,
Earlville, J. A. D.
Elgin, Cong. ch.
Godfrey, Church of Christ,
Kewanee, Cong. ch.
Milburne, Cong. ch.
Peru, Cong. ch.
Plymouth, Mrs. R. C. Burton,
Potomac, C. T. Morse,
Princeton, Cong. ch.
Ridge Prairie, Rev. A. Kern,
Roseville, Cong, ch., add’l,
Ross Grove, Cong. ch.
Tolono, Mrs. S. Haskell,
Turner, Mrs. R. Currier,
Wheaton, Mrs. W. K. Guild,
Woodburn, Cong. ch.
329 61
3
OO
12
OO
9
II
35
97
7
00
5
00
10
62
7
35
5
00
30 90
#
410
00
55 96
25
OO
6 06
56 36
8
35
5
00
5°
00
xo
00
16
42
92-
08
779 10
23 00
942 02
967 02
MISSOURI.
Rreckenridge, Cong. ch.
Hamilton, Cong. ch.
Republic, Cong. ch.
St. Joseph, Tabernacle Cong
ch.
312 42
2 50
50 00
117 OO
15 OO
88 03
10 00
13 85
3 00
1 00
27 60
2 50
I OO
7 00
3 00
10 00
10 o®
12 50 — 692 63
9 00
10 00
2 20
2 80 24 OO
25 OO
4 IS
21 50
3 00
35 3°
95
ix 09
9 90
50 00-
MICHIGAN.
Alpena, Cong, ch., A friend, 25 00
East Saginaw, 1st Cong. ch. 19 39
Hudson, 1st Cong. ch. 12 75
Port Huron, xst Cong. ch. 50 00
Romeo, Miss E. B. Dickinson, 50 00
Union City, A friend, 200 00
Vernon, 1st Cong. ch. 6 43
Wheatland, N. R. Rowley, 10 00 373 37
WISCONSIN.
Beloit, 1st Cong, ch., add’l.
Grand Rapids, Cong. ch.
Genessee, Cong. ch.
Lacrosse, Cong. ch.
Lake Geneva, xst Cong, ch., add’l,
Milwaukee, Hanover-st. ch.
Neenah, A. Frederickson,
Racine, E. B. Kilbourne, to const.
Rev. J. K. Kilbourne, H. M.
Watertown, Cong. ch.
Windsor, Cong. ch. 20 00 — 285 64
IOWA.
Belmond, Rev. J. D. Sands, 1 00
Burlington, Cong. ch. 7 29
Chester Centre, Cong. ch. 11 85
Decorah, Cong. ch. 40 75
Grinnell, Mr. and Mrs. White, 5 00
Jewell, T. B. Goddard,
Long Creek, Welsh Cong. ch.
Nashua, Cong. ch.
Ogden, Cong. ch.
Osage, 1st Cong. ch.
Polk City, Cong. ch.
Rockford, Cong. ch.
Tabor, Cong. ch. _ ,
, A friend, 50 00 228 78
MINNESOTA.
Cherry Grove, Mrs. B. Ingalls, 5 00
Elk River, Union ch. 3 40
Glyndon, Cong. ch. 7 40
Medford, Cong. ch. 10 00
Minneapolis, 1st Cong, ch., 47.94;
Plymouth, Cong, ch.,75; Como-ave.
Cong, ch., 6.45; Union Cong, ch.,
1.30; A friend, 5, 135 69
Ortonville, Cong. ch. 5 00
Wadena, H. B. Hamlin, 10 00
Zumbrota, Cong, ch., to const. Rev.
William C. Rice, H. M. 59 05
, Friendis, 400 00 — 635 54
KANSAS.
Leavenworth, xst Cong, ch., 38.80;
Thank-offering boxes, 7, 45 80
Manhattan, Cong. ch. 12 50
Pomona, Rev. L. Newcomb, 2 00
NEBRASKA.
Ashland, Cong. ch.
Friend, Cong. ch.
Omaha, St. M.-ave. Cong. ch.
CALIFORNIA.
Elsinore, Miss M. H. Foote,
National City, Cong. ch.
OREGON.
East Portland, 1st Cong. ch.
Salem, Cong. ch.
WASHINGTON TERRITORY.
Slaughter, Wh. River Cong. ch.
DAKOTA TERRITORY.
Alpena, Ger. Cong. ch. 5 75
Egan, Rev. C. W. Matthews and wife, 5 00
Redfield, Cong. ch. 7 50
Waterbury, Ger. Cong. ch. 3 00
Webster, Cong. ch. 6 00-
MONTANA TERRITORY.
Helena, Cong. ch.
65-
62
75
00
07-
23
00
I5“
42
30
00-
25
120
Donations.
[March, 1887.
DOMINION OF CANADA.
Province of Ontario.
Belwood, Cong. ch. 7 00
Province of Quebec.
Montreal, Charles Alexander, 5 00
FOREIGN LANDS AND MISSIONARY
STATIONS.
England, Chigwell, Mrs. W. C. Gelli-
brand, 50 00
Japan, Kobe, D. C. Jencks, 17 50
Sweden, Stockholm, A friend, for Japan, 5 26 72 76
MISSION WORK FOR WOMEN.
From Woman’s Board of Missions.
Miss Emma Carruth, Boston, Treasurer.
For missionaries in the United States, 493 86
For several missions, in part, 8,583 00—9,076 86
From Woman’s Board of Missions of the
Interior.
Mrs. J. B. Leake, Chicago, Illinois, Treasurer.
(Of which 125.40 for outfit of Dr.
Lucy M. Ingersoll; 15 for work in
Mardin). 2,765 00
MISSION SCHOOL ENTERPRISE.
Maine. — 2d Parish Chinese class, 14; Miss
Libby’s Sab. sch. class, 12, 26 00
New Hampshire. — Gilsum, Cong. Sab. sch.,
8.82; Greenland, Cong. Sab. sch., 17.75;
Keene, 2d Cong. Sab. sch., 46.53, 73 10
Vermont. — Barnet, Cong. Sab. sch. 40 00
Massachusetts. — Boston, Berkeley-st. Sab.
sch., 15.60; Cambridge, Karl and Harold
Howland, 2.50; Dalton, Cong. Sab. sch., for
student at Samokov, 52.80; Fall River,
Mite-gatherers of Pleasant st. Mis. school,
4.10; Haverhill, West Cong. Sab. sch.,
4.71; Leicester, 1st Cong. Sab. sch.
I 19.17; Natick, 1st Cong. Sab. sch.,
for teacher in India, 50; Newburyport,
Belleville Miss. Band (20 for Socrates, 20
for student at Marsovan, 30 for student at
Mardin, 35 for student at Kioto), 105;
Princeton, Infant class, for school in Kalgan,
30; Quincy, Girls’ Mission Circle, 5; Wake-
field, Cong. Sab. sch., for work of Rev.
H. P. Beach, 15.41 ; West Newby, 2d Cong.
Sab. sch., 5.86, 310 15
Connecticut. — Middletown, 1st Cong. Sab.
sch., 30; New Canaan, Cong. Sab. sch., for
Aintab, 80; North Coventry, Cong. Sab.
sch., 14.63; Salisbury, Classes in Cong. Sab.
sch., 13.18, 137 81
New York. — Flushing, Cong. Sab. sch., for
pupil in Broosa school, 40; New York, Mrs.
M. W. Lyon, for girl in Adabazar school,
25; Walton, 1st Cong. Sab. sch., 41.82, 106 82
New Jersey. — Orange Valley, Montrose
Sab. sch. class, for teacher at Egin, Turkey,
13; Plainfield, 1st Pres. Sab. sch., for So-
crates, 20, 33 00
Ohio. — Cleveland, Chinese Sab. sch., for
student at Tung-cho, 50; Tallmadge, 1st
Cong, ch., 27.05, 77 °5
Illinois. — Chicago, New England ch., Steady
Streams for Bridgman School, 13.85; New
England Sab. sch., 52.56; Pecatonica, Cong.
Sab. sch., 4, 70 41
Michigan. — Detroit, 1st Cong. Sab. sch. 25 00
Wisconsin. — Menasha, Cong. Sab. sch.,
prim, dep’t, 10 00
Missouri. —• Windsor, 1st Cong. Sab. sch.,
birthday-offering, 5 31
Iowa. — Cedar Rapids, Mission Sab. sch.,
2.14; Des Moines, Home-offerings of three
sisters, 6.50, 8 64
Kansas. — Neosho Falls, Mrs. H. N. Mc-
Connell, for Boys’ School at Ichme, 22 00
Nebraska. — Omaha, Young People’s Soc’y
of Christian Endeavor, 9 73
Canada. — Toronto, Sab. sch. classes for Mr.
Currie’s work, n 50
966 52
CHILDREN’S “ MORNING STAR” MISSION.
Maine. — Norridgewock, Cong. Sab. sch. 15 00
New Hampshire. — Nashua, Class in Cong.
Sab. sch. 5 00
Vermont. — Brookfield, 2d Cong. Sab. sch.,
12.09; Hubbardton, G. L. and R. A. Flagg,
40c.; Williamstown, Cong. Sab. sch., 8.90, 21 39
Massachusetts. — Boston, Children of 2d
Church (Dorchester), 19.84; Georgetown,
1st Cong, ch., 10; Gloucester, Ev. Cong.
Sab. sch., 10; Hadley, Russell Cong. Sab.
sch., 10. 01 ; Hubbardston, Cong. ch. and so.,
5; Lowell, 1st Cong. Sab. sch., 19; New-
ton Centre, Mite Mission, 14; Somerville,
H. and R. E. Bennett, 30c.; Worcester,
Plymouth Sab. sch., 3; , A friend, 1, 92 15
Rhode Island. — Pawtucket, E. S. Bowen,
1; Providence, Infant class Cen. ch., 2.60, 3 60
Connecticut. — Bethel, Cong. ch. and so.,
6; Fairfield, Cong. Sab. sch., 10;
Middletown, 1st Cong. Sab. sch., 48.35;
North Coventry, Cong. Sab. sch., 6.88;
Stratford, Cong. Sab. sch., 10.60; South-
ington, 1st Cong. Sab. sch., 20, 101 83
New York. — Brooklyn, East Cong. Sab.
sch., 25; East Bloomfield, Cong. Sab. sch.,
43; Columbus, Cong. Sab. sch., 2; Cort-
land, Prim, class, 1st Cong. Sab. sch., 3.50;
Goshen, E. F. Tracy, 40c.; New York,
Arnot Mather, 40c. ; Owego, Cong. Sab.
sch., xo, 84 30
Pennsylvania. — Mahanoy City, E. Jenkins, 26
New Jersey. — Plainfield, Cong. Sab. sch.,
10.50; Upper Montclair, Cong, ch., 12.78, 23 28
Ohio. — Cincinnati, Walnut Hills Sab. sch.,
6.40; Mansfield, Children’s Hour, 1st ch.,
5; Oberlin, Mary Tenney Brand, 10c. 11 50
Illinois. — Aurora, New England Cong. Sab.
sch., T.70; Canton, Cong. Sab. sch., 4.33;
Carthage, Mrs. J. C. Rand, for J. Lawton,
12; Chicago, New England Sab. sch., 8;
Mortun, Cong. Sab. sch., 6, 32 03
Michigan. — Atwood, Banks Cong. Sab. sch.,
2.45; Hillsdale, Mary Smith, 1; Port
Huron, Earnest Workers, 14.60; Richmond,
E. Lathrop, xoc. ; Rosendale, Cong. Sab.
sch., 10; Stanton, Cong. Sab. sch., 10, 38 15
Wisconsin. — Beloit, 2d Cong. Sab. sch. 8 32
Iowa. — Cresco, Cong. Sab. sch., 5; Inde-
pendence, Beatrice F. Hill, 1, 6 00
Minnesota. — Minneapolis, Vine Cong. Sab.
sch. 2 90
Georgia. — Atlanta, Georgia Gleaners of 1st
Cong. ch. 7 00
Alabama. — Mobile, Cong. Sab. sch. 4 00
Kansas. — Sedgwick City, Cong. Sab. sch. 2 00
Colorado. — Fort Lewis, Union Sab. sch. 10 00
Canada. — Rockville, Zion Sab. sch. 1 80
Newfoundland. — St. Johns, H. A. Parsons, 1 00
47i 5i
$4i»5S3 96
8,373 08
$49,927 04
Total from September 1, 1886, to Jan-
uary 31, 1887 : Donations, $136,675.79 ;
Legacies, $25,652.36 = $162,328.15.
Donations received in January,
Legacies received in January,
For Young People.
THE BIBLE IN MADAGASCAR.
It was in 1820 that English missionaries first settled in Madagascar. In 1836
they were banished from the country by the heathen queen Ranavalona. During
the sixteen years of their stay they had learned the language, reduced it to
writing, taught thousands of pupils in their schools, and received the first converts
to what was afterward called the “ Martyr Church.” As the storm of persecution
began to threaten that infant church, the missionaries foresaw that they might be
obliged to leave the island. They, therefore, hastened forward as fast as possible
the work of translating and printing the whole Bible in the Malagasy language.
The converts became more diligent pupils than ever, knowing that they would
soon be left without teachbrs. They were eager to be able to read the Bible.
One poor man, in feeble health, who had not been able to leave his house for
COPY OF OLD BIBLE, opened at Isaiah li and liii.
five months, on hearing that the missionaries were about to depart, determined
to make an attempt to walk to Antananarivo, in order to secure a Bible. Though
he had sixty miles to travel, he kept on until he reached the missionary’s house.
His joy at receiving the sacred Book was indescribable. He pressed it to his
bosom, exclaiming, “ This contains the words of eternal life ; it is my life. I
will take as much care of it as of my own life.” Others walked more than a
hundred miles to get a copy.
The old and battered volume here represented is one of that early edition, and
is now treasured at the Bible House of the British and Foreign Bible Society in
London. For the use of this and the two following cuts we are indebted to
the American Bible Society of New York. Besides giving one of these books
to each convert who stood firm amid persecutions, the missionaries left several
boxes of Bibles, hymnbooks, tracts, and schoolbooks in charge of the native
Christians. These boxes were buried undergound for safety. The majority of
122 The Bible in Madagascar. [March,
the Bibles were in time ruthlessly destroyed, and only about a dozen of them
are now in existence. Several of these are not complete, and nearly all of
them show signs of having been taken to pieces and restitched. The volume
was so bulky and so difficult to hide, or to carry from place to place without
attracting attention, that it was thought best to divide it. Added to this, there
were so few copies that the Christians often gave away a few pages for the
instruction and comfort of others. But
there is a new state of affairs. The natives
can now obtain a beautifully printed volume
of convenient size, like the specimen in the
engraving below, for one shilling ; and
thousands of them are sold.
During the years of persecution, the
queen found that those who had copies of
the Scriptures were the most difficult to
win back to. idolatry. She, therefore, did
her utmost to lay hands on every existing
Bible. But those who had once tasted the
good Word of God, reading it by the
illumination of the Holy Spirit, guarded
their treasure all the more carefully.
copy of old Malagasy bible, Years after, when the prime minister of
ANTANANARIVO, 1835. , , t . i, . .
Madagascar received Christian baptism,
he stated that during those days of darkness a Bible was given him by one of
the martyrs, and that he used to hide it in the courtyard, in a part of the inclos-
ure where the queen kept her fighting-bulls. Besides atrocious murders and
dreadful tortures of those who were thrown into dungeons, many Christians were
made prisoners-at-large. Their life was made a burden to them in the sight of
all, with the hope that their sufferings might terrify others into renouncing Chris-
tianity. Heavy and rugged iron rings six inches in thick-
ness were riveted around the Christian’s neck. This ring
was fastened to a heavy iron bar, three feet long, and
two other rings and bars were linked to the first bar.
Rough iron anklets were also fastened on; the whole
weight of iron being over fifty-six pounds. Mr. Ellis,
the well-known missionary, brought home to England one
of these sets of irons which had been worn by a devoted
Christian who died in them. His father and two sisters
also died in like manner, but his brother, who wore the
irons four years, survived ; the only one out of a whole
family of martyrs. Mr. Ellis says : “ I have seen some
of these surviving sufferers, helpless and bedridden, with scars and wounds in
their flesh, but with peace, hope, joy, and glory in their souls. I never heard
from them a single expression of vindictive feeling. They might have averted
all this suffering in the beginning if they would have renounced the name of
Jesus, and they would have been clothed with honor, enriched with gifts, and
MODERN BIBLE,
LONDON, 1885.
i887.]
The Bible in Madagascar.
123
raised to distinction. At any period of their sufferings, at any hour, they might,
on these conditions, have been instantly relieved, but they refused relief at such
a price.”
The irons were not always put separately on each person. The Christians
were fettered together in bands of five or more, and then they were sent to fever-
haunted regions, that the pains of the fever might be added to the torture of
the galling chains. The irons were never to be removed. When death released
CONSOLATION TO A CHRISTIAN IN CHAINS.
a victim the soldiers in charge cut off the head and feet and slipped off the
rings. But this ruthless act was a kindness, for sometimes there was no one to
separate the dead from the living. Yet when Mr. Ellis revisited Madagascar in
1856, before the wicked queen’s death, he found the number of Christians won.
derfully increased. Churches had been multiplied and secret meetings kept up.
“You remember,” said the native pastor Andriambelo, afterward, when preach-
ing in a beautiful church to four hundred or five hundred people — “ you remember
124
[March, 1887.
The Bible in Madagascar.
how we used to steal cautiously out of the city at night and come by separate
paths to the village ; how we went to the house of a trusted friend and there in
a room in the roof met together to pray and praise. There, in darkness, we used
to repeat to each other portions of God’s Word and sing hymns, but very softly,
almost under our breath, lest we should be heard.”
Is it any wonder that when, at that time, a native Christian of rank visited
Mr. Ellis, and took the missionary’s hand, “ an expression came over his face
such as I had never witnessed in any human being ; an intensity of feeling,
neither ecstasy nor terror, but an apparent blending of both ; while, during the
whole interview, there was a strange uneasiness , mingled with an evident
satisfaction? ”
When the reign of terror in Madagascar passed away with the death of Rana-
valona in 1861, the eager interest of the people in Christian truth burst forth
AN ANCIENT GATEWAY WITH ROLLING DOOR.
uncontrolled. The great progress they made is well known. The missionaries
who have since labored among them have been greatly struck by their craving
for Bible truth. Bible classes have been crowded. After the regular monthly
missionary prayer- meeting, held in the capital, there was, one day, a special
meeting called, of the native pastors and leading people of all the congregations.
No Europeans were present, but it came out that it was held to consider what
more the natives could do to gain a full and clear knowledge of the Word of
God. They had seen commentaries in the missionaries’ libraries. They con-
cluded to send a deputation to the missionaries with the modest request that
they would immediately translate and print the whole of Matthew Henry’s Com-
mentary and Barnes’s Notes ! They brought a long list of paying subscribers, in
token of their sincerity. “ So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed ”
in Madagascar.
}-7 v-83
Missionary Herald
l/T//in/»1n,r.I.hf,?'09ica' Semin,
miiiSpeer Library
1 1012 0 0317