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THE 

Missionary  Review  of  the  World. 


Vol.  XIII.  No.  11.— Old  Series.  NOVEMBER.  Vol.  III.  No.  11.—  New  Series. 


I.— LITERATURE  OF  MISSIONS. 

THE  DUTY  OF  CHRISTENDOM  TO  THE  JEWS. 

BY  REV.    F.   F.    ELLIN  WOOD,    D.D.,    NEW  YORK. 

That  most  intelligent  and  devoted  friend  of  missions,  Robert  N. 
Cust,  LL.  D.,  of  London,  has  published  recently  in  the  Church  Mis- 
sionary Intelligencer,  an  able  article  on  the  changing  phases  of  the 
non-Christian  religions,  in  which  occurs  an  interesting  monograph  on 
"Neo  Judaism."  Dr.  Cust  is  a  member,  not  only  of  the  Adminis- 
trative Committee  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  but  also  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society  to  the  Jews,  and  he  is  equally  qualified  to 
speak  of  the  operations  and  the  successes  of  both.  More  than  this, 
he  is  a  man  who  thoroughly  acquaints  himself  with  the  character 
of  those  systems  which  he  hopes  to  see  displaced  by  the  Gospel  of 
Christ.  He  confesses  that  great  success  has  not  as  yet  crowned  the 
efforts  of  Christian  missionaries  among  the  Jews,  either  in  London  or 
in  the  cities  of  the  Continent  and  of  northern  Africa.  But  he  is  none 
the  less  certain  as  to  the  duty  of  the  Christian  Church.  He  states 
that  the  Jews  now  number  not  less  than  7,000,000,  and  are,  therefore, 
a  much  more  numerous  people  than  were  ruled  over  by  David  or 
Solomon — more  numerous,  in  fact,  than  Palestine  could  possibly  have 
supported. 

If  Dr.  Cust  is  correct  in  this  estimate — and  he  seldom  errs  in  matters 
of  fact — the  return  to  the  Holy  Land  must  be  hastened,  or  it  can  only 
be  re-occupied  by  representation.  For  what  race,  unless  it  be  the 
American  Negro,  increases  so  rapidly  as  the  Hebrew  ?  Wherever  the 
environment  is  favorable,  and  he  has  an  equal  chance  with  others,  the 
Jew  is  the  most  thrifty  of  men,  not  only  in  money-getting  but  in  the 
number  and  healthf  ulness  of  his  children.  Where  the  native  American 
imagines  that  he  cannot  afford  to  marry,  and  must  be  satisfied  with 
the  "  club  "  instead  of  a  home,  the  Jew  rears  a  prosperous  family,  and 
in  the  end  endows  them  with  wealth. 

That  the  Hebrew  race  have  suffered  great  persecution  during  the 
past  centuries,  must  be  confessed  to  the  shame  of  the  Christian 
Church.  They  have  found  in  Europe  as  well  as  Africa  and  western 
Asia,  another  and  much  longer  Babylonish  captivity.  But  that  this 
has  been  wholly  due  to  religious  prejudice  cannot  be  affirmed.  The 
tone  and  implication  of  Shakespeare's  "  Merchant  of  Venice  "  must 


802 


THE  DUTY  OF  CHRISTENDOM  TO  THE  JEWS. 


[Nov. 


rest  on  a  basis  which,  even  in  his  time,  was  historic.  Probably  the 
prejudice  and  contempt  entertained  toward  the  race  by  their  Roman 
conquerors  was  fully  as  strong  as  has  ever  been  exercised  by  the  most 
bigoted  of  Christian  nations.  Nay,  the  latter  prejudice  may  have 
been  in  part  an  heirloom  of  the  former. 

The  strangest  prejudice  and  the  greatest  injustice  and  oppression 
now  visited  upon  the  Jews,  so  far  as  the  Christian  powers  are  con- 
cerned, are  found  in  eastern  Europe,  where  the  doctrines  of  Christi- 
anity have  the  slightest  hold,  and  where  governmental  policy  and  the 
bitterness  of  industrial  competition  must  be  held  responsible  for  the 
entire  crusade.  One  million  of  Jews  are  now  being  banished  from 
Russian  territory,  not  because  of  their  faith  but  because  the  Govern- 
ment does  not  regard  them  as  desirable  subjects. 

One  thing  is  certain,  whatever  prejudice  exists  against  the  Hebrew 
population  in  the  United  States,  does  not  arise  from  differences  of 
faith.  Their  best  friends,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Great  Britain, 
are  found  in  the  Christian  Church — certainly  in  the  Protestant  Church. 

Some  months  since,  the  question  was  sent  out  to  different  men  of 
prominent  positions  among  us,  "What  is  the  occasion  of  the  prevail- 
ing prejudice  against  the  Hebrews  ?"  Generally  the  response  given 
was,  "We  are  not  aware  of  any  prejudice."  Several  clergymen  dis- 
avowed any  feeling  of  the  kind.  But  Rev.  Edward  Everett  Hale 
was  credited  with  charging  the  hostile  feeling  to  a  difference  of 
religious  faith. 

As  the  implication  was  that  of  a  prejudice  now  existing  on  the 
part  of  the  American  churches,  we  must  earnestly  protest  against  it. 
Mr.  Hale  cannot  be  aware — possibly  he  has  forgotten — that  four  or 
five  years  ago,  U.  S.  Minister  Strauss  was  chosen  to  represent  our 
Government  at  Constantinople  on  the  recommendation  of  the  mission- 
ary boards,  and  that  petitions  from  the  missionaries  in  the  Turkish 
Empire  were  sent  to  Washington  asking  that  he  might  be  appointed 
for  a  second  term. 

The  hostile  feeling  against  the  Jews  in  this  country  grows  out  of 
business  relations.  It  is  not  cherished  by  Christians  as  such,  but  by 
those  who  have  had  to  do  with  them  in  trade,  or  by  those  who  have 
been  employed  by  them  in  manufacturing.  The  trades  unions, 
largely  composed  of  infidels  and  Nihilists,  would  probably  be  found 
to  represent  the  most  bitter  of  all  the  animosities  that  they  encoun- 
ter. Whether  it  be  just  or  not,  there  exists  a  feeling  that  the  chief 
oppressors  of  poor  needle-women  are  Jews.  The  industries  in  which 
unfortunate  and  starving  females  engage,  as  a  last  resort,  are  mostly 
in  the  hands  of  this  class  of  men,  and  when  the  ruinous  rates  at  which 
manufactured  garments  are  produced  in  the  attics  and  tenement 
houses  of  desperate  poverty  come  to  be  known,  it  must  not  be  thought 
strange  if  popular  sympathy  and  indignation  are  aroused.  Some 


1890.] 


THE  DUTY  OF  CHRISTENDOM  TO  THE  JEWS. 


803 


Americans  join  in  the  same  extortion,  but  their  miserable  plea  is  that 
competition  compels  them  to  do  what  others  do.  As  a  rule,  women 
do  not  "strike."  They  suffer  on  and  die,  and  their  employers  prosper 
and  live  on  Fifth  Avenue. 

There  are  among  our  Hebrew  citizens  thousands  of  worthy  and 
honorable  business  men  who  suffer  unjustly  from  the  prejudice  which 
other  thousands  of  their  race  have  brought  upon  them,  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped,  that  on  the  one  hand,  public  opinion  will  become  more  discrim- 
inating, while  on  the  other,  the  example  of  the  nobler  Hebrew  trades- 
men will  raise  the  standard  of  honor  and  humanity  among  all  their  race. 

Another  thing  which  creates  prejudice  against  the  Jews  may  be 
regarded  as  a  mere  accident  of  their  phenomenal  thrift.  At  the  sum- 
mer resorts  they  are  deemed  undesirable  guests  on  account  of  rough 
and  disagreeable  manners.  This  is  no  proof  that  the  average  of  the 
race  is  more  clownish  or  swinish  than  other  races.  Quite  as  disagree- 
able companionship  might  be  found  among  the  Irish,  or  some  classes 
of  native-born  Americans,  but  the  difference  is,  that  these  are  not 
found  at  first-class  hotels;  with  them,  there  is  a  different  relation  be- 
tween manners  and  money.  Financial  competency  reaches  a  lower 
stratum  in  Jewish  society  than  in  any  other.  It  extends  to  classes 
among  whom  the  gentle  amenities  of  life  are  unknown,  and  even  good 
grammar  is  wanting.  And  the  same  habit  of  overreaching,  which  has 
made  the  money,  is  carried  into  all  the  contacts  and  experiences  of 
hotel  life. 

Now,  it  is  quite  time  that  the  common  notion  that  Jews  are  suffer- 
ing from  any  narrow  religious  prejudice  of  the  Christian  Church 
were  laid  aside. 

How  is  it  in  Mohammedan  countries  where  a  common  rejection  of 
Christianity  might  be  supposed  to  draw  both  classes  of  rigid  Mono- 
thists  together  in  full  sympathy?  In  no  Christian  country — not  even 
in  Russia — is  there  so  bitter  a  hatred,  so  degrading  a  bondage  for  the 
Jews  as  in  northern  Africa — particularly  in  Morocco.  They  are 
thrifty  in  money  matters,  even  there.  It  is  impossible  to  impoverish 
them  by  any  ordinary  measures  of  oppression.  On  some  accounts  it 
is  for  the  interest  of  impecunious  Moors,  and  even  of  the  officials,  to 
have  such  a  class  from  whom  to  borrow  money,  and  by  whose  energy 
business  shall  be  kept  from  stagnation,  but  as  to  indignities  of  every 
kind,  the  treatment  meted  out  to  them  is  almost  incredible.  They 
must  wear  a  prescribed  attire,  and  dwell  in  a  certain  quarter,  and 
submit  to  many  special  police  regulations;  while  in  taxation,  the  only 
question  is  how  far  the  life  blood  can  be  drawn  with  safety. 

It  seems  strange  that  in  their  wide  range  among  the  nations,  these 
people  who  are  not  a  nation,  cling  to  the  Mohammedans  and  the 
Christians.  Though  the  world  is  open  before  them,  and  they  do  not 
seem  bound  by  local  attachments,  they  are  never  found  among  the 


804  THE  DUTY  OF  CHRISTENDOM  TO  THE  JEWS.  [Nov, 

heathen.  Opportunities  for  money-getting  have  been  great  in  the 
East;  almost  every  other  race  of  Europe  and  western  Asia — ancient 
and  modern — has  been  lured  by  the  wealth  of  India  or  China  or  the 
southern  Archipelago,  but  never  the  Jew.  His  financial  counterpart, 
the  Parsee,  is  everywhere  found  in  the  East,  driving  bargains  with 
Jewish  sagacity,  in  opium  or  in  spices  and  coffee,  but  the  Hebrew  has 
never  crossed  their  track.  Even  in  those  centuries  where  he  has  suffered 
the  greatest  disabilities  in  the  proscribed  "Jew  quarters"  of  European 
or  Levantirie  cities,  it  seems  never  to  have  occurred  to  him  to  join  the 
rush  of  Persians,  Pathans,  Macedonians,  Portuguese,  Dutch,  and 
English,  after  the  wealth  of  the  heathen  Orient.  He  preferred  to  be 
snubbed  and  crushed  by  Christian  and  Moslem  nations,  and  to  find 
solace  in  that  money-getting  passion  which,  in  the  course  of  centuries, 
has  become  a  nature. 

Hertzog  alludes  to  the  fact  that  the  Jew  confines  himself  mostly 
to  temperate  latitudes;  he  is  not  found  in  the  tropics  of  either  hemis- 
phere. And  our  readers  hardly  need  to  be  reminded  that  he  is  al- 
ways found  in  the  cities.  Who  ever  heard  of  a  Hebrew  farmer? — at 
least  this  side  of  Bible  times.  The  Nomadic  character  has  forsaken 
him.  He  is  no  longer  a  keeper  of  sheep.  Yet,  no  other  race  except  the 
Hindu  or  the  Mongolian  has  shown  such  tenacity  of  life  and  such  un- 
impaired vigor.  The  Romans  who  crushed  the  national  life  of  Israel, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Assyrians  who  enslaved  and  scattered  the 
chosen  tribes,  on  the  other,  have  alike  perished,  while  the  seed  of  Abra- 
ham, driven  everywhither,  have  survived  and  are  more  numerous  and  a 
hundredfold  more  thrifty  than  in  the  days  of  Solomon  and  his  glory. 

The  financial  power  of  Jewish  bankers  on  the  Continent  of  Europe 
has  become  proverbial.  The  author  of  La  France  Juive  claims  that 
French  politics,  as  well  as  finance,  are  largely  controlled  by  the  same 
race.  We  have,  in  our  day,  seen  a  D' 'Israeli  climb  to  the  heights  of 
power  in  England,  and  wield  a  magician's  wand  over  Queen  and  Par- 
liament, and  finally  win  for  himself  a  statue  in  the  consecrated 
shrine  of  national  heroes  and  statesmen. 

On  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  the  main  business  thoroughfare  of 
our  great  metropolis  is  exchanging  the  names  of  its  old  American 
firms  for  the  "names  of  German  Jews.  They  are  sure  to  become 
not  only  a  great  financial  power  but  a  strong  social  and  political  ele- 
ment in  this  country.  The  logic  of  their  twofold  increase — by 
natural  generation  and  by  immigration— -renders  certain  a  great  future 
development. 

Meanwhile,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  a  better  state  of  feeling  is 
springing  up.  If  the  Jew  has  been  rather  Ishmaelitish  than  Israelitish 
it  is  not  wholly  his  fault,  though  it  is  in  part.  On  both  sides,  there 
should  be  confidence,  and  among  business  men  of  the  highest  grade 
there  is  already  a  clasping  of  hands  over  the  old  "wall  of  partition." 


1890.] 


THE  DUTY  OF  CHRISTENDOM  TO  THE  JEWS. 


805 


Dr.  Cust  quotes  from  an  address,  delivered  this  very  year,  by  Dr. 
Adler  (not  Felix),  in  the  great  synagogue  in  Aldgate,  in  the  presence 
of  the  Lord-Mayor,  himself  a  Jew,  in  which  the  Rabbi  alluded  to  the 
influence  exerted  by  that  synagogue.  "Many  a  soul-stirring  service," 
said  the  speaker,  "has  been  witnessed  within  its  venerable  walls. 
Whatever  the  event  that  moved  the  hearts  of  England's  sons — when 
a  great  victory  evoked  national  rejoicing;  when  a  sovereign  had  been 
stricken  down  by  illness,  and  when  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  send  him 
healing;  when  a  joyous  jubilee  was  kept,  and  when  death  had  entered 
the  palace — -every  event  was  commemorated  in  the  great  synagogue 
with  the  voice  of  prayer  and  supplication,  of  praise  and  thanksgiving, 
proving  that  the  Israelite  then,  as  always,  was  steeped  to  the  very 
lips  with  loyalty.  Nor  were  the  administrators  of  the  synagogue 
unmindful  of  the  needs  of  their  fellow-men — though  of  other  lands  and 
creeds.  Whether  the  appeal  came  to  relieve  a  famine  in  Sweden,  or 
to  diminish  the  sufferings  of  English  prisoners  in  France,  or  a  plaint 
reached  these  shores  from  the  hunger-stricken  children  of  Ireland — 
the  authorities  of  the  great  synagogue  were  ever  ready  to  aid  and  to 
succor." 

The  benefactions  as  well  as  the  exalted  character  of  a  Moses  Mon- 
tifiore  are  fresh  in  the  mind  of  every  reader.  And  that  love  of  fair 
play  which  is  so  strong  in  the  character  of  Englishmen,  is  welcoming 
such  men  as  he  to  their  confidence,  and  is  appreciating  the  philan- 
thropic efforts  of  the  great  synagogue. 

Instead  of  clinging  to  an  old  religious  grudge  against  the  race, 
Christian  London  is  the  focal  centre  of  interest  in  their  welfare.  Mis- 
sions to  the  Jews  at  home  and  abroad  are  multiplied,  and  the  strong 
prayer  of  faith  is  offered  up  by  thousands  of  devout  Christians  that  God 
will  redeem  His  own  chosen  people  by  the  blood  of  an  accepted  Christ! 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  Christian  Church  at  large  has  seemed 
to  be  apathetic  in  regard  to  Jewish  missions,  but  it  has  been  rather 
the  apathy  of  despair  than  of  indifference.  There  has  been  too  great 
a  readiness  to  "turn  unto  the  Gentiles"  and  to  consider  the  engrafted 
"wild  olive"  the  real  tree.  At  the  London  Missionary  Conference  of 
1888,  Mr.  James  E.  Mathieson  quoted  the  late  Dr.  Schwartz  as  saying, 
"You  Gentile  Christians  take  all  the  sweet  promises  to  yourselves, 
but  you  leave  all  the  curses  to  the  poor  Jews."  And  in  continuing, 
Mr.  Mathieson  alluded  to  a  custom  of  the  Scotch  ecclesiastical  bodies 
•of  rising  at  the  close  of  their  sessions  (though  they  usually  sit  in 
prayer),  and  singing  with  marked  solemnity:  "Pray  for  the  peace 
of  Jerusalem:  they  shall  prosper  that  love  thee,"  etc.  "But  they  do 
not  mean  Jerusalem,"  he  added,  "and  they  do  not  mean  the  Jews: 
they  mean  the  Established  Church  and  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland." 
Is  not  this  something  like  "robbery  for  burnt  offering  ?" 

But,  however,  the  Church,  as  a  whole,  may  have  negleeted  her 


806 


THE  DUTY  OP  CHRISTENDOM  TO  THE  JEWS. 


[Nov. 


duty,  there  have  always  been  those  who  have  God's  chosen  people  in 
their  hearts.  Count  Zinzendoof,  the  founder  of  the  Moravian  Mis- 
sions, took  a  warm  interest  in  the  Jews,  and  he  had  the  great  joy,  in 
1735,  of  seeing  a  prominent  Jewish  rabbi  become  a  member  of  the 
Moravian  Church,  and  a  successful  missionary  among  his  people. 
"Everywhere,"  says  Dr.  Fleming,  Secretary  of  the  London  Society 
for  promoting  Christianity  among  the  Jews,  "  he  won  the  esteem  of 
the  Jews,  and  not  long  since,  a  gift  was  sent  to  the  Moravian  Church 
at  Herrnhut  by  a  Jewish  family  who  cherished  the  traditions  of  bless- 
ing through  Rabbi  Lieberkuhn." 

The  London  Society,  above  named,  has  been  at  work  for  over 
eighty  years.  Nor  is  it  alone.  There  are  altogether  eight  Jewish 
missionary  societies  in  England,  five  in  Scotland,  and  one  in  Ireland. 
Together,  these  employ  312  agents.  On  the  Continent  of  Europe,  the 
societies  number  27.  America  has  seven,  with  34  agents.  Thus  48 
societies  with  377  agents  are  striving  to  win  God's  ancient  people  to 
their  own  Messiah.  That  their  labors  have  not  been  wholly  in  vain 
is  shown  by  the  estimated  fact  that  100,000  Jews  have  been  baptized 
in  the  last  seventy-five  years,  and  that  with  their  children  the  number 
of  believers  may  be  set  down  at  250,000.  Among  these  have  been 
many  distinguished  men. 

Though  these  numbers  are  not  relatively  great,  yet  it  is  believed 
that  the  breaking  down  on  both  sides  of  an  unrelenting  prejudice, 
has  been  a  far  greater  result  and  one  which  opens  the  way  for  blessed 
in-gatherings  in  the  time  to  come. 

There  are  certainly  some  valid  grounds  of  hope  for  the  Jews,  even 
aside  from  the  Divine  promises.  They  are  less  tenacious  of  their  old 
faith  than  they  were  formerly.  Though  still  more  or  less  clannish, 
yet  they  are  more  than  ever  disposed  to  break  down  barriers  and  be 
like  other  people.  They  are  getting  tired  of  the  real  or  imagined 
stigma  and  reproach  attached  to  their  name.  Each  successive  gen- 
eration cares  less  for  the  old  shibboleths  and  more  for  the  privileges 
of  social  life  without  distinction  of  race. 

It  is  seen  that  the  prophetic  situation  is  awkward.  If  the  Messiah 
has  come,  who,  and  what  was  He  ?  If  He  has  not  come,  when  will  He 
appear  ?  If  sacrifice  symbolized  a  promised  Redeemer  why  is  it  not 
kept  up  ?  Why  is  the  Moslem  permitted  to  hold  century  after  cen- 
tury, the  only  place  of  sacrifice,  unless  to  show  that  its  meaning  is 
done  away  and  its  necessity  gone  ?  Perhaps  it  is  in  despair  over  such 
questions  as  these  that  multitudes  of  Jews  are  driven  to  Agnosticism. 

More  and  more  Jews  observe  our  Sabbath  as  a  day  of  rest,  and 
their  Sabbath-schools  inevitably  tend  toward  Christian  ways.  It  is 
well-nigh  impossible  to  prevent  their  children  from  coming  into 
sympathy  with  the  Christian  institutions  and  customs  which  prevail 
around  them. 


1890.] 


THE  DUTY  OF  CHRISTENDOM  TO  THE  JEWS. 


807 


Two  or  three  years  ago  a  liberal-minded  and  philanthropic  Jew 
in  Italy  offered  an  immense  sum  of  money  to  be  devoted  to  the  edu- 
cation of  children  in  Russia,  and  recommended  that  Jews  and  Chris- 
tians be  educated  together.  His  idea  was  that  the  race  distinction 
should  be  ignored,  and  that  the  young  of  his  people  should  be  allowed 
to  become  absorbed  in  the  national  life  wherever  they  might  be,  and 
that  gradually  the  distinction  between  Jew  and  Gentile  should  dis- 
appear. It  may  be,  that  social  absorption,  intermarriage,  the  assimi- 
lating influence  of  the  common  school,  the  fading  out  of  the  Jewish 
pride  and  prejudice  of  race  are  to  be  factors  in  God's  plan  of  recovery. 
Doubtless,  they  will  have  a  part  to  act,  but  God's  express  will  is  that 
the  Gospel  shall  be  faithfully  preached  meanwhile,  and  that  prayer 
be  offered  for  His  people. 

Surely  the  Christian  Church  owes  it  to  itself  to  present  no  higher 
consideration  to  promote  the  spiritual  enlightenment  of  the  Jews. 
We  ourselves  need  this  effort,  if  only  to  remind  us  continually  how 
much  we  owe  to  the  race  that  gave  us  the  Saviour  of  mankind — if 
only  to  keep  fresh  in  memory  the  great  missionary  whom  the  Jewish 
race  gave  as  the  Apostle  to  us  Gentiles.  Our  indebtedness  for  the 
Chief  of  the  apostles  will  never  be  paid.  The  Gentile  world,  with 
its  Christian  institutions,  is  a  monument  of  the  great  fact  that  it  is 
possible  to  overcome  the  most  inveterate  Jewish  prejudice,  and  to 
win  the  stoutest  Pharasaic  heart  to  Christ.  If  Paul  could  be  con- 
verted and  could  convert  thousands  of  others  of  his  own  faith,  the 
Christian  Church  has  no  right  to  despair.  Jewish  synagogues 
were  the  first  cradles  of  the  nascent  church  in  all  lands.  They  opened 
their  doors  to  the  apostles  for  the  planting  of  the  first  germs  of  truth, 
and  Jewish  converts  everywhere  gave  character  and  steadiness  to  the 
ignorant  Gentile  church. 

But,  how  shall  the  Jews  of  our  time  be  reached  ?  The  London 
Society,  as  the  result  of  eighty  years  of  experience,  answers  this  ques- 
tion under  the  following  heads: 

(1.)  By  striving  to  win  their  confidence  by  removing  prejudice: 
(a.)  Never  speak  sneeringly  or  disparagingly  of  them;  overcome  the 
habit  in  ourselves  and  others,  (b.)  Manifest  sympathy  with  them  as  a 
nation  and  as  individuals,    (c.)  Win  confidence  by  medical  missions. 

(2.)  By  preaching  the  Gospel  as  the  apostles  preached  it — proving 
from  their  own  Scriptures  that  Christ  is  the  promised  Messiah. 

(3.)  By  encouraging  a  diligent,  candid,  and  prayerful  study  of 
the  whole  Bible — the  Old  and  the  New  Testament  in  their  connec- 
tion. 

(4.)  By  educating  Jewish  children.  In  a  school  supported  by  the 
Society,  in  Palestine  Place,  London,  where  595  Jewish  boys  have 
been  educated,  the  master,  after  28  years  of  service,  does  not  know 
of  one  pupil,  who,  after  pursuing  a  full  course,  has  relapsed  into 
Judaism. 

(5.)  By  assisting  poor  Jewish  youth  to  obtain  positions  and  en- 
couraging them  in  seeking  a  subsistence. 

(6.)  By  training  promising  young  men  as  missionaries. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten,  as  an  encouragement,  that  the  Jews 
are  worshippers  of  our  God,  have  a  large  portion  of  our  Bible,  are 
sharers  of  our  civilization,  speak  our  language,  and  are — or  ought  to 
be — our  friends  as  well  as  neighbors,  and  are  even  before  us,  heirs 
of  the  covenant  of  promise  ! 


SOS 


THE  MIRACLES  OF  MISSIONS. 


[Xov. 


THE  MIRACLES  OF  MISSIONS. 
THE  WONDERFUL  STORY  OF  MADAGASCAR. 

[EDITORIAL.  — A.  T.  P.] 

To  an  English  boy,  Robert  Drury,  wrecked  near  Port  Dauphine,  the 
Southeastern  cape  of  Madagascar,  we  owe  the  first  full  account  of 
the  savages  on  this  great  island.  He  saw  the  captain  and  crew,  who 
escaped  with  him  from  the  angry  sea,  pierced  with  the  lances  of  the 
inhospitable  natives,  till  out  of  over  a  hundred  only  a  dozen  survived, 
and  he  himself  was  saved  only  to  be  enslaved.  This  was  early  in  this 
century.  He  found  the  country  divided  among  many  warring  tribes  ; 
might  the  only  right,  women  and  children  carried  off  like  cattle  and 
made  slaves  ;  woman,  so  degraded  that  even  the  King's  daughter,  wife 
or  mother,  cringed  before  him  and  licked  his  feet.  Heathen  ceremonies 
of  the  most  absurd  and  degrading  kind  were  matters  of  daily  occurrence. 
A  wooden  charm  called  an  owley,  borne  up  by  forked  sticks,  was  wor- 
shiped with  incense.  Fortune  tellers,  or  umossees,  held  the  people 
in  the  bondage  of  superstition,  and  lived  upon  their  ignorance  and 
credulity.  The  Malagasy  were  the  victims  of  magicians,  and  constantly 
fought  and  plundered  one  another.  The  arrival  of  a  European  vessel 
was  the  signal  for  wholesale  crimes  of  lust  and  trading  in  human  bodies 
and  souls.    All  who  had  slaves  drove  them  to  the  seaside. 

Half  a  century  ago  the  Hovas  held  the  interior  portion  of  the  island, 
and  their  King  or  chief,  who  was  called  Radama,  had  come  to  the  throne 
in  1808.  With  these  Hovas  and  their  sovereigns  the  modern  history 
of  Madagascar  is  mainly  concerned.  Morally  and  spiritually  the  picture 
is  very  dark.  From  three  to  four  thousand  natives  were  sold,  it  is  said, 
every  year,  and  the  spot  where  they  caught  the  last  glimpse  of  home,  and 
the  first  glimpse  of  the  sea  that  was  to  bear  them  into  hopeless  exile,  is 
even  now  called  the  "weeping  place  of  the  Hovas."  Though  they  had 
courts  of  law,  bribery  was  so  common  that  trial  was  a  form  and  a 
farce.  Honesty  was  scarce  known,  and  children  were  trained  to  false- 
hood and  deception  as  a  virtue.  Punishments  were  savagely  cruel, 
devised  to  give  long,  lingering  pain — burning  by  slow  fires,  drowning 
in  boiling  water,  poisoning  by  tangena,  beating,  starving,  hurling  over 
precipices,  crucifying.  The  tangena  was  a  substitute  for  trial,  and 
thousands  died  every  year  from  this  poison,  while  those  who  proved 
their  innocence  by  outliving  the  dose  were  wrecked  in  health. 

The  people  were  a  nation  of  thieves  as  well  as  liars.  Madame 
Pfeiffer's  property  was  stolen  while  at  the  house  of  the  Chief  Justice, 
but  recovery  was  impossible,  where  even  high  officers  stole.  Even 
graves  were  robbed,  bodies  stripped,  and  every  article  of  value  buried 
with  the  dead  was  an  object  of  ruthless  plunder.  The  nation  was  so 
wedded  to  lying  and  thieving  that  Christianity  was  objected  to  because 
it  taught  people  to  be  true  and  honest.  They  were  so  far  lost  to  all 
virtue  that  they  resisted  any  influence  that  promised  moral  improvement. 


1890.] 


THE  MIRACLES  OF  MISSIONS. 


809 


As  to  the  homes  of  Madagascar,  there  were  none.  A  native  never  spoke 
of  family  or  family  ties.  Madame  Pfeiffer's  travels  had  brought  to  her 
knowledge  no  people  so  immoral,  and  her  pen  refused  to  chronicle 
what  her  eyes  and  ears  were  compelled  to  see  and  hear.  The  worst 
vices  were  so  universal  as  to  seem  natural.  A  man  might  put  away 
his  wife  for  no  cause  and  take  a  fresh  one  as  often  as  his  caprice  or 
passion  led  him;  female  virtue  was  of  so  little  account  that  it  did  not 
even  affect  the  legitimacy  of  offspring.  Children  born  on  unlucky 
days  it  was  no  crime  to  strangle,  drown  or  expose  to  the  trampling 
feet  of  cattle. 

The  Hovas  were  not  an  irreligious  people — idols  filled  the  land. 
Gods  were  so  plenty  that  anything  new,  which  they  did  not  compre- 
hend, though  it  were  a  machine  or  a  photograph,  they  deified.  Their 
idols  were  conceived  as  having  all  powTer,  but  neither  knowledge  nor 
goodness,  virtue  nor  love;  they  were  simply  human  greed,  cruelty, mean- 
ness and  malice,  invested  with  almightiness!  monsters  of  lies  and  lusts. 

Among  such  a  people — of  whom  the  French  governor  of  the  Isle  of 
Bourbon  said,  "  You  might  as  well  attempt  to  convert  sheep,  oxen  or 
asses,  as  to  make  the  Malagasy  Christians  " — among  such  a  people  the 
gospel  has  gone  to  win  some  of  its  mightiest  triumphs. 

The  first  obvious  step  that  God  took  was  one  of  preparation.  He 
gave  Madagascar  political  unity.  King  Radama  in  his  reign  of  twenty 
years  "proved  himself  the  Caesar  or  Napoleon"  of  his  realm,  making  him- 
self master  of  the  whole  island  except  two  districts  in  the  Southland 
this  rendered  easier  the  spread  of  a  new  faith,  as  the  unification  of  the 
Roman  Empire  had  done  eighteen  centuries  before.  Radama  was  at 
once  a  general,  a  ruler  and  a  reformer.  He  had  with  all  his  faults  and 
vices  a  patriotic  spirit.  Contact  with  European  civilization  had  been 
sufficient  to  satisfy  him  of  its  superior  type,  and  he  first  opened  the 
door  to  civilization  and  Christianity  that  he  might  secure  the  progress 
and  prosperity  of  his  people.  He  made  a  treaty  with  Britain,  abolish- 
ing the  slave  trade,  though  domestic  slavery  still  prevailed  in  his  own 
dominions;  and  seeing  the  benefits  accruing  to  even  heathen  lands 
from  the  gospel  of  Christ,  he  welcomed  the  pioneer  English  mission- 
ary, in  1820,  to  his  capital  Antananarivo,  and  kept  his  word,  which 
pledged  to  him  and  others  who  might  join  him  royal  protection. 

The  missionaries  reduced  the  language  of  the  people  to  writing,  and 
in  teaching  and  preaching  had  all  their  time  and  strength  employed. 
God  gave  them  the  king's  patronage;  an  adult  school  was  opened  in 
the  palace  court  yard,  and  by  his  favor  a  central  model  school  was 
opened  for  training  native  teachers  for  the  villages  round  about;  and 
when  murmurs  arose  against  the  missionaries,  because  their  teachings 
lessened  respect  for  the  native  religion,  Radama  had  the  independence 
and  the  indifference  to  go  on  with  the  work  of  education,  at  heart 
caring  nothing  for  the  idols  that  the  Hovas  worshipped. 


810 


THE  MIRACLES  OF  MISSIONS. 


[Nov. 


In  1826  the  first  printing  press  was  set  up  in  the  island,  and  a  new 
literature  began  to  be  created.  The  people  were  slowly  waking  from 
the  sleep  of  ages.  But  at  the  death  of  Radama,  in  June,  1828,  not  one 
convert  had  yet  made  a  confession  of  Christ.  The  king  himself 
was  a  progressive  sovereign,  but  he  was  led  simply  by  worldly  wisdom. 
It  was  civilization  and  not  Christianity,  as  such,  that  he  encouraged. 
He  was  too  intelligent  to  have  faith  in  priestcraft  and  witchcraft,  but 
too  carnally  minded  to  embrace  Christianity  or  even  attend  preach- 
ing services. 

And  now  opens  the  era  of  a  most  bloody  and  cruel  persecution. 
One  of  Radama's  wives,  Ranavalona,  took  forcible  possession  of  the 
throne,  mounting  it  by  murdering  all  rivals.  If  Radama  was  the  Cae- 
sar, she  was  the  "  Bloody  Mary,"  of  Madagascar.  From  twenty  to 
thirty  thousand  victims  fell  annually  a  prey  to  her  cruelty.  She  was 
as  reckless  as  Nero,  as  treacherous  as  Judas,  and  as  selfish  as  Cleopa- 
tra. Her  chief  amusement  was  a  bull-fight,  her  imperial  journeys  were- 
destructive  raids  that  left  famine  in  their  track,  and  her  whole  rule 
was  that  of  a  despot  that  cared  neither  for  the  liberty  nor  life  of  her 
subjects.  She  would  waste  tears  over  the  death  of  a  favorite  bull,  and 
lavish  honors  on  its  burial,  such  as  not  even  the  decease  of  her  whole 
family  would  have  drawn  forth.  Had  her  reign  been  long,  the  island 
would  have  been  a  depopulated  desert ;  and  as  it  was,  it  has  been  cal- 
culated that  half  of  the  population  perished  under  her  bloody  sceptre. 
We  purposely  draw  her  hideous  portrait  that  it  may  be  seen  what  was 
the  natural  flower  of  the  Madagascar  society,  and  under  what  a  deadly 
influence  the  infant  church  of  Christ  there  struck  down  its  tender 
roots  and  unfolded  its  stalk. 

There  was  everything,  humanly  speaking,  to  prevent  the  gospel  from 
getting  any  hold  in  Madagascar.  The  soil  was  thick  with  the  awful 
growths  of  a  paganism  of  the  lowest  type  ;  and  a  queen  who  had  neither 
justice  nor  mercy  was  ready  to  pluck  up  the  first  plant  of  godliness,  or 
burn  over  any  field  where  the  seed  of  the  gospel  might  spring  up. 
Among  her  first  acts  was  the  prohibition  of  all  preaching  and  the  break- 
ing up  of  the  schools.  Afterward,  probably  from  motives  of  policy, 
she  permitted  the  missionaries  not  only  to  make  converts,  but  to  organ- 
ize native  Christian  churches,  and,  in  1831,  twenty  were  baptized, 
among  them  "  Paul,"  who  had  been  a  famous  heathen  diviner,  but  wTho 
had  become  a  humble  learner  in  the  school  of  Christ. 

As  soon  as  the  work  of  conversion  thus  began  in  earnest,  the  queen 
set  herself  resolutely  against  it.  Her  hatred  and  cruelty  were  so  satanic 
that  a  pall  seemed  to  have  fallen  upon  the  whole  people.  The  preach- 
ing went  forward,  and  the  queen  was  besought  not  to  persecute  the 
new  disciples.  But  it  was  all  in  vain.  In  March,  1834,  a  royal  proc- 
lamation was  made  in  the  ears  of  a  hundred  thousand  people  drawn 
up  on  the  plain,  Imahamasina,  declaring  war  against  the  new  faith.. 


1890.] 


THE  MIRACLES  OF  MISSIONS. 


811 


Converts  were  branded  as  criminals,  and  required  to  accuse  themselves 
within  one  week  on  pain  of  death.  Astonishing  as  it  may  seem,  the 
great  body  of  these  native  disciples  stood  firm.  Praying  for  help, 
trusting  in  God,  they  appeared  before  the  judges  and  confessed  their 
faith  in  Jesus.  In  these  days  of  peril  these  Malagasy  Christians  spent 
whole  nights  in  prayer,  by  their  fidelity  to  an  unseen  Saviour  exciting 
the  astonishment  of  their  very  enemies.  The  queen  contented  herself 
in  this  case  with  degrading  four  hundred  officers  and  fining  two  thou- 
sand others.  A  week  later  she  demanded  all  boohs  to  be  delivered 
up.  As  all  literature  on  the  island  was  the  creation  of  the  mission 
press,  this  edict  was  aimed  against  the  Bible.  But  the  brave  Malagasy 
would  not  give  up  the  Scriptures,  which  some  of  them  had  walked  a 
hundred  miles  to  procure. 

The  strong  hold  of  the  gospel  upon  the  native  Hovas  could  be  ac- 
counted for  on  no  philosophy  that  excludes  the  power  of  God.  Al- 
ready twenty-four  hundred  of  the  queen's  officers  were  among  the  con- 
verts, and  in  the  army  the  best  and  bravest  soldiers  were  also  soldiers 
of  Christ.  In  vain  were  they  placed  in  the  most  exposed  positions  in 
the  battle  :  they  still  routed  the  foe.  Thirty-thousand  Hovas  could 
read  the  Scriptures.  Many  cast  away  idols  and  superstitious  charms. 
Large  congregations  met  at  the  capital  and  the  influence  reached 
hundreds  of  miles  in  every  direction.  No  fault  could  be  found  in 
the  Christians  of  Madagascar,  except  that  found  with  Daniel  in  Baby- 
lon— they  believed  in  their  God.  When  compelled  to  cease  public 
labor,  the  missionaries  worked  privately,  and  besides  teaching 
the  people,  published  the  complete  Old  Testament  and  "  Pilgrim's 
Progress."  Then,  driven  from  the  island,  they  left  the  young 
church  of  Christ  without  a  foreign  missionary  among  them,  in  July, 
1836  ;  and  for  twenty-five  long  years,  persecution  which  had  bared  her 
red  right  arm  continued  to  make  it  a  crime  to  confess  Jesus  as  Saviour 
and  Lord. 

Ranavalona  L,  at  her  coronation  in  June,  1829,  took  two  of  the  na- 
tional idols  in  her  hands  and  said,  "  From  my  ancestors  I  received  you  ; 
in  you  I  put  my  trust,  therefore  support  me."  And,  robed  in  scarlet 
and  gold,  those  idols  were  held  at  the  front  of  the  platform  to  overawe 
the  multitude  while  the  ceremonies  went  forward.  Here  was  a  throne 
literally  pillared  on  idols,  as  her  reign  abundantly  proved. 

There  were  four  eras  of  persecution,  lasting  respectively  for  four, 
seven,  three  and  two  years,  together  reaching  from  1835  to  1860,  with 
intervals  of  comparative  qUiet.  The  third  was  the  most  severe. 
Christians  met  secretly  in  each  other's  houses,  and  traveled  sometimes 
twenty  miles  to  mountain  tops,  to  praise  and  pray  and  read  the  word 
of  God. 

A  woman  of  high  family,  Rafaravavy,  became  a  sincere  disciple  and 
opened  one  of  the  largest  houses  in  the  capital  for  Christian  worship. 


S12 


THE  MIRACLES  OF  MISSIONS. 


[Nov. 


Despite  the  queen's  hostile  attitude,  she  continued  to  hold  Sunday- 
evening  meetings.  She  refused  to  reveal  the  names  of  her  fellow- 
worshipers,  and  the  queen  in  a  rage  ordered  her  put  to  death.  While 
expecting  cruel  tortures,  she  retained  her  serene  composure  ;  the  peace 
of  God  filled  her  soul.  Her  life  was  spared,  but  her  property  in  part 
confiscated.  She  continued  to  meet  believers,  however,  and  the  num- 
ber of  converts  constantly  increased.  These  persecuted  disciples,  be- 
reft of  human  teachers,  looked  only  to  the  Holy  Spirit  as  teacher,  and 
became  themselves  instructors  of  others  who  could  not  read.  Their 
quick  sensibilities  made  them  weep  at  the  bare  mention  of  Jesus. 
Rafaravavy's  house  was  assaulted  by  a  mob,  and  she  was  led  away,  as 
she  supposed,  to  execution,  and  put  in  irons  ;  but  a  terrible  conflagra- 
tion that  same  night  was  supposed  to  have  alarmed  the  queen  and 
aroused  her  superstitious  fears,  and  the  penalty  was  delayed.  At  last 
sentence  of  perpetual  slavery  was  inflicted  on  all  who  had  been  seized 
in  Rafaravavy's  house,  and  Rasalama,  another  of  the  women,  was  speared 
while  kneeling  in  prayer.  Thus,  on  August  14,  1837,  the  first  Mada- 
gascar martyr  died  witnessing  for  Jesus.  Two  hundred  converts  were 
enslaved  for  Jesus'  sake  at  this  time.  Some  of  those  thus  enslaved  to 
traders,  afterwards  escaped,  but  astonished  their  masters  by  returning 
to  them  accounts  of  their  goods,  with  money  obtained  from  sales. 
Fugitives  hid  three  months  at  a  time  in  forests.  Wanderers  often 
came  into  contact  with  lonely  dwellings,  where  little  congregations 
hitherto  unknown  gathered  for  Christian  worship. 

These  are  fragments  of  this  remarkable  story  of  Madagascar  which 
read  like  the  highest  romance  of  Christian  chivalry. 

In  1839  some  fugitives,  on  their  way  to  England,  stopping  at  Port 
Elizabeth,  in  South  Africa,  met  with  fellow-converts.  Unable  to  com- 
municate freely  with  these  converted  Hottentots,  their  Bibles  be- 
came actually  vehicles  of  converse.  The  Malagasy  and  Hottentots 
turning  to  the  same  passages  in  their  respective  translations  of  the 
Word,  in  this  way  made  known  to  each  other  their  sentiments.  For 
example,  the  Hottentot  disciples  pointed  to  Ephesians  ii  :  2  :  "Among 
whom  we  all  had  our  conversation  in  time  past,"  etc.  The  Malagasy 
disciples  responded  by  Eph.  ii :  14,  15:  "For  He  is  our  peace  who 
hath  made  both  one  and  hath  broken  down  the  middle  wall  of  parti- 
tion." Also  Gal.  iii:  28  :  "Ye  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus."  Again, 
the  Hottentots  pointed  to  John  xvi  :  33:  "  In  the  world  ye  shall  have 
tribulation."  The  Hovas  replied  by  Rom.  viii  :  35:  "Who  shall  sepa- 
rate us  from  the  love  of  Christ  ?  Shall  tribulation  ?  "  etc.  When 
was  ever  the  Bible  put  to  a  more  beautiful  use  even  by  the  most  ma- 
ture Christians?  Then  they  sang  the  same  hymns  to  the  same  tunes 
in  different  languages.  Verily,  "Multoz  terricolis  linguoe ;  celest- 
ibus  una."  Then  the  Hottentots  made  them  a  voluntary  contribu- 
tion to  help  pay  costs  of  their  voyage,  and  knelt  on  the  beach  com- 


1890.] 


THE  MIRACLES  OF  MISSIONS. 


813 


mending  them  to  God.  And  these  were  Hottentot  ff  dogs  "  and  Mal- 
agasy "  asses  !  "  How  soon  and  strangely  they  had  developed  into 
Christian  men ! 

When  these  fugitives  reached  England,  in  May,  1839,  they  wrote  a 
letter  to  their  suffering  fellow-disciples  at  home,  which  for  beauty  and 
purity  of  Christian  sentiment  might  have  graced  the  fame  of  Paul,  the 
apostle  and  writer  of  epistles.  For  three  years  they  stayed  on  British 
shores,  winning  universal  esteem  and  love,  and  furnishing  an  unan- 
swerable proof  of  the  reality  of  the  gospel.  When,  in  1842,  they  re- 
turned to  Mauritius,  their  mission  station  at  Moka  became  the  asylum 
for  other  fugitives  from  persecutions  at  Madagascar.  The  queen 
was  only  enraged  by  the  escape  of  her  victims.  She  became  the 
more  bloodthirsty.  She  ordered  her  soldiers,  when  they  found  any 
Christians,  to  dig  a  pit,  cast  them  into  it,  pour  boiling  water  on 
them  and  then  fill  up  the  pit,  and  go  in  search  of  others  on  whom  to 
wreak  similar  vengeance. 

Meanwhile,  the  patience  and  fidelity  of  these  poor  disciples  con- 
founded their  very  enemies,  and  constrained  them  to  admire  and 
wonder  at  a  power  so  mysterious  that  could  take  away  the  fear  of 
death,  even  in  forms  so  horrible.  In  July,  1840,  nine  persons,  recap- 
tured out  of  sixteen  who  had  fled,  were  put  to  death  by  the  spear  of 
the  executioner,  and  among  them  Paul  the  Aged,  the  converted  con- 
jurer and  preacher.  And  still  the  Gospel  made  conquests  in  these, 
the  darkest  days. 

Two  years  of  respite  from  persecution  passed  by,  and  a  second  era 
of  cruelty  began  about  June  19,  1842.  Two  converts  were  seized  while 
returning  from  a  missionary  tour  among  the  Salaklava  tribes,  and 
tortured  to  induce  them  to  reveal  the  names  of  their  fellow-disciples, 
but  in  vain.  These  lambs  went  to  the  slaughter  without  opening 
their  mouths  to  betray  other  believers. 

A  few  months  later  the  queen  was  wrought  to  fury  by  the  act  of 
some  imprudent  person  who  affixed  to  the  wall  of  a  house  in  the  capital 
a  leaf  of  the  New  Testament,  underlining  Matthew  xxiii,  13,  "Woe 
unto  you,"  etc.  Construing  this  as  a  personal  insult,  she  required  the 
unknown  offender  to  confess  in  four  days,  under  penalty  of  being  cut 
into  pieces  as  small  as  musket  balls.  As  no  confession  followed,  the 
queen  arrested  several  Christians  and  selected  two,  whose  bodies  were 
literally  chopped  as  fine  as  mincemeat,  and  then  burned  to  ashes  ! 
And  the  only  ground  for  attaching  to  these  disciples  the  guilt  of  this 
offence  was  that  they  knew  enough  to  read  and  write  ! 

Strange  to  say,  it  pleased  God  that  the  only  son  and  heir  of  this 
atrocious  Jezebel  should,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  become  interested  in 
the  very  Christians  who  were  the  objects  of  his  mother's  persecuting 
rage  !  Rakatond-Radama  was  one  of  that  illustrations  of  that  paradox  of 
heredity,  that  a  lamb  should  be  born  of  a  hyena.    His  gentle  spirit 


814 


THE  MIRACLES  OF  MISSIONS. 


[Nov. 


was  the  exact  reverse  of  his  mother's  ferocity.  Where  she  delighted 
in  cruelty,  he  delighted  in  kindness  ;  he  hated  blood-shedding  even 
as  she  thirsted  for  it.  Of  course,  the  people  soon  found  out  where  to 
go  for  sympathy  and  succor.  He  cut  the  cords  of  those  who  were 
bound,  and  released  those  appointed  to  death ;  and  yet  the  natural 
affection  existing  between  the  son  and  mother  prevented  a  rupture 
between  them. 

About  this  time,  1847,  Ramaka,  called  Rasalasala,  or  the  Bold  One, 
arose,  a  mighty  preacher,  the  first  in  the  Madagascar  church.  Prince 
Eakatond  was  drawn  to  hear  him,  and  was  so  impressed  that  he  had 
Christian  teachers  come  to  the  palace  to  instruct  him  in  the  Scriptures 
and  pray  with  him.  So  far  as  he  could  he  prevented  all  executions, 
or,  at  least,  modified  and  mollified  the  severity  of  the  sentence  against 
accused  disciples.  Though  he  never  seems  to  have  become  a  convert 
himself,  he  often  attended  Christian  worship  and  befriended  the 
converts  in  every  possible  way.  His  cousin,  Prince  Ramonja,  older 
than  he,  yet  singularly  like  him,  and  also  a  favorite  of  the  queen, 
joined  him  in  the  chivalrous  defence  of  the  persecuted  followers  of 
Jesus.  The  nephew  of  the  prime  minister  went  further  than  these 
two  royal  princes,  and  openly  declared  himself  a  disciple,  and  so  the 
gospel  once  more  invaded  "Caesar's  household."  His  uncle 
threatened  him  with  the  loss  of  his  head,  but  he  calmly  answered, 
"I  am  a  Christian,  and  if  you  will,  you  may  put  me  to  death,  but  I 
must  and  will  pray."  He  might  be  assassinated,  but  could  not  be  in- 
timidated, as  Curran  said  of  himself  when  conducting  the  defense  of 
Bond. 

To  recount  all  the  fascinating  story  of  the  Malagasy's  sufferings 
would  require  a  volume.  But  we  seek  rather  to  portray  in  outline  the 
main  features  of  this  romance  of  missions.  One  of  the  most  affecting 
memorials  of  this  persecution  may  be  found  in  the  fragments  of  Holy 
Scripture  afterwards  brought  home  by  Mr.  Ellis.  During  this  famine 
of  the  written  word,  the  more  educated  converts  copied  out  portions 
of  the  blessed  book,  and  these  were  found,  worn,  soiled  and  rent,  with 
the  torn  edges  carefully  drawn  together  and  sewed  with  fibres  of  bark, 
or  repaired  with  pieces  of  stronger  paper ;  and  giving  evidence  that 
they  had  been  buried  in  the  earth  or  hidden  in  smoky  thatches,  to 
conceal  them  from  the  eyes  of  the  malignant  persecutors. 

In  1849  a  third  era  of  persecution  began  with  the  assault  upon 
Prince  Ramonja.  A  habar  or  business  meeting  was  summoned  at 
Andahalo.  The  queen  addressed  a  message  to  her  subjects,  asking 
"why  it  was  that  they  did  not  give  up  praying,"  in  view  of  the 
severe  penalties  affixed  to  the  crime  of  apostasy  from  the  gods  of 
Madagascar. 

The  Christians  made  mild  but  firm  answer,  refusing  to  recognize 
idols.    Rainitraho,  a  noble  of  royal  blood,  was  among  Christ's  con- 


1890.] 


THE  MIRACLES  OF  MISSIONS. 


815 


fessors,  and  his  heroism  was  so  contagious  that  the  officers  stopped  the 
-examinations  lest  the  whole  people  should  be  carried  away  with  his 
example.  Four  nobles  were  burned  alive,  and  fourteen  others  hurled 
from  a  precipice  150  feet  high,  and  their  families  sold  as  slaves  ;  117 
were  publicly  flogged  and  compelled  to  labor  for  life  in  chains  ;  1,700 
were  fined,  and  Prince  Ramonja  was  degraded  from  his  rank.  The 
prince  royal  was  accused  of  being  a  Christian,  but  the  queen  was  too 
indulgent  to  her  only  son  to  take  notice  of  the  charge. 

No  acts  of  violence  could  sway  these  simple  Malagasy  converts  from 
Jesus.  They  calmly  replied,  "  None  of  these  things  move  me."  They 
sang  a  hymn  of  "going  home  to  God,"  as  they  were  borne  to 
execution,  and  prayers  and  praises  ascended  in  the  very  flames  that 
wrapped  the  stakes.  Once,  indeed,  the  flames  were  extinguished 
by  a  sudden  rain,  and  a  bow  appeared,  one  end  of  which  seemed 
to  rest  on  the  very  posts  to  which  the  martyrs  were  tied.  The 
spectators  were  overwhelmed  with  awe,  but  the  fires  were  relit, 
and  the  martyrs  gave  up  the  ghost. 

To  the  precipice  near  the  palace,  Am-pamaririanu,  fourteen 
prisoners  were  then  led  and  hurled  over  its  awful  edge,  bounding 
from  ledge  to  ledge  until  they  were  broken  on  the  granite  rocks 
below,  and  one  of  them  was  heard  singing  as  he  fell.  One  timid 
woman,  Ranivo,  who  was  kept  to  the  last,  compelled  to  look  over 
the  edge  of  the  cliff  upon  the  mangled  bodies  below,  in  answer  to  the 
entreaties  of  friends  that  she  would  save  her  life  by  apostasy  from 
Christ,  only  begged  to  be  hurled  from  the  precipice  too.  And  yet  the 
word  of  the  Lord  had  free  course  and  was  glorified.  Converts  was 
still  gathered.  Believers  numbered  thousands.  In  at  least  seven 
places  in  the  capital  secret  meetings  were  held. 

Eainiharo,  one  of  the  ministers  who  had  placed  Ranavalona  on  the 
throne  and  propped  her  persecuting  policy  by  his  influence,  died, 
and  this  period  of  relentless  persecution  came  to  a  close.  The  prince 
royal,  Rakatond,  now  became  associated  with  his  mother  in  the  govern- 
ment. The  time  now  seemed  to  have  come  for  the  return  of  the  expelled 
missionaries.  The  London  Missionary  Society,  to  whose  planting  the 
gospel  owed  its  harvest  in  Madagascar,  sent  a  deputation,  composed  of 
the  veteran  missionary,  Rev.  William  Ellis,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cameron, 
to  prepare  the  way  for  re-establishing  the  mission  which  for  about 
eighteen  years  had  been  broken  up. 

Mr.  Ellis  found  two  parties  on  the  island,  led  respectively  by  Prince 
Rakatond  and  by  his  cousin,  Ramboasalama,  the  former  favoring 
Christianity  and  all  its  noble  institutions;  the  latter  in  league  with  idol- 
atry and  all  its  vicious  associations.  But  Mr.  Ellis  found  the  church 
of  Christ  in  the  island  stronger  than  before  persecution  began, 
and  the  knowledge  of  the  gospel  spread  to  the  remote  parts  of  the 
island.    Not  until  his  third  visit,  in  1856,  did  he  reach  the  capital. 


816 


THE  MIRACLES  OF  MISSIONS. 


[Nov. 


But  when  he  did,  he  found  that  just  the  fruits  which  the  blessed 
gospel  had  produced  in  the  most  enlightened  communities,  it  had 
borne  in  Madagascar.  Disciples  had  there  fought  the  same  fight  of 
faith,  praying  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  burning  with  zeal  for  God 
and  passion  for  souls.  Closet  and  family  prayer  were  more  common 
than  among  disciples  in  London;  the  word  of  God  was  daily  searched 
as  for  hid  treasure,  and  the  meetings  for  worship  were  attended  at  all 
risk. 

The  fourth  and  last  persecution  may  be  traced  to  a  plot  to  depose 
the  wicked  queen.  June,  1857,  was  fixed  as  the  time  for  carrying  out 
the  design.  Mr.  Lambert,  a  Frenchman,  first  sought  aid  from  Louis 
Napoleon  and  the  English  prime  minister,  Lord  Clarendon,  in  relieving 
the  misery  of  the  Malagasy.  When  the  hope  of  foreign  interference 
failed,  he  is  said  to  have  enlisted  the  co-operation  of  Prince  Rakatond 
with  some  of  the  nobles  and  soldiers,  in  the  plan  of  revolutionizing  the 
government  by  native  aid  alone.  No  violence  was  to  be  done  to  the 
queen's  person;  she  was  simply  to  be  removed  from  the  throne,  and 
her  son  to  be  proclaimed  king.  But  on  the  eve  of  accomplishment  the 
plot  failed,  and  when  the  knowledge  of  the  conspiracy  came  to  Queen 
Ranavalona's  ears,  she  refused  to  allow  any  one  to  hint  a  suspicion 
against  her  son,  and  like  Nero  when  Rome  burned,  fixed  the  guilt  of 
the  whole  plot  upon  the  poor  innocent  disciples  of  Christ.  A  traitor 
who  "had  professed  conversion  gave  the  queen  a  list  of  seventy  whom 
he  charged  with  a  share  in  the  conspiracy.  Prince  Rakatond  got  hold 
of  this  list  and  tore  it  in  pieces.  But  the  bloody  queen  must  have 
some  victims  for  her  new  fever  of  rage,  and  so  another  kabar  was 
called.  Not  more  than  three  hundred  Christians  were  found,  as  they 
had  fled  in  bands  so  numerous  as  to  put  to  flight  the  detachments  of 
soldiers  sent  to  capture  them.  The  infuriated  queen  declared  that  her 
search  should  extend  to  the  bowels  of  the  earth  and  the  very  beds  of 
lakes  and  rivers;  but  the  more  she  raved  the  more  calm  and  cautious 
were  the  followers  of  Jesus;  only  Prince  Rakatond's  energy  and  inter- 
position prevented  the  destruction  not  only  of  hundreds  of  natives  but 
of  the  six  Europeans  who  were  on  the  island,  including  Madame  Pf  eiffer, 
the  traveler.  They  were,  however,  banished  and  barely  escaped  from 
the  island  with  their  lives. 

Christians  were  pierced  and  tortured  with  spears  and  then  beheaded. 
More  than  two  hundred  suffered  punishment,  most  of  them  men  of 
mark,  and  stoning  was  now  for  the  first  time  employed  as  a  new  and 
cruel  mode  of  execution.  Iron  necklaces  were  attached  to  the  necks 
of  others  and  they  were  thus  linked  together  and  compelled  to  constant 
companionship  until  death  ended  their  sufferings ;  if  one  died  the 
rest  had  to  drag  about  this  body  of  death — a  revival  of  the  hideous 
forms  of  ancient  torture.  Fifty-seven  Christians  were  thus  chained 
together  and  banished  to  a  distant  province. 


1890.] 


THE  MIRACLES  OF  MISSIONS. 


817 


This  was  the  last  triumph  of  persecuting  hatred  against  the  little 
church  in  Madagascar.  For  thirty-two  years  Ranavalona  had  held  her 
red  sceptre.  She  had  sought  to  trample  upon  and  stamp  out  with  iron 
heel  the  humble  plant  of  renown  that  was  growing  in  the  soil  of  this 
great  island.  But  God  used  all  this  rage  of  this  modern  Jezebel  to 
test  and  develop  the  faith  and  love  of  disciples.  The  tangena  draught, 
the  boiling  caldron,  the  rice-pit,  the  awful  precipice,  the  chain,  the 
spear,  the  stone,  the  stake — all  united  in  vain  to  compel  these  poor, 
ignorant,  persecuted  disciples  to  disown  their  newly-found  Saviour. 
For  the  first  time  in  the  h'storyof  modern  missions  God  permitted  a 
feeble  church,  just  planted  and  scarcely  rooted  on  pagan  soil, to  undergo 
a  quarter  of  a  century  of  persecution,  having  scarcely  a  parallel  in  vio- 
lence and  cruelty.  That  church  was  literally  and  emphatically  isolated; 
not  only  on  an  island,  but  cut  off  from  sympathetic  contact  and  com- 
munication with  the  Christian  church  in  other  lands,  and  yet  it  more 
than  survived ;  for  at  the  end  of  that  twenty-five  years,  when,  if 
not  plucked  up  by  the  roots,  it  might  have  been  expected  to  be  found 
feeble  and  half  dead,  it  was  strong  and  firmly  rooted,  and  among  its 
precious  fruits  were  many  of  the  soldiers,  the  nobles  and  even  the  royal 
household.  Many  thousand  persons  had  been  sentenced  to  various 
punishments  by  the  "  Bloody  Mary"  of  Madagascar,  for  their  faith;  and 
yet  when,  in  1861,  persecution  ceased,  the  Christian  population  was  five- 
fold greater  than  before  she  began  to  exterminate  them;  and  more 
than  this — this  Plant  of  Renown  had  spread  its  roots  through  the  very 
soil  of  society,  and  its  branches  reached  afar;  the  perfume  of  its  golden 
blooms  pervaded  the  very  atmosphere;  its  fruits  were  to  be  found  in 
every  home.  The  whole  community  was  undergoing  transformation. 
The  name  of  Christian  had  become  the  sign  and  synonym,  the  pledge 
and  promise  of  truth,  purity,  fidelity,  integrity — new  virtues  were 
growing,  where  vice  had  sprung  up  rank  as  weeds.  A  miracle  had  been 
wrought.  A  Supernatural  Power  had  been  at  work.  The  Spirit  of 
God  had  breathed  new  life  into  Malagasy  hearts. 

July,  1861,  came  and  the  queen  died,  and  Rakatond,  asRadama  II., 
became  king.  His  first  act  was  to  proclaim  his  policy  of  toleration. 
The  era  of  religious  liberty  had  dawned  for  Madagascar.  He  pro- 
claimed deliverance  to  the  captives  and  the  opening  of  prison  doors  to 
them  that  were  bound.  Exiles  returned  home,  slaves  were  set  free  ;  it 
was  a  year  of  jubilee.  Idols  were  banished  from  the  palace,  and  to 
show  his  contempt  he  sent  some  Christians  to  burn  the  very  shrine 
of  one  of  the  national  gods,  while  he  looked  on  to  witness  the  im- 
potency  of  the  so-called  "  deity."  Radama  was  a  reformer,  but  not 
a  Christian.  He  was  tolerant  of  the  gospel,  and  so  he  was  of  rum, 
and  60,000  gallons  flooded  the  island  in  a  week  and  debauched  whole 
villages. 

It  was  now  safe  for  Mr.  Ellis  to  come  again  and  resume  missionary 


818 


THE  MIRACLES  OF  MISSIONS. 


[Nov. 


work,  and  in  November,  1861,  he  sailed  for  Madagascar.  On  his 
arrival,  with  Radama's  permission,  he  secured  the  sites  made  sacred 
by  the  blood  and  ashes  of  the  martyrs,  for  the  building  of  churches ; 
and  so  the  houses  of  worship  in  Madagascar  to-day  are  monuments 
and  memorials  of  the  faith  and  faithfulness  of  those  who  there  suffered 
for  Jesus. 

Mr.  Ellis's  arrival  was  the  signal  for  a  triumphal  march  through  the 
island.  Delegations  of  disciples  met  him,  and  processions  went  out  to 
welcome  the  veteran  missionary.  Throngs  of  worshippers  assembled 
at  early  dawn.  A  second  service  would  begin  by  8  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  Every  encouragement  was  now  given  to  the  devoted 
missionary  from  the  hut  of  the  poor  to  the  palace  of  the  king. 

Radama  II.  fell  a  victim  to  a  conspiracy  within  a  twelvemonth.  He 
who  had  never  shed  blood  was  strangled  by  assassins,  in  May,  1863, 
and  his  widow,  under  the  title  of  Queen  Rasoherina,  ascended  the 
vacant  throne,  the  first  constitutional  ruler  of  the  Malagasy.  She 
reigned  five  years,  and  her  subjects  enjoyed  full  liberty  of  con- 
science. The  work  of  evangelization  went  rapidly  forward.  Never- 
theless the  government  was  not  Christian,  and  at  her  coronation, 
which  was  on  Sunday,  the  priests  and  idols  were  conspicuously  in  the 
foreground. 

Congregations  multiplied  and  converts  increased,  and  a  native 
ministry  was  trained  up,  and  a  native  Christian  literature  created. 
The  thirst  of  the  native  Christians  for  the  word  of  God  was  insatiable, 
and  every  mark  of  a  Christian  home  was  to  be  found  in  their  domestic 
life.  Marriage  was  honored  and  divorce  discouraged.  Contributions 
were  liberal,  and  the  missionary  spirit  led  to  abundant  labors  to  spread 
the  gospel  by  both  home  and  foreign  missions. 

The  queen's  health  was  failing,  and  before  she  died,  it  is  believed, 
her  mind  turned  from  her  old  idols,  which  she  had  placed  in  her  court 
and  carried  on  her  journeys.  She  died  in  April,  1868.  Her  youngest 
sister  took  the  throne  as  Ranavalona  II.  And  now,  for  the  first  time, 
Madagascar  had  a  Christian  as  well  as  a  constitutional  ruler. 

He  who  would  see  the  marvelous  change  in  Madagascar,  need  only 
contrast  the  coronation  of  the  two  queens — Ranavalona  I.  and  Rana- 
valona II.  One  took  place  June  12,  1829.  Then  the  Bloody  Mary  of 
Madagascar  took  two  of  the  national  idols  in  her  hands,  and  declared  : 
"  I  received  you  from  my  ancestors.  I  put  my  trust  in  you,  therefore 
support  me."  And  then  the  scarlet-clad  images  were  held  at  the  front 
corners  of  the  platform  to  awe  the  superstitious  multitude.  On 
September  3,  1868,  a  Christian  queen  was  crowned,  and  the  ceremony 
befitted  such  a  monarch.  The  symbols  of  pagan  faith  were  nowhere 
to  be  seen.  In  their  place  lay  a  beautiful  copy  of  the  Bible,  side  by 
side  with  the  laws  of  Madagascar.  A  canopy  was  stretched  above  the 
queen,  and  on  its  four  sides  were  four  Scripture  mottoes  :  "  Glory  to 


1890.] 


THE  MIRACLES  OF  MISSIONS. 


819 


God";  "Peace  on  earth";  "  Good-will  to  man";  "  God  with  us." 
Her  inaugural  address  was  interwoven  with  Scripture  dialect,  and  in- 
stead of  Christianity  it  was  now  idolatry  which  became  a  suppliant 
for  toleration.  And  all  this  took  place  seven  years  after  Kanavalona 
L  expired  !  Astrologers  and  diviners  were  no  longer  to  be  found  at 
court ;  Rasoherina's  idol  was  cast  out  of  the  palace.  Government 
work  ceased  on  Sunday,  and  the  Sunday  markets  were  closed.  In  the 
palace  court  services  of  divine  worship  were  instituted,  which  are  kept 
up  to  this  date.  Churches  now  grow  rapidly,  sometimes  fivefold  in  a 
year.  The  Madagascar  New  Year,  formerly  an  idolatrous  festival,  now 
became  a  Christian  holy  day  ;  and  the  queen's  address  declared,  ' e  I 
have  brought  my  kingdom  to  lean  upon  God,  and  I  expect  you,  one 
and  all,  to  be  wise  and  just,  and  to  walk  in  His  ways."  Just  one 
month  later  Ranavalona  II.  and  her  prime  minister  were  publicly  bap- 
tized by  one  of  the  native  preachers,  in  the  very  courtyard  where,  a 
few  years  before,  the  bloodiest  edicts  had  been  issued. 

In  the  queen's  examination  by  the  native  ministers,  it  transpired  that 
her  first  serious  impressions  were  traceable  to  a  native  Christian  who, 
when  she  was  a  mere  child,  sought  to  impress  her  with  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  Jesus.  It  was  Andriantoiamba,  one  of  the  four  noblemen  who 
were  afterward  burned  as  martyrs,  who  thus  sowed  the  seed  in  that 
young  heart  that  afterward  ripened  into  the  first  Christian  queen  of 
the  island.  Two  days  before  their  baptism  the  queen  and  the  prime 
minister,  were  wedded,  and  shortly  after  both  publicly  joined  in  the 
Lord's  Supper,  thus  magnifying  the  Christian  family  and  the  Sacra- 
ments of  the  church  of  God. 

Such  an  example  was  likely  to  be  followed.  Almost  all  the  govern- 
ment officers  of  high  rank,  and  among  them  the  chief  idol-keeper,  the 
astrologer  of  Rasoherina,  came  forward  to  receive  baptism.  Congre- 
gations multiplied  beyond  all  means  of  accommodation.  One  hundred 
new  buildings  were  in  demand  ;  37,000  persons  attended  worship, 
an  increase  of  16,000  in  a  year  !  On  July  20  the  cornerstone  of  a 
chapel,  designed  for  the  use  of  the  queen  and  court,  was  laid  in  the 
very  courtyard  of  the  palace. 

To-day  in  that  palace  courtyard  the  traveler  may  see  a  beautiful 
house  of  prayer.  In  gilded  letters  upon  two  large  stone  tablets 
forming  part  of  the  surbase  of  the  structure,  appears  engraven  the 
following  royal  statement,  read  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  in 
1869  : 

"By  the  power  of  God  and  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  I,  Ranava- 
lomanjaka,  Queen  of  Madagascar,  founded  the  House  of  Prayer,  on 
the  thirteenth  Adimizana,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
1869,  as  a  house  of  prayer  for  the  service  of  God,  King  of  kings 
and  Lord  of  lords,  according  to  the  word  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  by 
Jesus  Christ  the  Lord,  who  died  for  the  sons  of  all  men,  and  rose 


820  THE  INHERITANCES  OF  NATIONS  ALLOTTED  BY  GOD.  [Nor. 


again  for  the  justification  and  salvation  of  all  who  believe  in  and  love 
Him. 

"For  these  reasons  this  stone  house,  founded  by  me  as  a  house 
of  prayer,  cannot  be  destroyed  by  any  one,  whoever  may  be  king  of 
this  my  land,  forever  and  forever  ;  but  if  he  shall  destroy  this  house  of 
prayer  to  God  which  I  have  founded,  then  is  he  not  king  of  my  land, 
Madagascar.  Wherefore  I  have  signed  my  name  with  my  hand  and  the 
seal  of  the  kingdom. 

"  Ranavalomanjaka, 

"  Queen  of  Madagascar. 
"  This  word  is  genuine,  and  the  signature  by  the  hand  of  Rana- 
valomanjaka  is  genuine. 

' '  Rainilaiarivony, 
"Prime  Minister  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  Madagascar." 

If  you  should  visit  this  island  to-day,  you  would  find  four  sacred 
sites  occupied  by  memorial  ehurches.  Ampamar  mafia,  the  summit 
of  the  martyrs'  precipice  ;  Ambohipotsy ,  where  Rasalama,  the  first 
martyr,  was  speared  ;  Ambatoiiakaiiga,  where  so  many  were  kept  in 
prison  ;  and  Faravohitra,  where  the  rainbow  rested  over  the  -burning 
pile,  and  where  the  first  stone  of  the  church  was  laid  exactly  beneath 
the  spot  where  the  remains  of  the  martyrs  were  found. 

Is  it  possible  to  account  for  changes  such  as  these,  wrought  within 
the  space  of  sixty  years  by  the  simple  preaching  and  teaching  of  the 
gospel,  unless  the  power  of  God  is  indeed  behind  the  Bible  ?  If  there 
ever  was  a  wonder  that  compelled  even  the  sceptical  and  the  un- 
believing to  exclaim,  "What  hath  God  wrought  !"  it  is  to  be  found 
in  the  story  of  Madagascar. 

THE  INHERITANCES  OF  NATIONS  ALLOTTED  BY  GOD. 

BY  REV.  A.  W.  PITZER,  D.D.,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C 

"God's  works  of  Providence  are  His  most  holy,  wise  and  powerful, 
preserving  and  governing  all  His  creatures,  ordering  them  and  all 
their  actions  to  His  own  glory." 

Individual  life  cannot  be  detached  from  God  and  Llis  overruling 
Providence;  and  nations  rise,  flourish,  decay  and  die  in  accordance 
not  merely  with  natural  law  and  second  causes,  but  also,  in  accord- 
ance with  His  eternal  purposes  and  plans.  Before  man  was  created, 
or  human  history  had  begun,  God  had  a  fixed  place  for  every  nation 
and  a  definite  plan  for  every  man's  life.  Nor  has  this  Divine  decree 
and  Providence  ever  impaired  the  freedom  and  responsibility  of  the 
individual  or  the  nation,  nor  is  God  the  author  of  man's  sin,  nor  is 
the  efficiency  of  second  causes  diminished. 

The  nations  of  the  earth  come  to  their  separate  places  of  inherit- 
ance on  the  globe,  moved  by  various  motives  and  impelled  by  differ- 
ent forces.    Restless  for  change,  greedy  for  gain,  envious  of  their 


1890.] 


THE  INHERITANCES  OF  NATIONS  ALLOTTED  BY  GOD. 


821 


neighbors,  ambitious  for  fame,  filled  with  cruelty  and  thirsting  for 
blood,  the  nations  of  the  past  and  the  present  have  freely  worked 
out  the  problem  of  national  destiny.  And  yet,  it  was  the  Most  High 
God,  whose  Providence  divided  to  these  nations  their  inheritance, 
and  who  decreed  and  settled  the  bounds  of  all  kindreds,  tribes  and 
peoples;  and  to  each  and  to  all  He  said,  "Thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and 
no  farther,  and  here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be  stayed."  There  is  a 
philosophy  of  history,  but  the  Godless  historian  has  never  seen  it — a 
philosophy  of  history  human,  yet  divine — that  makes  full  estimate  of 
all  human  forces  at  work  in  the  world,  but  fails  not  at  the  same  time 
to  see  the  mighty  Providence  of  God  in  the  onward  march  of  all 
earthly  things. 

The  Most  High  God  located  the  nations  of  the  old  world  and  the 
new.  He  planted  the  Egyptian  by  the  waters  of  the  Nile,  flowing 
from  the  ever-living  lakes  of  equatorial  Africa;  He  gave  to  the  sons 
of  Ham  the  "dark  continent"  teeming  with  life  and  filled  with  food; 
from  central  Asia  His  hand  led  out  the  people  after  the  confusion  of 
tongues  at  Babel  to  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris;  to  India,  to  China,  and 
to  the  islands  of  the  great  seas  that  wash  the  coasts  of  the  Asiatic 
continent.  To  the  sons  of  Japheth,  the  Cimbri,  the  Tartars,  the 
Medes,  the  Greeks,  the  Muscovites,  He  gave  northern  Asia,  Asia 
Minor  and  Europe. 

The  ethnology  of  the  10th  chapter  of  Genesis  remains  an  unchal- 
lenged chart  of  the  nations  to  this  day.  Fifteen  hundred  years  after 
Moses  incorporated  in  his  writings  this  chart,  and  after  he  had  sung 
this  song,  another -descendant  from  the  family  of  Shem,  stood  in  the 
midst  of  Mars  Hill  and  declared  to  the  wisdom-seeking  sons  of  Javan 
that  God  had  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on 
all  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  hath  determined  the  times  before  ap- 
pointed and  the  bounds  of  their  habitation,  that  they  should  seek  the 
Lord,  if  haply  they  might  feel  after  Him  and  find  Him. 

God,  then,  has  a  purpose  concerning  this  race  and  world  of  ours, 
and  His  overruling  providence  is  silently,  but  irresistibly,  conducting 
the  races  and  nations  along  the  great  highway  of  human  history.  He 
plants  and  He  plucks  up  dynasties,  kingdoms,  nations  and  empires, 
and  orders,  controls  and  governs  all  things  according  to  the  counsels 
of  His  own  will. 

What,  then,  is  that  supreme  purpose  of  God,  to  the  development  and 
accomplishment  of  which,  all  agents  and  agencies,  all  forces  and  events, 
all  kings  and  empires  are  made  subservient  and  tributary  ?  Surely  it 
must  be  an  object  worthy  of  God  Himself,  and  commensurate  with  His 
all-embracing  and  resistless  providence.  It  is  nothing  less  than  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Kingdom  of  God  here  on  earth,  in  visible  sovereignty 
and  glory.  Devout  worshippers  of  the  true  and  living  God  in  all 
ages  and  lands  have  cried  in  prayer  to  Him,  "  Thy  Kingdom  Come." 


S22  THE  INHERITANCES  OF  NATIONS  ALLOTTED  BY  GOD.  [Nov. 

In  his  last  song,  Moses  tells  the  children  of  Israel  encamped  on  the 
plains  of  Moab  and  in  sight  of  the  promised  land,  why  it  was  that 
God  had  divided  to  the  nations  their  inheritance  and  fixed  the  bound- 
aries of  the  peoples.  He  had  taken  Israel,  the  seed  of  His  friend 
Abraham,  as  his  possession  and  portion,  and,  in  relation  to  their 
number  and  location  on  the  globe,  He  had  arranged  all  other  nations 
and  peoples. 

The  Kingdom  of  God  is  to  come  on  earth  through  Israel;  for  sal- 
vation is  of  the  Jews;  and  David's  greater  son*  is  yet  to  sit  on  David's 
throne,  and  hence  God's  people,  His  portion  must  be  the  centre  around 
which  and  for  the  sake  of  which,  all  national  movements,  great  and 
small,  shall  revolve. 

The  little  strip  of  land  on  the  western  border  of  the  continent  of 
Asia,  not  200  miles  from  north  to  south,  by  less  than  100  miles  from 
east  to  west,  washed  by  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  almost  in  sight  of  the 
life-giving  waters  of  Africa's  great  river,  and  touching  to  the  west- 
ward, the  isles  and  lands  of  the  Gentiles,  is  the  divinely  ordained 
home  of  the  chosen  people,  and  the  geographical  centre  of  all  human 
history  until  the  Kingdom  of  God  shall  come  in  power  and  glory. 

Egypt,  Assyria,  Babylon,  Media,  Persia,  Greece,  Rome,  all  the 
nations  of  modern  Europe  have  gazed  with  greedy  eyes  on  this  his- 
toric spot  of  earth. 

Canon  Farrar,  in  describing  this  land,  as  it  spread  out  in  beauty 
before  the  eyes  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  says,  "Pharaohs  and  Ptolemies, 
Emins  and  Arsacids,  judges  and  consuls,  have  all  contended  for  the 
mastery  of  this  smiling  tract.  It  had  glittered  with  the  lances  of  the 
Amalekites;  it  had  trembled  under  the  chariot  wheels  of  Serostris;  it 
had  echoed  the  twanging  bow  strings  of  Sennacharib;  it  had  clashed 
with  the  broadswords  of  Rome;  it  was  destined  to  ring  with  the  bat- 
tle-cry of  the  Crusaders,  and  thunder  with  the  artillery  of  England 
and  France.  Here,  Europe  and  Asia,  Judaism  and  Heathenism,  Bar- 
barism and  civilization  had  met  and  struggled  for  supremacy." 

The  careful  student  of  history  cannot  fail  to  see  that  the  destinies 
of  the  empires  of  the  Old  World  were  determined  by  their  relations  to 
this  land  and  its  wondrous  people  whom  the  living  God  had  chosen 
for  portion  and  possession. 

If  he  inquired  why  this  land  and  people  were  so  important  in  the 
history  of  the  race,  the  answer  is  easily  given.  From  Abraham  to 
Moses,  from  Moses  to  Malachi,  by  words  and  acts,  God  made  Himself 
known  to  this  people.  He  came  into  this  earthly  realm,  and  became 
a  factor  in  human  history.  Israel  received  from  God  the  truth  unto 
salvation  in  trust  for  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  They  are  the  di- 
vinely appointed  trustees  of  this  sacred  deposit — to  hold  this  in  trust 
and  preserve  it  pure,  for  all  the  families  of  man,  is  their  high  calling 
and  providential  mission  to  all  tribes  and  races  and  nations.  The 


1390.] 


THE  INHERITANCES  OF  NATIONS  ALLOTTED  BY  GOD. 


823 


history  of  Israel,  therefore,  will  have  relations  that  reach  out  and 
embrace  all  lands  and  all  peoples. 

To  the  Egyptians,  God  gave  the  fertile  valley  of  the  Nile,  that, 
here  in  the  midst  of  this  ancient  civilization,  the  sons  of  Jacob,  His 
chosen,  might  be  developed  from  a  clan  into  a  nation,  and  be  taught 
and  trained  in  all  the  wisdoms  and  arts  of  this  mighty  and  marvelous 
people. 

To  the  Assyrians  he  gave  the  lands  along  the  Euphrates  and  the 
Tigris,  that  here  might  be  founded  an  empire  that  should,  as  His 
minister  of  justice  and  judgment,  at  the  appointed  time,  sweep  the 
kingdom  of  the  ten  tribes  from  the  land  of  their  fathers. 

He,  too,  ordained  that  Assyria  should  be  wasted  by  Babylon,  and 
that  Babylon  should  become  the  hammer  of  the  whole  earth,  and 
should  carry  His  people,  Judah,  captives  to  that  far-off  land,  that  in 
the  horrors  of  the  seventy  years'  captivity  they  might  forsake  idolatry 
forever.  And  when  God  has  accomplished  His  purposes  concerning 
Israel  with  Babylon,  then  He  raised  up  the  Medes,  who  broke  down 
her  broad  walls,  and  burned  her  high  gates  with  fire,  and  Babylon 
became  heaps  of  ruins,  a  dwelling-place  for  dragons,  an  astonishment 
and  an  hissing  without  inhabitant. 

The  Hebrew  prophets  depict  with  the  utmost  minuteness  and 
clearness  the  relations  of  the  nations  to  Israel,  their  providential  places 
in  history,  and  how  God  used  them  to  extend  on  the  earth  the  knowl- 
edge of  that  truth  given  to  His  chosen  and  covenanted  people.  Isaiah 
foretells  the  fate  of  Moab,  of  Damascus,  of  Egypt,  of  Tyre,  of 
Assyria,  and  of  Babylon.  Daniel  in  vision,  and  under  the  symbol  of 
a  beast,  beholds  in  succession,  the  empires  of  Babylonia,  the  Medo- 
Persian,  the  Greek  and  the  Roman,  and  even  the  destruction  of  the 
old  Roman  empire,  and  the  ten  kingdoms  of  modern  Europe,  that 
continue  until  the  return  of  Jesus  our  Lord,  from  the  heavens. 

God  divided  to  all  these  nations  their  inheritance;  He  fixed  their 
boundaries;  He  appointed  their  providential  mission;  He  determined 
the  days  of  their  dominion,  and  the  day  of  their  destruction;  their 
highest  use  and  chief  end  were  what  service  they  rendered  in  the 
establishment  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  Egypt  furnished 
the  temporary  home  of  the  Israelites;  the  Babylonish  captivity  cured 
them  of  idolatry;  the  Persians  restored  them  to  their  own  land;  the 
Grecians  prepared  the  language  to  contain  ^he  Gospel  of  the  son  of 
David;  and  Rome  builded  the  great  highways  whereon  the  apostles 
of  our  Lord  carried  the  glad  tidings  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

Jesus  Christ,  the  son  of  David,  the  son  of  Abraham,  the  son  of 
God,  was  the  climax  and  culmination  of  the  revelations  of  God  to  the 
Hebrew  people;  and  when  He  died  upon  the  Cross,  the  inscription 
over  His  head,  testifying  to  His  kingship,  was  written  in  the  world's 
historic  languages,  the  Hebrew,  the  Greek  and  the  Roman.  Herod, 


834  THE  INHERITANCES  OF  NATIONS  ALLOTTED  BY  GOD.  [Nov. 

Pontius  Pilate,  the  Gentiles  and  the  people  of  Israel,  did  what- 
soever God's  hand  and  counsel  had  determined  before  to  be  done. 
To  this  great  central  and  germinal  event  all  the  ages  had  looked,  and 
all  nations  had  contributed.  The  wise  men  from  the  east  spake  not 
for  themselves  merely,  but  for  others,  when  they  said:  "  Where  is  He 
that  is  born  King  of  the  Jews,  for  we  have  seen  His  star  in  the  east, 
and  have  come  to  worship  Him."  God's  kingdom  must  come  on  earth 
through  Him,  who  is  both  David's  son  and  David's  Lord. 

The  Risen  Christ,  from  His  father's  throne  in  heaven,  exercises 
now  an  invisible,  but  resistless,  dominion  over  all  nations,  kingdoms 
and  empires,  and  the  nations  still  come  to  their  inheritance  according 
to  the  divine  appointment,  and  as  they  serve  to  make  known  on  earth 
the  sacred  truth  given  in  trust  to  the  Jews,  they  prepare  the  way  for 
the  coming  Lord,  by  proclaiming  the  glad  tidings  of  that  kingdom 
that  shall  never  end. 

God  still  determines  the  appointed  times  of  the  nations  and  the 
bounds  of  their  habitations,  with  reference  to  their  relations  to  His 
son,  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  restoration  of  the  kingdom  to  Israel.  Many 
nations  shall  yet  say:  "Come,  and  let  us  go  up  to  the  mountain  of 
the  Lord,  and  to  the  house  of  the  God  of  Jacob,  and  He  will  teach 
us  of  His  ways,  and  we  will  walk  in  His  paths;  for  the  law  shall  go 
forth  out  of  Zion,  and  the  word  of  the  Lord  from  Jerusalem." 

So  far  as  nations  have  had  any  history,  since  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  Christ,  that  history  has  been  connected  with  and  tributary  to 
the  extension  and  establishment  of  the  Gospel  of  that  Risen  Lord 
among  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth:  for  that  Gospel  must  be  preached 
to  all  nations,  as  God's  witness,  before  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  can 
come  in  power  and  glory  on  this  earth. 

The  movements  of  men  and  nations  through  eighteen  Christian 
centuries  have  been  guided  by  the  divine  eye,  and  controlled  by  the 
divine  hand.  The  dismemberment  of  the  old  Roman  empire,  the  rise 
of  the  kingdoms  of  modern  Europe,  the  growth  of  the  Papacy,  the 
career  of  Mohammed,  the  wars  of  the  Crusaders,  the  darkness  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  the  revival  of  learning,  the  persecutions  of  the  Church 
by  Rome — Pagan  and  Papal — the  invention  of  printing,  the  transla- 
tions of  the  Scriptures,  the  reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the 
exile  of  Christians  for  conscience  sake,  the  use  of  the  mariner's  com- 
pass, and  the  opening  up  of  new  and  unknown  lands,  were  not  less 
directed  by  the  Almighty  God  of  heaven,  than  Israel's  march  from 
Egypt  to  Canaan,  and  the  times  and  bounds  of  the  nations  of  the  Old 
World. 

Nowhere  is  the  overruling  providence  of  God  more  clearly  seen 
than  in  this  our  land,  and  in  the  history  of  the  people  of  these 
United  States.  Israel's  God  and  our  father's  God  divided  to  us  this 
rich  inheritance;  and  He  has  appointed  our  time  and  fixed  our  bounds, 


1890.] 


THE  INHERITANCES  OF  NATIONS  ALLOTTED  BY  GOD. 


825 


that  we  might  not  only  seek  the  Lord  ourselves,  but  should  give  His 
Gospel,  committed  in  trust  to  our  custody,  to  all  the  nations.  Morde- 
cai's  question  to  Queen  Esther  comes  with  fearful  emphasis  to  the 
rulers  and  people  of  this  republic:  "  If  thou  altogether  boldest  thy 
peace  at  this  time,  then  shall  there  enlargement  and  deliverance  arise 
to  the  Jews  from  another  place;  but  thou  and  thy  father's  house  shall 
be  destroyed:  and  who  knoweth  whether  thou  art  come  to  the  king- 
dom for  such  a  time  as  this  ?  " 

Our  forefathers  brought  with  them  to  this  new  world  that  fear  of 
the  Lord  that  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom,  that  liberty  of  conscience 
to  worship  God  that  could  not  be  enjoyed  at  home.  With  them  came, 
too,  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  the  inspired  and 
infallible  Word  of  God;  the  family  as  the  basis  and  unit  of  all  true 
life  in  both  Church  and  State;  the  sanctity  of  the  oath  unto  God  as 
the  hope  of  a  pure  administration  of  justice  in  our  courts;  the  divinely 
-ordained  rest  of  the  Lord's  Day,  not  for  a  holiday  but  for  a  holy  day 
— in  short,  they  brought  with  them,  not  monarchy,  nor  anarchy,  not 
communism,  nor  atheism,  not  infidelity,  nor  materialism,  nor  papacy, 
but  God-fearing  piety  and  customs  founded  on  the  Word  of  God. 

We  have  come  to  the  Kingdom  at  such  a  time  as  this — a  time 
when  there  are  no  longer  any  hermit  nations,  nor  Chinese  walls  of 
exclusion;  in  a  wider  and  deeper  sense  than  ever  before,  every  man 
may  now  say,  "The  world  is  my  parish. 99  Steamships  supersede  sail 
vessels,  the  engine  does  the  work  of  a  thousand  men  and  horses,  the 
sun  paints  our  pictures,  electricity  illumines  our  cities  and  sends  our 
words  with  lightning  sj^eed  around  the  globe.  All  the  ends  of  the 
earth  are  brought  face  to  face  in  the  great  struggle  for  existence; 
and  all  races  and  nations  jostle  each  other  on  the  broad  highway 
of  life.  Surely  the  Anglo-Saxon  Christianity  of  America  must  have 
a  mission  from  the  God  of  Heaven  to  all  the  races  and  nations  of  the 
earth.  "The  wheels  of  history  are  the  chariot  wheels  of  the  Almighty, 
and  with  every  revolution  there  is  an  onward  movement  toward  the 
goal  of  His  eternal  purposes,"  to  establish  here  on  earth  the  Kingdom 
of  God  in  supernal  splendor. 

The  providential  mission  of  this  nation  is  to  give  the  blessed  Gos- 
pel of  the  Son  of  God  to  all  peoples  of  the  earth.  The  weary  and 
sin-stricken  children  of  Adam,  of  every  continent  and  island,  of  every 
tribe  and  tongue,  in  their  darkness  and  degradation,  look,  with  long- 
ing eyes  to  us  for  light  and  help  and  healing.  "Come  over  into  Mace- 
donia and  help  us"  is  the  despairing  cry  borne  on  every  breeze  and 
from  every  land  beneath  the  skies — from  China  and  Korea,  from  In- 
dia and  Japan,  from  Persia  and  Papal  Europe,  from  the  South  Ameri- 
can Republic  and  Mexico,  from  the  islands  of  the  oceans  and  the 
'"dark  continent"  of  Livingstone  and  Stanley. 

We  hold  the  Gospel,  not  merely  for  ourselves  but  in  trust  for  a 


826 


THE  CONGO  MISSIONS. 


[Nov. 


lost  world.  We  have  the  men  and  the  money,  the  missionaries  and 
the  agencies,  methods  of  transit  and  transportation,  in  more  than 
abundance,  to  give  the  Gospel  in  ten  years,  as  God's  witness,  to  every 
nation  under  heaven.  The  supreme  duty  of  this  nation  is  to  realize 
her  sublime  providential  mission,  and  bear  the  blessed  light  of  the 
Gospel  to  all  the  dark  places  of  the  earth,  to  the  habitations  of  men 
now  filled  with  cruelty.  There  is  no  second  Columbus  to  be  bomy 
nor  any  new  continent  to  be  discovered.  This  is  the  "last  days,"  and 
this  "the  ends  of  the  earth,"  the  light  that  shines  across  the  Pacific 
from  San  Francisco  and  Portland  reaches  to  the  very  lands  where 
first  that  light  was  kindled  "Now  or  never,"  is  the  world  to  be  evan- 
gelized by  us. 

THE  CONGO  MISSIONS. 

BY  MISS   HELEN   F.   CLARK,   NEW  YORK. 

[Mr.  C.  J.  Laffin  went  out  to  Africa  under  Bishop  Taylor,  but  when  his 
Congo  Mission  failed,  he  worked  independently,  though  unofficially  associated 
with  the  A.  B.  M.  U.  He  sent  us  various  notes  from  the  Congo.  He  has  just 
returned  to  take  a  medical  course,  then  goes  back  to  Central  Africa.  He  has 
furnished  Miss  Clark  with  the  facts  and  experiences  of  his  three  years'  mission 
tour,  which  she  here  puts  into  form,  under  his  supervision.  The  paper,  being 
reliable  and  fresh  from  the  Congo,  cannot  fail  to  be  of  special  interest  at  the 
present  juncture. — J.  M.  S.] 

The  question  of  evangelizing  Central  Africa  is  one  that  now  en- 
grosses the  attention  of  aggressive  Christianity  in  both  England  and 
America.  The  best  plan  of  work,  and  the  character  of  the  workers, 
is  largely  discussed  among  the  various  boards  and  missionary  com- 
mittees; consequently  any  light  that  can  be  thrown  upon  these  topics 
by  missionaries  who  have  been  upon  the  field,  and  are,  therefore,  best 
qualified  to  give  an  opinion,  is  gratefully  received. 

Mr.  Laffin  spent  his  first  few  months  in  Africa  in  the  vicinity  of 
Vivi  and  Isangila,  but  afterwards  pushed  on  up  the  Congo  river  800 
miles  to  the  equator,  stopping  at  Equatorville  station,  forming  the 
acquaintance  of  various  tribes  along  the  banks  of  the  Congo  and 
lesser  streams. 

From  the  first  he  was  keenly  interested  in  the  methods  of  work 
followed  in  the  various  mission  stations  which  he  visited,  and  care- 
fully studied  their  every  detail.  Then  followed  much  practical  work 
on  his  own  part  among  the  natives  as  he  traveled  through  the  country 
and  mingled  with  them. 

As  an  independent  missionary,  Mr.  Laffin  founded  no  station,  nor 
reported  his  work  to  any  superior,  but  to  the  great  Master  Himself, 
but  wisely  spent  his  time  in  examining  the  country  and  the  conditions 
under  which  he  must  work,  and  in  forming  his  own  opinion  as  to  the 
wisest  and  most  effective  way  to  prosecute  that  work. 

The  Africans  he  came  in  contact  with  are  a  peculiar  people,  and 
must  be  dealt  with  in  the  utmost  candor  and  with  straightforward 


1890.] 


THE  CONGO  MISSIONS. 


827 


simplicity.  With  them  no  half-hearted  work  is  possible;  no  clouded 
testimony  in  word  or  life  will  receive  the  slightest  regard  from  them. 
Nothing  but  sterling  Christianity  in  word  or  deed  will  convince  them 
that  the  Gospel  you  preach  is  true;  but  the  testimony  clearly  borne, 
and  the  life  that  will  bear  the  sharpest  scrutiny,  will  bring  a  multi- 
tude of  hungry  hearts  to  God.  Perhaps  the  work  done  is  more 
satisfactory  in  Africa  than  in  any  other  country,  for  the  man  or 
woman  who  is  converted  is  converted  in  deed  and  in  truth,  and 
becomes  at  once  as  aggressive  for  the  truth  as  the  missionary  himself. 

Mr.  Laffin  has  vouchsafed  the  following  interesting  facts  under  the 
heads  of  "What  has  been  done  in  Africa;"  "  What  is  being  done," 
and  "  What  can  be  done,"  which  we  give,  as  nearly  as  possible,  in  his 
own  words. 

FIRST  WHAT  HAS  BEEN  DONE. 

There  are,  at  the  present  time,  four  societies  prosecuting  active 
work  in  Central  Africa:  the  American  Baptists,  the  English  Baptists, 
the  Swedish  Society,  and  the  Congo  Balolo  Society,  who  have  a 
combined  working  force  of  about  80  missionaries  in  all,  occupying  20 
mission  stations.  Of  these  stations  13  are  situated  on  the  lower 
Congo  and  Cataract  region,  below  Stanley  Pool,  and  the  remaining  7 
are  on  the  upper  Congo  and  in  the  Balolo  district. 

Thus  far  7  churches  have  been  organized — all  among  the  Bakongo 
people — which  aggregate  about  1,500  communicants,  with  half  as  many 
more  who  profess  conversion,  but  whom  the  missionaries  are  keeping  on 
probation  for  a  short  time.  Besides  these  regular  stations,  there  are  in 
this  vicinity  from  15  to  20  out-stations  and  preaching-posts,  all 
manned  by  able  native  evangelists. 

It  is  but  thirteen  years  since  the  first  missionaries  penetrated  the 
Congo  districts,  and  but  ten  of  these  have  been  spent  in  actually 
publishing  the  Gospel,  for  the  first  three  were  spent  by  the  little  band 
of  sturdy  English  Christians  in  fighting  fevers,  and  in  trying  to  con- 
ciliate the  hostile  natives.  Since  that  time,  one  tribe  only  has  been,  to 
a  large  extent,  evangelized — that  is  to  say,  the  Gospel  has  been  preached 
the  length  of  the  land  upon  which  this  numerous  and  powerful  tribe 
of  Bakongo  people  live. 

The  difficulties  experienced  by  these  indomitable  pioneers  seem 
almost  beyond  belief.  During  those  first  three  perilous  years  the 
missionaries  were  driven  from  place  to  place  and  were  not  able  to 
settle  anywhere.  They  found  it  difficult  to  establish  any  communica- 
tion with  the  natives,  since  the  black  men  regarded  them  with  the 
utmost  suspicion  and  distrust,  and  gave  them  almost  no  opportunity 
to  acquire  the  native  language.  In  the  course  of  time,  seeing  that 
the  strange  whites  were  neither  slave  traders  nor  state  officials,  the 
suspicion  of  the  natives  finally  gave  way  to  confidence,  and  their 
would-be  friends  were  allowed  to  found  their  station  in  peace,  and  to 


828 


THE  CONGO  MISSIONS. 


[Nov. 


begin  the  publication  of  those  good  tidings  which  afterwards  brought 
peace  to  so  many  troubled  souls  among  them. 

The  greatest  difficulty  in  reaching  the  interior  has  ever  been  in 
getting  above  the  falls  in  the  great  river,  about  100  miles  above  its 
mouth.  To  navigate  the  stream  at  this  point  is  impossible.  Therefore, 
all  stores  and  baggage  for  the  interior  must  be  conveyed  a  distance 
of  250  miles  around  in  sixty-pound  packages,  which  the  lithe  and 
agile  natives  bear  upon  their  heads.  The  steamboats  for  the  upper 
Congo  were  taken  apart  and  packed  in  this  manner,  and  rebuilded  upon 
the  upper  side. 

There  are  thirty-one  steamers  now  running  upon  the  upper  Congo, 
three  of  which  are  missionary  boats,  the  others  belonging  either  to 
the  Government  or  to  the  traders.  Two  more  mission  steamers  are 
now  in  process  of  construction  for  the  lower  Congo,  and  one  for  the 
upper. 

Stations  have  been  established  among  three  other  tribes,  but  as 
yet  only  one  convert  has  crowned  their  labors.  Here  the  difficulty 
of  acquiring  the  language  hinders  the  missionaries.  There  is  no 
written  language,  and  the  tongue  must  be  acquired  slowly  and  un- 
satisfactorily by  mingling  with  the  people  as  often  as  they  will  per- 
mit, and  there  is  no  missionary  upon  the  field  to-day  who  has  mastered 
it  sufficiently  to  talk  intelligently,  without  having  frequent  recourse 
to  an  interpreter. 

In  these  distant  stations  on  the  upper  river,  isolated  from  one 
another,  it  has  required  a  long  time  to  gain  the  confidence  of  the  na- 
tives, but  the  past  few  years  have  sufficed  at  last  to  convince  these 
distrustful  people  that  the  white  man  really  came  to  them  from  an 
unselfish  motive,  and  he  has  now  won  their  hearts,  so  that  to-day 
these  persevering  workers  have  a  firm  footing  in  the  three  tribes,  and 
are  ready  to  branch  out  into  large  work  as  soon  as  their  numbers  are 
re-inforced  by  the  arrival  of  new  missionaries. 

WHAT  IS   BEING  DONE. 

As  to  what  is  being  done,  perhaps  the  most  successful  of  all  the 
efforts  put  forth,  is  that  of  the  native  evangelists.  This,  of  course, 
brings  us  back  to  the  Bakongo  people  along  the  Lower  Congo. 

Of  the  members  of  these  churches,  a  very  large  percentage — con- 
siderably more  than  half — are  persevering,  energetic,  aggressive 
Christian  workers — such  workers  as  put  to  shame  the  feeble  and  child- 
ish efforts  of  many  Christians  in  our  own  land. 

To  them,  black  man  or  white  man,  State  official,  of  however  high 
degree,  or  slave,  of  ever  so  mean  a  degradation,  is  either  a  "son  of 
God"  or  a  "son  of  the  Devil."  They  know  but  two  classes,  and  if 
you  are  not  avowedly  of  the  first,  they  immediately  pronounce  you 
in-  the  second,  and  proceed  to  give  you  the  Gospel  on  the  spot.  They 
fear  no  man,  soldier  or  government-official,  trader  or  traveler,  brother 


1890.J 


THE  CONGO  MISSIONS. 


829 


African  or  slave,  and  one  of  the  first  questions  asked,  upon  forming 
one's  acquaintance,  will  be,  "Jvcoizi,  ngeye  mwancC  nzambi?"  (are 
you  a  son  of  God?) 

If  the  answer  is  in  the  negative,  they  very  frequently  respond, 
"Bosimwana?  mbungi  /"  (Then  you  are  a  child  of  the  Devil.)  After 
which  they  present  the  Gospel  to  you  with  all  the  eloquence  and 
clearness  of  which  their  incomparable  language  is  capable. 

These  workers  are  continually  organizing  themselves  into  bands 
of  twenty  or  thirty,  and  with  neither  scrip  nor  staves,  they  go  from 
village  to  village,  preaching  the  Gospel,  and  often  remaining  away  for 
weeks  at  a  time. 

The  missionaries  freely  acknowledge  that  one  native  is  worth  three 
or  four  white  men  as  an  evangelist.  They  speak  with  marvellous  ora- 
torical effect;  indeed,  they  are  said  to  be  born  orators.  "A  sermon 
that  I  heard  from  one  of  them,"  says  Mr.  Laffin,  "was  as  fine  as  ever 
I  heard  in  either  Europe  or  America,  not  only  in  point  of  delivery, 
but  in  its  clearness  of  reasoning,  and  in  its  profound  perception  of 
spiritual  truth." 

These  bands  of  workers  go  out  invariably  at  their  own  expense. 
Besides  these  unpaid  volunteers  there  are  some  25  native  evangelists 
who  go  individually  to  out-posts  and  preaching-stations,  and  who  are 
nearly  all  self-supporting  or  are  maintained  by  the  native  churches. 
The  natives  believe  the  Gospel  at  the  mouths  of  their  own  people 
far  more  readily  than  they  do  from  the  missionary  himself ;  conse- 
quently their  work  is  of  vastly  more  value  in  the  general  evangeli- 
zation of  a  tribe  than  is  that  of  the  white  man. 

But  the  simplicity  of  the  native  evangelist  is,  as  a  rule,  altogether 
spoiled  by  transportation  to  America  or  England.  A  taste  of  European 
life  robs  him  of  his  unconsciousness  of  self,  and,  thereafter,  he  looks 
down  upon  his  kindred  and  will  no  longer  associate  with  them,  but 
must  live  as  we  live,  and  wants  more  luxuries  than  any  missionary 
would  allow  himself.  These  people  frequently  travel  half  a  day's 
journey,  bringing  their  food  with  them,  in  order  to  attend  divine 
service. 

The  loj^alty  of  the  native  Christian  to  God's  Word  is  marvellous. 
While  the  people  are  perfectly  obedient  to  the  Supreme  Being,  they 
will  bear  no  dictation  from  us  whatever.  If  we  insist  upon  their 
conforming  their  lives  to  any  precept  or  principle  which  we  may  lay 
down,  they  immediately  begin  to  reason  the  matter  with  us.  If  the 
rule  be  a  scriptural  one,  they  insist  upon  our  finding  the  text,  when 
we  must  read  it  to  them  and  translate  it  into  their  own  language. 
But  if  the  scripture  bears  out  our  words,  that  is  an  end  of  all  contro- 
versy; thereafter,  it  becomes  a  law  to  them,  or  as  they  style  it  in 
their  own  beautiful  native  tongue,  "The  Lord  hath  said  it,  and  we 
must  obey."    On  this  account  we  are  obliged  to  discriminate  accu- 


830 


THE  CONGO  MISSIONS. 


[Nov. 


rately  in  our  teaching  against  what  is  purely  a  matter  of  custom  with 
us,  since  they  will  learn  nothing  from  us  save  that  which  is  scriptural. 
]>ut  when  they  are  told  not  to  lie,  or  cheat  in  business,  or  to  steal, 
seeing  it  in  Scripture,  the}^  immediately  desist. 

As  an  illustration  of  this,  I  will  give  you  an  incident  in  my  own 
experience.  Traveling  through  strange  villages  one  day,  I  saw  a 
woman  by  the  roadside  with  a  pawpaw  beside  her.  I  asked  what  she 
would  sell  it  for,  and  she  named  a  price;  I  bade  the  boy  who  was  with 
me  take  it  away  for  our  noon-day  meal.  "No,  no,"  she  cried,  "the 
pawpaw  will  not  be  ripe  enough  until  to-morrow;  go  on  down  the 
road,  sir,  and  you  will  find  plenty  more  that  are  ripe  enough  to  eat 
now."  I  then  learned  that  she  was  a  Christian.  She  had  heard  the 
Gospel  from  a  native  evangelist  who  had  once  come  to  her  village 
to  preach,  and  she  had  received  the  truth,  and,  although  untaught 
in  the  principles  of  Christian  living,  yet  by  the  Holy  Spirit's  help, 
had  instinctively  perceived  the  right. 

"When  the  surveyors  for  the  Congo  railroad,  which  is  now  being 
built,  were  laying  out  the  road  through  a  certain  tract,  one  of  them 
approached  the  chief  of  the  neighboring  tribe,  and,  as  is  customary, 
offered  him  a  glass  of  rum.  The  chief  thanked  him  for  the  courtesy, 
but  declined  the  rum  with  these  words:  "  That  is  what  destroys  the 
bodies  and  souls  of  my  people.    As  a  Christian  I  cannot  take  it." 

I  come  now  to  our  last  proposition: 

WHAT  CAN  BE  DONE  IN  CENTRAL  AFRICA. 

The  whole  of  the  Congo  Free  State  is  now  open  to  missionaries. 
This  district  contains  about  1,680,000  square  miles  of  country,  all  of 
which  is  accessible  through  the  Congo  and  its  tributaries.  This  im- 
mense system  of  rivers  affords  at  least,  according  to  explorations  up 
to  date,  10,000  miles  of  navigable  waterway  above  Stanley  Pool. 
This  district  contains  from  fifteen  to  twenty  different  tribes,  speak- 
ing as  many  different  languages,  and  numbering  in  the  aggregate,  as 
near  as  may  be  estimated,  from  thirty  to  eighty  millions  of  souls. 
The  best  known  of  these  tribes,  the  Balolo,  is  calculated  to  number 
ten  millions  of  itself.  Many  parts  of  the  interior  are  said  to  be  par- 
ticularly healthy  and  free  from  malaria  and  fevers.  Dr.  Summers, in 
speaking  of  Luluaburg,  calls  it  a  very  healthy  place,  and  states  that 
at  night  the  thermometer  will  sometimes  fall  to  the  freezing  point. 

There  is  not  known  to  be  a  single  town  in  the  interior,  or  Central 
Africa,  that  will  refuse  to  receive  a  missionary,  if  once  satisfied  that 
he  is  a  missionary.  To  them  the  yoke  of  a  foreign  government  is  so 
galling  that  the  very  sight  of  the  men  in  its  employ,  as  a  rule,  arouses 
all  their  enmity. 

The  Congo  Free  State  obliges  all  vessels  to  fly  its  flag,  and 
wherever  the  missionary  goes  he  is  marked  as  a  State  man,  and  only 
undeniable  proof  will  suffice  to  convince  them  that  the  missionary  is 


1890.] 


THE  CONGO  MISSIONS. 


831 


not  an  enemy  in  disguise.  To  them,  words  prove  nothing,  and  deeds 
purporting  to  flow  from  an  unselfish  motive  are  an  unsolvable 
enigma;  hence,  it  is  only  the  "  heroes,"  who  can  persevere  without 
the  slightest  show  of  fear  or  alarm,  and  endure  the  suspicion  and  the 
consequent  tribulations  until  their  identity  is  established.  This  some- 
times takes  a  long  time.  In  the  case  of  the  first  missionaries  on  the 
lower  Congo  it  required  three  years,  and  it  has  required  almost  as 
long  a  time  for  the  faithful  pioneers  on  the  upper  river  to  gain  an 
entrance  and  a  footing. 

In  Africa,  the  women  missionaries  are  the  happier.  Nothing  is 
feared  from  them,  and  they  are  allowed  to  go  in  and  out  at  their 
pleasure  without  molestation.  Their  presence  in  a  party  has  more 
than  once  spared  valuable  lives  to  the  Congo  work.  At  one  time  a 
small  party,  including  two  ladies,  sailed  up  an  unexplored  river,  and 
at  night-time  they  attempted  to  land  and  camp  for  the  night.  The 
natives  immediately  assembled,  and  ordered  them  off.  They  expostu- 
lated in  vain,  insisting  that  they  were  not  foes,  but  missionaries  de- 
siring to  be  their  friends,  but  they  refused  to  believe  them,  and  they 
were  forced  to  take  refuge  on  a  sand-bar  for  the  night.  In  the  morn- 
ing their  men  came  out,  and  examining  their  boat  carefully,  and  find- 
ing no  arms  or  weapons  such  as  the  State  men  carried,  finally  permit- 
ted them  to  land  and  make  friends  with  them,  but  averred  that  it 
was  only  the  presence  of  the  ladies  that  had  kept  them  from  killing 
them  immediately  on  their  approach. 

At  one  time,  in  company  with  two  blacks  from  a  village  where 
I  had  been  working,  I  rowed  up  another  river  a  distance  of  probably 
eight  or  ten  miles,  when,  coming  within  sight  of  a  strange  village,  we 
were  surprised  to  hear  a  hasty  alarm  sounded,  and  instantly  a  multi- 
tude of  the  brown-skinned  fellows  rushed  to  the  banks  of  the  creek, 
armed  with  bows  and  arrows.  Then,  with  a  peculiar  beating  of 
drums,  a  message  was  telegraphed  down  the  creek  to  the  adjoining 
village,  and  from  there  the  alarm  was  sounded  on  to  the  next,  and  the 
next,  till  at  last  the  hoarse  din  died  away  to  a  faint  sound,  and  finally 
hushed  to  our  ears  altogether,  while  up  and  down  the  river-bank 
were  gathered  the  wild  people  eager  to  wreak  their  vengeance  on 
our  defenceless  heads. 

I  surely  thought  it  was  all  over  with  me,  and  the  blacks  by  my 
side  had  settled  themselves  stoically  to  meet  their  fate,  when  far  off 
came  the  hurried  tang-tang-tang  of  a  message  swiftly  sent  back.  The 
word  had  gone  even  to  the  village  I  had  left,  and  instantly  came  the 
response:  "Let  him  alone  !  He  is  a  missionary  !"  Then  the  assem- 
bled blacks  apologized,  and  treated  us  with  the  utmost  cordiality 
and  friendliness,  saying:  "  We  have  no  complaint  againt  the  ambas- 
sadors of  God."  We  are  always  called  by  them  "ambassadors  of 
God,"  and  native  Christians  are  called  "  witnesses  of  Jesus  Christ." 


832 


THE  CONGO  MISSIONS. 


[Nov. 


The  missionaries  in  Africa,  as  a  rule,  count  the  work  of  one 
woman  worth  that  of  twelve  men,  since  they  can  go  anywhere,  even 
among  the  fiercest  tribes.  Their  motives  are  never  questioned,  and 
they  are  invariably  listened  to  with  the  greatest  respect.  Miss  Silvey 
went  about  among  the  Bayansi  tribe  with  perfect  freedom,  although 
they  are  by  far  the  most  formidable  of  all  the  tribes  yet  known.  They 
are  also  the  most  inveterate  of  the  cannibals,  since  they  buy  slave- 
children  and  slaughter  them  for  the  markets,  as  we  do  cattle.  Miss 
Silvey  spoke  to  them  only  through  interpreters,  since  their  speech 
has  not  yet  been  reduced  to  language.  Miss  de  Hailes  and  Mrs. 
McKittrick  work  quite  as  freely  among  the  Balolo  people. 

These  inland  tribes  are,  as  a  rule,  a  fine,  powerful  people.  They 
are  not  Negroes  but  Bantus,  and  are  of  a  choclate  brown  color,  with 
thin,  well-curved  lips  and  fine  features.  They  are  wonderfully 
energetic,  pushing  and  business-like,  and,  if  converted,  will  make 
princely  evangelists,  since  they  fear  nothing,  and  will  make  long 
journeys  from  home,  remaining  away  many  months  at  a  time. 
While  they  are  suspicious  of  the  white  men,  they  have  no  hatred 
for  them  unless  they  have  done  them  an  injury.  Government  repre- 
sentatives they  count  their  mortal  enemies,  but  the  missionaries,  when 
they  are  once  known  to  be  such, -are  invariably  welcomed. 

The  missionary's  first  step  is  to  gain  the  confidence  of  the  people, 
and  then  it  is  easy  to  win  their  affections,  and  his  opportunity  to 
preach  the  Gospel  is  unlimited.  When  they  believe  in  you  they  be- 
lieve your  gospel,  and  are  quickly  won  to  God  and  to  abide  by  His 
Word. 

At  first  they  will  give  you  two  motives  for  not  believing  you: 
1st,  The  improbability  of  people  doing  anything  from  a  purely  unself- . 
ish  motive.  2d,  The  impossibility  of  it.  Therefore,  they  are  not 
willing  in  the  beginning  to  believe  that  Jesus  could  possibly  have 
loved  and  died  for  them.  But  the  life  of  a  missionary  among  them, 
self-sacrificing  and  exhibiting  unfeigned  love  for  their  souls,  becomes 
at  last  incontrovertible  proof  of  the  truth  of  the  Gospel,  and  they  ac- 
cept it  gladly  and  fully. 

But  one  great  question  troubles  them,  that  has  troubled  many 
Christians  before,  "If  it  is  all  true  and  Christ's  unselfish  love  begets  a 
like  love  in  your  souls,  why  is  it  that  you  never  came  to  us  before, 
why  do  not  more  come  now  ?"    Christian  reader,  can  you  answer  it  ? 

One  of  these  men  said  to  me  one  day,  "White  man,  my  heart  is 
hungry  for  something,  and  I  don't  know  what  it  is."  After  he  was 
converted  I  said  to  him,  "Well,  have  you  found  out  now  what  it  was 
that  your  heart  was  hungering  for  ?"  "  Yes,"  he  answered,  quickly; 
"  It  was  hungry  for  salvation  !" 

My  advice  to  every  missionary  coming  here,  would  be,  not  to  try 
to  educate  the  people,  not  even  to  make  the  civilization  of  these  tribes 


1890.] 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  GOEDVERWACHT. 


833 


their  initiatory  effort,  but  to  make  their  one  effort,  first  and  last  and 
all  the  time,  to  preach  the  Gospel  ! 

Any  child  or  adult  will  refuse  to  come  to  school  after  the  novelty 
wears  off  unless  paid  for  it,  but  when  converted,  they  clamor  at  once  to 
be  taught  to  read,  that  they  may  search  the  Scriptures  for  themselves. 

It  is  most  unwise  to  attempt  to  Europeanize  them.  It  is  far  bet- 
ter to  leave  them  Africans  still,  since  the  Word  teaches  them  all  that 
is  required  for  purity  and  wholesomeness  of  life  and  morals,  and  cus- 
toms are  only  galling  and  useless  to  a  people  so  differently  situated 
from  us. 

It  would  require,  probably  from  twenty  to  thirty  missionaries  per 
tribe  to  equip  Central  Africa;  after  which,  the  work  of  the  native 
evangelist  becomes  the  main  factor  in  the  gospelizing  of  this  darkened 
land.  > 

The  Jesuits,  backed  by  the  government  of  the  Congo  Free  State, 
are  coming  into  this  region  like  a  flood,  from  the  west,  and  the  Mo- 
hammedans are  coming  in  almost  equal  numbers,  from  the  east. 
Hence,  whatever  is  done  for  the  spreading  of  the  Gospel  here  must 
be  done  quickly. 

THE  ROMANCE  OF  GOEDVERWACHT. 

BY  REV.   PAUL    DE  SCHWEINITZ,   NAZARETH,  PA. 

Goedverwacht  is  a  Moravian  mission  station  among  the  Hottentots  in  South 
Africa,  almost  a  hundred  miles  due  north  from  Cape  Town.  The  Moravians 
began  missionary  operations,  both  in  Guinea  and  in  the  Cape  Colony,  in  1737, 
but  this  particular  station  was  not  founded  until  1858. 

Like  many  tales  of  fiction,  so,  too,  the  veritable  romance  of  Goedverwacht 
is  founded  upon  a  most  peculiar  and  very  complicated  testament,  which  be- 
came intricately  involved  with  the  history  of  the  mission,  and  upon  which  for 
a  time  its  very  existence  depended. 

In  1810,  a  certain  wealthy  Dutch  farmer,  by  the  name  of  Buergers,  pur- 
chased a  beautiful,  well- watered,  fertile  valley,  of  some  900  acres,  in  the  Piquet 
mountains,  and,  by  means  of  his  Hottentot  slaves,  transformed  it  into  a  pros- 
perous little  colony,  which  now  bears  the  name  of  Goedverwacht.  Here  Mr. 
Buergers  lived  most  contentedly  until  the  year  1838,  when  the  emancipation 
of  all  slaves  should  take  place.  To  his  great  displeasure  he  noticed  that  his 
slaves  had  become  filled  with  spiritual  desires,  and,  as  soon  as  they  became 
free,  would  forsake  him  and  move  to  a  mission  station. 

In  order  to  prevent  this,  Mr.  Buergers  chose  six  of  his  slaves  whom  he 
valued  most  highly,  and  told  them,  that  if  they  would  remain  with  him  and 
care  for  him  up  to  his  death,  he  would  will  them  his  entire  estate.  He  drew 
up  his  will  accordingly,  decreeing  that  these  six  slaves  should  hold  the  estate 
in  common,  but  that  it  could  not  be  sold  until  the  last  of  the  six  slaves  died, 
and  then  it  must  be  sold  and  the  proceeds  divided  equally  among  the  living 
children  of  these  six  slaves. 

This  will  was  considered  an  insult  to  his  white  neighbors  and  relatives,  but 
it  was  drawn  up  so  skillfully,  that  all  attempts  to  upset  it  proved  utterly  futile. 

Thus,  in  1843,  six  poor,  despised  Hottentot  men  and  women,  having  faith- 
fully fulfilled  all  the  conditions  of  the  will,  suddenly  became  wealthy  real-es- 
tate owners. 


834 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  GOEDVERWACHT. 


[Nov. 


The  property  did  not  fall  into  unworthy  hands.  These  six  gathered  to- 
gether their  friends  and  relatives,  and  soon  had  a  colony  of  over  500  souls, 
and  they  at  once  proceeded  to  take  measures  to  have  their  spiritual  wants  sup- 
plied.   For  this  purpose,  they  applied  to  the  Moravians  for  missionaries. 

The  Moravians  in  their  work  among  these  peoples,  have  always  found  it 
best  to  gather  their  converts  into  little  villages  around  the  mission-houses, 
which,  for  this  purpose  must,  of  course,  stand  upon  ground  owned  by  the 
Church.  Owing  to  the  peculiar  conditions  of  the  will,  they  could  purchase  no 
land  there,  and  so  had  to  serve  these  Hottentots  as  best  they  could  from  a 
neighboring  station.  However,  a  nourishing  congregation  of  Christian  con- 
verts was  gradually  gathered. 

In  the  meantime,  the  six  owners  began  to  die  off.  It  became  apparent  that 
the  time  when  the  estate  must  be  sold,  was  fast  approaching.  If  the  Moravian 
Church  could  not  purchase  the  estate,  the  flourishing  mission- work  would  be 
destroyed.  The  surrounding  white  farmers  could  scarcely  await  the  time  when 
they  could  avenge  the  imagined  insult  of  making  Hottentots  equal  landowners 
with  themselves.  They  openly  boasted  of  the  sums  they  would  pay,  and  de- 
clared they  would  resell  the  land  to  the  highest  bidders.  The  Moravians,  with 
their  scanty  means,  could  not  compete  with  the  fat  purses  of  these  hostile 
farmers.  The  future  looked  very  dark.  The  survivors  of  the  six  would  gladly 
have  secured  the  possession  to  the  Church,  but  the  courts  had  decided  that, 
under  the  will  they  were  powerless. 

In  this  extremity,  the  good  brethren  put  in  motion  the  mightiest  force  of 
which  the  Kingdom  of  God  knows.  They  and  their  converts  prayed — prayed 
unceasingly,  prayed  in  Africa  and  prayed  at  home,  prayed  constantly — for 
the  roofs  over  their  heads,  and  the  ground  under  their  feet  seemed  to  totter  and 
tremble.    It  was  an  invisible  power,  but  it  was  silently  at  work. 

In  the  meantime,  the  courts  had  decided  that,  according  to  the  letter  of  the 
will,  only  the  actually  living  children  of  the  original  six,  and  not  their 
grandchildren,  would  be  the  heirs  of  the  estate.  Further,  that  unless  all  the 
heirs  were  of  age  the  estate  must  be  sold  at  auction  to  the  highest  bidder. 
Further,  that  even  if  all  were  of  age,  if  there  was  a  single  one  who  refused  to 
agree  upon  a  price,  it  would  again  have  to  be  sold  at  auction  to  the  highest 
bidder.  In  either  of  those  two  cases  the  estate  would  be  lost  to  the  Moravians, 
and  their  faithful  labor  of  years  scattered  to  the  winds,  and  the  scene  of  their 
prayers,  and  tears  and  triumphs  for  Christ  become  the  abode  and  property  of 
godless  men.  On  the  other  hand,  the  courts  had  decided  that,  if  all  the  heirs 
were  of  age,  and  if  all  were  unanimously  agreed,  then  they  could  sell  the 
estate  at  private  sale  for  any  price  they  chose,  no  matter  how  low,  and  to 
whomsoever  they  chose. 

Finally  the  fate  of  the  entire  mission  depended  upon  the  life  of  one  old 
woman,  the  last  survivor  of  the  original  six  slaves.  At  length,  on  December 
28,  1333,  old  Christine,  who  for  thirty-eight  years  had  lived  the  life  of  a  true 
Christian,  died  in  her  ninety-third  year. 

At  once  the  hostile-minded  neighbors  began  to  tempt  the  poor  Hottentot 
heirs  with  fancy  prices.  What  would  be  the  fate  of  the  mission?  After 
thorough  investigation,  the  court  decided  that  there  were  thirteen  heirs  ac- 
cording to  the  letter  of  Buerger's  will,  and  as  one  of  these  thirteen  died  after 
Christine,  the  three  children  of  that  one  were  also  heirs.  By  the  merciful 
overruling  of  Providence  the  life  of  old  Christine  had  been  preserved  just  long 
enough  to  permit  the  youngest  of  these  heirs  to  become  of  age.  The  power  of 
prayer  began  to  be  evident.  But  were  these  all  willing  to  sell  their  valuable 
estate  to  the  Moravian  mission,  and  not  only  to  sell  it  to  the  mission,  but  also 


1890.] 


HIDDEN  SPRINGS— OR  HOW  MISSIONARIES  ARE  MADE. 


835 


for  a  price  the  church  could  afford  to  pay — which  must  be  one  far  below  its 
value  ?  Upon  this  now  hung  the  fate  of  this  flourishing  mission.  The  count- 
less prayers  of  the  believers  had  not  been  in  vain.  The  numberless  difficulties 
and  delicate  negotiations  cannot  be  detailed  here.  Suffice  it,  therefore,  to  say 
that  a  prayer-hearing  God  so  ruled  the  hearts  of  these  fifteen  heirs  that  they 
voluntarily  adopted  the  unanimous  resolution  to  sell  their  estate  to  the  Mora- 
vian Church  for  the  moderate  sum  of  £750  on  June  30,  1889.  Each  heir  re- 
ceived £51  and  15  shillings,  of  which  nearly  every  one  at  once  returned  £1  as  a 
gift  towards  a  church  building,  and  some  more.  However,  there  is  still  a  need 
for  much  more  before  all  the  expenses  of  the  transactions  can  be  paid  and  the 
necessary  church  buildings  erected.  But  the  Lord,  who  won  the  hearts  of  the 
self-sacrificing  heirs,  will  also  move  the  hearts  of  Christians  to  give  of  their 
means  to  upbuild  this  noble  mission. 

What  is  the  ' '  moral  "  of  this  tale  ?  A  prayer-hearing  God  can  overrule  the 
testament  of  one  who  cared  not  for  the  Church,  can  guide  the  decisions  of 
courts,  can  defeat  the  machinations  of  malicious  men,  can  guide  the  hearts  of 
poor  Hottentots. 

And  further,  when  Christians  at  home  are  earnestly,  and  non-Christians 
are  sneeringly,  seeking  for  permanent  results  of  missionary  work  among  de- 
based people,  here  is  again  a  shining  example  of  the  precepts  of  Christ  enter- 
ing into  and  controling  the  practical  life  of  converts.  Imagine  fifteen  Ameri- 
can nominal  Christians  of  all  ages  and  conditions,  not  rich,  but  really  poor, 
deliberately  refusing  a  fancy  price  for  real  estate,  when  it  could  be  honestly 
gained,  and  being  satisfied  with  a  very  moderate  figure,  out  of  love  for  the 
Lord  Jesus  and  pure  loyalty  to  the  Church.  It  would  have  been  so  easy  to 
have  simply  put  the  estate  up  at  auction  and  taken  the  highest  bid,  and  no  one 
could  have  accused  them  of  the  slightest  crime,  as  the  world  goes.  But 
higher,  more  Christlike  principles  controlled  these  poor  South  Africans.  See 
how  Christ  has  transformed  these  poor,  degraded,  down-trodden,  despised 
Hottentots  !    God  bless  their  self-sacrifice  to  them  and  their  children  ! 


HIDDEN  SPRINGS — OR  HOW  MISSIONARIES  ARE  MADE. 

BY  MARIA  A.  WEST,  SARATOGA,  N.  Y. 

In  the  deep  recesses  of  the  forest  and  mountain  solitudes,  far  away  from 
human  sight  and  pen,  God  prepares  the  hidden  fountains  which  send  their 
pure,  perennial  streams  down  to  the  valleys  below,  causing  life  and  beauty,  ver- 
dure and  f ruitf ulness,  to  spring  up  on  every  side,  and  filling  the  rivers  which 
flow  onward  to  the  great  sea,  to  carry  its  blessings  to  the  distant  places  of  the 
earth,  till  the  desert  shall  revive  and  blossom  as  the  garden  of  the  Lord. 

And,  as  in  the  economy  of  nature,  so,  also,  in  the  Kingdom  of  Grace,  the 
most  powerful  and  permeating  forces  are  often  those  that  are  secretly,  silently 
working,  unheralded  and  often  unknown,  but  set  in  motion  by  the  Divine 
Hand  which  keeps  the  heavenly  record,  and  marks  the  onward  flow  and  fruit- 
age, through  time  and  through  eternity! 

A  remarkable  instance  of  this  hidden  spring  of  far-reaching  influence,  has 
recently  been  brought  to  light,  and  is  especially  worthy  of  mention  at  this  time, 
when  its  power  is  strikingly  illustrated. 

In  the  year  1837,  Mrs.  Francis  G.  Clewe — born  in  the  year  1801 — and  living 
at  Genville,  a  village  four  miles  from  Schenectady,  listened  to  the  preaching 
of  a  missionary  sermon,  at  Hudson,  which,  as  she  said,  "Converted  her  to 
missions,  as  much  as  she  was  ever  converted  to  Christ  I"  Her  first  query  was, 
"What  can  I  do?  "    The  result  was  the  formation  by  her,  of  a  Woman's  For- 


\ 


836  TRANSLATIONS  FROM  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  PERIODICALS.  [Nov. 

eign  Missionary  Aid  Society.  Perhaps  the  first  one  of  the  kind  in  these  United 
States  of  America. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  this  new-born  society,  she  pledged  one  dollar,  as  her 
free-will  offering  to  the  cause.  To  obtain  that  sum,  she  walked  four  miles  to 
Schenectady,  secured  some  vests  to  make  at  one  of  the  shops,  and  then  walked 
home  again  with  her  work.  And,  at  every  meeting  of  the  society,  she  never 
failed  to  bring  an  offering  for  herself  and  for  each  of  her  children,  while  they 
were  still  small.  One  of  her  daughters  died,  but  the  gift  in  her  name  was 
still  continued,  with  the  words,  "And  this  is  for  Ann."  Her  yearly  offering 
sometimes  amounted  to  $20,00,  and  was  sent,  now  to  the  American  Board,  and 
then  to  another  foreign  missionary  society,  in  which  she  was  also  interested. 

For  this  sacred  purpose,  Mrs.  Clewe  sometimes  reared  "missionary  chickens,' 
sometimes  planted  a  piece  of  land,  or  set  apart  a  portion  of  her  butter  and 
eggs.  And,  during  all  those  fifty  or  more  years  of  her  consecrated  life,  this 
"mother  in  Israel"  continued  to  hold  the  missionary  meeting  of  the  society  she 
had  originated  in  her  own  home;  even  if  none  were  present  but  herself  and  one 
of  her  children,  a  chapter  was  read,  a  hymn  sung,  and  prayer  offered — and 
this,  not  monthly,  but  every  week  !  One  of  the  original  members  of  that  little 
society  is  still  living  and  testified  that  when  Mrs.  Clewe  was  too  ill  to  rise  from 
her  bed,  the  same  order  was  observed;  and  that  she  would  "turn  herself,"  and 
offer  a  fervent  prayer  for  missions  and  missionaries  throughout  the  world,  and 
pleading  that  some  of  her  descendants  might  thus  be  used  of  God. 

September  9,  1889,  she  was  called  from  the  earth  to  the  heavenly  Kingdom, 
being  88  years  of  age,  and,  like  a  shock  of  corn,  fully  ripe.  Her  last  earthly 
home  was  with  a  daughter  in  Schenectady.  And  now,  a  grandson  of  this  noble 
Christian  woman,  of  whom  the  world  never  heard,  is  appointed  as  a  mission- 
ary of  the  American  Board  for  West  Central  Africa;  soon  to  depart  with  his 
young  wife  and  little  child  for  that  "dark  continent."  To  some  in  that  city, 
where  this  young  physician,  in  the  opening  of  his  career  with  all  of  earth's  al- 
lurements before  him,  had  every  prospect  of  success,  this  decision  seems  the 
height  of  folly — like  the  throwing  away  of  a  life  and  all  that  makes  life  worth 
the  living.  They  have  not  seen  the  silent  working  of  the  sacred  leaven  in 
divine  preparation  for  this  culmination.  They  little  think  that  it  will  have  its 
fullest  manifestation  and  justification  on  the  day  when  "all  the  kingdoms  of  this 
world  shall  have  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord,  and  when  Christ  shall  reign 
over  all,  forever  and  ever." 

The  consecration  of  any  life,  in  fellowship  with  Christ,  receives  added  dig- 
nity and  grandeur  from  partnership  with  Him,  "who,  for  the  joy  that  was  set 
before  Him,  endured  the  cross,  despising  the  shame,  that  He  might  bring 
many  sons  unto  glory,"  and  "see  of  the  travail  of  His  soul,  and  be  satisfied" 
When  they  shall  come  from  the  east  and  the  west,  the  north  and  the  south,  and 
shall  sit  down  in  the  kingdom  of  God — "A  great  multitude,  whom  no  man 
could  number — of  all  nations  and  kindreds  and  peoples  and  tongues."  The 
glorious  harvest-time  of  souls,  when  the  "new  song"  shall  arise:  "Unto  Him 
who  loved  us,  and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  His  own  blood — to  Him  be  glory 
and  dominion,  for  ever  and  ever,  Amen  !" 

TRANSLATIONS  FROM  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  PERIODICALS. 

BY  REV.  CHARLES  C.  STARBUCK,  ANDOVER,  MASS. 

M.  Alfred  Casalis,  speaking  of  the  Basutos,  to  whom  he,  like  his  father  be- 
fore him,  has  now  become  a  missionary,  says: 

— "How  can  we  fail  to  experience  a  close  sense  of  unity  with  this  little  nation, 
so  desirous  of  maintaining  its  unity  and  independence  ?  It  is  undoubtedly,  the 
influence  of  the  Gospel  which  has  alone  protected  it  from  partition  and  com- 


1890.]  TRANSLATIONS  FROM  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  PERIODICALS. 


837 


plete  annexation  to  the  invading  neighbors  who  covet  its  land  so  greedily.  Are 
we  sure  that  God  may  not  have  a  great  destiny  in  store  for  this  petty  people  ? 
Whence  shall  come  the  missionaries  capable  of  resisting  the  terrible  climate  of 
the  Zambesi,  if  not  from  Lessuto — from  that  school  of  theology  modestly  founded 
at  Morija,  and  which,  perhaps,  in  the  near  future,  will  give  us  a  chosen  band 
of  native  pastors?  On  the  day  when  these  200,000  Basutos  shall  be  Christians, 
we  shall  have  at  our  disposal  an  incalculable  force,  a  veritable  Christian  army, 
ready  to  carry  afar  into  the  interior  of  this  Africa,  still  buried  under  a  darkness 
so  deep — the  blazing  light  of  the  Gospel." 

Pastor  Schneller,  of  Bethlehem,  writing,  in  the  Allgemeine  Missionschrift, 
says: 

'  'Talking  lately  with  a  priest  of  the  Greek  Church,  I  quoted  something  from 
the  Acts.  He  retorted,  'You  Protestants  always  make  so  much  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  its  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  Only  quote  some  books  of  the  Neiv 
Testament,  I  know  all  of  them/  The  same  priest,  wishing  to  convince  the 
people  of  the  unsoundness  of  our  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  only  Redeemer, 
proved  his  point  as  follows:  'These  poor  Protestants  !  Why,  they  are  for  be- 
ing saved  through  Jesus  Christ  alone.  Do  you  believe  that  Jesus  is  able  to  save 
anybody  whatever,  without  the  help  of  saints  ?  If  He  could,  why  must  Judas 
Iscariot  perish  by  the  very  side  of  the  Lord  ?  Why  did  He  not  save  him  ?  Why 
must  the  impenitent  thief  be  lost  by  the  very  side  of  the  much-praised  atoning 
Cross?  Why?  Because  they  had  not  the  saints!  And  the  poor  Protestants 
have  not  a  single  saint  to  help  them,  they  have  only  Jesus  and  consequently 
they  are  bound  for  hell.' " 

Before  our  Anglican  Church,  to  strengthen  herself  against  Rome,  becomes 
too  earnest  for  union  with  the  Greek  Church,  she  had  better  counsel  her  to  re- 
vise her  teachings  of  her  clergy  a  little.  Professor  Mahaffy  says,  that  he  can 
understand  proposals  to  unite  with  the  Roman  Catholics,  on  one  hand,  or  with 
the  Protestant  Dissenters,  on  the  other,  but,  after  traveling  in  the  East,  proposals 
to  unite  with  the  Greek  Church,  are,  to  him,  an  inexplicable  marvel,  unless,  of 
course,  as  some  parts  of  the  Greek  Church  are  said  to  have  shown  a  disposition 
to  do,  she  maintaining  her  own  distinctiveness,  welcomes  the  vivifying  stream 
of  Protestant  warmth  and  enlightenment.  At  least  she  is  not  pre-committcd  by 
an  assumption  of  infallibility. 

— "When,  often,  on  the  spot  where  Jesus  did  his  greatest  works,  one  sees 
how  the  Lord,  together  with  his  Gospel,  has  become  a  stranger  here;  how,  in 
the  home  of  Christ,  faith  in  Christ  has  been  distorted  into  an  unrecognizable 
caricature,  it  must  come  into  the  consciousnos  of  every  evangelical  Christian, 
that,  if  anywhere  in  the  world,  our  evangelical  church  has  a  great  and  mo- 
mentous task  to  accomplish  in  the  home  of  the  Gospel,  however  great  the  dif- 
ficulties may  be." 

"Almost  every  one  in  these  lands,"  says  Herr  Schmeller,  "knows  only 
himself  and  his  own  interests,  without  regard  to  others,  were  they  even  mem- 
bers of  his  own  family.  His  cold  indifference  represses  the  development  of 
men  that  might  have  a  benevolent  interest  in  promoting  the  common  weal, 
whether  in  village,  city,  or  province  of  their  native  country.  Where  here  are 
friends  of  the  people,  friends  of  the  fatherland  ?  The  people  have  not  even  the 
idea  of  such  a  thing.  The  inhabitants  of  one  quarter  of  a  village  or  town  only 
too  often  regard  those  of  another  quarter  not  only  as  utterly  foreign  to  them 
but  as  hostile,  which  gives  rise  to  perpetual  feuds.  To  bring  about  unity  or  to 
carry  through  any  unanimous  purpose,  is  no  more  possible  in  a  city  or  village 
than  in  the  country  at  large.  Yet,  it  is  in  just  this  state  of  disintegration  that 
the  Turkish  government  finds  a  strengthening  of  its  own  security,  and  it  favors 
this  accordingly." 

— January  1,  1888,  the  following  were  the  missionary  statistics  of  the  Nor- 
wegian Missionary  Society. 

Ordained  missionaries,  41,  (1  being  a  physician);  6  unmarried  ladies,  1  layman,  16,555 
church  members,  37,500  school  children,  44,000  adherents,  16  native  pastors,  900  native  teachers 
and  evangelists,  $81,050  contributions  from  Norway,  and  $12,000  from  America.  The  fields  of 
labor  are  Natal  and  Madagascar.  The  Schruder  Mission  in  Natal,  has  2  missionaries,  1  single 
lady,  352  baptized  members,  130  communicants,  and  124  school  children.   Income,  $1,505.  The 


838  TRANSLATIONS  FROM  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  PERIODICALS.  [Nov. 

Santal  mission  in  India,  has  3  or  4  Norwegian  missionaries,  and  a  revenue  of  $8,913.  it  now 
works  independently  of  the  Gossner  Mission. 

The  sum  total  of  Norwegian  missionary  contributions  for  1887  (omitting  the  $12,000  from 
America),  amounted  to  $91,841.76.  The  population  being  1,913,000,  this  averages  about  20  cents 
a  head. 

— HeiT  Nather,  of  the  Leipsic  Society  in  South  India,  speaking  of  some  famous 
bathing  festivals  on  the  banks  of  the  southern  Ganges,  the  Kaweri  remarks: 
''They  avail  for  the  cleansing  away  of  ceremonial  sins;  for  other  than  cere- 
monial sins  the  heathen  do  not  really  know." 

— M.  Teisseres  and  M.  Allegret,  missionaries  of  the  Paris  Society,  after  a 
stay  of  about  a  year  with  the  American  Presbyterian  missionaries,  on  the  Ga- 
boon, were  in  April,  about  leaving  for  the  Congo,  under  a  convoy  furnished  by 
the  French  government. 

— The  Allgemeine  Missions-Zeitschrift  for  June,  1890,  in  a  detailed  article 
treating  of  the  present  condition  of  Protestant  missions  in  South  Africa,  says, 
that  the  Cape  Colony  is  growing  poorer.  Much  of  it  is  incapable  of  sustaining 
ths  growing  population.  Moreover,  the  almost  entire  withdrawal  of  imperial 
control  has  given  the  colonists  opportunity  to  repel  the  laws  restricting  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  brandy.  This  is  one  of  the  many  ways  in  which  Eng- 
land has  done  immense  harm  by  being  too  eager  to  throw  responsibility  off  her 
shoulders  before  the  time.    She  staggers 

"Under  the  too  vast  orb  of  her  fate.'" 

The  latest  statistics  of  the  Cape  Colony,  (1888-9),  give:  Christians  of  European  descent, 
belonging  to  established  congregations,  267,817.  Colored  Christians,  234,329.  Chureh  sittings. 
287,825.  Average  church  attendance,  172,428.  Sunday  scholars,  57,678.  Nearly  a  quarter  of  the 
colored  people  are  baptized.  Twenty  different  Protestant  denominations  are  laboring  in  the 
country  with  547  clergymen.  The  different  churches  receive  from  the  colonial  government, 
£190,432,  yearly.  Of  this,  about  $150,000  maybe  counted  for  proper  missionary  work.  The 
Boer  (pronounced  Boor)  party,  however,  now  in  the  ascendant,  is  unfriendly  to  these  grants. 

Cape  Town  has  41,704  inhabitants,  of  whom  8,000  or  10,000  are  Mohammedan  Malays. 

Among  the  half-breeds  of  the  west  of  Cape  Colony,  the  Rhenish,  the  Berlin  societies,  and 
the  Unitas  Fratrum  are  the  principal  laborers.  The  Berlin  Society  has  11  stations,  13  ordained 
European  missionaries;  87  native  helpers,  11,138  baptized  adherents,  3,918  communicants,  2,373 
scholars.    Contributions,  $9,300. 

The  Berlin  Society  (in  the  west),  has  7  stations,  8  missionaries,  74  helpers,  4,335  baptized 
adherents,  1,843  communicants,  614  scholars.    Contributions,  $4,688. 

The  Moravians  have  (in  the  west)  11  stations,  20  brethren,  2  native  ordained  missionaries, 
239  helpers,  9,145  adherents,  2,218  communicants,  2,154  scholars. 

The  Brethren's  Church,  on  July  9,  1887,  celebrated  the  150th  anniversary  of 
its  first  arrival  in  South  Africa.  'Its  work  is  still  important  and  fruitful,  but 
suffers  under  a  growing  difficulty.  Not  laboring  in  colonial  villages,  but  in 
distinct  stations,  it  finds  its  people  sinking  more  and  more  into  poverty,  be- 
cause of  the  scarcity  of  arable  land.  Their  people  are  therefore  widely  scattered, 
many  being  in  the  diamond  fields,  whither  they  are  followed  by  colored  'Dias- 
pora laborers.' " 

The  Dutch  Reformed  Church  of  Cape  Colony,  which  has  175,555  baptized 
white  members,  is  coming,  under  Scottish  and  English  stimulus,  to  show  a 
much  more  animated  missionary  zeal.  "Stellenbosch,  with  its  theological  in- 
stitute, is  very  especially  a  focus  of  missionary  zeal." 

Among  the  others,  the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society  is  most  prominent.  It  has  (in  the 
west):  9  stations,  6  missionaries,  96  native  helpers,  1,476  communicants,  1,467  scholars  The 
South  African  Wesleyans  are  quite  independent  of  the  British  Conference.  In  the  whole  Colony, 
they  have  71  stations,  156  churches  and  chapels,  55  clergymen,  1,198  native  helpers,  16,840  com- 
municants, 88,000  baptized  adherents,  218  schools,  310  teachers,  13,803  scholars. 

"But  no  other  British  society  laboring  in  South  Africa  compares  with  the 
Scottish  societies  as  respects  capability,  sobriety  and  diligence,  combined  with 
true  evangelical  piety." 

The  Free  Church  of  Scotland  has  9  stations,  10  ordained  Europeans,  2  ordained  natives,  23 


1890.J 


TRANSLATIONS  FROM  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  PERIODICALS. 


839 


native  helpers,  4,214  communicants,  12,113  baptized  adherents,  3,510  scholars.  Their  institute  of 
Lovedale  (largely  assisted  by  the  colonial  government)  is  a  great  force  for  education  and  indus- 
trial training. 

The  United  Presbyterians  have  11  stations,  12  missionaries,  60  native  helpers,  2,307  com- 
municants, 8,080  baptized  adherents,  43  schools,  1,735  scholars. 

—Of  the  500,000  or  more  of  Protestant  Christians  in  India,  7,000  live  in  the 
city  of  Madras  itself.  South  India  is  still  the  great  seat  of  Christianity,  its  in- 
habitants being  not  Aryans  but  Dravidians,  and,  therefore,  being  related  to 
Hinduism  somewhat  as  the  Turks  are  to  Mohammedanism,  which  they  have 
accepted,  but  which  is  not  native  to  them,  as  it  is  to  the  Arabs. 

— Missionary  Lazarus  says  of  the  moral  condition  of  the  people  of  Madras 
an  admirable  example  of  south  India  at  large),  that,  like  Greece  in  Paul's  day, 
the  things  that  they  do  "are  a  shame  even  to  speak  of."  But  whereas  Paul's 
admonitions  show  plainly  that  his  converts  had  but  imperfectly  extricated 
themselves  from  "the  moral  chaos  surrounding  them,"  "it  may  be  confidently 
said,"  declares  Mr.  Lazarus,  himself  a  native  of  India,  "that  the  native  church 
of  Madras  has  raised  itself  above  the  abominations  of  the  encompassing  hea- 
thenism. Devil-dances,  drinking-bouts,  quarrels  and  tumults,  unchastity,  prac- 
tised under  the  cloak  of  religion,  and  similar  abominations,  are  absolutely 
foreign  to  the  native  Christians.  Such  exhibitions  of  godlessness  as  are  common 
among  the  lower  classes  in  Europe,  are  unknown  to  them.  The  Hindus  have 
an  immeasurable  vocabulary  of  vituperation,  but  I  do  not  remember  to  have 
ever  met  with  a  native  Christian  that  made  any  use  of  it.  No  native  Christian 
has  been  sent  to  the  gallows,  or  convicted  of  crime  before  the  courts."  Mr.  Laza- 
rus, it  should  be  remembered,  is  here  speaking  only  for  the  Protestants;  cases 
of  crime,  among  the  native  Christians,  it  would  seem,  are  mostly  of  Roman 
Catholics,  though  among  these  also,  it  is  rare.  The  Mohammedans  in  Madras, 
though  vastly  less  disposed  to  crime  than  the  Hindus,  make  but  a  poor  show 
compared  with  the  Christians  generally,  and  seem  to  sink  out  of  sight,  com- 
pared with  the  Protestants. 

This  great  superiority  of  the  Protestants,  is,  however,  rather  an  inference  of 
my  own  than  a  distinct  statement  of  Mr.  Lazarus,  and  may  be  an  exaggeration. 

"The  native  Christians,  moreover,  are  as  good  as  wholly  emancipated  from 
faith  in  astrology  and  palmistry,  from  child-marriages  and  compulsory  widow- 
hood, from  neglect  of  the  education  of  their  children,  from  the  foolish  mar- 
riage-system involved  in  caste,  from  polyandry  and  polygamy,  from  perjury 
and  prostitution,  and  other  violations  of  the  moral  law,  which  are  so  general 
among  the  Hindus,  from  the  Himalayas  to  Cape  Comorin.  Even  if  no  wider 
results  had  been  reached,  this  alone  would  have  been  a  great  achievement, 
which  must  be  ascribed  to  the  steadfastness  and  faithfulness  with  which  the 
missionary  pioneers  have  administered  their  difficult  trust. 

"The  more  positive  virtues  are  less  satisfactorily  developed,  yet,  I  may  ven- 
ture to  say,  that  for  family  virtue  the  Christians  have  established  a  solid  repu- 
tation. Hypocrisy,  however,  suspiciousness,  mutual  detraction  and  backbiting, 
hardness  toward  the  poor,  prodigality,  fickleness,  pride  of  birth,  are  faults  only 
too  common  among  them.  ...  If  'cleanliness  is  next  to  godliness,'  our  people 
have  not  yet  discovered  it,  or  at  least  have  not  yet  applied  their  discovery.  In 
this  respect  they  are  inferior  to  the  Hindus  of  the  same  social  level.  As  to  the 
English  standard  of  moral  obligation,  there  is  much  of  it  to  which  their  ap- 
prehensions are  not  yet  at  all  awakened."  It  should  be  remembered,  how- 
ever, that  the  English  are  by  nature,  a  much  higher  development  of  mankind. 
"As  respects  the  higher,  active  virtues,  which  our  Lord  pronounces  blessed, 
poverty  of  spirit,  sorrow  for  sin,  forbearance,  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteous- 
ness, compassion,  purity  of  heart,  willingness  to  suffer  for  righteousness  sake, 
the  whole  moral  scale,  the  highest  that  humanity  can  attain,  of  these  we  find 
in  the  native  Christians  only  the  first  feeble  shoots.  There  are,  of  course,  hon- 
orable exceptions,  which,  in  reference  to  development  of  character  and  Chris- 
tian virtues,  may  easily  stand  comparison  with  European  Christians,  but  they 
are  not  many."    "But  when  we  consider  the  infection  which  lies  in  the  air  of 


840  TRANSLATIONS  FROM  FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  PERIODICALS.  [Nov. 


India,  together  with  the  dullness  and  inertness  of  the  people,  and  all  the  vari- 
ous forces,  which  join  to  work  against  the  development  of  the  moral  sense,  and 
also  consider  that  the  mass  of  the  native  Christians  come  from  the  most  deeply 
sunken  social  stratum  of  the  Hindus,  there  is  certainly  occasion  for  surprise 
and  thankfulness,  that  the  moral  standing  of  the  native  church  is  so  much 
higher  than  that  of  the  Hindus,  Thus,  the  last  are  higher  than  the  first,  as 
compared  with  the  most  of  those  who  stand  outside  of  Christianity." 

"Docility,  tractability,  respectfulness,  sobriety  and  meekness,  trust  in 
Providence,  and  careful  discharge  of  religious  duties,  are,  indeed,  traits  of  our 
converts;  but  they  are  not  peculiar  to  them.  They  were  traits  of  the  Indian 
character  long  before  Christianity  came  hither.  And  it  seems  surprising  that 
so  eminent  and  learned  a  man  as  Bishop  Caldwell  should  have  described  them 
as  distinguishing  traits  of  our  Christians.  They  are  genuine  Indian  traits,  just 
as  courage  and  capacity,  sincerity  and  manliness,  vehemence  and  violence  and 
energy  are  genuine  European,  or,  if  you  will,  specific  Anglo-Saxon  qualities." 

Mr.  Lazarus  thinks,  that  until  pains  are  taken  to  secure  a  higher  grade  of 
catechists,  we  must  make  up  our  minds  to  a  comparatively  low  grade  of  native 
Christians.     He  tells  his  fellow-missionaries  some  plain  truths: 

"If  the  missionaries  are  to  raise  the  native  standard,  they  must  take  pains 
to  learn  how  to  speak,  elegant  and  accurate  Tamil,  a  thing  which,  I  am  sorry 
to  say,  receives  less  attention  here  in  Madras  than  in  old  days.  Clergymen 
must  not  be  content  with  their  Sunday  services.  They  ought  to  establish  Bible 
classes  for  youth  and  grown  people,  as  well  as  for  children,  and  make  these 
entertaining,  so  that  they  can  inspire  native  Christians  with  a  taste  for  an  intel- 
ligent and  thorough  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  in  particular,  of  the  life 
and  work  of  our  Lord.  By  these,  and  like  means,  there  will  spring  up  a  clearer, 
purer  and  more  thorough  conception  of  what  Christianity  is,  and  this  will 
thus  exercise  a  growing  influence  upon  the  moral  condition  of  the  native 
church." 

Mr.  Lazarus  severely  criticises  the  missionary  schools  of  south  India: 
"These  schools  are  often  Christian  in  name,  but  heathen  in  effect.  Their 
main  element  is  made  up  of  heathen  boys,  and  there  is  only  a  little  fraction  of 
Christian  children.  Most  of  the  teachers  are  heathen,  the  rector  is  often  a 
Brahmin.  The  director  of  the  mission  prefers  heathen  to  Christian  teachers;  the 
former  are  'wiser  towards  their  generation  than  the  children  of  light.'  They  are 
more  creeping  and  busy;  this  is  taken  by  the  easily-believing  director  as  humility 
and  zeal;  on  the  other  hand,  he  cannot  bear  with  the  faults  of  'the  own  chil- 
dren of  the  family.'  What  makes  matters  worse  is,  that  the  instruction  in 
Christianity  is  committed  to  the  'Bible  teacher,'  who  is  often  a  poor  native 
Christian  of  the  catechist  class,  who  is  nothing  accounted  of  either  by  his 
pupils  or  his  fellow-teachers.  Thus,  the  whole  is  under  strong  heathen  influ- 
ence; the  Christian  element  is  as  a  drop  in  the  bucket.  Think  what  it  means 
to  be  eight  hours  daily,  year  out  and  year  in,  in  contact  with  a  hundred 
heathen  lads  and  teachers,  whose  mouths  overflow  with  abominations,  and 
whose  hearts  are  leavened  with  heathen  rottenness.  Such  a  contact  cannot 
otherwise  than  strikingly  infect  and  corrupt  the  young  Christian's  soul  before 
he  comes  under  the  missionary's  immediate  influence.  I  speak  from  sad  experi- 
ence." 

Mr.  Lazarus  is  utterly  opposed  to  the  appointment  of  heathen  teachers  in 
Christian  schools,  in  any  case  whatever.  He  also  uses  some  plain  speaking 
toward  the  English  missionaries  in  South  India: 

"The  fault  lies  with  the  native  Christians  as  well  as  with  the  whites,  that 
there  is  so  little  mutual  affection  between  them.  Yet,  the  latter,  as  belonging 
to  an  older  and  more  developed  church,  which  is  renowned  not  less  for  piety 
and  philanthropy  than  for  zeal  and  learning  might  be  expected  to  be  first  to 
lay  plans  of  love  toward  their  weaker  brethren.  .  .  Impelled  by  the  Saviour's 
self-sacrificing  love,  a  messenger  of  God  ought  to  be  able  to  lay  aside  his  pride 
of  race,  to  overcome  his  prejudices,  to  condescend  to  the  native  level,  and  by 
free  and  familiar  intercourse,  to  endeavor  to  lift  the  native  Christians  up  to 
himself,  and  thus,  with  his  Lord,  to  strive  to  develop  the  native  church  into  a 
glorious  church,  not  having  spot  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing.'  Only  by  the 
exercise  of  love  can  the  missionary  lead  the  church  on  and  up.  He  ought,  at 
least,  to  show  himself  as  often  in  the  homes  of  the  native  Christians  as  at  the 
dinner-tables  of  his  countrymen.    It  is  better  for  Mm  to  exercise  his  influence 


1890.J 


NOTES  ON  NEW  BOOKS  OF  A.  MISSIONARY  CHARACTER. 


841 


in  modest  native  civility,  than  by  a  presence  at  games  of  ball  or  on  croquet- 
grounds.  It  is  pleasanterto  see  him  befriending  the  poor,  than  doing  homage 
to  the  rich.  In  brief,  all  his  works,  all  his  walk,  ought  to  be  such  as  to  call 
back  into  living  remembrance  the  days  when  the  Lord  of  heaven  lived  and 
walked  in  intimate  converse  with  His  own  disciples." 

Mr.  Lazarus  bears  emphatic  testimony  to  the  inestimable  good  wrought  by 
missionary  labors  in  South  India.  But  he  desires,  speaking  the  truth  in  love,  to 
lay  home  to  the  hearts  of  some  of  the  missionaries,  considerations  which  they 
have  great  occasion  to  weigh,  if  they  would  see  established  in  India  a  stable  and 
richly  developed  native  church. 

NOTES  ON  NEW  BOOKS  OF  A  MISSIONARY  CHARACTER. 

The  New  World  of  Central  Africa;  With  a  History  of  the  First  Christian  Mission  on  the 
Congo.  By  Mrs.  H.  Grattan  Guinness.  London:  Hodder  &  Stoughton.  New  York  and  Chicago: 
Fleming  H.  Revell.  £2.00.  Central  Africa,  by  means  of  God's  wonder-working  Providence,  is  in- 
deed, become  a  "new  world,""  to  us.  And  the  great  Powers  of  Europe  have  hastened  to  improve 
their  opportunity  to  extend  "the  spheres  of  their  influence1'  and  establish  their  "protectorates" 
over  its  vast  areas.  This  is  well.  This  is  a  part  of  God's  wise  and  comprehensive  plan  for  Africa's 
enlightenment  and  regeneration.  This  secures  the  rapid  introduction  of  civilizing  agencies,  the 
development  of  its  immense  resources,  the  protection  of  life,  the  extinction  of  slavery  and  civil 
and  religious  liberty  to  all  its  teeming  millions.  The  Church  of  Christ,  also,  is  astir  to  enter 
this  new  world  with  the  missionary,  the  Bible  and  the  school,  and  conquer  it  for  One  greater 
than  Caesar.  And  this  book  is  just  what  the  exigency  calls  for.  It  tells  just  what  we  want  to 
know.  It  shows,  brieflj'  and  intelligently,  what  has  been  done  and  attempted  for  the  evangel- 
ization of  Africa.  It  is  well  written— written  with  a  purpose;  written  by  one  whose  whole 
heart,  as  well  as  that  of  her  husband  and  family,  is  given  to  the  missionary  cause.  It  is  pro- 
fusely illustrated.  It  gives  us  vivid  pictures  of  the  "dark  continent."  It  gives  facts  of  momen- 
tous interest.  Take  this:  "The  Congo  and  its  tributaries  have  been  alreadj'  explored  to  a  length 
of  11,000  miles,  giving  22,000  miles  of  river  bank,  peopled  with  native  villages.  In  his  journey 
across  Africa,  Stanley  gazed  on  the  representatives  of  tribes  numbering  at  least  50.000,000.  and 
to  none  of  them  has  the  message  of  mercy  ever  been  proclaimed."  And  this:  "From  the  last 
mission  station  on  the  Upper  Congo,  a  journey  of  1,000  miles  would  be  needed  to  reach  the  near- 
est stations  on  the  east— those  on  the  great  lakes.  Seventeen  hundred  miles  to  the  northeast,  lies 
the  Red  Sea,  and  there  is  no  mission  station  between.  Two  thousand,  two  hundred  miles  due  north 
is  the  Mediterranean,  and  no  mission  station  between;  while  2,500  miles  to  the  northwest  are  the 
stations  of  the  North  African  Mission,  but  no  single  centre  of  light  between !  Seven  hundred 
miles  to  the  west  is  the  Cameroons  Station,  but  the  whole  intervening  country  is  unvisited;  and 
in  the  south-west,  the  American  Mission  at  Bihe,  is  fully  a  thousand  miles  distant."— J.  M.  S. 

Daybreak  in  North  Africa.  By  Mrs.  F.  T.  Haig.  London:  Partridge  &  Company.  This  is 
an  account  of  missionary  work  in  Morocco,  Algeria,  Tunis,  and  Tripoli.  Our  readers  have  heard 
from  time  to  time  from  this  region,  from  one  of  our  correspondents,  Rev.E.  F.  Baldwin,  of  Tan- 
giers,  Morocco.  The  mission  here  is  but  a  few  years  old,  and  is  but  little  known  and  feebly  sup- 
ported. 'The  North  African  Mission  had  no  child's  play  before  it  when  it  sought  to  carry  the 
Gospel  to  Mohammedans  in  that  part  of  the  world  where  Mohammedanism  had  most  com- 
pletely triumphed  over  Christianity,  and  had,  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  held  undisputed 
sway  over  Berbers  and  Arabs  alike.  The  success  of  the  Gospel  even  against  such  fearful 
odds  is  proof  that  Islam  is  not  invincible.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  testimony  is  that  Moham- 
medan power  is  passing  away.  But  ei^ht  years  have  passed  since  the  effort  began,  and  what 
halh  Cod  wrought!  Mrs.  Haig  says,  "At  the  present  time  there  are  51  missionaries  occupying 
12  different  stations,  in  connection  with  the  North  American  Mission,  beside  a  nnmber  of  in- 
dependent workers  [Mr.  Baldwin,  for  one,  who  has  been  quite  successful],  several  of  whom  be- 
gan work  with  the  help  of  the  Society,  but  afterwards  preferred  working  on  separate  lines." 
The  book  is  modestly  and  pleasantly  written  and  well  illustrated.  It  encourages  hope  and  labor 
for  Africa.- J.  M.  S. 

A  Friend  of  Missions  in  India.  The  journal  of  Rev.  Henry  S.  Lunn.  London:  James  Clarke 
&  Company.  Our  readers  will  remember  that  a  fierce  and  prolonged  controversy  has  agitated 
the  missionaries  and  friends  of  the  London  Missionarj'  Society  (Wesleyan,)  for  a  year  or  two 
past,growing  out  of  serious  criticisms,  which  appeared  in  the  Methodist  Times  (London),  respect- 
ing the  administration  of  the  Society  and  the  habits  of  living  on  the  part  of  its  missionaries  in 
India,  etc.  The  author  of  this  work,  and  the  Rev.  Hugh  Price  Hughes,  editor  of  the  Methodist 
Times,  were  chiefly  responsible  for  stirring  up  this  severe  controversy.  In  the  last  number  of 
the  Review  we  gave  the  report  of  the  Special  Committee  appointed  by  the  Society  to  investigate 
this  whole  matter. 


842 


GENERAL  MISSIONARY  INTELLIGENCE. 


[Nov.. 


The  chief  interest  -w  hich  attaches  to  this  book  is  the  fact  that  it  consists  of  "The  Cyclo- 
styled  Indian  Journal, "  in  the  form  of  twelve  letters,  which  Mr.  Lunn  wrote  while  in  India  as  a 
missionary,  "thirty  copies  of  which  he  sent  to  thirty  circles  of  friends  in  England.1'  These  letters 
of  course,  laid  the  foundation  for  the  discussion  and  warfare  which  followed.  And  when,  after 
his  return  to  London,  he  wrote  a  series  of  anonymous  articles  to  the  Methodist  Times  on  "A 
New  Missionary  Policy,' 1  which  the  editor  strongly 'endorsed,  the  writer's  identity  with  the 
letters  sent  home  from  India  was  seen  by  all  who  had  read  the  Journal.  Bitterness  of  feeling,  at 
home  and  abroad,  and  angry  discussion  was  the  result.  The  missionaries  demanded  a  thorough 
investigation  and  persisted  in  their  demand,  and,  at  length  got  it,  and  got  a  vindication.  Hap- 
pily the  war  is  now  ended,  and,  apparently,  all  parties  are  substantially  satisfied.  The  lesson 
from  it  all  is  obvious,  and  should  be  laid  to  heart — Young  missionaries  are  too  apt  to  criticise 
those  of  age  and  long  experience.— J .  M.  S. 

A  Thousand  Miles  on  an  Elephant.  By  Holt  S.  Hallett.  Dedicated  by  the  author  to  the  Ameri- 
can missionaries  in  Burmah  and  Siam.  Blackwood  &  Sons:  Edinburgh  and  London.  This  book 
is  the  record  of  a  tour  of  exploration  by  Messrs.  Colquhoun  and  Hallett  for  a  railway  from  Bur- 
mah to  China,  through  the  Shan  States  of  Northern  Siam.  Dr.  J.  N.  Cushing,  whom  the  author 
designated  as  the  most  learned  Shan  scholar,  accompanied  the  exploring  party  as  interpreter. 
They  met  a  cordial  welcome  and  much  helpful  information  from  Dr.  McGilvary  and  associates 
of  the  Presbyterian  Mission  to  the  Laos  of  Chiang-Mai.  They  there  enjoyed  a  refreshing  rest 
after  their  tedious  jungle-travel  from  Burmah.  Thence  onward  through  unexplored  regions  of 
unwasted  resources  of  commercial  wealth,  and  opening  an  easy  access  to  the  hoards  of  super- 
stitious spirit- worshippers  of  the  Shan  tribes  in  northern  Siam,  and  leading  to  the  unharvested 
fields  of  commerce  in  China,  and  giving  to  the  disciples  of  Christ  an  open  door  to  the  uncounted 
myriads  of  her  inhabitants  when  these  explorations  shall  result  in  a  living  railway  from  India  to 
the  middle  kingdom. 

The  book  is  written  in  an  attractive  style,  presenting  a  clear  picture  of  the  dwellings,  char- 
acter and  customs  of  the  people,  the  forests  of  teak  timber  and  other  wood  that  shelter  herds  of 
elephants  and  buffaloes,  ponies  and  cattle,  tigers  and  monkeys,  chickens  and  peacocks, with  rich 
fields  of  rice,  sugar,  tobacco  and  tropical  fruits,  which  include  pineapple,  pumelo,  plantin, 
orange,  lemon,  mango,  mangosteen,  durean,  custard-apple,  and  in  great  variety  and  rich  flavor 
the  fruits  generally  found  in  the  tropics.  Extensive  plains  of  fertile  soil  still  remain  unculti- 
vated for  want  of  facilities  for  the  transportation  of  the  productions.  It  has  been  intimated 
that  the  Burmah-Siam-China  railway,  for  the  extension  of  British  trade  and  the  civilization  of 
south-eastern  Asia,  may  be  classed  with  the  Suez  canal  and  the  American  Pacific  railway  as 
one  of  the  grand  works  of  the  century.  We  think  it  in  harmony  with  the  call  for  a  thousand 
missionaries  for  China,  and  the  Christ-command  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature.— W.  D. 

Personal  Life  of  David  Livingstone.  By  William  G.  Blackie,  D.D.  London:  John  Murray. 
This  is  one  of  the  best  worth  reading  of  all  missionary  books.  I  am  now  reading  it  a  second 
time  aloud  to  my  family.  For  fullness  of  detail,  intense  interest,  graphic  portraiture  of  charac- 
ter and  freedom  from  exaggeration,  it  stands  very  high.  And  I  would  recommend  all  readers 
oi:  the  Review  to  get  it— A.  T.  P. 

Life  of  John  Hunt;  Missionary  to  Fiji.  By  G.  Stringer  Rowe,  London.  This  is  one  of 
the  most  kindling  books  I  ever  read.  Mr.  Hunt  was  a  pioneer,  and  burned  .out  his  life's  flame 
in  his  holy  zeal  for  God.  He  died  October  4,  1848,  at  the  age  of  36,  but  he  had  lived  a  century, 
judged  by  the  standard  of  effective  work.  This  book  is  full  of  the  rarest  inspiration.  It  is  one 
of  the  finest  evidences  of  Christianity  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to  examine.  He,  who  has  any 
doubt  of  the  Divine  Power  unto  salvation,  should  read  this  book;  and  yet,  valuable,  as  it  is,  we 
have  seldom  seen  a  copy  of  it  in  any  missionary  library.— A.  T.  P. 


II.— GENERAL  MISSIONARY  INTELLIGENCE. 

Student  Volunteer  Movement  for  Foreign  Missions. 


A  leaflet  lies  before  me  setting  forth 
the  Students'  Foreign  Missionary  Union 
of  Great  Britain,  not  yet  one  year  old. 
Some  facts  concerning  this  organi- 
zation will  be  of  interest  to  the  read- 
ers of  this  Review,  because  of  the 
tremendous  significance  of  a  new 
student  movement  abroad,  and  vol- 
unteers will  regard  the  movement 


with  personal  and  peculiar  interest 
because  of  its  origin. 

"It  began  in  one  Howard  Taylor's 
study,  on  his  return  from  Northfield, 
Massachusetts,  and  in  the  hearts  and 
prayers  of  a  group  of  missionary  men 
at  the  hospital,  shortly  before  he  sailed 
for  China."  A  London  correspondent 
goes  on  to  say 


1890.] 


GENERAL  MISSIONARY  INTELLIGENCE. 


813 


"Two  large  and  influential  meetings  were 
held  in  connection  with  its  foundation:  one  at 
Spurgeon's  Tabernacle,  when  he  (Spurgeon) 
delivered  a  grand  missionary  sermon  on  Mark 
xvi:  15,  to  as  many  London  students  as  could 
be  gotten  together  (and  the  great  building  was 
full  to  doors  and  roof),  and  one  at  Exeter 
Hall." 

The  Union  numbers  165  members, 
all  men.  London  has  74  members, 
Cambridge  6,  Oxford  5,  Edinburgh  32, 
Aberdeen  3,  Bangor  1.  Besides  these 
there  are  some  scattered  members  and 
some  in  Ireland,  making  the  total  of 
165  men. 

The  membership  consists  of  all 
students  who  accept  and  sign  the  fol- 
lowing declaration: 

"It  is  my  earnest  hope,  if  God  per- 
mit, to  engage  in  Foreign  mission 
work." 

The  objects  of  the  Union  shall  be: 

1.  To  band  together  students  who 
feel  called  to  Foreign  missionary  work. 

2.  To  urge  the  claims  of  the  Foreign 
Mission  field  upon  Christian  students 
everywhere,  and  to  advocate  the  for- 
mation of  missionary  associations  in 
connection  with  the  various  universi- 
ties and  colleges  where  they  do  not  al- 
ready exist. 

3.  For  the  furtherance  of  its  objects 
the  Union  shall  use  the  following 
agencies:  Meetings  of  members,  meet- 
ings in  universities  and  colleges,  de- 
putations, correspondence  and  indi- 
vidual effort,  and  the  publication  of 
an  occasional  paper. 

On  the  ground  of  respect  for  and  ap- 
preciation of  the  work  of  the  authors 
of  these  appeals  from  different  coun- 
tries, the  appeals,  though  without  any 
pretence  to  literary  merit,  should  be 
read  with  undivided  attention,  and  in 
a  receptive  and  prayerful  spirit. 

Mr.  Forman's  views  on  Foreign  mis- 
sions are  familiar  to  us  through  his 
addresses  delivered  in  our  colleges,  in 
1886-87.  Miss  Geraldine  Guinness, 
author  of  "An  Appeal  from  China," 
noticed  in  the  last  number  of  The  Re- 
view, has  already  shown  her  enthusi- 
asm for,  and  consideration  to  her 
work  in  China,  as  disclosed  in  the  pub- 


lished volume  of  letters  edited  by  her 
sister,  under  the  title  "In  the  Far 
East. "  Miss  Wilder's  name  is  familiar 
to  readers  of  The  Review  by  reason 
of  her  occasional  letters  to  that  peri- 
odical, and  to  young  women  in  our 
colleges  and  connected  with  Y.  W.  C. 
A.  She  is  known  through  her  mes- 
sage to  them,  entitled,  "Shall  I  Go?" 
which  has  already  reached  its  Fifth 
edition.  Miss  Wilder's  pamphlet,  "An 
Appeal  from  India,"  should  be  read 
with  very  great  care  in  order  to  be 
understood  rightly,  and  not  read 
merely,  but  pondered  on — not  because 
of  any  obscurity  on  the  writer's  part, 
but  rather  by  reason  of  the  meaning 
of  statements — which  meaning  does 
not  lie  readily  on  the  surface. 

"The  fact  that  our  Saviour  is  using  us  in  the 
salvation  of  souls,  and  for  hastening  the  day 
of  His  coming— that  is  certainly  the  reason 
for  our  staying  in  India.  So  we  who  are  here 
would  say  to  you  in  America  and  Canada,  this 
is  the  strongest  appeal  we  can  send  you  for 
coming  to  India.  The  presence  of  the  moving 
cloud  was  sufficient  reason  for  the  Israelites 
to  follow.  Does  not  the  presence  of  God's 
Spirit,  as  now  felt  in  India,  convince  us  that 
He  is  calling  a  large  portion  of  our  volunteer 
band  to  work  for  Him  here  f" 

In  refutation  of  the  popular  notion 
that  Africa  presents  the  greatest  need 
for  missionary  workers,  the  writer 
says,  "Do  you  say  there  are  large 
tracts  in  Africa  unoccupied  ?  True. 
Yet,  relative  to  its  population,  India 
must  have  some  119  more  missionaries 
to  equal  the  missionary  force  of 
Africa." 

Miss  "Wilder  has  corresponded  with 
missionary  agencies  of  the  Protestant 
denominations  in  India,  and  in  brief 
extracts  which  she  gives  from  letters 
from  various  districts,  a  very  adequate 
and  true  picture  of  India's  needs  is 
presented: 

From  the  Central  Provinces  one 
writes: 

"I  am  persuaded  in  my  own  mind 
that  the  most  eventful  period  in  the 
history  of  missionary  effort  in  this 
country  is  rapidly  approaching.  The 
Lord  is  preparing  for  a  time  of  glori- 
ous in-gathering.  These  souls  will 
need  the  care  of  his  children." 


844 


GENERAL  MISSIONARY  INTELLIGENCE. 


LNov. 


Arcot  Mission  of  the  Reformed 
Church: 

"Never,  in  my  somewhat  long  ex- 
perience, were  the  claims  of  India  ap- 
parently so  urgent  as  now.  A  restless, 
almost  feverish  spirit  of  inquiry  per- 
vades the  community." 

Madura  Mission,  American  Board: 
"To-day,  one  brother  has  four  sta- 
tions, another  three,  and  two  others 
two  each.  How  can  they  do  justice 
to  the  work  ?  They  are  all  driven  to 
the  verge  of  desperation  and  ill-health. 
We  thank  God  that  we  have  recently 
received  into  our  mission-circle  one  of 
that  large  band  of  consecrated  stu- 
dents. How  we  long,  and  pray,  and 
write,  and  implore,  that  more  be 
sent !" 

Marathi  Mission,  American  Pres- 
byterian Board: 

"An  earnest  request  has  been  sent 
for  sixteen  new  workers.  In  Kolha- 
pur  State  alone  there  are  1,097  vil- 
lages; it  would  take  a  missionary  a 
whole  year  to  preach  once  around  to 
the  village  population  of  that  single 
State." 

From  the  Akola  Field,  Mrs.  Fuller 
writes: 

"The  greater  need  is  the  quality  of 
the  men.  We  need  anointed  men — 
men  who  know  Christ,  who  find  in  God 


Africa. — Progress.  Letters  from 
the  missionaries  in  Uganda  say  that 
King  Mwanga  has  been  almost  wholly 
stripped  of  the  despotic  power  which 
he  and  his  fathers  for  centuries  have 
exercised.  He  is  now  of  little  import- 
ance in  his  own  country — white  influ- 
ences are  in  ascendancy.  The  King- 
can  get  nothing  that  he  does  not  ask 
for  from  his  chiefs,  who  are  under  the 
control  of  the  Protestant  or  Catholic 
religion.  This  is  a  great  change  for 
the  young  King,  who  awhile  ago  killed 
a  bishop,  imprisoned  white  mission- 
aries, and  slaughtered  native  Chris- 
tians by  the  score.  No  heathen  are 
allowed  to  hold  any  office  in  the  new 
Government.  Many  of  them  are  per- 
mitted to  remain  in  the  land,  but  there 
is  not  a  chief  among  them .  The  great 
offices,  of  which  there  are  about  six 
very  important  ones,  have  been 
equally  divided  between  the  two 
Christian  parties. 

There  has  been  great  danger  of 
serious  clashing  between  the  Protestant 
and  Catholic  sects.  By  the  advice  of 
both  Catholic  and  Protestant  mission- 
aries they  have,  however,  decided  to 
bury  their  differences  and  work  to- 


the  answer  to  every  difficulty,  hin- 
drance or  disappointment." 

Unoccupied  fields: 

"The  Nizam's  dominions  are  now 
open;  population  10,000,000.  Only  a 
beginning  has  been  made  in  the  Cona- 
rese  portion  on  the  west.  Much  of 
India  is  but  nominally  occupied.  The 
region  about  Jhonsi  and  Bhopal  is 
said  to  have  10,000,000  unprovided  for, 
except  for  the  mission  at  Jhonsi,  and 
a  native  worker  of  the  American 
Board  at  Lalitpun. 

"In  closing:  To  you  who  have  fin- 
ished your  course  of  study,  and  waver 
not  at  the  question  of  ultimate  com- 
ing, but  of  coming  this  year,  I  w^ould 
say,  Satan  is  taking  advantage  of  our 
delays.  Our  aboriginal  tribes,  num- 
bered at  some  50,000,000,  now  very  ac- 
cessible, are  said  to  be  getting  rapidly 
absorbed  into  Hinduism.  In  large 
cities,  where  for  years  there  has  been 
much  undermining  of  old  faiths,  in- 
fidelity, materialism,  and  theosophy 
are  being  pressed  upon  the  attention 
of  the  people,  and  there  is  danger  of 
seven  unclean  spirits  coming  in  place 
of  one. 

"We  need  you  now.  We  pray  God 
to  send  you  to  us,  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit.  It  is  useless  to  preach  Christ 
to  minds  steeped  in  ignorance  and 
idolatry,  in  any  other  way  than  in  the 
power  of  the  Spirit." 


gether  for  the  good  of  the  country. 
There  is  still  considerable  bad  feeling 
and  jealousy,  but  there  seems  to  be  no 
prospect  now  of  the  open  rupture  that 
recently  threatened.  The  parties  have 
taken  an  oath,  signed  by  their  leaders, 
agreeing  that  whatever  their  disputes 
may  be  they  will  not  spill  one  another's 
blood,  but  will  depend  upon  sober 
arguments  and  arbitration  to  settle  all 
their  quarrels. 

The  Mohammedan  party  seems  to 
be  entirely  defeated.  Thus  a  remark- 
able change  has  been  wrought  in 
Uganda,  where  a  while  ago  the 
Mohammedans  ruled  everything,  and 
by  their  influence  upon  Mwanga  and 
his  successor,  Karema,  drove  the 
whites  out  of  the  country  and  threat- 
ened to  retard  the  progress  of  white 
enterprises  and  of  all  civilization  in 
Central  Africa  for  half  a  century  to 
come.  Now  the  Mohammedans  have 
been  driven  from  power  in  a  series  of 
bloody  battles,  their  influence  is  en- 
tirely gone  and  the  Arabs  are  fugitives, 
Uganda  is  a  British  protectorate,  and 
the  white  missionaries,  recently  per- 
secuted, are  the  power  in  the  country. 
Never  before  was  the  prospect  so  bright 


1890.J 


GENERAL  MISSIONARY  INTELLIGENCE. 


845 


for  the  rapid  extension  of  European 
influence  and  commercial  enterprise 
in  the  African  lake  region.— N.  Y. 
Sun. 

[Uganda  is  the  field  where  Bishop  Hanning- 
ton  was  murdered  by  Mwanga,  and  where  the 
lamented  Mackay  spent  his  brief  but  heroic 
life.  Stanley  speaks  in  warmest  terms  of  this 
mission,  declaring  it  "a  most  remarkable  suc- 
cess.'" Of  Mackay,  in  whose  house  at  the 
southern  end  of  Victoria  Nyanza,  he  took 
grateful  rest,  "  sipping  real  coffee  and  eating 
home-made  bread  and  butter  for  the  first  time 
in  thirty  months,  "  he  says  :  "  He  has  no 
time  to  fret  and  groan  and  weep,  and  God 
knows,  if  ever  man  had  reason  to  think  of 
'graves  and  worms  and  oblivion,1  and  to  be 
dolefuland  lonely  and  sad,  Mackay  had,  when, 
after  murdering  his  Bishop,  and  burning  his 
pupils,  and  strangling  his  converts,  and 
clubbing  to  death  his  dark  friends,  Mwanga 
turned  his  ej'e  of  death  on  him.  And  yet  the 
little  man  met  it  with  calm,  blue  eyes  that 
never  winked.  To  see  one  man  of  this  kind, 
working  day  after  day  for  twelve  years, 
bravely,  and  without  a  syllable  of  complaint 
or  a  moan,  among  the  '  wilderness, 1  and  to 
hear  him  lead  his  little  flock  to  show  forth 
God's  loving  kindness  in  the  morning  and  His 
faithfulness  every  night,  is  worth  going  a 
long  journey  for  the  moral  courage  and  con- 
tentment that  one  derives  from  it.11 — J.  M.  S.] 

Zanzibar. — The  importance  of 
Zanzibar,  as  a  key  to  Central  Africa, 
was  recognized  early  in  the  era  of  ex- 
ploration. What  New  York  is  to  the 
United  States,  what  Liverpool  is  to 
Great  Britain,  Zanzibar  is  to  Equa- 
torial Africa.  In  his  first  expedition 
Stanley  made  it  the  base  of  operations, 
and  he  went  there  again,  in  1879,  to 
organize  his  second  expedition.  It 
lies  on  the  east  coast  of  Africa,  seven 
degrees  south  of  the  equator.  Its  chief 
markets  and  the  seat  of  the  govern- 
ment are  on  the  island  of  Zanzibar, 
but  the  adjacent  country  on  the  main- 
land is  also  under  the  Sultan's  domin- 
ion, and  is  also  called  Zanzibar.  It  is  at 
this  point  that  the  caravans  from  the 
interior  strike  the  coast,  and  from 
there  the  explorers,  Burton,  Grant, 
Stanley,  Cameron  and  others,  hired 
their  carriers  and  set  out  on  their  ex- 
peditions, and  to  that  place  they  re- 
turned, and  came  once  more  into  com- 
munication with  civilization.  It  was 
Stanley's  first  business,  in  organizing 
the  Congo  Free  State,  to  establish  a 
chain  of  stations  extending  from  Zan- 
zibar to  Nyangwe  and  the  lakes.  Un- 
der the  new  arrangement  with  Ger- 
many and  England,  the  latter  country 
has  acquired  the  right  of  "protecting" 
the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar,  which  is  one 


of  the  most  valuable  concessions 
granted  her  by  Germany.  The  history 
of  English  rule  in  India  shows  how 
adroit  she  is  in  turning  the  office  of 
protector  to  her  own  advantage. 

The  situation  of  Zanzibar  was  not 
likely  to  escape  the  attention  of  the 
slave-stealers.  Their  interest  lay  in 
making  the  road  from  the  villages 
which  they  depopulated  to  the  coast  as 
short  as  possible.  On  the  journey, 
however  short  it  may  be,  many  of 
their  victims  died  from  fatigue  and 
exposure  to  the  sun.  Zanzibar  was 
near,  and  it  was  also  convenient. 
There  the  dealers  came  from  Europe 
who  had  commissions  from  the  Turks 
and  Egyptians  to  supply  them  with 
slaves.  There,  too,  vessels  might  be 
chartered  to  carry  away  the  living 
booty  to  other  ports.  So  Zanzibar  early 
became  a  mart  of  commerce  in  the 
awful  traffic.  The  efforts  of  Germany 
and  England  have  largely  suppressed 
this  trade  in  Zanzibar,  and  under  the 
protectorate  of  England  we  may  be 
sure  it  will  not  be  revived.  The  mar- 
kets will  now  be  better  occupied  by 
the  trade  in  ivory. — Af  rican  News. 

China.  —  A  great  evangelizing 
agency.  —  The  Chinese,  especially 
those  in  the  southern  part  of  the  em- 
pire, are  going  out  from  China  in  all 
directions.  They  are  not  only  going 
to  many  adjacent  islands  and  those 
more  remote  in  the  Pacific,  but  they 
are  settling  upon  all  the  coasts  of 
south-eastern  Asia,  pushing  up  all  the 
rivers,  and  in  every  place  holding 
tenaciously  the  ground  on  which  they 
settle.  They  are  a  great  colonizing 
people,  and,  if  only  the  Gospel  is 
given  to  them ,  they  will  assist  greatly 
in  the  redemption  of  the  lands  to 
which  they  go  from  sin  and  darkness. 
They  seem  to  be  destined,  in  the  good 
providence  of  God,  to  become  a  pow- 
erful evangelizing  agency,  and  a  great 
blessing  to  humanity. 

Bishop  Thoburn,  writing  from  Sin- 
gapore, says  of  these  Chinese  colon- 
ists: 

"The  more  I  see  of  our  mission  work 
in  this  part  of  the  w-orld,  the  more  do 
I  become  confirmed  in  the  conviction 
which  I  received  the  first  time  I 
visited  Rangoon  and  saw  the  Chinese 
there,  mingling  as  they  were  with  the 
Burmese,  that  God  would  use  them  as 
a  great  evangelizing  agency  all  up  and 


846 


GENERAL  MISSIONARY  INTELLIGENCE. 


[Nov. 


down  these  coasts.  They  are  not  only 
the  most  energetic  people  to  be  found 
in  this  region,  but,  strangely  enough, 
they  seem  more  accessible  to  the  Gos- 
pel than  any  others;  and  those  of  them 
who  are  born  in  Malaysia  will  be  able 
to  speak  the  vernacular  of  the  coun- 
try in  which  they  live,  and  this,  added 
to  their  knowledge  of  English  and 
Chinese,  will  qualify  them  for  useful- 
ness on  the  widest  possible  scale. 
Strange  are  the  ways  of  Providence!" 
— Spirit  of  Missioiis. 

England. — There  is  much  in  the 
English  papers  of  the  increasing  flow 
of  converts  from  the  ritualistic  section 
of  the  Anglican  Church  to  the  Church 
of  Rome.  The  activity  of  the  priests  of 
Rome  is  very  great,  and  their  boastf  ul- 
ness  is  greater.  But  the  Pall  Mall  Ga- 
zette concedes  that  the  tide  sets  rapidly 
one  way.    In  a  recent  issue  it  says: 

"  The  conversion  to  Catholicity  is  recorded 
of  Rev.  Dr.  Townsend,  superior  of  a  mission 
house  of  Oxford  University  at  Calcutta,  and 
this  so  soon  after  a  similar  step  taken  by  Dr. 
Rivington,  principal  of  a  similar  institution  at 
Bombay.  It  is  also  given  upon  good  authority 
that  Drs.  Tatlock,  Beasley  and  Clarke,  sta- 
tioned respectively  at  Christ  Church,  Clap- 
ham,  Helmsley,  Yorkshire  and  St.  James', 
Liverpool,  will  shortly  enter  the  Catholic 
Church.  Since  the  beginning  of  the  Lenten 
season  no  less  than  100  Anglicans  have  em- 
braced Catholicity,  and  this  in  one  parish 
alone.  At  Brighton,  a  centre  of  ritualistic 
activity,  the  number  of  converts  is  reckoned 
at  500  persons." 

India. — Bishop  Thoburn's  picture 
of  the  poverty  of  the  people  of  Asia, 
especially  of  India,  where  families 
live  on  five  cents  a  day,  and  thousands 
of  growing  children  go  to  bed  hungry 
every  night,  drew  forth  a  chorus  of 
groans  and  sighs  as  well  as  generous 
gifts.  He  mentioned,  as  a  sample,  a 
man  who  was  paid  $2.50  per  month, 
whose  wife,  by  hard  work,  added  28 
cents  per  month  to  it.  This  had  to 
be  divided  among  a  family  of  five, 
none  of  whom  could  have  enough  even 
of  their  own  coarse  food  (rice  mixed 
with  weeds).  "Five  hundred  millions 
of  the  people  of  this  world,"  said  the 
Bishop,  "will  go  to  bed  hungry  to- 
night. The  tramps  of  this  country 
would  be  'swell'  in  any  part  of  India." 
Speaking  of  the  fact  that  missionary 


converts  are  mostly  gathered  from 
the  poor,  he  argued  that  it  was  better 
so.  When  a  house  is  to  be  lifted,  jack- 
screws  are  put  in  at  the  bottom.  If 
the  roof  was  grappled  it  would  be  only 
the  top  that  would  be  lifted. 

Hawaii. — Rev.  W.  A.  Essery,  in 
a  recent  address  in  London,  said: 

"The  gospel  has  won  the  victory 
over  heathenism  in  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  It  was  a  peculiar  joy  to  me 
when  I  found  myself  in  Honolulu. 
On  a  certain  sunny  Easter  Sunday 
morning  I  wended  my  way  to  the  old 
stone  church,  a  large  square  sanctu- 
ary, built  of  blocks  of  reef  coral  that 
had  been  cut  out  of  the  sea  for  this 
purpose  by  the  early  converts.  I 
stood  in  the  pulpit  and  spoke  to  an 
eager  audience  of  the  purpose  of 
Christ's  gospel,  the  many  triumphs 
thereof  I  had  seen  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  and  exhorted  them  to  cleave 
to  the  Lord.  Where  are  the  idols  the 
people  worshipped  a  hundred  years 
ago  ?  More  of  them  are  preserved  in 
the  museum  cases  of  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society  than  I  could  hear  of 
in  the  islands  to-day.  All  around  me 
were  proofs  of  how  the  gospel  had 
raised  and  civilized  the  community. 
The  entire  money  cost  of  converting 
these  islanders,  which  was  done  by 
American  missionaries,  was  less  than 
the  cost  of  one  first-class  British  iron- 
clad. Christ's  gospel  has  been  wafted 
to  New  Zealand.  Last  Good  Friday 
twelve  months  I  landed  at  Gisborne, 
in  Poverty  Bay;  it  was  about  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Going  up 
over  the  same  beach  where  Captain 
Cook  had  landed  a  hundred  years 
before  I  heard  the  music  of  a  church- 
going  bell;  turning  in  its  direction  I 
came  upon  a  wooden,  weather-boarded 
church;  stepping  inside  I  saw  a  con- 
gregation of  Maoris,  the  natives  of 
New  Zealand.  The  clergyman  had 
just  started  the  service,  men  and 
women  had  their  Bibles  and  prayer- 
books,  and  all  were  taking  part  in  the 
worship  of  Him  whose  sorrows  are 
remembered  on  Good  Friday.  It  was 
a  simple  sight  but  it  gladdened  the 
heart  to  find  Christ's  name  honored  in 
the  ends  of  the  world.  And  so  from 
these  illustrations  we  learn  that  the 
missionary  spirit  is  once  more  a  power 
of  life  in  the  earth,  and  that  the  work 
of  Christianizing  the  nations  has 
actually  commenced,  and  is  making 
real  progress." 

Japan. — The  new  Constitutional 
Government  assumes  control  of  affairs 


1890.] 


GENERAL  MISSIONARY  INTELLIGENCE. 


847 


in  November.  The  Parliament  will 
contain  many  liberal-minded  men. 
There  will  be  manifest  in  it  four  dis- 
tinct parties:  the  Conservatives,  the 
Conservative-Radicals,  the  Moderates, 
and  the  Radicals.  All  of  them, 
however,  have  more  or  less  ad- 
vanced notions,  and  have  no  desire  to 
go  back  exclusively  to  the  old  order 
of  things.  The  Moderate  party  is 
called  Kaishinto.  It  took  its  rise  in 
1882,  and  has  been  very  active  in  the 
agitation  for  and  adoption  of  the 
present  Constitution.  It  is  very  pro- 
gressive in  its  aims,  and  favors  "gov- 
ernment by  party,  treaty-revision  and 
the  reform  of  almost  all  departments  of 
the  government."  The  Conservative- 
Radicals  came  into  recognition  in  1888 
and  have  adopted  as  their  motto, 
"United  in  great  things — differing  in 
small."  They  are,  as  yet,  few  in  num- 
bers, and  not  very  influential.  The 
Jihu-to  is  the  real  Radical  Party. 

— Appeal  from  Baptist  missionaries. 

"At  a  conference  of  the  missionaries 
of  the  American  Baptist  Missionary 
Union,  held  at  Yokohama,  June  11, 
1890,  it  was  resolved,  in  view  of  the 
great  needs  of  this  field  and  the  en- 
larged opportunities  for  work  in  this 
country,  to  beseech  God.  and,  under 
Him,  the  missionary  union  and  the 
Baptists  of  the  north,  for  a  speedy  re- 
inforcement of  twenty-three  men.' 

"That  there  has  been  a  crisis  in  Ja- 
pan is  admitted  by  all,  and  this  crisis 
has  not  passed  away  in  the  late  revul- 
sion of  feeling  against  foreigners,  al- 
though, we  believe,  it  has  changed  in 
some  of  its  phases.  The  situation  is 
more  urgent  and  pressing  than  ever. 
There  remain  as  many  souls  to  be 
reached;  the  work  lias  been  increased 
in  difficulty,  and  our  time  for  its  ac- 
complishment is  diminishing. 

[This  appeal  is  urged  by  many  "very  start- 
ling and  solemn  facts.'"— Eds.] 

Palestine. — Anything  indicative 

of  an  awakening  and  a  revival  of 
energy  in  the  Holy  Land,  especially 
at  Jerusalem,  must  prove  of  especial 
interest  to  every  Christian  who  is 
watching  "  the  signs  of  the  times." 
A  •  correspondent  of  the  London 
Christian  World,  now  on  a  visit  to  the 
Holy  City  for  the  seventh  time,  after 


a  considerable  interval,  finds  the 
changes  that  have  recently  occurred 
so  marked  and  suggestive  that  he  is 
induced  to  indicate  some  of  the  most 
prominent.    He  writes  as  follows: 

"  On  approaching  the  city  from  the 
west,  in  former  years,  there  were 
scarcely  any  buildings  except  the 
Russian  convent  and  the  Montefiore 
Almshouses  to  intercept  the  view  of 
the  city  walls;  now  the  whole  plain  is 
covered  with  private  residences  and 
colonies  of  Jews,  whilst  near  to  the 
Jaffa  Gate  are  large  numbers  of  shops 
already  tenanted  and  numerous  others 
in  course  of  construction.  This  ex- 
tension beyond  the  walls  has  become 
necessary  on  account  of  the  rapid 
increase  of  the  population.  I  am  in- 
formed by  Mr.  Moore.  British  consul 
here,  that  within  the  last  three  or  four 
years  about  20,000  Jews  have  come  to 
Jerusalem  for  permanent  residence  in 
and  around  the  city,  and  that  of  the 
entire  population  of  about  70,000  it  is 
estimated  that  nearly  40,000  are  Jews. 
He  also  stated  that  the  influx  of  Jews 
into  other  parts  of  Palestine  during 
recent  years  has  been  entirely  without 
precedent.  The  principal  streets,  which 
but  a  few  years  since  were  almost 
impassable  in  rainy  weather,  have 
been  paved  with  stone,  a  new  wide 
street  has  been  opened  up  through  a 
densely-populated  quarter,  and  five 
hotels  are  now  open  for  the  reception 
of  the  annually-increasing  number  of 
visitors  and  traders  from  all  lands. 

"  Public  works  of  importance  have 
been  executed,  and  others  are  in  pro- 
gress. The  road  from  Jaffa  to  Jerusa- 
lem, at  onetime  all  but  impracticable, 
has  been  reconstructed  by  an  eminent 
engineer — over  it  our  own  and  other 
carriage  services  are  in  full  operation 
— a  good  road  has  been  formed  from 
Jerusalem  to  Bethlehem,  and  another 
from  Jerusalem  to  Hebron;  several 
others  are  rapidly  approaching  com- 
pletion— from  Jaffa  to  Nablous  (She- 
chem).  40  miles;  Jerusalem  to  Jericho. 
20  miles;  Caipha  to  Nazareth,  20 
miles,  and  Nazareth  to  Tiberias,  18 
miles.  Jerusalem  has  hitherto  been 
almost  wholly  dependent  for  its  water 
supply  upon  its  large  underground 
cisterns  for  the  reception  of  rain  water, 
which,  after  a  summers  drouth,  often 
proves  insufficient  in  quantity  and 
almost  unfit  for  use.  The  Govern- 
ment is  now  about  to  introduce  an 
unfailing  supply  from  a  spring  of  pure 
water  beyond  Solomon's  Pools — about 
nine  miles  distant.  A  large  flour  mill, 
established  by  the  Messrs.  Bergheim, 


848 


GENERAL  MISSIONARY  INTELLIGENCE. 


[Nov. 


having  proved  both  a  great  benefit 
and  a  financial  success,  others,  with 
large  steam  power,  are  in  progress  of 
erection;  soap  factories  have  com- 
menced operations,  and  at  Jaffa  steam 
saw-mills  have  been  established. 
Colonies  of  Jews  following  agricul- 
tural pursuits,  stated  to  be  successful, 
are  located,  one  about  five  miles  from 
Jaffa,  and  a  larger  one  at  Limerin, 
near  Caesarea,  originated  and  assisted 
by  the  Rothschild  family.  The  before- 
named  road  to  Jericho  is  being  con- 
structed by  the  Government,  who 
have  taken  up  all  the  land  available  in 
the  best  parts  of  the  valley  for  the  de- 
velopment of  an  extensive  scheme  of 
agricultural  operations,  which,  with 
such  a  temperature,  so  fertile  a  soil, 
and  well  watered  by  the  copious 
stream  from  Elisha's  fountain,  should 
promise  abundant  and  remunerative 
crops.  Grapes,  bananas,  sugar-cane, 
cotton,  and  various  fruits  and  vege- 
tables have  for  some  time  past  been 
cultivated  here  with  much  success. 
The  increased  amount  of  rain  which 
has  fallen  the  last  few  years  in  Pales- 
tine has  had  a  most  marked  effect  in 
larger  and  more  abundant  harvests 
than  hitherto  known. 

"  The  most  important  results,  how- 
ever, of  all  may  be  anticipated  from 
the  railway  about  to  be  constructed 
between  Jaffa  and  Jerusalem.  As 
rumors  in  former  years  have  pre- 
vailed which  have  never  been  realized, 
I  called  upon  Mr.  Frutiger,  the  banker, 
to  whom  the  concession  has  been 
granted  by  the  Turkish  Government, 
and  was  assured  by  him  that  the 
necessary  capital  had  been  subscribed, 
and  that  the  works  would  commence 
immediately  upon  the  close  of  the 
rainy  season  in  the  early  spring,  and 
pushed  on  urgently  to  completion. 
The  influence  such  a  line  of  communi- 
cation between  Jerusalem  and  the 
coast  may  be  expected  to  exert  is  in- 
calculable, for  as  a  natural  sequence 
the  harbor,  which  is  now  inaccessible 
to  Mediterranean  steamers,  must  be 
deepened  and  enlarged,  and  the  rocky 
barrier  which  prevents  ingress  re- 
moved. 

"  It  is  contemplated  to  subsequently 
extend  this  line  via  Gaza  and  El-Arish 
over  the  Short  desert  to  Port  Said  and 
Ismalia  on  the  Maritime  Canal,  thus 
connecting  with  the  railway  system 
of  Lower  Egypt  for  Cairo,  Alexandria 
and  Suez,  and  to  the  Fayoum  and 
Upper  Egypt.  Such  important  action 
for  the  improvement  of  the  Holy  City 
and  the  development  of  the  resources 
of  Palestine,  and  opening  up  the  coun- 


try to  commerce,  are  without  prece- 
dent in  modern  times.  Viewed  in 
connection  with  the  numerous  and 
active  efforts  being  made  by  various 
religious  agencies  throughout  the 
country  for  the  evangelization  of  the 
people,  and  the  conversion  of  the 
Jews,  these  facts  must  encourage 
every  lover  of  God's  ancient  people  to 
hope  that  His  set  time  to  favor  Zion  is 
fast  approaching." — Exchange. 

The  Silver  Law's  effect  on  mis- 
sions.— Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the 
Silver  law  seriously  affects  Christian 
missions.  We  all  know  what  it  has  done 
for  the  silver  barons.  It  has  made  a 
fine  market  for  their  ore,  and  lined 
their  pockets,  not  with  their  own  coin, 
but  with  good,  merchantable  money, 
stamped  with  the  seal  of  the  United 
States  Treasury.  It  has  raised  the 
price  of  silver,  and  therefore  accom- 
plished the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
forced  through  the  two  Houses  at 
Washington,  It  has  enriched  mine- 
owners;  has  it  blessed  anybody  else? 
We  will  wait  to  see.  Meantime,  it  is 
having  a  disastrous  effect  on  the  mis- 
sionary societies  which  make  large  ex- 
penditures in  foreign  lands.  By  rais- 
ing the  price  of  silver  it  has  so  ad- 
vanced the  rates  of  exchange  for  all 
those  countries  which  have  a  silver 
standard  that  a  large  percentage  of 
every  dollar  transmitted  to  the  various 
fields  is  lost  in  discount. 

The  dealings  of  the  societies,  it 
should  be  explained,  with  Mexico, 
Brazil  and  other  American  countries, 
with  India,  China,  Japan,  Syria,  Per- 
sia, and  other  Asiatic  fields,  are  all 
conducted  on  the  silver  basis.  In  mak- 
ing appropriations  for  the  year,  the  so- 
cieties make  them  on  the  basis  of  an 
exchange  rate,  averaged  on  the  rates  of 
the  previous  years.  While  this  rate  dif- 
fers in  different  countries,  it  has  aver- 
aged less,  the  treasurer  of  the  Presby- 
terian Board,  Mr.  Dulles,  informs  us, 
"than  80  cents  to  the  dollar  for  all 
countries." 

Now  for  the  effect  of  the  Silver  Bill 
on  exchange.    Mr.  Dulles  writes  us: 

"I  find,  by  reference  to  my  records,  that  on 
April  9th,  our  bills  sold  in  China  at  77%  (this 
is  discount  on  the  Mexican  silver  dollar) ;  on 
April  21st  it  had  risen  to  79% ;  May  28  to  82tf ; 
July  15th  to  86^;  July  28th  to  88.03,  which  is 
the  last  date  at  which  I  had  advices  of  actual 
sales;  or  a  rise  of  15  per  cent.  This  will  serve 
as  an  example.  In  fact,  our  estimates  were 
made  below  77,  the  first  price  above  given; 
but  assuming  the  variation  as  above,  it  means 
that  when  we  contract  to  pay  a  native  helper 
or  incur  any  other  form  of  expense  for  a  given 
number  of  Mexican  silver  dollars,  we  must 


1890.] 


GENERAL  MISSIONARY  INTELLIGENCE. 


849 


now,  in  order  to  meet  our  accounts,  add  15  per 
cent,  to  our  disbursements  of  American  gold. 
This,  is  not  a  simple  illustration,  but  the  state- 
ment of  an  actual  fact.'" 

The  rise  in  India  is  somewhat  less. 
On  April  loth  £500  yielded  6.832 
rupees:  on  May  14th,  6,357:  on  July 
21st,  6,140.  The  last  advices,  says 
Mr.  Dulles,  show  that  the  rate  is  still 
rising.  Withal,  the  market  is  so 
uncertain,  that  60-day  bills  cannot  be 
sold  at  all.  The  rates  in  Mexico  are 
higher,  even,  than  in  China  and  India, 
varying  from  15  to  20  per  cent. 

What  is  true  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board  is  also  true  of  the  American 
Board  and  other  societies.  A  note 
to  us  from  one  of  the  secretaries  of 
the  American  Board  says  its  expen- 
ditures are  affected,  'motonly  in  India 
and  China,  but  in  Japan  and  Mexico 
as  well — fields  in  which  fully  one-half 
of  our  total  expenditures  are  made." 
The  Western  Christian  Advocate  says 
a  1 '  special  appropriation  of  about 
$20,000  to  meet  the  increased  cost  of 
exchange",  in  India  will  have  to  be 
made  by  the  Methodist  Missionary  So- 
ciety at  its  meeting  in  November. 
The  cost  of  the  Silver  Bill  to  the  So- 
ciety will  be,  the  Advocate  estimates, 
fully  $40,000. 

The  outlook  is  a  serious  one  for  all 
the  societies.  A  large  increase  in  the 
incomes  of  the  societies  will  be  neces- 
sary to  pay  the  same  bills  as  in  former 
years.  Says  Mr.  Dulles,  speaking  for 
the  Presbyterian  Board: 

"It  is  early  to  calculate  the  effects  of  a 
change  of  15  to  20  per  cent,  upon  appropri- 
ations of  §900,000.  Without  entering  into  the 
merits  of  the  silver-question  or  venturing 
prophecies  as  to  the  results,  it  certainly  is  un- 
likely that  silver  will  fall  much  below  its  pres 
ent  value,  and  those  who  are  considering  the 
obligations  of  the  Church  to  foreign  work 
must  bear  in  mind  the  unavoidable  demand 
upon  them  this  year,  and  indeed  in  subsequent 
years,  on  account  of  the  special  change  in  the 
rise  of  silver. 11 

Upon  the  churches  the  burden  must 
fall.  It  will  not  do  to  cut  down  former 
appropriations  by  15  or  20  per  cent.; 
therefore,  it  will  be  necessary  for  them 
to  increase  their  contributions  by  that 
amount.  If  last  year  a  society  ap- 
propriated $500,000,  it  must  appropri- 
ate this  vear,  to  keep  up  its  work, 
$575,000  or  $600,000. 

What  a  pity  the  extra  percentage 
cannot  be  assessed  on  the  silver  barons! 
— The  Independent. 

The  Missionary  Age.  The  Victo- 
rian has  been  emphatically  the  mis- 
sionary era.  Since  the  immediately 
post-apostolic  days,  no  half  century  of 


the  Church's  history  has  recorded  a 
similar  advance,  although  that  ad- 
vance is  relatively  small  in  the  light 
of  the  unexampled  growth  of  popu- 
lation, even  in  non-Christian  lands. 
The  ten  missionary  organizations  of 
the  United  Kingdom  have  become  65; 
the  27  of  all  evangelical  Christendom 
have  increased  to  185.  The  sum  of 
half  a  million  sterling  raised  to  evan- 
gelize the  world  has  grown  fivefold 
— to  two  millions  and  a  half.  The 
living  converts,  then  under  400,000, 
now  form  native  Christian  communi- 
ties three  millions  strong.  The  mis- 
sionary band,  ordained  and  unor- 
dained,  was  then  760  strong,  and 
not  12  of  these  were  women  or 
natives;  now  it  is  a  host  of  nearly 
40,000,  of  whom  2.000  are  women,  be- 
sides missionaries'  wives  :  33,000  are 
natives,  and  of  these,  3,000  are  or- 
dained. Besides  all  that  Carey  and 
his  imitators  had  done  to  translate  the 
Word  of  God,  we  see  now  in  other  41 
languages  the  Old  Testament,  and  in 
other  64  languages  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Our  empire  has  grown  till  we 
have  become  responsible  for  a  fourth 
of  mankind.  The  English  speaking 
race  were  only  22  millions  when  Carey 
made  his  survey ;  we  have  increased 
at  the  rate  of  nearly  a  million  a  year, 
till  in  and  outside  of  Christendom 
we  are  113  millions.  Our  wealth  has 
swollen  even  more  rapidly.  Our 
mother-tongue,  the  Queen's  English, 
has  become  the  Christianizing  and 
civilizing  speech  of  earth,  carrying  to 
the  thousand  millions  who  are  still  bar- 
barians in  the  Hellenic  sense,  even  as 
Greek  influenced  the  hundred  millions 
of  the  Roman  Empire,  that  Divine 
revelation  which,  to  all  who  believe  it, 
is  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom 
of  God  unto  salvation.  Save  in  the 
very  heart  of  Asia — Mohammedan, 
Buddhist  and  Russian — The  Spirit  of 
God  has  opened  every  door,  as  our 
fathers  prayed. — Free  Church  {Scot- 
land) Annual  Report. 

Farewell  Meeting  in  Boston  under 
the  direction  of  the  secretaries  of  the 
American  Board,  in  view  of  the  early 
departure  of  missionaries  for  the 
several  fields  under  the  care  of  the 
Board.  The  missionaries  were  intro- 
duced by  Dr.  Clark  and  Dr.  Smith,  ac- 
cording to  the  fields  to  which  they 
were  destined,  and  addresses  were 
made  by  Dr.  Herrick  and  Mr.  Bartlett, 
for  the  Western  Turkey  Mission;  by 
Messrs.  Hill  and  White  for  the  Japan 
Mission ;  by  Messrs.  Lay  and  Jeffery 
for  the  missions  in  India,  and  by  Mr. 
Ransom  for  the  Zulu  Mission.  When 


850  MISSIONARY  CORRESPONDENCE  FROM  ALL  PARTS.  [Nov. 


the  name  of  Mrs.  Ransom  was  read,  Dr. 
A  Men  stated  that  she  was  a  daughter 
of  Rev.  Simeon  H.  Calhoun,  formerly 
of  the  Mission  to  Syria.  The  Rev. 
James  D.Tracy,  of  the  Madura  Mission, 
temporarily  in  this  country,  extended 
the  right  hand  of  welcome  to  Mr.  Jef- 
fery,  who  goes  to  the  same  mission. 
The  exercises  occupied  two  hours, 
and  were  listened  to  with  the  closest 
attention  and  deepest  interest  by  a 
large  audience.  Thirty-four  mission- 
aries were  named  at  this  farewell  meet- 
ing, either  now  on  the  way  or  soon  to 
go  to  their  respective  fields;  going  out 
for  the  first  time.  The  total  number 
of  new  missionaries  that  have  been 


sent  to  the  field  since  the  last  annual 
report  is  now  54,  a  greater  number 
than  has  been  sent  out  by  the 
Board  during  any  one  year  for  the  past 
50  years.  The  number  of  mission- 
aries appointed  since  the  last  annual 
meeting  of  the  Board  is  63,  22  of 
whom  are  men,  representing  all  the 
Congregational  theological  seminaries 
of  the  country,  excepting  Bangor  and 
Oakland.  These  facts,  taken  with  the 
very  handsome  increase  in  the  receipts 
of  the  Board  during  the  past  year,  and 
the  good  reports  of  work  from  all 
parts  of  the  mission  field,  give  abun- 
dant occasion  for  thanksgiving  and 
good  courage  for  the  future. 


III.— MISSIONARY  CORRESPONDENCE  FROM  ALL 


PARTS  OF  THE 

Madagascar. 

Antsihanaka,  May  1,  1890. 

Dear  Editors:— Herewith  I  enclose  a  copy 
of  circular  on  the  subject  of  a  Cottage  Hos- 
pital, which  it  is  proposed  to  go  on  with  imme- 
diately here  in  the  heathen  province  of  Antsi- 
hanaka. You  will  note  that  this  mission  is  to 
be  extended  by  our  removing  a  day's  journey 
further  north,  where  we  hope  to  have  much 
blessing  on  the  work  in  future  years.  I  need 
hardly  trouble  you  with  details,  other  than  to 
say  that  the  Christian  public  at  home  should 
not  be  allowed  to  run  off  with  the  generally- 
accepted  idea,  which  is  false,  of  the  "ad- 
vanced religious  and  social  condition  of  the 
island,11  referred  to  in  a  letter  received  yester- 
day from  a  Christian  friend  at  home.  The 
fact  is  that  Madagascar  is  about  one-third 
simply  evangelized,  and  that  one-third  -  about 
three-fourths— civilized.  The  work  of  deepen- 
ing and  spreading  the  spiritual  life  is  only 
now  beginning  in  the  above  one-third  of  the 
island.  The  work  of  evangelization  and  estab- 
lishment of  new  missions  is  being  carried  out 
in  about  half  of  the  remaining  two-thirds, 
which,  like  here  in  Antsihanaka,  is  heathen, 
without  missionary  agencies  at  all ;  and  the 
rest  is  in  "gross  darkness.11 

The  above  is  only  a  very  general  way  of 
looking  at  it  as  a  whole,  but  still  it  will  give  a 
good  idea  of  how  things  really  are  here. 
With  kindest  regards, 

James  G.  Mackay. 
[We  regret  that  space  permits  only 
an  extract  or  two  from  the  printed 
circular  accompanying  this  letter. — 
Eds.] 

"And  now  to  come  to  the  point  of  our  re- 
port. Our  present  hospital  served  well  for  a 
beginning,  .but  is  now  too  small  for  us.  Fur- 
ther, the  directors  of  the  L.  M.  S.  have  agreed 
to  our  removing  to  a  more  healthy  spot  at 
Imerimandroso,  a  day's  journey  to  the  north, 


WORLD-FIELD. 

where  we  hope  shortly  to  build  a  dwelling- 
house,  leaving  the  town  of  Ambatondrazaka  to 
our  friend  and  colleague,  the  Rev.  E.  H.  Strib- 
ling,  thus  extending  the  mission.  "We  are 
already  about  100  miles,  or  four  days1  journey, 
from  any  other  missionary,  and  a  new  hospital 
has  become  an  absolute  necessity.  We  intend 
to  build  a  suitable  structure  to  accommodate 
about  sixteen  patients,  and  this  compara- 
tively small  effort  will  cost  about  £250.  It  is 
our  earnest  desire  to  build  it  without  assis- 
tance from  the  society,  if  possible,  and  so  we 
are  making  known  the  present  position  of 
affairs  to  personal  friends,  and  to  the  friends 
of  missions  in  general.  To  the  former,  we 
would  suggest  this  as  a  fitting  opportunity  for 
affording  encouragement  to  lonely  workers  in 
a  far  country,  which,  added  to  the  far  higher 
consideration  of  helping  on  the  work  of  God, 
we  hope  will  prove  a  sufficient  inducement  to 
help  forward  this  particular  object.  Almost 
the  whole  of  the  working  expenses  (except 
the  very  important  items  of  medicines  and 
medical  appliances)  have  been  obtained  for 
the  last  two  years  without  any  help  from  the 
society,  our  patients  paying  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  expense  of  board  and  nursing; 
many  of  our  native  friends,  too,  having  con- 
tributed to  this  object.11 


LETTER  FROM  DR.  BROCKETT. 

Brooklyn,  July  28,  1890. 
Dear  Dr.  Sherwood:— I  was  very  much  in- 
terested in  that  part  of  Dr.  Pierson's  letter,  in 
your  August  number,  which  treated  of  the 
important  questions  of  education  and  evan- 
gelization in  the  mission  fields,  and  the  com- 
parative success  of  the  two  methods,  education 
first,  and  then  evangelization,  or  evangeliza- 
tion first,  followed  by  Christian  education. 
As  I  have  been  for  many  years  studying  these 
questions  carefully,  with  reference  to  the 
missions  of  most  evangelical  denominations,  I 
beg  leave  to  offer  a  few  thoughts,  which  may 


1800.] 


MISSIONARY  CORRESPONDENCE  FROM  ALL  PARTS. 


851 


be  of  service  in  the  settlement  of  the  difficult 
problem. 

1st.  I  find  in  our  Lord's  missionary  tours  in 
Palestine  that  He  devoted  His  instruction 
and  preaching  to  "  the  common  people,  who 
heard  Him  gladly"— to  "  publicans  and  sinners, 
who  thronged  to  hear  Him,  and  almost  trode 
upon  one  another  to  listen  to  the  gracious 
words  which  He  spake."  He  opened  no 
schools:  rabbinical  or  other,  for  Pharisees  and 
Sadducees,  practised  no  asceticism  like  the 
Essenes,  but  the  burden  of  his  discourses  was 
concerning  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

I  cannot  find  that  the  Apostles  opened  any 
school  to  instruct  or  propagate  the  Gospel 
which  they  preached.  Paul  tells  us  that  it 
pleased  God  that  by  the  foolishness  of  preach- 
ing men  might  believe,  and  that  not  many  wise, 
not  man}r  learned  were  brought  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  truth— that  "  He  had  hidden  these 
things  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  revealed 
them  unto  babes.'"  Throughout  the  Acts  and 
the  Epistles,  whether  they  were  preaching  to 
Greeks,  Romans  or  Barbarians,  the  theme 
was  Christ,  as  the  Saviour  and  Redeemer  from 
sin.  and  no  time  was  spent  in  endeavoring  to 
civilize  or  educate  the  people  before  convert- 
ing them. 

2d.  I  think  it  will  be  found  in  all  modern 
missions  that  the  great  successes  have  been 
achieved  by  following  in  the  line  of  Christ's 
example.  In  almost  every  Asiatic  mission 
field  there  will  be  found  two  distinct  classes, 
often  of  different  origin,  the  one  aristocratic 
and  lordly,  generally  the  ruling  race,  educated 
after  their  fashion,  and  looking  down  with 
contempt  upon  their  ignorant  inferiors.  In 
India,  this  class  are  the  Brahmins,  proud,  in- 
telligent, in  some  respects  the  superiors  in 
intellectual  culture  of  even  the  best  European 
races.  Their  inferiors,  who  are  ground  down 
to  the  lowest  degradation,  are  the  men  of  low 
caste  or  no  caste  at  all,  the  pariahs  or  out- 
casts. 

Many  of  our  missionaries  and  missionary 
societies  have  made  the  mistake  of  trying  to 
convert  the  Brahmins  first.  They  were  so  re- 
fined and  cultured,  so  polite,  and  took  so 
much  pleasure  in  discussing"  religious  ques- 
tions with  the  missionaries,  and  sometimes 
confounding  them  with  their  dialectic  skill, 
that  the  poor  missionaries  indulged  high  hopes 
of  gathering  a  church  whose  members  should 
all  be  converted  Brahmins,  and  through  whom 
the  whole  nation  should  ere  long  be  brought 
to  Christ.  It  has  now  been  about  a  hundred 
years  since  missionary  labor  was  commenced 
in  India.  Has  anybody  ever  seen  or  heard  of 
a  church  there  composed  wholly  of  converted 
Brahmins,  who,  as  being  all  of  the  highest 
caste,  did  not  need  to  break  its  bonds  and  defile 
themselves  by  associating  with  Sudras  or 
Pariahs  ?  Converted  Brahmins  there  have 
certainly  been,  but  never  those  who  came  in 
companies  and  retained  their  caste.  Those 


who  had  the  privilege  of  hearing  Rev.  Dr.  J. 
E.  Clough,  the  Apostle  to  the  Telugus,  tell  of 
his  experience  in  endeavoring  to  carry  the 
Gospel  to  that  people,  will  ever  forget  how 
this  matter  presented  itself  to  him.  The  mis- 
sion to  the  Telugus  was  founded  in  1836,  and 
in  1866,  thirty  years  later,  when  Mr.  Clough 
reached  Ongola,  there  had  not  been  a  hun- 
dred native  Telugus  converted.  There  were 
about  fifty  members  of  the  single  church  there, 
but  some  of  them  were  Tamils,  English  sol- 
diers or  sailors,  or  men  of  other  nationalities, 
and  not  to  exceed  25  or  30  were  Telugus. 
There  was  one  native  assistant,  and  schools 
had  been  maintained  for  instructing  the  chil- 
dren of  Brahmins.  The  missionaries  were  ex- 
cellent men,  men  of  deep  piety  and  learning, 
and  thoroughly  in  earnest  in  their  efforts  to 
win  souls.  But,  somehow,  they  did  not  suc- 
ceed. The  Brahmins  were  very  friendly,  and 
often  called  on  them  to  discuss  questions  of 
science,  and  if  pressed  on  the  subject  of  per- 
sonal religion,  would  reply  that  they  were  ex- 
amining the  Christian  doctrines,  and  were 
very  favorably  impressed  with  them,  but 
desired  time  to  consider.  They  did  not  wish 
to  mingle  with  the  lower  castes,  but  thought 
they  should,  in  time,  come  over  to  Chris- 
tianity. 

"When  Mr.  Clough  came  to  Ongola,  in  1866, 
they  pursued  the  same  course  with  him,  and 
at  first  deceived  him;  but  his  faithful  assist- 
ant had  preached  the  Gospel  to  the  poor  out- 
casts (pariahs)  at  one  of  the  out  stations,  and 
had  sent  some  of  the  converts  in  one  Saturday 
to  Mr.  Clough  for  examination  and  baptism. 
The  Brahmins  heard  of  it,  and  sent  a  message 
to  him,  begging  him  not  to  disgrace  himself 
and  them  by  having  anything  to  do  with  these 
low  and  degraded  people.  The  Brahmins 
could  not  visit  him  or  hold  any  intercourse 
with  him  if  he  thus  polluted  himself .  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Clough  devoted  themselves  to  the  study 
of  the  Word  of  God  and  prayer  that  night. 
They  found  that  they  had  erred  in  respecting 
persons;  they  humbly  confessed  and  repented 
of  their  sins,  and  the  next  day  openly  went  to 
one  of  the  large  tanks  in  the  city,  baptized 
these  converts,  and  preached  the  Gospel  to 
the  poor,  who  had  gathered  by  thousands  to 
witness  the  ordinance.  The  Brahmins  were 
furious:  they  showed  their  displeasure  by 
cutting  his  acquaintance  and  reviling  him 
publicly,  but  the  common  people  heard  him 
gladly,  and  received  the  word  with  joy.  Bap- 
tisms were  constant,  and  in  the  ten  years 
(1867-1877)  preceding  the  famine,  the  church 
at  Ongola  alone  had  received  4,394  members 
by  baptism.  After  the  famine,  and  Mr.  (now 
Dr.)  dough's  noble  and  self-sacrificing  efforts 
to  relieve  the  suffering  caused  by  it,  the  people 
began  to  press  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
to  take  it  by  violence.  In  1878,  8,691  were 
baptized  in  six  weeks— 2,222  of  them  in  one 
day— and  during  the  13  years  since  the  work 


S52 

has  gone  forward  steadily,  till  on  the  first  of 
January,  1890,  there  had  been  during  the  pi'e- 
vious  year,  in  the  thirteen  stations  of  that 
mission,  3,340  baptisms,  and  the  number  of 
living  members  at  that  date  was  33,838.  A 
large  majority  of  these  are  people  of  low  caste, 
or  of  no  caste,  but  of  late  the  higher  castes 
have  begun  to  come  in,  and  some  Brahmins 
among  them.  Of  course,  schools  were  neces- 
sary after  this  rapid  evangelization,  and  they 
have  been  provided  liberally.  There  are  sem- 
inaries for  training  native  preachers  (many  of 
these  poor  people  have  developed  remarkable 
abilities,  both  as  scholars  and  preachers) ;  there 
are  high  schools  for  girls  and  boys,  and  sta- 
tion-schools for  instruction  in  the  vernacular. 
In  some  of  the  stations  there  are  caste  schools 
for  girls,  in  which  the  Bible  is  taught,  and 
very  soon  the  bonds  of  caste  give  way.  The 
girls  in  these  caste  schools  do  not  seem  to  be 
superior  in  intellect  or  ability  to  their  outcast 
sisters.  There  are  connected  with  the  mission 
now  47  missionaries,  27  of  them  women— 18  are 
in  America  or  Europe.  There  is  pressing  need 
of  at  least  20  more  missionaries.  The  number 
of  native  helpers  is  421,  of  whom  204  (67  or- 
dained and  137  unordained)  are  preachers. 
The  appropriations  of  the  Missionary  Union 
for  all  departments  of  the  work  in  1889-190 
were  $67,972,  of  which  about  one-half  was  for 
schools.  Here,  out  of  54  years  of  mission 
work,  only  24  have  been  productive  of  large 
visible  results. 

Take  another  instance,  which  illustrates  my 
point  still  more  fully— the  Baptist  missions  in 
Burmah.  Dr.  Judson  entered  upon  his  mis- 
sion to  the  Burmese  in  1813.  No  abler  or  more 
devoted  missionaries  have  been  connected 
with  any  missions  in  the  world  than  Dr.  Jud- 
son and  some  of  his  associates;  they  were 
laborious,  patient  and  persevering  to  a  degree 
almost  beyond  belief,  yet  six  years  elapsed 
before  the  baptism  of  the  first  convert.  At 
the  close  of  the  first  Burmese  war  (1824-'26) 
there  were  not  more  than  30  converted  Bur- 
mese living,  and  now  after  75  years  of  very 
earnest  labor,  with  a  large  force  of  mission- 
aries constantly  in  the  field,  and  63  (20  men 
and  43  women)  now  at  work,  there  are  only 
29  Burmese  churches,  with  about  2,000  mem- 
bers (probably  4,000  or  5,000  have  gone  to 
heaven  in  these  75  years).  The  reasons  of 
this  scanty  return  are  not  far  to  seek.  The 
missionaries  are  not  in  fault;  they  have  done 
their  work  faithfully  and  well.  They  relied 
to  some  extent  on  schools,  in  many  of  which 
English  was  taught.  The  Burmese  were 
proud,  intelligent,  imperious,  and  cruel  in 
temper,  bigoted  in  their  Buddhism,  and  looked 
down  with  contempt  on  all  other  nations,  es- 
pecially upon  the  Karen  tribes,  whom  they 
held  in  a  sort  of  peonage.  They  were  glad  of 
the  schools,  because  their  children  could  learn 
English,  though  they  hated  the  English  peo- 
ple, but  they  insisted  that  the  Lord  Buddha 


[Nov. 

was  the  only  God  to  be  worshipped.  Now, 
contrast  with  this  the  Karen  Missions  in  Bur- 
mah. Beginning  in  1828  with  the  baptism  of 
a  single  convert  brought  to  Christ  by  Dr.  Jud- 
son's  efforts,  it  spread  through  Tavoy,  Moul- 
mein,  Rangoon,  Bassein  and  Henzada  within 
a  dozen  years,  and  has  now  extended  where- 
ever  there  are  Karens.  These  people  were 
very  poor;  they  were  cruelly  oppressed  by 
their  Burmese  rulers;  they  were  illiterate, 
had  no  written  language,  till  the  mis- 
sionaries reduced  their  languages  to  writing; 
they  were  not  idolaters,  and  while  they  had 
some^ideas  of  a  Supreme  Being  they  had  never 
heard  of  Christ,  yet  they  came  to  Him  at  once 
when  they  did  hear  of  Him,  and  in  such  num- 
bers, that  for  three  years  and  more,  under  the 
fierce  Burmese  persecution,  the  thousands 
who  were  willing  to  die  for  Christ  could  not 
receive  Christian  baptism.  They  have  in  sixty 
years  become  an  intelligent  and  powerful  peo- 
ple, advancing  from  semi-barbarism  to  civili- 
zation, education  and  administrative  ability, 
till  the  Government  of  British  India,  whose 
subjects  they  are,  are  putting  them  into  places 
of  honor  and  trust  in  the  place  of  the  Burmese, 
whom  they  have  found  dishonest  and  untrust- 
worthy. This  wonderful  change  has  come 
solely  by  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  and  in  their  case  evangelization  pre- 
ceded education.  They  have  had  compara- 
tively few  American  missionaries  (they  have 
now  57,  of  whom  only  20  are  men).  They 
have  560  native  helpers,  of  whom  125  are  or- 
dained pastors  and  evangelists,  many  of  them 
the  peers  of  our  pastors  in  city  or  country. 
492  churches,  with  a  membership  of  28,000.  and. 
an  adherent  population  of  about  175,000.  Over 
40,000  have  died  in  these  sixty  years.  They 
carry  on  Home  and  Foreign  Missions  with 
great  success.  Of  course  they  have  schools- 
over  400  of  them,  with  11,000  pupils,  all  receiv- 
ing an  elementary  Christian  education ;  ten  or 
twelve  academies— some  teaching  English,  but 
all  giving  instruction  in  the  Scriptures;  a  theo- 
logical seminary,  a  college,  and  two  high- 
grade  high  schools  (boarding)— one  of  thern 
with  over  400  students.  Their  native  preachers 
are  well  educated,  and  their  schools  have  re- 
ceived the  highest  praise  from  the  Govern- 
ment Commissioners  and  inspectors  for  their 
thorough  and  critical  scholarship.  They  are 
growing  spiritually  ;  about  1,850  were  bap- 
tized the  past  year.  Three-fourths  of 
their  native  pastors  and  four-fifths  of  the 
schools,  including  the  costly  high  schools  and 
college,  are  supported  by  the  native  churches, 
and  every  church  has  a  chapel  of  its  own. 
built  by  native  Christians.  Their  contributions 
to  church  and  benevolent  purposes,  taking  all 
their  churches  together,  average  $1.75  per 
member,  while  in  the  missions,  where  they 
have  plans  of  systematic  beneficence,  they 
come  up  to  $3.25  per  member,  and  this  where 
$50  a  year  is  considered  a  liberal  salary.  Here.. 


MISSIONARY  CORRESPONDENCE  FROM  ALL  PARTS. 


1890.] 


MISSIONARY  CORRESPONDENCE  FROM  ALE  FARTS. 


853 


most  certainly,  education  followed  evangeli- 
zation. 

I  might  go  on  to  speak  of  the  Mallegassy, 
who  certainly  were  evangelized  before  they 
had  anything  more  than  the  most  meagre 
education,  but  are  now  rejoicing  in  many  good 
schools;  of  the  Kohls,  of  Central  India,  Goss- 
ner's  converts*— in  this  mission,  also,  evangel- 
ization preceded  education,  and  indeed  educa- 
tion has  not  proceeded  very  far  yet;  and  of 
many  other  missions  of  a  like  character,  did 
space  permit,  but  the  points  I  want  to  make 
are  these  : 

1.  That  among  the  nations  who  profess 
and  maintain  the  systematized  false  faiths- 
Buddhism,  Brahmanism,  Tauism,  Moham- 
medanism —  and  even,  in  a  somewhat  less 
degree,  the  doctrines  of  the  Greek  and  Roman 
Catholic  churches,  and  who  have  a  written 
language  and  literature  defending  and  ex- 
pounding their  respective  faiths,  progress  in 
evangelization  will  be  slow  by  any  method, 
and  education  will  help  very  little,  if  at  all. 
Comparatively  little  impression  has  been 
made  in  Siam,  in  the  Buddhist  portion  of 
China,  and  in  Burinah.  upon  the  Buddhists, 
and  general  scientific  education,  however  com- 
plete it  may  have  convinced  the  intellect, 
has  not  touched  the  heart.  The  same  is 
equally  true  of  the  educational  assaults  which 
have  been  made  upon  Islamism  among  the 
Turks  and  other  Mohammedan  nations.  That 
system  of  faith  has  too  strong  a  hold  upon 
the  weakness  of  human  nature  to  be  readilj' 
relinquished.  It  does  not  seem  that  either  the 
adherents  of  the  Greek  or  the  Roman  Church 
have  been  often  educated  into  Protestant 
Christianity.  Indeed,  the  results  of  the  edu- 
cative process  have  very  often  found  to  enure 
to  these  religions,  e.  g.,  Cardinals  Manning, 
Wiseman  and  Newman,  and  many  bishops 
and  other  perverts. 

2.  It  seems  easily  demonstrable  that  our 
Lord's  plan  was  to  begiu  missionary  work 
with  the  poor,  the  lowly,  the  illiterate  and  the 
sinful;  to  present  the  dying,  risen  and  glori- 
fied Saviour  to  those  who  are  conscious  of  their 
need  of  such  a  Saviour  from  sin;  and  when 
the  Gospel  has  lifted  them  up  to  Christian 
manhood  and  brought  them  to  work  for  the 
salvation  of  others,  then  Christian  education 
steps  in,  and  prepares  them  to  lead  the  hard- 
ened idolaters,  by  the  force  of  a  holy  example, 
to  Him  who  alone  can  save  them. 

L.  P.  Brockett. 


Syria. 

Zahleh,  Aug.  19,,  1890. 
Dear  Dr.  Pierson:— You  asked  me  to  be 
one  of  your  "  Editorial  Correspondents.'"  My 

*  I  think  the  missionaries  of  the  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  who  have  ab- 
sorbed this  mission,  overrate  the  conversions 
among  the  Kohls.  They  took  over  only  7,000, 
and  their  latest  report  gives  only  11,964  com- 
municants.  The  82,000  were  only  adherents. 


missionary  life  does  not  allow  of  much  time 
for  writing,  but  I  am  going  to  do  better  in  the 
future.  In  the  meantime  I  send  you  an  article 
written  by  my  husband,  Rev.  F.  E.  Hoskins. 
On  him  has  fallen  Mr.  Dale's  mantle,  and  it 
is  a  heavy  one,  combined  with  the  study  of 
Arabic.  We  are  feeling  especially  burdened 
at  this  time,  as  word  has  come  to  retrench 
Zahleh  station  ($554). 

If  we  ask  which  of  the  out  stations  we  will 
close,  it  is  like  asking  a  man  which  of  his  chil- 
dren he  can  spare  best.  With  the  present 
state  of  the  Government,  if  we  close  we  will 
not  get  permission  to  open  again.  It  is  hard 
fighting  to  hold  what  we  have,  and  no  pros- 
pect of  getting  more.  Turks  and  Jesuits  make 
a  trying  combination.  Three  girls'1  schools 
have  been  closed;  each  one  had  over  seventy 
pupils;  $40  each  would  run  them  to  the  end 
of  the  year.  Can  you  not  stir  some  heart  to 
help  us  ?  Think  of  the  large  sums  that  were 
raised  at  Northfield. 

We  have  church  buildings  that  need  repair; 
we  do  not  see  how  they  can  stand  another 
winter. 

You  must  pray  that  we  may  have  patience 
under  discouragements,  wisdom  in  facing 
many  vexing  questions,  and  a  great  outpour- 
ing of  God's  Spirit. 

In  my  sister's  absence  I  have  the  little  organ 
you  sent  her.* 

During  the  last  ten  days  I  have  had  a  guest 
who  formerly  lived  in  Zahleh,  so  we  have  had 
over  a  hundred  callers,  every  one  has  had  a 
glass  of  sherbet,  about  half  have  been  fed; 
with  a  little  maid  (Jeannette)  to  look  after, 
do  you  wonder  that  I  do  not  write  more  ?  But 
notwithstanding  all,  I  have  read  the  Review 
for  July  and  retailed  its  contents  to  my  callers. 

How  we  wish  you  could  have  extended  your 
mission  tour  to  Syria  !  You  must  spend  some 
time  with  us  when  you  do  come.  Our  home 
is  near  to  the  grand  old  ruins  of  Baalbec. 

For  some  years  I  have  been  gathering  su- 
perstitions of  these  people.  Very  odd,  and  of 
course  have  their  influence;  and  if  such  articles 
would  be  acceptable  to  you,  will  send  one. 

Mr.  Hoskins  is  away  for  the  day.  Since 
Jan.  1st  he  has  traveled  more  than  1,500  miles, 
1,900  of  these  in  the  saddle,  in  all  weathers 
and  all  hours  of  the  day. 

Yours  sincerely, 

Mrs.  F.  E.  Hoskins. 

Moravians  not  Lutherans. 

Nazareth,  Pa.,  Aug.  20,  1890. 
In  the  August  number  of  The  Missionart 
Review  (page  634),  in  the  "Table  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Lutheran  Foreign  Missionary  Work,'1 
we  find  as  the  27th  Society  (sic}  the  Moravian 
Church  included  among  the  Lutheran  Mission- 
ary Societies,  with  the  foot-note :    ".The  Mo* 

*  This  little  parlor  organ  was  sent  as  a  help 
in  carrying  on  Sunday-school  and  prayer  ser- 
vices. It  was  given  by  Bethany  Church,  Phila- 
delphia.-A.  T.  P. 


854 


INTERNATIONAL  DEPARTMENT. 


[Nov. 


ravians  have  the  same  confession  of  faith  as 
the  Lutherans.'" 

This  is  a  very  inaccurate  and  misleading 
statement  The  official  statement  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Brethren's  or  Moravian  Church, 
as  determined  by  her  General  Synod,  contains, 
among  many  other  statements,  this  paragraph 
(.freely  translated):  "In  common  with  all 
Christendom,  the  Moravian  Church  subscribes 
to  the  doctrines  enunciated  in  the  so-called 
Apostles1  Creed,  and  acknowledges  further 
that  in  the  21  doctrinal  articles  of  the  Augs- 
burg Confession  the  chief  points  of  Christian 
belief  are  clearly  and  simply  defined.  The 
freedom  of  conscience  of  our  members,  how- 
ever, is  in  no  wise  influenced  by  this  state- 
ment, especially  not  in  those  countries  where 
the  Augsburg  Confession  is  not  of  so  much 
importance,  as  in  Germany."  Results  of  the 
General  Synod  of  1889  : 

("  Die  Bruederkirche  bekennt  sich  daher  mit 
der  gesammten  Christenheit  zu  den  im  apo- 
stolischen  Glaubensbekenntnis>se  enthaltenen 
Lehrsaetzen,  und  erkennt  weiter,  dasz  in  den 
21  Lehrartikeln  der  Augsburgischen  Konfes- 
sion  als  dem  ersten  und  allgemeinsten  Be- 
kenntnis  der  evangelischen  Kirche,  die  Haupt- 


stuecke  des  christlichen  Glaubens  klar  und 
einfach  ausgesprochen  sind.  Die  Freiheit  der 
Gewissen  unsrer  Geschwister  wird  dadurch 
in  keiner  Weise  gebunden,  insonderheit  in 
solchen  Laendern,  wo  die  Augsburgische  Kon- 
fession  nicht  dieselbe  Geltung  hat,  als  in 
Deutschland.11) 

The  peculiar  position  which  the  Moravian 
Church  holds  among  the  continental  churches 
makes  it  necessary  for  her  to  take  some 
notice  of  the  Augustana  in  order  to  retain  her 
legal  standing  and  to  carry  on  her  work  un- 
trammelled. As  a  matter  of  fact  the  Moravian 
Church  technically  has  no  "confession'''  of 
her  own,  and  binds  herself  to  no  confession  of 
any  other  church,  while  in  all  essential  points 
she  agrees  with  the  creeds  of  all  Protestant 
Churches.  She  gladly  co-operates  with  any 
Protestant  Church  that  will  work  with  her. 
However,  Moravians,  as  such,  are  in  no  sense 
of  the  word  Lutherans,  and  Moravian  mission 
work  has  nothing  whatsoever  to  do  with  the 
Lutheran  Church,  although  the  Moravians 
gladly  and  thankfully  acknowledge  that  they 
have  frequently  received  aid  both  from  Ger- 
man and  American  Lutherans 

Paul  de  Schweinitz. 


IV.— INTERNATION 

CONDUCTED  BY  REV. 

The  Kingdom  of  G-od  in  the  Land  of 
its  Origin. 

[Condensed  from  an  address  of  Rev.  George 
F.  Herrick,  D.  D.,  of  Anatolia  College  and 
Marsovan  Theological  Seminary,  at  the  7th 
Annual  Meeting  of  the  International  Mission- 
ary Union,  June  12,  1890.] 

Occidental  life  is  proverbially  rapid; 
Oriental  life,  we  are  all  sure,  is  ex- 
ceedingly slow.  We  travel  by  ex- 
press a  thousand  miles  a  day.  The 
Asiatic  still  plods  on  horseback  along 
a  bridle  path,  or,  more  recently,  in 
a  springless  wagon,  over  his  twenty- 
four  miles  in  twenty-four  hours.  He 
smokes  his  nargileh,  and  takes  no  note 
of  time.  He  scratches  the  ground 
instead  of  plowing  it ;  he  threshes 
his  grain  as  his  ancestors  did  3,000 
years  ago ;  he  puts  off  his  shoes 
and  wears  his  hat  when  he  enters  a 
dwelling ;  he  pulls  a  saw  instead  of 
pushing  it,  he  builds  a  city  with  mole 
tracks  through  it,  and  if  he  makes 
streets  at  all,  it  is  an  after-thought, 
and  he  burns  out  the  needful  spaces; 
by  his  watch  it  is  always  twelve  o'clock 
when  the  sun  sets.  And  with  all  this, 
if  you  would  find  the  portion  of  our 


\L  DEPARTMENT. 

J.  T.  GRACE Y,  D.D. 

planet  on  which  changes  of  most  sig- 
nificance in  the  life  of  races  of  men, 
have,  in  recent  years,  taken  place  most 
rapidly,  you  must  leave  behind  the 
great  cities  of  this  land  and  of  Europe, 
and  pass  over  into  Asia. 

I.   GLANCE  AT  RECENT  OTTOMAN 
HISTORY. 

Reference  is  not  now  made  to  the 
restless  and  aspiring  empire  on  the 
extreme  margin  of  Asia.  I  do  not 
assume  to  tell  of  India,  where,  accord- 
ing to  those  best  informed,  the  English 
language  has  already  become  the  lan- 
guage of  all  arms  of  the  Government 
service,  of  travel,  of  all  schools;  the 
one  vehicle  of  a  progress  whose  silent 
and  bloodless  revolutions  are  in  happy 
contrast  to  the  numberless  revolutions 
that  have  characterized  the  life  of 
India  for  thousands  of  years. 

I  point  to  the  fact  that,  twenty-five 
years  ago,  the  Ottoman  Empire  pos- 
sessed a  territory  fully  as  large  in 
Europe  as  in  Asia,  and  almost  equally 
as  large  in  Africa.  The  dismember- 
ment of  the  empire  in  respect  of  terri- 
tory and  its  depletion  in  respect  of 


1890.] 


INTERNATIONAL  DEPARTMENT. 


855 


population,  within  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  has  been  with  a  rapidity  that 
would  be  startling  if  we  could  be 
startled  with  anything  which  is  at 
once  distant  and  Oriental. 

Roumania  and  Servia  are  inde- 
pendent kingdoms,  Montenegro  and 
Bulgaria  are  independent  princedoms. 
Greece  is  enriched  by  some  of  Turkey's 
fairest  provinces  in  Thessaly  and 
Epirus.  Egypt  is  as  much  under 
British  control  as  India.  Syria  is 
under  European  protection.  England 
holds  Cyprus,  Austria  dominates  Her- 
zegovina and  Bosnia,  Russia  has  ac- 
quired Batoum,  the  most  important 
Black  Sea  port,  and  Kars,  the  key 
fortress  of  Asia  Minor. 

In  place  of  44,000,000  of  pop- 
ulation, the  Ottoman  Empire  now 
has  about  23,000,000 ;  the  proportion 
of  Moslems  to  Christians  has  greatly 
changed.  They  ivere  about  equally 
divided;  now  the  Chritsian  population 
is  but  little  more  than  one-fourth  of 
the  entire  number. 

The  seeming  strength  of  Turkey 
during  the  years  which  followed  the 
Crimean  war  was  fictitious  and  de- 
lusive. The  semblance  of  prosperity 
was  kept  up  by  immense  loans  at  ruin- 
ous rates.  "Let  the  evil  come  when  it 
will,  so  it  be  not  in  my  day."  So  runs 
the  Oriental  proverb.  Turkey  was 
rushing  on  to  bankruptcy,  at  the  very 
moment  when  she  was  constructing 
an  iron-clad  fleet,  and  building  palaces 
on  every  eligible  site  at  and  near  Con- 
stantinople. She  did  not  build  roads 
nor  develop  her  mines,  nor  undertake 
commerce  or  manufactures,  nor  es- 
tablish schools,  except  on  paper. 

The  record  of  the  last  disastrous  war 
of  twelve  years  ago  is  well  known. 
Strangely  enough,  ever  since  then,  the 
policy  of  the  Government  of  Turkey 
has  been  studiously  cold  toward  Eng- 
land, and  friendly  toward  Russia. 

We  must  not  fail  to  give  the  Turks 
the  credit  of  covering  Asia  Minor, 
within  the  last  ten  years,  with  a  net 
work  of  carriage  roads,  built  without 
the  aid  of  foreign  capital— the  most 


hopeful  indication  of  possible  enter- 
prise seen  in  Turkey  in  modern  times. 
Meantime  Russia  —  that  essentially 
Oriental  Power  illy  domesticated  as 
yet  in  Europe — has  played  her  game 
with  singular  fatuity  in  South-eastern 
Europe.  There  is  no  Power,  great 
or  small,  Slavic  or  Greek,  German, 
French,  Italian  or  English,  that  will 
consent  to  see  Constantinople  in  the 
control  of  Russia.  We  should  not  de- 
spise those  smaller  States,  any  one 
of  four  can  mass  a  trained  army 
of  a  100,000  men,  and  little  Greece 
can  launch  a  fleet  that  would  rival 
our  own  navy.  But  there  is  one 
Power,  viz:  Austro-Hungary,  to  which 
it  is  a  question  of  life  or  death  to  keep 
Russia  out  of  Constantinople.  The 
great  northern  Power  may  count  on 
Austria's  opposing  her  march  south- 
ward and  westward  by  the  full  force 
of  her  army  and  her  navy.  It  is 
almost  equally  impossible  for  Russia 
to  push  far  into  Asia  Minor  on  the 
east.  She  may  take  and  hold  Erzroom 
easily  enough.  She  may,  perhaps,  pass 
Van  and  even  Harpoot,  where  the 
Christian  population  is  proportionally 
large,  and  she  may,  if  she  will,  push  on 
to  the  Euphrates,  but  she  may  not 
pass  on  into  the  heart  of  Asia  Minor. 
There,  from  the  Black  Sea  to  the 
Arabian  Desert,  and  from  the  Euph- 
rates to  the  Mediterranean,  the  Otto- 
man people  will  live,  and  an  Ottoman 
Power  will  rule  for  long  years  to  come. 
Nor  is  it  easy,  in  the  light  of  history, 
or  on  principles  of  justice,  to  see  how 
the  Turks  can  be  driven  from  Constan- 
tinople, where  they  outnumber  all 
other  races  put  together,  or  from 
Adrianople,  their  ancient  capital  and 
a  Moslem  City. 

For  two  years  after  the  commence- 
ment of  the  present  Sultan's  reign 
Turkey  exhibited  the  farce  of  Consti- 
tutional Government,  played  at  a 
Parliament  with  representation  from 
the  different  races.  But  all  this  was, 
in  the  expressive  language  of  one  of 
the  ablest  ministers  our  Government 
ever  had  at  the  Sublime  Porte — Hon. 


856 


INTERNATIONAL  DEPARTMENT. 


[Nov. 


Horace  Maynard,  ''for  European  con- 
sumption." 

II.—  TURKISH  PATRIOISM. 

There  has,  under  the  present  Sultan, 
been  a  reaction  against  the  liberal 
ideas  that  prevailed  during  the  years 
following  the  Crimean  war.  Many 
good  things  can.  with  truth,  be  said  of 
the  reigning  Sultan.  He  certainly  de- 
sires to  secure  justice  and  the  welfare 
of  all  his  subjects,  but  he  is  not  a 
liberal  man,  as  we  use  the  term.  He 
does  not  see  that  the  traditions  and 
responsibilities  of  his  House,  with  all 
that  these  imply,  constitute  the  load 
of  lead  which  leaves  him  hopelessly 
weighted  in  the  race  with  the  rulers 
of  his  age,  even  with  the  rulers  of 
States  which  have  been  erected  out  of 
what  was  just  now  his  own  domin- 
ions. If  he  would  but  cultivate  a 
relation  of  real  friendship  toward 
Christian  and  especially  Protestant 
and  English-speaking  nations,  the 
Ottoman  State  might  yet  justify  its 
place  on  the  arena  of  material,  com- 
mercial, and  even  of  intellectual  and 
moral  progress,  in  western  Asia. 

One  chief  reason  why  the  Ottoman 
Turks  have  been  so  greatly  misunder- 
stood and  maligned  is  that  we,  of  the 
AVest,  in  defiance  of  a  wise  maxim, 
none  too  often  quoted,  have  never 
taken  the  pains  to  see  and  consider 
the  Turkish  problem  from  tha  stand- 
point of  the  Turks  themselves.  Less 
vituperation  and  wholesale,  and  really 
unjust,  condemnation,  and  more  con- 
siderateness  would  greatly  benefit 
every  party  in  interest. 

Some  time  since,  in  conversation 
with  an  enlightened  Turkish  official, 
on  the  Bosphorus,  I  criticised  the  un- 
wisdom of  his  government  in  deliber- 
ately keeping  foreign  capital  from  en- 
tering Turkey,  to  construct  railroads 
and  develop  her  mineral  resources. 
"But,"  he  replied,  "if  foreign  capital 
be  welcomed  the  interference  of 
foreign  powers  must  be  accepted 
too." 

"What  harm  can  it  do  to  govern- 
ment or  people,"  I  asked,  "to  receive 


and  acknowledge  the  obligations  of 
friendly  European  powers  ?" 

"That  is  all  very  well  for  you  to 
say,"  replied  my  friend,  "but  for  us 
the  problem  is  not  to  be  solved  in  that 
way." 

"Do  you  mean  to  tell  me,"  I  asked 
again,  "that  you  would  prefer  to  per- 
ish, as  an  independent  people,  rather 
than  owe  your  continued  existence 
and  your  f uture  prosperity,  with  what- 
ever that  would  necessarily  imply  of 
European  influence,  to  the  aid  of 
Christian  nations  ?" 

"Yes,"  he  promptly  answered, "that 
is  precisely  what  I — what  all  faithful 
Mussulmans — mean. " 

Can  any  true  American  fail  to  feel 
a  thrill  of  responsive  sympathy  with 
the  patriotism,  the  devotion  to  ances- 
tral faith,  which  underlies  that  an- 
swer ?  And  does  not  such  a  spirit  fur- 
nish a  new  incentive  to  bring  the  bless- 
ings of  our  own  civilization  within 
the  reach  of  every  race  in  western 
Asia — not  to  impatiently  force  a  Chris- 
tianity, weighted  with  the  gravest  er- 
rors of  teaching  and  of  example,  upon 
Moslem  races,  but,  watchfully  keep- 
ing step  with  the  unfoldings  of  God's 
providence,  to  exhibit  before  Moslem 
eyes,  at  all  points,  the  winning  graces 
of  truly  Christian  example  ? 

We  should  never  forget  that  when 
Islam  rose,  in  the  first  half  of  the  sev- 
enth century,  it  was  confronted  by, 
and  was  a  protest  against,  some  of  the 
most  corrupt  forms  of  Christian  doc- 
trine and  worship,  some  of  the  worst 
caricatures  of  Christian  living,  in 
Arabia  and  northern  Africa,  that  the 
world  has  ever  seen. 

Those  reckless  raids  from  Europe 
into  Asia,  called,  in  bitter  irony,  "holy 
wars,"  in  the  eleventh  and  following 
centuries,  violently  repelled  Moham- 
medans from  Christianity.  How  could 
they  do  otherwise  ?  The  expulsion  of 
the  Moors  from  Spain,  early  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  under  the  greatly 
over-praised  Queen  Isabella — is  any 
right  or  justice  discoverable  in  that 
movement  on  the  Christian  side,  ex- 


1890.] 


INTERNATIONAL  DEPARTMENT. 


857 


cept  the  right  of  might  ?  The  author 
read,  some  years  ago,  in  Turkish,  cer- 
tain trenchant  articles  of  historic  cri- 
ticism, from  the  pen  of  an  enlightened 
and  acute  Turk,  which  presented  a 
long  array  of  facts  from  the  history  of 
Christian  Europe,  in  a  fashion  not 
likely  to  win  Moslem  minds  to  an  ac- 
ceptance of  Christianity. 

And  not  only  in  the  earlier  years, 
but  all  down  through  the  later  centu- 
ries, in  all  western  Asia,  the  Moslem, 
with  his  clear-cut  doctrine  of  God, 
and  his  sharp  recoil  from  every  sem- 
blance of  idolatry  in  worship,  with  his 
sobriety  and  his  generous  hospitality, 
has  pointed,  with  a  certain  contempt, 
to  the  Christians  around  him,  as  less 
sober,  less  truthful,  less  hospitable, 
less  manly  than  himself,  with  a  form 
of  religious  worship  redolent  of  idola- 
try, while  his  own  is  simple  and  pure, 
even  if  it  be  exposed  to  the  charge  of 
lifeless  formality. 

We  do  not  say  the  Moslems'  charge 
against  Christianity  and  Christians  is 
true.  Clearly  it  is  not  true,  but  it  is 
not  strange  the  charge  is  made.  The 
vitality  and  the  vigor  of  the  Christian 
races,  their  better  morality,  their  men- 
tal and  moral  elasticity  under  centu- 
ries of  oppression,  is  one  of  the  marvels 
of  God's  government  of  Asia.  "Why 
do  the  Christian  races  remain  in  kindly 
neighborhood  to  the  Moslem  races, 
all  through  western  Asia,  but  to  be  to 
them  in  the  coming  years,  the  means 
of  the  largest  blessing?  And  who  are 
to  be  the  agents,  and  what  the  agencies, 
for  which  those  races  have  silently 
and  sullenly  waited  for  so  many  gen- 
erations ? 

III.— OUR  GRAND  OPPORTUNITY. 

It  was,  in  God's  providence,  com- 
mitted to  American  Christians,  to  re- 
establish vital  Christianity  in  the  land 
of  its  origin.  Call  it  duty,  call  it  high 
privilege,  the  responsibility,  the  un- 
dertaking, is  ours,  to  put  the  Bible  into 
Moslem  hands  and  then  set  before  his 
eyes  living  examples  of  a  true  and  a 
pure  Christianity  by  which  alone  the 
Bible  is  illustrated  to  the  conviction  of 


worldly  men;  examples — that  is,  more 
than  10.000  members  of  evangelical 
churches  in  Asia  Minor  now — of  his 
fellow  countrymen  who  are  true,,  liv- 
ing disciples  of  their  master.  Evan- 
gelical worship  attracts,  it  does  not 
repel  the  Moslem.  Protestant  Chris- 
tian doctrine  does  not,  like  the  bald 
"orthodoxy"  of  the  Eastern  Church, 
set  his  reason  continually  at  defiance. 

We  must  not,  however,  suppose  that 
the  Turks  officially  recognize  the  right 
or  contemplate  the  contingency  of 
Mohammedans  becoming  Christians. 
To  this  degree,  religious  liberty  is  not 
yet  a  fact.  Still,  in  the  face  of  dif- 
ficulty and  opposition,  scarcely  con- 
ceivable by  us,  some  Mohammedans 
have  become  Christians,  have  lived 
and  died  as  shining  examples  of  Chris- 
tian confessors  as  the  early  ages  ex- 
hibited. To-day  there  is,  in  a  town 
of  Asia  Minor,  a  young  Turkish  woman 
who  zcitnesses  a  good  confession  in  the 
house  where  she  was  born,  enduring- 
repeated  beatings  and  living  down  cal- 
umny by  Christian  gentleness — who 
told  her  Christian  sisters,  only  in  ans- 
wer to  their  inquiry  one  day  in  meet- 
ing, why  her  arm  was  in  a  sling,  that 
her  brother's  last  beating  broke  it. 

Once,  in  conversation  with  one  of 
the  most  liberal  and  best  educated 
Turks  of  the  present  age,  a  man  who 
has,  at  one  time  or  another,  filled 
nearly  all  the  highest  offices  of  the 
State,  I  referred  to  a  well-known 
case  of  religious  persecution  that  had 
recently  occurred.  He  drew  me  up 
sharp  on  the  expression,  "religious 
persecution, "  and  said,  "No  religious 
persecution  is  possible  under  our  Gov- 
ernment. A  man's  faith  is  his  own, 
between  himself  and  God  only,  and 
Government  cannot  interfere  with  it." 

"What,  then,  shall  we  call  the 
case?"  I  asked. 

"Why,"  he  replied,  "it  is  perfectly 
plain.  The  man  renounced  his  ances- 
tral, the  national,  faith,  in  which  he 
owes  duties  to  the  State.  All  right,  so 
far.  But  he  has  publicly  avowed  his 
renunciation,  and  declared  himself  a 


858 


INTERNATIONAL  DEPARTMENT. 


[Nov. 


Christian.  In  so  doing  iie  has  com- 
mitted a  civil  offence,  and  it  is,  for  this 
alone,  that  lie  is  arrested  and  put  un- 
der discipline." 

That  is,  being  a  Christian  is  all  right 
for  a  born  Moslem,  if  only  he  will  never 
say  he  is  above  a  whisper. 

In  the  meantime,  as  the  years  have 
passed,  the  Christian  races  have  re- 
sponded, more  and  more  widely,  to 
evangelical  influence.  It  has  pene- 
trated all  parts  of  the  country.  Ameri- 
can Christian  philanthropy  has, 
through  the  several  departments  of 
the  work,  planted  the  Christian  home, 
the  evangelical  church,  developed 
Christian  education,  created  through 
the  press  a  periodical  and  permanent 
Christian  literature  in  the  several  lan- 
guages, begun  to  establish  Christian 
philanthropic  institutions,  and  every- 
where fostered,  together  with  loyalty 
to  the  existing  Government,  ideas  of 
freedom  and  of  justice.  American  cit- 
izens have  established  institutions,  an 
extensive  Bible-house,  churches,  high- 
schools,  colleges  and  seminaries.  They 
have  acquired  property  in  a  hundred 
different  places  all  over  the  country. 
These  business  interests  have  become 
the  care  of  our  Government  through 
its  official  representatives.  The  power 
of  the  United  States  flag  is  second  to 
none.  The  Turks  have  no  reason  for 
jealousy  of  the  great  republic  across 
the  sea.  Illiberal  men,  in  the  govern- 
ment and  out  of  it,  are  jealous  of 
evangelical  progress,  and  wish  it  had 
not  gained  so  strong  a  foothold  in  the 
land.  But  many  Turks  see  that  they 
also  may  profit  by  those  ideas  that 
Protestant  Christianity  everywhere 
involves  and  develops,  viz:  The  su- 
premacy of  truth  and  justice,  the  in- 
violability of  the  individual  consci- 
ence, and  individual  and  social  edu- 
cation and  elevation. 

IV.—  DIVINE  INTERPOSITIONS. 

The  modern  history  of  western  Asia 
is  a  history  of  divine  interpositions, 
These  have  been  so  accentuated,  that 
men  of  the  world,  however  high- 
placed,  may  well  exclaim,  "Who  are 


we  that  we  should  withstand  God  !" 
The  Church  of  Christ  sends  out  her 
challenge,  "You  can  do  nothing 
against  the  Truth  but  for  the  Truth  !" 

Nearly  sixty  years  ago  the  Turkish 
Government  demanded  that  those 
pioneer  missionaries,  Goodell,  Schauf- 
fler  and  Dwight,  be  sent  out  of  the 
country.  Our  ambassador,  Commo- 
dore Porter,  communicated  the  order. 

"Do  you  order  us  to  go  ?"  they  asked. 

"No,  I  only  notify  you  of  the  de- 
mand of  the  Government,  and  of  my 
inability  to  protect  you,"' 

"Then  we  notify  you  that  we  de- 
cide to  stay,"  they  replied. 

Political  events,  which  shook  the 
throne  and  resulted  in  the  destruction 
of  the  Janizaries  and  the  introduction 
of  European  forms  of  law,  hastened 
on  and  the  missionaries  were  forgot- 
ten. During  all  that  crisis,  and  up  till 
the  close  of  the  Crimean  war,  the 
leading  mind,  the  most  imperial  pres- 
ence at  the  Turkish  capital,  was  that 
Christian  Statesman,  Lord  Stratford 
de  Eedcliffe,  of  England. 

As  evangelical  influence  extended 
among  Armenians,  Greeks  and  Syri- 
ans, the  persecuted  Protestants  found 
aid  and  comfort  from  the  Turks,  as 
the  Jews  who  rebuilt  the  temple  found 
aid  and  protection  from  Cyrus. 

Twenty  years  ago,  in  the  Koordish 
mountains,  above  the  city  of  Mosul,  a 
young  Arab  Koord,  a  born  Moslem, 
was  dipping  deep  into  Mohammedan 
lore,  at  the  feet  of  a  famous  teacher, 
his  total  wardrobe,  a  shirt;  his  food, 
the  coarse  bread  of  the  tribe;  his  bed, 
the  ground.  He  committed  the  Koran 
to  memory,  he  acquired  a  most 
thorough  knowledge  of  Arabic,  of 
Moslem  law,  tradition,  history,  sci- 
ence, and  interpretation.  He  found, 
one  day,  the  binding  of  an  Arabic 
Bible  which  had  been  destroyed. 
Afterwards,  when  a  teacher  at  Mozul, 
he  sought,  found,  bought  a  Bible  in 
Arabic,  read  and  studied  it,  was  in- 
structed in  it  by  Deacon  Michah,  as 
Apollos  by  Aquilla,  accepted  Christi- 
anity as  true,  accepted  Christ  as  his 


1890.] 


INTERNATIONAL  DEPARTMENT. 


859 


Saviour,  was  obliged  to  flee  his  part 
of  the  country,  came  to  the  Bible  trans- 
lators' roonrin  the  Constantinople  Bible 
House,  and  aided  in  giving  the  Bible  to 
the  Ottoman  race,  a  special  aid  very 
few  men  living  could  have  given; 
found  of  God,  led  of  God,  and  taken 
home  to  God  when  the  work  was  done. 

Permission  was  asked  to  print  the 
Bible  in  the  Osmanly ,  and  was  refused. 
After  long  months  of  argument,  of 
propositions  and  counter-propositions, 
the  Board  of  Censors  unwittingly  did 
the  greatest  possible  service  to  the 
spread  of  God's  Word,  by  condition- 
ing the  permission  on  the  placing  of 
the  statement  of  the  fact  of  Govern- 
ment permission  on  the  title-page  of 
every  copy;  and  the  time  when  the 
final  version  was  launched  was  fixed 
by  the  Author  of  the  Word  Himself.  It 
was  just  as  the  last  war  closed,  just  as 
the  last  sharp  crisis  of  the  Eastern 
question  was  attracting  all  eyes,  that 
God,  by  Ins  Word,  in  the  language  of 
all  the  people,  sent  forth  His  challenge 
to  the  Cabinets  of  Europe,  set  His  wis- 
dom face  to  face  with  their  folly.  And 
between  that  time  and  this,  inquiry 
concerning  the  Bible  has  become  as 
common  among  Turks,  as  before  it 
was  rare.  They  inquire  from  curiosity . 
it  may  be,  but  many  do  buy  and  read 
God's  Word. 

Four  years  ago,  just  as  Anatolia 
College  was  organized  under  that 
name,  a  demand  was  made  through 
the  local  government  that  we  procure 
from  the  central  government  at  Con- 
stantinople a  formal  recognition  of 
our  college.  Meantime,  one  morning 
we  learned  that  the  Governor-General 
had  come  to  town  over  night.  We 
hastened  to  call  upon  His  Excellency, 
and  invite  him  to  visit  our  schools — 
all  the  difference  in  the  world  from 
which  side  the  invitation  comes.  In 
the  court-yard  of  the  house  where  the 
governor  was  entertained  were  horses, 
saddled  and  ready  for  mounting.  We 
were  received  in  audience,  praised  the 
public-spirit  he  had  shown  in  the 
province  from  which  he  had  recently 


come,  found  him  interested  in  anti- 
quities, of  which  there  are  specially 
fine  relics  near  where  he  had  lived. 
In  fine,  we  made  ourselves  as  agree- 
able as  we  knew  how,  not  forgetting 
to  give  His  Excellency  a  cordial  invi- 
tation to  visit  our  college  and  other 
schools.  "I  was  just  about  to  mount 
my  horse  to  do  that  when  you  called. ,r 
he  said.  "Ah,  indeed,"  we  replied, 
"  then,  our  call  and  invitation  are 
quite  opportune  !"    TJiey  were  indeed. 

Thus  forewarned,  all  was  in  readi- 
ness at  the  college  to  receive  the  Gov- 
ernor with  all  respect.  We  showed 
him  all  through  the  buildings;  he  ex- 
amined classes,  asked  to  see  our  text- 
books. Among  our  books  he  found 
one  of  his  own  composition,  and,  nat- 
urally, was  not  displeased  with  the 
delicate  compliment.  He  visited  the 
girls'  boarding-school,  enjoyed  the 
choral  singing,  and,  as  he  mounted 
his  horse  at  my  door,  he  leaned  over, 
and  said,  "I  have  been  greatly  pleased 
with  all  I  have  seen:  you  may  rely  on 
me  for  a  report  every  way  favorable. 
I  wish  we  had  such  schools  in  every 
city." 

And  he  meant  what  he  said,  as  after 
echoes  clearly  showed.  God's  special 
guidance  was  conspicuous  at  every 
point  of  this  incident. 

V.— THE  OPPORTUNITY  MET. 

The  evangelical  centres  in  Turkey 
now  number  more  than  300.  These 
are  the  centres  of  influence,  extending 
from  the  extreme  western  border  to 
the  farthest  east,  and  from  the  Black 
Sea  to  the  Arabian  desert.  The  in- 
fluence of  the  evangelical  press  is  the 
leading  influence  in  the  department  of 
literature.  The  newly  established, 
and  rapidly  growing  girls'  boarding 
schools,  have  already  revolutionized 
the  country  in  respect  of  female  edu- 
cation. 

But  there,  as  everywhere,  the  col- 
lege is  the  leader;  and  Robert  College 
on  the  Bosphorus,  and  Syria  Protest- 
ant College  at  Beirout,  and  Euphra- 
tes College  at  Harpoot,  and  Central 
Turkey  College  at  Aintab  ;  and  now. 


<00 

the  last  four  years,  Anatolia  College  at 
Marsovan,  in  the  heart  of  Anatolia — 
these  are  the  challenges  of  Christian 
America  to  the  darkness  of  Asia. 

Once  the  comparative  importance  of 
educational  and  evangelistic  agencies 
was  a  subject  of  animated  discussion 
in  missions  and  missionary  societies, 
and  among  the  churches  of  this  coun- 
try and  of  Great  Britain.  This  dis- 
cussion is  a  thing  of  the  past.  Edu- 
cational work,  as  represented  and  led 
by  Christian  colleges — colleges  in- 
tensely Christian  and  Biblical — is 
pressed,  and  to  be  pressed  to  the  ut- 
most possible — that  is,  just  as  far  as 
resources  can  be  obtained  with  which 
to  carry  on  the  work.  On  this  all  are 
agreed.  There  is  no  consensus  of 
those  interested  in  the  evangelization 
of  the  world  which  is  more  perfect; 
and  the  economy  of  administration  of 
these  institutions  may  be  shown  by  the 
statement  that  the  actual  sum  used  to 
run  Anatolia  College  is  one  per  cent. 
of  the  cost  of  running  Yale  or  Cornell 
University.  The  Am erican  Christian 
College — these  three  words  are  used 
advisedly — The  American  Christian 
college  is  the  hope  and  light  of  Asia. 
This  institution,  with  its  Biblical  in- 
struction, with  its  thorough  culture, 
with  its  pervasive  Christian  spirit, 
with  its  development  of  manly,  self- 
reliant  Christian  character ;  this  in- 
stitution, in  which  the  preachers  and 
the  teachers  are  prepared  for  their 
work,  in  which  men  of  affairs  are 
trained  for  the  responsibilities  that  are 
coming  upon  them  in  all  eastern  lands 
in  this  and  the  next  generation  :  tins 
American  Christian  college  is  the 
pledge  of  a  Christian  home,  of  a  per- 
manent and  self-propagating  church, 
of  all  true  progress  and  harmony  of 
races,  of  the  gradual  realization  of 
free  and  just  government  in  those 
lands  of  Asia,  for  ages  and  centuries 
oppressed  and  groping  amid  the  dark- 
ness which  has  enveloped  them. 

Seen  or  unseen  by  our  eyes,  God, 
by  His  Word  in  every  language,  by 
Christian    example,    by  education, 


[Nov. 

guiding  all  in  the  interest  of  His 
church,  is,  by  our  hands,  re-estab- 
lishing His  Kingdom  in  the  lands  of 
its  origin. 

The  work  will  not  stop  for  discus- 
sion and  criticism.  The  army  of  God 
will  march  right  onward,  and  with 
accelerated  step;  and  the  legacy  we 
will  commit  to  those  who  come  after 
us  will  be  to  hand  on  our  Lord's  com- 
mission, "Go,  make  disciples  of  all  the 
nations,"  and  the  testimony  and  as- 
surance we  will  offer  to  the  diffident 
shall  be,  that  the  Master  ever  fulfills 
His  promise  to  be  with  His  chosen, 
amid  all  toil  and  conflict.  Great  will 
be  the  multitude,  who,  with  no  alloy 
of  sin,  will  chant  the  Hallelujahs  of 
the  heavenly  choir. 

The  Brussels  Anti-Slavery  Conference. 

The  Christian  world  has  occasion  to 
rejoice  in  the  late  Brussels  Conference 
of  signatory  Congo  powers,  and  to 
carefully  study  its  proceedings.  Per- 
haps it  is  not  too  late — it  is  rather 
doubtful  if  it  may  not  be  too  early — to 
pass  in  review  what  it  did. 

King  Leopold  of  Belgium  was  the 
official  source  of  the  Convention;  but 
delegates  from  Great  Britain,  Austria- 
Hungary,  Belgium,  Congo  Free  State, 
Denmark,  France,  Germany,  Holland, 
Italy,  Persia,  Portugal,  Russia,  Spain, 
Sweden  and  Norway,  Turkey,  the 
United  States  and  Zanzibar,  were 
present. 

The  object  of  the  Conference  was 
plainly  as  possible  stated  in  the  circu- 
lar of  invitation  issued  by  Leopold, 
which  was  "the  necessity  of  effectively 
preventing  the  slave-trade  in  the  in- 
terior of  Africa,  the  capture  of  slaves 
destined  for  sale,  and  their  transport 
by  sea,  which  can  only  be  stopped  by 
the  organized  display  of  force  greater 
than  that  at  the  disposal  of  those  who 
take  part  "  in  the  traffic. 

This  was  not  the  first  Convention  of 
the  great  Powers  held  to  consider  the 
main  question.  What  is  known  as  the 
Berlin  General  Act  had  already  pro- 
vided that  "All  the  Powers  exercising 


INTERNATIONAL  DEPARTMENT. 


1890.] 


INTERNATIONAL  DEPARTMENT. 


SGI 


rights  of  sovereignty,  or  any  influence 
in  the  territories  in  question, undertake 
to  watch  over  the  preservation  of  the 
native  races,  and  the  improvement  of 
their  moral  and  material  conditions 
of  existence,  and  to  co-operate  in  the 
suppression  of  Slavery,  and  especially 
in  the  negro  traffic ;  they  will  protect 
and  favor,  without  distinction  of  na- 
tionalities or  worship,  all  religious 
scientific  or  charitable  institutions  and 
imderta kings,  created  and  organized 
for  tins  object  or  tending  to  instruct 
the  natives  and  make  them  under- 
stand and  appreciate  the  advantages 
of  civilization." 

It  had  been  further  provided  that, 
"In  accordance  with  the  principles  of 
the  law  of  nations  as  recognized  by 
the  signatory  Powers,  the  slave-trade 
being  forbidden,  and  the  operation 
which  on  land  and  on  sea  furnish 
slaves  for  the  traffic  also  being  consid- 
ered as  forbidden,  the  Powers  which 
exercise,  or  shall  exercise,  rights  of 
sovereignty  or  any  influence  in  the 
territories  forming  the  conventional 
basin  of  the  Congo,  declare  that  these 
territories  cannot  serve  either  as  a 
market  or  as  a  means  of  transit  of 
slaves,  of  whatsoever  race  they  may 
be.  Each  of  these  Powers  undertakes 
to  employ  all  the  means  in  its  power 
to  put  an  end  to  this  traffic  and  to 
punish  those  who  take  part  in  it." 

It  was,  however,  recognized  that 
these  most  excellent  provisions  and 
understandings  were  too  inoperative, 
and  the  British  House  of  Commons,  in 
March  1889,  said  so.  In  August  of 
that  year  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain 
said  in  her  speech  that  the  King  of 
Belgium  had  consented  to  call  the 
Conference  of  which  we  now  write, 
and  it  convened  in  Brussels  November 
18,  1889. 

The  three  great  topics  which  it 
traversed  were  the  slave-traffic  and 
the  means  to  suppress  it,  the  importa- 
tion of  fire-arms  and  the  liquor  traffic. 
The  chapters  of  the  work  as  completed 
deal  with — 1,  Places  of  capture  of 
Slaves.  2,  The  Caravan  routes.  3,  The 
Maritime  traffic  in  slaves.  4,  The 
Countries  of  destination.  5 ,  Institu- 
tions created  for  the  purpose  of  insur- 
ing the  execution  of  the  general  act. 


6.  The  Liquor  traffic.  7,  General  Pro- 
visions, and  8,  The  Custom's  regula- 
tions of  the  Congo  Valley. 

THE  SLAVE  TRAFFIC. 

1,  The  maritime  trade  in  slaves  was 
first  considered  as  the  part  where 
united  action  could  be  made  most  ef- 
fective if  agreement  could  be  come  to. 
The  sensitive  point  here  was  on  the 
"right  of  search,"  whether  on  the  high 
seas,  or  in  territorial  waters,  over  all 
sailing  vessels, under  any  flag,  suspect- 
ed of  being  engaged  in  the  slave-trade. 
France  was  specially  sensitive  on  this 
point.  She.  after  a  month,  suggested 
a  series  of  new  measures  for  the  pre- 
vention of  the  abuse  of  the  French 
flag,  and  for  checking  the  crew  and 
passenger-lists  at  places  of  departure, 
call  and  destination.  The  British 
government  proposed  a  compromise, 
subjecting  only  vessels  of  500  tons,  and 
under,  to  the  right  of  supervision  and 
detention  on  the  high  seas,  which  was 
agreed  to,  unless  slavers  of  over  500 
tons  shall  hereafter  be  discovered. 

2.  The  suppression  of  the  foreign 
market  was  also  a  delicate  and  difficult 
part  of  the  general  question.  It  is  the 
existence  of  slavery  in  foreign  coun- 
tries which  keeps  alive  the  maritime 
traffic.  Abolish  that  in  countries  out- 
side of  Africa  and  the  motive  for  the 
slave  traffic  on  the  high  seas  is  extin- 
guished. The  eastern  market  for 
slaves  must  be  broken  down,  as  a  part 
of  the  general  plan  to  destroy  the 
African  traffic  in  slaves. 

It  is  readily  seen  that  this  touched 
most  delicate  lines  of  diplomatic 
courtesy.  Had  Turkey  been  invited 
to  this  general  council,  to  learn  that 
the  combined  European  Powers  would 
interfere  here  and  thus  with  her  ter- 
ritorial authority?  Was  any  one  of 
these  Powers  to  find  in  this  Congress  a 
dictator  domineering  its  independence 
as  a  State  ?  This  was,  indeed,  a  deli- 
cate matter.  The  Conference  could 
do  no  less,  however,  than  deprecate  the 
influence  of  such  domestic  slavery, 
and  it  thus  brought  the  force  of  Euro- 
pean public  opinion  to  bear  directly 


6G2 

on  Turkey  and  Persia  in  the  matter 
of  slavery  in  those  lands.  The  rash- 
ness of  this  influence  is  manifest. 

An  effort  was  made  to  provide  for 
the  regulations  of  caravans  for  the 
prevention  of  slave-trading  expedi- 
tions. It  was  sought  to  exact  security 
from  the  chiefs  and  organizers  of 
caravans,  and  for  the  examination  of 
caravans  at  their  places  of  destination 
inland,  as  well  as  on  the  coast.  No  se- 
curity from  caravan  organizers,  how- 
ever, was  feasible,  as  these  caravans 
seldom  return  to  their  starting  points 
with  the  same  elements.  They  are  re- 
newed from  place  to  place  among  the 
tribes  they  pass,  remain  long  at  the 
centre,  and  return  to  the  coast  at  dif- 
ferent points.  The  security,  how- 
ever, it  was  agreed,  is  to  be  demanded 
of  those  who  had  already  been  con- 
demned for  slave-trade  offenses. 

FIRE-ARMS. 

But  slavery  was  only  one  feature  of 
the  great  task  to  which  the  Powers 
had  pledged  themselves  to  each  other, 
when  they  undertook  "to  watch  over 
the  preservation  of  the  native  races, 
and  the  improvement  of  their  moral 
and  material  conditions." 

From  80,000  to  100,000  muskets  and 
rifles,  mainly  the  disused  arms  of  Eu- 
ropean standing  armies,  are  imported 
annually  into  Zanzibar  alone,  and 
these  fire-arms  are  bartered  to  Arab 
traders  for  ivory  and  other  inland 
products.  If  the  negro  is  to  be  pro- 
tected from  the  slave  hunter  this  slave 
hunter  must  be  disarmed.  That  was 
the  argument.  But  there  are  great 
trade  interests  which  require  arms 
for  their  conduct  and  defence.  France 
here,  was  zealous  for  total  prohibition 
throughout  Africa.  Others  would 
limit  the  territory.  Two  things  seem 
to  have  been  decided  upon: 


[Nov. 

1.  — The  territory  to  be  regulated 
in  the  matter  of  fire-arms  extends 
through  42  degrees  of  latitude  (from 
20  degrees  north  to  22  degrees  south), 
from  coast  to  coast,  and  a  hundred 
miles  seaward. 

2.  — The  principle  of  prohibition  is 
laid  down,  with  exceptions.  The 
arms  are  to  be  deposited  in  Govern- 
ment warehouses  and  taken  out  only 
on  permission,  and  are  not  to  include 
the  most  improved  weapons. 

THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

If  the  rights  of  humanity  are  to  be 
conciliated  with  the  interests  of  trade, 
so  far  as  such  interests  are  legitimate, 
as  the  Conference  proposed  to  attempt, 
the  liquor  question  had  to  be  dealt 
with.  The  Conference  distinguished 
between  regions  where  no  traffic  in 
liquors  had  begun  and  those  where  it 
already  existed.  For  the  first  of  these, 
the  British  delegates  proposed  absolute 
prohibition,  and  for  the  second,  a 
heavy  duty  on  the  importation  of 
liquor.  The  Conference  agreed  to  the 
prohibition  in  the  case  of  races  with 
whom  at  present  no  trade  exists;  but 
it  was  not  so  easy  to  reach  a  conclu- 
sion on  the  other  cases.  The  powers 
had  themselves  agreed  to  Free  Trade  in 
the  Congo  Basin;  how  could  they  then 
now  agree  to  a  duty  on  liquor  in  that 
district;  and  yet,  how  could  they  keep 
this  great  channel  into  the  interior  of 
Africa  from  becoming  contaminated 
with  the  liquor  traffic,  unless  they 
prohibited  or  restricted  by  the  impo- 
sition of  a  duty?  The  races  of  the 
second  class,  or  those  among  whom  a 
traffic  in  liquors  is  already  established, 
it  was  agreed  that  there  should  be  an 
impost  of  l^d.  or  3  cents  per  quart, 
this  duty  to  be  subject  to  advance  at 
the  expiration  of  three  years. 


THE  MONTHLY  CONCERT  OF  MISSIONS. 


V.— THE  MONTHLY  CONCERT  OF  MISSIONS. 

BY  SECRETARY  F.  F.  ELLIN  WOOD,  D.D. 

Brazil.  to  a  republican  form  of  government 

The  year  1890  is  the  most  eventful  without  bloodshed,  renders  it  proper 

of  all  years  in  Brazilian  history.    The  that  the  November  concert  of  prayer 

fact  that  an  empire  has  given  place  for  Brazil  should  be  largely  an  occasion 


1890.] 


THE  MONTHLY  CONCERT  OF  MISSIONS. 


863 


for  thanksgiving.  Civil  liberty  is  fol- 
lowed as  it  always  has  been  by  liberty 
of  conscience.  There  is  now  perfect 
equality  of  religious  privileges  among 
a]l  sects. 

The  following  outline  of  the  pro- 
clamation of  religious  freedom  issued 
after  the  establishment  of  repub- 
lican order  will  show  how  completely 
the  new  authorities  have  overthrown 
the  assumptions  of  the  Papacy. 

"The  text  of  a  decree  of  the  Provisional 
Government  of  the  United  States  of  Brazil  of 
January  7,  1890,  states  in  substance  : 

1.  That  Federal  and  State  authorities  alike 
are  prohibited  to  expedite  laws,  regulations, 
or  administrative  acts  establishing  or  prohibit- 
ing any  religion,  or  to  create  distinctions 
between  inhabitantsof  that  country  on  account 
of  religious  and  philosophic  beliefs  or  opinions. 

2.  That  all  religious  denominations  have 
equal  rights  to  liberty  of  worship,  and  to  gov- 
ern themselves  in  accordance  with  their 
respective  creeds  without  being  constrained  in 
the  acts,  private  or  public,  which  pertain  to 
the  exercise  of  this  right. 

3.  The  liberty  hereby  instituted  shall  em- 
brace not  only  individuals  in  their  personal 
acts,  but  also  churches,  associations,  and  insti- 
tutes in  which  they  may  be  joined ;  to  all  of 
which  belongs  the  right  to  organize  and  main- 
tain their  corporate  existence  in  conformity 
with  their  creeds  and  policy,  without  the 
interference  of  the  Government. 

4.  That  patronage  with  all  its  institutions 
and  prerogatives  is  hereby  abolished. 

5.  That  the  legal  capacity  of  churches  and 
religious  denominations  to  acquire  and  admin- 
ister property  is  recognized  within  the  limit 
of  the  laws  concerning  mortmain,  securing 
to  each  their  possession  of  their  present 
properties,  as  well  as  their  houses  of  worship. 

Over  against  this  full  and  complete 
guaranty  of  freedom,  the  following 
quotation  from  a  Brazilian  Catholic 
paper  of  ten  years  ago  will  show  what 
the  ideal  empire  was  supposed  to  be 
in  those  bygone  days.  It  is  a  jere- 
miad uttered  by  a  bigoted  Catholic 
editor  over  the  inroads  which  had  al- 
ready been  made  upon  the  old  regime 
of  intolerance  and  oppression,  even 
under  the  mild  and  progressive  sceptre 
of  Dom  Pedro  II. 

"  What  is  the  religion  of  the  Bra- 
zilian people  ?"  says  the  writer. 

"  At  present,  this  country  (Brazil)  is 
in  an  abnormal  and  contradictory 
position,  viewed  from    a  religious 


standpoint.  Whoever  will  examine 
our  constitution  will  there  read  that 
the  Apostolic  Roman  Catholic  religion 
is  the  religion  of  the  State;  that  the 
Emperor,  Senators,  Deputies,  and  all 
the  public  officers,  are  obliged  by  pub- 
lic and  solemn  oath  to  maintain  and 
defend  it,  and  that  the  criminal  code 
establishes  punishments  for  any  of- 
fence against  it. 

"  A  people  that,  by  its  fundamental 
law,  gives  special  privileges  to  Roman 
Catholicism,  and  seeks  by  oath  to 
guarantee  it;  that  requires  its  profes- 
sion as  a  condition  of  holding  office; 
that  considers  penal  all  offences 
against  it,  ought  to  be  regarded  as 
profoundly  religious,  eminently  Cath- 
olic. But  an  observer,  looking  only 
at  our  political  Constitution  and  penal 
code,  would  infer  that  Brazil  is  a  dis- 
sonant chord  in  the  infernal  chorus  of 
imprecations  against  the  Catholic 
Church. 

"But,"  continues  the  writer,  "let 
us  look  on  the  other  side  of  the  picture. 
Whoever  reads  the  history  of  Brazil 
in  these  latter  times  will  learn  that  the 
Government  destroyed,  by  an  edict, 
the  religious  orders,  prohibiting  the 
receiving  of  any  novitiates;  that  no 
country  pays  such  insignificant  sal- 
aries to  its  church  officials;  that  two 
bishops  were  shamefully  imprisoned 
for  observing  faithfully  the  Pontifical 
Bull;  that  the  priests  are  hindered  on 
every  hand  in  the  fulfillment  of  their 
duties;  that  any  act  directed  against 
the  Church  is  applauded ;  that  a 
bishop,  respected  even  in  Protestant 
countries,  here  has  not  the  privileges 
of  the  most  humble  citizen.  As  to 
the  churches,  some  are  already  fall- 
ing into  ruin,  while  others  are  com- 
pletely stripped  of  their  parapher- 
nalia." 

The  writer  goes  on  to  show  that  the 
attitude  of  the  press  is  no  more  favor- 
able to  the  Church  than  the  Govern- 
ment. With  the  exception  of  five  or 
six  Catholic  papers  in  the  whole  em- 
pire (there  is  the  difficulty)  the  press 
of  the  country  is  either  indifferent  or 
openly  hostile  to  the  Apostolic  Roman 
Catholic  Church. 

Yet,  bad  as  the  case  seems  for  the 
Catholic,  the  writer  spurns  the  idea 
that  Brazil  is,  or  is  to  be,  a  Protestant 
country.  "  Here  and  there  a  Protest- 
ant Church,  frequented  by  a  few 
dozen  souls,  is  all  that  we  see  of  Pro- 
testantism.   It  is  clear  that  with  such 


864 


THE  MONTHS?  CONCERT  OF  MISSIONS. 


[Nov. 


a  state  of  affairs  soon  there  will  be  no 
religion  at  all  in  Brazil." 

Well,  the  evil  has  not  mended,  as 
seen  from  the  writer's  standpoint,  and 
to  an  enlightened  American  reader  it 
seems  that  just  such  specimens  of 
narrow  bigotry  as  this  must  have 
been  the  very  means  of  bringing  about 
the  fulfillment  of  all  dark  prophe- 
cyings. 

More  than  was  predicted  has  been 
fulfilled.  Doubtless,  it  is  in  the 
power  of  the  priesthood  to  obstruct 
the  extension  of  Protestant  freedom 
and  enlightenment  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  but  the  civil  authorities  are  on 
the  side  of  equality,  the  press  will  cast 
its  influence  in  the  same  direction, 
and  the  whole  spirit  and  drift  of  the 
age  are  against  the  hierarchical  as- 
sumptions which  have  so  long  cursed 
the  country. 

Now  that  Brazil  has  joined  the  large 
group  of  American  republics,  with 
all  the  religious  freedom  enjoyed  by 
the  most  highly  favored,  a  glance  at 
its  eventful  history  will  be  in  place. 

The  country  was  discovered  in  1499 
by  the  Spaniard,  Vincent  Yonez  Pin- 
con,  though  it  was  first  settled  by  the 
Portuguese  under  Alvarez  Cabral  in 
1500.  Other  small  Portuguese  settle- 
ments were  made  between  1500  and 
1550. 

Rio  de  Janeiro  was  settled  in  1558 
by  the  French  as  an  asylum  and  a 
mission  field  for  the  Huguenots.  By 
the  adverse  influences  of  shipwreck 
and  the  treachery  of  Villegagnon,  the 
leader  of  the  colony,  it  was  utterly 
broken  up,  and  Protestantism,  as  well 
as  French  influence,  was  swept  out  of 
the  country. 

Brazil  came  under  the  power  of 
Spain  in  1578  by  the  assumption  of 
the  crown  of  Portugal,  but  was  re- 
stored in  1648  on  the  accession  of  the 
Braganzas  to  the  Portuguese  throne. 

In  1807,  upon  the  invasion  of  Portu- 
gal by  Napoleon's  army,  King  Dom 
John  VI.,  appointing  a  regent  at  Lis- 
bon, fled  to  Brazil  and  established 
there  the  seat  of  the  Portuguese  Gov- 


ernment. This  fact  doubtless  pre- 
vented Brazil  from  becoming  a  repub- 
lic during  that  series  of  revolutions  in 
the  Spanish  States  of  Central  and 
South  America  which  followed  as  a 
result  of  Napoleon's  usurpation  of 
power  in  the  Spanish  Peninsula. 

The  home  revolution,  which  oc- 
curred in  Portugal  in  1820,  led  the 
people  of  Brazil  to  demand  a  govern- 
ment quite  distinct  from  that  of  the 
mother  country,  and  in  1822  it  was 
declared  an  independent  sovereignty, 
under  the  heir-apparent,  Dom  Pedro  I. 
A  year  later  the  Portuguese  court  em- 
barked for  Portugal,  no  more  to  re- 
turn, and  in  1825  Dom  John  formally 
abdicated  in  favor  of  Dom  Pedro  I. , 
and  the  independence  of  Brazil  was 
acknowledged  by  Portugal. 

In  1831,  Dom  Pedro  I.,  alarmed  by 
another  movement  toward  republi- 
canism, as  he  thought,  abdicated  in 
favor  of  his  son,  Dom  Pedro  II.,  then 
five  years  old,  and  embarked  for 
Europe.  Some  injudicious  republican 
agitations  which  occurred  during  the 
regency  prepared  the  country  for  an- 
other trial  of  monarchy,  and  on  the 
23d  of  July,  1840,  Dom  Pedro  II.  was 
proclaimed  emperor. 

This  remarkable  man,  thus  pro- 
claimed the  sovereign  of  a  vast  empire 
of  3.288,000  square  miles,  or  nearly  as 
large  as  Europe,  doubtless  owed  his 
long  reign  to  the  enlightened  and 
liberal  policy  which  he  was  wise 
enough  to  adopt. 

While  the  Spanish-American  repub- 
lics were  tossed  with  political  convul- 
sions, Mexico  alone  having  experienced 
over  fifty  between  the  years  1821  and 
1867,  Brazil,  with  quite  as  much  real 
political  freedom  as  they,  held  on  her 
peaceful  way.  Dom  Pedro  became  em- 
peror at  the  age  of  fourteen,  and  con- 
tinued to  reign  for  nearly  fifty  years. 

Few  sovereigns  have  been  able  to 
maintain  a  sceptre  so  long  in  the 
midst  of  a  mercurial  people,  and  sur- 
rounded on  every  side  by  nations  with 
which  revolution  seemed  to  be  the 
normal  condition  of  political  existence. 


1890.] 


THE  MONTHLY  CONCERT  OF  MISSIONS. 


865 


But  in  late  years  the  more  advanced 
of  the  Spanish  republics  have  attained 
to  greater  stability;  the  increase  of 
wealth,  and  the  multiplication  of 
manufacturing  and  commercial  in- 
vestments have  rendered  the  ruling 
classes  more  conservative,  and  their 
rapid  and  prosperous  development 
has  spurred  the  aspirations  of  Bra- 
zilians for  complete  freedom.  At  the 
same  time,  the  gloomy  outlook  of 
a  possible  reaction  toward  a  tyranni- 
cal absolutism  under  the  probable 
successors  to  Dom  Pedro's  throne,  led 
Brazilian  statesmen  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  opportune  moment  had  al- 
ready come  for  a  Republic. 

The  world  was,  therefore,  suddenly 
startled  by  a  peaceful  revolution, 
which  had  been  precipitated  in  the 
quiet  evening  of  Dom  Pedro's  reign, 
rather  than  wait  for  the  dubious 
morning  of  a  bigoted  and  impracti- 
cable sovereignty  in  the  hands  of  his 
fanatical  daughter. 

Thus,  under  the  pressure  of  an  irre- 
pressible longing  for  liberty,  on  the 
part  of  the  people,  there  have  been 
three  notable  embarkations  of  royalty 
for  Europe.  First,  in  1825,  when  Dom 
John  VI.  acknowledged  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  Brazilian  Monarchy  under 
his  son,  Dom  Pedro  I.  Second,  in  1831 , 
when  Dom  Pedro  I. ,  alarmed  at  the 
appearance  of  republican  tendencies, 
abdicated  in  favor  of  his  five-year  old 
son,  Dom  Pedro  II.,  and,  with  what 
seems  a  cowardly  desertion,  left  him 
alone  and  returned  to  Europe.  And, 
last  of  all,  when  Dom  Pedro,  nearly 
60  years  later,  was  obliged  to  renounce 
a  sceptre  which  he  had  swayed  with 
rare  moderation  for  half  a  century, 
and  sail  away  an  exile  to  the  land  of 
his  fathers,  to  find  there  so  soon  a 
grave  for  his  empress  as  well  as  for 
his  life-long  hopes. 

Brazil  enjoys  now  perfect  freedom 
of  opinion,  but  it  is  rather  late  to  reap 
the  harvest  which  might  have  been 
gained  years  ago. 

The  cause  of  religion  has  so  long 
suffered  discredit,  the  idea  of  the 


priesthood  has  so  long  been  associated 
with  habits  of  profligacy  and  vice,  and 
the  hollow  sham  of  mere  official  sanc- 
tity, that  the  intelligent  classes  have 
become  infidel,  while  every  form  of 
error — Spiritualism,  Theosophy,  Nihil- 
ism, and  even  Mohammedanism — 
have  been  imported,  and  a  paralysis 
of  general  indifference  has  settled  up- 
on the  country. 

Yet,  there  are  not  wanting  many  in- 
stances of  encouragement,  especially 
in  the  country  districts,  where  the  in- 
fluence of  foreign  contact  has  been 
little  felt.  In  the  last  reports  of  the 
Brazilian  Mission  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board  (North),  there  is  evidence  that 
the  most  fruitful  source  of  results  is 
the  native  ministry.  The  chief  in- 
gatherings of  converts  into  the 
churches  during  the  last  year  were  in 
congregations  ministered  to  by  native 
pastors.  And  the  argument  thus  fur- 
nished for  the  education  of  young  na- 
tives for  this  important  field  is  strong 
and  significant. 

The  Northern  Presbyterian  Mission 
reports  at  the  close  of  1889,  9  churches 
and  5  ordained  missionaries,  8  native 
preachers  and  22  teachers.  The  num- 
ber of  communicants  is  1,009 — 153,  or 
about  11  per  cent.,  having  been  added 
during  the  year. 

The  great  educational  centre  of  this 
mission  is  at  Sao  Paulo,  where  395  pu- 
pils of  all  grades  are  under  instruction. 
Under  the  efficient  management  of 
Dr.  Lane  and  his  associates  a  noble 
work  has  been  accomplished  during 
the  year.  Dr.  Chamberlain,  who  has 
labored  in  connection  with  the  Sao 
Paulo  institution  for  many  years,  is 
now  in  this  country  raising  funds 
to  endow  it  as  a  college  for  the  train- 
ing of  native  ministers  and  teachers. 
The  success  gained  by  the  few  native 
pastors  during  the  year  is  too  instruc- 
tive to  need  enforcement. 

A  NATIVE  MINISTRY. 

Other  things  being  equal,  a  native 
preacher  familiar  with  the  idiom  of 
his  mother-tongue,  and  atone  with  the 
people  in  all  his  habits  of  thought, 


866 


THE  MONTHLY  CONCERT  OF  MISSIONS. 


[Nov. 


can  reach  his  countrymen  far  more 
effectively  than  a  foreigner.  Besides,  at 
least  three  natives  can  be  supported  as 
cheaply  as  one  missionary.  If  we  add 
to  this,  the  fact  shown  in  the  Brazilian 
reports,  that  four-fifths  of  the  con- 
verts have  been  won  in  the  out-stations 
under  native  preachers,  we  have  a 
pretty  strong  argument  for  the  educa- 
tion of  more  Brazilians  and  for  the 
building  up  of  a  strong  and  efficient 
college  and  theological  seminary. 

While  at  Sao  Paulo  a  given  number 
of  men  shall  be  trained  for  the  first 
rank  of  preachers  and  leaders,  it  is 
felt  that  an  institution  of  a  different 
grade  and,  perhaps,  having  something 
of  the  industrial  element,  should  be 
opened  for  the  practical  preparation 
of  a  clsss  of  men  of  lower  grade  of 
scholarship  to  be  employed  in  evangel- 
istic work  in  the  interior  districts. 
Probably  this  diversity  of  education 
should  be  observed  in  all  the  South 
American  republics. 

The  old  order  of  things  is  every- 
where passing  away.  The  days  when 
ignorance  was  the  safe  cover  for 
religious  oppression  have  gone.  Under 
the  new  impulse  imparted  by  republi- 
can institutions,  schools  and  colleges 
will  be  multiplied  by  Government,  and 
they  will  be  indifferent  in  religion  ex- 
cept so  far  as  they  are  infidel. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church,  by  a 
radical  and  politic  change,  will  either 
compete  on  the  ground,  or  will  im- 
port well  educated  priests  from  Eu- 
rope, and  Protestantism  must  not  be 
open  to  contempt  as  the  representa- 
tive of  an  ignorant  ministry.  Some 
men  must  be  well  prepared,  others 
must  not  be  out  of  relation  and  sym- 
pathy with  the  rural  masses — all 
should  be  filled  with  a  devoted  spirit. 

OTHER  SOUTH  AMERICAN  MISSIONS. 

Of  the  flourishing  mission  of  the 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church  in  Bra- 
zil and  the  missions  of  the  Northern 
Presbyterian  Church  in  U.S.  Columbia 
and  Chili,  there  is  not  space  to  write 
in  the  present  article.  The  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  (North)  has  a  vigor- 


ous mission  in  the  Argentine  republic, 
with  five  ordained  missionaries  and 
15  native  preachers.  Eight  stations 
are  occupied,  of  which  Buenos  Ayres 
is  the  chief. 

In  Uruguay  there  is  but  1  ordained 
missionary,  but  8  native  preachers  are 
at  work;  7  stations  are  occupied,  the 
largest  of  which  is  Montevideo. 

Paraguay,  Brazil  and  Peru  are  also 
occupied  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  each  with  one  station.  In 
all  these  South  American  missions,  a 
total  membership  of  882  is  reported, 
also  688  probationers.  The  total  num- 
ber of  adherents  is  reported  at  8,935. 
The  missions  are  apparently  charac- 
terized by  remarkable  vigor,  and  all 
friends  of  the  cause  will  rejoice  that 
an  influence  so  directly  opposite  to  the 
droning  and  stagnation  of  the  Rom- 
ish church  for  nearly  three  centuries 
past  is  now  awakening  these  south- 
ern races. 

The  enterprise  with  which  the  mis- 
sions are  carried  on  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  mission  reports  $222,290 
in  church  property — viz  :  in  churches, 
$190,290,  and  in  parsonages  and  or- 
phanages, $32,800, 

The  contributions  reported  in  the 
missions  in  1889-90  are  reported  at 
$11,205  for  self-support,  and  $13,666 
for  other  purposes — a  total  of  $24,871. 
Of  conversions  89  were  reported,  and 
335  baptisms  of  infants.  These  vigor- 
ous missions  are  represented  by  only 
6  ordained  missionaries. 

THE    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
(SOUTH). 

Missions  in  Brazil  begun  in  1875.  The 
first  Conference  was  held  in  1887,  at 
Sao  Paulo.  There  are  7  local  preach- 
ers, and  288  church  members.  Eleven 
Sunday-schools  with  33  teachers 
and  339  pupils  are  reported.  Three 
church  buildings  at  Rio,  Piracicaba 
and  Juiz  de  Fora  are  valued  at  $52,938. 
Contributions  during  the  year  amount- 
ed to  $2,221.  Bishop  Granberry's  re- 
port credits  the  Woman's  Missionary 
Society  for  all  the  educational  insti- 
tutions of  the  mission,  viz.,  2  colleges, 


1890.] 


EDITORIAL  NOTES  ON  CURRENT  TOPICS. 


867 


with  4  missionary  teachers,  and  13  as- 
sistants and  143  pupils. 

MORAVIAN  MISSION  IN  SURINAM,  DUTCH 
GUIANA. 

In  this  interesting  Mission  17  sta- 
tions are  reported  with  71  "mission- 
ary agents,"  and  377  native  helpers. 
The  communicants  are  8,313,  baptized 
adults  7,408;  baptized  children,  8,901; 
candidates,  new  people,  etc.,  1,640. 
Total,  26,262.  The  missions  carried  on 
by  all  Protestant  societies  in  the  three 
Guianas  are  all  attended  by  peculiar 
hardships.  These  hot  and  malarious 
countries  have  been  settled  from  time 
to  time  by  the  captives  rescued  from 
slave-ships.  In  fact,  they  were,  in 
the  early  days,  regarded  as  rendezvous 
for  all  refuse  'and  castaway  classes  of 
humanity,  and  the  population  consists 
of  colonies  of  English,  Dutch,  French, 
and  Spanish,  with  every  cross  and 
grade,  with  bush-Negroes  (the  larger 
class),  Indians  and  Asiatic  Coolies. 

The  susceptible  and  half-savage 
bush-Negro,  on  the  banks  of  the  low 
and  marshy  rivers,  affords  the  hope- 
ful, because  fruitful,  field  of  labor  for 
the  self-denying  Moravian. 

Of  almost  equal  interest  with  the 
mission  in  Surinam,  is  that  of  the  Mo- 
ravians on  the  Mosquitoe  Coast.  It 
reports  12  missionaries,  and  490  com- 
municants. 

THE  SOUTH  AMERICAN  MISSION. 

The  romance  of  missions  will  not 
die  out  till  the  name  of  Allen  Gardner 
shall  be  forgotten.  Out  of  the  melan- 
choly circumstance  of  his  death  with 
that  of  six  associates,  from  starvation, 
while  trying  to  found  a  mission  on 


the  inhospitable  shores  of  Terra  del 
Fuego,  grew  the  South  American 
Mission.  His  heroism  roused  all  the 
best  manhood,  as  well  as  the  most  de- 
voted Christian  sentiment  of  England. 
It  was  resolved  that,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  so  noble  an  attempt  should  not 
fail.  It  was  another  of  the  many  in- 
stances in  which  sacrifice  and  death 
have  brought  forth  more  abundant 
fruit  than  a  long  and  laborious  life 
could  have  accomplished.  By  the  re- 
port of  1888,  the  South  American  So- 
ciety received  contributions,  amount- 
ing, with  legacies,  to  $70,000.  They 
came  generally  in  the  form  of  indivi- 
dual gifts  and  from  every  land  in 
which  Englishmen  reside. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the 
late  Charles  Darwin,  after  actually 
seeing  the  work  done  in  Terra  del 
Fuego,  became  a  supporter  of  the  So- 
ciety. 

The  work  takes  on  a  wide  variety. 
It  is  directed  largely  to  the  Indians  in 
Terra  del  Fuego,  Patagonia,  and  Para- 
guay, but  also  to  chaplaincies  in  the 
ports  and  for  the  seamen  of  all  nations. 
It  embraces  the  Falkland  Islands, 
Terra  del  Fuego,  Wollaston  Islands, 
the  Argentine  Republic,  Paraguay, 
Uruguay,  Brazil  and  Chili. 

The  Earl  of  Aberdeen  is  its  presi- 
dent, and  many  eminent  names  of 
England,  both  clerical  and  lay,  are 
among  its  vice-presidents.  It  has  1 
field  superintendent,  29  clergymen, 
and  5  native  helpers. 

The  annual  reports  of  the  society,  es- 
pecially those  relating  to  work  among 
the  Indians,  are  deeply  interesting. 


VI.— EDITORIAL  NOTES 

Important  Official  Documents  Prom 
Sierra  Leone,  West  Africa, 
The  Editors  of  this  Review  have 
been  both  surprised  and  shocked  to 
receive  a  copy  of  sundry  official  com- 
munications "  relating  to  some  Ameri- 
can missionaries  who  have  lately  ar- 
rived "  at  Freetown,  specially  directed 
to  us  by  order  of  Lord  Kuntsford 


ON  CURRENT  TOPICS. 

from  Downing  Street,  London,  under 
date  of  August  28, 1890.  We  have  not 
space  to  give  the  documents  entire, 
but  quote  the  main  facts  which  con- 
cern the  Christian  public,  and  espe- 
cially all  the  friends  of  missions.  One 
of  these  documents  is  from  Dr.  Ross, 
Colonial  Surgeon  at  Freetown,  and 
another  from  Sir  J.  G.  Hay,  Governor 


868 


EDITORIAL  NOTES  ON  CURRENT  TOPICS. 


[Nov.. 


of  Sierra  Leone,  transmitting  Dr. 
Ross's  lengthy  report  to  Lord  Kunts- 
ford,  of  the  home  Government,  Lon- 
don, and  one  from  him  through  his  sec- 
retary, transmitting  the  whole  corres- 
pondence to  the  editors  of  the  Mission- 
ary Review,  calling  special  attention 
to  their  contents,  and  "to  a  notice, 
headed  the  'Soudan  Missionary  Move- 
ment,' which  appeared  at  page  555,  of 
the  Review  for  July,  1890." 

These  documents  inform  us  that  sun- 
dry "American  missionaries  have 
lately  arrived  at  Freetown  with  a 
view  of  proceeding  due  east  into  the 
interior  for  evangelizing  purposes;" 
that  "three  of  their  number  have  al- 
ready died,"  and  that  "the  first  inti- 
mation Dr.  Ross  had  of  their  be- 
ing ill  was  by  receipt  of  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Kingman,  reporting  that 
two  deaths  had  occurred  in  the  'Mis- 
sion House'  that  afternoon,"  (July  9th). 
"On  Inquiry,"  continues  Dr.  Ross, 
"I  gathered  that  no  medical  man  had 
been  asked  to  attend  the  deceased,  the 
wrhole  party  being  staunch  believers 
in  the  'faith-healing'  doctrine,  nor  had 
any  medicine  been  taken."  Further- 
more Dr.  Ross  "remonstrated  wTith 
Mr.  Helmick,  another  member  of  the 
party,"  but  could  not  obtain  from 
him  any  satisfactory  promise  that  they 
would  in  future  depart  from  the 
course  they  were  adopting,  nor  did  he 
mention  that  there  were  any  more 
persons  suffering  in  the  house.  To 
prevent  this  neglected  tropical  fever 
from  assuming  a  virulent  and  con- 
tagious form,  the  bodies  were  at  once 
buried  by  his  order  and  the  sanitary 
policeman  sent  to  disinfect  the  house, 
destroy  all  infected  bedding,  clothing, 
etc.  On  the  10th  of  July  Mrs.  King- 
man was  found  in  the  last  stages  of 
exhaustion  from  neglected  fever, 
which  had  then  assumed  a  malignant 
type,  she  having  been  ill  nine  days 
before;  and  in  spite  of  all  that  could  be 
done  Mrs.  Kingman  died  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  11th.'  "Mr.  Kingman  was 
ill  also  and  visited  by  Dr.  Ross,  who 
strongly  urged  him  to  take  medicine. 
Finding  Mr.  Trice  ill,  Dr.  Ross  re- 
moved him  to  the  hospital,  and  at  last 
prevailed  on  Mr.  Kingman  to  be 
treated,  on  the  ground  that  his  '  'action 
endangered  the  whole  coummunity." 
Dr.  Ross  felt  "compelled  to  keep  the 
missionaries  from  going  into  any  other 
house  than  their  own,  and  stopped 
all  communication  with  other  white 
poeple." 


Furthermore  Dr.  Ross  states  that 
he  understands  these  "missionaries 
intend  going  due  east  into  the  interior, 
guided  only  by  a  compass;"  that  they 
have  been  "living  as  the  natives,  in 
the  hope  that  by  so  doing  they  will 
gain  the  confidence  of  the  people;" 
that  they  "have  been  eating  native 
food,  cooking  and  washing  for  them- 
selves and  even  collecting  their  own 
fuel,  in  this  rainy  weather."  Of  course 
that  they  should  expose  themselves  to 
fatal  fever  and  should  actually  court 
death  by  such  manner  of  proceeding 
is  not  strange. 

Such  is  the  purport  of  the  commu- 
nications referred  to;  and  the  Editors 
of  this  Review  feel  compelled  to  say 
in  this  connection,  that  up  to  this  time 
they  had  never  had  the  least  intima- 
tion that  this  "Soudan  Movement" 
was  characterized  by  any  such  fanat- 
icism. We  felt  that,  like  other  move- 
ments originating  among  well  mean- 
ing but  inexperienced  persons  who 
are  young  in  years,  it  needed  a  head, 
wise  counsel  and  sound  discretion. 
Even  now  we  see  no  reason  to  recall  a 
•word  of  commendation  of  the  singu- 
lar unselfishness  and  heroic  consecra- 
tion that  appear  to  have  marked  these 
pioneers,  but  we  confess  to  being  as- 
tounded at  the  statements  contained  in 
this  correspondence.  It  is  a  sad  affair, 
little  less  than  wanton  suicide.  To 
persist  in  such  a  policy  would  not 
only  ruin  this  whole  movement  but 
inflict  a  lasting  damage  on  all  mission- 
ary enterprises  and  compel  sensible 
people  to  wash  their  hands  clean  of 
all  abetting  such  supreme  folly  and 
practical  madness.  Certainly  the 
editors  of  the  Missionary  Review  of 
the  World,  have  not  the  slightest 
sympathy  with  such  disregard  of  all 
proper  precautions,  not  to  say  defiance 
of  all  sanitary  and  social  laws. 

From  the  inception  of  this  move- 
ment we  have  said  to  these  western 
brethren,  "move  slowly;  get  compe- 
tent medical  advisers,  and  experienced 
explorers,  that  you  may  not  risk 
health  and  life  by  needless  exposure." 
God  not  only  gives  a  "spirit  of  power 
and  of  love,  but  of  a  sound  mindF 


1890.] 


EDITORIAL  NOTES  ON  CURRENT  TOPICS. 


869 


We  repeat  the  advice.  Call  a  halt ! 
and  let  it  be  fully  understood  that  no 
man  or  woman  goes  to  Tropical  Africa 
to  throw  away  life  on  a  theory,  and 
endanger  the  lives  of  others  by  pro- 
moting infectious  disease. 

A.  T.  PlERSON. 

J.  M.  Sherwood. 
On  receiving  these  communications 
the  Editors  felt  bound  to  transmit  a 
copy  to  the  brethern  in  Kansas,  who 
are  more  closely  connected  with  this 
movement,  expressing  also  our  sorrow 
and  apprehension  as  to  the  disastrous 
effect  of  such  a  course  as  that  pursued 
in  Africa,  not  only  upon  this,  but  all 
other  mission  enterprises.  We  have  a 
reply  from  Geo.  S.  Fisher,  Esq.,  dis- 
claiming all  responsibility  for  these 
peculiar  views,  and  saying  that  these 
pioneers  had  no  such  views  when  they 
left  the  west,  but  on  their  way  a  certain 
well  known  advocate  of  "  faith  heal- 
ing "  in  New  York  City  got  hold  of 
them  and  infused  into  them  his  views 
of  the  subject.  We  mention  this  in 
order  to  attach  responsibility  to  those 
to  whom  it  belongs;  and  that  responsi- 
bility, in  our  judgment,  is  a  very  grave 
one. 

In  response  to  our  inquiry,  Mr. 
Fisher  sends  us  also  the  following  more 
cheerful  news  concerning  the  surviv- 
ors.—J.  M.  S. 

"Our very  latest  information  is  to  the  effect 
that  Mr  Kingman  and  Mr.  Trice,  the  colored 
man,  have  both  recovered,  and  that  the  others 
have  had  no  sickness  whatever.  They  are  now 
waiting  until  the  arrangements  can  be  ef- 
fected so  that  they  can  leave  Freetown,  cross 
the  Kong  Mountains,  and  enter  upon  their 
work,  if  the  Lord  will,  and  enter  among  the 
Mandingo  tribes." 

Also  the  following,  which  we  read 
with  many  "falling  tears:" 

"The  enclosed  letter  is  sent  out  with  some 
falling  of  tears,  but  with  much  peace  of  heart, 
for  none  who  are  conversant  with  the  history 
of  the  spreading  of  the  Gospel  in  the  dark 
lands,  will  be  surprised  or  cast  down  by  reason 
of  these  words: 

"  'Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the 
ground  and  die,  it  abideth  alone;  but  if  it 
die,  it  brin^eth  forth  much  fruit/  This  scrip- 
ture has  indeed  been  fulfilled  many  times  in 
the  history  of  the  early  church,  among  the 
martyrs,  and  those  who  have  not  counted 


their  own  lives  dear  unto  themselves,  but 
have  obediently  gone  forth  to  proclaim  the 
joyful  Message. 

"Our  beloved  friends  believed  that  nothing 
was  too  precious  for  their  Saviour,  and  have 
made  the  supreme  offering  of  their  lives,  and, 
standing  to-day,  where  we  may  again  see  the 
broken  body  of  the  Christ  and  hear  His  words 
'As  the  Father  hath  sent  Me,  even  so  send  I 
you,"1  we  are  confident  that  there  are  many 
who  will  gladly  offer  themselves  and  take  the 
place  of  these  messengers  who  have  been 
called  home,  and,  by  His  grace,  plant  the  ban- 
ner of  the  Cross  in  darkest  Africa. 

"Asking  that  continual  prayer  may  be  made 
to  our  Lord  so  that  indeed  He  may  speedily 
send  His  messengers  to  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  world,  I  am, 

"In  the  hope  of  His  coming,  sincerely  thine, 
"George  S.  Fisher.'" 


The  National  Missionary  Convention 
which  met  at  Indianapolis  Septem- 
ber 3d  to  9th,  inclusive,  was,  in  some 
respects,  a  remarkable  gathering;  not 
in  point  of  numbers,  for  but  a  few 
hundred  visitors  were  there,  and  resi- 
dents of  the  town  were  largely  kept 
out  of  the  city  by  the  excessive  heat. 
But  there  were  signs  of  the  Holy 
Spirit's  presence  and  power.  Mr. 
Robert  E.  Speer,  traveling  secretary 
of  the  Students'  Volunteer  Movement, 
and  George  S.  Fisher,  Esq. ,  of  Kansas, 
as  well  as  Augustus  Nash,  of  Ne- 
braska, and  Rev.  T.  C.  Horton,  of  St. 
Paul,  were  among  the  leading  spirits. 

After  watching  the  Convention  with 
a  careful  eye,  and  noting  the  addresses 
made  and  the  tone  of  general  feeling, 
we  were  constrained  to  acknowledge 
that  there  were  signs  of  a  Higher 
Hand  than  man's  in  the  whole  mis- 
sionary movement  of  which  this  is  one 
expression. 

The  band  of  intending  missionaries 
that  we  found  there,  were  nearly  all 
young — under  thirty  years.  Moved 
by  the  awful  destitution  of  a  hundred 
millions  wTho,  in  Africa,  are  utterly 
without  the  Gospel,  they  have  felt 
more  needed  there  than  here,  and  have 
practically  offered  themselves  to  go 
abroad  to  the  Regions  Beyond — most 
of  them  to  the  Soudan,  some  to  China 
and  other  lands  of  the  Orient.  No 


870 


EDITORIAL  NOTES  ON  CURRENT  TOPICS. 


[Nov. 


doubt  there  is  some  zeal  that  needs  to 
be  tempered  with  knowledge — no 
doubt  a  good  deal  of  imprudence  that 
experience  will  correct  and  chasten. 
There  is  excess  of  enthusiasm  that 
should  be  restrained,  and  impulsive 
activity  that  must  be  wisely  guarded. 
But  there  seems  to  be  also  a  passion  for 
souls,  a  self-surrender  to  God's  work, 
a  certain  abandon  of  confidence  in  his 
"Word  and  guidance,  that  we  would 
gladly  feel  were  more  general  in  dis- 
ciples of  more  mature  years.  We 
should  say  that  not  less  than  fifty 
young  men  and  women  were  present, 
whose  faces  are  set  toward  the  deso- 
late regions  of  the  earth,  and  who  are 
only  waiting  for  the  dopr  to  open. 

There  were  present  several  of  these 
young  men  who  have  been  traveling 
through  the  States,  mainly  of  the 
West,  presenting  the  needs  of  the  per- 
ishing millions,  and  urging  consecra- 
tion of  men  and  of  money  to  supply 
their  need  of  the  Gospel.  These  "trav- 
elling secretaries"  have  gone  like 
primitive  disciples,  carrying  nothing 
in  their  purses,  and  their  unanimous 
testimony  was  that  they  have  lacked 
nothing.  Some  who  heard  them  wit- 
ness, publicly  confessed  that,  though 
they  had  been  prejudiced  against  the 
movement,  they  felt  constrained  to 
say  this  is  the  Finger  of  God.  A.  T.  P. 


The  Home  Best  for  Missionaries  at 
Morthfield,  Mass, 
By  a  strange  fatality  a  part  of  our 
editorial  note  on  this  topic  in  our  last 
issue  was  left  out.  We  said  further 
that  these  15  acres  of  land  are  to  be 
laid  out  in  a  sort  of  park,  to  be  named 
Livingstone  Park,  in  honor  of  David 
Livingstone,  and  it  is  proposed  to 
erect  a  few  economical  and  conven- 
ient cottages  on  these  grounds,  to  be 
furnished  rent  free  to  returned  mis- 
sionaries who  are  at  home  for  rest  and 
recuperation.  It  is  desired  to  have 
these  cottages  free  to  those  who  oc- 
cupy them  without  reference  to  de- 
nomination; and  to  enlist  various 
benevolent  people  in  their  erection, 


so  that  this  shall  be  a  gift  to  the 
Lord's  cause  for  His  servants'  use 
when  at  home  for  a  season  to  gather 
new  strength  for  further  toils.  Dr.  A. 
J.  Gordon,  of  Boston;  D.  L.  Moody r 
Esq.,  S.  P.  Harbison,  of  Pittsburgh; 
Dr.  Munhall,  and  a  few  others,  will 
be  asked  to  act  as  counsellors  in  the 
completion  of  the  plan;  and  it  is  not 
designed  to  ask  any  help  from  anyone 
but  leave  to  those  of  the  Lord's  people 
who  may  feel  so  inclined  to  assist  in 
rearing  the  cottages.  The  ground  is 
already  paid  for,  mostly  by  one  indi- 
vidual; and  already  unsolicited  con- 
tributions have  been  made  to  the  ex- 
tent of  $650.  Any  who  are  so  disposed 
may  send  contributions  to  the  editors  of 
this  Review  and  they  will  be  promptly 
acknowledged.  Ultimately,  after  the 
cottages  are  built,  a  report  of  the  work 
will  be  printed  and  sent  to  the  par- 
ties contributing,  with  pictures  of  the 
houses  erected.  A.  T.  P. 


A  Remonstrance  that  Should  be  Heard, 

"Pardon  me,  if  I  seem  presump- 
tuous, but  do  you  think  the  Presby- 
terian Church  is  moving  in  the  right 
direction  in  its  efforts  to  remove* the 
heavy  indebtedness  of  the  two  Boards? 
Does  it  not  seem  that  a  curse,  rather 
than  a  blessing,  will  follow  one  form 
adopted,  viz. :  cutting  doivn  the  meagre 
salaries  of  our  missionaries,  and  leav- 
ing them  with  no  escape  from  this 
iron  rule?  Is  not  this  'muzzling  the 
ox  which  treadeth  out  the  corn  ?'  I 
do  not  know  when  anything  has  so 
burdened  me  as  this  mismanagement 
on  the  part  of  the  Assembly.  Surely, 
some  better  plan  could  have  been 
adopted  there.  This  is  something  like 
'making  bricks  without  straw.' 

"In  my  own  mind  it  is  clear  that 
this  great  debt  could  have  been  made 
the  means  of  rousing  the  Church  to 
a  sense  of  its  responsibility  as  nothing 
else  could  have  done.  It  would  have 
called  out  a  special  day  of  preaching 
on  the  subject  of  missions — humili- 
ation and  prayer — a  day  of  collections 
for  the  debt  alone,  making  at  least 
two  Sundays  of  the  fifty-two  to  be  de- 
voted to  the  great  work  of  the  church. 
The  letters  one  reads  from  missiona- 
ries on  the  frontier  are  pitiful;  and  if 
the  church  does  not  hear  will  not  God 
avenge  ? 

"Pardon  me,  but  I  feel  I  am  only 


1890.] 


EDITORIAL  NOTES  ON  CURRENT  TOPICS. 


871 


saying  what  many  must  feel.  I  do 
not  like  to  seem  to  criticise  over-much, 
but  it  makes  me  sick  at  heart  to  be  at 
ease  in  our  luxurious  churches  and 
notice  the  indifference,  the  want  of 
reference  to  this,  the  most  crying  evil 
I  have  known;  for  it  is  from  those  poor 
missionaries  that  part  of  the  money 
already  collected  (?)  is  wrested— not 
voluntary  offerings,  but  oppressive 
taxation,  in  a  sense." 

The  above  letter  is  from  one  of  the 
largest  and  best  known  givers  in  the 
denomination,  and  we  publish  it,  first, 
because  such  a  munificent  giver  has  a 
right  to  be  heard;  and  again,  because 
this  church  and  other  denominations 
ought  to  know  how  their  principal 
benefactors  look  on  such  a  mistaken 
policy  as  retrenchment;  and  thirdly, 
because  we  feel  in  absolute  accord 
with  these  sentiments.  God  will  never 
bless  any  policy  which  is  practically 
robbery  both  of  Him  and  His  poor 
and  faithful  servants.  It  cannot  be 
our  duty  to  do  wrong,  and  we  believe 
this  course,  whenever  and  wherever 
adopted,  is  dishonoring  to  both  the 
church  and  to  God.  There  must  be 
some  way  of  meeting  a  crisis  like  this 
beside  doing  an  aditional  wrong. 
This  policy  reminds  us  of  the  man  who 
borrowed  money  to  pay  a  debt !  and 
the  fact  that  at  this  time  of  the 
world's  history  a  great  denomination 
can  sound  the  cry,  Retrench  !  while 
every  call  of  God  says  Advance  !  is  it- 
self a  melancholy  sign  of  the  times. 
We  know  one  city  where  a  craze  for 
expensive  church-buildings  has  led  to 
the  abandonment  of  large  and  com- 
modious edifices  for  others  that  cost 
enough  more  than  the  old  to  pay  this 
debt  by  the  excess  on  each  building. 

Editors. 


Dr.  Pentecost's  Farewell  Words. 

We  were  present  at  the  farewell 
service  in  Dr.  Meredith's  church  in 
Brooklyn,  of  which  he  was  formerly 
pastor.  He  gave  an  outline  of  his 
plan  of  evangelistic  work  in  India.  He 
is  sanguine  that  a  great  break  in 
heathenism  will  begin  there,  which 
will  be  followed  by  a  wide-spread 


awakening  in  this  country.  His  ad- 
dresss  evinced  considerable  familiarity 
with  the  present  situation  of  things  in 
India,  and  appreciation  of  the  diffi- 
culty and  importance  of  the  mission 
he  had  undertaken. 

Among  other  things  he  said: 

"There  are  5,000,000  Hindus,  young  men, 
who  speak  English.  We  are  going  to  reach 
them.  They  have  never  been  evangelized.  Oc- 
casionally a  lecturer  like  the  Rev.  Joseph  Cook 
will  drop  in  among  them;  but  he  is  gone  in  a 
week.  What  they  want  is  preaching  every 
day  for  six  months.  All  has  been  touch  and 
go  so  far.  We  go  to  preach  and  not  to  prove  the 
Gospel.  Disabuse  your  minds  of  one  thought. 
We  don't  propose  to  convert  India.  We  only 
intend  to  do  our  share.  If  we  come  back 
without  having  made  any  visible  impression, 
we  won't  feel  disappointed.  Fifty  blows  may 
be  necessary  before  the  rock  of  heathenism  is 
split.  We  hope  to  strike  one  of  those  blows. 
The  Hindus  say  that  as  the  English  go  to 
India  they  drop  their  religion  in  the  Red  Sea, 
hoping  to  find  it  there  as  they  go  back.  The 
people  of  India  are  profoundly  religious  in 
their  way.  They  look  on  our  missionaries  as 
being  merely  men  who  are  hired  to  conquer 
their  religion  with  our  own,  just  as  they  were 
politically  conquered  by  the  English.  They 
judge  our  religion  not  by  our  missionaries  but 
by  the  English  people  among  them,  seven- 
tenths  of  whom  are  there  to  trade  and  not  to 
set  a  religious  example. 

"We  will  go  first  to  Calcutta,  where  we  will 
open  an  evangelistic  mission  and  begin  on  the 
English  themselves.  From  them — having  by 
the  help  of  God  brought  them  to  a  condition 
where  they  can  exemplify  and  reflect  the 
Gospel— we  will  proceed  to  evangelize  the  Eng- 
lish-speaking Hindus.  After  them,  Provi- 
dence permitting,  we  will  evangelize  the  half- 
breeds.  We  hope  to  make  a  break  among  the 
high  castes.  Don't  think  we  are  proud  be- 
cause we  are  going  to  work  among  the  high 
castes.  We  have  chosen  them  because  no 
work  of  evangelization  has  ever  been  done 
among  them.  Finally,  we  are  doing  this  work 
strictly  at  our  own  expense.  If  anybody  feels 
moved  to  chip  in  and  help  us  pay  our  current 
expenses,  all  right.  But  we  are  not  begging. 
Personally  I  will  pay  my  own  expenses.  We 
are  a  voluntary  mission,  representing  no 
society  and  no  fund.'" 

May  he  not  be  disappointed  in  this 
bold  undertaking  !  May  India  be 
moved  as  never  before !  He  needs 
and  asks  and  deserves  the  earnest 
prayers  of  Christendom.  He  remains 
a  month  in  England  and  then  sails  for 
India.    Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stebbins,  who 


872 


EDITORIAL  NOTES  ON  CURRENT  TOPICS. 


[Nov. 


have  aided  him  in  his  evangelistic 
work,  will  accompany  him  in  this 
foreign  tour.  J.  M.  S. 

The  Tribune  (New  York),  in  a  re- 
cent editorial  entitled,  "Why  Foreign 
Missions  Languish,"  exhibits  the  most 
surprising  ignorance  of  the  subject. 
The  very  reverse  is  true.  Instead  of 
being  in  a  languishing  condition  the 
cause  of  foreign  missions  was  never 
so  active,  so  promising,  so  full  of  en- 
terprise, so  far-reaching  and  world- 
wide in  its  scope  and  plans.  The  great 
English  societies  in  1889  expended 
$13,000,000  in  the  work;  and  our 
American  societies  full  $6,000,000  ! 
more  than  in  any  former  year !  Does 
this  look  like  languishing  ? 

Quite  as  false  is  the  reason  assigned 
for  the  decline  of  missions.  It  argues 
they  "languish"  because  the  Gospel  is 
presented  so  as  to  repel  rather  than 
attract,  by  men  not  properly  trained. 
It  is  sure  that  the  prevailing  methods 
of  mission  work  are  radically  wrong. 
Now  thousands  of  the  ripest  scholars, 
the  broadest  culture,  the  most  distin- 
guished gifts,  the  noblest  educators, 
and  the  most  eminent  and  useful  men 
in  the  Church  to-day,  are  found  in  the 
foreign  field !  Methods  radically  wrong 
that  have  civilized  and  evangelized 
whole  nations,  converted  millions  of 
souls  in  heathendom,  established 
schools  and  colleges,  and  hospitals, 
and  Y.  M.  C.  A.'s  all  over  the  world  ! 
Does  not  the  Tribune  know  these 
facts  ?  Such  stupendous  ignorance  is 
enough  to  bring  Horace  Greeley  up 
from  the  grave  to  weep  over  the  pa- 
per he  made  so  grand  a  power  for  good. 
This  attack  on  missions  is  a  very  feeble 
echo  of  Canon  Taylor's  charges  two 
years  ago,  the  falsity  and  grossness  of 
which  were  abundantly  shown  by  tes- 
timony that  could  not  be  set  aside. 

The  Tribune  is  late  in  reviving 
these  exploded  charges. — J.  M.  S. 

A  Princely  Giver's  Death. 
David  Paton,  Esq.,  of  Tillicoutry, 
Canada,  and  for   years  residing  in 


Alloa,  Scotland,  has  recently  gone  to 
his  reward,  in  his  eighty-seventh 
year.  He  set  an  example  of  benefi- 
cence which  will  be  fragrant  in  Scot- 
land and  in  all  the  Christian  church 
for  many  years  to  come.  His  liberal- 
ity toward  foreign  missions  is  very 
conspicuous;  but  scarcely  less  so  to- 
ward all  home  missionaryschemesalso. 
Alloa,  where  he  built  up  his  fortune, 
witnessed  its  dispensing  in  all  good 
works.  He  supported  missions  in  the 
destitute  neighborhoods,  provided  for 
the  free  entertainment  of  infirm  min- 
isters at  Crieff  Hydropathic;  and  gave, 
as  few  men  since  apostolic  days  have 
given,  great  sums  to  God's  cause.  He 
has  spent  a  vast  fortune  of  $1,000,000 
on  missions;  and,  out  of  the  small  an- 
nuity reserved  to  keep  him  from  ac- 
tual want,  he  managed  to  give,  at  the 
time  of  my  visit  to  Alloa,  another 
250  pounds  sterling;  and,  as  a  letter 
from  Dr.  McAll  informs  me,  his  last 
act  of  giving  was  the  sending  of  $500 
more  to  the  same  great  work  of  French 
evangelization.  He  was  an  office- 
bearer in  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  one  of  the  brightest  orna- 
ments of  that  beautiful  body  of  breth- 
ren, of  whom  we  may  say  on  personal 
knowledge  that  it  contains  some  of  the 
noblest  examples  both  of  piety  and  of 
generosity  which  the  United  Kingdom 
furnishes.  That  dear  old  saint  gave 
not  grudgingly  nor  of  necessity,  but 
cheerfully.  Self-  denial  became  to  him 
a  habit  and  a  delight  for  Christ's  sake. 
To  press  his  hand  and  look  in  his  eyes 
was  one  of  the  rare  privileges  of  that 
recent  tour  of  missions  in  Scotland. 
He  was  the  patriarch  of  givers,  and, 
we  trust  will  have  a  numerous  spirit- 
ual progeny  who  shall  emulate  an 
example  that  has  few  rivals  since  the 
days  of  Barnabas  of  Cyprus. 

A.  T.  P. 


Bishop  William  Tay'or  seems  to  be 
a  man  of  great  common  sense.  He 
says  that  on  the  dead  level  of  heath- 
enism all  genius  is  excluded;  any  in- 
ventor is  liable  to  the  charge  of  witch- 
craft, and  the  poison  draught  is  the 
inevitable  doom  of  one  who  im- 
proves upon  the  crude  implements  of 
his  ancestors.  In  the  South  of  Africa 
the  men  wear  two  coats,  one  of  red 
paint,  the  other  of  grease  well-rubbed 
in;  and  women  dig,  hoe,  gather  crops, 
carry  burdens  and  do  other  hard  work. 
To  educate  an  African  without  chris- 
tianizing him  is  to  train  a  polite  loaf  er. 
He  instanced  the  educated  native 
known  as  "Hodge,"  who,  with  a  fine 
culture,  turned  to  Paganism,  put  on 


1890.] 


ORGANIZED  MISSIONARY  WORK  AND  STATISTICS. 


873 


the  breech-clout  and  took  six  wives 
and  set  up  a  harem.  The  educational 
plan  must  include  all  industries  that 
prepare  for  a  life  of  self-support.  The 
short  and  sure  cut  is  to  be  found  in 
rearing  in  Africa  Christian  industrial 
homes,  adopting  about  12  children 
under  five  years  of  age.  Young  chil- 
dren are  not  yet  heathen  and  must  be 
prevented  from  becoming  such.  It  is 
easy  to  get  boys  but  not  girls,  to  adopt. 
Girls  are  a  marketable  commodity  for 
polygamous  purposes.  The  only  way 
at  present  is  to  redeem  them  from  this 
polygamous  slavery  by  a  virtual  pur- 
chase. They  are  sold  in  infancy  for 
the  future  harem  of  these  polygamists, 
and  if  not  redeemed  will  be  claimed 
even  after  adoption  and  education. 
A  young  and  pretty  girl  was  thus 
adopted  by  a  missionary's  family  and 
trained  as  a  converted  woman,  and 
one  day  claimed  as  the  betrothed  wife 
of  a  rich  polygamist.  She  was  al- 
ready pledged  to  a  converted  young 
man  connected  with  the  mission 
^ind  presents  were  freely  given  to 
secure  her  release  from  the  prior  con- 
tract. Apparently  she  was  released 
and  tiie  marriage  consented  to.  But 
afterward  under  pretext  of  a  visit  to 
her  parents  was,  with  her  husband, 
induced  to  go  to  their  home,  and 
on  entering  the  village  her  young 
husband  was  literally  hewn  to  pieces, 
and  she  was  tied  to  a  tree  and  whipped 
every  two  hours  till  she  consented 
to  go  and  live  with  this  wretched 
pagan.  That  is  a  glimpse  of  woman's 
condition  in  the  dark  continent. 

Meanwhile  all  the  work  of  missions 
is  threatened  by  the  awful  flooding  of 
Africa  with  rum.  Hamburg  alone 
exports  by  two  companies  annually 
200.000  tuns  of  liquor,  not  to  speak  of 
what  France,  Spain,  Portugal,  Eng- 
land and  New  England  are  doing  to 
pour  into  that  land  an  Amazon  river 
of  rum.  If  Mohammedanism  were  let 
loose,  it  would  soon  put  an  end  to  this 
business,  for  Islam's  banner  is  the 
banner  of  total  abstinence  and  pro- 
hibition. It  may  be  that  as  God  at  the 
beginning  let  loose  Mohammedanism 
as  the  scourge  of  idolatry  in  the  Chris- 


tian church,  he  will  again  let  loose  this 
system  of  false  religion  to  drive  out 
an  infernal  rum  traffic  let  in  by 
Christian  nations  !  Already  are  300,- 
000  mounted  followers  of  the  False 
Prophet  said  to  be  overrunning  the 
Dark  Continent.  A.  T.  P. 

The  India  Sunday-school  Union, 
having  secured  the  hearty  co-oper- 
ation of  the  British  Sunday-school 
Union,  has  been  planning  a  large  ex- 
tension of  its  work.  Dr.  James  L. 
Phillips,  17  years  medical  and  educa- 
tional missionary  in  Bengal,  has  been 
appointed  general-secretary  of  the 
India  Sunday-school  Union,  and  sailed 
from  New  York  for  Europe.  He  will 
speak  in  behalf  of  this  promising 
movement  in  the  chief  cities  of  the 
United  Kingdom  during  September 
and  October,  and  then  embark  for 
Bombay,  where  he  will  enter  upon  his 
work,  attend  the  Punjab  Sunday- 
school  Convention  at  Lahore  in  De- 
cember, and  reach  Calcutta  for  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  India  Sunday- 
School  Union  in  December.  All  India 
seems  ripe  for  Sunday-school  exten- 
sion at  this  time. 

It  has  been  our  privilege  to  make  the 
acquaintance  of  this  beloved  brother 
while  home  on  a  furlough.  Failing 
to  find  us  at  the  office,  where  he  called 
to  say  good-bye,  he  left  us  a  very  kind 
letter  from  which  we  make  an  extract: 

"Now  I  go  back  to  my  dear  India, 
where  I  was  born,  as  general-secretary 
of  the  India  Sunday-school  Union, 
with  headquarters  at  Calcutta.  For 
two  or  three  years  I  shall  be  on  the 
move  constantly  all  over  India,  organ- 
izing and  pushing  Sunday-school 
work.  My  post  is  a  new  one.  I  am 
called  back  to  India  by  my  brethren 
of  all  the  churches.  Our  Sunday- 
school  Union  there,  as  here  and  in  Eu- 
rope, is  international  and  inter-de- 
nominational, like  the  evangelical 
alliance  work  in  the  U.  S.  A.,  with 
which  I  have  been  connected  as  gen- 
eral-secretary at  Philadelphia  for  a 
year."  J.  M.  S. 


VII.— ORGANIZED  MISSIONARY  WORK  AND 
STATISTICS. 


SPECIAL  FIELDS. 
INDIA. 

American  Marathi  Mission. 

(A.  B.  C.  F.  M.) 
REPORT  FOR  THE  YEAR  1889. 

Stations  at  Bombay,  Ahmednagar,  etc. 
This  mission  covers  a  territory  of  10,974 


square  miles,  including  30  towns  and  3,579  vil- 
lages, and  containing  a  population  of  3,286,889, 
of  whom  2,  835,382  are  Hindus  and  284,889  are 
Mussulmans. 

Stations,  5;  outstations,  107;  missionaries, 
27  (of  whom  11  ordained.  1  lay.  9  missionaries' 
wives,  G  other  ladies;;  native  helpers,  302  (of 


874  ORGANIZED  MISSIONARY  WORK  AND  STATISTICS.  [Nov. 


whom  18  pastors,  21  preachers);  churches,  33; 
communicants,  2,115  (1,197  male,  918  female); 
added  on  profession,  192;  schools,  127;  pupils, 
3,280,(2,461  male,  819 female);  Sunday-schools, 
124;  pupils,  4,718  (of  whom  1,688  Christian); 
patients  treated  at  dispensary  in  Rahuri,  new, 
5,052;  old,  9,428;  total,  14,480  (of  these,  12,045 
Hindus,  2,059  Mussulmans,  76  Parsees,  41  Ro- 
man Catholics,  259  Protestants). 

PROGRESS  IN  TWENTY  YEARS. 

Number  of  churches,  1869,  22;  1889,  33;  net 
gain  in  twenty  years,  11.  Received  on  pro- 
fession of  faith,  1869,  53;  1889,  192;  net  gain  in 
twenty  years,  139.  Number  of  communicants 
at  close  of  the  year,  1869,  677;  1889,  2,115;  net 
gain  in  twenty  years,  1,438.  Contributions  by 
native  Christians,  1869,  1,651  rupees;  1889, 
4,6:30,  rupees;  net  gain  in  twenty  years,  2,979 
rupees.  Number  of  schools,  1869,  35;  1889,  127; 
net  gain  in  twenty  years,  92.  Number  of 
pupils,  1869,  667;  1889,  3,280;  net  gain  in  twenty 
years,  2,613. 

From  this  it  will  be  evident  that  the  number 
of  communicants  on  the  church  rolls,  the  con- 
tributions of  native  Christians,  and  the  num- 
ber of  schools,  have  trebled  in  the  last  twenty 
years.  The  number  of  pupils  is  five  times  as 
many  as  then  attended  our  schools. 


American  Madura  Mission,  South  India. 

Population  of  district,  1,775,000.  Stations 
at  Madura,  Pasumalee,  Battalagundi,  etc. 

Stations,  7;  out-stations,  25;  missionaries,  36 
(of  whom  13  ordained,  1  lay,  13  missionaries1 
wives,  9  other  ladies);  native  helpers,  448 
(of  whom  17  ordained  pastors) ;  organized 
churches,  35;  communicants,  3,562;  added  on 
profession,  272;  schools,  156;  pupils,  5,410; 
Sabbath-schools,  146;  average  attendance 
4,151;  patients  treated  at  dispensary,  new 
9,066;  old,  6,504;  total,  15,570  (of  these  4,775 
Hindus,  3,272  native  Christians,  including  Ro- 
manists, 815  Mussulmans. 


American     Free     Baptist  Mission, 
Southern  Bengal. 

Population,  3,817,653.  Stations  at  Balasore, 
Jellasore,  Midnapore,  etc. 

Stations,  11;  missionaries,  25  (of  whom  9  are 
ordained,  1  lay,  9  missionaries1  wives,  and  6 
other  ladies) ;  native  preachers,  17  (of  whom 
5  are  ordained,  12  lay);  other  native  helpers 
not  enumerated;  organized  churches,  11; 
communicants,  646;  added,  55;  schools,  105; 
pupils,  3,619.  Considerable  medical  work 
seems  to  have  been  done,  but  no  statistics  are 
given. 

Canadian  Baptist  Telugu  Mission. 

Population  reached  3,000,000.  Stations: 
Akidu,  Cocanada,  Bimlipatam,  Bobbili,  etc. 

Stations,  9;  missionaries,  30  (of  whom  11 
are  ordained,  10  missionaries1  wives,  7  other 
ladies);  native  helpers,  74  (of  whom  8  are 


ordained);    churches,    22;  communicants, 
2,466;  additions  not  reported  fully,  about  300: 
schools,  40;  average  attendance,  583;  Sunday-  • 
schools,  19;  average  attendance,  626. 

Malayalan  Mission  of  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society,  South  Travancore. 

The  report  for  this  mission  comes  to  us  in 
four  parts:  the  Trevandrum,  Quilon  and  Ne- 
yoor  districts  and  the  mission  seminary. 

In  the  six  stations  there  are  9  ordained  mis- 
sionaries; 18  ordained  native  ministers;  228 
other  native  helpers;  273  congregations; 
5,659  church  members;  521  admissions;  713 
candidates;  311  schools;  10,560  boys  under  in- 
struction, 3,504  girls— total  scholars,  14,064; 
patients  registered  in  mission  hospital  and  dis- 
pensaries—Protestant  Christians,  13,874;  Ro- 
man Catholics,  1,698;  heathen,  12,116;  Moham- 
medans, 676— total,  28,364.  Publications,  by 
London  mission  press,  periodicals,  52  numbers, 
116,600  pages;  tracts,  33,  323,100  pages. 
South  Travancore  Tract  and  Book  Society  has 
published  since  1833,  when  it  was  formed  by 
the  union  of  tract  societies  long  existing  at 
Nagercoil  and  Neyoor,  442,549  monthly  maga- 
zines, 181,200  tracts,  28,500  catechisms,  13,500 
books,  3,146,900  handbills,  and  260,000  Glad 
News  for  Children,  in  Tamil— 4,072,649  publi- 
cations. 


Basel  German  Evangelical  Missionary 
Society  in  Southwestern  India. 

Canara,  Coorg,  South  Mahratta,  Malabar.. 

Stations,  24;  European  missionaries,  male, 
66,  female,  40;  native  agency,  pastors,  15r 
evangelists,  106;  other  helpers,  27;  teachers, 
278  ;  communicants,  5,160 ;  additions,  134;- 
schools,  121;  pupils,  6,707. 

Mackay  Mission  Hospital,  Pormosa. 

Connected  with  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Missions,  Canada. 

New  patients,  3,055;  old  patients  returned 
for  medicines,  etc.,  7,224.  The  number  is  less 
than  the  last  year  by  225,  due  to  the  fact  that 
there  has  been  less  sickness  and  that  fewer 
soldiers  have  been  admitted. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  (North), 
North  China  Mission. 

Peking,  Tientsin,  Shantung,  etc. 

Stations  or  circuits,  20;  ordained  missiona- 
ries, 15;  missionaries1  wives,  14;  other  ladies, 
9;  native  ordained  preachers,  6;  unordained, 
10;  teachers,  20:  other  helpers,  22;  members, 
782;  probationers,  517;  average  attendance- 
Sunday  worship,  931;  Sunday-schools,  10; 
scholars,  746;  Theological  schools,  3;  students, 
40;  other  schools,  27:  scholars,  529. 

Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  (South). 

Secretary:  Rev.  M.  H.  Houston,  D.D.,  Nash- 
ville, Tenn. 


1890.] 


ORGANIZED  MISSIONARY  WORK  AND  STATISTICS. 


875 


[By  some  error  the  statistics  reported  for 
this  society  in  the  September  number  of  the 
Review  were  drawn  from  the  report  of  1889,  in- 
stead of  from  that  of  1890.  Dr.  Houston  has 
kindly  called  our  notice  to  the  error,  and  sent 
corrected  figures.— Eds.] 

REPORT  FOR  YEAR  ENDING  APRIL  1,  1890. 

Receipts. 

Balance  on  hand                            $  8,457  59 

From  churches   49,812  90 

Sabbath-schools   8,673  50 

Missionary  societies   27,258  80 

Legacies   14,927  02 

Miscellaneous   8,652  88 

Total   $117,782  69 

Expenditures. 

Three  Brazil  Missions   $  36,100  32 

China  Missions   24,701  71 

Japan      44    12,814  31 

Congo      44    4.000  00 

Greek      44    3,453  70 

Italian      44   1,200  00 

Indian      44    6,490  00 

Mexican  44    7.870,29 

Total  for  Missions   $  96.630  33 

General  Expenses     8,663  02 

Balance  on  hand  (including  Relief 
Fund)   12.489  34 

Total   $117,782  69 

STATISTICS. 


Brazil.. . 
China  . 
Japan  . . 


Greece 


Italy  . 
Mexico 
Africa  . 


Total 


2  £ 


c  a 

Z  0 

I  I 


30  11|10 
li  13  it; 
19  8  8 


116  37 


5,10 
15 


670 
l.V< 


45i  > 


2L078 


360 


224 
245 
305 


15 


418 


165  fl.l«N) 

2601  165 
130  651 


688 


1,207  ^5  12,851 


Amencan  Presbyterian,  (North),  Mission 
in  Canton,  China, 

Stations,  2;  out-stations,  28.  Foreign  mis- 
sionaries, ordained,  8;  lay,  6:  medical,  4;  mis- 
sionaries" wives,  11;  other  ladies,  6  (1  medi- 
cal); total,  31.  Native  ordained  ministers,  3; 
other  native  assistants,  84;  churches,  8;  com- 


municants, 625;  additions,  100;  schools,  37; 
pupils,  916;  medical  work,  out-patients  (at- 
tendances), 59,311;  in-patients,  1,459;  visits  at 
homes,  647;  surgical  operations,  2,868. 


General  Baptist  Missionary  Society. 

Secretary:  Rev. William  Hill,  Mission  House, 
60  Wilson  St.,  Derby,  England. 

REPORT  FOR  YEAR  ENDING  MAY  31,  1890. 

Receipts. 

Collections,  etc   £3,257  4  5 

Legacies...    1,497  4  11 

Miscellaneous   693  17  10 

Total  for  general  purposes...  £5,448   7  2 

Special  funds   225  17  6 

In  India   2,929   9  6 

In  Rome   149   0  11 

Total   £8.752  15  1 

Payments. 

Balance  due  May  31,  1889   £20  12  11 

Orissa  Mission   3,270  13  2 

Agency   315  17  7 

Publications     171  12  0 

Incidentals   144   5  7 

Assurance,  Annuities,  and  Capi- 
tal, etc    1,441   0  4 

In  India,  (see  above)   2,929   9  9 

In  Rome,     44     44    44  9   0  11 

Balance  to  new  account   10  3  1 

Total   £8,752  15  1 

STATISTICS  OF  ORISSA  MISSION. 

Stations,  4;  15  out- stations,  8  missionaries, 
4  missionaries  wives,  4  other  female  mission- 
aries, 21  native  preachers,  18  chapels,  1,376 
church  members;  1  orphanage,  122  members; 
12  schools,  641  scholars;  12  Sunday-schools,  755 
members.    Local  contributions,  8,411  rupees. 


Baptist  Missionary  Society. 

Secretary.  Alfred  H.  Baynes,  Esq.,F.  R.A.S., 
Baptist  Mission   House,  19    Furnival  St., 
Holborn,  London,  E.  C. 
report  for  year  ending  march  31,  1890 
Receipts. 
Balance  from  last  year,  on  Special 
Fund,  and    Widows',  etc.,  ac- 
count  £4.894  14  9 

For  debt   2.405   2  5 

General  Fund    68,331   0  1 

Special,  etc.,  account   3.978  9  6 

Total  receipts   £74,714  12  0 

Balance  over-drawn  on  General 
Fund   2.472   3  10 

Total   £82,081  10  7 

Expenditures. 
Balances.  Debt  on  General  Fund.  £2,862  3  6 

General  Fund   £70,346   2  10 

Special,  etc.,  account  6,761  10  3 

•    £77.107'  18  1 

Total  expenditure   .  ..  £79,969  16  7 

Balance  on  hand  on  Special,etc, 
account    2,111  14  0 

Total   £82,081  10  7 


876 


ORGANIZED  MISSIONARY  WORK  AND  STATISTICS. 


[Nov. 


STATISTICS. 


3  I 

o 

c5  So 

EE 


India  . . . 
Ceylon.. 
China  .. 
Japan. 
Palestine 
Europe.. 
W.Indies 
Africa. . . 


57  94 
4  25 


25 


33 
4  147 
5 


4,129 
868 
1,049 
157 
75 
1,860 
6,185 
43 


515   119  319     99  14,316  1,053  47  7 


231 
64 
103 


210 
423 
12 


4,027' 
3,190 


58 


409 
143 


American  Baptist  Missionary  Union. 

Secretary:  Rev.  J.  N.  Murdoch,  D.D.,  Tre- 
mont  Temple,  Boston,  Mass. 

REPORT  FOR  YEAR  ENDING  MARCH  31,  1890. 

Receipts. 

Donations   $212,962  94 

Legacies   91,935  49 

Woman's  Boards   93,949  22 

Miscellaneous    12,126  44 


Income  of  Funds    21,796  51 

Government  Grants-in-aid,  etc   8,017  47 


Balance  due  April,  1890. 


$440,788  07 
7,942  06 


Total   $448,730  13 

In  addition  there  has  been  added  to  the  Per- 
manent Fund,,  $118,739.68,  making  the  gross 
receipts  for  the  year  $559,527.75. 

Expend  i  tures. 

Burmah   $151,290  85 

Assam   22,312  58 

Telugu   64,778  38 

Siam    1,373  95 

China   31,605  25 

Japan     39,122  72 

Africa   43,780  42 

Europe   32,984  57 


Home  expenses 

Publications  

Annuities  


$387,248  72 
39,713  87 
1,671  40 
11,922  58 


$440,556  57 

Balance  due  April  1,  1839    8,173  56 

Total   $448,730  13 


STATISTICS. 


Mission- 

Nat 

ves. 

a 

ar 

es 

0 

i 

3 

Stations. 

Out  Stations. 

Female. 

Preachers. 

Other  Helpers 

Churches. 

Church  Memb 

Additions. 

Schools. 

Scholars. 

Native  Contri 

21 

593 

45 

87 

521 

116 

520 

29,689 

2,039 

444 

12,669 

$52,633 

7 

64 

11 

14 

22 

54 

30 

1,937 

185 

87 

1,900 

740 

13 

635 

21 

26 

204 

217 

72 

33,838 

3,340 

460 

4,934 

564 

8 

59 

18 

23 

38 

25 

17 

1,535 

61 

23 

325 

521 

8 

27 

15 

26 

29 

17 

10 

905 

158 

6 

216 

311 

7 

4 

23 

16 

5 

8 

5 

386 

156 

10 

471 

75 

64 

1382 

133 

192 

819 

437 

6.54 

68,290 

5,939 

1030 

20,515 

$54,844 

917 

707 

70,003 

5,638 

169,425 

Total  

64 

1382 

133 

192 

1736 

437 

1361 

138,293 

11,577 

1030 

20,515 

$224,269 

Church  Missionary  Society. 

The  Secretaries,  Church  Missonary  House, 
Salisbury  Square,  Fleet  Street,  London,  E.  C. 

TtEPORT  FOR  THE  YEAR  ENDING  MARCH  31,  1890. 

Receipts. 

Through  Associations   £146,771   6  10 

Direct  to  the  Society,  including 

Legacies  23,862  7  9   56,046  4  8 

Disabled  Missionaries1  Funds  1,646  10  7 

Kent  and  Interest   4,052  15  9 

Total  Ordinary   £208,516  17  10 

Special  Funds   51,765  13  7 

Total  Receipts   £260,282  11  5 

Expenditures. 

For  Missions  £182,845   3  2 

Disabled  M  i  s- 

sionaries,  etc..      7,941   3  3 


Collection     o  f 

Funds   13,739  13  2 

Administration.     10,596  11  5 

£215,222  11  0 
Deduct,  charged 
to  Special 
Funds    8,193  6  7 

Total  Ordinary   £207,029  4  5 

Special  Funds    17,556  8  1 

Total  Payments   £224,585  12  6 

Balance  carried  to  Contin- 
gency Fund: 
Ordinary  Re- 
ceipts  £1,487  13  5 

Special  Funds..     34,209   5  6 

  35,696  18  11 

Total    £260,282  11  15 


1890.] 


PROGRESS  OF  MISSIONS— MONTHLY  BULLETIN. 


877 


STATISTICS. 


Africa     

Egypt,  Arabia,  Palestine  and  Persia. . 

India  

Cej-lon  

Mauritius  

China   

Japan  

New  Zealand  

N.  W.  America  and  North  Pacific  


Total  29 


315 


Missionaries 


52  59 


Natives, 
Eurasians, 
etc. 


4S 
9 
144 

15 
3 

16 
4 

27 

20 


293 
107 
2150 
44G 

51 
300 

36 
378 

65 


59 
86,942 
2,3(53 

542 


3,835  49,016 


<T3 


445 
4 

1,577 
17! 
103 
453 
242 
5 

109 
3,110 


108 
50 
1191 
229 
25 
123 
11 
1 
58 

1796 


VIII.— PROGRESS  OF  MISSIONS: 
MONTHLY  BULLETIN. 


Africa — It  is  said  that  the  annexations  of 
Great  Britain  in  Africa  amount  to  over 
2,000,000  square  miles.  "Spheres  of  influ- 
ence'" they  are  termed,  not  annexations.  We 
care  not  what  they  are  called:  we  are  glad 
to  know  that  under  the  flag  of  Great  Britain 
the  slave  trade  cannot  live.  Under  that  flag, 
the  Bible  may  be  printed  and  scattered  with- 
out "let  or  hindrance.'"  Under  that  flag, 
missionaries  of  the  cross  will  be  safe,  and  can 
go  about  their  work  unmolested.  Ambitious 
and  grasping  England,  men  may  call  her,  but 
she  carries  into  her  colonies,  all  over  the 
world,  the  light  of  civilization,  to  brighten 
the  faces  of  their  ignorant  and  degraded. 

—Rapid  progress  all  along  the  line  is  being 
made  in  the  opening  up  of  the  new  world  of 
Central  Africa.  Europe  has  such  vast  re- 
sources of  power  and  wealth  to  bring  to  bear 
on  the  enterprise  that  the  rate  at  which  civili- 
zation is  advancing  on  barbarism  is  surpris- 
ing. 

— To  explore  Central  Africa. — The  Steele 
says  that  a  French  expedition  to  explore  Cen- 
tral Africa  is  being  organized.  It  will  be 
divided  into  three  sections,  which  will  start 
simultaneously  from  Algeria  and  the  Niger 
and  Congo  rivers,  and  converge  at  Lake 
Tchad. 

—The  Universities'  Mission  in  Central 
Africa  employs  seventy  Europeans  at  four 
principal  centres  in  Africa  and  on  Lake  Ny- 
assa,  where  a  church  steamer  is  maintained. 
Bishop  Smithers  is  the  leader  of  this  mission, 
which  extends  over  25,000  square  miles. 

—The  Trappists,  an  order  of  Jesuits,  have 
lately  begun  work  in  South  Africa  on  a  large 
scale.  In  Natal  they  have  an  estate  of  20,000 
acres,  and  in  Griqualand  of  500,000  acres. 


Their  professed  object  is  to  convert  the  Afri- 
cans to  their  faith;  and  their  modus  oper- 
andi is  to  civilize  them  first,  and  then  to  make 
Trappists  of  them.  Their  largest  monastery 
is  at  Marianhill,  in  Natal.  At  present  it  con- 
tains 170  monks,  and  in  a  convent,  half  a  mile 
away,  are  135  nuns.  There  are  300  native  boys 
and  girls  under  tuition,  aud  the  knowledge  im- 
parted is  almost  entirely  industrial.  The  rear- 
ing of  bees  is  one  of  the  important  industries. 
Papers  are  published  in  four  languages.  They 
have  a  church  capable  of  holding  2,000  people. 
—Harvest  Field. 

— The  grant  of  an  immense  territory 
along  the  Zambesi  river  has  been  made  to  the 
Duke  of  Fife  and  some  English  colleagues. 
The  region  embraces  nearly  300,000  square 
miles  and  is  very  rich  both  in  soil  and  mines. 
The  company  has  power  to  abolish  slavery 
and  restrict  the  liquor  traffic  in  its  domains, 
and  missionary  work  will  be  as  free  there  as 
in  India. 

—The  Portuguese  have  released  the  British 
African  Lakes  Company's  steamer,  which 
was  seized  by  Lieutenant  Continho.  The  crew 
of  the  steamer  have  also  been  released. 

— The  Roman  Catholic  missions  at  Uganda 
will  be  strengthened  by  anew  party  of  priests, 
who  were  ordained  in  the  cathedral  of  Car- 
thage, June  29th.  According  to  Roman  Catho- 
lic usage,  the  feet  of  these  20  "messengers  of 
peace1'1  were  devoutly  kissed  by  all  priests 
present,  including  high  dignitaries.  Cardinal 
Lavigerie  even  kissed  the  feet  of  two  black 
surgeons,  formerly  slave-boys,  purchased  by 
white  monks  on  the  Nile. 

Belgium.— The  Government  has  voted  a 
loan  of  $5,000,000  to  the  Congo  Free  State.  The 
expense  of  the  founding  of  this  State,  and  in- 


878 


PROGRESS  OF  MISSIONS — MONTHLY  BULLETIN. 


[Nov. 


traduction  into  the' family  of  nations,  has  been 
borne  chiefly  by  the  king,  at  an  expense  of 
$000,000  to  $300,000  a  year.  In  return  for  this 
grant,  King  Leopold  makes  Belgium  the  heir, 
ten  years  hence,  of  his  African  possessions, 
which  it  is  believed  will  one  day  prove  a  great 
source  of  revenue. 

—Pastor  Anet's  Christian  Missionary 
Church  of  Belgium,  added  to  its  members  last 
year  500  converts  from  Romanism  and  infidel- 
ity. It  employs  4  evangelists,  7  Bible-readers, 
and  5  colporteurs. 

Canada.— The  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Canada  has,  in  all,  326  distinct  fields  of  home 
mission  work,  and  990  preaching  places.  The 
number  of  missionaries  employed  last  year 
was  329,  of  whom  121  were  ordained  ministers 
and  lice^  iates,and  208  students  and  catechists. 
The  average  Sabbath  attendance  at  all  the 
stations  was  43,065,  the  number  of  families 
connected  with  them,  11,701,  and  of  communi- 
cants, 13,997.  The  progress  made  in  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Manitoba  may  be  given  as  a  speci- 
men of  the  results.  It  was  formed  19  years 
ago.  Winnipeg  had  then  a  population  of  421, 
now  it  has  22,892.  Manitoba  had  then  19,000, 
now  it  has  150,000.  Then  Presbyterianism  stood 
third  relative  to  other  denominations,  now  it 
heads  the  list.  In  meeting  the  expenses  in- 
volved in  this  vast  home  mission  undertaking, 
the  church  acknowledges  grants  from  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Ireland,  the  Church 
of  Scotland  and  the  Free  Church. 

—The  Toronto  medical  students1  Y.  M.  C. 
A.,  which  has  179  members,  has  just  sent  one 
of  their  number,  Dr.  Hardie  and  his  wife,  as  a 
missionary  to  Korea,  and  have  agreed  to  sup- 
port him"for  a  period  of  at  least  eight  years.1' 
His  destination  is  "Fusan,  where  he  is  to  co- 
operate with  Mr.  Gale,  of  University  College 
Y.  M.  C.  A."  $1,800  is  requisite  for  outfit  and 
support  for  the  first  year. 

China. — The  China  Inland  Mission  hases- 
tablished  in  China,  16  opium  refuges,  3  hospi- 
tals, and  5  dispensaries.  The  churches  num- 
ber 66  and  chapels  110. 

— Dr  Douthwaite,  of  the  China  Inland  Mis- 
sion, Che-Foo,  says,  that  in  the  late  famine 
district  in  Shan-Tung,  there  are  now  over  a 
thousand  applicants  for  baptism. 

—The  government  has  indemnified  the 
Presbyterian  Board  to  the  extent  of  over  a 
thousand  dollars  for  property  destroyed  by  a 
mob,  in  1885,  in  the  province  of  Kwong-Sai, 
China.  It  has  taken  our  United  States  Min- 
ister a  long  while  to  secure  this  just  reimburse- 
ment, but  the  final  action  is  encouraging,  in 
that  it  recognizes  the  right  of  foreigners  to 
hold  property  in  interior  cities. 

Cuba.— The  Rev.  A.  J.  Diaz,  an  evangelist 
of  the  Southern  Baptists,  in  the  Island  of 
Cuba,  has  been  wonderfully  successful  in 
preaching  and  organizing  churches.  He  is  a 
native  of  Cuba,  and  preaches  with  great  ease 
and  freedom  in  his  own  tongue.    The  Roman 


Catholic  Church  has  moved  against  the  here- 
tic, and  suppressed  his  services  by  the  power 
of  the  civil  law.  During  the  present  year  Diaz 
and  his  helpers  have  been  arrested,sent  to  jail, 
and  harassed  in  all  possible  ways.  Diaz  is  out 
on  bail,  but  the  courts  hesitate  and  keep  him 
and  his  friends  in  suspense.  The  intervention 
of  the  American  Government  has  been  in- 
voked. 

England. — The  report  of  the  Bible  Car- 
riage Mission  in  England,  shows  that  this  so- 
ciety is  doing  an  important  work  in  the  rural 
parts  of  the  country.  Over  49,000  Bibles  and 
Testaments,  and  about  367,000  books,  tracts, 
etc.,  were  circulated  in  270  villages  and  towns. 
In  these  places  the  Gospel  was  preached, 
with   many  conversions  as  the  result. 

— Another  new  missionary  band  of  special 
interest  is  about  to  go  forth  in  connection 
with  the  Church  Missionary  Society.  Rev.  Bar- 
clay F.  Buxton,  son  of  Mr.  T.  Fowell  Buxton, 
has  offered  to  go  to  Japan  with  a  small  party 
of  missionaries,  undertaking  both  the  direction 
and  entire  charges  himself.  Mr.  Barclay  is  an 
M.  A.,  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  It  is  pro- 
posed that  Mr.  Buxton's  party  should  occupy 
the  town  and  district  of  Matsupe,  an  import- 
ant place  at  the  west  end  of  the  main  island 
of  Japan. 

— Mrs.  Hannington,  widow  of  Bishop  Han- 
nington,  who  was  murdered  in  1885,  near 
Uganda,  conducts  a  weekly  missionary  prayer 
meeting,  in  Brighton. 

France. — Cardinal  Lavigerie  opened  the 
Anti-Slavery  Congress,  in  Paris,  with  an  ad- 
dress, in  the  Church  of  St.  Sulpice.  He  highly 
praised  the  enthusiasm  of  England  in  the  anti- 
slavery  work,  although  it  was  headed  by 
Catholics.  He  said  he  did  not  desire  the  im- 
mediate abolition  of  slavery,  as  that  would 
entail  starvation  of  slaves,  but  that  man-hunt- 
ing must  be  immediately  suppressed. 

Germany. — According  to  Bishop  Warren 
the  members  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  Ger- 
many average,  in  their  contributions,  $4.40  per 
member  annually,  while  the  largest  incomes 
among  them  do  not  exceed  $1.25  per  day.'" 

India.— Some  of  our  missionaries  in  India 
have  been  called  on  to  stand  at  the  bar  of 
the  civil  courts.  Rev.  J.  J.  Lucas  and  Rev. 
Henry  Forman  were  summoned  before  the 
High  Court  in  Allahabad,  to  answer  for  the 
baptism  of  a  youth  of  eighteen,  who  had  pro- 
fessed to  be  a  convert  to  Christianity,  and 
who  had  acted  throughout  of  his  own  free 
will,  and  with  intelligent  comprehension  of 
what  his  act  meant.  The  judge  was  a  Mo- 
hammedan, but  so  clearly  arrayed  before  him 
were  the  facts  in  the  case,  and  so  explicit  was 
the  law,  that  the  decision  rendered  was 
that  the  missionaries  had  violated  no  law  of 
her  Majesty's  empire,  and  the  young  convert 
was  his  own  master  in  religious  affairs  and 
at  liberty  to  dwell  and  worship  where  he 
pleased.   The  case  was  regarded  as  an  im- 


1890.] 


PROGRESS  OF  MISSIONS — MONTHLY  BULLETIN. 


879 


portant  one,  and  the  judgment  rendered 
makes  the  work  of  evangelizing  the  youth  of 
India  much  easier  and  less  dangerous. 

—The  Woman's  Christian  Temperance 
Union  of  Singapore  has  organized  a  mission 
for  the  benefit  of  European  sailors  that  visit 
that  port. 

Ireland.— The  Irish  Church  Mission  So- 
ciety seeks  to  give  a  pure  gospel  to  the  Irish 
Roman  Catholics.  A  good  work  has  been  done 
through  this  instrumentality.  Fresh  impetus 
has  been  given  to  it  by  the  munificent  be- 
quest of  $150,000  by  Mrs.  Susan  Hopper. 

Korea.— A  missionary,  Mr.  Appenzeller, 
in  the  Independent,  says,  that  when  mission 
work  began  in  Korea,  the  missionaries  pre- 
sented a  Bible  to  the  king.  The  prime  minis- 
ter took  the  Bible  to  the  palace,  showed  it  to 
the  king,  and  then,  with  the  king's  approval, 
tore  it  in  pieces.  Years  afterwards,  a  Ken- 
tucky man  presented  the  Korean  minister  at 
Washington  with  a  bottle  of  the  best  Bourbon 
whiskey  for  the  king.  This  was  accepted. 
Then  the  Christians  of  Kentucky  resolved  to 
show  the  king,  at  as  early  a  period  as  possible, 
that  the  country  produced  something  better 
than  whiskey.  Recently  they  sent,  through 
the  Korean  minister,  three  Bibles,  one  for  the 
king,  one  for  the  prime  minister,  and  one  for 
the  foreign  secretary.  The  present  has  been 
accepted. 

—Roman  Catholic  missionaries  have 
been  in  Korea  200  years,  yet  have  never  is- 
sued the  Bible  in  the  native  language.  They 
have  translated  the  New  Testament  but  have 
not  put  it  into  print,  and  the  only  copies, 
made  by  hand,  cost  from  $10  to  $20  each. 

—Sad  News.— Dr.  John  W.  Heron,  Medi- 
cal Missionary  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  in 
Seoul,  is  dead.  He  died  of  dysentery.  The 
loss  is  great,  for  he  was  Superintendent  of  the 
Royal  Hospital  in  the  capital,  and  had  won  the 
confidence  of  the  King.  His  influence  in  the 
foreign  community  and  in  Seoul  was  also 
very  great. 

—Moravian  Missions.— The  latest  statistics 
of  our  missions  show  an  increase  over  last 
year  of  020  communicants  and  of  1457  in  the 
total  membership  of  our  congregations  in  the 
foreign  fields.  The  number  under  the  direct 
care  of  our  missionaries  now  amounts  to  87,203, 
and  of  these  30,591  are  enjoying  the  full  privi- 
leges of  communicant  membership.  These  are 
solid  figures,  and  we  thank  God  for  the  un- 
mistakable token  of  His  blessing  on  our  work 
in  Asia,  Africa,  America  and  Australia. — 
Periodical  Accounts. 

Thibet — Mr.  W.  Woodville  Rockhill, 
formerly  of  the  American  Diplomatic  Service, 
has  recently  returned  from  a  long  and  peril- 
ous journey  through  Thibet,  the  unknown 
heart  of  Asia.  For  700  hundred  miles  he 
passed  through  a  country  where  no  white 
man  had  ever  set  foot,  journeying,  of  course, 
in  disguise.    It   is  only  within  the  last  few 


years  that  the  Chinese  have  been  able 
to  plant  themselves  in  the  country  he 
traveled  through,  so  hostile  have  the  na- 
tives always  shown  themselves  It  is  said 
that  in  Thibet  nearly  every  crime  is  pun- 
ished by  the  imposition  of  a  fine,  and  that 
murder  is  by  no  means  an  expensive  luxury. 
This,  of  course,  greatly  increases  the  danger 
of  travel  in  that  remarkable  land. 

United  States.— The  Presbyterian  Wo- 
man's Mission  Society  received  for  last  year 
$337,842.  The  society  was  able  to  support  the 
following  missions:  Indians: — 33  schools,  164 
teachers,  2,264  pupils.  Mormons: — 37  schools, 
99  teachers,  2,374  pupils.  Mexicans: — 32 
schools,  67  teachers,  1,627  pupils.  South:— 16 
schools,  48  teachers,  1,213  pupils.  Total,  118 
schools,  361  teachers,  7,478  pupils.— Mid- Con- 
tinent. 

— The  Universalists,  after  an  existence  of 
more  than  a  hundred  years,  send  out  their 
first  missionary. 

— The  Annual  Report  of  the  International 
Medical  Missionary  Society,  shows  that  7,356 
new  cases  of  disease  and  injury  were  treated 
during  the  past  Society's  year;  14,717  attend- 
ances were  given  at  the  dispensaries,  of  which 
there  are  7  in  New  York  and  2  in  Brooklyn ; 
1,641  visits  were  paid  to  the  sick  in  their  own 
homes.  During  the  eight  and  a  half  years  of 
the  Society's  existence,  over  32,000  cases  were 
treated,  about  70,000  attendances  were  given 
at  dispensaries,  and  over  14,000  visits  were 
made  to  sick  at  their  homes.  This  Society 
co-operates  with  all  existing  Christian  agen- 
cies, as  far  as  possible,  and  establishes  medi- 
cal missions  at  Gospel  missions,  or  mission 
churches,  wherever  practicable.  The  presi- 
dent is  Boudinot  C.  Atterbury,  M.  D.;  the 
treasurer,  Cleveland  H.  Dodge,  Esq.,  No.  11 
Cliff  Street;  and  the  medical  director,  George 
D.  Dowkoutt,  M.  D.,  118  East  45th  Street,  New 
York  City.  The  Society  deserves  the  liberal 
support  of  Christian  people. 

—The  receipts  of  the  American  Board  for 
thp  year  ending  September  1st,  are  $617,723. 
This  amount  is  $09,025  in  exeess  of  last  year. 
Of  this  increase  $22,870  is  from  donations,  the 
balanee  is  from  legacies.  During  the  year  64 
new  missionaries  have  been  appointed,  22  of 
whom  are  men:  54  of  these  new  recruits  have 
already  been  sent  to  the  field.  This  number 
is  in  excess  of  any  year  since  1837.— The  Ad- 
vance. 

—Secretary  Ellinwood  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  writes,  that  the 
new  value  put  upon  silver  has  so  affected  ex- 
change in  all  the  foreign  countries  where  silver 
is  the  chief  medium,  that  the  purchasing  power 
of  the  Board's  appropriations  is  diminished 
from  15  to  20  per  cent.,  and  the  rate  of  ex- 
change is  constantly  fluctuating.  A  heavy, 
needless  tax  is  thus  laid  upon  the  missionary 
cause  for  the  benefit  of  a  few  silver  kings. 


880 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS  OF  THE  NOVEMBER  NUMBER. 


[Nov. 


INDEX  OF  CONTENTS  NOVEMBER  NUMBER. 


PAGE 

I.— Literature  of  Missions   801-842 

II.— General  Missionary  Intelli- 
gence  .  842-850 

III.  — Missionary  Correspondence...  850-854 

IV.  — International  Department.  . .  854-862 

V.— Monthly  Concert  of  Missions  862-867 

VI.— Editorial  Notes  on  Current 

Topics   867-873 

VTI. — Organized  Missionary  Work 

and  Statistics  -873-877 

VIII.— Progress  of  Missions;  Month- 
ly Bulletin   877-879 


IX.— Index  to  Contents.  . , 


Authors. 

Editors. — A.  T.  Pierson.  The  Miracles 
of  Missions;  The  Wonderful  Story  of 
Madagascar.  808;  Editorial  Notes,  j.  M. 
Sherwood,  Book  Notices,  841 ;  Editorial 
Notes  

Blackie.  William  G.,  D.D.,  "Personal  Life 
of  David  Livingstone,"  noticed  

M.D.,  Education  and 


Brockett,    L.  P., 
Evangelization . . 


871 

842 
850 


Clark,  Miss  Helen  F.,  The  Congo  Missions, 

Ellinwood,  F.  F.,  D.D.,  The  Duty  of  Chris- 
tendom to  the  Jews.  801 ;  Brazil  and  its 
Missions.  Other  Souch  American  Mis- 
sions  

Gracey,  J.  T.,  D.D.,  International  Depart- 
ment  

Guinness.  Mrs.  H.  Grattan,  "New  World 
of  Central  Africa,'"  noticed  

Haig.  Mrs.  F.  T.,  "Daybreak  in  North  Afri- 
ca," noticed  

Hallett,  Holt  S  ,  "A  Thousand  Miles  on  an 
Elephant,11  noticed  

Herrick,  George  F.,  D.D.,  The  Kingdom 
of  God  in  the  Land  of  its  Origin  

Hunt,  Life  of  John;  Missionary  to  Fiji, 
noticed  

Lunn.  Rev.  Henry  S.,  "A  Friend  of  Mis- 
sions in  India,11  noticed  

Moorhead,  Max  Wood,  Student  Volunteer 
Movement  

Pitzer.  A.  W..  D.D.,  The  Inheritance  of 
Nations  Allotted  of  God    

Schweinitz,  Rev.  Paul  de,  The  Romance 
of  Goedverwacht  

Starbuck,  Rev.  Chas.  C,  Translations  from 
Foreign  Missionary  Periodicals  

West,  Maria  A..  Hidden  Springs,  or  How 
Missionaries  are  Made  


Countries  and  Subjects. 

AFRICA — The  Congo  Missions,  826; 
New  World  of  Central  Africa,  841; 
Daybreak  in  North  Africa.  841 :  Dr. 
Blaekie's  Life  of  Livingstone.  842:  Mwan- 
ga  Stripped  of  Despotic  Power.  844; 
Editorial  Notes  on  Uganda,  845:  Zanzi- 
bar, 845:  The  Slave  Traffic,  861;  Fire- 
arms. 802:  The  Liquor  Traffic.  861 ;  Great 
Britain.    Sphere  of  influence,  877;  to  ex- 


861 
841 
841 
842 
854 
842 
841 
842 
820 
833 
836 
835 


PAGE 

plore  Central  Africa.  877:  Universities1 
Mission,  877;  the  Trappists,  877:  Roman 
Catholic  Missions  in  Uganda   877 

BELGHJ3I — Loan  to  the  Congo  Free 
States  877 

BRAZIL,.— Political  Changes,  American 
Missions,  etc.,  862;  Other  South  Ameri- 
can Missions,  Brussels  Anti-Slavery  Con- 
gress  860 

BURMAH  AND  SIAM.— "A  Thousand 
Miles  on  an  Elephant.11  842 

CANADA.— Presbyterian  Church,  878; 
Toronto  Medical  Students1  Y.  M.  C.  A.. .  878 

CHINA.— A  Great  Evangelizing  Agency, 
845;  Inland  Mission,  878;  Presbyterian 
Board  Indemnified   878 

ENGLAND. — Flow  of  Converts  to  the 
Church  of  Rome     846 

FRANCE.— Anti-slavery  Congress   878 

GERMANY — Generous  Giving   878 

HAWAII — Rev.W.  A.  Essery's  Address 
on  the  Victory  of  the  Gospel   846 

INDIA.— Lunn's  Work;  "A  Friend  of 
Missions  in  India,11  841;  Poverty  of  the 
People,  846;  Missionaries  in  Court.  878 

IRELAND.- 

ciety  


-Irish  Church  Mission  So- 


879 


847 


JAPAN.— The  New  Constitutional  Gov- 
ernment, 846;  Appeal  from  Baptist  Mis- 
sionaries  847 

JEWS  The  Duty  of  Christendom  to ... .  801 

KOREA.— The  gift  of  a  Bible  to  the  King, 
879;  Roman  Catholic  Missionaries,  879; 
Moravian  Missions   879 

MADAGASCAR. — The  Wonderful  Story 
of  its  Evangelization,  808;  Letter  from 

Rev.  James  B.  Mackay   .  850 

Moravian  Missions  in  Surinam   867 

Moravians  not  Lutherans  853 

PALESTINE.— An  Awakening  of  Life 

and  Energy  

South  American  Missions     866 

Turkish  Empire,  Dr.  Herrick's  Graphic 
Sketch  of  its  Present  Condition   854 

THIBET  A  perilous  journey  879 

UNITED  STATES. — The  Silver  Law"s 
Effect  on  Missions,  848  ^Farewell  Meeting 
of  Missionaries  in  Boston,  849;  Presby- 
terian Woman's  Missionary  Societ}',  879; 
Report  of  International  Medical  Mission- 
ary' Society,  879;  Receipts  American 
Board    879 

Statistics  of  Foreign  Missions. 

American  Marathi  Mission,  873;  American 
Madura  Mission.  South  India,  874:  Amer- 
ican Free  Baptist  Mission.  South  Ben 
gal.  874;  Canada  Baptist  Telugu  Mis- 
sion. 874;  Malavam  Mission  of  L.  M.  S., 
Basel  G.  E.  M.  S.,  Southwestern  India, 
874:  Mackay  Mission  Hospital,  Formosa, 
874;  M.  E.  Church  (North)  N.  China 
Missions.  874;  American  Presbyterian 
(North)  Mission  in  Canton,  China,  875;  B. 
F.  Missions  of  Presbvterian  Church 
(South)  Report  for  1889-90,  874:  Ameri- 
can Baptist  Missionary  Union,  87G: 
Church  Missionary  Society   876- 


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